Chapter 15: A Brief History Lesson

The results had been poor. Not only had a single liquor failed to meet Indra's requirements for high quality, but Feng Biao had inadvertently nearly maxed out the financial support the HCF was willing to dole out to him for free.

Anything past here would require him to take out a loan. He had only 1321 Merits left for use. Meals were not free, and neither was the housing of the dorm. Feng Biao would need to start budgeting and fast while looking for a job at the same time.

It was odd he thought, shouldn't they have warned him before spending so much of the Merits they were willing to allocate to him? He could have out liquors with selective spending had he been warned of his budget in advance or at least been given the opportunity to purchase the liquors himself.

A face flashed through his mind, Tang Ruolan. Had she? It wouldn't matter at this point.

"I've got to deal with another problem."

Thinking so Feng Biao stood up and began to join the crowd of recruits making their way to the next class. This time it was going to be held indoors. The teacher? Tang Ruolan.

As he shuffled into a room with many chairs stacked upon what seemed to be stairs with desks in front of them Feng Biao saw Tang Ruolan who returned his gaze with a smile. He really didn't want to assume the worst, but assuming the worst she had chosen to single him out.

The reason was obvious, he showed he was close to Hunter. Obviously, that stunt with Lin Qing had not gone over well and she had shifted focus from Hunter to Feng Biao. In times like these, it was best to bide one's time. He had no intention of targeting Tang Ruolan, but he also would not allow her to continue harassing him.

Still, Tang Ruolan did not seem to be a major threat. She had after all only seemingly used the opportunity of Lin Qing rather than goading him, right? Well, for that Feng Biao could not say for certain, but that would at least make her less annoying.

If she was insane enough to hold grudges and consistently deliberately abuse her position, then things would be more difficult.

"But again, not my main problem. After this, I need to seriously put effort into solving Indra's taste."

As he sat in his chair, from which Hunter took a seat to his left and Song Zhilan to his right, with Liu Wei between them, he focused on what would now be a daily lesson Tang Ruolan would recite to them.

"This may be training, but this is considered a classroom. The name of this class is General History and Divinity Usage."

"It was created upon noticing a deterioration in our society resulting in those Marked from the lower classes being generally inept."

Oddly Feng Biao felt no malice in Tang Ruolan's voice as she taught, instead he caught genuine enthusiasm. He wondered if this was a result of Song Zhilan's presence or simply her own nature. Perhaps she liked teaching?

"We'll start at the beginning of when our world changed and quickly summarize the events past that to now," Tang Ruolan said as she picked up a piece of chalk and began drawing on the blackboard.

"Before the Heroic Age, there was simply the Modern Age, which by our standards, would be quite old."

"When the first Mythological Marble appeared in Japan it was, and still is, harmless. This gave people the false sense that the world was simply becoming more magical. Before the Heroic Age Divinities were beginning to be thought of as stories humans had long since advanced beyond."

"For some time humanity was able to co-exist with Mythological Marbles as simply a type of natural disaster. However, the Burst Event in Mexico changed this line of thinking."

"As the Smoking Mirror exited and the landscape of an entire portion of the Earth changed things have never been the same."

Suddenly the chalk started to move, perfecting itself. Tang Ruolan's chalky image of Earth became perfected on the blackboard showing an Earth before the Burst Event. Next to it, another chalky Earth formed, showing the landscape of America entirely changed.

An entire continent colored red in the chalk, shaped almost like a rectangle, was now jutting forth from Mexico replacing large swathes of land in both America and South America.

"Before this humanity had been more interested in fighting each other with Divinity than fighting anything else. When it became clear how disastrous the situation now was serious attempts were made at stopping Burst Events from taking place worldwide."

Raising his hand Liu Wei was acknowledged by Tang Ruolan.

"Instructor Tang, what is so serious about this Smoking Mirror?"

"A dumb question since everybody here knows who he is and you have a PDS, but I'll answer it so you can take this to heart. Just remember Liu Wei, was it? Don't ask dumb questions in the future."

"The Smoking Mirror is the only True Divinity that has ever manifested on this planet outside a Mythological Marble."

"Freed after the Burst Event he is considered, without a doubt, the greatest threat on the planet Earth. Multiple Primordial Marked have fought him, not a single one has ever been recorded as so much as drawing blood from him."

"The strongest Primordial Marked in history, the wielder of the Primordial Divinity Amun, was able to fight him to a standstill for 30 minutes."

"That is the longest any human has ever been recorded as surviving in a fight against him. 30 minutes. If any of you are wondering why we're all not dead then..."

"We don't know," Tang Ruolan said shrugging her shoulders, "he's clearly able to conquer the entire Earth if he so wishes, but he has only left his empire a handful of times."

"I would love to show you a picture of him but that's absolutely impossible. Any type of mirror pointed at him instantly cracks, anybody who looks at him can only see black smoke surrounding a male figure, and any attempts at using Divinity to peer at him or gain a clearer picture have all resulted in complete failure."

"There you have it, that's just the result of a single Burst Event. If Mythological Marbles worldwide were allowed to undergo them humanity would surely be wiped out."

Feng Biao had known of the Smoking Mirror. He just hadn't known exactly how serious the situation was. As far as he was aware America had the situation under control.

A question struck Feng Biao. If the Smoking Mirror was a True Divinity did that mean others were in Mythological Marbles as well? Why then were some Divinities assisting humanity while others would be here on Earth seemingly assaulting it? What was going on in the heavens?