Chapter 326: Excuses
"I don't know…"
"You don't!?"
"I honestly don't, you can ask me with a lie detector if you really want…" Moby spoke with confidence, his composure impeccable. It was not that he was truly calm, but simply due to his own memory erasure being several times faster now due to his increased mind.
"That's… Wha— … I've only seen this thing two times in my entire life! The first is drugs that were engineered and given to us by the shalker to suppress our mana, that drug spread like wildfire and addicted many people which crippled some of our armies… That was a nightmare for any healer… Same with some shalker weapons… But, other than that… There was only one time I've seen this was from... It was from two great friends of mine I met in my early military days at the frontlines of the war… But sadly, I can't see them anymore..."
"That's it!" Moby's eyes immediately grew. "Maybe someone drugged his food with that drug… I know the security here is top notch but some things might have slipped through the cracks!" He latched onto the hope handed to him, feeling a great sense of relief. For a second, he almost felt compelled to do something drastic that he would most likely regret.
"Those drugs are illegal and more expensive than you think… But, come to think of it… Everyone here is super-rich and it is a great possibility that someone would want to sabotage the head of the Fatebringer family. This brings great concern! I'll have to manually rap and heal Fatebringer's injuries, then I have to go report this to staff for an investigation. This is a serious matter! If it comes down to it, everyone in the school might be questioned."
"Thank you for your understanding nurse," Moby bowed deeper than ever before, it was almost over the top and definitely caught the attention. "It means a lot that you have faith in my words and judgement,"
"No worries Kane. I was a bit harsh on you earlier, I'm sorry for that… To tell you the truth, ever since you got your powers, cases of bullying decreased drastically, and the few students that made it to my office said that this was all thanks to you protecting the weak. I've been a nurse for quite a while and I never thought someday someone like you, who cares about protecting the weak and upholding justice would come! I'm certain you will go big places in life!" She smiled brightly in his direction, the first time she did ever since she examined Kai's injuries.
"I don't deserve all of this praise… You're truly too kind…" He looked up to face her, still bowing.
"You will most likely be questioned but I would not worry about it. The bell should ring any second now, you should leave and get back to class. Come visit at any time! In Elite school, my office is much less busy than normal, so, if you want, feel free to stop by to chat or to check up on Fatebringer."
"I will take you up on that offer," He smiled, lifting his head up and looking at the door. "I really hope he's okay, I'll come to check back here later today! Goodbye!" He walked towards the door and slid it open, hearing a very faint whisper from behind him that he completely ignored. "Kane… I'm not finished with you…"
"Where did all this talk go when you were begging on the ground?" He scoffed and mumbled under his breath before closing the sliding doors behind him.
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"Seems like he didn't need my help after all…" A man smiled from the other side of the outside wall, leaning against it with a smile. It seemed like he had been listening to the entire conversation, despite the sound dampening crystals around the office.
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As soon as Moby left the room, the bell immediately rang and he headed over to his next classroom, one that was fully dedicated to abilities, their history, properties, and creation.
When he entered the class, the first thing he noticed was that the teacher was still not there. The immediate second was all the stares in his direction. It was certain that he would have a few people looking his way, but now it was abnormally more than every other time, which made sense considering what he did during lunch.
He took a desk at his usual seat, the back left beside the window and simply closed his eyes to train, ignoring everything around him. That and to talk to Avilia who started the conversation.
'You handled that situation better than I expected. Even I almost forgot you had a sample of that drug. Stuffing some in the unconscious kid's mouth while that nurse was distracted was good thinking, now there would be proof of the drug and might mask the demon energy you used.'
'Wait, so you know what happened?' Moby eagerly responded.
'I think it was a bonus, probably some unintended side-effect of your blade. That and the demon energy concentration in it was so strong that it offset the balance in the kid's body. Even I didn't notice that would be a thing until it was too late. That sword is definitely a work of art, top-tier craftsmanship. This would have never happened without it. It was the blade combined with your sin-mode that led up to that.'
'Wait, so you're saying I shouldn't use the sword anymore?'
'Oh! Don't worry about it! All you need to do is cleanse and suck the depriving energy out of his body! It should be pretty simple for someone like you!'
'True… But, doing it now is not a good idea considering the nurse estimated two weeks, it would be highly suspicious if I go in and heal him myself…' Moby pondered, leading to Avilia's approval.
That was when he heard a loud voice echo in his head, and he immediately opened his eyes.
"Good morning class!" The voice was deep yet raspy, and was followed up by the sound of slamming books crashing on a table. "I will be your teacher for this class, my name is professor Umbridge. Before I start, I will be making this perfectly clear… No talking if I talk, you all need to respectfully be quiet. No, food, only ask questions after a lecture because your question will most likely be answered. no stupid questions. If you fall behind, don't expect me to give you private lessons, I will wait for no one. If you don't feel up to those rules, you can save yourself the embarrassment and loss in points by leaving, the door is right there. Now, does anyone have any questions?"
Moby opened his eyes and was greeted by a grumpy-looking, clean shaven old man wearing an old-fashioned bottom-up shirt, and trousers. From his stature, he seemed no taller than 5 feet tall, his hands held behind his straight back. He wore large glasses over his keen blue eyes, which was quite odd considering how far contact lenses have gotten, and he had a full head of hair that fell down over his thick, gray furrowed eyebrows.
Moby definitely thought he was by far the most vocal and strict teacher, yet, he seemed to have done nothing wrong so far. He simply felt neutral towards him.
"No questions? Good, now let me begin the lesson! And, like all your classes, let's start with a bit of new history!"
"You are all aware of the incident with the great Alexander Davis 100 years ago. I won't be covering the advent of the rain. But, what was not covered in many history books was how the rain-affected animals on our planet."
"Several of them turned into magical beasts of incredible calibre and were responsible for some of the strongest mana crystals humans have ever found. Magical beasts use the same energy as we do, mana, which led us to believe they used the same abilities as well."
"The reason this part of history was well hidden was that within a week, all of the magical beasts on earth were hunted to near extinction. Only after the global organization for animal rights stepped in did we stop and put those beasts in areas for preservation."
"This all proves one thing, the green rain gifted mana to any species, not only humans. In many ways, we are no different from the magical beasts we hunt., which groups of traitorous humans have taken advantage of and used to empower and further push their own agendas... Anyways, this also hinted that green rain had also fallen on several other planets to create the magical beasts, and the concentration of it led to a direct correlation for their power and potentially even their hostility."
"Recently, a group of students from a school in country Z went onto a planet that had suddenly spiked in power for what was supposed to be a simple test. Many of the students were massacred and it led to a big scandal in the country. Now it's believed that in that time span where there were no tests, another advent of green rain hit that planet and provided all of the beasts a boost in power... They possibly even evolved some of the weaker species.
Of course, that is just a theory and nothing has been fully confirmed."
"We are still unaware of what mana is exactly, what the beams of lights are, and why they could only be found, to our knowledge on planet earth. The most recent discovery we've made was finding mana in the air along with the existence of Ki that we manipulate to further power ourselves."
"From what we found, there are similarities between Ki and Mana. There are many theories out there that ranged from Mana is simply a mixture of different types of Ki to Mana is its own separate identity and Ki is simply the essence of life itself."
"Much of what we are going to study will be theory. It's odd, we use and rely on this energy for our everyday life yet we know near nothing concrete about it… Anyways, that's enough of a brief history lesson for now. Before I continue, does anyone have any questions?
The class unsurprisingly stood unmovingly still, no one speaking a word. They were all clearly intimidated by the teacher ahead of them.
'Interesting…' Moby thought to himself. This was the first lecture where he felt like he got something major of value. It confirmed many things about the rain he had only theorized about. It was clear that it was a higher power. But, it was not fully clear who was pulling the strings… Angels, Demons, or possibly something else… Another major power that exists in the mortal realm.
"Yes sir! I have a question!" Moby raised his hands and subsequently stood up.
"Ahhh. Yes, boy! Please go on ahead,"
"Professor Umbridge, you said that green rain can fall on other planets as well but at random… What if it one day falls on a shalker owned planet… Or, if they somehow managed to steal our ability creation methods… What will happen to us?"
"I'm not supposed to say some of this with you until your second semester where things become more real. BUT I believe you all need to know… For your question, I'll make it short and simple for you kid… That is the one thing we are trying our utmost to prevent. If something like that happens, then we're fucked… From that rumour going around, it seems like Shalkers with abilities have already sprung up… It might not be too long before they learn how to replicate them without an energy source… That is why war has never felt any closer, and why you soldiers need to be prepared for the horrors of the inevitable battlefield… It will be unlike anything you've ever experienced in your lives…"
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