Chapter 8: Priston: A fated meeting

          I went back to the Student Quarters to iron my clothes and ready my stuff for the class tomorrow. I'm pretty stoked. I did not like going to school before and will never like it, ever. This time around, it's not just some theories or formulas that we will be learning, it will be about magic. I already have a slight idea in regards to what I'm about to be learning and I think I'm quite ready. All I need to do is wait for the arrival of the carrier and create my schedule. I'm pretty lucky to be able to enroll in a class with little students as I will be able to adjust my schedule pretty easily.

          The room I'm staying at is pretty barren and cold. A table, two wooden double-decked beds, a magic lamp, and a window. Beside my bed is a rough gray wall dotted with smooth stones. The bottom part of the wall is covered with wooden planks plastered together. I inspected the wood and found no real reason why they incorporated this to the room's structure except for aesthetic reasons, of which I am doubtful about. It is already around dusk when I heard the sound of wind breezing through the window. A jet-black bird flew in and circled around the table before it landed at the window ledge. Around its waist is a small pouch. Its beak reached the pouch and took out a small parchment before it vanished from my sight as it flew out of the window.

          I took out the parchment and took out the magic pen given to me by 'Principal Trepolos'. The parchment is the same as the scroll given by the butler back at home, a leather one. I inspected the parchment and found some strange symbols which I ignored. I wrote a few details about myself and indicated the schedule that I want to have. It will definitely be approved by the higher-ups as those teachers don't even have that many students at all. I injected my energy into it and a slight surge of energy enveloped the room. There was no overbearing energy emitted, no phoenixes, no holographic images. All of a sudden, the parchment eroded into the air leaving nothing behind, not even a heap of ash appeared on the ground similar to the one before.

          I felt relieved. I sat on the floor cross-legged and practiced my martial art cultivation technique which has been handed down to me by Marcus. I emptied my mind, letting the energies of the vast world enter my body. I cannot feel my body anymore. I let the energies reside within my body and led them into my meridians. I woke up with a feeling that my body has become full, I stood up and threw a few punches until the energies dissipate. I felt my body getting stronger and stronger with each punch, vigor filled every inch of me like a flame burning wildly. I went out and walked around the quarters to smell some fresh air.

          I grabbed something from my pocket. It was a small square-shaped wood with the numbers 0 and 4 carved in it.

          'Oh, shoot. I forgot about the noble kid. I should go now. Maybe it isn't too late.'

          I walked towards the eastern part of the quarters and found the room with the numbers 0 and 4. I knocked on the door four times then waited.

          The door opened and in a split of a second, a hint of silvery light neared my throat. I moved my body to the side, jumped back, and grabbed the kitchen knife from my pouch. I did not waste any time as I lunged a stab back to the opponent as a reply. He parried my attack with his dagger and overpowered mine.

          "Damnit."

           The impact caused my hand to be sent upwards and the opponent punched my chin which made me lose my sense of balance and fall. My face was red with anger and embarrassment. My consciousness almost blacked out but I stood back up with shaking legs.

          'I can't lose here. I don't want to die two consecutive times within a span of 10 years.'

           I know that I'm faster than this guy but my attacks lack strength. The opponent ran towards my direction with the dagger at hand. My heart beating faster, I steadied my footing. I drew another knife with my left hand from my pouch and threw it to towards him. His dagger parried my thrown knife and extended his right foot to kick me in the head.

          'Martial arts? Let's see who's better at martial arts.'

          I readied my stance and blocked his kick with my left arm. I swiftly moved my feet towards him and stabbed my knife to his chest, he parried. I followed up with a punch to his side which caught him off-guard. He spat a mouthful of blood. Without even wiping the blood dripping from his chin, he did some sort of bizarre footwork and appeared at my side. He swung his dagger in an arc but I ducked my head and inserted a large amount of energy into my fist. I am about to hit the guy's chin when a sudden voice came out from behind the door. My energy-filled fist stopped midway towards his chin, causing the air current to turn wild. I can see his face turn bloodlessly pale as he lowered his dagger.

          "Ha... Harrison! Stop it. That guy is my guest. Just how many times should I tell you that you do not have to kill anyone who knocks at my door? Let him in and apologize." The familiar voice rang out. It was full of worry.

          "I'm sorry, sir. Please come in..." Still, with blooded lips, Harrison held the door to let me in. I looked at him to inspect his physique and found out that he is definitely not older than me by 5 years. His short red hair glowed like rubies under the light emitted from the magic lamp. His face is definitely a 10 with those blue eyes and rosy lips while his body is quite muscular for his age. He was definitely a knight apprentice who specializes in the art of assassination, no one would ever suspect him.

          I almost died there. It was my very first time to experience a deathmatch. When I went out of my room, I felt so confident about my own strength. Never would I have thought that I'm nothing but a small ant in this wilderness.

          I went in, inserted the knives back to the pouch, and sat on the small gray bed.

. . . .

          "I... I am really sorry, sir Priston. My aide is just a little bit too cautious. I've had a lot of assassination attempts since I went here and most of my people have died. I've had them lodge outside the school for safety reasons and kept Harrison here with me. I am really really sorry sir. I... I will compensate you for the damages." Altair, the white-haired boy, said in a very nervous voice. He did not know what to do about Priston. He did not want to punish Harrison as he was his only aide here. All he can do is give Priston some compensation, which is normally money. Something he did not lack.

          "Do not worry. I understand the situation. So, Lord Altair, I believe that you summoned me here for the soap. Isn't that right?" Priston went directly to the point. He did not want to waste any more time. He understands why Harrison attacked him. Harrison is just one of Altair's protectors and he almost lost to him, not to mention that Harrison is still an apprentice knight. What would happen to him if the attacker is a proper knight or higher?

          "So that thing is called soap. Would you brief me about how that 'soap' works?" Altair went back to his seat and took a pen and some paper.

          "Okay. A bar of soap is something that people use when they bathe. It helps to clean the dirt and with some tweaks, you can actually add some fragrance to it. The ingredients are all in this paper here." Priston handed him a piece of folded paper and stood up. "Is that fine with now? What do you want with it and why are you being pursued by those people?"

          Altair's face became serene like a lake, his eyes sharp like an eagle's. "As you already know, I, Altair, am the — one and only— son of his Majesty Prin the Duke of Adiana and her Majesty Aeren the Duchess of Adiana and the President of Adiana's Merchant Consortium. I am the successor of both the position of Duke of Adiana and the President of Adiana's Merchant Consortium. Due to this, a lot of different factions are after my head. About the soap that you brought me, I want to be the primary distributor of your product." Altair took out a scroll and handed it to Priston. "This is... this is a co... contract, right?" Priston examined the scroll, probed for possible loopholes in the contract.

          "I can see that you are very thorough about your contracts. You don't even act like children of your age. Life must be hard for you, huh." Priston was amazed. He can't think of any other kids of his age that can write contracts like this. He's already 30 while this child is just 11 but their intelligence is almost of the same level. The only word that can describe this kid is the word 'MONSTER'.

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          'So this is how those geezers think when they saw me, huh. If this child grows up, he'll definitely be someone great, maybe greater than me. Still, I won't hand over the Demon King to you. I will be the one who will take his head.'

          He withdrew his eyes from the contract and gazed towards Harrison and then unto Altair. These kids are elites, he knew that he will gain a lot of troubles with these guys but also a lot of opportunities to gain wealth and power. He's already got a powerful backer and it won't hurt to gain another.

          "Do you like what you're seeing? Is there anything that you are not happy with, Mr. Farlake?" Altair motioned for Harrison to get something. Harrison went towards the table and took out a magic pen and gave it to Altair. Priston also has one of these magic pens. Its ink is an ink that can never be removed by any ordinary means. Once used, the mark can only be removed by using a certain magic.

          "The contract looks good to me. 50-50 is already good for me but you just went and gave me 60 percent of the revenue. I am very pleased, partner." He knew that this contract is a long-term one and a good partnership is needed. If they are uneasy being partners, trust won't bloom and money will stagnate. He extended his hands towards Altair.

          "It's only normal to give you the bigger part, it's your product after all, partner." He took the offered handshake and smiled. Priston, on the other hand, signed the contract and injected his energy into it. In a split of a second, the scroll was burnt into ashes, similar to what happened to the parchment sent by the courier. However, after a few more seconds, flame gushed out from where the ashes are and formed a symbol. The symbol was shaped similar to the bloodline beast of the Emperor, a dragon. A few more breaths later, the flames subsided.

          "And there it is! The contract signing has been done. I hope that we will be partners for a very long time. I know that you still have a lot of things hidden under your sleeves. I won't slash those sleeves for now. These products should be introduced in a timely manner, otherwise, their value would go down dramatically. I'll send Harrison to you tomorrow. I'll have you pick yourself a sword from one of my uncle's sword collection. He's got them all. From epees to greatswords, just name it and you'll have it. Even if you pick one of his most prized rapiers it will be fine. You don't have to worry about my uncle, I'm sure he'll understand." Altair grinned in a villainous manner. "Thank you so much for this. I will never forget this for the rest of my life." Priston responded with a dry smile and looked at Harrison.

          "I hope that we would be able to spar some more in the near future. As you know, I am a mage apprentice and I hope that you'd be able to show me some moves sometime." Priston said as he went towards the door. "Goodbye to you all. Let's meet again some other time soon."

          "Goodbye, partner." Altair bid him goodbye and went back to his notebook to calculate some more. He heard the door close and smiled secretly. The smile indicated one thing, he can't wait to become filthy rich.

. . . .

          "Whoo! That's some serious stuff. I'm so glad that I happened to stumble upon this goldmine. With this 'soap' here, I'm sure that our Merchant Consortium would grow into something large one of these days. Mom would be so proud of me. Hahahahaha!" Altair sighed in relief. He's pretty accustomed to these kind of stuff as he grew up from a merchant family. However, this was his first time to handle a contract signing by himself. He's still a child inside after all. He liked to act cool and composed as a facade to hide his own fragility. He himself knew the fact that he is just like other children, weak and easily manipulated. He's just a little bit mature than them, but a child is still a child at the end of the day. He stopped his hands from trembling and looked towards Harrison. Why does everyone just want to look at Harrison? Well, he's good looking after all. Just as good looking as Altair.

          "Harrison, what do you think of Priston? Do you think we can trust him?" Harrison is the only one Altair could trust as almost all of his aides got done in by assassins who posed as allies. Harrison protected him with all of his strength and managed to stealthily get away from those assassins which in turn gained his trust. Harrison is from a very well-known assassin family living under the protection of Duke Prin and has been friends with Altair since young. Although they are not of the same standing, Altair considered Harrison as his most loyal friend. Harrison, on the other hand, will give anything, even his life, just to protect Altair, his one and only friend. The window is open and the cold breeze blew inwards. Altair's white hair was dancing with the wind as he gazed towards Harrison. He looked really noble, like the ones we see in movies.

          "He is very strong and fast in battle. His temperament is good and he is smart, careful, and cunning. When we crossed blades, I thought that I could land a good hit on him but naught is me, my hits are easily dodged by him. That last punch almost took my life if not for your well-timed intervention and him holding back. His martial arts are very profound. If he's trained more in the path of internal energy, I believe that even strong mages won't even be able to leave a scratch on him if they are of the same cultivation level. His speed and reaction time is really intriguing. His martial arts seem to be different than those I've seen before. He's a real monster. Stronger than anyone I've fought before." Harrison lied down at his bed feeling sluggish. He felt like his life has been drained by that last punch, which did not even hit him. The internal energy contained within that fist is deadlier than any dagger held by a level 1 or 2 warrior.

          "You seem to like him a lot. I haven't seen you talk that much about other people except myself. Hahaha. I also like him, he is a very straight forward person, unlike those fake friends I have here in the capital. He's really mature for his age. It did not feel like he's faking his reactions at all."

          "Yeah, I'd like to cross blades with him some more. I feel like I've gained some insights this time. I'm going to meditate for a bit okay? You can go and sleep now. I'll have the shadow rodent protect you. There'd be no one who could defeat him at iron level so you can rest without thinking about anything else. You've got magic classes tomorrow, so goodnight." Harrison went down from his bed and sat cross-legged on the ground. He closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation.

          Beasts are also categorized through the amount of energy they emit from their bodies. Similar to humans, they are also classified through a level system. Level 1 to level 3 beasts are iron level, level 4 to level 7 are Bronze level bests, level 8 to level 14 are Silver level beasts, level 15 to level 18 are Gold level beasts, and level 19 to level 21 Platinum level beasts. After that level, they are already classified as transcendent-realm beasts.

. . . .

          Cloaked by the shade of the dark, under the willow tree, an old man was secretly watching the two young fellows clashing their blades. He was sent by the higher-ups to watch a certain youth.

          "So he's actually pretty good with his blade. If he wants to learn some dagger or knife techniques I'll probably teach him a thing or two. I don't know why that old fellow made him enroll in magic classes. He seems to be more talented in martial arts and the art of the blade. That last punch too. Even I, shadow mage Oliver, would be hurt by that strike. That guy Marcus, just how did he train such a monster?" It was Oliver, the one and only guard of the Student Quarters and one of the best shadow mages within Hereros.

          "I'll just wait for him here and give him the task that I and sir Trepolos have planned. I'm sure he'll go. If he doesn't, I'll just say that he's got sick and bring him unconscious. This is for the greater good after all." He grinned as he patted the head of his pet bat.

          After a few minutes of wait, the target has come out of the room and directly walked towards his room with a very pleasant smile. Not a face that can be normally seen from someone who just fought for their life. "Shadow Dive." He sank down into the shadow and vanished from the surface. No trace of him can be seen anywhere, he vanished just like that. In about a second, he appeared in front of the young boy. The sudden appearance of the old man cause Priston to fall down and shriek like a harridan. Knowing that this may happen, Oliver cast another spell. "Shadow Bind." In just a split second, shadow hands came out of nowhere and enveloped the young boy totally, leaving only the eyes, nose, and ears uncovered. Oliver squatted and patted his pet bat in the head and brought it down into the ground. Seeing this, Priston tried his best to wriggle his way from the confinement.

          "Sit! Good boy. Here' a snack, Gopper. Now, give me your hand! Good boy. Here's another snack." He gave the bat a snack and patted it in the head. He saw Priston struggling too much and decided to talk to him. "Mhhhppppppppmmmmmppppppp." Priston tried to talk but he's gagged and tied up.

          "What was that? Is that an ancient language or something? Boo boo baa baa, right? By the way, sir Trepolos wants you to do something. I don't want you to experience this but I cannot do anything for you, child. You must always remember that everything I do to you is for your own good. You must come to the Tower tomorrow before dusk. Also, bring your cooking utensils. I can tell you that what you are about to experience will change how you perceive life. Ready your heart, strengthen your spirit. Only by then will you be able to accomplish this task. Don't report this to anybody, even that Marcus guy. You will come, alone. By yourself. Nobody is allowed to go with you. This is a secret between the three of us." He grabbed his own neck and acted like he's being choked before he talked again. "You already know what will happen to you if you don't come tomorrow. Remember, bring your cooking utensils. Boo boo baa baa." Oliver whispered to his ear in a creepy manner.

          'That's pretty good, right? I'm a very welcoming guy. I guess he wetted himself because he's too happy about my news. Hehehe.'

          Priston stopped struggling. The part around his crotch felt warm then became cold afterward. Good thing that nothing came out from his back part yet.

          Oliver removed the spell binding the child and grabbed the bat by the neck. He then vanished into the shadows and out of the child's sight. Priston's face became paler than white, his heartbeat sounded stronger than the sound of hooves running wild, his crotch wet. He stood up shaking and hid somewhere dark to change his wet pants and went back to his room as fast as a cheetah. He did not sound a word towards the twins as he directly went to bed and closed his eyes into a deep sleep.

          'He can't contain himself from being too happy. He went and slept early without eating dinner. He must be too excited. Hehehe.'