Chapter 11: Friends

"What the… what the fuck!?"

There was a moment of silence after that, with only the sound of the tiger dropping to the floor and its growl fading in the air. There was a short whimper there, its purr turning into a growl as it felt its life also fading along with it.

Harvey, Emilia, and the proctor were shocked — and perhaps even the hall master who was only keeping quiet on the side. They all saw what they saw, but none of them could really believe it as they just stared at Lucian and the dying giant tiger.

As for Lucian, he also just remained there almost motionless; only lowering his arm after a few seconds of whispering to him, causing the blood that gathered around his elbows to finally drip to his hand and finally to the floor, one by one.

Lucian then turned toward the dying tiger, staring at it for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh and just casually sitting beside it.

"I apologize, Mr. Lion," Lucian then whispered as he very gently caressed the tiger's neck before looking at the large gaping wound he inflicted, "I damaged your small intestine, urinary bladder, as well as the uterus. Parts of you are also paralyzed because I seemed to have also split your lumbar spine in half."

"Is…" Harvey was finally woken up by his stupor as he heard Lucian whisper, "...he actually talking to the monster?"

"A man with a gentle soul," Emilia crossed her arms while shaking her head, "It is something you will never understand."

"W—you don't even know me!" Harvey looked at Emilia, while Emilia just rolled her eyes at him. He had been talking to her like they were friends, and now when he was the one being judged, he lost it.

"Pathetic," Emilia then looked away and just focused on Lucian.

"I also managed to sever a major artery, you are going to die within 15 minutes due to blood loss. And if you happen to survive, sepsis will kill you," Lucian continued to whisper as he caressed the tiger's neck to make it as comfortable as possible; the tiger seemed to understand this, as it just looked at Lucian with a somewhat gentle fire in its eyes,

"I could see that you have enhanced regeneration, but it is not enough. You will die first before you are completely healed — the most humane thing to do now is to—"

And before Lucian could finish his words, the hall master suddenly appeared behind him… holding a sword to his neck.

"..." Lucian only glanced back at the hall master for less than a second before focusing on the blade. And without even any sense of fear or hesitation, he grabbed the blade with his hand.

Harvey and Emilia's eyes widened at this, "F… fuck! He's gonna get himself killed!" Harvey exclaimed, but contrary to their expectations, not only did the hall master not react at all, but he also let go of the blade completely.

As for Lucian, he just nodded his head and responded before taking the sword and placing its tip right on the tiger's eye.

"The most humane thing to do now is to euthanize you," Lucian whispered as he just expertly, and swiftly pushed the blade into the tiger's eye and then just pulled it out as quickly as possible. And with another breath, Lucian pushed the blade again, this time on the tiger's upper chest; he then started slicing it before pulling out the blade…

…and then pushing his entire arm through the hole he made,

"I… am truly sorry for this, Mr. Tiger," Lucian closed his eyes before just forcefully pulling his arm out, and in it was the tiger's lithum, "I truly did not mean to kill you. I… still do not know my strength."

Lucian then finally stood up, placing the tiger's lithum beside its head before returning the hall master's sword back to him. But as soon as he did so, however, the hall master quickly pointed the blade at his neck again.

"Explain yourself." And finally, after remaining silent from the start, the hall master started to speak. His—well, her voice, extremely cold; her eyes which were the only part of her face that could be seen from her mask, even colder.

"No," Lucian looked at the blade, "But not because I won't, but because I can not. I apologize."

"Y—"

[Hall master, stop! Please stop!]

Fortunately, before any altercation could actually happen, the proctor immediately barged inside the testing hall; quickly lowering the hall master's sword and getting in between them,

"What are you doing pointing your sword at an examinee!?"

"..." The hall master did not really say anything and just stared at the proctor for a few seconds before finally placing her sword on her waist, causing it to disappear into thin air.

"And you…" The proctor then turned to look at Lucian with his eyebrows completely lowered, "...Why did you not mention on your application that you have a Special Constitution?"

"A… special constitution," Lucian blinked a couple of times as he thought of the proctor's words, "I… suppose I do have that, Sir."

"I swear, you rogue cultivators are all the same! Why can't any of you just be normal for once!?" The proctor raised his voice as he just started scolding Lucian. Lucian, however, had no idea what the proctor was saying at all because… well, he has never been a rogue cultivator at all, "So, what is it? What is your special constitution?"

"...I don't know," Lucian was never good at lying. He was, however, good at keeping his mouth shut and just letting the other people compound on their assumptions and stories of him, "I have always lived as a mortal my entire life."

"Huh, I guess that's not uncommon with rogue cultivators who register this late," the proctor started looking at Lucian from head to toe, "Anyway, go get yourself cleaned so we can finalize your license."

"Thank you, Proctor," Lucian bowed his head before walking away. The proctor was about to follow behind him, but the hall master grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"That was not a special constitution," the hall master whispered, "We both saw the result of his lith test, even those with a crippled dantian have a higher lith than him — even those with special constitutions will not be able to kill a blood tiger cub in one single strike like he did if they had the same amount of lith he had."

"And what are you trying to say, Charlotte?" The proctor squinted as he looked the hall master in the eyes, "That he is from the Demon Continent?"

"That he is suspicious," the hall master, Charlotte, quickly corrected.

"He is — but all cultivators are suspicious," the proctor then gently removed Charlotte's hand from his shoulder as he sighed, "You are forgetting your duties here, Hall Master. You can do whatever you want during your free time, but not here."

"He said that he has always lived as a mortal his entire life — no mortal will look at a blood tiger right in the face and not tremble," the hall master shook her head, "Lucian was not only calm, he looked completely desensitized. But most importantly…

…he looks somewhat familiar."

"Enough, Hall Master," the proctor started walking away.

"But uncle—"

"Enough!" The proctor then stomped his foot on the floor, causing the entire hall to quake as he glanced back at Hall Master Charlotte, "Your job here is done for the day, go join your father in making your ridiculous pills, potions, or whatever it is that guy is busy doing these days that he can not even raise a daughter properly."

"But there's still one more—"

"Enough."

And while the proctor was busy scolding the hall master, Lucian was now just watching from the other side of the window; looking around as he felt the quake. This strength…

…This strength of the cultivators was the very reason he disappeared from the world.

And while Lucian was busy watching the proctor scolding the hall master, both Harvey and Emilia were looking at him; both of them, very slowly moving closer to him inch by inch.

"Psst, old man," Harvey loudly whispered, "Psst! Old man!"

"Hm?" Lucian then slightly turned his head toward Harvey and Emilia, "Are you trying to call me?"

"Well, yeah… the only other person here is her. And although her face might pass as an old man, she's not."

"What did you say?" Emilia raised an eyebrow as she glared at Harvey.

"I'm Harvey," Harvey completely ignored Emilia as he reached out his hand to Lucian, "I've never met anyone with a special constitution, so I hope we can be friends so I can leech off of you when the time comes."

"Shameless idiot," Emilia looked completely disgusted at Harvey before just smiling at Lucian and also reaching out her hand just inches away from Harvey, "My name's Emilia, Mr. Zhang. I also hope we can be friends."

"Friends…" Lucian blinked a couple of times as he saw the set of hands in front of him,

"...I don't think so."