Vying For Fruits

"You're a Student?" The boss asked, but nothing more needed to be said. Heian Ciemnosc stepped into the workshop and looked at the red vehicle the boss was working with but failed to repair. The boss's eyes glittered upon seeing Heian Ciemnosc's eyes inspecting the automobile and not showing the same doubt he had but grew anxious. "I can't pay you much right now, not for your help-"

"I need to go somewhere, and it won't take me more than 24 hours. I think borrowing one of your best vehicles should be enough if I help you. What's the deadline and the problem you're facing?" Heian Ciemnosc placed his right arm on his stomach and used it to support his left elbow. Softly grazing his knuckles against his chin, he proposed and asked the boss if he wanted to carry on.

“W-will you promise to return it within that time?” The boss frowned slightly and said while looking straight into Heian Ciemnosc’s Wrath Nihility Academy emblem. Heian Ciemnosc noiselessly chuckled and jolted his body before answering, “Do I even need to do that?”

The boss nodded, pressed his lips, turned to face the red vehicle. Its lid was lifted, and it was ‘limping’ on the ground while its bottom was suspended in the air by a mechanism. Heian Ciemnosc crouched beside the motor under the boss’s watch and began enlarging his neck to look here and there. Finally, he pulled a piece of gear from the vehicle and showed it to the boss. It had an ordinary aspect, with a tiny star with sharp ends in the middle as a hole.

“You will have to buy another piece of this to repair it. The rest can be fixed. I think you’ll learn once I show you once, and it won’t take you more than a couple hours to fully repair one. This piece has been destroyed with many other workshops before. I’m sure. If they hadn’t handled it so much and brusquely. It might’ve been repairable. It’s just better to use them for simple machinery now.”

“I-I can’t buy more of these. They are too expensive, and I just returned to the City last week. I don’t have enough money to buy even one of these. The promised pay is good and can cover the price 20 times over, but I can’t do anything with my current pockets.” The boss said, shaking his head and raising his arms hopelessly before letting them fall and slap his sides.

“Then buy cheaper, lower quality ones. I have a method that will guarantee those low-quality gears to work like fine art pieces. You’ll just have to spend some more on other parts,” Heian Ciemnosc threw the gear with a star in the middle to the boss, picked a few tools, and began hammering with a tiny hammer at the side.

“Now, we will begin by changing the overall layout of this, this… and this.” Heian Ciemnosc said as he tore open the motor and took it out, then began hammering around its previous location to change its shape and volume for more stuff to fit in. Seeing Heian Ciemnosc’s confidence and totally sure attitude didn’t ease the boss, who silently watched in attention but held what little hair he had to the sides of his head in anxiety.

“There will be a new part added to the motor. It will help that gear as if enhancing it. It will only last for 5 years, more or less, but by then, I would have come up with a permanent contraption…” Heian Ciemnosc began explaining as he kept hammering, then moving things out and changing their placement with other parts. He kept clarifying when necessary but mostly let the boss’s eyes see to understand his actions.

Heian Ciemnosc was careful with showing the boss how he selected each part of the vehicle to fit in another place, to where it connected, and what it would proceed to do with his experience. Thus, the boss’s hands slowly lowered, and the hair to his sides was left alone. But his eyes became relaxed, and he could finally breathe normally again.

“... Hoho, young man,” the boss mistook Heian Ciemnosc’s age and addressed him full of praises in his tone. “If you’re willing, my workshop will be more than glad to have you help us. You will be accordingly paid a lot of good money. We can be partners.”

Heian Ciemnosc finished showing the boss how to craft a little box-like cover around the low quality gear and walked to the red car. It took him less than 40 minutes to finish all this up, and he even had to wait for some time so the boss would return with the replacement gears.

“Well, everything’s there. Can I see my borrowed automobile now?” Heian Ciemnosc installed the last piece: the gear and its enhancement contraption and looked at the boss expectantly. The boss nodded solemnly, closing his eyes and all, before gesturing to the ‘young man’ to follow him and turned around with his stout body in a better state and mood.

Following the boss further into the workshop, Heian Ciemnosc saw the other dozens of cars the boss had to fix and then a series of modern, lavish-looking, and rough-looking vehicles. Finally, the boss took him where a seriously potent protective array formation hidden to even Spirit Sense for a First Step peak cultivator lay. Opened it and showed what was inside to Heian Ciemnosc, astonishing him with the many long, wide, or simple-sized encapsulated motors around.

The boss let Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes wander everywhere, and Heian Ciemnosc was inspecting everything without a twinge of politeness. Each vehicle he saw before was already much better than his commanding vehicle regarding speed, armor, or agility. But those inside the protective array formation were on a whole other world in comparison!

The armor was as thin as any ordinary vehicle for a citizen. But they were noticeably more resistant and durable to Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes, and his eyes were something alright. He could tell they resisted the Elemental environment and were as good as a piece of armor enhanced by Power Energy. Although the level of such Power Energy had to be seen still.

Finally, the boss brought Heian Ciemnosc to the deepest section of the protective array formation, where a single light blue vehicle shining with delight was hidden under some darkness that did nothing to hide from Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes.

“This is my most precious baby. I planned on selling it for 500,000 silver coins to the Academy or some of their staff. I just hadn’t put it on sale because I wanted to wait for the 1,000th recruitment when I could possibly put it up for auction. Now, I’ll let you try it for yourself. I’ve already done tests, but I had to leave the City - to test her. It is cleaned up, and everything’s in check. Don’t worry, I check her daily. I wouldn’t allow even an atom of air to pass above or near her if I could.”

Heian Ciemnosc observed the baby the boss spoke of. It was 22 meters long, so unnecessarily long. It had a space for only about 3 seats, with 2 at the frontmost and several panels for looking at the sides, rear, and below from a better position for the driver and co-driver seats. Undoubtedly, this was a must for anyone who wanted their non-cultivator family members to use it or for those cultivators barely starting on their path.

“It is a work for generations that my family had worked on in this workshop. I’m just the lucky family member to be alive when the 1,000th recruitment year will happen. Eh, how is it, Mr. Student?” The boss saw Heian Ciemnosc’s inspecting gaze, the same as before, and grew proud knowing a Student from the Wrath Nihility Academy was compelled to analyze this family relic.

“Oh, I’ll borrow it, thank you.” Heian Ciemnosc spoke and tilted his head to the right to face the boss. With a nod, the boss gave Heian Ciemnosc a key. It was simply a keycard with a standard key’s image graved to its sides. Without wasting any more time, Heian Ciemnosc stored it in his Covert Space bags and left the workshop as the boss took a large breath in relief once and got to work. There were many cars left to repair, as this Student had taught him.

. . .

Somewhere outside the Wrath Nihilty Academy’s organizational territory, more than 10 kilometers away from a small City.

Trckrr, trckrr trckrr trckrr trckrr… Heian Ciemnosc was driving the boss’s baby through a greenie prairie. He was just a couple minutes from arriving at the place of the mission. The car was so fast it could let him see another chunk of the world every minute. It was incredible. It didn’t bump, and Heian Ciemnosc had no problem doing sudden turns or long curves without drifting or slowing down.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

A few minutes later, the car only made noise to the nearest 50 meters while impossibly speeding into the distance. Heian Ciemnosc drove around a hill that wasn’t a hill but a steep edge of the land. Hiding on the other side was a large hole that appeared like a huge boulder that was kicked off and broke when the kick hit it.

At the center, below that hole, was a small tree not taller than 10 meters and a thin width. It had lush green leaves and a slightly bright orange trunk color. The only spot of green around the hole was surrounding 4 meters around the base of the tree. That spot of green not only had grass as even leaves grew from it, but it wasn’t alone at the moment. As Heian Ciemnosc drove downwards towards the hole’s center, a few groups of several cultivators looked with rapt attention and weariness.

Trckrr. Heian Ciemnosc parked the boss’s baby 30 meters away from the several cultivator groups, each with their own designed uniform, robes, and unique emblems, each having a different name. There were about 30 cultivators here, mostly young-looking. But some were older, with naturally the highest cultivation base among them.

Heian Ciemnosc stepped out of the boss’s baby and stored it before walking towards them. He gazed at the tree as if showing interest, making the crowd restless. With that entrance, showing his Covert Space bag without fear and walking towards them alone, it really did a number on them. As Heian Ciemnosc came closer, they more or less let out a mental sigh of relief. Because they also noticed his uniform’s design, emblem, and the fiercely biting dogs on the jacket’s shoulders.

Heian Ciemnosc scanned them as they scanned him. Most were at the Ashes Soul realm, and a few of the youngest were at the peak 10th stage of the Spirit Birth realm. Only 4 of them, the oldest, were at the 10th stage of the Ashes Soul realm, while the rest were between the 1st and 3rd stages. Heian Ciemnosc was the most pitiful at the 1st stage of the Spirit Birth realm, but he was considered after he showed some wealth and where he came from.

“Halt-... please,” one of the white-haired middle-aged men said. His face was rough, with a head almost full of white hair if it wasn’t because of the silver strands in between. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the man, and between the 4 of them, he was the strongest among them. Hearing the sudden change of tone towards the end, Heian Ciemnosc smiled lightly and looked at the middle-aged man.

“You must come from the Wrath Nihility Academy, but why are you here?” The middle-aged man asked. Heian Ciemnosc looked and gestured to the tree behind the other party and exclaimed, obviously. “I’m here for those half-herbs right there. What else?”

“...” The middle-aged man frowned. He turned his upper body backwards and looked at the rest with a ‘he said those, didn’t he?’ face before returning to look at Heian Ciemnosc. “Esteemed… Student of the Academy. Even if you want them all, that makes no sense, no? Right now, it is you alone, and there are tens of us, each stronger than you by a large margin. Please, don’t make trouble for us. We don’t want trouble. Especially with someone with a noble status like yours.”

“Mmm,” Heian Ciemnosc said nothing and stared blankly at the middle-aged man, his lips relaxed and darkest eyes. The middle-aged man seemed a bit more calm, so he continued. “Since you understand, then… We’ll let you have one fruit. The rest will be distributed amongst us. I suppose that is sufficient?”

“Hmm-” Heian Ciemnosc was just about to finish murmuring again when an orange haired young man, one of the youngest, lashed out with injustice written all over his face. “What, no, no- no! You can’t do that! We agreed on 7 each. Who are you taking one from? My group? Why? Because we’re the weakest and have fewer members?! This isn’t what was agreed!”

Heian Ciemnosc eyed the orange haired young man, who had a youngish, child-like face, predominantly short hair, and had a few tender freckles here and there that made his appearance and age more bizarre but wasn’t bad-looking. The middle-aged man frowned concernedly, showing he cared about fairness and righteousness. Then, he looked at Heian Ciemnosc, helpless.

“... Um, Student… It is like this. Will it be alright if we buy you another fruit in the City? It’s sure we can reunite enough pocket money to aid you in your problem. And while the fruit in the City would be worse than these new, fresh fruits, I assure you it will be as good as these.” The middle-aged man finally said after growing anxious seeing Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t interested in articulating a damn word.

“But I want all the Orangebreeding Fruits?” Heian Ciemnosc took a sudden stride with his right leg forward. His back was slightly lowered, and his head tilted to the right as it turned to the left and faced the middle-aged man. His tone was light, almost as if embarrassed, but the corners of his mouth slightly showed his canines and a smile was nearly formed.

The middle-aged man’s face turned dark instantly. It was almost as if he was just waiting for this response from Heian Ciemnosc…

“Student, you’re making this too difficult,” the man’s voice changed to a somber, darker one. Fluctuations of Power Energy emerged from within his body. Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes remained unchanged as this happened. But his eyes looked precisely to the left portion of the man’s torso, where the Power Energy was being sent to before flowing through his left arm. “Please understand, if you don’t let us walk away free from you, thinking the Academy’s fame can save you, then we will force you out of here!”

Though the middle-aged man was still calmly talking, his body was hiding such a sneaky movement he didn’t even bother hiding it from Heian Ciemnosc. He was just a puny Spirit Birth realm 1st stage Student about to die anyway. But even without it being Heian Ciemnosc, any Student would’ve realized something from the smiles of the other 3 nearby, who couldn’t help but react as the strongest among them was about to brutalize a Wrath Nihility Academy’s student. And a Student, for that matter.

“And here I thought we would have to talk,” Heian Ciemnosc’s smile disappeared. Replacing it was his ultimately cold eyes and a calm voice, followed by his back straightening, but his head remaining tilted and hung. Still facing the middle-aged man, who this time frowned naturally and sensed something amiss but couldn’t tell what or why. That was when Heian Ciemnosc added, sounding grateful. “Oh~. My, my. It is more nutritious this way. What a meal!”

“Halt…”

“...?” - “?!” - !!” - “?” - “!?” - “??” Heian Ciemnosc slowly moved his head to face the newcomer. While the rest of the cultivators swiftly faced the direction of the voice, only to see a teenage boy of about 16 years old with ordinary clothes but clear and bright eyes looking at them from above the hole.

Step, step, step, step, step, step, step. The teenager slowly walked down the hole towards them, but his body moved smoothly, moderately, and at a quicker pace. His short black hair was ordinary, but it enhanced his visage. Some charm could be felt just by looking at him. Naturally, he wasn’t as handsome as Heian Ciemnosc.

“I think I heard something about a Student from that Wrath Nihility Academy bluntly flamboyantly bragging his status around? I despise those people the most! I, Tae, will not remain idle as long as an arrogant prick like you is there before me!” The so-called ‘Tae’ teenager spoke as he slid down the hole. By then, Heian Ciemnosc and the rest had become at ease, standing with their backs straight and gazing at the brave teenager.

“!” Shockingly, the crowd of cultivators was alarmingly surprised to see such a young talent already at the 10th stage of the Ashes Soul realm! Even Elena wasn’t at this level. Heian Ciemnosc knew that very well.

“Hmph, I had a friend who joined the Academy, but since then, she hasn’t been able to contact me yet. When I tried to enter, I was immediately refused even the first part of the test, and now a meager Student comes out here to wag his status outside the Academy?!” Tae arrived before Heian Ciemnosc and the middle-aged man. The rest of the cultivators looked around in expectation but didn’t know what was coming. One thing was for sure, though, the Student was about to get kicked the shit out of here!

Heian Ciemnosc thought of saying something but stopped and kept his mouth open. After thinking for a second, tilting his head slightly to the left and looking up for a moment, he gazed at the teenager before speaking in a calm voice. “If it’s so, maybe I have some news about her, what’s her name?”

“Eh?! How did you know it was a girl? This…” Tae was already disdainful of Heian Ciemnosc before he even directed a word towards him. So when Heian Ciemnosc did direct his words to Tae, Tae put on an even more disdainful expression. But when hearing Heian Ciemnosc out to the last letter, he became startled and ended up confused. “Her name was Sonia, sh-”

“Never heard of her.” Heian Ciemnosc’s flat words reached everyone’s ears, then to their brain, and finally, realization struck.

“...” Tae gripped his fists tightly. He was thoroughly burning red from his face as eminent Power Energy fluctuations stormed within his body. Tae had lowered his head to calm himself down, but he was now raising it as more and more Power Energy oozed from his body. Among everyone here, there was only one person targeted by this humiliated fury and incredible Power Energy.

…And that is Heian Ciemnosc!

…