Chapter 21: Dyson’s Struggles
"Hey, you okay man?" Dyson raised his head, watching Zendrix and Hagri sit down across from him. Though, the number of plates in front of the chubby teenager seemed a little much to Dyson. But he ignored the concerning amount of food and nodded his head.
"Yeah I'm good, just tired is all. Last night and the one before haven't been all too great."
"Is it serious? I know of a medication that'll knock you right out." Zendrix offered with concern, making Dyson feel some warmth inside him.
"No thanks. It's a couple bad dreams, that's it. Nothing to worry about. They'll go away in time." He witnessed as Zendrix looked at him deeply, as if he could see through his lie. But if he did, he didn't say so and simply started a conversation with Hagri. Something about how he needed to take his grades and training more seriously.
As for Dyson, despite trying to come off as completely fine, he was anything but. For the last two days, he had been fretting on how to solve his problem. His Quest problem that is, with the true Dyson still sleeping within their shared body. Though he still had 2 months and some change left, he couldn't help but worry about it when thinking of the consequences. Then there was the reward he had to acquire, which would boost his talent by a fair bit.
'I should pay a visit to the Soul Class to get the basics. Maybe I can find a way to solve this issue there.' Thinking this, his mood brightened up a bit as he joined in the conversation. As for Zendrix, he took another glance at Dyson, unknown thoughts inside his mind.
Eventually, lunch was over and it was back to classes. The group of three said their goodbyes and left to their destination. Dyson himself chose to be late for his Aura Practice Class and went to the Soul classroom. Besides, it's not as if he was making any good progress there anyway. Taking a step inside, he noticed the teacher lazily leaning on his chair, the computer in front of him off. There were a few others in the class, but it seemed as if he was waiting for more to arrive before beginning his lecture.
As soon as he entered, Otaris had immediately noticed him without even looking his direction. He spoke out with a slightly bored tone.
"What is it you're looking for?" Dyson was a little stunned since the Professor had his eyes closed and never once looked his way. Just as he was thinking he had some sort of telepathy, the Professor interrupted those thoughts.
"No, I don't have telepathy. I just sensed your soul enter my Class is all. Not exactly complicated and you're not the first to think like that. Now, state your business." Dyson sighed in relief and quickly walked up to his desk, making his thoughts known.
"I want to sign up for a few basic classes." Suddenly, he saw the Professor open his eyes and stare at him with a blank expression.
"Is that the reason why? So you know there's another soul inside you." Instantly, cold sweat dripped down Dyson's back, complete shock written all over his face as he backed up a few steps.
'Does he know I'm not the real one?! No shit the Soul Professor would be able to find out a problem revolving the soul! Should I run?!' But then, the Professor smiled a bit.
"Calm down and take a breath. There's nothing to be worried about. At least, for now anyway." Dyson sighed in relief, patting his chest. It looked like he didn't know he wasn't the true occupant of this body. However, he soon frowned.
"For now? What does that mean?"
"That other soul inside you is currently dormant, asleep. As of now it's harmlessly sitting there without a care in the world. But when it wakes up-" He pointed his finger at Dyson's chest.
"-they'll eat you up and take over your body themselves. Or maybe lock you away in a corner of your own mind while they take control. There's also the possibility of them expelling you, making you turn into a Wandering Ghost. Pick your poison I guess."
Dyson wasn't too shocked as he knew most of that via his System. Except the Wandering Ghost thing, which made him realize he seriously needed to hit the Library. However, he never was someone who liked to study.
"Can you give me any advice on how to stop them?" Otaris put a finger to his chin, leaning back into the chair as he took a few moments to think.
"Well, you could try using a Soul Flask to suck the soul out of you. But you'd need a master of the Soul Element to do such a thing without your own getting whisked away. You could also say fuck it and take a chance of course." Dyson nodded his head seriously, but had no clue on what the Professor was talking about. He had never heard of a Soul Flask.
"Then there's getting someone very proficient in the matter to fuse both of your souls together. You'd basically get a freebie of Soul Strengthening with zero downsides. I myself could do it, but certainly not for free. I'm not a charity and you're not my wife."
"Last way is to handle it yourself, which I seriously doubt would work out well. But whichever choice you're gonna choose, do it quick. Do not wait for that soul to wake up, or you'll be in big trouble. And if I had to guess-" The Professor looked deeply at him for a few moments before continuing.
"You have about two months left. Maybe a bit more." For a second, Dyson thought of asking Otaris for aid.
But then he scrapped that idea. It was likely he'd find out the real truth of the matter and report him, or do something far worse. If he wanted someone to take care of it for him, he would need to find someone else. Someone who doesn't care about the truth.
"Thank you for the help Professor. I think I'd like to try and take care of this myself." Otaris nodded his head and quickly set him up to take some classes on the basics. Then, he impatiently waved his hand for him to leave as his Advanced lecture was about to start.
As Dyson walked through the hallways to the Knight Section of the Academy, he sighed depressingly.
"How the fuck am I meant to do this? Shouldn't a main character have it easy in life?"
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"Until next time, Caerwyn." Kaido said to the icy girl, separating from her and walking towards his next class. Together, they had just finished learning about Ice, along with some other students.
While walking, Kaido began slowly manifesting a six inch icicle above his palm. With his eyes, he could see the mana in the air bend to his will, coming together to form the piece of ice in front of him. It was an interesting and mysterious process, one he could not possibly fathom as of now.
He made the icicle floating above his palm begin spinning very slowly. He was not able to escape getting the occasional odd look, but it wasn't something that drew a lot of attention. Such an act wasn't rare within a building full of Mages. However, as he observed the icicle spin, he suddenly got an idea for a spell.
With a single thought, he began to change the icicle's size and shape to make it more similar to a drill. It's length had decreased slightly, but it's width grew and it became far denser. He started to make it spin as fast as it could possibly go without losing stability over his magic.
As he watched the nearby people pass by him, he had the sudden urge to try it out on them. To truly see how powerful this new spell really was. However, he obviously did no such thing. Instead, he would wait until he went to the Training Courtyard after his Fire Class to test it's power.
But just simply getting rid of his newly named Icicle Drill by dispersing it didn't feel right to him. He changed it's shape once more, shifting and transforming it into a mini Ice Dragon. With a smirk, he made it fly out of an open window for all the students below to see.
The Ice Dragon roared out loudly in a cute little voice before suddenly exploding, sending harmless snowflakes flying everywhere. Whether they were sitting down on the benches with their friends, or underneath of a tree to beat the sun, all of the people outside of the Academy's entrance looked up.
A tiny snowflake fell onto a petite 16 year old girl's nose, making her giggle lightly. It felt cold to the touch, but it was very pleasant. Her friends next to her were awed and caught the flakes with their hands, amazed by their beauty. Suddenly, something caught her eye in the window. A handsome and tall black haired youth. Catching her staring at him mesmerized, he smiled charmingly and left. The girl blushed deeply, becoming interested in the mysterious student.
Meanwhile, Kaido had already arrived at his Fire Class and stepped inside. As for his little stunt? A simple way to boost his reputation and get more followers like that little girl. They were an important shield against any who would defame him. It would be even better if he could get some of the more deranged ones. Their morals would be a lot looser and more willing to following his will.
Taking his seat, he waited for the lecture to begin and scanned his eyes through the other students. However, none of them were special or worth his attention. There were a few who would be fun to fuck, but he already has Hilda and will soon have Veronica given time.
Suddenly, Farsi stood up from his seat and clapped his hands, making a wave of harmless fire spread out from his position. When it touched the students, it brought a pleasant feeling of warmth over them. No harm was done in the slightest.
"Cool right? See, I think Fire gets a bad rap. People only see it and use it for one singular purpose. Destruction. They never explore the other side of it and simply burn everything to a crisp." He shook his head, disappointed. Suddenly, a student's hand rose.
"Professor, isn't Fire suppose to be one of the most destructive Elements in terms of pure power?" Farsi was emotionless as he stared at the student, frightening him.
"Charles was it? Shut it." Charles became down and lowered his head a little. But then he brightened up when hearing Farsi speak again.
"But you are right, so good for you. Can you tell me something though? What else can Fire be used for besides combat?" He thought about it deeply, but eventually gave up.
"I... don't know Professor." Farsi smiled and waved his hand to signal it was fine.
"Cooking." More than a few students became confused at his words.
"You cook your food with a fire do you not? What about huddling around a campfire for warmth? There's Alchemy as well. Blacksmithing. Pottery. Do you see now? Fire is destructive yes, but it also filled with life." The students witnessed as he smiled fondly, making a small orange flame appear in his palm.
"Filled, with creation."
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Unlike what Kaido had thought, Farsi made a great teacher despite his reputation for being an angry volcano. He patiently explained everything in a simple enough manner to grasp the concept quickly.
Currently, he had already finished the lecture and moved to the Training Courtyard for Mages. Here, there were plenty of training dummies who would regenerate no matter how much damage you cause to them. Multiple, spacious arenas were placed across the Courtyard, made for students to fight against one another.
There were many runes carved into the arenas, specifically designed to make it sturdy, isolate the magic from spilling out and harming the spectators, and use emergency healing in case one took too much damage.
Kaido also saw a few large metallic objects that had a small screen float above it. The Power Tester, an extremely popular device made to test how powerful one's spell was in a numerical value. The higher the number, the stronger the magic. Since this was what he was here for, he went up to the closest one where a 3rd Star Mage was testing his own spells.
"Come on Zane! You gotta beat Brian's highscore! Otherwise, what would Maggie think?!" A brown haired, slightly handsome young man was being cheered on by some of his friends. His uniform was dark green, signifying he was a 3rd Star. He took a deep breath and readied himself.
Suddenly, he raised his left and right hand in tandem. Palms facing each other, small streaks of blue lightning began appearing out of thin air around him. In the middle of his palms, a blue ball larger than all the streaks formed. With a loud shout, Zane shot the lightning bolt forwards at the metallic object in front of him.
It crackled like thunder and moved faster than what the human eye could follow. When it made contact, the Power Tester shook slightly as a loud boom took place. All eyes focused on the screen up above and watched the number climb. Zane himself clenched his fists, sneaking a peek towards another young man in a green uniform. His rival in love, Brian.
"You did it!" The sudden shouting of his friends made him refocus on the number. His eyes widened with happiness as he smiled.
"1982 PL (Power Level)! Higher than that bastard by a hundred points! Nice work Zane!" They all patted him on the back, hyping him up as he shot a smug look at his rival, making the teenager grit his teeth in anger.
"Excuse me gentlemen, but may I use this?" A voice appeared behind them, startling them as they turned around. Immediately, they were more than a little shocked to see an extremely handsome black haired youth in front of them. It certainly made them envious and immediately have a degree of displeasure about him.
"Not… at all. Go right ahead." Zane faltered slightly, recognizing who this was in front do them. Kaido, the boy wonder and so-called Greatest Talent of the Ages.
The man himself nodded gratefully and walked up to the Power Tester. It was a 10 meter tall metallic and smooth tower. Out of the corner of his eye, he already noticed a crowd starting to form around him. It was only natural after all. These people both wanted to see his greatness and watch him soar into the sky. But at the same time, wanted to see his downfall. If he didn't live up to the hype, they'd ruthlessly talk behind his back, claiming he wasn't anything special.
'I can't let them down, can I?' He smirked arrogantly, prepared to amaze these things called people. They were just puppets. Puppets to be moved according to his will.
Only after stroking his ridiculous god-complex a few times did he finally get started. First, he simply raised his hand and shot out a single icicle to test it's damage. He made it the same size and density of the Drill to truly see the difference.
Watching him attack, the surrounding people held their breath and focused on the rising numbers. After a few seconds, it had stopped at an impressive 1720 PL. Seeing this, the entire crowd had their jaws drop. The reason for this was because they knew his Rank was suppose to be 2nd Star.
The problem came when one realized that a normal 2nd Star didn't go any higher than 250 PL. Even the ones on the cusp of becoming 3rd Star only reached 400 PL. This meant his combat prowess was far higher than his Rank suggested.
It wasn't the most rare thing in the world for a genius to do such a thing. However, nicknamed Rank Jumpers, usually fizzled out during the higher Stars due to the sheer gap of power.
"Low." Kaido's single word and frown made more than a few show expressions of pure disbelief. They could not believe he was disappointed in such a high score for his Rank.
Suddenly, Kaido created an orange fireball in his palm. It was large, easily the size of a chair as it burned bright like a star. With a wave of his hand, the fireball was sent flying into the Power Tester. It created a loud boom and sent smoke everywhere, covering the number score. However, those with higher Ranks knew it was a stronger attack than before.
After Kaido waved his hand to make the smoke clear using some wind, all eyes turned up at the screen to see 1963 PL. Off to the side, Zane sighed in relief as the others cheered and clapped. He felt a little ashamed, but it couldn't be helped. Watching someone who arrived a week ago suddenly surpass him would make him very depressed.
"Not bad! Alright, let's get a bit serious." Kaido's words made the crowd stop. They originally thought they fireball was his strongest attack and were about to leave. But clearly, he had more up his sleeve.
Once more he summoned another icicle, but this one was far different looking. It's shape was identical to a drill as it began to spin with an extreme amount of speed. Smiling, Kaido gently blew on it and sent it flying, even faster than the fireball. Nothing happened when it struck the Power Tester, besides drilling into it for a few seconds before breaking. Of course, such a low level attack didn't even scratch it. For example, 4th Star Knights and Mages could get up to 8,000 PL at the minimum.
Again the growing crowd looked up as the number climbed even higher than before. Zane tightened his fists as it approached his score. It wasn't only him, but many other spectators secretly wished for his downfall. For the number to be lower than theirs.
However, life always seeks to disappoint. Especially during the best times.
"No way..."
"It must be broken. Only reasonable explanation."
"What the fuck was the point in me training so hard? Suffering so much pain and heartache? For what?"
Most were in disbelief, while some were delusional and claimed faulty equipment. Zane bowed his head slightly, a bad expression to his face as he grit his teeth. To him, this showed him a simple thing. There was always someone above you, no matter how great you might think you are.
"2310 isn't too shabby." Kaido nodded his head in satisfaction. Not only for the attention, but also the high score.
This showed his level of power wasn't limited to 3rd Star and was in the upper echelon. In fact, he would be considered more dangerous due to him being able to spam spells nearly infinitely. Although it was highly unlikely for him to be able to beat a 4th Star, he would at least have the capabilities to fight back. Though, he wouldn't truly know unless he fought one.
Just as the crowd finally believed him to be done, he pointed his palm at the Power Tester once more.
"Again?!"
"What kind of bullshit is this?! How am I a 3rd Star genius and weaker than him?!"
However, Kaido didn't pay attention to them and frowned slightly before relaxing. He had tried using Soul Tear, but it didn't work.
'It must've been because it doesn't have a soul. That makes sense.'
Before anyone could guess what was happening, they saw two foot long and almost invisible blade shoot out of his palm. The space around the blade fluctuated slightly wherever it passed before slamming into the Tester with a bang. This time, the crowd was already numbed and didn't have too much of a reaction.
Only Kaido wasn't too happy. It was lower than he thought, only coming in at 2588 PL. He wasn't surprised his Space Blade was stronger than the Icicle Drill as it was known for it's lethality before anything else. But the low score made him believe changes were needed. It should have at least gone up to 2700.
With that, he turned around and left with a smile on his face. Already having an idea on how to truly improve it.