Nick wiped the blood from his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket and cast:
(Soul Capturing Coat.)
A cloud of translucent miasma was exuded from Nick's body and quickly condensed to form a thin layer of clear but solid magic power that resembled a coat and that extended down to Nick's ankles. Nick crossed his arms in front of his face in the shape of an 'X' then swiftly slashed both arms to the side, casting:
(Big Sever.)
(Big Sever.)
Two wide formless arcs of magic power combined into the shape of an 'X' rushed towards Roy who was only about eight meters away from Nick at that point. Roy snorted and stretched his right arm outwards towards the incoming attack and cast:
(Absorbing Qi)
A cloud of white smoke that seemed to form from nothing appeared directly in front of Roy and when the smoke came into contact with Nick's magic power, the attack was enveloped by the smoke and the magic power that made up both Nick's and Roy's spells dissipated.
Nick saw what happened and thought:
(A self consuming defense. It enveloped my attack and then degenerated, nullifying my magic power in the process.)
Nick quickly cast Space, expanding his special space into a ten by ten by ten meter cube. Roy felt the change and muttered:
"Looks like you don't learn."
Before Roy could counter, however, Nick manipulated his special space in order to rip the ground beneath himself and Roy out of the earth and raised it fifteen meters into the air while expanding his special space. Nick then place both of his palms onto the ground, casting two spells almost simultaneously:
(Reverse Space.)
(Big.)
The mass of earth that Nick and Roy was standing on suddenly became positioned upside down in place with Nick and Roy about to fall off of it to the ground below but Nick manipulated his special space in order to keep him in place while he poured his magic power into the floating solid mass of earth, making it bigger by three times, then Nick cancelled Space and let the enlarged mass of earth fall, pressing himself and Roy towards the ground below with it. Nick quickly cast Blink, appearing on the other side of the mass of earth afterwards and used the power of Push and Pull to keep himself elevated in midair.
BOOM!
The mass of earth landed with a loud crash but during the next moment, a violent air current burst out through the earth and shot up into the clouds, displacing them. Roy emerged from the earth amidst the air current and still with his hands in his pocket, floated up to Nick's level only nine meters away from him, saying:
"My turn."
Roy took his hands out of his pockets and clenched them in front of his face.
(Criss Cross Qi)
Three oval panels made of solid green Qi instantly formed around Nick, one directly below him, one facing his right shoulder and the other facing his left shoulder. The panels then emitted rapidly moving linear currents of green qi that formed the shape of an asterisk when all three currents intersected. Nick was immediately caught at the intersection of the qi currents and held in place but a sphere of rotating, translucent miasma surrounded him, protecting him from the violent attacks.
Nick had used the soul capturing coat's defensive aspect to protect himself in time before the currents of green qi cut into him. Nick used the time to cast his next spell:
(Soul Attraction.)
Roy then felt an irresistible force drawing him towards Nick's position, threatening to drag him into the intersection of the powerful currents of qi which would no doubt rip him apart.
Roy snorted and clapped both his hands together, casting another spell:
(Qi Expanse And Shock)
The three currents of green qi suddenly expanded and the exploded, emitting a bright green light in all directions. Roy felt the power of Soul Attraction cease as he was no longer being pulled forward.
(Did that fool die so easily?)
At that moment, however, Nick appeared only one meter below Roy's position, floating while facing the sky. Nick's soul capturing coat was no where to be seen, however, because it had been destroyed during the explosion of the surrounding qi; Nick felt his soul weaken from losing a portion of it but he was not greatly affected by the loss. Nick pumped his right fist towards Roy at which point the space directly in front of it loudly crackled like thunder and shook.
(Rumble.)
A linear half a meter radius blast of pressure that shook the surrounding space violently shot out at Roy from below and hit him directly but in the next moment, his body transformed into a cloud of blood red qi that was displaced.
(Life Saving Blood Qi)
The blood red qi flowed towards an area in midair six meters away from his previous position and reformed into Roy who coughed out a mouthful of blood and eyed Nick warily, thinking:
(Is this really a student? His control of his magic power is at an extremely high standard. He has completely kept pace with my movements and attacks and might have even out paced me at times. His spells also don't lose out in terms of quality to mine. The information that we gathered on him is clearly wrong. How could someone like this have no worthy background.)
Roy quickly pointed his right index finger at Nick and cast a spell:
(Bitter Qi)
Nick breathed in and his mouth was suddenly filled with a bitter taste and soon it felt as if he was suffocating as mucus filled a portion of his lungs; his face twisted in discomfort. Roy took the chance to cast another spell:
(Sweet Qi)
Within the next moment, Nick's mouth became filled with a sweet taste but he coughed out a mouthful of blood in response.
(Sour Qi)
Within the next moment, Nick's mouth became filled with a sour taste and his face contorted further and blood flowed from his ears as he lost his sense of balance and almost fell out of the sky.
(Spicy Qi)
Within the next moment, Nick's mouth became filled with a spicy sensation like he had eaten a mouthful of red peppers. Nick could feel his abdomen suddenly expand and contract and blood began to pool at the lower left side of his belly.
(What the hell kind of spells is he using? I don't even know how to defend against them.)
Nick acted quickly, he once again cast Space and spread out his special space to cover a fifteen by fifteen by fifteen meter cubed area with himself at the center, enveloping Roy within its area of effect. Nick rapidly made chopping motions with both his arms and cast Sever with each chop. He then used the power of his special space to surround and pelt Roy with the resulting magic power.
The hair on the back of Roy's neck rose as he sensed an intense threat to himself and so he spread both his arms out to the side and cast:
(All Encompassing Darkness Qi)
A dark sphere of miasma formed around Roy and then expanded in all directions, coming into contact violently with the dozens of waves of Sever's power that were rushing towards Roy. All of Nick's almost formless magic waves suddenly glowed pitch black and were corroded into nothing within less than a second but to Nick's joy, he witnessed Roy breathing heavily afterwards.
(He's clearly reaching a limit but looking at myself, I'm in even worse shape than him. I have to end this quickly.)
Rank 2 Magicians were certainly useful in and could be proficient in magical combat but they usually had low stamina due to their relatively small magic reserves and limited healing methods and so battles between rank 2 Magicians usually lasted about ten minutes if the Magicians were serious. The battle between Nick and Roy had been going on for about twenty five minutes which was a testament to the skill and strength of the two Magicians.
Nick manipulated his special space and appeared directly behind Roy and so he pumped his right fist towards Roy's back and the space directly in front of Nick's fist crackled loudly and shook. When Roy heard that crackle, he decided to use one final method in an attempt to end this battle between himself and Nick.
Roy closed his eyes and cast a spell that practically drained all the magic energy left in his divergent mindscape:
(Self Potential Qi)
As a linear, half a meter radius blast of pressure was shot out by Nick's fist, Roy's entire being transformed into a bright orange miasma and the blast of pressure went straight through it, displacing some of the qi.
(Huh?)
Nick was disappointed that the last move did not bring Roy down since he only had a little more than 10,000 magical units left within his mindscape but he knew that he had no other choice but to keep fighting since he did not know if Roy was strong enough to give chase if he decided to run away as well as other considerations.
(I shouldn't turn my back to an enemy of same rank to run away. I refuse to do that!)
While Nick was affirming his beliefs, the bright, orange miasma spread out to surround him and then solidified to form a six meter radius sphere of orange qi. Inside the sphere of qi, Nick made a chopping motion with his right arm, casting:
(Big Sever.)
A wide arc of almost formless magic power struck at the interior of the sphere but only managed to cut through a portion of the orange qi before it reformed quickly. At that moment, all sorts of spells were cast with Nick as the target:
(Bitter Qi)
(Sweet Qi)
(Sour Qi)
(Spicy Qi)
Blood flowed from Nick's eyes, mouth and ears continuously and he could barely maintain the use of Push and Pull to keep himself airborne; he felt his insides go numb and his abdomen became slightly distended but Nick gritted his teeth and bit his own tongue in an attempt to keep his focus.
(This is the point that will determine victory or defeat. How do I get out of this, my intuition is telling me that teleporting my way out won't work because there is something strange about the miasma that is affecting this space? That leaves fighting my way out but Big Sever had little effect so I'm not confident in Rumble having much of an effect either. My soul path methods are a no go as well because after I lost the soul capturing coat, my soul has slowly been showing signs of irritation and if I strain it, my mind might be affected and leave me unable to cast spells; that would mean my certain death.)
Nick's thoughts spun quickly.
(The only method I have left that might work is Malevolent Shrine but I'm almost out of magic energy and I still need enough to escape after I'm done with Roy. What do I do?)
Suddenly, an idea came to Nick's mind:
(Malevolent Shrine is a fairly complex spell. I recently realized that it has elements of space magic involved but I don't need that aspect of it nor do I need the scenery that comes along with it to appear, I just want to cut this damn sphere of hardened miasma apart. With my mastery in space magic and my familiarity with the spell, I should be able to manipulate the spell to that degree, right? Just like how I've become better at manipulating my spell, Space )
Nick wasn't sure, but he was willing to try. He folded both of his hands into each other and focused on the laws of the Malevolent Shrine that were impressed upon his mindscape. After about a minute of contemplating, just when he felt himself about to buckle under the effects of Roy's qi path attacks, Nick spoke with bloody lips:
"Malevolent Shrine."
Nick's magic energy reserves decreased to about 1,000 magical units and for a split second, a nasty, hair raising aura spread throughout the bright orange sphere of qi. Within the next moment, the sphere suddenly slid in two directions as it was visibly cut in half like an orange cut through with a butcher's knife - one clean chop. Nick smiled with pride, thinking:
(I did it.)
The orange sphere slightly shook and then dispersed in order to become flowing qi again, at which point, it condensed to form Roy's blood covered body. Roy fell towards the ground like a rag doll but was saved from the impact of the fall by a nearby young soldier who had a shaved head and a mouth full of gold teeth; the soldier quickly clasped his hand and a torrent of gold colored liquid metal shot out of the ground to catch Roy before he reached the ground and then gently laid him flat onto the ground.
Nick had seen enough and wanted to leave immediately but he suddenly felt a strong, toxic magic aura spread over the surroundings.
"What the hell is this?"
Nick looked towards he ground in the direction leading to the undergrounds and saw a band of fifteen uniformed soldiers returning to the area of the temporary settlement. A soldier that looked like a teenage boy was at the lead position of the group, the boy had an emblem with three bars and two red stars attached to his left breast area; he looked at the scene of turmoil with his glowing purple eyes that were now filled with pure rage, soon catching sight of the badly beaten Roy Mathers. He asked loudly and with authority:
"Who is responsible for this?"
Everyone at the scene simultaneously pointed and Nick who was currently floating in midair. Nick snorted and remarked:
"Snitches!"
Dave McKoy looked at the perpetrator and easily recognized him - it was the young man that he had made a trade with before, Nick Capitol. Sergent Mckoy visibly calmed down and then spoke with a tone that barely hid the spite buried within it:
"Well young man, now that you've had your fun, are you ready to endure the consequences?"
Nick opened his mouth to speak but before any words could escape, his voluntary movements froze in midair and he suddenly felt the loss of control of his spells, Pull and Push. Nick began to fall to the ground and at the probable point of impact, a mass of viscous, dark purple liquid seeped out of the ground and gathered, quickly twisting about to form the giant likeness of a snake's head with its mouth wide open.
(Venomous Net)
A thick cloud of poisonous gas spread into the surroundings at this time, originating from the head made of poisonous matter but no one other than Nick was being affected by it even though all of the grass that the gas touched wilted and died, become a sickening purple color; Nick's face and other visible skin developed purple blotches as he moved closer towards McKoy's spell. Nick was only a few moments from falling into the mouth of the snake's head when he managed to cast one final spell:
(Grey Room.)
The snake head closed its mouth quickly, seeming to swallow the young man but Sergeant McKoy frowned intensely at that moment, thinking:
(Where the hell did he go?)
Sergeant McKoy quickly cancelled his spell and the viscous purple liquid that formed the large snake head writhed about before rapidly seeping into the ground. McKoy frowned because Nick's body was nowhere to be seen.
(I am absolutely sure that he did not die. The poison that I used should have kept him stationery and in severe pain at most.)
McKoy felt slightly embarrassed that a rank 2 junior was actually able to successfully flee from him but scouting was not one of his specialties and he did not want to waste manpower on looking for one troublesome student, especially since Nick was already marked as a potential recruit for the ministry.
(Just let him be for now, being able to do this much damage and escape is his fortune. Seriously, how did this student do so much damage so quickly, he even defeated Roy? Although Roy is only a junior enforcer, he is the heir to the leadership of the Mathers family which has a powerful qi path legacy so he has been well trained since young but he still ended up in such a pathetic state.)
McKoy looked at Roy who was lying on the ground unconscious not far away from him for a few moments, then shouted to one of his subordinates behind him:
"Gregory, heal Roy Mathers promptly. We don't want this little prince making too much of a din when he reports to his father about what happened here."
**************************************
Jessica stood over twenty meters away from the wreckage of the settlement but had observed what had happened clearly since arriving soon after Roy Mathers. She looked at the aftermath of the battle with shock, not believing that someone that was almost the same age as her and who had accompanied her to this place was capable of causing so much harm to licensed Magicians.
"When did Nick become this strong? I know that I haven't seen him for months but to do this..."
Jessica stopped speaking and started to wonder:
(Is he someone with some sort of legacy supporting him? It's either that or he is unbelievably lucky. In any case the next time I meet up with him, I should be alot stronger too.)
Jessica clenched both her fists while both her arms remained at her sides and she looked at the scene with clear determination.
(I want to be stronger too.)
*************************************
Behind a tree situated fifteen meters from the site of the battle, the space above the ground began to ripple in the shape of a half a meter radius circle that faced the tree. Soon, a brown complexioned arm emerged from the ripples and then a few seconds later, a person's entire body emerged from the rippling space.
Nick lied on the ground, not moving and trying to calm himself down so that he could better recover his magic energy. Nick looked around in all directions in order to properly identify his surroundings. He was still near the site of the battle but everyone was too preoccupied with reporting to Sergeant McKoy that they did not bother to search the area for him.
(That was close, rank 3 Magician's are really unstoppable. I couldn't even resist the aura of McKoy's magic power.)
Nick observed the purple blotches on both his arms with bitterness because he felt a painful stinging sensation at the places where the blotches formed.
(I've been poisoned. What the hell am I supposed to do about that?)
As Nick continued to observed the purple blotches for over a minute, he realized that some of the areas on his skin started to visibly clear up but only a few blotches were cleared up before the apparent healing stopped.
(Huh? Did I somehow eliminate some of the poison? I haven't done anything to that effect since McKoy attacked me except enter and exit the grey room.)
After pondering for a while, Nick thought up a few possibilities:
(It must be either that McKoy's poison is naturally detoxified as time passes or I did something without realizing that resulted in my own healing.)
Nick spent a few minutes thinking through the possibilities before he made his conclusion:
(The former is more unlikely than the latter so if it is the latter that resulted in my healing, then my Grey Room must have something to do with it.)
Nick felt that his conclusion was very likely so when his magic energy reserves were full again and he was ready to leave, he prepared to cast his spell once again.
(Although I've successfully hid myself for a few minutes, that's only because those soldiers don't seem to be searching for me. I need to leave the area as soon as possible because I clearly am not Sergeant McKoy's match.)
(Grey Room.)
The space around Nick suddenly became a completely grey hue and Nick's body became a strange collection of smoke.
(I remember that the map that I lost when my space band became unusable detailed a mountain range to the west of the undergrounds. I'll go there for the time being to recuperate and plan.)
Nick began to move west while in the grey room and cancelled the the spell whenever his magic energy reserves were near empty at which point he would meditate until they were full again, then cast Grey Room once again. Nick repeated this cycle for three days without stopping to sleep or rest since he did not have too much to worry about while in the grey room like sudden magic beast attacks or physical fatigue.
At the end of the three days, Nick stood at the foot of a very large mountain range that seemingly stretched into the horizon. He observed his body and realized that all of the painful purple blotches were gone.
(This confirms it, my Grey Room has a healing effect on me. That's considering that the poison was detoxified gradually over the past three days after I cast Grey Room. Grey Room is not designed to be a healing spell, why is it healing me?)
Slade offered Nick a guess of his at this time:
[Deep seeker dragons tend to live in peculiar spaces and powerful magic beasts usually reside in the environments that nourish them the most so that 'grey room' of yours probably nourishes and heals you because of your altered warlock physique.]
Nick felt that Slade's words made sense.
(In any case, I have almost two years until this exam ends and since I have already confirmed that my combat abilities can evenly match up to MOM soldiers, there is no reason that I shouldn't get top results. I came to this mountain range to put a great distance between me and Dave McKoy so now I just need to find a safe place to rest and plan my next moves.)
Nick ran his way up a natural pathway on the edge of the nearest mountain and cast Space, expanding it several dozen meters all around him and tried to use his spell to find a place where he could reside.
An hour later, Nick was able to sense the opening of a cave using his special space and proceeded to find and enter it but the cave was not empty of life. A group of five mountain lion like magic beasts were living within the cave and became hostile as soon as Nick entered, attacking him with their sharp claws and fangs.
Nick enveloped them within his special space and then flicked his right index finger five times, casting Sever each time. The mountain lions were split in half and then Nick used his special space to skin them and tenderize their meat after which he spent the next two days eating each magic beast, casting Growth many times and meditating.
By the end of that period, Nick's injuries from the battle at the temporary settlement and his own spirit that was worn down after months of studying and being stressed had mostly recovered. Nick sat cross legged on the floor and started to think about his current situation:
(The exam will end in two years and to get the top score I need many kills under my belt. I hadn't planned on getting the top score before but things have changed, I am many times stronger than when I came to the Never Ending Battlefield. The mysterious person that I met in the undergrounds wanted me to turn the Never Ending Battlefield into a real battlefield and now, I intend to do exactly that. I, however, need a few things. First, I need a sword, second, I need access to certain materials to enhance my combat capabilities.)
Nick shook his head bitterly because he already possessed those things but they were locked within his now useless space band. Nick looked at the magic tool wrapped around his right wrist at which point the laws that were engraved on it appeared to him as clear as day and he pondered:
(Could I fix this thing? I do have mastery in space path and my eyes can see the laws engraved into the space band.)
Nick started to feel that it was possible since he had grown so much over the past months regarding space path, becoming more familiar with it.
(The only thing wrong with the space band is that some of the laws have been erased and/or damaged. All I need to do is fill in the missing laws and and fix the damaged ones.)
Nick did not know anything about repairing magic tools but if it was a matter of affixing laws onto it, his intuition indicated to him that that was not necessarily impossible. First, Nick took the space band off of his wrist and then began examining all of its laws.
After spending a day, Nick determined that there were nearly ten thousand symbols that made up the space path laws that gave the space band its effects but compared to the rank 4 spell that Nick had studied for eight months, the complexity of the laws on the space band were several levels simpler and so Nick was confident that he could fix it.
(I need a way to make minute inscriptions onto the space band.)
After thinking for a while, an idea came to Nick's mind.
(Space.)
Nick's special space expanded all around him and covered the space band. He tried to use his special space to impress upon the space band and soon, he felt a certain familiarity with the space band that was indescribable, like the magic power of his special space was unimpeded by and interacted naturally with the space band.
(This sort of familiarity is probably why my space band became damaged by my magic power when space path laws were added to my body. I just have to make inscriptions using my special space since it can clearly influence the space band.)
Nick tried to alter a few of the damaged laws on the space band using the magic power imbued into his special space and a few moments later, some of the space band's laws had slightly and discretely been altered. Seeing that his attempt had worked, Nick got to work, trying to think up the missing laws in order to engrave them onto the space band and reforming the damaged ones to coincide with the rest.
One week later...
Nick sat cross legged on the floor of the dimly lit cave and observed the space band. He could easily see the laws that were inscribed onto the space band as if they were writings on the wall and to his eyes, all the symbols of the laws could not be more perfect as everything was in place.
(I finally completed the repair. Now, I just have to test it.)
Nick put his space band onto his right wrist and tapped it all the while subtly making his will known. Almost instantly, two loaves of packaged bread and a bottle of orange juice appeared on the ground in front of Nick.
"I did it!"
Nick felt indescribably happy at this moment and quickly picked up the food to begin eating it. Nick almost cried since he was about to have his first meal that wasn't just raw meat and blood after almost a year. After he was done eating the bread, Nick summoned a container of pasta and stewed beef and ate the food, not thinking about anything else until he was done.
(The beauty of the space band is that its own special space preserves food and other prone to expire items indefinitely. I am so grateful.)
When he was done eating and drinking, Nick willed and a sheathed sword appeared within the grasp of his hands and as soon as his right hand touched its handle wrapped in baby tyrant dragon skin, Nick smiled from ear to ear.
"I promise to never put my sword away again since losing the use of it was so inconvenient. If I had Pressure Piece during my fight with Roy, I would have had a much easier time."
Blade path spells at Nick's level required a blade to be cast, that's just how it was and without his sword, Nick could not use his blade path magic up until now which seriously reduced his combat abilities but now that he had a proper sword again, he knew that he was now a greater threat than ever.
Nick unsheathed Pressure Piece and spoke eerily:
"With weapon in hand, killing intent rises."
Nick decided to get started on his plans immediately and left the cave.
(Soul Capturing Coat.)
A cloud of translucent miasma formed around Nick and then condensed to form a thin layer of magic power, partly created using his own soul, that resembled a coat that reached down to his ankles. Nick then cast two spells almost simultaneously with himself as their target:
(Push.)
(Pull.)
Nick's body floated high into the air and started moving towards the North direction, going across the mountain range. When Nick was able to locate a magic beast, he would kill it and absorb its soul with his soul capturing coat. Nick traveled like this for the next three months, searching the entire mountain range by air and capturing the souls of magic beasts that he found whilst all the while working on improvements to some of his current spells.
At the end of the three months, Nick had captured close to sixteen thousand souls of rank 1 and 2 magic beasts. If he did not stop searching for magic beasts periodically to rest and meditate, he might have captured more.
Since the mountain range was mainly void of humans, probably because it had a high concentration of magic beasts and was a harsh environment, Nick did not encounter anyone else until one day when a group of over fifty students appeared at the foot of the mountain range when Nick finally reached the end of it.
*********************************
A relatively large group of students marched along the grassy plain during the day when the sun was directly overhead until they appeared at the foot of a large mountain range. A thin young man with long brown hair that reached to his shoulders and a bright smile walked at the front of the group and then suddenly signaled with his right hand by raising it above his head for the entire group to stop moving.
The young man then turned a round and spoke loudly:
"Everyone, I know that it has been a long journey since we left Shelter Town and we have explored much of the Never Ending Battlefield but we have much more to explore. Even though many of us belong to different academies, it is my hope that the bonds we have forged during our shared experiences will endure and allow us to overcome the hurdles ahead. Now, this mountain range should be fairly large and saturated with magic beasts so this is a chance for all of us to gather many points to increase our scores so I hope everyone is ready to fight their hardest."
Many of the students cheered while some students were doubtful. One student raised his voice, saying:
"Why are we only looking to hunt magic beasts, they give minimal points? You ought to know that Noah. With our numbers, it would be easy to face off against other students and collect points more efficiently."
When the young man said that, all the cheering died down, everyone waited for Noah's response because that was a good question.
Noah internally cursed at the bastard that raised that question, thinking:
(How would I not know that? But hunting other students is easier said than done since many of them are still within the walls of Shelter Town and the rest are scattered all over this realm. Even if we came across groups of students, their numbers would be too low for all of us to get anything from killing them which would end up fracturing our group, not to mention that many of these jokers are actually secretly against murdering other students for points.)
Noah Sinclair looked at his group with the same bright smile as before and said:
"Friends, why should we fight with other students when there are so many points to be gained from the innumerable magic beasts that are out here in this wilderness. We are all trying to get high scores in order to make our respective academies proud, we shouldn't be shooting ourselves in the foot by killing each other."
When Noah finished speaking, most of the students began cheering again and the freckled, black haired young man that asked the question remained silent, showing obvious displeasure on his face. Noah internally sneered at the young man, thinking:
(This loser wants to use me to spark some kind of war to gain benefits but if he was strong enough, he could just do that himself. The mere fact that he is trying to sew discord means that he is too weak to initiate the conflict that he wants. Pathetic, thinking that he could make use of me, you are still too tender.)
Just as Noah was about to give the group instructions, they all heard a youthful but indifferent voice resound throughout the area:
"Are you all here to obtain the rank 3 inheritance? Hmph! You can just forget about it. I, Nick Capitol, am the only one who will obtain this inheritance that's on this mountain range."
Noah opened both of his eyes wide in shock, speaking without thinking:
"What? A rank 3 inheritance? Nick Capitol? On this mountain range?"
Everyone present was shocked after hearing the declaration and immediately looked for the source of the voice. Soon they all realized that a brown complexioned young man with a head full of white hair and strange pitch black eyes that contained red rings was hovering many meters in midair, looking down on them. One student shouted:
"It's him! You all know, right, rumors have been spreading about a crazy guy that made a mess at the undergrounds settlement months ago and has been missing since? He killed a bunch of students and soldiers and only stopped when a rank 3 sergeant intervened but he escaped capture."
Being reminded, everyone realized who this young man was. The people from Richter Order Academy felt an awkward mix of pride and fear that someone from their academy could become so famous while within this realm for killing so many people. The people from Raylam Priest Academy just scoffed because although they had heard the rumors about this man from their classmates and others, they thought that they were all just that, rumors.
"This guy mentioned a rank 3 inheritance being on this mountain range. Is he telling the truth?"
"Why would he bother lying? Since he confronted all of us here, it must be to prevent us from getting to the inheritance. He wants to keep it for himself."
"Arrogance! If he thinks that he can block this daddy here from an inheritance, he clearly has a few screws loose!"
...
All sorts of curses and conjectures were made among the students but Noah just stood in his spot and observed Nick quietly, thinking:
(Is there really an inheritance? Since we didn't know about it to begin with, if his aim was really to keep it for himself, why would he announce its existence?)
Noah felt that Nick's actions were not simple but since an infamous man was hovering over them like the incarnation of a legendary Magician, he had to step forward to show that he was not afraid. Noah puffed out his chest and declared while looking at Nick defiantly:
"Nick Capitol, your vile reputation precedes you. We were not aware of any inheritance but if you think that you can stop us from traveling on this mountain range, then you are just asking for a beating. Quick, fly away right now before I get angry!"
Some students felt emboldened by Noah's declaration and echoed his sentiments:
"Yeah, fuck off and stop your shamelessness!"
"If we can't have that inheritance, then you can forget about having it either!"
"Why are we bothering to curse at this weirdo. Let's just send his ass back to Shelter Town so that he can reflect on the mistake that he made today!"
"Quick, tell us what you know about the inheritance and we might just let you live!"
Nick floated in midair and smiled smugly in response to their 'liveliness' and spoke two words which everyone heard, at which point a chill went down their spines as they felt a burst of magic power emanate from Nick:
"Absolute Pull."