*Knock knock knock* The professor opened the door. "Wake up, it's time to leave."

"Ugghh." Rayen said.

"We will leave in 20 minutes. If you aren't fast, you won't eat." The professor left.

The door opened once again. Saya jumped to hug Yune. "Yune!! Did that guy do something to you?!"

"Old sis, he... he..." She cried.

"You monster!" Saya glared at Rayen. "What did you do to such a poor defenseless girl?"

"He didn't do anything!" Yune kicked her. "I can take care of myself."

"But."

"Let's go to eat." Yune got up.

"My beloved." Vesh was outside kneeling in front of Yune with some flowers. "I brought you these flowers. They may be pretty, but their beauty cannot compare with yours."

Yune kept walking without even looking at him. Followed by Saya, who glared one last time at Rayen.

"Those flowers are poisonous." Rayen said.

"Tsk. You don't know anything."

"Look at your hands..."

"Waaah" He dropped all of them. His hands were full of rashes.

"Sigh..." Rayen shook his head and went downstairs.

"Guess who am I~" Kris covered his eyes.

Rayen almost fell out of the stairs. "Don't do that when I'm going down the stairs."

"Tsk tsk tsk. Wrong answer. I'm I! Whoa, that was enlightening. Myself is myself. All my things are mine."

"Hello." Stone said.

"Good morning."

When they arrived at the dining room, Yune and Saya were already eating. The food was a bread filled with some kind of paste and goat milk. Rayen saw that bread before in the city, but he never tried it. He felt somewhat uncomfortable. He hadn't eat food with people other than his grandma or Takuya since many, many years. He looked at them to make sure he didn't do anything inappropriate.

There was some people from the other academies, but most of them weren't there, they were still sleeping. It was too early in the morning. The professor was eating with someone Rayen never saw before. He also had a cat emblem and was around 16 years old. There were two bright spheres rotating around him.

Vesh was having trouble holding the food.

"What's your favorite food?" Kris asked. "Mine is dessert."

"I never ate a dessert."

"How cruel it will be to live in a world without dessert. I feel sorry for you."

Rayen bit the bread, it filled his mouth with a refreshing sweet taste. He also drunk the goat milk, but he didn't like it.

"Nothing beats the taste of my precious Yune's lips." Vesh threw his hair back.

"Me duck." Stone said.

"I want to join." Yune said. "Mine is watermelon."

"The best one has to be sirloin." Saya said.

"I never tasted any of it..." Rayen looked down at his food. He only ate stew, salad, rabbit and rarely a boar. He didn't knew all the foods they were talking about.

"Of course, how could someone like you taste my beloved's lips? Hah! Ridiculous."

"You never tasted them either."

"But I will, someday..."

"Not a chance." Yune said.

"It's time to go." The professor said.

The professor took the group outside. There was a black carriage with a cat symbol on it, it was drawn by two powerful horses. It was the carriage that will take them to the academy. The guy that ate with him went to the driver seat.

"Raise your hand and say 'I swear for my life to protect Dark Cat Academy and its secrets.' It's a temporary oath, once we get to the academy we will make a permanent one." He raised his hand and a green light covered the group.

"I swear for my life to protect Dark Cat Academy and its secrets." They all said. The green light fused with them. If they were to break the oath, the light would harm them.

"Now enter." He went into the carriage.

"Girls this side, guys that one." Saya said.

Stone occupied half of the guys side while the girls hardly took any space. The carriage left the city.

Saya stared at Rayen. "Don't you dare cross."

Vesh tried to cross, but Stone took him by the neck and dragged him back.

"We will start by learning how to absorb mana. Mana exists everywhere, but it's ownerless mana. It's hard to use it in that form. What you have to do is convert it. Make it your own. But you guys can't do it since you lack a foundation. You will get one once you reach the academy. For now familiarize yourselves with the absorption process.

"First, you must inhale as much air as possible." He inhaled. "Then, you try to circulate it around your body before you exhale it." He exhaled.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Rayen inhaled, while holding the air inside of him, he imagined the energy from the other day, then exhaled. It was a lot easier than the one Yune taught him. He looked at her. Her face went red and she looked at the side.

Saya's fury intensified. "What are you looking at?"

Vesh stood in front of Rayen. "Have you done anything to my princess?!"

"Your... princess?" Rayen looked at Yune.

She shrugged. "He was like that ever since I met him two days ago."

"It doesn't matter, in my heart you are my princess." He proudly announced.

Saya glared at Rayen. 'Why me?' Rayen thought. 'I haven't done anything. It's that guy who is saying those things...'

"Leave your love quarrel for later."

"Uh? What's that?" Rayen stood up. There was a black muck on the middle of the route. It was alive, moving.

"A monster. An onyx slime. Watch carefully." The professor jumped down.

The onyx slime attacked, but it was too slow. The professor could easily evade it. He put his hand into the slime and took out a core. The slime extended itself to take it back, but it didn't matter how much it extended, it couldn't reach him. "The core is weak once its outside the slime." The professor crushed the core and the slime dissolved. "See? Now come here. It's your turn."

"There are no slimes there." Vesh said.

He snapped his fingers and a dozen jumped at him. "They are never alone." He stepped back and forward. None of them were able to hit him. "You should at least be able to defeat one of them. Their strength lies on their numbers." He waved his hand. A wind picked up two and carried them in front of Stone and Vesh.

Stone slapped the slime, but he couldn't get the core. He tried again and again, and nothing happened.

"Hahahaha. Let me show you how it's done." Vesh stuck his hand inside it. He took out the core, but his arm was covered with muck. "See? Now I crush it." He grasped the core, but it didn't shatter. The slime attacked him, cutting  him and filling his clothes with ooze. He pressed the core with both hands. It still didn't shatter. The slime bit him and crawled into his body in search for the core. Vesh threw the core to the ground and jumped on it. The slime kept attacking him. Vesh jumped again and again until it finally broke. The slime attacks stopped and it dissolved. Vesh body was full of muck and cuts. He tried to clean himself, but the muck was sticky and he couldn't get it out.

Stone moved to the side and took a rock from the path. He raised it with one hand and slammed it into the slime. The slime exploded and the muck flew to Vesh's face. "Easy." Stone went back to the carriage.

Vesh stared at Stone, but there was nothing he could say. He was still trying to remove the muck, without sucess.

The professor nodded. The slimes were trying to attack him, but none could hit. Two more slimes flew, one to Yune, the other to Saya.

Yune gracefully stuck her hand in the slime, took out the core, and shattered it. It was like watching the professor do it once again. A perfect execution.

Saya glared at Rayen. She kicked the slime in his direction. The slime flew and collided with him. He didn't expect that. His clothes were full of muck.

"Sorry." She said, not meaning it.

"Tsk tsk." He shook his head. "You can't even defeat a simple slime." He passed his sleeve into the muck and it all fell to the ground. His clothes were as good as new.

"H-how?" Saya and Vesh were perplexed.

"Easy to clean clothes."

Yune chuckled. Saya frowned and killed the slime.

"Last two." The professor said.

Rayen took out the dagger the Elder gave him. He stood ready to attack, waiting for the right moment. Time slowed down. It was hard to see the core. It was black, like the slime. 'There.' He slashed the slime while it was falling. *Crack* The core broke. The slime dissolved before it could even touch the ground. Rayen sheathed the dagger.

"Oooh. That was quite good." The driver said.

"Well done." The professor nodded.

"With a knife is cheating." Vesh said.

"Hehe, that's my little Ray." Yune thumbed up. Saya just glared at him.

The last slime fell in front of Kris. She crouched and patted it on the head. "Give me your hand!" The slime formed an arm and extended it into Kris hand. "Good boy." She patted him again. The slime moved from side to side. "Can I keep it?"

"No." The professor said.

"I'm sorry." Kris said. The slime partly dissolved. She took a stick and threw it away. "Go... *sniff sniff* go fetch it." The slime slowly left in that direction. It turned around to see Kris one last time, before it kept going.

"It's time to leave." The professor stopped evading and all the slimes that were attacking him dissolved.

They went back to the carriage. There was still a long way to go. Kris sang while the rest practiced absorbing mana. Hours passed, mountains passed, forests passed. Many more beasts attacked, but they all became lessons for the professor. He explained how to kill them and their weaknesses. Once the sun was setting, a big castle could be seen on the distance. In front of it, a giant statue was erected. It was a huge black cat with its paws reaching for the sun. It was what gave the name to the academy. The Dark Cat.

"Whoa." Rayen never saw anything that majestic.

"We finally arrived." The driver said.

"Something strange is going on." The professor and driver's faces changed. They looked at each other with a somber expression. "Run."

The carriage turned around as fast as it could. The two spheres that were always near the driver went into the horses, becoming one with them. "Faster!" The horses moved faster and faster.

Rayen saw two people running to them. They were even faster than the horses. On the distance there was another person walking toward them.

"Where do you think you are going, little kittens? Come here to play." One of the two said. Both of them moved their hands. A red ball of mana was created in front of each of them and whistled through the air toward the carriage. The professor made a quick defense barrier. But the two mana balls became claws and changed their directions, they evaded the carriage and collided with the horses. *Boooom boooom* Chunks of horse meat flew in all directions. The horses became a pool of blood and viscera on the ground.

The carriage shook by the explosion. "Aaaahh" The people inside screamed.

"Heh heh heh. You cannot leave." The two guys were now close. One was a skinny and creepy guy, the other one was muscular and deadpan. They both wore black clothes and had a red symbol on their foreheads.

"Run away!!" The professor jumped out of the carriage and went to fight the two of them. He waved his hand and a staff appeared. It was a white staff, quite impressive looking, it was somewhat big, but he could hold it with one hand.

"Tsk." The driver had no other option. He went after the professor. He joined his hands together. A small ray of mana circled around them, it became bigger and faster every time it spun. Finally, it changed form and became a sphere. The sphere fired a barrage of small mana bullets. They were weak by themselves, but the barrage was never-ending.

Rayen and the others ran away as fast as they could, but they couldn't prevent their curiosity, so they looked back as they ran.

The professor's staff shone. He waved it and a torrent of mana ran through the air. The torrent changed to the form of an ethereal blue dragon and attacked the pair. The two of them jumped back. They cast all sorts of defensive spells, barriers appeared, the ground raised, the wind formed a shield, but all of them were destroyed by the dragon as soon as they appeared.

"Where is the director?!" The professor said.

"Dead, like the other professors and guardians."

"You will pay for this." The dragon flew high into the sky and circled around. More and more mana flew out of the professor and fused with the dragon. Instead of becoming bigger, the dragon was thinner each time mana fused with it, but also faster, much faster. "Die!" The professor slammed the staff on the ground.

*Roooooooar* The whole land trembled at the dragon's furious roar. It moved fast to the ground, ready to destroy everything.

"Calm." A voice echoed through the battlefield. The voice stopped all magic. The dragon trembled and dissolved into mana before it could touch the ground. The voice came from the guy who was walking. He had a black uniform, much more elegant than the clothes the other two had. The symbol on his forehead was white, instead of red, and it was bigger and much more complex.

"That's..."

"If I can defeat the director, how could I have trouble with you?"

The professor trembled and stepped back.

"Disappear." The man said. The air around the professor distorted. A void appeared where he was standing. The professor was swallowed by the void. Once the void closed, only the staff was left. He looked at the driver. "Disintegrate." The driver laughed, he had no way of defeating this, this was too absurd. His body became dust. The dust became even finer dust until there wasn't even dust. He had disintegrated. The man looked at Rayen and the other students. "They didn't form an oath yet, bring them." He turned around and slowly walked to the castle.

Rayen and the rest fell to the ground. The muscular man took the staff.

"Hi, little kitties." The skinny guy approached the group. "Don't worry, I won't harm you. That's his job." He pointed at the muscular guy. "Come with me. We have some uses for you."