The Boy Back At It Again

Within the Rocaloi Academy, some time had passed by again, and 2 weeks were gone faster than they should have.

From the residences for students, there is a difference only between students and leading students, the latter forming part of what is the most amazingly elite yet also with leadership figures among the students who are at least capable of showing the path for a better cultivation level. It could all be seen, all around, how the Rocaloi Academy was practically much livelier than the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect despite having much less members in actuality and that is even with the whole academy's structure built around such a huge mountain.

Suddenly, a house that had remained closed and that nobody even wanted to come closer to open, revealing a foot that belonged to almost a young man, a young adult, and that had such a visage but was in truth just a boy.

Ciemnosc looked around. The same colors and greenery scenery as before could be seen with his naked eye, now in the day rather than the night, which was when he arrived here.

Before, just as he came into contact with this brand new world, all Ciemnosc could see was a blue color accompanied by a golden color all over the buildings, with pathways between ‘streets’ and many more ornamental structures and different, diverse buildings and structures had as many colors as possible all around the mountain - and the base of the mountain at its foot.

That is, because there weren’t buildings all around the mountain, there were also a lot of buildings down below at the foot of the mountain. Though there were indeed some differences between the buildings around and on top of the mountain to that of those at the foot of the mountain, the difference was more about the rarity of the people who attend certain classes to that of the most important buildings for all students and staff of the academy itself.

The Grand Lecture Hall, with a 40 meters height and 59 square meters interior, whereas it had stairs built to reach it, and all around it were platforms and flat flooring just for the sake of anyone who wanted to get closer enough and watch to do just that; watch whatever ceremony or even would be held in this Grand Lecture Hall.

Mostly, however, this Grand Lecture Hall was used by the most respected teacher in the academy to the headmaster himself. They would give lectures on the cultivation that everyone thought they knew all about. But after hearing about these masters of cultivation, there was no doubt that it placed many arrogant and conceited students in their place without even giving them a glare and hence put them on the right track for their futures.

That was at least according to the information that Ciemnosc had been able to get while in seclusion and with the Obsidiafying realm cultivators more than happy to give Ciemnosc as much knowledge of their precious academy as possible. During these 14 days, Ciemnosc had been taking his time in the world outside. But for the small little house, he stole for himself, it was a whole different matter in which he had already solidified his cultivation at the Spirit Gathering realm 4th stage.

There was a clear difference between simple stuff when comparing the rooms of the Rocaloi Academy and that of the strongest major organization in the entire world.

Back then, Ciemnosc had just entered and seen the nightly lit lights of the ‘streets’ and had many, many thoughts in his mind as he saw hundreds of new faces every few tens of seconds, every single one different and not one of them appearing depressive because of why not and instead showed a good amount of unique, calmed excitement.

As for the few hundred thousand that were newly recruited, Ciemnosc saw them all being shown their way to the buildings that looked like houses back then. Feeling like he needed the same, he simply left the Obsidiafying realm cultivators who were still explaining little things and details to him, and when Ciemnosc noticed that this house was actually one recently given to a disciple of the Eagerburning Flames Sect, he threw the dude away from his home and closed the door.

The rest was simple, but though he spent these many days solidifying his cultivation base, already to that ultimately, extremely solid degree that made him feel like any bloating would barely be felt by him… His head went through all of the recent, past events over and over again…

But that has now been put back, and as he stepped out of the house, nobody noticed him and such a thing simply made him feel so at ease right away as he had a new set of humble styled clothes, which he crazily adored wearing.

This house, which was for all normal students, had 3 rooms for 3 students. The beds in each room weren’t that big but were comfy enough, and the wooden work on the floor, walls, and furniture was just top notch. Each bedroom has 4 more or less small cases, which could be placed all around as the student pleased.

There was also a praying mat for each bedroom, with some Inferior grade Powerful Stones already scattered on them to show the students ‘how to’ use them to cultivate. Ciemnosc of course could read through the array placed on them, though he left the Inferior Powerful Stones alone and didn’t take them. He already had about 10,000 useless things of those, and he wasn’t going to use any huge, large array for whatever purpose any time soon.

Outside each bedroom was just the living room. There wasn’t any hallway and only a 2 meter long space between the walls of the bedroom and the regular sized circular table at the right side from the entrance’s point of view or the bookshelves right behind the table, which each house could only have 2.

There was a chimney in the center towards the right from the entrance’s point of view. It was a pretty regular sized one too, with 4 barrels where one can hold either food or a type of drink at the lower bottom right of the house. There was a very small blue carpet at the doorstep, leading to a wonderful green color devoid of any snow and hence of any extra work to do.

Even though there were servants. Which were below the students in terms of status, it was too large of territory for just a few tens of thousands of them to be able to clean it in less than a couple of days. But at least the table was fully surrounded by chairs so that the students could bring in as many other students to treat them well, or so.

Compared to the highest end of rooms he had heard about from the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect, those made for the core disciples in their own Core Disciple’s enclave. Those had one regular bed and one large bed in the bedroom, with a couple boxes beside the larger room, a small circular table with chairs all around it, and a regular sized rectangular table with also chairs all around it.

And there was indeed one single room for cultivation with a fairly large red carpet, in a corner of the whole room and with a space equal to that of the small circular table with all of its chairs being taken. The flooring, walls, and ceiling were all of stone, while the entire floor, streets, and structures of the whole enclave were also made of stone.

Comparing one to another, it could just be easily seen how different these 2 organizations worked. And it was naturally the Rocaloi Academy the ones to have a much greater opportunity for its recently beginning and most weak members, and that could be seen even more easily as Ciemnosc stepped out and looked around, before making his way towards a certain large building at the foot of the mountain.

While walking out, there were some brand new students who looked at him as if in reaction and warily, only to relax and give Ciemnosc a smile independently if he saw it or not, before continuing on with their walk to somewhere else and with lots of books in their arms against their chests. Just in that way alone, it was already so different from whatever they and Ciemnosc himself have experienced in the 4 ‘major’ organizations before.

Step step step step…

While Ciemnosc made his way towards this building in particular, and at this day and no other, he took out what was once an ‘Identification’ Token. And had now become a Personal Token that was not made or modified for the academy but was all changed and made him by none other than Ciemnosc the monstrous genius himself.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

It was no longer bright red. It just had a steel color on it. Clean, bright, and spotless with that blank label still at its center with only himself being able to go through it. It still had a nonagon shape, and its size was that of 2 fists of Ciemnosc. It was only the blank label itself that had thinned out and became a tiny bit longer than before.

His commanding vehicle and the motorbike were still in his Covert Space bags. While the Cloudless Eagle had already recuperated with Ciemnosc giving it so much good food to eat.

Only 33 top notch quality swords remained in his possession. While 8 Mortal thin swords were still the number that followed him since Kinski and Katherine…

There were a lot of buildings, stairs, and even small passageways that didn’t ‘drill’ into the mountain itself deeper than a few meters, as it was all for the sake of keeping the mountain safe and natural, and changing that would make their academy’s settling here unnatural, against nature itself and just plain bad according to the old teaching of the academy and its 2 role models to follow since its foundation.

Around the mountain. There were buildings that had teachers who were not only the best at what profession they chose to become a Craftsman or Craftswoman; be it alchemy, forging, blacksmithing, and even the study of flora, fauna, and of cultivation.

There were already such classes for the most fundamental basics and up to the elementary stuff that anyone would need down at the foot of the mountain. But the most obvious difference right away to nice between these and them was the fee of 1 Inferior Powerful Stone per entry into said buildings around the mountain. While those at the foot were completely free, and anyone could enter a classroom as long as there was a teacher in it even without giving a lecture.

Those fewer, larger buildings around the mountain for Craftspeople had a much more extensive ‘course’ so to speak. Anyone who entered would notice the difference between the easygoing and even question-clearing teachers below to the strict, ‘I do not repeat’, stern-faced and advanced information from the even eccentric teachers to the headmaster.

There was also the possibility of having private tutoring, but there were lots of procedures for such matters. The best was still to catch someone’s eye and become their pupil or even disciple and adopt a master-disciple doctrine. Nowadays, there were many people who wanted to be taught by the current 2 masterminds behind the teachings of the academy’s 2 eminences that this whole academy is built upon.

Of course, that was basically never happening but at least, they could still see these 2 eminences once a week, as opposed to the other teachers lecturing in the Craftsmaking buildings around the mountains, who would lecture at least once every 2 to 3 days at most.

And there were even advanced training rooms in each of those buildings, either for the Craftsmaking itself or for trying them and to see how good and efficient they are and for ‘the best’ it was basically to see if their product, items, and creations altogether are good enough.

There were too many more buildings of all kinds at the foot of the mountain and unlike all around the mountain. Though it didn’t have such important buildings as the Grand Lecture Hall, right at the top of the mountain that decided the promotion of some and gave knowledge or honored some others - the foot of the mountain had the most essential and practical buildings within the entire academy.

And right now, Ciemnosc stepped still towards a building that said ‘Mission Request & Acquisition’ without stopping, a building with 2 pillars at the entrance to its left and right of a light, pale blue color while the rest of the whole building was of a pale steel color.

And as Ciemnosc stepped into it, he made his way to the interior and saw an almost 120 square meters large room that formed the entire main hall with the rest of the building’s rooms for the staff behind the reception desks. But within this one main hall that had multiple floors with open stairs for anyone, each floor separating the risk of missions depending on the risk for the cultivation base needed to take on a mission and of the task and not simply on cultivation base.

Here, even a Spiritual Ligament realm cultivator at the 1st stage can even find a mission only a Spiritual Ligament realm cultivator at the 3rd stage could complete at the top of the Mission Request & Acquisition. While even a Spirit Gathering realm 10th stage student can find a mission that would require a Conflagrate realm cultivator to complete it with ease and without much danger, but that would grant him or her the possibility to fight for the title of a ‘leading’ student at the top of the building as well.

But with Ciemnosc entering the building, the entire first floor silenced itself. It was already quiet considering how many Supervisors, deans, and even the vice-headmaster himself were here! Seemingly waiting for someone, and if it is all according to the rumors, which of ‘rumors’ it had just a little with teachers who were asked about it practically confirming it every time - the ‘chosen one’ was going to reveal himself or herself today!

Thus, when Ciemnosc entered the first floor, the brand new, weird students went all silent as they looked at the entrance of the building. Followed by them were some of the many Obsidiafying realm cultivators that Ciemnosc met 2 weeks ago. Most of their faces only exchanged glances with his once or twice at most though.

Then it was the turn for students and leading students to turn around to face the same direction that their respected supervisors, deans, and the vice-headmaster himself suddenly looked into. At once they saw a boy-like young man that fearlessly made his way to the respected few with his lifeless darkest eyes.

Step… step step… step step step… step step step step.

“Ciemnosc,” one of the deans exclaimed, with another one following to bow at him one who seemed middle-aged came closer to the front and also slightly bowing at him. The rest of old, middle-aged, and even a few somewhat young-looking people in this group of respected supervisors, deans, and vice-headmaster, also bowed at Ciemnosc after that middle-aged man bowed to him.

“Greetings Ciemnosc. I couldn’t meet you before as I was researching for a little bit. It’s an honor to meet you,” the middle-aged man greeted him so respectfully that gasps were heard all over the first floor. He was a bald middle-aged man with some wrinkles, 2 meters tall, and lightened brown sand skin. “I am the vice-headmaster of the Rocaloi Academy, Topi.”

After saying these words, introducing himself, vice-headmaster Topi looked at Ciemnosc to see his reaction. But Ciemnosc, just like his fellow staff in the academy, was lifelessly staring back at him and did nothing else but nod his head. While Ciemnosc didn’t extend his hand out to shake it with Topi, the latter still smiled and patted Ciemnosc’s right shoulder a little bit.

“Now Ciemnosc, I would like to tell you if you are willing to follow with the words you were told of before?” Not making a long chat, Topi walked towards the nearest reception desk and asked Ciemnosc, who in return let a bit of silence emanate from their walking for a couple of seconds. Once they arrived and both their feet slowed down, Ciemnosc finally answered.

“I don’t see why not, vice-headmaster Topi. I just would like to know more about the things that are nearer and not just the future.” Ciemnosc’s words were reasonable, but looking into his eyes, Topi became visibly estranged, as if he had just felt weird somehow; somewhat.

“Naturally,” Topi managed to recompose himself after a second though, he wasn’t an Obsidiafying realm cultivator at the peak. “Ciemnosc, we know that the world isn’t peaceful, and it doesn’t have to be.”

With that, the vice-headmaster turned to face the receptionist and simply extended his right arm towards the fatty with glasses, who already had a bunch of documents that were not supposed to be there, to begin with, according to ordinary regulations, and smoothly, rapidly, passed them over to the vice-headmaster without the latter needing to even wait for half a second with his hand not fully opening yet already grabbing at so many documents.

“But you have to prove yourself first.” Vice-headmaster Topi declared, his right hand holding a large amount of easily 300 pages with at least 700 words in each of them, despite being of a regular size. Ciemnosc took those documents in his hands without a problem, looked down at them, and then up at vice-headmaster Topi, who was waiting for Ciemnosc. Seeing that Ciemnosc didn’t make a move, Topi embarrassingly coughed twice and said helpingly.

“Choose 3 missions from this. Depending on what you choose, we’ll believe in your capabilities to successfully come back alive from them. All of these are assassination missions, new ones since… well since we showed ourselves to the world. There has been some conflict already, Ciemnosc, and we are no longer going to hide.”

“As such, since we are already having some little encounters with the east, why not just start sending a message?” Topi elaborated, for a bit and without letting Ciemnosc know it all. Topi continued with a much more tone at ease in his voice. “If you choose interesting ones, Ciemnosc, we will begin granting you all possible help we have. Be it knowledge, resources, or a teacher that can give you the full, real knowledge of a certain 2 people whom you might have heard of before while studying under some fanatic.”

“... Okay.” Ciemnosc kept on looking at the documents, not gazing up at Topi anymore and also not flipping through the pages, all he needed was his Spirit Sense to scan it all. But trying to keep on training his own self and ‘being’, Ciemnosc used only his eyes to even do something ridiculous, such as watching and rapidly reading through the pages with just his eyes and without moving them a single bit! It was comical to think about, but while vice-headmaster, Ciemnosc was already done with such a ‘menial’ task, he had already done it twice.

And though it seemed ‘menial’, it was as difficult for cultivators as it is for any ordinary being.

Flip, flap flapery flap…

“...Mmm, these.” Slowly moving his right-handed fingers while his left hand roughly shook the documents, Ciemnosc picked 3 documents and pointed with his right hand at them while he had already made the other 297 documents or so appear back on top of the desk. And his left hand held those 3 documents in his palm.

Topi looked down to see the ‘chosen’ boy’s decision, and he was in for such a surprise…

…