"Well, damn."
Caecus sensed Nyx standing in front of him, in one of the private training rooms that were given to the Culmen.
His own skin was bruised, and there was a cut on his cheek, with dried blood over it, forming a crust.
Nyx's condition, on the other hand, was far worse than his, as he could feel that she had broken her forearm, and her body was covered in cuts all over.
When she saw him though, her face was contorted with worry.
"Didn't I tell you not to go too hard during duel class? I thought we were supposed to train now…" she got close, grabbed his face, her palms touching his cheeks, and turned his head upward so that she could see his face clearly.
Caecus flinched when she did that, and acted as if his face hadn't turned as red as a tomato.
"Why are you worrying about me? You're in much worse condition. What happened?" he said, removing her hands.
"Ah… don't worry, this won't be a problem." She said, and then he felt her soul essence.
This was the first time he had, as she had somehow been able to hide it before.
Her soul density was three times that of Caecus, who just stood there shocked.
Not to mention, the amount of soul essence she possessed was also far greater than Caecus', due to her soul core having a higher rank.
'She's not only higher ranked, but also has such a high soul density…'
Caecus was from the main family of Caelum, giving him the same soul density as any other heir of a major corpus like Titus. His sister simply had that mutation that made her monstrous.
But he hadn't expected Nyx to have such a high soul density.
It flowed down into her forearm, and after half a minute it was mended, as if nothing had happened.
'Healing? That would be the next stage of Assimilation for me… I was so focused on progressing my Augmentation that I forgot about Assimilation.'
Her soul essence then gathered around the entire surface of her body, and the cuts she had sustained healed as well.
It was as if she had never been injured.
"You don't need to worry about me, this is nothing out of the ordinary." Nyx said and shook her head. Then she looked at him sternly. "You, on the other hand, cannot heal yourself."
Caecus' fists clenched together, and he tried to hide his face by turning around.
Nyx, on the other hand, simply grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around, and then grabbed his wrist, making him follow her.
"You're a lucky guy. I have elixirs lying around for emergencies," she explained, her voice stern.
'This is how she gets when she's worried, huh…'
The Culmen each had their own private training rooms, as mentioned before. The normal students had a large training ground that they shared with the people from their building.
The training rooms were connected to the dorm rooms by a door, so when they stepped through the next one, they were already in Nyx's room.
"Wait here and don't move." The Noctis heiress said, before walking over to something that looked like a freezer.
Caecus could feel soul essence emanating from it, but didn't think much of it.
After rummaging through it, she picked out a vial containing a liquid.
Then she walked over to Caecus and put it into his hand.
"Drink." she ordered.
"Are you sure? I heard these are extremely expensive."
'I've actually never had a healing elixir before.'
"Money isn't a problem, and this is a lower-grade potion. They aren't that expensive." Nyx answered, staring at him expectantly.
"You really don't need to—"
"I said drink the potion." The black-haired girl's voice suddenly carried a very threatening edge.
The hairs on the back of his neck standing up, Caecus forced himself to bring the vial to his lips.
The liquid poured into his mouth.
'It tastes like apple and some kind of citrus fruit.'
Caecus swallowed, and when he did, he felt a warm sensation spread throughout his entire body.
Specifically, the spots where the cuts lingered started growing hotter and hotter, and he felt as if they were burning.
When he swallowed everything, his face grimaced as he endured the pain, but after a few seconds it was already gone.
The crust of blood on his skin remained, but it began to peel away, eventually falling off completely.
His skin was as smooth as ever.
"Wow… that worked really well. Thank you, Nyx." Caecus said gingerly, scratching his cheek.
When he thanked her, the stern expression on her face disappeared, and she returned to her usual affectionate self. A bright smile appeared on her face.
"Don't mention it. Now come on, we have to train." She grabbed his wrist once again and started leading him back into the training room.
"Nyx, who did you fight to end up like that though…?"
Considering her soul density and rank, he didn't think anyone in their year besides his sister could put even a scratch on her. He wasn't quite sure of his sister's strength though, as he had never sensed her soul essence.
"The Zenith, of course." She replied, her smile not fading, but her gaze averting, as if her thoughts had shifted.
"How did that fight go?" Caecus was very curious about Aurelia's strength.
"I just managed to land one hit on her, and that hit was brushed off like it was nothing. Her soul density and concept are ridiculous." The blind boy felt the taller girl beside him shiver slightly.
"Is she really that strong? I mean… your soul density seems ridiculous too," he pressed a little further.
They arrived in the middle of the training room.
She spun around and held his shoulders in place.
"If I say ridiculous, I don't mean it in a flattering sense. Her soul density compared to mine would be... five times."
"...Five times, you say?"
"Yes. Five times."
'What?! Five times? That would make her soul density fifteen times mine! And I'm on par with the other heirs!'
Caecus felt dizzy. The reply had startled him so much that his mind went blank for a moment.
Nyx noticed his shock and giggled.
"Don't worry. She herself told me that she has the highest recorded soul density in the history of humanity. She is quite similar to me in personality, just that she's stricter with rules, I'd say. The perfect heiress. The Zenith told me that she didn't even use ten percent of her soul essence during her fight against me in the ranking exams."
"Does that mean she can compete with people of higher ranks?"
"Of course. She can probably defeat the average Rank Four soul essence user with ease. Rank Five is within the realm of possibility as well, although the ones with higher soul density would probably be a major struggle because of Metamorphosis."
"..."
"What's wrong? Never compare yourself to people like that. I mean monstrous geniuses. Even if you grew stronger, you'd never be able to catch up to her." Nyx shrugged and then shot him a kind smile.
'She's acting as if she isn't one of them too…'
Caecus bit his lip unconsciously and didn't notice the blood being drawn.
'Being able to defeat people two ranks above yourself is just absurd. Will I really be able to grow strong enough for her to even accept me then?'
Nyx was lost in her own thoughts, but when she noticed the blind boy harming himself involuntarily, she brought his attention back to reality.
"Caecus, what are you doing?!" she exclaimed, then grabbed his jaw with one hand, forcing it open with her pure strength.
When he felt the sting on his lower lip, Caecus realized what had happened and immediately stopped.
"Ah… I'm sorry. I got lost in my own delusions."
"Why are you so pressed about her anyway? I just told you, no one should ever compare themselves to her." Nyx held his face gently, the worry from before returning.
"I… I'm sorry. I-I can't tell you… yet." The blind boy made sure to put emphasis on the "yet."
Nyx didn't show any change in expression, but something shifted behind her eyes, as if she had grasped a truth she didn't want to voice aloud.
"Okay. I want you to tell me when you're ready though, understand?"
Caecus nodded in response.
"I think it's best to start with the training."
"Mhm."
Nyx walked over to the edge of the room, which was about 100 m² in size, with high ceilings.
On the wall was an apparatus that looked like a dispenser, with a scanner and a hole large enough to fit any weapon.
Nyx scanned her pin, which showed her rank as second, and not even ten seconds later, a beautiful metal jian emerged from the dispenser.
"Just scan your pin. It'll automatically give you the weapon you selected as your main weapon on the Psychéion app." She told him while taking out the jian and giving it a few swings to test it.
She nodded and returned to the middle of the room, while Caecus walked over to the machine himself and scanned his own pin.
A moment later, two curved daggers appeared, just like the ones he had chosen.
He grabbed them by the hilts and then stood in front of Nyx.
The heiress eyed the two blades in his hands with interest and nodded once again.
"That's a good choice of weapon for your build. Most people just go for swords. Not that I dislike swords, considering I'm obviously using one myself."
"Thank you. Someone special picked them out for me."
"I'll watch your tournament matches after this to gain more insight into your fighting style, but for now let's just start fighting. Obviously, I'll hold back. You just go all out against me. I won't use my concept either."
She walked up to Caecus, positioned him in a certain spot on the training field, and then moved to her own position so they were perfectly aligned.
"Alright, start whenever you want. I'll be ready."
'It's time to see how strong the Rank Two of this year really is.'