Damien closed the book with a twinkle in his eye. He was smiling from ear to ear as he found an answer he was looking for. He picked up Cal who was laying flat on his back, bringing to his feet in no time. He shoved the book in his face, pointing at it excitedly.
“Look Cal! This is it! I think I have an idea on what happened!”
Cal looked at the book suspiciously and after he opened it to see the illustrations, his face grew dull. He looked over to Damien who was waiting excitingly and decided to give it a chance. He read through the book, which he actually started to enjoy. It was at the level that it would not burst his brains for having so much to understand. Slowly he began to understand what was going on and how it related to Damien.
“You’re telling me that you are actually a Phoenix?”
Damien was so dumbfounded he could actually not even move. He just stood there, staring at Cal with incredulity.
‘I think I finally understand why Yuki treats him the way she does. He’s just so clueless, it’s infuriating.’
“No you idiot! I would have known something like that. Plus it would have been obvious!”
“So then why is this book the answer?”
Damien inwardly wished Yuki was here so she could pummel Cal a bit, and relieve his stress. He took deep breaths before anything, because he did not want to become like Yuki. He calmed himself down and let everything go, so he could explain it.
“The Phoenix was starved her entire life of the nutrients she needed! Without the right diet, she was unable to grow to her potential. It wasn’t until she had the nutrients from high-energy dense food, that it was able to advance her growth and maturity! Do you get it?”
“Hmmm. So you are saying you are not a Phoenix, but it just so happens you are in the same situation as this story portrayed it? But this looks just like a fairytale, or folklore. How can we be sure it’s real?”
“This is all we got, I doubt there’s anything else that’s going to explain it. It must be that my body hasn’t been able to grow at the same rate as my mind. I have basically starved my entire life, no I’m
Pool because of some cheapskate of a grandfather!”
“Then let’s get you some high-grade meat! In no time, Zurat will be left in the dust. Isn’t it funny? You would out eat him!”
“I wish it was that easy. I don’t have any money. I was left here like an abandoned dog.”
“I would help, if only I didn’t use up all that gold for our meal last night! We can apply to take some academy missions! On our off weeks we can take missions for either credits or gold!”
Damien nodded his head in agreement and was quite intrigued he would be able to earn money that way.
‘I do have to take everything I want with my own hands, that’s what grandpa wanted, but I don’t know why he would not raise me in better circumstances. He is by no means broke. Is it that he knew something I didn’t?’
Cal was still a bit confused by the situation, but he was happy the search could come to an end. Damien put the book back into place and descended back to the first level. As they were watching the insurmountable amount books pass by them, Damien’s eyesight was attracted to a certain book. It was tucked away in a corner, pushed in more than the other books. There was nothing grand about it, but it was the fact it was so ordinarily out of place. Damien stopped the lift as soon as he felt something inside of him twitch with anxiety.
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The sudden stop caused Cal to stumble into a shelf of books. Damien hurriedly walked to the corner of the lift and caressed the spine of the book with the tip of his finger. It was just a simple black book with no writings on the cover. He felt his giddiness multiply to an extreme, so he pulled it out. He opened the book to reveal the first page. It only had a few lines for the introduction with the beginning reading, “Phoenix Breath Cultivation.” After that, it explained it was the cultivation technique for a phoenix or of their bloodline. Not only that, it was also an incomplete technique. Damien wanted to continue reading, but the page would not turn. Instead a locking spell hovered over the book, keeping it from opening further. It was then he noticed at the bottom of the first page that it would cost him 500 credits to check the book out and have it unsealed.
‘500 credits for an incomplete cultivation technique. I don’t know if this is a good transaction, but I will have 100 credits left over. Let me ask Cal about it.’
Damien pulled Cal out of the shelf, where he decided to rest for the time being. He propped him to his feet and shoved the cultivation technique in his hands.
“What do you think about this for the price of 500 credits?”
Cal looked over it curiously for a few moments, before he became confused once again.
“You just said you aren’t a phoenix or anything apart from it so why would you need this? If you were, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get it, but you can find a complete technique for around the same.”
“I know I said that, but I have this feeling I can’t explain! I feel like it will be useful, and I’ll just learn my lesson if it’s worthless. I decided, I’ll take it! Thanks Cal!”
Cal was flabbergasted as he did not even encourage him to check out the book. He wanted to say something and stop him, but his face lit up as he found a treasure. He couldn’t bring himself to ruin his mood. Internally he just agreed with Damien and thought he would just learn a pricey lesson.
This time they reached the bottom floor without any distractions and sudden changes. They ended up going back to the librarian who helped them earlier with eager spirits. Along the way, at every corner and turn was a shadow following them. Every time it would poke around the corner, a blue bun would reveal itself on top of the head. Yuki observed them closely as she had nothing better to do and felt like she needed to plot her revenge. As this was all happening without the boy’s knowledge, they greeted Kyra Cloverleaf.
“My, you two are back so soon. I hope I was of help and you were able to find what you were looking for. Let me check that book out for you.”
She read the details instantaneously and looked at Damien very closely.
“What is your name, young man?”
“Damian. Is there something wrong?”
“I’m not one to judge and lecture the students, but why are you checking this out? You must know that it is incomplete and I do not feel the blood of the Phoenix in you. I suggest using your credits on a better suiting technique. If you are looking for fire related cultivation techniques, I can produce a list of 11,625 that would be more helpful.”
“Thank you Miss Cloverleaf, but I fully intend to check out this technique. I hope you do not take any offense in my decision. Also, I had a question about this technique. Where would I find the rest of the volumes for the complete technique?”
“It’s rare to see such a kind, young man around here. Please do not let Cal or anyone for that matter to influence and change you in any way. To answer your question we do not have any more volumes of the ‘Phoenix Breath Technique’. The only place that would have the complete technique would be the Phoenix Cry Academy in the Royal Capital of Dister. They have an absolute monopoly on Phoenix techniques and they only allowed us to have this copy.”
“Is there no way to acquire them?”
“Well only if you were to join their academy, and accumulate enough merit, or if you were to join the military and rise through the ranks. The last method would be the Inter-Continental Academy Tournament or I-CAT for short. But you are too young to participate in that. The minimum age requirement is 13 years old, and there’s no guarantee you would win it all with the stiff competition. Well I rambled on long enough, my line has already gotten long. Pass me your school card and I’ll process this for you.”
She quickly drew a pattern with her finger on top of the book, which unlocked the sealing spell it contained. 500 credits disappeared from Damien’s school account and in return he was given his first cultivation technique. Damien expressed his gratitude for her help and advice, before running back to the elevator slabs. They returned to the surface and passed Omarion who paid them no heed. It was only when they left the building that he opened his eyes for a split second and returned to his mediation.
Once they arrived at the entrance of the Point 1 building they decided to split ways. Call had insisted on staying and observing Damien, while he attempted the new cultivation technique. He was quickly refused and told that he did not want to waste his precious time any longer. Damien left Cal on his own, when out of nowhere the shadow that was stalking them flashed by and dragged Cal into an unknown location. His fate was set as there was no escaping a revenge-bent Yuki.
Damien had no clue as he rushed into his room to have his own privacy.
‘I shouldn’t worry about the I-CAT tournament thing for now. I can’t participate anyways. I want to focus on why my body is excited and filled with energy.’