Crimson Core

It took a bit of time before Kai could get to his chamber, he had to walk slowly.

“You’re back!”

“Ougff~” Air was forced out of Kai’s lungs as something heavy fell on him without warning, and his facial expression almost changed from expressionless.

The moment Kai opened his door, the first thing he saw was an ecstatic Darcy jump on him. “You know, this would have been awkward if I wasn’t standing here.”

Kai’s voice lacked emotion. Kai didn’t really appreciate this, what would Chelsea think if she saw him now?

“Why do you have to always damp my joy?” Darcy asked with a pouted expression. She unconsciously pushed her full breasts on Kai’s chest, any normal man would puke blood at the feel of Darcy’s full chest.

But Kai was no normal man, he was a taken man, Chelsea’s man.

“So,” Kai dropped Darcy on the ground. “…What is it?” Kai asked with a melancholy expression.

Darcy did not seem to like how Kai put his words. “You don’t want me here…by the way, what’s wrong in coming to see my Lord?”

Darcy was almost acting like a child. If someone saw her now, they would most likely guess that Darcy was possessed or something. “I just wanted to come as see if you were back, I also came to ask you what happened to me, that night”

Darcy felt sad that Kai didn’t want to see her and decided to leave. She was almost leaving the chamber when she heard her name. “Darcy… What do you know about this?”

“What’s the where did you get it?” Darcy’s eyes widened in shock.

“It was a gift”. Kai said nonchalantly.

The more nonchalant Kai seemed about the token he held in his hands the more Darcy had her mind blown.

“This— This is— I need a closer look!” Darcy moved up to Kai and took the token from Kai’s hands. “it’s… Real.”

“I know it’s real... What is it?” Kai sat on a chair, looking at the show in front of him.

“This is the token of the Silver Wing faction!” Darcy said in one breath.

“The silver wing faction?” Kai had never heard about this faction before.

“Well, yes, the Silver Wing faction. Lester didn’t tell you?” Darcy cooked her eyes at the mention of her fiancée’s name, such as saying what incompetence!

“Your little boyfriend told me, or the class, nothing of it.” Kai said with a smug expression. Kai had found out that Lester was engaged to Darcy, a kind of business marriage between families.

“Don’t tease me! You know he is not my boyfriend. You could take that role if you’d like~” Darcy was trying her best to be flirty.

Kai raised one of his eyebrows. “Is that how you talk to your Lord?”

Kai took Darcy as a subordinate, more of a friend, but he still had to assert dominance over her. Nonetheless, Kai’s blood in them had unconsciously put them in a master-servant relationship.

So even if Kai didn’t exert dominance, whatever he told her to do, that would be what she would do. Even if it would cost her her life.

The same applied to Samantha. But right now their loyalty to Kai had not reached that level where they would lay down their lives for him.

“I am terribly sorry, my Lord,” Darcy said in a low voice with her head bowed.

Kai didn’t even release his aura; he just changed the tone of his voice and his facial expression. Darcy simply genuinely feared him.

Still in the same tone of voice but with a relaxed expression, Kai responded. “Now bring to light this faction you spoke about.”

Kai didn’t notice, but his choice of words had changed from casual to formal, notice, as to that of a king speaking to his subordinate.

“Yes, my Lord. The factions are organizations, like a party. They are like the school’s council, only much simpler and more numerous, divided into groups of mages. During the mid-year assessments, you could enter as an individual or as a faction,” she paused.

“...without a faction, all your gains are yours, but you are left without protection, and every mage participating in the assessment is your enemy. But as a faction, the points are shared among members, and the disadvantages of being an individual participant disappear. That doesn’t mean that the factions do not have disadvantages. Darcy wanted to continue talking when Kai stopped her.

“You have said enough.” Kai said with a wave of his hand.

Kai had come to understand the concept of this faction thing. Darcy wanted to explain to Kai that a faction could as well exist outside the central academy and that the academic bureau had little or no power over the factions and their operations.

‘Oh… He will figure it out.’

“What faction are you in?” Kai asked.

“Presently I am in the purple fang faction,” Darcy responded in a low voice; she was still scared of Kai lashing out at her.

“That’s alright, answer me this: how do I start my faction?” Kai still kept the tone of voice.

“You want to start your faction?!” Darcy asked with a shocked expression.

Kai smiled. “That doesn’t answer my question, you know.” Although Kai smiled, it was a warm smile after all, not a sinister one, but it still drove shivers down Darcy’s spine.

Darcy was visibly drained. She looked shell-shocked with fear.

‘Do I look that scary?’ Kai asked himself as he shook his head wryly.

“I apologize, my Lord.”

“No need, just answer the question.”

Darcy thought for some time. “My Lord, it is fairly easy to form one. You just have to have a peak layer Count level mage as a member; the rest is just formality.” Darcy gave an honest answer.

Kai smiled and this time Darcy wasn’t as scared as she was when he smiled the first time.

“So where do I sign up... by the way, you are leaving that faction of yours.” Kai said matter-of-factly.

Darcy was simply in a dilemma. She could not refuse her Lord, not now that he could kill her with a clap of his hands, or so she thought.

“Yes my Lord,” Darcy agreed after a bit of thinking. “We have to go to the enrolment unit. There is one in the central academy; I can take you there.”

Kai was amused with Darcy’s reaction and serious expression. “Hahaha, Darcy, why so... Serious?” Kai sounded ecstatic. He had a crazed smile on his face.

‘I just can’t seem to understand him, but he is so handsome.’

“we might have a problem,” Darcy confided.

“Speak your mind.”

“Well, the thing is, the Purple Fang faction is a subsidiary of the Firefield family. It’s run by my sister, Martha Firefield.” Darcy said in a low voice but the atmosphere was getting lighter.

“So when do we get to meet this sister of yours?” Kai asked nonchalantly.

“We could meet her whenever we leave the school, but I think she will be coming to school in a few days.”

“She is no longer a student?”

Darcy laughed lightly at Kai’s ignorance. “Yes, she graduated ten years ago.”

“Let’s go. Tell me about her as we go.” Kai helped Darcy up off the floor and flashed her a quick, warm smile.

“She is the first daughter of the Firefield family... the last time I knew she was a mid-layer Baron-level mage. She could have had a city or scores of cities as expected of a Baron-level mage, but she brought her faction to the outside world after she graduated from the central magic academy... Blah…blah…blah.” Darcy spoke at length about her elder sister.

By the time she was done speaking, they had already reached the enrolment unit of the central continent.

The enrolment unit was a subsidiary office of the Adventures and errands bureau. Every academy had it. Everything seemed normal about the building, except that it looked run down as if it had never been used.

—Knock. Knock—

Kai rapped on the door. “Are you sure there is somebody in here?”

Kai had a reason for asking; the enrolment unit looked so dilapidated. Either no one was in there or the person in there was such a powerful mage that even Kai could not sense the person’s presence.

Come in.

Kai heard this in his head; he turned to look at Darcy. “I heard it too.” Darcy was somewhat relaxed.

“Hahaha…. I honestly thought I was going crazy.” Kai’s expression changed from laughing hysterically to gravely serious in a matter of seconds.

‘Is he alright?’ Darcy asked herself, Kai seemed more... Laid back recently.

Kai opened the door into a dark room.

It had no windows and no light source except for a few specks of light floating around the room.

“Ahh, lady Dorchaidehe, welcome. How may I be of service?” A sweet voice assaulted Kai’s ears.

The stereotype would be seeing an old mage or something like that, but the person in front of Kai was the exact opposite. She was one word: Stunning.

The lady mage seemed that she had dressed to kill; her pale skin looked like they had never seen the sun. Her purple hair was full, and her facial features were almost deity-perfect.

But something was off; the lady mage in front of them seemed to blend perfectly with her environment. If not for the fact that Kai or Darcy could see her and hear her voice, her existence would be like that of air.

Unknown

Rank: unclear

Element: unclear

Age: 890. Year’s.

Looking at her age, Kai almost could not hide the shocked expression on his face.

“Hmph… You seem to have seen something. You are a special one, aren’t you, but don’t waste my time. What can I do for you?” The young-old lady seemed to be in a hurry.

Kai noticed that she had gotten a whiff off of him. “We came to register a faction,” Kai answered void of emotions.

“Just the two of you? You know the requirements, right?” The lady seemed not flustered in the least with her facial expression but her tone of voice sent a different message.

“We already have a peak layer Count level mage... Let’s get this show on the road, lady.” Kai flashed a sensual grin, which Darcy could not see in the dark room.

After a few moments, the room became lit, mostly due to the specks of light becoming brighter. Kai brought himself forward and sat down in front of the lady.

“come…. Sit.” Kai patted his lap and motioned for Darcy to sit on it.

Darcy blushed and almost flew into his arms. Of course, the lady knew what this meant; she knew who the lady was but the lad... She had never met him before.

“So it’s like this.”

It didn’t take long before Kai and Darcy had officially registered the new faction, Shadow; and Darcy officially left the Purple Fang faction.

Kai had chosen the claw design as the official shadow faction insignia.

“You are all done; you may leave.” The woman told them both.

“Thank you… A bit of advice: You don’t have to apologize to anyone for the way you look... He he.”

“you—”

—Slam—

Before the woman could scold Kai or anything like that, the door had been slammed. Although Kai could still hear her if she spoke to his mind. But if she did so now, she would seem desperate to get back at a first-year.

Kai kept quiet on the way to his dorm.

“Let me know when your sister arrives.” Kai seemed cold.

‘Why is his facial expression not steady?’ Darcy was confused but she nodded and left.

Before she left, she looked up at Kai’s face and saw a warm smile. Well, not a full-fledged smile but the smile was there and it was for her.

Darcy was happy, she literary skipped to her chamber, she looked like a teenager in love.

Later that day at night…

Samantha came to Kai’s chambers for her routine pointers and all that.

Kai took his time and explained it all to her. He seemed like the perfect older brother, and Samantha was clearly satisfied with the pointers she had received.

Kai was proud of Samantha. It took Darcy seven years to get to the peak of the Count Mage realm. On the other hand, Samantha was already at the peak layer of the commoner mage realm, and she just started her elemental assimilation a few days ago. Her talent truly was terrifying.

“Samantha I have news for you.” Kai told her as they were about to call it a day. “I formed a faction; you are the third member of the faction.”

Samantha was clearly shocked. She had been in the central academy for a year now, so she knew all about factions and their politics. Instead of voicing out her ideas or anything, she simply accepted.

“I will do my best, my Lord,” Samantha bowed.

Darcy had had a few talks with Samantha on how she should address Kai as when they were alone; she had listened well.

“You may go.”

A few moments later, Samantha was no longer in his chamber. Kai lay in bed looking up to his ceiling; he closed his eyes and fell asleep with a faint smile plastered on his lips.

Nothing remarkable happened within the rest of the days.

Kai got used to his body and his new skills as well as spells, both passively activated and actively activated.

Darcy took her time to consolidate her realm; she was close to a breakthrough, but it was best not to rush.

Samantha was on a hot streak; she had already crushed the threshold of the commoner mage realm and stepped into the realms of magic warriors.

The Nyx brothers held their peace and watched Kai from the sidelines, making sure they made no mistakes in their assumptions.

The Silver Wing faction’s mage gathered scores of mages, doing what only he knew.