CHAPTER 64 – Midnight in Paris (Part 2)

"So… Let me understand this… Do you want me… To give you blood for Evandel's seed?"-I ask him while lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes… Precisely… Is it possible?"

"…"-I look at him while pondering. "First of all… Exactly how sure are you that she will be an ally?"-I said.

"Totally sure. While Evandel's a witch. She'll be born as a child… So, she'll learn what we teach her. If we can teach her good values, and to be on the good side. She'll be a strong ally once she grows…"-He says with a determined face.

"Mm…"-I ponder while rubbing my chin. "You do know that I'm not exactly normal, right?"-I said while activating my Eyes of the Dragon God and looking straight at him.

He flinched.

"I-I… I know it. That's why I'm asking you… I know that if Evandel drinks your blood… She'll be stronger. And in conclusion… A stronger ally."

"I think you really don't understand how different I am… Nor the risk of giving her my blood…"-I said to him. "*sigh…*"

Once I sighed. Hajin looked down at the floor, clenching the hand that wasn't holding Evandel's seed.

{There's a risk. Giving her my blood means giving her part of my power. And I don't know what would go out of that. To make things worse. She already has Rachel's blood inside…}-I thought to myself. {Even then… It wouldn't be bad at all… To try it. After all, I know for sure that she'll grow to be a good child. And even if she gets my blood, she won't necessarily acquire the same stigma…}

"Well… Let's do it."-I finally said.

"Huh!?"-Hajin looks back at me. "Really!?"-He jumps up in surprise.

"Yes."

"Thanks, really, th-"-He starts to thank me. But I stop him with my index finger.

"But. There are conditions. First. You'll be responsible for her. You'll need to raise her and teach her to go the best way possible. Once she's a little bit older and has a little control of her power, I'll teach her whatever I can, I don't know what would result from a witch acquiring my blood. But I'm sure she'll need my help with a few things… But that's all."

"…"-He nods.

"Second."-I raise another finger. "You need to find more of Rachel's blood. If it was just mine, there wouldn't be any problem, but now, we need to balance things. You need to give the seed as much blood from me, as from her."

"Wh-why?"-He said perplexed. "It shouldn't matter…"

"You're mixing types of blood here. And not just any kind of blood. It won't be that dangerous thanks to Rachel training with Natural Energy to be an elementalist, which makes her blood quite compatible with me. But, still, we need to be as sure as possible that there won't be any kind of problem. Or you don't remember the fact that not all types of blood can mix between each other? And that's talking about human types of blood. It's just to be sure. I don't want anything going wrong here."

"O-Okay… I understand, I'll try."

"Great. Now. Third."-I raise the third finger. "And this is important. Whatever you do. Don't put her through stressful situations."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"If she's getting my blood. She'll have a quarter of dragon blood at least. And with my kind of blood especially, there's a maturing process that she'll go through. That process will be hurtful by itself and will give her a stigma, just like mine. Though… The type of stigma would depend on her main attributes."

"Still, what does that have to do with evading stressful situations?"

"The thing is, while your main attributes normally define the stigma you'll get. A stressful situation can alter your original stigma, and transform it into something worse. The contrary can happen, and turn it into something benign, but I wouldn't count on it unless you want to fabricate a scenario where she can mature in a 'good way'. It's truly better to just let her mature by herself."

"…"-He ponders about it for a little bit. "Like… What time would she mature?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"Listen. I didn't grow as I should. And that ended in me activating my bloodline later. After activating it, it took me like 5 years for my stigma to mature."-I said to him. "But she'll be different. And she's not human. She's a witch. And she will be born at an age of approximately 3 years, right? Which means… She could mature in just a year, or maybe even in ten years. That would depend on her. There's no way for us to know that. Though, maybe you can ask the Book of Truth, though I'm not that sure you'll have enough magic power in your stigma for that."

"Ok…"

"Also… You need to call me whenever she starts maturing."

"Why?"

"It can be a very violent process… So, it would be better for someone who went for the same process to be here. Just in case."

"Violent… Like in what way…?"

"You could essentially say goodbye to the dorms if it happens here. Even worse depending on her stigma."

"…"-He's mouth got all open.

"So… You want to still do it?"-I ask him one last time.

"…"-He just stayed there, pondering.

{It's normal… I would immediately decline if he accepted so fast after listening to all that…}-I thought to myself.

After a little while, Kim Hajin looked straight into my eyes.

"Let's do it. I'll take care of her. And make sure she becomes a great ally for mankind."

"Okay. Now tell me, exactly how much blood did she drink from Rachel?"

"Well, one of the gauzes you used."

"That's all?"-I ask while lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes…"

"Okay, do you have more of those?"

"Yes. I have three more."

"Great. Bring four gauzes of the same size, I'll give you my blood and pour it in them, so you can control the amount of blood given."

"Okay! Wait for me here."-Hajin said before standing up and putting Evandel's seed on a table, and then going towards her drawers.

After taking out a few gauzes, he came back.

"Here, they're all the same size."

"Ok. Bring me a cup, or something. Blood can be very difficult to clean from the floor."

"Oh, okay, I get."-He went towards the little kitchen to retrieve a bowl and bring it to me.

"Let's do this then."-I said while unsheathing my sword and imbuing it with mana. I then put my hand over the edge of the blade and cut my palm.

The blood started falling down in the bowl, filling it little by little. It was at that moment that I noticed the seed started to move. Jumping hastily towards the bowl with blood.

"Oh, no you don't."-I said before dropping the sword and catching the little seed on the air before it fell on the bowl. "Trap her somewhere, or she'll try to come here again…"-I said to Hajin.

"R-right…"-He grabbed Evandel's seed and put it inside a flask with a top. "Sorry, Evandel… But it's for your own good…"-He said before leaving the jumping seed inside the flask.

I just kept filling the bowl with blood, re-opening the wound whenever it closed. Having 15 on vitality did give me a nice regeneration, as well as a good defense.

After a little while, the bowl was full enough so we could drench the gauzes.

"Now… Drench them, and keep them inside that storage of yours."-I said to him.

"Mm? Oh! You mean stigma?"

"Yes, it's better there than inside somewhere else where time will affect it."

"Ok."-He said, before starting to work.

"Now, I'm leaving. Remember what we talked about. And… Well, throw the rest of the blood through the drainage. Give Evandel's seed one of my blood's gauzes, then one of Rachel, and so on. Understood?"

"Yes."-He nodded.

"Great. Now, I'm leaving. See you tomorrow, dude. We'll still have to go hunting one last time before classes start."-I said while leaving the place.

***

Wednesday. I was in my room putting on new clothes after bathing. I just got back from the hunting session with Hajin and Park Soohyuk.

"Aw man, I'm bored… Still a little bit of time until I have to see Olivia in the training center…"-I said while putting on my usual training outfit so that I would be ready when the time comes. "Speaking of which. How would be Hajin's doing with Evandel's seed? For what I know, the little seed should be drinking my blood, or already finished with it. Oh well, I hope nothing bad happens."-I shrugged.

*Vrr… Vrr…*

"Who could be at this hour?"-I said while picking my smartwatch from the bed"

[Traveling Club – There will be a trip this weekend]

"Oh? Nice! Traveling time! Where would we go? Oh… Wait… This was that incident, right? It happened next after the exams."-I said to myself while thinking about the next incident. "Paris it is then."

This weekend, the Traveling club will go to Paris, all thanks to an invitation from a famous conman, who would feign his dead in order to escape a true dead, as he was threatened by a famous group that mostly attack criminals.

The guy, who couldn't go towards the Hero Association for being a criminal, decides to lure a group of cadets for his own protection, while elaborating an intricate plan to feign his dead and be 'born' again as a new individual.

What's funnier is the way the cadets are lured there.

"Oh well, there's also a little party with a few unwanted visitors that I could use for my own benefit. I guess there're enough motives to go, apart from getting out of Cube. So… We'll be going from Saturday to Sunday…"

***

*NARRATOR'S POV*

In an abandoned factory, used as a hideout for Chameleon Troupe, ten shadows were reunited around a round table, where a video was being projected by one of the members, Droon's Gift.

[KWANG!]-Suddenly an explosion could be heard from the video, accompanied with a blinding white light that flashed all around the abandoned factory.

"Oh geez… That surprised me."-One of the members presents said.

"Raise your hands if you see potential."-Boss, the leader of the group, suddenly asked those presents.

"By the way, Boss…"-Interrupted Jain, a beautiful Caucasian woman, before anyone could start the voting process. "When did we become a group that needed to meet to analyze some greenhorn."

"I think he has potential. Most importantly, I like that he doesn't have parents or a significant other."-Interrupted another voice, this time, a man's gentle voice.

"What does that have to do with anything?"-Jain asked in retort.

"When you're alone, you start to indulge in other things. We might not be able to give honor, but we can give money."-The man with a gentle voice answered.

"So what? Do you want to bring him in? A kid who can be sent flying by a little nudge?"

"We're strictly talking about his potential."

"Quiet."-Boss finally interrupted both members discussion. "From this man…"-She started, while looking everyone present. "I confirmed the power of anti-magic."-Boss finally said, glancing at Droon, who once again projected another video.

In the video, the same kid they were talking about before was fighting against an adversary who using qi reinforcement. It was then when said kid used one bullet to destroy the qi reinforcement of his opponent.

"…It's illogical to think that the same thing will work against that guy just because he managed to break a qi reinforcement of that level."

While Chameleon Troup may fit more into what a mercenary group is. Their goal didn't only encompass money and a lavish life. They went further away. They did everything necessary for whatever was their goal. And in these moments, their biggest goal was only one, kill the one who betrayed them.

"Like I said, Jain. Boss didn't say we are recruiting him right away. She asked if he had 'potential', and at least in my eyes, he seems to have it."

"Fine, let's say we bring him in after he grows up. Black is the only color we have left, are we giving him that color?"-Jain once again rebutted while glaring at the man with the gentle voice.

"… Then I'll take over that color."-Said a giant with a deep voice, it was Cheok Jungyeong.

"Rejected. You're too stupid."

"I also reject. I'm stronger."

Suddenly talked two more members. It was normal to fight for that seat, the seat of black, as it was always the strongest member of Chameleon Troupe.

"Then what do you bastards want to do?"-Retorted back Cheok Jungyeong.

"Aren't there other cadets? Are we just going to ignore Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak?"

"Yes, there's also that guy, the one people called the Dark Horse of the exams."

"Ah! Do you mean the guy that beat Shin Jonghak during the exams? The one with the weird hair?"

"That one!"

"I saw his fight. It was better than the little rat that used the pistol!"

"Stop. We're not letting them aside. We'll vote for them and the others next. Right now, we're voting for this particular kid to see if he can make it into the candidates' list.".

One by one, each of the members that were quiet until now started to speak their own opinion.

"Show of hands."-suddenly interrupted Boss, making everyone quiet. "We're voting now."

Every member started voting, those who raised their hand agreed, while the others rejected.

"Hump."-Jain's snort of dissatisfaction was heard in the hideout, as the vote's results ended in 8:2, with only Cheok Jungyeon and her rejecting Kim Hajin as a potential candidate.

"By the way, Jain, take this."-Suddenly said Boss while presenting a ticket to her. "It's an invitation letter for the VVIP Masquerade in France."

"Oh?"-Suddenly her sulking face did a 180° turn. "Stealing that ring, right? Don't worry!"-She said while taking the invitation letter with a bright face.

***

*CRISTOPHER'S POV*

It was already Friday, and I was getting towards the classroom of Veritas Class, and it was there that I saw Hajin hesitating outside the door.

"Mm? Why aren't you going in?"-I ask him.

"Huh? Oh, Cristopher… Well… I'm pretty sure everyone already knows about me and Chae Nayun's bet…"-He says.

"Yeah, so?"

"… It's Chae Nayun. They will probably think that I'm insane or something."

"Dude… You've been suffering bullying since a while ago… This won't be worse than that, at least you have the balls to make a bet against Chae Nayun, and even knows you'll win. So? What's the problem? This will be just more SP for you."-I shrugged. "Come on, let's go."-I said as I pushed him in after opening the door. I went behind him.

Once we went inside, a lot of glances were thrown towards Kim Hajin, and some of them towards me.

One of the glances that went towards me was that of Shin Jonghak, it was a slight glare, so I returned a glare of my own. While the rest of his lackeys averted their eyes, he didn't.

{Mm… Interesting.}-I thought while going towards my seat alongside Hajin. Once we both sat, Hajin took out his notebook and opened it. I did the same, but I didn't open the notebook, just rested over it.

All around us you could hear whispering talks about Hajin's bet against Nayun, and even a few of them were about me and Jonghak's fight, though, they were minimum and in really small voices, as if they didn't want to attract Shin Jonghak's attention.

While all of that happened, Yi Yeonghan, the class representative, entered the place with a bunch of large scrolls.

"Okay, guys. The exams results are here!"-He shouted, making everyone quiet down, with some cadets gulping from nervousness. He then opened the big scrolls and put them over the holographic board.

[1. Kim Hajin/Cristopher

2. Rachel

3. …]

"Ho… Look at that."-I said. This time, I didn't choose to leave two answers. After all, it didn't really matter if I did or not, so why not do it? My first objective was complete. Boss noticed Hajin's anti-magic power during the combat exam. Whatever happens now, I don't care. I'll be free to do as I please, I'm also planning to leave Cube once I see that Dragon that will appear here.

"I didn't know it was possible…"-Hajin said while looking at the scroll.

"Mm? What?"

"Being two persons in the same place."

"Oh well, I also didn't, but last time the teacher did tell me something about having two students with a perfect score, so maybe he referred to something like this."

"Mm… Probably."-He answered.

"I should have work harder…"-From one of the seats behind, I could hear Rachel murmur something. Looking behind, she was constantly dropping and raising her face from her books, as if hitting her head with them.

"It hit harder this time… I think…"-I whisper to Hajin.

"Yeah… She got second place… But only because we both got first…"-Hajin answered with pity.

"Also, I hope everyone knows we have new classes on Fridays."-Suddenly announced Yi Yeonghan.

"What? What new classes?"-I unconsciously said.

"Those that haven't checked. You can look at the first-year announcements, the info is there."-He said while slightly glancing at me.

"Oh, man… It's Friday! I wanted to get out early…"-I said while dropping myself over my notebook.

"Easy man… Let me check…"-Hajin said as he turned on his smartwatch to look at the announcements. "Mm… It seems we're having Practical Magic and Intermediate-Rank Magic Power Control…"-He says with a dejected face. I mean, the guy doesn't know how to control his own magic power. Though… He'll probably be able to pass those classes thanks to his Stigma.

"Oh well, no problem then. I'll be sleeping and that's all."-I said, just before Jun Ha-Joon, our PRAI professor entered the class.

"Silence."-He said, making every cadet in the place shut up. "Now, I'm sure everyone should have already seen the exam's results."

Almost everyone around groaned with the bad results they had.

"Now, now, the questions of the test I gave you were easier than those I gave to college students."-He said while looking around. "Also… I'm really surprised this time. Cadet Kim Hajin and cadet Cristopher. Both of you answered perfectly. I couldn't believe the kind of answers you gave in the test."-He said while smiling at us, before glancing at me. "Cadet Cristopher, I'm also glad that you chose to follow my advice."

"Sure, no problem professor, thanks for it."-I answered, while he nodded at me.

"Well then, for today's class, we'll review both cadets' answer sheets. Honestly, in all my years teaching here at Cube, it's the first time that I see two students with so much intelligence. To the point when we didn't know how to grade them, so we chose to put them both into the first place for the midterms' results."-He said. "Now, pay attention to the holographic board. There you'll be able to have a look at the answer sheets."

After that, the professor talked about our answers, and how they represented true 'wisdom' and whatnot. Hajin was red like a tomato, while I just went to rest over my notebook. Thankfully, the teacher didn't see any problem with that, so I slept all the class.

After classes, which ended at 3:30, we all went towards our new second class in an empty lecture room of the Magic Library of Cube. There, our new instructor was waiting for us while reading a book.

"Hello, I am the chief magician from Seoul Magic Tower, Kim Hyojun."-He said with a slight gentle smile, that smelled like crap. "Every Friday, from 3:30 to 6, I will be teaching you practical magic and magic power control. But of course, today's class will only be 30 minutes."

At his introduction, Hajin was frowning. So, I whispered to him.

"What's wrong?"

"That guy's a prick… And Observation and Reading is telling me that he's considering a contract with a Devil."

"Oh? Well, whatever. Just hope he won't look for problems."-I said while shrugging and going towards an empty seat.

"You might be thinking, 'why should I learn magic when I'm not a magician?' That's a valid question, but as I'm sure some of you know, qi reinforcement and sword qi are an extension of magic."-The oh so grand Chief Magician kept on talking. "Now, if you simply use your 'physical power' to reinforce your magic power, that becomes qi reinforcement or sword qi. But if you refine your magic power with some calculations…"-He slightly paused while raising his hand with the palm pointing up.

From his palm, a pink flame suddenly appeared. "…It becomes magic."-He said, while a lot of cadets exclaimed in awe.

"Even if you can't wield magic of this level, you will learn to use more practical magic, or learn to wield things like qi reinforcement and sword qi more naturally. Since today is the first class, we will only go over what we will learn in the future."-He said.

{If that's 'magic of this level that you can't control'… I now know why he's a jealous prick…}-I thought to myself.

Kim Hyojun then once again raised her palm and a blue sphere of light, the size of a ping-pong ball, shot from his palm.

"This is necessary magic to learn before entering a Dungeon. It's called Light Sphere. It will be your light source in many dark areas. It may look simple at first glance, but to wield it skillfully…"-He started to explain, but I just didn't listen to him, and went to rest.

…

After a little while, someone nudged at me, and I raised up.

"Mm?"-I looked at Hajin. "What happened?"-I ask him as he was the one to nudge at me.

"…"-He just nodded towards the professor, who had a frown on his face.

"So… Do you think you can sleep in my class? May I ask, do you remember anything of what I said? Or is it that you already know how to make a Light Sphere?"-He asks while lifting an eyebrow. "One of your fellow students already did it, but I may ask, if you, who passed the entire class sleeping knows how to do it?"-He frowned even deeper, probably remembering Kim Suho, who could create a light sphere if everything went as in the novel.

"A light sphere? This?"-I said while rising my hand and creating an orb of light bigger than what he made. I hate this kind of pricks. I'm a jerk myself, but at least I don't go around making others feel like idiots just to feel good with myself.

Now, while I did say that I wouldn't use other elements apart from Fire and Lighting, a spell of this caliber is easy to use with only mana, so in theory, I'm not using light as an element, but just an application of mana as a spell.

"…"-The professor, and every cadet in the room, just look at me with wide eyes.

"So… Are you satisfied? Mr. Professor?"-I said, still with the orb of light in my hand.

"Y-you… You're just burdening your magic power like that! Making it bigger than what's necessary! Light Orb's purpose is to illuminate, increasing the size won't help at all, what you have to do is illuminate more!"-He said while trying to create a shiner orb of light.

{Hoho… Look at him go! Such a perfect example of professionalism.}-I thought.

"Mm… If you say so."-I say while extinguishing the Orb of Light.

"That's right. Practice more your magic power control. Even if you know the basics, you still need to practice more if you want to get great results."-He says with a smirk, maybe thinking that I stopped the spell because I surrendered to his idiotic speech.

"…"-I look at his eyes for a moment, before smirking.

"What? Do you have something to say, cadet?"-He asks me while frowning at my smirk.

{What could happen if I push him too much? Would he truly contract will a Devil?}-I thought to myself, smirking even more.

In 'The Novel's Extra', he was considering becoming a Djinn, but never did. But… If I push him… Maybe he'll actually contract with a Devil…

"…"-I keep looking at him.

"Is there a problem, cadet Cristopher?"-He asks again, frowning deeper this time.

"Dude, stop. Don't do anything rash."-Hajin whispers at me while nudging my arm.

"*sigh…* No, professor, I was just thinking about what you said."-I said while smirking once again. "And came to the conclusion that if it's illumination the main objective, wouldn't it be better to actually increase the number of orbs?"

"Huh? I-Increase the number of orbs? What do you mean?"-He asks, while his shining orb of light disappeared.

"Mm… Something like this."-I said, while abruptly raising my hand to the air.

Immediately, ten shining orbs of light appeared over and around me, surrounding me and rotating. Then, with a movement of my hand, they all dispersed towards the lecturing room, covering every corner and side of the place, with two of them slowly rotating on the center of the room, really close to the ceiling like some kind of chandelier, illuminating the place as if it was a roofless room at midday in a cloudless day.

"Something like this… I guess it would be better to use the spell this way to actually increase the illumination, don't you think so, professor?"-I ask him with a smirk and a lifted eyebrow.

"Y-you… You…!"-He was almost on the point of hyperventilation. While the rest of the cadets just glanced around between the orbs of light and me.

"*sigh…* Why didn't you just kept quiet…"-Hajin whispered beside me…

*RIIIIIIIING~~~~*-The professor's smartwatch rang.

It was then when the end of the class came. So, I just stood up, recalled the orbs of light, grabbed my things, and went out.

"Well, I'm leaving now. See you."-I said to Hajin before leaving the room, with the glances of the rest of the cadets on my back.

{It sure feels great, not having anything limiting your actions!}-I thought while stretching once outside the lecture room.