NOVEL WEB Chapter 28: Yin and Yang
The sun was already setting, by the time the car rolled up into the driveway of my house. Hearing the unfamiliar noise, Jacob came out. He slowly walked towards me as I got out.
“Welcome back.” He greeted me.
“It's good to be back. Did you see Deus yet?”
“He came back a couple of hours ago.” Jacob informed me.
When I entered my house, Mike welcomed me.
“Mike, I have a gift for you. Let me freshen up first, then I will give it to you.”
When I came back from my room, having taken a hot shower, Mike and Jacob, were already sitting at the dining table. He was fidgeting a lot, excitement sparkling in his eyes as he pondered about his gift.
Deus slithered to my side as I took the Spirit Egg and placed it at the centre of the round table.
“Um, what is this?” Mike stared at the dichromatic Orb in confusion.
“Mike, do you remember what your Skill is? Aside from Foresight?”
“Of course! It’s some S Rank Skill called Spirit Master.” Suddenly his eyes drooped like a puppy in the rain. “But I heard, it’s a useless Skill, despite its high Rank.”
‘Hmm? That's weird! I never told him anything much about the skill. How did he find out about the public opinion of Spirit Master? Did someone tell him? Anyway…’
“It’s true that society deems this particular Skill to be useless. But that’s only because they haven’t seen its true potential yet.” I explained to him and pointed toward the Egg. “This Egg is the main part of your Skill.”
“That Egg?” The confusion deepened in Mike’s eyes.
“You know my friend Deus, right? He came out of an Egg like that.”
“Wait, so will I get a pet like Deus?”
“Well, a pet is a bit…” I was gonna refute, but seeing Mike’s sparkling eyes over a prospective companion, I shut my mouth. “Yes! You will get a pet!”
“What? A pet? We are more honour-” Deus tried to argue, but I clamped his mouth.
But the ban on his mouth did little to dampen his fury. ‘How can you say that about me! We Spirits take pride in our species.’
‘Of course, I know how strong you guys are. But at this point, it will be better to show him what you can do rather than explain it.’ I calmly explained to him.
“Mike, why don’t you inject some of your mana into the Egg.” I instructed him.
“Oh! Okay!” He stared at the Egg in nervousness. He gently placed his hand on top of the Egg. A warm glow emitted from his hand before sinking into the Egg.
‘Crack!’ Immediately Mike retracted his hand in fear. I gave him a look of reassurance, as four pairs of eyes stared at the Egg, slowly hatching to life.
The shell was slowly pushed away, and a small snow-white paw emerged out of the Egg.
As more of the shell began to fall apart, a baby fox slowly tumbled out. As we adored the white furball, a squeak came out of the Egg. A black snout pushed out, searching for its twin. The baby fox slowly tumbled out, making its way toward us with its clumsy steps.
Deus came forward to examine the two new Spirits.
‘Wow! Mike lucked out on the Spirit Department. Two Spirits in a single Egg. That’s extremely rare.’
As Deus examined the two newborns, they, in turn, cooed over Deus’ shimmering golden scales.
‘Hey Deus, why aren’t these two talking?’ I remembered how Deus started speaking the moment he hatched.
‘Obviously not! They are newborns. Didn’t you see them hatch in front of your eyes?’
‘I mean, I saw you hatch too. But it’s not like you were acting like one.’
‘I am far more unique than other Spirits.’ Deus puffed out his chest as if he was proud of something.
‘You mean you are weirder than other Spirits!’ I corrected him, shooting him a smirk.
Deus stared at me in shock. ‘Master..!’
“Well, Mike! How do you like your gifts?” I asked.
Looking at the babies in excitement, Mike's hand fidgeted over their heads, nervous about touching their delicate bodies. He turned towards me. “They are adorable.” He told me with a wide grin.
“Why don’t you name them?” I advised him.
“Names?” He still nervously looked at the two baby foxes.
“Gosh, at this rate you will never be able to hold them.” I gently scooped the two and placed them in Mike's arms.
He instantly froze up as the two babies squealed in joy at being held by their Master.
“So what are you going to name them?”
Mike gave it a long thought, and then finally spoke up. “I will name the black one Yuna. And the white one will be Yuki.”
The two Spirits barked at their Master, delighted at their new names.
‘Appraisal’
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Yuna (Yin Spirit) Title: The Duality Spirit Rank: E Stats:
Yin is a Spirit that was created by the concept of Opposite Forces. She depicts the passive and feminine side, as compared to her male counterpart. Mana Compatibility:
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Yuki (Yang Spirit) Title: The Duality Spirit Rank: E Stats:
Yang is a Spirit that was created by the concept of Opposite Forces. He depicts the active and masculine side, as compared to his female counterpart. Mana Compatibility:
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As Mike, Jacob, and Deus played with the pups, I brought out some milk for the two to drink.
“I think we will need to buy some pet supplies?” Jacob told me.
“I will remember to order some tomorrow morning!”
I picked Yuna up and placed her on my lap. Then I dipped my finger in the milk and brought it up to her mouth. She quickly began to lick it up.
"What is that you are doing?" Mike curiously asked me.
"I remembered seeing in a documentary that this is how you feed baby animals. It is usually for when they refuse to drink out of the bottle, but since I don't have one either way..." I explained.
"Let me try too!" Mike sat down beside me and began to observe my actions. Looking at his attitude, I am sure he would take good care of his Spirits.
"You should be careful here otherwise the baby can bite your fingers. Not that it would hurt, since they haven't got their baby teeth yet." For the next hour, I did my best to explain it to him.
Since I was tired after the Dungeon Raid, I decided to go to bed after dinner. I closed my eyes as the others continued to play.
The next morning, I woke up quite early. Mike had passed out on the couch, with all three Spirits sleeping on the cushions.
“They fell asleep quite late last night.” Jacob was sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping a cup of Darjeeling tea as he surfed through his laptop.
“You woke up quite early.” I poured a cup for myself, taking a seat beside him.
“When you get to my age, habits are less likely to change.”
Jacob was a normal 87-year-old human. If he had Awakened, he would have been considered one of the First Generation Heroes.
But now, he was just an old and retired priest. But despite being so far in age, he was unlike the old men from my previous world. Just by being in an atmosphere with mana, his ageing process had slowed down. He was also quite fit, despite his old age. I would believe it if someone told me this guy was in his early 60s.
“Ding! Dong!” Suddenly the doorbell rang.
‘I am not expecting any visitors so early in the morning!’
“Ah! It must be Mike’s friend!”
“Friend?”
“Yeah! Recently Mike befriended a guy his age, who lives nearby. He began visiting not so long ago.”
“Ding! Dong!” The bell rang again.
'I am curious who this mysterious friend is!'
When I opened the door, standing in front of me was a handsome, silver-haired boy.
“Ryder?”
'I never expected him to be the guy who befriended Mike!'
“Aren’t you Rachel’s professor?” Ryder looked at me in surprise. “I didn’t know this was your house.”
“It’s no wonder. I usually stay at the Academy dorms."
"Um, is Mikael there?"
“He isn’t awake yet, but still welcome in.” I invited him inside.
Ryder stepped inside and went to greet Jacob at the counter.
“Ah, Ryder! It’s good to see you again.”
“Good morning, Sir Jacob! It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“Why don’t you go and wake Mikael up.”
When Ryder went up to the sofa, a gleeful sound came out of his mouth.
“Oh my, Mr. Ray! I didn’t know you had so many pets with you.” He stared at Yuki and Yuna in adoration.
“I just got them yesterday. They are for Mike.” I explained to him.
I was a bit worried that Rufus might find out about my Spirits from Ryder, but I dismissed the thought.
The Spirits were already bonded so the League can't take them away from us.
“But what’s with the snake?” Ryder pointed to Deus, who was slowly waking up because of the sudden disturbance.
“That one’s mine. His name’s Deus.” I introduced him.
“Wow, his scales are beautiful.” Hearing the compliment, Deus opened his eyes.
‘Haa. Now this guy knows how to respect someone. Unlike a rude someone I know, who compares us to mere pets.’
‘Well this rude someone here provides you with high-class monster meat, doesn’t he? Every monster corpse that you eat can be sold for at least half a million R, you know?’
Deus fell silent at my retort.
Hearing voices, the other three woke up.
“Oh, Ryder! When did you get here?” Mike asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Just a minute ago.”
“Mike, why don’t you freshen up first.” I told him, as I took Ryder to the breakfast table.
After came back from his shower, we all sat down. I had prepared a variety of eggs, sandwiches, and freshly squeezed juice.
"Wow, this looks amazing!" Mike complimented me.
"Of course! Though not as good as Jacob, I am a decent cook if I must say."
"No need to sell yourself short Ray." Jacob praised me, as he picked up a sandwich.
After a hearty meal, Mike and Ryder went out to the garden to train.
Jacob told me before that lately Ryder was giving Mike weapons' training. I was grateful for that since I hadn’t learnt enough about it myself yet to help Mike.
‘But isn’t Ryder supposed to die soon? In the novel, he was said to have spent his remaining days depressed over his certain fate. Did something change from the novel?’
‘Appraisal’
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Name: Ryder Briar Rank : Unawakened (Awakening Restricted) Status: Cursed Curse: Ryder’s body has been cursed to be able to absorb mana from outside but never be able to Awaken. Soon his internal mana will overflow and cause a mana explosion leading to death. Time Until Death: 1 Month, 3 Days. ==========LOCKED========== Potential Rank: S Suitable Class: Weapon Master Mana Compatibility:
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‘What the hell? This boy is going to die in a month?’
Not to mention, he’s gonna die from mana explosion. Mana explosion was a condition that occurred when the body had too much mana and needs an outflow. It was something that High-Rankers suffered from if they became inactive for a long time. Of course, the treatment was simple. Just use magic! But for someone like Ryder, that was impossible.
Even right now, this boy must be in a lot of pain, from the mana that was fighting inside him, wanting to come out.
“Ding! Dong!”
The doorbell rang again.
This time, a delivery man was standing at the threshold. He handed me a letter before going back.
The envelope was quite fancy, so I am pretty sure this was an invitation. I opened it up. The contents read:
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You're invited to the ALL THAT GLITTERS: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION On 21st June, 20XX At 5 PM In The Aurum Guild Headquarters, Capital City Dress to impress and join us for an unforgettable night of elegance, live entertainment, delicious cuisine, and great company. RSVP by 1st June, 20XX to XXX Sincerely, The Aurum Guild |
‘Huh? Isn’t today the 18th of June? Why am I getting the invitation now?’ Ah, wait...
I remembered the reminder I had gotten at the Academy.
Well, it was about time that I cut ties with the Laxon Family. This event would be the perfect chance to go meet Ray's family.
But there was another problem. The deadline for the decline of the Laxon Family was approaching quickly. Even if I cut ties now, there is a huge chance that I would still be considered an accomplice to my half-brother’s wrongdoings.
If the executives of Hero League declared me to be an accomplice, it was the after-world for me. And the attitude I saw them display previously, didn't exactly leave a positive impression.
‘Thwack! Thud!’
The sound of wooden swords clashing came from behind me, as Mikael and Ryder trained. As I stared at the silver-headed boy, I realised what I can do to completely escape my punishment.
I decided to visit the Academy today.
A little less than a week had passed since the Midterms event, and although the break was supposed to be for two weeks, I decided to head back.
There were still many students roaming the campus, despite there being no classes.
The threat of Faydes roaming the campus was still high, so there was only one reason why the students will be here.
A character arc for the story's protagonist. In every novel you see, there is the main character trying to stick his nose in problems that the authorities should be managing.
Well, it's not like I didn’t understand them. The monsters in such arcs were usually weak, and almost every fantasy world had great healing tech in them, so the students were probably getting reckless, using this fact to their advantage.
And of course, my friend's characters were part of such a cliché development.
Such actions were usually done by the characters to show the audience that the character was someone strong enough to fight back and not be a by-stander.
Though, now that I was a teacher, instead of thinking that he was a main character, he only looked like a troublemaking teenager to me.
Wow, I pity the adults who are in charge of the main characters in novels.
‘Shouldn’t you be on alert? You were the only professor that got attacked last time.’ Deus sneakily brought up by dark past. ‘You passed out the last time you saw that nightmare.’
‘That only happened because it was a memory from a long time ago. I am prepared this time.’
‘If that’s true, then you should be more prepared. Faydes only show your darkest fears. If you are prepared for it, then they will simply show you a different nightmare.’
‘Is that so?’ In the novel, monster characteristics weren't explained so deeply, so having Deus explain facts like this was helpful.
‘Though it does make me wonder where did this guy learn all this from?’
As the two of us were discussing how to battle a Fayde, Misa approached me.
“Ray? I didn’t know you were coming today?” She looked at me in surprise.
“Ah. I actually came to meet you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Well, I said I would help you with your investigation. But I never really did anything. So I came to help.” I explained, a bit guilty.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Aren't you busy with some complicated stuff yourself? I heard about the Dungeon Raid from Kazuya. That must not have been a pleasant experience.”
“Wasn’t the thing about Elves supposed to be a national secret or something?” I found this unfair. I had to sign an NDA that was fatal to me, but he was going around spewing secrets like nothing.
“Well technically, I am a part of the League too, so it's okay for me to know such information.” She explained, a bit apologetic.
“That’s still unfair.” I quietly grumbled.
“Do you want an update on the monster situation?” She asked me, subtly changing the subject.
I nodded at the question.
“Well, we have technically cleared out all the Faydes, except one. It's hiding pretty well, so nobody has had any luck in searching for it.” She explained.
‘That would be a piece of cake with my Appraisal.’
“Any reports on finding out who was the perpetrator in getting the monsters in?” I asked.
“None as of yet.”
Finding a Fallen among our ranks would be difficult for me.
I would have to use Appraisal on everyone to check whether they had demonic energy or not.
In the novel, I remembered that one of the new Professors was supposed to be a Fallen. But weirdly, when I checked them before, neither of the two possessed demonic energy.
‘I would have first thought that Appraisal was not able to scan demonic energy, but that felt highly unlikely since it was able to scan the demonic curse on Ryder. So that means neither of them truly went to the other side.’
“I will start with searching for the Fayde.” I reported.
“Sure, any help counts. Oh, and make sure to warn the students. Some of them are going around trying to search for it. They think they will make it to the news headlines for capturing a monster.”
“I will keep a lookout for misbehaving students as well then.” The two of us thus parted ways.
I decided to head to my apartment for now.