章節 4: JUST LIKE ME?

Caspian was out of the infirmary not too long after.

Of course, the doctors and caretakers had been troubled because he no longer had his blindfolds on, but they couldn't do much.

Caspian had already proved to be able to control whatever dreadful gift he had, so worrying about it was of no importance.

They still tried to get the blindfolds back on him though, but Caspian warned;

"Try it and I'll really burn the building down."

Though It was partly a bluff, a huge part of it was still true, with the right herbs and a couple of beast cores that is.

Now that he had his sight, he found it much easier to traverse the hallways. The only issue was that his memories were of him moving about in total darkness, so it took a while before Caspian relearned his way around the mansion.

Currently, Caspian was in his living quarters piecing together his next course of action. He had tried even harder today trying to recall details of his past life. Unfortunately, he hadn't found out much. He managed to recall a ton of mismatched information but it was safe to say his memories were useless.

When he also tried recalling how his current self had ended up in the infirmary, he ended up just as stumped.

There was one thing that had kept bugging him since he woke up from his coma.

"What the hell are these."

Caspian whined, cursing at his twigs for arms with a dejected look. The sight of them left him terrified. It was a wonder how he was still alive, even having survived various high-risk surgeries.

Right now his body was useless, especially considering what he had planned for the next few days.

With how disappointing his muscle groups were, not even Celestial Will could help him. No matter how much of it he got his body to harbour, it would still collapse instantly, and he could even lose his life in the process.

As such Caspian immediately prepared a personalised workout regiment, one designed to mould him into the perfect swordsman. He had an idea of the most beneficial frame a swordsman could possess, having experience being a well skilled one, so creating the workout routine was the easy part.

The hard part was actually committing to it. He was absolutely mortified by how little strain his body could endure, but still, he fought through it.

"Sword saint abs here I come!"

Since he was basically working with fresh clay, sculpting his body would later on prove to be much easier, and very fruitful. With that, he could definitely end up a true nightmare.

By the end of his two-hour workout, Caspian had managed to complete; 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 30 squats, 20-second planks, and some pull-ups done with his window bars.

He had a long list of workouts, but these would have to do for now.

Panting and sweating, Caspian's arms had gone numb from overexertion, making him wonder if his earlier expectations were too much of a dream—hell, he'd almost died doing pull-ups. With a sigh, he hopped right into the shower, and after a couple of minutes, he appeared before his bathroom mirror admiring his facial features.

"With these eyes, I bet I could get a couple of princesses."

Caspian said with a cocky grin.

He wasn't overplaying his looks though, for a ten-year-old kid, he had enthralling red eyes, lush golden hair, with fair skin. Although it still paled in comparison to most Knights.

"They make things so unfair."

Still, his looks were otherworldly.

Soon, Caspian was dressed and out of his room starving terribly. He wasn't the only one though, as the halls were flooded with famished kids.

The orphans were divided into massive groups and spread throughout the mansion's various mess halls. This was how most things were done around the orphanage, including; lectures, medications and feeding.

Since Caspian had no one to wait for, unlike most of the regular kids, he was already rushing to his assigned mess hall.

On his way there, he spent a lot of time wondering just how he was going to raise his power level. As far as knights went, there were 4 known stages; the first was Retainers, and following them were The Cardinals, and Paladins right after. Lances were the most powerful, and also the hardest to come by.

"Nasty bunch."

Caspian believed that over the years– a stage higher than Lances was finally achieved, Sainthood. They pushed the narrative of human capabilities, and later on, expectations.

"The mad dreams of Saints were the nightmares of civilisation."

They were the true horrors. And encountering one was likened to a terrible omen.

That was still quite a couple of years away though, and right now, Caspian was only bothered by how exactly he was meant to get stronger.

The natural path to ascension, which had to be done by consistently conquering deathly Events, was a little bit too much for this ten-year-old body. Then there was also the issue of the Events themselves, just waltzing into one was akin to suicide no matter the rank.

Of course, there were other methods to ascension. Unfortunately, his memories were still a bit foggy. But there was one thing he recalled doing whenever he ran out of Celestial will, that he was sure could help out—

Absorbing the soul core of abominations.

"Currently, I own nothing so I can't purchase any soul cores... which means I have to do the hunting myself."

As he walked through the hallway with his sharp ruby eyes glistening in the sun. Caspian noticed an uneasiness spreading from a particular dorm.

Students were huddled up in groups, some were too busy gossiping about whatever had transpired. While the rest stopped to stare at him with strange expressions, mostly furrowed brows.

"What?!"

Caspian said with his eyes wide open, fiercely staring a group of 2 boys and a girl into a corner.

No one could afford the heat Caspian was spewing these days. If even the teachers were wary, then the students couldn't fare any better. Although it had little to do with him and more about how he could decimate them with just his eyes.

'Thank God for rumours.'

Caspian thought with a chuckle.

The truth was he couldn't, even if he wanted to. He had no Celestial will, hence any supernatural feat of strength, speed or magical prowess was simply out of the question, at least for now.

Soon, he was through the hall not even bothering to confirm what exactly had happened.

"Gossip doesn't really sit in a place."

He was sure it would reach him eventually if it was that important.

Caspian still lost in thought, wandered the mansion letting the memories of this body do most of the guiding.

He soon found himself in between two whining staircases that bled into a massive waiting room. Right beneath a couple of high windows, a massive oakwood door stood at the centre of the waiting room, ancient and unyielding.

Caspian stood in awe, admiring the craftsmanship of the wooden door. His grumbling tummy snapped him out of his reverie soon after, and Cas could be seen bolting into the mess hall that rested to the right of the staircase.

It was crowded as he had expected, but given who he was most kids let him pass unperturbed. The look on his face gave all the warnings. He had little patience when he was dying of hunger.

Unfortunately, not everyone cared as much about his feeding time as he did. Trevor and his flock of fools stood right in Caspian's way, obviously looking to start a spectacle.

Black hair and dark eyes, looking like he was almost 14. Caspian could barely recognize them, partly because of the fog in his memories, but mostly due to his mindless hunger.

"You got us scrubbing all the mess halls till you woke up, you bastard!"

Trevor said with a frown.

Caspian being in no mood to chat, tried to pass through them, but the boys weren't letting up. A small crowd gathered around when Trevor pushed Cas a couple of steps back.

"I'm going to use your face to scrub this damned floor."

Trevor said as he walked forward.

At this point, Cas was already fed up. The only thing on his mind was food, so he picked up a tray and before Trevor could even realize what he was up to Caspian slammed the metal tray right into the boy's throat.

There was a shriek that came from the small crowd. While Trevor wheezed, some turned away and held their throats in discomfort.

They were all stunned to say the least, especially after Caspian went further by using the metal tray to repeatedly bash Trevors back, till he was sure the boy wasn't going to get up on his own.

Trevor was left wincing and gasping for air.

His friends exchanged strange looks and stepped to the side. Cas politely thanked them as he passed in between.

Soon, he was sitting on a bench all on his own with a mini feast before him. It had been ages since he had a proper meal, or at least it felt that way.

The orphanage's food was as delectable as he remembered. They truly lived like kings compared to the war front.

"Actual meat, and ahh are these real lettuce leaves?"

As he splurged on his meal Caspian monitored the mess he had created in the hall.

Trevor was escorted out by his friends, and most of the heat had already died down. He knew he wouldn't get into trouble because this was just how things were at the orphanage. After all every single child here was expected to become a knight, as such this level of physical confrontation was meant to be normal to them before they headed to the GDA (Genesis Defense Academy).

There things would be a lot worse, and he had a year at most to prepare.

In the mess hall, there were still a couple of eyes on him, some whispering with their friends to the side others just sneaking glances while they ate.

One girl in particular caught his attention. She had big purple eyes with raven black hair. She seemed to be at most 13 but stared at him with a frightening level of intelligence.

"What's that look supposed to mean, scrutiny?"

He snuck glances at her and was soon left in awe.

Aside from her child-like beauty, what he found so striking was the single swirling mass of Celestial will churning in her abdomen.

"How is that even possible."

He was in total shock and the more she stared at him the weirder he felt. It was like his body was having a certain reaction.

"Do I have a crush on her?"

It was the only explanation he could give, considering how his body reacted to her intense stare. His mind however was completely unmoved.

'Sorry, not really my type.'

The auburn-haired damsel behind the serving isles however was much more eye-catching. Especially when she leaned over to serve.

The memory of her succulent melons almost caused him a nosebleed.

Anyway, the fact the dark-haired girl had a core was something he would have never expected. A child who seemed to be barely 13 having a core was just unthinkable. Although, it was what he had planned for himself.

'Is she some sort of prodigy? Or is she... just like me...'

Soon, she was on her feet and so was the girl beside her.

"Wait, where is she going?!"

Caspian panicked as he watched her slowly approach his table.