12.1

“Sign here… And… Alright, your registration for Team Rectiser is complete,” the desk attendant declared as she turned from her device’s interface to look at John. “Please be stay with your team in the next ten minutes to prevent any technical difficulties.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep him close,” Kirk shot a thumbs up before John and him left the registration site and regrouped with the other four.

Bran was in the middle of a discussion with Aurelius about their plans when they are teleported to the unknown location, they immediately stopped when John and Kirk returned.

“How was it?” Bran asked.

“I thought I didn’t need to do this since you’ve registered for me beforehand.”

“Ahahaha, that was a lie to get you going, they don’t allow word of mouth unless the person registers in the flesh. Glad to have you onboard, John.” Bran searched his bag for something then tossed it at John. “Here, catch.”

A pair of black wrist gauntlets landed in John’s grasp, compared to traditional gauntlets, the weight on these were so insignificant that it felt more like pieces of clothing than protective armor.

Aurelious spoke, “They help store a fraction of your magic whenever you cast that [Heal] spell of yours. This way, you don’t have to exhaust yourself if you need to heal everyone at once.”

“Ah, sure.” John mumbled as he started to put the gauntlets on.

Gauntlets that stored magic like these were extremely convenient tools for any magic user, the gauntlets act as reservoirs by allocating a small amount of magic each time a spell was cast to be stored. When it’s capacity is full, it would contain a dense spell that would take a lot of energy to be casted instantaneously.

The reason that an item like this was not as popular despite it’s super light weight was because it could allowed only a single type of spell to be stored in it. If a magic caster were to use any different magic on the hand that wore the particular gauntlets, the previous magic that was stored would be released in place of the new one.

Many mages have tried to used this tool by only casting a single spell on one hand, but it became more of a hindrance than a boost to their abilities. But for John who is only capable of using a single spell, [Heal], it was the perfect item.

“It’s a souvenir from someone I met in the dessert, I think it will suit you more than me,” Aurelius made a chipper remark, his tail wagging behind the leather armor he wore. “I’m counting on you, kid.”

“You ready?” Matilda stood from the fountain where she and Cacti guarded the team’s belongings, bags and luggage that everyone have prepared for this long trip.

“I think so…”

Unlike the rest of his team who were all well dressed for battle, John who was in his dark attire stood silently, this hooded coat was one that he requested from Kaldor prior to attending Moxnet. Since the one he had in A’vetheas was never returned to him he wanted a similar coat that served a similar function to the one he was used to.

It was supposed to shield him against harsh environments and provide shielding as though a leather armor would—it provided far less utilities and protection compared his A’vetheas’ one but John was not about to complain.

Ever since he arrived in Moxnet Academy, he was too focused on rebuilding his new life that he forgotten it exists in his closet. It was until he rummaged his closet while trying to get his mind of the Harvests’ death did he actually stumbled on it.

In all honesty, he did not want to wear it, it reminded him of A’vetheas too much, it pained him to be reminded of the clothing style he had in A’vetheas.

But after what happened with the Harvests, he intended to wear it to remind himself of who he was, and how he ended up to this point.

This is pathetic… John criticized himself. In the end, I’ll never escape my past won’t I?

“Why do you like that dark thing anyway? Is it because it has the same color as your hair?”

“What do you know!? It has so many pockets inside, I can keep all kinds of things with me. Besides, it looks so cool, it’s like what those anti-heroes wear in the stories, there’s even a hood that you can choose to hide your face if you want to.”

“Woahhh, now that you mention it, that is kind of true, John.”

“Hehe, didn’t I say so?”

“I’ll get one made in white tomorrow, so I’ll match with yours!”

“W-wait! That’s not… Don’t copy me, what if other people find out!”

“Then they’ll know we are partners in crime!”

“Idiot princess.”

John sighed as he remembered the first time he started wearing a coat like this. He had derived coats such as this from the various heroes he read about, as it not only provided a sharp look for him, the coat could also allow him to blend in with dark places should he wish to.

But now…this coat that he wore was just the physical manifestation of his childish fantasies.

He was no hero.

John Sarvod was just a selfish prick.

“He’s making that face again…” Cacti said to the group, albeit concerned about John.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, you’re right,” Kirk looked at John who was spacing out and gave a light slap on his back, “Snap out of it, man! We need you to be alert.”

“…Ah right…my bad.” John shook his head to bring himself back, he adjusted his posture and straightened his neck, “Yeah, I should be alright. Thanks.”

“You’re surprisingly polite at times, eh kid?” Aurelius joked. “But when you start swearing, you even put the sailors to shame.”

John rolled his eyes at the wolf beastkin’s remark.

Bran opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself halfway, John who noticed this raised a brow at him but Bran simply shook his hazel hair in response.

“You wanted to say something?”

Bran swatted his hand, “Nah, I was just thinking, you are quick to get back on your feet, that’s all. It’s kind of impressive.”

“Learned from experience, unfortunately.”

“Yeah… But you don’t have to worry, we are stocked on clothing, rations, and some medicine, so I think we are prepared.”

“Thanks again. For earlier.”

Bran scratched his head in embarrassment, “Think of that as me getting even with that [Heal] spell you cast for me that day.”

“Students, if I may have all of your attention here,” the president of Moxnet Academy appeared at the very entrance of the main building, it was the very same lady in white robes from earlier. “As you all might be wondering at this moment, the lack of transportation around us is intentional, the reason for that is the academy will be using mass teleportation to deliver you and your respective groups to the designated location.”

The students who knew this remained in silence while the others whispered to one another upon receiving this new information.

“Next, I would now like to introduce you this aptitude test’s event organizer, the Vice President of Moxnet Academy, Kaldor Klarizan.”

A waves of clapping and cheering followed after the announcement, the students rejoiced, eyes sparkled as the Vice President of the academy had make an appearance before them.

Kaldor, unlike from the time John had met him, had a different image, far different from what he pinned the guy as. The messy hair that John remember Kaldor had was now styled neatly, his face was as serious as they come, even his lackluster gaze that John could barely stand was now replaced by a killer’s stare.

The man was just as thin as John remembered him, nothing had physically changed about Kaldor, but comparing this version of Kaldor’s to the one John knew, it was like they were two different people.

Is that how he always was? Or did he put up an act around me?

Kaldor stood forward, placed a hand in front of his chest, and the noise from the crowd immediately dissipated.

“Many of you know me as Kaldor Klarizan, the young advisor to the Immortal Emperor. While I am such, I am also the vice president of this prestigious academy. Today, my presence here are as such, I am to inform you of two things, the reason for an aptitude test such as this at the start of the semester, and the outcome that we, the Dezarith Empire wish to see from students once they graduate.”

Kaldor continued, “As many of you may or may not know, Dezarith Empire is the strongest nation in the world, only to be rivaled by the Eastern Continent. As of late, it is observed that the Eastern Continent is amassing a great number of their forces into military expansion. In sight of this, Moxnet Academy will be imposing tougher and stricter methods of education in order to combat this potential threat.

“While we do not wish to cause panic, the Empress has decided that this information has to be conveyed to Moxnet Academy students prior to its public announcement. Hence, the aptitude test which Moxnet students would take in the second year of their studies have now become the prerequisite to attend the academy. That is all.”

Kaldor finished his speech and quickly left. Leaving the crowd of students speechless in his departure. Moxnet students became stupefied upon hearing Kaldor’s words, the blood drained from their faces, their eyes sunk into their sockets. Some had second thoughts and started to question whether coming to the academy was the right choice.

What is happening here? One moment Kaldor was like their idol, the next is…this?

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What is he trying to say?” Aurelius was the one to break the silence that befall Team Rectiser. “I am not from around here, can anyone explain?”

Bran who had a stiffen expression replied, “The Eastern Continent might go to war with us soon… That’s why they are making us undergo the aptitude test.”

“…I thought it was too soon for an event that uses mass teleportation. T-this is getting serious…” Kirk stuttered.

“They can’t just drop something like this on us…” Cacti murmured to Matilda who was beside her.

“…”

“But!” Bran’s face brightened, “We should not let this bring us down! After all, it is just a possibility, vice-president Kaldor did not directly say something like that would happen, he was merely implying things so that we would work harder.”

At Bran’s pep talk, everyone in Team Rectiser soften their expressions. He was right, even if going to war was a possibility for the distant future, it did not mean that they should be down in the dumps for something that has yet to happen, the empire was simply being cautious for this potential threat that was all.

Bran quickly gave a rundown on what each of the team members were tasked with, Kirksten would prepare meals, Cacti would use her [Oversight] magic to observe their surroundings and update them on any potential threats, Matilda will manage the limited resources they have, John is given the task of keeping everyone safe with his [Heal], as the leader of the team Bran would be in charge of making decisions, while Aurelius would be carrying out most of the physical labor.

“Wait…” remembering something the beastkin said to him a long while back about his frail body, John raised a hand, stopping the conversation and looked towards Aurelius, “Aren’t you, somewhat sickly? How are you doing most of the labor?”

The wolf beastkin scratch a finger at his jaw, “Ahaha… Well, that illness happens only at times, it’s not often as you think. Besides, you’ll be there to administer your healing magic so I doubt it won’t affect me that much.”

John wanted to say something about how careless the beastkin was, but when he thought back to how he recklessly entered the forbidden part of the academy, he stopped himself.

That was…not a dream right?

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The encounter with the soul of Elijah Harvest still bothered him.

John was someone who lived inside of his head more so than the physical world around him, but even he had a hard time distinguishing whether what he remembered from back then was just trick of his own mind.

Perhaps he had wished to see the Harvests so badly that he imagined the persona of Elijah Harvest.

“Palter Harvest, I should keep an eye out for his name…” he said in a voice so small that only he could hear.

“…I rather we fail than to see everyone here get hurt. Is that clear?” Bran who was still going on about what everyone should do when they arrived at their destination.

“No problem on that!”

“Y-yeah!”

Kirk and Cacti gave loud replies while Matilda nodded approvingly. It seems the four main members already have come to an agreement prior to John and Aurelius’ participation. Because everyone casted their gazes right at the two latest addition of Team Rectiser expecting them to say something.

“I’ll work hard for that!” Aurelius’ tail wagged as hard as it could,

John averted his gaze from his team members, he looked to the other groups in the distance. The other groups were still concerning themselves with what Kaldor spoke despite the vice president had left them long ago, all he could see from their gestures were empty worries that could be better use in the coming challenges that await them.

With the increasing pressure from his teammates, John let out a defeated sigh and smiled, “Sure, I’ll make sure to—”

Dong!

The overwhelming sound of a tower bell sounded in everyone’s heads that very moment, the sound was so strong that it caused everyone who heard it wince and recoil from it. John’s head became heavy, the sensation of the ground on his feet disappeared, then re-appeared.

Dong!

The bell sounded once more, but this time, it was far softer than the first iteration and was much bearable. John who recovered from the shock, opened his eyes and discovered that he was no longer in Moxnet Academy.

We’ve teleported…to where?

The first thing he noticed were the unusually thick storm clouds that eluded the sun’s rays, his surroundings were not without light, rather, this place that he was teleported into was a place where darkness lingered.

A sharp smell of dread prickled his nose, his gut nauseated, but he was able to keep his body from overacting to this new place. He did not like the heavy atmosphere that he was sensing in around him—

“John!!! I-I...need…!!!”

Kirk’s tortured voice called to him. John turned to where the sound was, only to discovered that the other five members of his team were collapsed to the ground, with Kirk desperately trying to reach him.

“[Heal]!” John casted his magic in their direction without hesitation. Once everyone’s breathing returned to normal did John stop using his magic on them.

“What happened!?”

Kirk who still on the ground let out a laugh, “Y-you are monster, Sarvod. You can still stand after a crazy teleportation like that, talk about amazing… Come, help me up.”

John quickly got to where Kirk was and throw one of Kirk’s arms over his shoulder and helped the tall guy to his feet. Kirk noticed how John’s constant gaze towards the other four and spoke, “T-they’ll wake up soon enough, the side effects of t-teleporting is j-just worse than Bran thought.”

“Side effects? But no one in the academy suffers from anything when they used those machines don’t they?”

“Ah, d-don’t you know? L-long distance teleporting is a different thing than the ones that are connected by magic cables in the academy. The longer the distance we have to travel, the—” Kirk quickly covered his mouth, and turned away from John. “Blehhh…” a mouthful of vomit came out from him, followed by heavy sweating, “C-crap… Vice President Kaldor is not joking when he said the difficulty was increased for us… J-just how far did the academy teleported us?”

John silently cast another [Heal] on Kirk as the guy cleaned up after himself.

“Like I w-was trying to say before I puked my lunch, the further we are teleported to, the worse the side effects will be, usually these wear off thirty minutes after the teleportation, but…” Kirk looked to the other four. “It looks like we need to wait for another hour or two.”

“Y-your estimation is off…K-Kirk.” Bran who had awoken called to them, his voice was weak, but his face was full of energy.

“Bran!? How are you…”

“W-what did I say, John’s healing powers are the real deal...” Bran had a toothy grin on his strained face. “I told you I was not bragging w-when I said he repaired my broken body back then.”

“Sorry [Heal] can’t do anything more than that, I don’t know if it can cure you of the condition you have… It works well for immediate injuries and illnesses, it can sometimes stop heredity issues permanently but not always.”

“Nonsense.” Bran slowly got to a sitting position, “Even right now, I feel better than I did a year ago, I am grateful. For that and for now.”

“Any idea where we are, Bran?” Kirk asked.

Bran squinted his eyes while observing the area around them, “N-not a clue, it’s too dark to see. Matilda should know something.”

“My dude, I know. But my sister is still not up yet, that’s why I am asking you since you and her are engaged.”

John kept his eyes on the landscape around them, a blast of cold damp wind blew at his face as he scouted the scenery around them for anything that resembled an academy student.

But all he saw were a thin forest with tall crooked trees on his right and barren land on his left, aside from the occasional bushes and dense grass, he spotted not a single living thing.

Woosh!

Another clod blast of wind hit them.

“We need to find shelter soon...” John muttered as he watched the dark clouds above them condensed, his pacing uncertain as he kept his head straight. “I have a bad feeling about this spot… It is too quiet…”

They were teleported to a spot where no other living things gathered, a place where the sun did not shine, whether it was by design or coincidence, his can’t help but to think it was dangerous to camp out in the open, at the very least they should find a landmark or some sort of…

“!!!”

The earth beneath John rumbled, then stopped as quickly as he felt it.

“John?”

“Are you doing good over there?”

Concerned voices came from his two conscious team members after John’s sudden pause. “Did you guys not feel that earlier?” John turned towards them and asked about the shaking of the earth.

“Feel what?” Bran squinted his eyes and looked around.

“You just suddenly stopped, I thought the side effects are finally showing on you or something.”

“No, I meant the ground trembling—” John noticed something from the corner of his eye and cut himself off. Deep inside the forest of crooked trees, a lone fortress appeared following the earth’s tremble that John felt. “Wait, I think I see a place we can take shelter from the possible oncoming rain. There’s a building there.”

Bran and Kirk looked at each other quizzically, Kirk pointed in the very direction where John indicated and asked, “You see something there? But it’s just trees and more…trees.”

“I…”

John was speechless, he craned his head in the direction of the tall building, he squinted his eyes at the castle and could make out faces whom happen to be the ones that he seen in the academy.

“I’ll go investigate, I think I might have entered it’s barrier by accident or something, you guys can wait for the other three to wake up.”

Kirk tilted his head, “Are you sure you don’t need me to go with you? Going alone is not really…”

“Someone has to guard Bran and them.” John nudged his chin at Aurelius, Cacti and Matilda who were still unconscious. “I’ll come back once I find something.”

Kirksten looked to Bran with a worrisome expression, leaving the decision to let John go scouting on his own to their team leader.

Bran nodded, “Come back quick.”

John took off into the woods, his steps were light and speedy, since the trees in this area were larger and thicker than the ones he was used to in Reperane Woods, it also meant that it was easier for him to navigate around the protruding roots from the ground.

He had no need to worry about the occasional small root that would unbalance him if he misstep, he simply needed to keep his steps large and raise his legs up high.

Soon enough, he arrived at one of the sides of the fortress, at first glance, the building had a strong resemblance to the student dormitories of Moxnet Academy but it lacked the many windows and balconies that East Wing had.

What is something like this doing here?

“I am sure that trembling sensation I felt was me entering its barriers... But how?”

Right as those words parted John’s lips, a stern voice appeared behind him. A soldier—fellow Moxnet Academy student, judging by the tenderness that showed in their eyes—who wore full metal armor pointed his spear that glowed with red magic at John. “How did you trespass our barrier?! State your name, before I make you perish!”

Calmly, John turned to face the student and raised his two hands. “I didn’t trespass, the barrier accepted me. I am John Sarvod, a Moxnet Academy student just like you.”

“J-John Sarvod?”

“Yeah, that’s right, I am here because I was curious why this building suddenly—”

The soldier student quickly grabbed John by his arm with a tight grip, alongside with the metal gauntlets the soldier student wore, the excessive strength that the soldier exerted on John’s arm was enough to stop the blood flow to John’s left arm. “Come, there is someone that is waiting for you.”

“What?”

At John’s question, the grip of the solider student increased, John could hear his bones make a distinct crack as he was being yanked. The person’s voice became irritated, “I said, you are to come with me this instant, do not attempt to overstay your welcome here.”

“Let go of my arm… I’ll follow you on my own.” John gritted his teeth as he could feel the solider’s attempt at crushing his arm.

“Cease your procrastination, we shall move the fastest this way,” unwilling to compromise, the solider instead pulled John’s arm forward intentionally fracturing it, if he had not been more careful to the force exerted his arm would have been dislocated already.

“You piece of shit, I asked you nicely…”

John moved his free hand to the hilt of his weapon sheathed on the right of his hip, unleashing it as he drew it to the soldier.

“I said, let, go!”

With his reverse grip, his mythril sword became unsheathed from the leather holster, the sword travelled in a crescent arc towards the soldier’s neck.

The soldier immediately released the grip on John’s arm, retreating five steps backwards from John and lowered his body in preparation to charge at John.

“[Heal].” John casted his spell on his fractured left arm, once he was certain that the damage has been mended, he placed his weapon back to his dominant arm. “I don’t know what your problem with me is, but had you not try to hurt me after I politely asked you to, I might not have done something like this.”

A burst of breath expelled from the soldier’s armor obviously mocking John, “Hmph. You? Polite? That word does not fit you the slightest.” The soldier readied his magic infused spear, aiming it at John and charged. “Men like you need to humble yourself!”

Aren’t you the type of man that needs to humble, yourself?

John slid his body to the right, dodging the spear with ease, his body automatically closed the distance between them, with his left arm, he swung the back of the hilt of his sword at the soldier’s helmet, delivering a shuddering impact onto the person’s skull.

Clonk!

In his frenzy, John had used a tad too much of force on his swing and caused the helmet to fly from the soldier’s head, revealing a feminine face and short yellow hair behind it. His brows scrunched themselves before he could understand what was happening, “A girl?”

“Don’t underestimate me!” declared the soldier as she swung her spear sideways, colliding the weapon’s rod with John’s ribs. John’s face let out an unsightly expression but he remained still as he took the attack straight on.

At that moment, John dropped his weapon… A look of confidence crawled to the corner of his eyes.

“Victory is mine..."

With an outstretched arm, John grasped the spear along with the girl soldier towards him as though it was the most natural thing to do.

“What—”

Before the girl could speak, John used his free arm and delivered a clean punch into her arrogant face, knocking the girl to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“Sheesh…you dumb bitch, I don’t even want to fight you. [Heal].”

He used his magic on himself once more, tossed the spear away and quickly retrieved the mythril sword he dropped before pointing it at her.

“You’re the rude one here, can you at least speak before you do something stupid? Crazy ass…”

The girl struggled to lift her off the ground, John was about to ask her who wanted to see him, but he heard an eerie laughter from under her breath.

“Kuhuhuhu… From deep within my marrows, and all that circulates my flesh, inflict yourself to my enemy, [Ashen Corrupt—]”

“That will be enough! You will not insult my guest or humiliate the rest of us any longer.”

A scornful voice interrupted, causing the soldier girl to swallow the spell that she was trying to cast.

“L-lady Prishine… B-but he was trying to assault me! I was simply defending myself,” the soldier girl pleaded to the person who appeared with two other females besides her. “Look at him! He remains unscathed as he violently harassed me, I was following your orders and he—”

“Erin, if you had, we would not be here would I?” Prishine coerced in a seductive voice that was befitting of her revealing outfit. “You two, bring her away,” she addressed the two other girls and they obediently did as the succubus told.

The succubus Prishine? The crazy woman calls her Lady Prishine?

John watched as Erin was dragged away by her friends under the orders of ‘Lady Prishine’. He had wanted to unsheathe his weapon now that Erin was out of his sights, but when he was reminded of how much Prishine the succubus treated his personal space, he kept his weapon by his side.

Prishine tucked her wine red hair behind her ears and apologized, “I am terribly sorry for how she treated you. Here I was thinking that I can get on your good side if I show you my hospitality during the aptitude test, but I don’t think that will be possible given how rude Erin treated you~”

John remained stoic while Prishine moved her half-naked body in a provocative manner. Her dress was styled such that it had a long ‘v’ shape that revealed the center of her breasts until her navel, to top it off, her back was just as exposed as the front was.

She might as well not wear anything…

He understood that as a succubus, Prishine was to draw out lust in others to generate a certain vitality from the tension in the atmosphere for her to feed on. It was only natural that she wore such a ‘clothing’ during the aptitude test to best utilize her natural abilities.

Even then, John was repulsed, utterly repulsed.

The way she dressed, the way she spoke, if it was not already enough that this succubus made no attempts to hide her skanky personality, she took no subtility as she came on to him.

So you’re the one that brought me inside your barrier.

Barriers for the most part were strong ritual magic cast and maintained by multiple magicians, creating a strong field that kept intruders from ever discovering or entering the fortified premises unless one was given the permission to enter.

John pressed his lips into a dissatisfied line and exhaled, he knew something was up when Erin the rude female solider was expecting his arrival.

He walked right into her schemes.

“Let’s make this quick, what do you want from me, Prishine?”

Hearing his voice, a seductive smile found its way on the succubus’s lips.