Chapter 43 – First Dungeon (22)

POV: Solomon Nova

"Suspicious, suspicious. He's really too suspicious. But then, he's also not suspicious enough? Should I just capture him and torture him to find out what he knows? Muuuuuu, but if I do that and find out nothing, Professor Lee will beat me up and tell my aunt, and she'll just beat me to death. I'm already in enough trouble for the last exam incident." Solomon mused out loud before taking a big bite of the delicious food he had gotten.

He was sitting on a rocky outcropping in the distance, observing his surroundings with his 360 view. Crystal-like eyes flashed as he poured mana into them, switching focus from the tower to a certain black-haired, golden-eyed individual who was running around sneakily. As he stared absentmindedly, the figure disappeared from his vision momentarily, and he had to pour in more mana to make out the still figure that blended into the shadows and began moving in the opposite direction.

"What a versatile skill set. It makes me almost jealous. If only he used them better, but I guess for an E-rank, he's not bad? And he's a great cook." He couldn't help but praise the boy.

Rank 1000. Asani Martin. An interesting person. But also very boring.

If he said he was weak, then it would be accurate. After all, it was clear in his rank and the skills he had shown so far. But…he couldn't say that he wasn't strong either. He had gone back to look at the spider's nest and saw a scene of devastation. A lot of the damage was done by Julius's flames, but a good amount had been done by him, as evidenced by the traces of dark shadowy mana visible to his eyes.

The thing that intrigued him the most was the versatile blend of unusual abilities not commonly found in a single person.

As someone who was the heir to the premier magic clan filled with the most talented magic users, who was the nephew of the Rainbow Mage, the greatest mage alive who could use all forms of magic perfectly the moment she saw it once, very few things could surprise him regarding mana. In his mind, when it came to utilizing mana, among the humans, Caerus was the undisputed number one, and he would eventually be number two. Nobody else could compare. Everyone else looked as if they were toddlers pretending to be engineers. Their manipulation of mana was clumsy and inefficient at best, wasteful and time-consuming at worst.

However, for the first time in his life, he had seen something that both intrigued him and made his senses blare in warning.

It had happened when their eyes had met, and he had tried to scan Asani at the academy.

[Scan has partially failed due to the individual having a higher affinity with mana while utilizing a similar skill.]

Again.

[Scan has partially failed due to the individual having a higher affinity with mana while utilizing a similar skill.]

No matter how he tried, he kept receiving the same results.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever seen such a message, and he had scanned Caerus(with permission) numerous times.

With the response being the same, no matter how much mana he poured into Scan, he had received the same result. When he looked at the partial status sheet that was revealed, the issue wasn't clarified at all.

[??? Craftsman]

[Eye of ???]

[???? By Mana]

Incomplete information, even though he was 100% positive that he was the stronger individual.

It had gotten him thinking about this puzzle he wanted to unravel.

The ability to make objects with the Craftsman gift was a signature of the Meraki clan. While the specifics weren't shown, it could be assumed he focused on weapons like the knife he had thrown or the bullets he used. It was common and boring except for the creation speed.

Eye of ??? fell under visual gifts using the eyes as a medium, and it was harder to identify their origin point but not impossible. Of the nine clans, the Meraki and Nova clans were known for that, and the Domare and Mirage clans occasionally had someone with those abilities now and again.

The problem was the third gift: ??? By Mana.

It was likely a mana affinity gift, which made utilizing mana, easier amoung other effects. The ranks he knew were - Null -> Hated -> Disliked -> Neutral ->Tolerated -> Fond -> Favored -> Esteemed -> Blessed.

That was it. The highest mana affinity gift, excluding himself, belonged to Caerus, who was 'Blessed by Mana'. There was no person recorded who had a gift higher than that.

It also made him idly wonder if Asani was an illegitimate child of one of his relatives. Of course, that was impossible. As long as an individual had even a drop of the Nova family blood in them, their hair would be a bright silver color that would eventually be colored by the mana that they utilized most often.

"Is he a test tube kid from the Domare clan and the Meraki clan? They did say their original family head contracted and had a kid with a dragon, though nobody has seen them for decades, and the two of them do like to do weird gene splicing experiments. It would explain why Professor Lee likes him and why he is close to Lina. And why the mimic didn't devour him."

If he was mixed blood with a dragon, it could explain the high mana affinity as well. After all, Fairies and Dragons were the premier masters of mana, their usage of it incomparable to anything humans and other monsters could do. Although it didn't explain everything, it was the most likely explanation.

"I should tell Aunty Caerus so she can look into it, but she told me if I contact her during school for an issue that's not life or death, she'll just beat me to death and revive me with mana for an experiment, she's been wanting to try out. Arghhhhhhhh! I'm too young to die!" clutching his head dramatically, he wondered why he was concerned about a weakling.

Because that was what he was, a weakling who couldn't even match up to his pinky. A weakling who kept sticking his nose in business that didn't concern him.

It was already bad enough that he had to take care of the problems on the island and the possible duplicity of the Lionheart clan while making sure each of the nine clan kids present didn't find out too much information. Lina and Julius had already found out too much but he couldn't do anything about that. Despite his curiosity, he didn't have the leeway to look into it too deeply right now. He had to prepare for an annoyingly hard battle tomorrow.

Logically he knew that, but his instincts told him to keep watch on Asani. Most people would disregard it as idle thoughts and paranoia, but as someone with the gift: Wisdom of Solomon, the reason for his name and the gift he had acquired as soon as he was born along with Fairy Eyes, he couldn't disregard his intuition, which told him to pay attention as he had the possibility to be dangerous. It had rarely led him wrong.

As he sprawled down on the ground, getting a bag of popcorn from his previously abandoned pack, he watched Asani get caught by Cassandra and tied up like a burrito before snorting and looking away.

"Naah, I doubt it's him that the oracle is about. If anything, that turtle monster is a more likely culprit. After all, she's in contact with 'That Group'. Or those kids from class 2. And that sketchy professor. Not to talk of the transfer students coming in the middle of the year. God dammit! This is why I hate oracles! They're never specific. And why do I have to work so hard? I didn't even want to come to school in the first place. Everyone is so serious. It's been so boring. I just want to study mana and be left alone. When I get back, I'm telling Caerus that I'm quitting, then I'm running away!"

"Ahh, who am I kidding? No, I'm not."

Even with his capricious nature, he couldn't let bastards like Darwinists continue with whatever they planned. The least he could do was kill the heroes, take down the barrier, and get communications working. After that, the adults could finally pull their weight and decide how to follow up, and he could take a rest.

Sitting up, he watched with cold eyes as Red Rover, or whatever his name was, screamed wildly while sending out wind blades. Adjusting his vision to zoom in, he read the words on his lips and laughed maniacally.

"I did a good job carving him up, and I'll definitely make him perfectly even tomorrow. But why do I always get blamed for everything? It wasn't even me this time! It was Mr. 1000 down there who couldn't control his own eyes. He's not even supposed to be there, that little bastard!"

As the Shadow Mimic Nest peeled off, briefly exposing a robed figure, he tried scanning the individual but was blocked.

That meant one of two things: They were of a significantly higher rank, or they had a device that blocked it. Either way, it was bad news.

"Should I just kill him and blame the chaos? What's one more death anyway? But he's been pretty useful, even though he's cocky. Mmmmm, to kill or not to kill?"

"Who are you killing?"

"Killian! You're here. Good. I was just thinking of you. Your ability is so convenient. I'm jealous." Laughing, he glanced back at the boy stepping out of the pool shadows behind him.

"Stop deflecting. Kill who? We really should try to keep the rest of the students alive, though. If only to avoid getting in more trouble."

"I was considering killing the guy your girlfriend is flirting with. You're not going to stop that?" Solomon replied jokingly, intentionally trying to rile him up as he Scanned him thoroughly.

Clean.

"You were watching."

"Of course. Better tell your girl to cool it. He is pretty handsome, though not as handsome as me. What if he steals your girlfriend? Will you cry, Kill?"

"…she's not my girlfriend. And stop doing that. It's annoying." Killian replied in irritation as he felt claw-like mana scrape over his entire body.

"Hey, I don't care what you do in your free time. I'm just saying it couldn't be me. If my girl called another man cute in my presence, even as a joke, his head would get detached. Immediately. Then I would probably go bowling with it."

At Killian's silence, he just rolled his eyes. "You're no fun. Anyway, I just need you to run a couple of errands for me. I'm a patient now, you see. Isn't it cute? I even got a bow wrapped on it." He held up his splinted arm proudly.

"Aren't you just faking and looking for sympathy?" Killian asked rudely, not even taking Solomon's words seriously.

"You got me. Anyway. My errands?"

"What do you want? I'm busy. If it's on the way, sure, but otherwise, do it yourself. And who is that?" Killian simply ignored his nonsense and pointed to a figure sleeping in a floating barrier behind him.

It was a figure that was quite muscular and dressed only in his underwear. The entire head was burnt to a crisp, and one of its hands was a stream of shadowy liquid. The figure was unconscious and barely breathing. Clearly, one of the mimics had attacked Solomon, and he had ripped into him and struck him with lightning, his favorite mode of attack.

"Do you really want to know?" flashing Killian a dark smile, Solomon pointed his finger at him, a small spark of lightning appearing and illuminating the dark surroundings.

Killian's eyes reversed once more, the white overtaking the black as a cape of white light formed around him.

"…Pass. But really, Solomon, stop playing with things. If you're going to kill him, do it and properly get rid of the body. Aren't you supposed to be saving your mana? And… why do your lungs sound like they're whistling?"

"You try taking on two mid-ranked heroes by yourself and see how you fare. This is what happens when somebody uses the air in your lungs to create a knife to try and slice you from the inside out. Want to try it out? I kind of want to use it on someone. It's a pretty nifty skill. Very creative." Grimacing, Solomon raised his shirt to display the gruesome injury on his side, covered with green mana that wrapped around his entire torso as if holding it in place like a corset. There was a small flutter of wind around the injury, seeming as if air was being pumped into the body.

"You should have waited for us." Killian admonished him.

"Nah, the winged woman is a bad match-up for you and Cassandra. Julius too. And Sylvia wasn't around when I attacked. Besides, it's better for me to test the waters first so the rest of you planners can plan. Do you know that someone called me a heavy hitter?" Solomon asked with a proud smile on his face. "It's so good to be recognized for my greatness. I'm almost touched."

Killian glanced at him for a short while before pushing down on his forehead until Solomon lay flat on the ground.

"Stop acting tough and lay down. Don't you need first aid? I have bandages. Or Julius could cauterize it for you. You don't want your lungs to collapse."

"And get permanent scaring in my lungs? Pass. I'm keeping it inflated with mana and pumping it full of oxygen. It will last until tomorrow when I finally finish this nonsense and get the academy nurse to heal me. Until then, not a word to anyone. Got it? Otherwise, the one getting cauterized is you." Crystal like eyes flashed dangerously as he stared up at Killian, but the older boy only snorted.

"You would do that to your childhood best friend?" Killian asked sarcastically.

"Sorry. You've been replaced by Julius. Anyway, you and Lina are with me tomorrow, and we'll take down that red-coat bastard and get the communications working before taking down the barrier. Cass can take the rest of the people she gathered and burn that fucking lighthouse down to the ground. I'm going to sleep tonight to regain my strength, so keep watch on both the Lighthouse and Tower for me. Let me know if there's anything suspicious."

"Got it. The errand?"

"Why don't you be a doll and go take care of these students? Tie them all up so they can't escape." Solomon flicked a piece of paper at Killian, watching as the other boy caught it and quickly glanced through it.

"Okay. Take care of yourself, Nova. And stop trying to do everything by yourself. I know you're hiding several things. Like where Lionel is."

Seeing the suspicious look on Killian's face, Solomon gave him a sardonic smile.

"How could I know where Lionel is? You think if I knew where that bastard was, I wouldn't drag him out by his big ears and make him fight? If you're so curious, go and investigate yourself and compare notes with your little girlfriend."

"I can see that you're cranky so I'm heading out to investigate like you said. See you later." Killian's voice was dark with the promise of violence.

Without a sound, Killian faded away into the shadows, and then it was silent all around him.

"What a convenient ability. I'm so jealous!"

Whistling to himself, Solomon stood up and walked over to the barrier he had used to capture the Mimic Lionel. His eyes flashed as he took a thorough Scan of the figure, noting the slightest changes in its body as he violently dug his mana into it. The figure started shaking as if struggling to wake up.

Lionel, Lionel. You better have a good excuse for working with these Darwinist bastards. Because if I catch you doing something bad, I'll have to chop that blond head of yours off, consequences be damned.

You and that father of yours have been messing around too long.

He reached out casually, as if stretching, and clenched his fist. The barrier containing the mimic Lionel began compressing, forcing the figure to wake up. As the mimic imitating Lionel snapped awake and began screaming in pain as its body compressed into shapes a human should never be in, Solomon gave it a gentle smile.

"Oh? You're up? I've never been too good at stasis spells, as I like destroying things more. I really should work on that. Either way, bye-bye. If you can, tell your master, I'm coming for him when I'm done." Waving as if to a friend, he watched with an expressionless face as the barrier continued shrinking.

The figure continued contorting and struggling as it screamed while its body slowly transformed into a crumpled ball of human flesh and bones.

Naturally, nothing could be heard as he had a soundproof barrier around it.

Splat.

Removing the barrier at the moment of implosion, blood, bones, and viscera exploded outward, a few drops staining his face with blood.

Wiping it off casually, he turned to stare at the pulsing lighthouse before looking back at the lighthouse.

"Let's see how the little lion reacts to this. Oh and it will be interesting to see if Mr. 1000 does as well. Tomorrow should be fun."

Turning back to look at the lighthouse, he spotted Cassandra began weaving thick purple mists into an intricate array.

"Now, to wait."

Touching his aching side, he spat out some blood before covering it up with some dirt. It was almost over. He just had to persist until tomorrow.

*******

Authors Note: Unedited