Chapter 37: Thomas Blight

  Two groups of apprentices stood in front of the central arena platform, staring at each other. On one side were Damon and Claire, standing shoulder to shoulder.

  Opposite them stood four others. Damon immediately recognized Kelvin and Samantha. The third was a man he had not seen before, with short, spiky black hair and a body packed with thick, sinewy muscles. No arcane energy fluctuations were coming from him, yet his presence radiated a raw, primal might.

  Standing at the forefront of the group was a man clad in a robe shimmering with golden runes and verdant lining embroidered with regal markings. His long green hair flowed down his back, tied loosely with a simple ribbon. His emerald eyes glowed with a golden hue as the numerous minuscule, yet intricate gold runes slowly rotated around his pupils.

  “Damon Fletcher. You have a lot of potential. I am interested in you. Won’t you become mine?”

  Damon’s expression of curiosity froze on the spot. What the heck is that? I have read about human relationships before, and it did mention that some men prefer the company of other men over their predestined instincts of reproduction. Is this one such anomaly?

  Damon slowly began retreating one step at a time while forming a wall between them with his hand. His expression had turned into one of shock, with a hint of trepidation.

  “Uhm… I am flattered by your honesty and directness, but… I don’t think it will work out… I am not interested in you, or rather, in men…”

  Thomas had been smiling gently at Damon, hoping to display the bearing of a magnanimous leader. However, his expression morphed drastically at the words entering his ears.

  “What? How dare you imply..! No, what I meant was… I’m not interested in men either!” Thomas blabbered out incoherently, breaking his previous character filled with confidence and determination.

  The three people standing behind Thomas turned their sights away, unwilling to see the one they served being placed into such an awkward circumstance. Though they were somewhat used to this because their leader was someone who spoke without thinking and had caused similar situations in the past.

  Pfft. “Hahahahahahaha!” Claire broke out in teary laughter on the side, stooping over and hugging her own stomach due to the comedic situation. She also knew about Thomas’s penchant for creating awkward scenarios since they had grown up together in the Assembly. She had been hoping, nay, expecting such a thing to happen.

  Damon did not completely understand what was going on and looked between the group standing at the back staring off into the distance, Claire, who was laughing so hard her drool was starting to drip down, and Thomas, who was frantically waving his hands and shaking his head in denial. What is this situation?

  “So… If that wasn’t what you meant, what DID you mean?” Damon asked cautiously, still primed to run at the first sight of danger.

  Thomas placed his face in his palms and let out a big sigh. “Argh, my entire recruitment speech was messed up because of this… What I meant was that I wanted to recruit you to join my faction. I need a competent Runemaster under me, and I hear that you are proficient in both combat and Runeology. You would make a perfect addition to my group. What do you say?”

  After he finished talking, his expression and demeanor returned to that of a mysterious and mighty figure, lifting his chin high and holding out his right hand for Damon to grab.

  Damon glanced between the self-satisfied smile on Thomas’s face and his outstretched hand a few times before turning around to face Claire, who had finally somewhat recovered from her laughing spurt.

  “Is this guy serious? What’s wrong with him? Why is he acting like that?” Damon was almost speechless. Didn’t they say he was the great-grandson of a powerful Warden senior? How had he turned out like that?

  “Hahaha. Yes, that’s what Thomas is like. He’s a bit silly and says odd things, but he’s actually a good person. He is incredibly honest, so you can trust him.” Claire wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes from laughing too hard as she responded.

  “So? Have you decided to come under me yet? I promise to take care of you for the rest of your life.” Thomas began his persuasion again, wiggling his fingers in a ‘come hither’ motion.

  From behind Thomas, Samantha whispered to him in a hushed tone so only the small group could hear. “Brother Thomas, what about the deal you made with James?”

  Thomas whispered back, “There is no point. I needed his expertise in Runeology, but I have chosen to work with Damon instead.”

  Damon became drained of all energy yet again. This Academy seemed to be filled with strange cultivators. Or were all cultivators strange?

  “I’m not interested. My apologies…” Damon responded half-heartedly and turned around to walk away.

  “Wait! Wait a moment! I’m not done yet! I have something that you’ll definitely be interested in. If you join me, it’s yours!” Thomas called out in a rush.

  “What is it?” Damon asked.

  ‘This.” Thomas returned to his mysterious persona and held out a thin and worn-out notebook along with a storage pouch. “This is an ancient book detailing a single type of enchantment. It contains the ‘sever’ rune, along with the exact engraving method. In this storage pouch, I have collected all the materials for this enchantment. It should be somewhere between the second and third tiers in terms of rune difficulty and strength. How about it? Tempted?”

  Damon’s eyes began to glow in interest. From the sound of the rune, it appeared to be related to offense. He was curious what the exact principles were. However, he had absolutely no interest in joining Thomas’s faction.

  “I do not intend to join any faction. I am too occupied with cultivation. Would I be able to purchase that from you?” Damon asked, unwilling to give up on the treasure right in front of him.

  Thomas put away the book and storage pouch and said, “That’s unfortunate. Well, instead, I have a mission I will request of you in exchange for these rewards. How does that sound?”

  “What do you want me to do? Hurry up and get straight to the point.” Damon demanded.

  “I have an enchantment that needs to be done for my second-tier staff. I could hire a Senior Apprentice, but something moved deep inside of me when I first saw you, telling me that I should rely on you for this task instead. Call it a gut feeling.”

  Damon chose to ignore the extraneous words and only focused on the main point. “So you want me to engrave a rune into your staff in return? Okay, I’m willing to do that.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Thomas slowly shook his head before meeting Damon’s eyes. His expression was quite grave at this moment. “It’s not a single rune. It’s a fusion of three runes into one. As a budding Runemaster, I’m sure you understand the difficulty this imposes. Which is why I couldn’t rely on just anyone to complete this task.”

  “A fusion of three runes? Hmm…” Damon’s eyebrows furrowed as he considered the information. I’ve never tried fusing runes before… I can inscribe the runes I’ve copied with Truesight, but will I be able to combine them?

  “Is there a diagram of the fused rune with the enchantment instructions?” Damon asked.

  “Yes. There are diagrams of each singular rune, diagrams of the process, and the final diagram, which shows the finished product.” Thomas replied this time without acting mysterious. It seemed he was taking this quite seriously.

  “I can only give it a try. I can’t guarantee the successful enchantment, but I am confident in Runeology. Though I will need some time to study the method before attempting the enchantment.” Damon decided it was worth a try, especially as it was a crucial experiment that could allow him to learn a new way of producing runes.

  “Okay, great. Here is the method for the fusion rune. Please study it hard, and contact me when you believe you’re ready. I have already prepared the materials.”

  Damon and Thomas exchanged arcane marks in their respective communication orbs.

  Claire had been standing at the side, completely bored because of this discussion of Runeology, a field of study she had zero interest in.

  “Okay, now that the deal is all settled, how about we have a quick duel, huh? My blood's pumping since we’re at the arena already. Didn’t you call Damon here so you could test his strength? I want to see how much he’s improved since his recruitment assessment as well!” Claire yelled excitedly, trying to cajole the two of them.

  “But… I only asked Damon to meet me here because it was the location where I had first seen him…” Thomas mumbled back to Claire. He was acting slightly awkward around her.

  “Wait, when did you see me before? I’ve only been here once before… You were present during my duel with Cado?” Damon asked.

  “What? You had a duel with that annoying guy? How come you’re doing all these fun things without inviting me? That’s not fair!!!” Claire pouted and jumped up and down while holding onto Damon’s sleeves. “You have to invite me to anything fun from now on!”

  “Well, it was actually related to you, you know? It was that day I saw you at the Trade Hall. He came to me and challenged me to a duel because I was talking to you. But what’s weird is, after I defeated him in the duel, he turned into a completely different person. He was polite and respectful,” Damon said to Claire.

  “Oh? Maybe you knocked some sense into him. He used to be a good person, always talking in some flowery poetry. He and Cami were childhood sweethearts, looking as though they were soulmates. However, a few years ago, he suddenly began behaving erratically and began to obsess about me and kept chasing after me. It probably broke poor Cami’s heart. I hope he treats her well and begs for her forgiveness.” Claire shook her head while reminiscing about her childhood and the memories she had with these people.

  “Anyway, let’s still duel for combat practice! There is no better place than this, and no better time than now.” Claire grabbed both of their sleeves and began dragging them up onto the stage.

  “First, let’s start with something interesting. That subordinate of yours. Anton, is it? He’s an Auron, right? Damon, have you ever tried fighting an Auron? It’ll be a good opportunity to try.” Claire pointed at the muscular man standing with Kelvin and Samantha.

  Damon’s eyes gleamed at the thought. He had indeed never tried combat against an Auron, so he was interested in giving it a go now.

  “Hey, Anton, come up here! I’ve been captured by Claire, which means none of us is escaping today. Let’s just do what she wants, and then we can get back to our regular schedule. Are you happy to exchange some pointers with Damon?”

  The bulky man with the short, spiky hair climbed onto the platform and stood on the opposite end to Damon. He didn’t say anything and just nodded toward Thomas.

  Damon observed him from a distance, pondering how to approach a battle against an Auron. I still can’t discern the exact cultivation base of this fellow. The intensity of his physical prowess points to the Node Awakening realm, but that’s about all I can tell. Seeing as how he was recruited by that Thomas guy, he must have something special.

  Claire stood in the middle, acting the part of an adjudicator. “Okay… Fight!” Claire enthusiastically raised her hand high up into the air before slicing down with her arm to indicate the start of the match.

  Damon immediately cast Hydrosphere without an incantation, water accumulating from the atmospheric elemental essence and hovering above his right hand. With his left hand, he began creating several mini barriers, each circling his body in a synchronized manner. He had been watching Anton closely from the start, but he did not seem to be moving.

  Damon grew confused. Just as he was about to say something, Anton finally moved. The body part that moved was his mouth. “Brother Thomas, is this enough of a head start?”

  “Yes, Anton. That’s enough. You may begin.” Thomas said with a smirk. He was most confident in Anton in regard to combat strength among his followers.

  Anton immediately began sprinting directly toward Damon. His entire body expanded until he was 9 feet tall, and his arms began glowing with a crimson light.

  Damon was intrigued by the changes to Anton’s body. However, he did not remain still. The sphere of water hovering above his hand had become much larger, around 2 feet in diameter. He now had over 10 barriers floating around his body. He stopped creating barriers and instead waved his hand to create 10 balls of blue light, which expanded until they became the size of a walnut before shooting directly toward the incoming Anton.

  Anton had almost reached Damon and covered his face with his arms crossed in front of him. The 10 beams of shimmering blue light hit his arms and bounced off to the sides, not decreasing his momentum even slightly.

  Damon raised his eyebrows at the sight. He then made a hand seal, causing the light beams that had bounced off and flown away in different directions to turn around sharply and home in on Anton’s back.

  Anton immediately sensed the fluctuations behind him and turned his upper body around to throw a punch at the incoming rays without stopping his steps. The balls of light caused a small explosion of steam upon impact with his fist, covering him in a small layer of condensation. He had reached Damon by the time he turned back around, throwing a right hook toward Damon’s body using the power of his torso’s rotational movement.

  Damon’s face was locked in a hard expression due to his intense concentration. He controlled his barriers to stack over the path of Anton’s attack, as he slammed his right arm down, bringing the immense ball of water with it.

  Anton’s punch hit the first barrier, immediately breaking through without a hitch. He broke through the continuously stacking barriers before finally being stopped by the seventh. At this moment, he gritted his teeth and let out a fierce growl as he rotated his body once more, his left hand rising in an uppercut to meet the falling Hydrosphere.

  Thud!

  The Hydrosphere did not break apart on impact, instead pushing Anton back as though it were a solid object. Anton had not been injured from the collision, but the ball of water was still pushing him back toward the edge of the platform. He grabbed it with both hands, attempting to throw it over his head, when it suddenly fell apart and drenched him in water. He glanced at Damon, who smiled back at him with a rapidly spinning Ice Spear hovering over his head.

  The Ice Spear shot toward Anton at this very second, causing him to yelp in alarm and jump away. At least, he tried to jump away, but his feet remained rooted to the ground. He looked down in shock to see that a trail of frozen ground had extended all the way from Damon’s feet to himself, freezing the water surrounding him, along with his feet and legs. He no longer had the time to dodge, so he punched out toward the incoming Ice Spear with both fists, his pupils constricting in fear.

  Just as the attack was about to hit Anton, countless green vines, shimmering with intricate golden runes, erupted out of the thin air between Anton and the Ice Spear. They rapidly formed two massive hands half the size of Damon, before grabbing toward the incoming spear. The spinning spear managed to pierce through one shiny golden-green hand, but was stopped by the other. Damon’s eyes widened at the sight, and he looked toward his right, where the others were watching. He saw the golden light in Thomas’s eyes shining bright as the runic symbols rotated rapidly, along with his outstretched hand pointing toward Anton.

  So, it was Thomas who intervened. I have never heard of a nature element skill being used out of thin air before. How did he do it?

  From behind the remaining golden-green hand, Anton heaved out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Brother Thomas. I don’t think I would have escaped from that attack unscathed if not for your timely assistance."

  Standing beside Thomas, Claire’s usual smile disappeared from her face. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she observed Damon closely. Suddenly, she said something that caught Damon off guard.

  “Damon. That spinning Ice Spear… No way… Are you…?”