I suppressed a groan as the Rune failed.
“What in the Abyssal Planes?” I muttered. “Why is this so difficult?!”
My Runes professor (yes, professor. Not a teacher. This world is a strange place…) gave me a disapproving look as I said “Abyssal Planes” but looked over to my work and frowned.
“First of all, why do you have a barrier around you? Second of all, why is there so much Lightning Mana around you?” the Elf asked, her ears twitching.
My partner, who was safely outside the barrier, stammered, “He said that what he was doing could be dangerous. There’s a lot of Mana inside of the metal.”
I nodded. “What she said. Now, lemme see-”
I was then interrupted by the entire chunk of metal I was inscribing exploded into thousands of bolts of lightning. I felt the barrier nearly shatter as I reigned in the lightning, my hair standing on end. I ignored the soot on my face as I checked my Health, frowning.
“Huh. That only did forty thousand damage…” I grumbled. Then I shrugged. “Well, it was worth a shot. Next experiment!”
My professor tapped the now fragile barrier, shattering it before I felt the tell-tale signs of her Identify scanning me. I gave her a mock glare, blocking it.
“Oi. At least ask first. Also, I’m fine; I have nearly a million Health. ‘Tis but a scratch,” I said, proud of myself.
She seemed to want to scold me, but when she saw me stand up to throw away my now charred piece of tungsten, she sighed, walking off while grumbling something about overleveled people. My partner, a Wolf-kin, looked at me nervously.
“You might’ve put too much Mana into it…” she said quietly, her tail between her legs. “It’s meant for low Mana input.”
I nodded. “Yep. I have the other one here,” I said, tossing her the completed, albeit weaker, one. “I was just trying to see if I could alter it to handle more Mana. I might've put a bit too much in at once. A hundred thousand in less than a second is a bit too much, isn’t it?”
Her eyes widened as she seemed to finally process, after months, that I was far higher Level than she’d thought.
“Wha- what Level are you?” she asked, sounding meek.
I grinned, patting her shoulder lightly. “Just 99. Just about 100.”
I ignored the terrified gasps of people around me as I went back to carving the metal, which was something that seemed wrong, but I still did daily.
“No need to brag about it,” my professor said, somehow right behind me, tapping dangerously close to where my horn would be if I wasn’t disguised. I snorted, getting a painful flick in response.
“That’s right: I’m still at a higher Level than you. Behave,” she snapped.
***
Mia resisted the urge to eat the woman in front of her, contemplating whether or not to bite off her hand, bringing back memories of the Abyss and the Horned One, or Abyssal, who’d tried to make Mia Bond with some weird Princess that liked her current Bond.
“Come on now, you’ve got this. You just have to say something to pass the test,” the teacher said, clearly trying to convince herself that Mia would speak.
Eyeball/Systie sighed from above Mia, knowing full and well that she wouldn’t say a thing. Mia simply gave the woman the stink eye, wanting to go home. The woman then sighed.
“Why do you Dragons have to be so difficult when your Bonds aren’t around?” she grumbled.
Mia grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the word “NO” in big bold letters before showing it to the woman.
“I think I got the point when you decided to give me the stink eye.”
Mia hmphed at the woman, turning away.
“Well, that’s some sort of progress.”
She’s just a stubborn, overgrown snake, Systie said. She won’t speak for anything. Jason’s already tried. She will only speak Draconic. Common seems a bit too complicated for her.
Systie sighed.
Mia frowned at Systie.
Systie simply stared at the young Serpent before looking back to her teacher. Yeah, I think that Common is a bit too much for her. Not a joke this time.
***
I half-listened to my Void Professor as I pulled apart my portal and split it into 3 for the first time. Being around fellow Void Mages revealed that they clearly thought they were on top of the world. Little did they know, they had a Voidborn in the room with them. I’d also learned that Void Mages were watched closely, even in their sleep. Mia had found that out for me when I found her choking some rando who’d been watching us through our window. Long story short, she saw him, smashed through a few walls, and proceeded to turn into an oversized boa constrictor (something I didn’t know she could do), and nearly choke the man to death. Afterwards, they either stopped sending people, or they sent people who could hide from Mia.
I looked back up to my Professor, who was still speaking about the dangers of using Void as a tool as he demonstrated how to use [Void Blade].
I yawned as he told us to practice. I watched the other students try and fail to replicate the flying blade, sometimes taking time to heal the self-damage. I watched, amused. I walked over to the dummy I was supposed to practice on to see that there was a clear reason that it was difficult for them. They each had an Area Suppression Rune tied to the Void Rune. I scratched it out and it quickly became easier to use Void in the area.
I walked over to each of the dummies and scratched out the Runes, frowning at our Professor, who wasn’t even paying attention to us. With a shrug, I walked back over to my dummy and flicked a blade of Void that was my height at it, cutting it in half, top down. I then sat down to watch the other students still struggle to make the Blade.
Ah yes, the struggle of others was nice to watch.
~~~
Mid-day was always a bit crazy. Mostly since Treia had to always be looking for me, never noticing the crowd of people following her, trying to get a good look at her. Either that or she just didn’t care.
Some people were just weird that way.
I’d mapped out her path that she usually used to look for me along with somewhat distracting the crowd that followed her with a few Runic Barriers, just cause. I mean, they would run out of Mana eventually. Not like they’d sit there for a few days until my Runes Professor would catch wind of it and hunt me down.
I shrugged upside down, ignoring the Wind Elemental, which Treia had named Abigail cause neither of us were creative when it came to naming things, that was throwing my cloak over my head while Systie tried to calm the damned thing down. It would settle down for a few moments before letting out a strange giggle and flying through my hair. I sat on top of one of the academy’s towers, looking down as Treia passed below me. I then grinned and jumped off.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
It took about ten seconds to hit the ground, where there was an explosion of dust and a small crater where my feet had hit the ground.
Treia shrieked, attempting to skewer me with her sword, which I simply blocked with my armor Skill.
“‘Sup,” I said, slowly pushing her sword away from me. “I don’t think that was effective.”
She glared at me, taking a deep breath. “Gods, Jason! I thought you were some sort of assassin!”
“If I were, you would probably be dead and I’d be on the top of the Queen’s hitlist. Where I’d quickly be removed from,” I responded, shrugging. “Also, your Abigail over here is a bit too attached to me. Can’t imagine why.”
Abigail swirled around me, having kept up with my fall, before shooting towards Treia, ruffling her hair. Treia idly wiggled her fingers through her for a few moments before walking over to me and basically falling against me with a groan.
“I keep forgetting you smell good, you goofball,” she grumbled. “Stupid Race change.”
She glared up at Systie, who seemed confused. I didn’t do anything. As far as I know. From what I could tell, your body was overloaded with Void, which changed your biological structure. In a way. Then, when you underwent Soul Pressure, which I haven't a clue how that works, all the overexcited cells in your body changed you instead of you exploding like a balloon.
“How exactly was I overloaded with Void? And how didn’t it kill me in the first place?”
Systie let out a mental hum. That’s where I’m confused. My primary mind might’ve done something, but other than that, which is unlikely, I can’t think of a reason.
“So the System personally altered her?”
Maybe. The only reason that could happen is if she were paying some sort of attention to her. Or to you, which is immensely more probable. She’s probably having a tantrum now, since I blocked off all external viewing of you, from Gods and whatnot. They are annoying, since they don’t realize that giving an Abyssal a blessing could literally rip them apart from the inside out. Divinity and Abyss don’t go together well. Well, Abyss naturally doesn’t go well with anything.
I frowned. “Speaking of Abyss, why is everything in the Abyssal Planes based on Void and not Abyss. It’s flooded with Abyss, with even forests so full of it, it buffs Abyssal Monsters. Which brings up the question, am I a monster?”
Treia poked my cheek. “You’re not a monster.”
You have a strange idea of monsters, as do most of the Overworlds. You say that Dragons, which can be more intelligent than Humanoids, are monsters. You also put monsters and Beasts in different categories.
“Monsters have near-humanoid intelligence while Beasts are mindless,” Treia said.
My frown deepened. “That’s… not true. Dungeons can spawn some very smart things, as we saw when I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter. If that’s the case, why couldn’t humanoids be considered monsters. When I was ‘human’, I thought that if something didn’t look like us, they couldn’t be smarter than us. But, as an Abyssal… I realize that’s wrong. What defines ‘Intelligence’? Being able to speak? All things can speak, in a way. Being able to solve complicated problems? All kinds of things can do that, some even better than Humanoids. Sentience? How do you define that? I think you can’t put everything into categories.”
Treia gave me a horrified look. “When did you start thinking in paragraphs?”
Oh believe me, he thinks in novels. Systie grumbled.
“That hurts,” I said. “Do you really think I’m not capable of complicated thinking?”
“Yes.” Definitely.
I groaned. “My heart… it hurts.” Then I listened in the distance. “Oh great, your fangroup has gotten around my barriers. Time to move.”
Treia yelped as I let go of her and opened a portal to an empty classroom.
“Hey! You can’t leave me here questioning my own ethics!” she yelled, chasing me through the portal.
***
Leah tapped her pen on the desk, staring at the paper on Auroran history. Having read the entire three history books the night before, she remembered everything clearly. However, she was stuck on whether she should quote it or simplify it.
She finally shrugged and decided to quote the book.
Finally, when the class was over, she watched the papers float away with interest before sighing and leaving the classroom. Quickly leaving the cramped building, she stared into the sky, feeling slightly freer.
At first, she’d thought that going to the Academy may be great for her, that she’d be able to start a new life. Well, she’d been horribly wrong. Ever since the first week, she’d been itching for some sort of fight. Like an actual one, not one where she had to make an effort not to kill the person she was sparring with and limit it to a few broken bones. Even the Dungeon under the Academy wasn’t enough for her. She’d simply one-tapped everything and killed the “Final Boss” in two hits.
She couldn’t imagine how Jason felt in the Capital.
Leah tilted her head. On second thought, I should probably be worrying more about Mia. Jason’s probably found some poor kid to watch as entertainment. That certainly sounds like him. And that poor kid is most likely Treia.
Leah snorted. How that guy got a Princess as his girlfriend, she’d never know. Jason was an enigma sometimes. Other times, he was so simple minded that she could predict his next move.
“Must be the will of Jason: ‘I do what I do cause it’s usually funny.’ Idiot,” Leah sighed. “However, he’s right sometimes…”
Leah then blinked as she heard familiar footsteps behind her. Without turning around, she said, “Hi, Char.”
Leah could hear the pouting in Char’s voice as she complained. “How do you always know it’s me?!”
Leah turned to the part-Wolf-kin, who’s tail twitched in defeat, and smiled. “I’m Level 84. I have a great memory.”
Char sighed, sitting next to Leah and snuggling up against her side. “I know that you’re bored here,” she said. “And it’s obviously because Sir Explodes-A-Lot isn’t here.”
Leah snorted. “If he was here, the entire school would be rubble. Maybe it’s a good thing he’s in the Capital where Treia and the Queen and King can watch him. Though, Systie is probably still waiting for him to start her little quest and is very much unhappy with him.”
Char scrunched up her face. “I still find it difficult to believe that the floating eyeball is the System.”
“I find it more difficult to believe she’s exactly like Jason,” Leah responded, shrugging. “They both have the same personality, though Systie tones it down a bit.”
Char seemed to think about that for a few moments before also shrugging. “Enough about that. Is the Voice back yet.”
Leah coughed as the voice in question said, yes, in her head.
“Possibly. Could just be my inner voice,” she muttered. “I have a few of those.”
Char rolled her eyes. “No, you don’t. You are the most straightforward thinker I know. How long has it been talking?”
“A month or so? It’s far more toned down though. Probably ‘cause I’m not around Jason.”
The Abyssal must DIE-
“Nevermind. Now shut up.”
The voice immediately went silent and Leah “hmphed.” “Serves you right.”
Char simply shook her head.
***
Treia watched Jason and Mia snore, waving her new Familiar away from the room. Abigail giggled and shot out the window. Shaking her head, Treia walked next to Jason and sat on the bed.
Mia let out a light hiss and Jason pulled her slightly closer, quickly calming her.
Treia had always found the relationship between Jason and Mia really interesting. According to Jason, they hadn’t known each other for much time, but the two of them acted like they had been Bonded for years. Knowing that Jason was a newly Integrated, she might’ve been a normal snake, as far as she knew, and Mia just had innate love for Jason.
With a shrug, Treia kissed Jason’s forehead, causing him to scrunch up his face in his sleep before relaxing completely. Sighing, she sat back up and walked out of his room, ready to go to bed herself. She stopped outside the door for a few moments thinking.
Well, my aunt will hate it, so that’s another upside… she thought, looking back at Jason.
Five minutes later, she was dead asleep next to Jason.
***
For the next few days, nothing remotely interesting happened except for exams, which I’m pretty sure stood no chance against me. However, things began to get interesting in the middle of the third month of the year…
“Uh huh. Yep. Interesting,” I said, reading one of the entries in my loaned Runes book, with Treia engaged in a poking war with Mia. “Oh, really?”
Treia, clearly annoyed at my rambling, kicked my side with her bare foot. “Shut up already. What are you even reading?”
“Something about the Runes you gave me.”
When I didn’t elaborate, Treia frowned. “Wow. Great information.”
Systie rolled her eye from above me. He noticed that the Runes that created the water stem from the Elven Kingdom. I don’t understand how that’s remotely interesting though.
“How’d it get into a Dungeon?” I asked.
Systie was about to retort, then stopped to think for a few moments. Wait. That’s a good point. Me and my sister Dungeons can’t communicate normally, so how did she find out about it? Plus, it’s from the Elven Kingdom, which is on another continent. Systie tapped the side of my head with her eye. I want to go ask her. Let’s go.
I frowned at her. “And what, break into the school?” I then realized what that meant and grinned. “I’m in.”
Mia jumped into the distracted Treia, letting out an excited whoop.
Treia looked at Mia, baffled. “What?! You can’t break into the Academy! Even if you could, there’s no way you could possibly get to the Dungeon room, let alone the Core!”
“Portals exist, y’know.”
“But they have Runes to keep out Void Mages… oh,” she responded meekly. “We aren’t Human. So we can just bypass them.”
I pointed at her. “Exactly! Let’s go!”
I ripped open a portal directly at the Dungeon entrance. Then I stopped to think for a moment. “Actually, you shouldn’t go. I can disguise myself, or un-disguise myself so I look like an Abyssal who broke into a Dungeon. You can’t really disguise yourself…”
Treia simply puffed up her spines, and, seeming to focus hard, her hair and irises went pitch black. “You sure?”
Taken aback, I raised my eyebrows. “Did you just… completely fill your body with Void Mana?”
“Yes.”
“How long will that take to dissipate?”
“About half an hour.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and turned to Mia, who was already in her Boa form and wrapping around my shoulders. “Gods damn it. All right, Systie. Here we go.”
Systie zoomed through the portal, both me and Treia following her closely.