Chương 37: A Nightmare...

During midnight in a room belonging to Murai and Jessica, the Warrior and the Mage hero, Murai was having a dream.

It was a dream of a young boy who was being tossed around by older kids after playing alone in the park.

"Hehehe, look at him. He's such a loser."

"So fat and ugly, are you really a rich kid?"

The boy cried as they continued to kick him and beat him.

After a while, they left him alone all beaten up.

The boy wanted to know why he was being treated this way. Was it because they were jealous of him because he was a rich kid? Or was it because he was ugly? The boy didn't know himself as he was still oblivious to the truth of this world.

The kid was only 6 years old and it was the start of him being bullied... but also the first time he met "him."

"You're weak, aren't you...?" A muffled voice spoke behind the boy.

The boy turned around and looking down from the wall was a boy, a younger one. His face was blurred and his voice was unrecognizable.

"W-who are you...?" He asked the younger one.

"My name is not important as you'll forget it anyway. But it's a shame that someone like you is treated like this. Tell me, is this the same when you are at school?"

The boy was surprised to even hear this coming from the younger boy. He doesn't know him nor has he even seen him before, but he knew.

He was bullied not only outside but also in school. No one besides his parents has treated him nicely. Only tormented by his peers and seniors.

He only wished for one thing and that was to be respected. He didn't want to be respected because of his rich parents but of who he was, however, they wouldn't give him a chance because of his appearance.

Though bodyguards were assigned to him, the boy declined their services. That's how dedicated he was to being respected.

The boy was too innocent to the dangers of the world, but that was about to change.

"A rich kid wants to be respected but can't because of appearance. I can tell since you didn't try to fight back."

The boy was shocked at how this younger boy knew what he was thinking. He was eventually feeling creeped out.

"H-how did you know?" He asked.

"Well, once you've been exposed to dark secrets, it's obvious to figure out. It's also easy to break people as long as you know exactly what they want, and exactly what they fear. But I haven't done that to anyone... but soon I will."

The atmosphere eventually became dark and the boy gulped in fear.

Then a girl's voice could be heard.

"Hey! What are you doing? We need to get home!"

The younger boy turned his head and responded, "Alright, just a second."

He turned his attention back at the boy.

"This world is cruel and unfair. If you want to be treated with respect, I suggest you start fighting. If you continue to be meek, you'll just become prey. You should start flaunting your place, otherwise, others won't take you seriously. To me, you're an insect..."

The boy turned around before saying, "Soon you will discover just how tragic life is..."

Then the younger boy left and the entire scenery began to blur.

Murai woke up hyperventilating. His heart was pounding and he was sweating furiously. It took him a while to settle down and he was breathing normally again.

"Fuck... not again..."

"What's wrong?"

Besides him was Jessica, who was also covered in sweat. She wore a worried expression on her face.

"N-nothing..."

"Was it... that again?"

"...yes..."

Jessica also had the same dream, but just slightly different. The only similarity though was the boy.

Their dreams played the exact scene of "that day," When they were exposed to the impurities of life by this same young boy. Of course, they didn't really understand at first but as they aged, they began to figure it out.

"We should... forget about it..."

"Yes... just ignore it..."

Knock-knock!

A knocking could be heard at the door.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Please get ready immediately! There is a demon attack at Colosseum Albion!"

Murai sighed in annoyance and got up to equip his gear.

"Tch, another one? We just had one last week."

"Well, it is best to strike during midnight I suppose."

As the heroes had stayed here for months, they have been taught the demon's tactics since they have been recorded over the years. Knowing this to their advantage, they can tell what tactics they are going to be using.

The two had donned their equipment and headed down towards the courtyard where they would be teleported to Colosseum Albion.

Colosseum Albion was one of the most famous places to go watch warriors clash for honor and if not, their life. However, the sport of two people fighting for their lives was a bit too inhumane, as according to the king that ruled Paragon several centuries ago. Now it serves as a kind of tourist attraction, but now it was the base of the demons.

They would be teleported only a few miles away from the camp that the demons had set up but to defeat them entirely would be nearly impossible considering they would be using the colosseum as defense.

Their only choice was to take it down, so that's what they were planning to do.

The two arrived with the other heroes waiting except Risa. They were all extremely cautious than before. Knowing that Risa, their most valuable asset due to her healing abilities was gone, they must keep their injuries at a minimum till she comes back.

"You two took your time. Perhaps your private time was interrupted." Kai jested as he was walking up to them.

"Don't get so cocky, has your little nightmare continue to haunt you?"

Kai immediately glared and Murai did the same.

"Don't ever talk about that. I don't want to be reminded of it."

"Then don't go babbling your mouth, otherwise I'll trounce you."

"Hmph, you can try, but you'll never be able to do that."

"We are at equal levels, but at this range, I have the upper hand if you didn't know."

The two continued to have a staredown and they released their auras, plunging the entire courtyard in pressurized mana. This continued on until they were stopped by the guards.

Considering they were around level 600, their energy signals were extraordinary. Their growths surpassed that of the others and even of the royal magicians who had to take around 10 years to get to where they were at. If these two continued to grow, who knows how far their energy levels could surpass.

The two eventually pretended that their little quarrel never happened and they entered the teleportation ring where they would be teleported.

And then they vanished.

***

About a week has passed.

I've been managing to keep up with my studies, and that was the only thing I was focused on.

It took me not that long to master mana control and in just 4 days, I could control my mana accumulation like a pro.

After that, I decided to try out necromancy under the supervision of Ravyn. After she found out I was younger than her she suddenly became all mighty and high towards me, but that was only when we weren't in bed.

Anyway, we had conveniently shown up at a graveyard and I decided to test out necromancy here.

Standing in the middle of the graveyard, I began amassing a huge amount of dark energy and spread it across the cemetery. When everything was covered, I began chanting a phrase that allowed me to reanimate the corpses in the range of my spread energy, otherwise called an Aura Domain which consumes 100,000 mana and 10,000 every second after a minute has been up.

"Rise and serve me."

That was the phrase I went with. It was necessary for me to say this since that's what the description of the skill Reanimation said. I think I heard the phrase Ravyn used when she uses Reanimation, I think it was "Heed my call and rise" or something like that.

Anyway, upon saying that, the corpses or zombies, began to rise from the ground. Their flesh-torn arms poked out of the ground and then they fully emerged.

I noticed that they were all larger than a normal human, about 7-9 feet tall.

The zombies all spotted me and suddenly they began attacking me.

Quickly I dodged and slammed them all into the ground by using Flash Step and Sage Art fighting moves which I had unlocked prior to unlocking Mana Control.

After subjugating them, Ravyn quickly abolished them back into their graves.

"I wonder why they began attacking me like that?"

"That's because you don't possess a dead crown."

"Dead crown?"

"All necromancers need a dead crown or at least be watched over by a reaper. Otherwise, the undead you summon will turn on you. This is crucial and you would've probably been in trouble if you hadn't had me by your side," She said the last part proudly and I bonked her head.

Huh, that would be the reason why I don't have the necromancer class unlocked.

"Tell me then what I need to do to get this dead crown. Or at least how I can be watched over by a reaper."

"Hmm, to get a dead crown you have to...well defeat another necromancer that possesses a dead crown. If you want to be watched by a reaper, it depends, and it's decided upon birth. But you can also get it another way by finding a reaper's shrine. But it's not that common to-"

"Is that the shrine you are talking about?" I quickly interrupted.

I was looking at a tall monument that had multiple sickles sticking out of it.

"Yeah... like the one over there..."