Chapter 67: Ch 67:- Escape, Word of Wisdom and Return of Pio Bank.
As Rayne gradually emerged from the depths of slumber, the gentle touch of sunlight caressed his face, warming his skin. With eyes still heavy from rest, he blinked against the brightness, adjusting to the renewed embrace of daylight. The rain had ceased its persistent downpour, leaving behind a dew-kissed landscape glistening in the morning light. The air felt crisp and invigorating, a stark contrast to the weight of exhaustion that had burdened him just moments before.
Rayne slowly pushed himself up but stumbled, falling to his knees. He still felt weak from the battle, sustaining multiple internal wounds that drained him of blood. His body's healing abilities proved inadequate, leaving him pale, weak, dizzy, anemic, and thirsty. Nonetheless, he persisted, determined to rise above his frailty. Taking a deep breath, he savored the fresh scent of petrichor lingering in the air, mingling with the subtle fragrance of nature's awakening.
As his senses sharpened, Rayne surveyed his surroundings. The remnants of the fierce confrontation were now mere whispers of the past—scattered fragments of shattered trees and imprints upon the earth. Nature, resilient in its essence, had already begun its subtle work of reclaiming the battleground. The sunlight, filtering through the leafy canopy overhead, cast dappled patterns upon the ground, illuminating the path forward. Rays of golden warmth danced through the air, casting a radiant glow upon Rayne's weary form, as if offering a gentle embrace of rejuvenation.
Rayne's eyes fixed on the fallen form of Arthur in his semi-death-like state. Despite his own weakened condition, he mustered the strength to make his way towards him. Stumbling along the way, he persisted, determination fueling his every step. Drawing closer to Arthur, Rayne contemplated his next move. At that moment, he thought of something and then looked at his soul force bar displayed in his vision, which read: [50,000/100,000].
He then performed a silent incantation, casting an illusion, transforming himself into a completely different person—an elderly figure with long white hair and a beard, appearing to be in his mid-50s. He adorned a decent-looking armor and had a sword strapped to his belt. The illusion not only concealed his true identity but also masked his aura. However, Rayne remained uncertain if it concealed the energy emitted by the shadow armor. To be sure, he requested his system to check.
The system responded, reassuring him: [All is good, sir. I don't think he will be able to know who you are.]
Hearing this, Rayne nodded to himself in approval, satisfied with the illusion's effectiveness. He then retrieved a vial containing the vitae of the vampire progenitor and carefully dropped precisely two drops into Arthur's mouth. The miraculous liquid began its work, gradually awakening the one he had sent into slumber.
As Arthur slowly regained consciousness, the world around him came back into focus, his senses reawakening to the scene before him. Arthur's eyes finally opened, his gaze stern. As he stood up, he looked around himself as if looking for something or someone before his eyes set upon the elderly man standing in front of him, which confused him. He was woken up by a coughing sound as the elderly man said, "Young man, what are you doing here, drenched in mud and rainwater, lying on the ground?" extending his hand.
Arthur's mind, still clouded with confusion, blinked a few times before he took the arm and stood up.
"From the destruction and the armor I see, maybe you had a battle with a beast," the elderly man said, nodding his head. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword before he started walking away. After he had gone a fair distance, he turned his head and said, "Come on, what are you waiting for? Let us make our way back to the village. We can't leave it unprotected at such an hour of the day."
Arthur, who was still standing far away, darkened his face upon hearing what the old man said. He followed him, remembering the little girl whom he had saved.
As the elderly man led Arthur through the dense forest towards the village, a sense of purpose emanated from his every step. The vibrant foliage whispered secrets as sunlight filtered through the canopy above, casting a dappled glow upon their path.
Unaware of Arthur's internal thoughts and his true nature, the elderly man regarded him with a mixture of curiosity and kindness. "You know, young man, there is a profound truth in the saying 'with great power comes great responsibility.' Life has a way of bestowing upon us gifts and abilities, but it is how we wield them that defines our character."
Arthur, with ancient eyes observing the world through a lens of centuries, listened intently, sensing an underlying wisdom in the man's words. "Indeed, there is a weight that accompanies power, a burden that we must bear. But how does one navigate the delicate balance between strength and restraint?"
The elderly man smiled gently, his eyes reflecting the deep reservoirs of his own experiences. "Ah, that is a question that has plagued many a seeker. The key lies not in suppressing your power, but in channeling it for the greater good. Like a river flowing through the land, power should nourish and uplift, not drown or destroy."
Arthur's brow furrowed in contemplation as they walked, the village drawing nearer with each passing step. "And what of the darkness within? What if power becomes a catalyst for the darkness to consume one's soul?" He remembered all the strange thoughts he had while battling Rayne. In that moment, only one thing went through his mind: death. It felt as if an outer existence was in control of his body, but he knew it came from within. It was the realization that the things he cherished, the people he lived with, were no more. It was a dark truth he didn't want to accept, but he needed to.
The elderly man's voice grew softer, laced with empathy. "Ah, the darkness within... We all have our shadows, my friend. But it is through acknowledging and embracing them that we can find balance. Remember, darkness and light are two sides of the same coin. It is our choices that determine which side prevails."
They arrived at the outskirts of the village, its quaint cottages built on the trees, with children playing on the platform coming into view. The scent of freshly cooked food, accompanied by various floral smells, mingled with the distant sounds of laughter and conversation.
The elderly man paused, turning to face Arthur directly. "You see, my young companion, this village holds within it a fragile tapestry of lives, dreams, and hopes. The power you possess, whether you fully understand it or not, can be a force that safeguards or shatters. The choice is yours."
Arthur's gaze shifted from the village to the elderly man, a newfound sense of purpose welling within him. "I have witnessed the consequences of unchecked power, the devastation it can unleash. Perhaps it is time I take a rest from the world and oversee this place," Arthur said with a smile.
A knowing smile made its way to Rayne's face as the elderly man spoke his last words. "Farewell, friend. May you succeed. And before anything else, the kid you fought was innocent. If you ever need him, just drop a bit of blood on this parchment." Saying this, the elderly man transformed into motes of light that flew away like pollen in the air, dropping a parchment on the ground. The parchment had a symbol drawn out of blood on it, resembling a horizontal line with a big dot at the end, with two triangles emerging from either side connecting to the dot, all of it enclosed in a circle.
Seeing it, the side of Arthur's mouth twitched before he smiled and said in an amused tone, "I got tricked by that kid again," as he looked into the distance, watching the foliage move and dance with the wind.
Meanwhile, Rayne warped right to the tree branch where he had set up the teleporting scroll. He then drew a series of runes with his blood, empowering it with soul force. After that, he took out one of the basic crystals he had found in the cavern and supplied the scroll with enough energy, teleporting him in an instant to his dorm room.
At that moment, on the planet he had left, as he teleported away, the rune he had drawn activated and immediately burned the scroll down to ashes.
As Rayne finally warped back to his dorm room, his illusion wore off, transforming him back to his original self. His armor, which had previously assumed the shape of samurai armor, started to slither and shift, assuming the form of a school uniform. But before it could fully transform, he dismissed it, storing it back in his inventory. He didn't want to repeat the mistake of wearing a sentient armor 24/7, like he had done before.
He stripped out of his damaged and torn school uniform before stumbling his way to the bathroom. He still felt weak, but on top of that, he felt thirsty. Before entering the bathroom, he grabbed a bottle of water and started chugging it down as if he were famished. After his second 1-liter bottle, he felt full, but he still wasn't satisfied. The thirst was for something else—it was for fresh blood. And he already knew where to find some. He entered the bathroom and started washing the dried-up blood from his face and hair, taking a warm shower. After staying in the cold, rainy forest for so long, a warm shower was much needed.
After exiting the bathroom, his eyes fell on the clock, and his face visibly darkened as he saw it was past 11 am in the morning. But then he thought, maybe the school was canceled only for today. After all, they had a traumatic experience. He checked his watch, which was connected to the laptop constantly pinging to confirm his presence in the school for any messages. And there it was, a message that had been sent to all the students late the previous night, stating that their morning classes had been canceled. They were required to return to their homeroom classes in the afternoon.
Seeing it, he sighed but then started to think about the meaning of it all. Why was he even in the school in the first place? It wasn't like it had anything for him. At that moment, he remembered Quinn's face. Afterward, he looked at the to-do list created by his system, a series of quests he wouldn't be able to do at the moment due to the inflexibility imposed by the school. He sighed once again and decided to relax. He sat down in a meditative posture and started to meditate, soon appearing in his soul sea.
As he appeared in the Soul Sea, he noticed a difference—his Qi had somehow increased. Although he didn't use Qi that much, during fights, he would input some of his Qi to enhance the attack. It was all due to the blood control ability, which gave Rayne full access to what a Vampire would consider absolute blood control effortlessly. He never trained his blood control that much; instead, he only found creative ways to use it, like blood swipe, bloodflame talon, blood vortex, and many more, making him more reliant on his vampire heritage. And it also didn't help that he had an extremely large amount of Qi, almost three times greater than a normal human, and the same was true for his blood aura, whose quantity was also abnormal. It was still a miracle that he was alive, but that was a story for future Rayne. (Author's note: For the reader, his aura after evolution didn't increase; he has an aura comparable to two originals, but it is in the form of a crystal inside his body, storing and sealing the aura, with only Rayne having 20 percent access to it. It is a bit complicated if you know. You can think of his energy situation similar to Naruto.)
After reflecting on his fight with Arthur and his life, it was finally time for classes, so he got dressed in a new uniform and exited his room.
Meanwhile, with Del...
Inside one of the homeroom classes, at the front of the class, was a single person sitting at his desk. A holographic display was in front of him with the list of all the students' names in the class. Both of his hands were up by the side of his head. Any second now, he felt like he would pull his hair apart.
"Why the hell does the school care about this crappy event so much?" Del complained.
Right now, he was trying to decide whom to select for the three events that every class had to participate in. There were more events than these, but those positions were usually taken by the second-year students, and Del thought the same would happen this year, but it didn't seem to be the case.
At first, he had sorted the list by power levels. Noticing that there weren't many, and the highest power level in their class was Vorden at level five.
"Why did I have to be given a class with such weak students?" he thought. He knew there was a low chance of his class performing well, and rather than that being a reflection of himself, he felt like fate had just given him a bad hand.
Next, he decided to sort the list by the students' current ranking via points. This was based on the two assessments that had been done so far. The list drastically changed after that, shifting Quinn, who was right at the bottom, to near the top of the list with the rest of his teammates.
A part of him wanted to select Quinn for the fighting event to see how far he would go and hopefully learn his place, but he knew the management team would think he was crazy for selecting a level one student to fight.
A thought then came to his head, an idea that the upper management couldn't disagree with. Not only did Del have to pick three participants, but he also needed to decide three substitute places for the event. As long as he had some type of reasoning, then it would be fine.
Just then, the classroom door opened, as the students started to filter in. It had just passed midday, and the morning off the students were able to enjoy had come to an end as they were told to head to their homeroom classes.
When everyone sat in their seats, there was a heavy atmosphere. When looking around, they noticed that many that seats were left empty, empty from those who had died.
Del quickly closed the hologram. The teachers were allowed to know the rank of everyone in the class, but the students were not. Although many of them already had an idea, as they could see how well others had performed.
Once everyone was seated in their seats, Del stood up from his desk and started the class. "All right, everyone, there are no lessons for today, but the reason why you have all been called in is due to the upcoming event. Not all of you will be taking part in it, but there will be duties given to each student to prepare support for your school and military base."
Del then started to read groups of names in the class, telling them each what their duty would be for the event. Some were in charge of creating decorations and banners to support their base while in the crowds. Others were in charge of helping with supplies and bringing food to the event, and there were even more roles given to the others.
No one was really interested in this, as everyone was wondering just who in their class would be selected for the three upcoming events.
"And finally, it was a tough decision, but now I will announce who will be participating in the upcoming three events."
Excitement filled the room. A lot of the students had an idea of who would get selected for the fighting tournament, but for the other two events, they had no idea.
"First off, for the fighting tournament, I have decided to select the student with the highest ability level and also one of the top-ranked students, Vorden Blade." As his name was called, Vorden stood up, so everyone was able to see who had been called and selected.
There were no complaints from the other students as they felt like this was the expected result from their teacher, but they all knew who deserved the place, and it was Rayne. They wanted to see him in action, to see how good he was compared to the students of the other school, but they needed to admit that Vorden was also good. He was versatile in using his ability. So some of the students who attended the beast weapon class were a little bit disappointed, but they decided to keep it to themselves.
"Next up, for the Ranged event, I have decided to select Layla Munrow."
After hearing her name, she didn't immediately stand up. She thought there must have been some type of mistake. Yes, her main weapon was a bow, but there were others in the class who were more skilled than her.
Unlike when Vorden was picked, whispers started going around the room as they weren't quite sure why Del had made this decision.
"I can see there is some confusion. The reason Layla has been selected is because of her ability. It matches well with her weapon. As you may know, the event differs slightly every year. I believe her versatile skills with using the bow will come in handy. Not only that, but she is currently one of the top students among the first years in terms of points. This could only be possible for those who have at least some skill," Del explained.
Although quite a few students still disagreed with Del, they did feel like his reasoning made sense. Still, several of the students who possessed ranged abilities were looking in her direction. They couldn't help but feel that for some reason, a certain group of students were getting special treatment.
After selecting the participants for the fighting and ranged events, Del moved on to the crafting tournament.
"Finally, for the crafting tournament, I believe there is only one student in our class who is currently in the crafting club, correct? Benny Li shall be the one who will take part in the crafting tournament."
The crafting tournament was for those who mainly planned to become blacksmiths or some type of tailor in the future. Their abilities usually complemented them in the forging process of creating great weapons and clothes.
It was rare to have an ability that would match this, so they were quite hard to come by and highly sought out by not only different factions but also the military.
"Now that all of the participants have been announced for the event, it's time for me to announce the substitutes. In case any of the participants get seriously injured before the event or back out and go missing, these students shall take their place," Del explained.
"For the Ranged event, Silly Dundee. For the fighting event, we shall have Quinn Talen, and lastly, for the crafting event, Sissy Rondo."
The conversation among the students really started to heat up now, as one of the names mentioned was someone who was well known in the class for being a level one. Recently, he had been getting a lot of attention as well.
"Excuse me, sir, but why Quinn? I think there are those who are more qualified than him," a student said while looking in Rayne's direction.
Del surprisingly came up with a response no one expected.
"Do you really think so? But there have been reports that he has learned the martial arts taught by Leo quite well, and you all saw what happened when that advanced beast attacked us. Quinn was the only one brave enough to go in and try rescuing those students. And where was he when the beast attacked?" Del said, looking in Rayne's direction. "Besides, it's only a substitute. Rarely has a substitute ever been called in to take part or fight in the tournament."
"If there are no more questions, then you are free to spend time as you wish for the rest of the day," Del said as he gathered his belongings and walked towards the door.
As soon as Del left the classroom, the students couldn't hold back their frustrations any longer.
"What kind of teacher is he?" a student muttered, shaking their head in disappointment.
"Yeah, did you see how he was cowering in fear like a coward when that advanced-tier beast attacked?" another student chimed in, their tone filled with disdain. "Aren't teachers supposed to protect us and set an example?"
"I mean, seriously, how can we respect someone like him?" a third student added, crossing their arms. "We're supposed to trust him to guide us, but he can't even handle a challenging situation."
"I bet he just got lucky with his rank and position," a fourth student whispered, glancing around to ensure no one overheard. "Maybe he used his connections or bribed someone."
The discontent spread throughout the room, with students sharing their doubts and frustrations about Del's eligibility as a teacher.
All other classes were currently doing the same thing as Del's class, selecting students for the upcoming events and assigning each of them a role. While everyone was busy, inside the portal room, one of the green portal's energy started to flicker and warp.
Two guards were stationed outside the door, while two guards were also stationed inside to keep watch. They noticed the strange reaction of the portal. When something like this happened, it meant someone was coming through from the other side.
Both of them took a step back and got into a fighting position, while one of them pressed his hand against his ear.
"Report, something is coming through one of the green portals. Still unidentified. Will inform you immediately of what it is."
Stepping out from the green portal was a human figure. It was a teenage boy wrapped up in a hooded cloak. He looked dirty and beaten, and his skin had been darkened from the sun.
The boy started to look around the room. "Finally, I'm back. I can't believe it!"
"Hey, you, who are you? State your name!" one of the guards shouted.
The boy held up both of his hands to try to prove that he was innocent. "Wait, wait... I'm a student here. Check your records." The boy then took down his hood, revealing his face. "See, my name's Pio Blank."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone