Chapter 39 - It was always a trap
Kai was walking through the open grounds of the academy, the sun above him. His destination was the rooms of all the students. He wanted to climb them, not by stairs, but literally scale them. Why? Well, it was one of his daily quests.
Kai stood straight, looking up at the stupidly tall dormitory, and sighed, saying, "You know I have never failed a daily quest?"
[Indeed.]
"Then why am I wasting time?"
[Remember that if you fail, you will be punished.]
"And I still don't know what it is."
[Find. Out.]
Kai silently shivered at the cold response and decided not to find out what the punishments would be like.
Kai lifted his hand as he grabbed the apartment's first-floor window railing and lifted his body. Then again. Slowly climbing.
As Kai climbed, he slowly started sweating, his muscles aching from how many times he repeated the action, and yet he wasn't even a quarter of the way to the top.
As Kai was climbing, a small crowd of people had gathered, shouting if he wanted to kill himself. While others would have been happy with that because they saw him as a monster, a cold cruel killer, the only thing in Kai's mind was nostalgia.
This feeling in his arms and legs reminded him of the start of all of the mess he was in right now. He remembered that 600-meter-tall mountain he had climbed just to get hit by the system.
The time he was climbing the mountain, he had screamed in his mind, "I didn't ask to be here, you know?"
"I didn't ask to be birthed, nor did I ask not to have a bloodline."
And as if something answered him, he gained the system, showing him that in fact he did have a bloodline.
But right now, in this moment, Kai's mind was silent, musing over the cruel past. He still held resentment. He still worried about bumping into his brother. He still hated his brother, who right now was a second year.
Kai was worried about many things. In fact, he worried that one day the system would just tell him to go on and kill people.
And yet, in all of this time, Kai hadn't stopped climbing. Though his arms trembled, and this time his legs couldn't find the right footing, he still pushed forward.
As the sun started to dim in the distance, Kai was slowly reaching the halfway point. The people below were so far away.
He already knew he would get in a lot of trouble for this, but what could he really do?
Kai closed his eyes and silently activated a skill without the system.
[Complete Vision has been activated.]
[Sharp Sight has been activated.]
Kai kept his eyes shut and yet saw everything around him, silently climbing the dorms. The only problem was that he could now, with Sharp Sight, see through the walls because they weren't really protected.
He saw people sleeping, others fighting among each other.
He quickly diverted all of his vision to the top and, being able to see everything, also just in case began searching for people who had a large amount of bloodline essence.
He quickly found three people. One of them was Elena, sleeping in her bunk bed.
And yet it was barely visible, but Kai could see it. A small, thin, barely visible barrier around her. In fact, it was around all of the Heaven-ranked people.
Kai was happy to know he wasn't the only person who would become overly cautious of those around him.
Kai silently controlled his bloodline essence, both of them, to spread around his body and conjoin with the mana. He also created a barrier around himself, but it was different. Mixed with the power of two peak Heaven-ranked bloodlines, it was overbearing.
But Kai also did this to allow his body to start absorbing mana as he moved upwards.
He finally, after another two hours, reached the peak, standing alone at the top of the dorm rooms.
He stared into the distance. The clouds blanketing the sky while the smooth orange sunset shone with brilliance.
Kai sighed, and just before he could admire the view and jump down, as that was the next quest, he heard the sound of the door to the roof unlocking.
Appearing was Elder Huan.
Kai stumbled again, screaming in his mind, "How the hell did I not sense him!"
Kai was honestly really scared of Elder Huan.
They both silently stared at each other before Kai said, "What? If you don't need something, I will leave."
Elder Huan sighed and said, "Who are you?"
Kai stared back. "Kai? What kind of question is that?"
Elder Huan said, "What are yo- Never mind. What are you doing?"
Kai was slightly worried and answered back, "Training."
Elder Huan replied, "What are you doing next?"
Kai smirked. "Remember the beast fighting?"
Elder Huan raised an eyebrow.
But the next second Kai leaned backwards, falling down.
As he fell, the system spoke.
[You have completed one of the three daily quests.]
Then Kai spoke as if responding.
"Overcharge."
Kai's eyes visibly changed color, turning slightly golden as he absorbed even more mana than he should be able to.
[Mana: 25,000 (Overcharged) / 15,000]
Kai didn't feel as bad as he had expected, though it did feel like something was burning in his chest. It was hard to concentrate, and he could feel the burning increasing as he kept this state active.
[Two of the daily quests have been completed.]
As Kai was just about to fall into the ground, he began to float slowly.
[You have completed all daily quests.]
[You have gained 20 EXP.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You've gained an attribute point.]
Kai smiled as he mentally said, "Level 10, huh. Well, at least we are close to where we started."
Kai flew with much more speed and control because of the True Mana Manipulation. Though at a low level, it only allowed him speeds of 50 km/h.
While Kai flew toward the cafeteria at a slow speed, he felt the ID card buzz.
Yet the location was the gates of the second years. It also contained a pass to enter the second-year area.
Kai was tired but decided not to ignore the message.
Kai's body turned into a streak in the sky, flying with speed toward the second-year gate.
People on the ground were either amazed or truly worried. Some thought he was going to kill another second year.
As Kai entered the second-year area, in front of him appeared Elder Huan, also flying.
Elder Huan said, "Disciples aren't meant to be able to fly, but you can. It should not have been allowed. Either way, just this once I will let you fly as you wish."
Elder Huan gestured for Kai to follow him.
As both flew through the skies of the academy toward the disciplinary and medical halls of the second-year area, Kai could noticeably feel the mana in the air was much more pure and dense.
Kai could also instinctively feel many strong presences below.
Elder Huan and Kai landed and both entered one of the facilities that was larger than the rest.
Kai was simply told to find a random room and sit down.
He opened the third door and entered a blank, bland, dark room with one chair in the middle.
Kai mentally felt something but couldn't place his hand on it, akin to a buzzing feeling making him uneasy to enter the room.
Elder Huan was nowhere to be seen.
Kai was already untrusting before getting two bloodlines, so he silently decided to activate the sub-skills of God Eyes and even God Eyes itself.
Instantly he saw that the walls were fake and easily breakable, even by a normal mortal.
Behind them were five people per wall, and there were three fake ones.
Fifteen people in total.
All of them looked normal, not like academy disciples or anything.
But the numbers on top of them were high. Each one of them was higher than 10.
Kai had already been able to deduce by himself that those numbers meant total level. The higher the level, the stronger they were.
Kai himself had only entered level 10 just now, but his true prowess was unknown.
But that wasn't all he saw.
Even on the wall that should have been directly behind him as he sat down, in the distance he saw Elder Huan, arms crossed.
There was no number above him, clearly meaning Kai wasn't strong enough to get any information from him.
But even worse was that on the tops of the room there were what looked like sealed gas tubes.
Kai didn't know what would be within them, but silently got mentally ready as he also probed the system to make sure his passive resistance was active.
[Minor Gas Resistance: A passive ability that grants the user a natural resistance to harmful gases and airborne substances.]
Kai took a few deep breaths, steadying his heart as he sat down on the chair, looking around as if confused.
Though he already knew it was a trap.
The door closed behind him, and he could see through it as its locking mechanism activated, sealing Kai in the room.