White Fangs Group

Max fell asleep as he hit the pillow. He didn't choose to meditate or train because he wanted to rest. It was a long week and the whole competition didn't leave him any time to get a good and much-deserved sleep.

He woke up feeling refreshed, the competition ended and he, alongside every other first-year, had a day off to relax on. Individuals that were able to reach the finals such as Max happily accepted such a gift.

It was almost noon when Max woke up. He stretched his relaxed body for a while before going to the bathroom, using it to freshen up. He left the bathroom and entered Mark's room trying to find him but his attempt was to no avail. Mark was already gone and Max had no idea where he went.

This was understandable though; he couldn't expect the other to wait an entire day for him and most probably after seeing Max sleeping, he didn't want to wake him up. After all, battling each day was exhausting.

Max thought of things to do before remembering the conversation he and Dylan had before.

'I hope this is going to be the right decision' Max thought, thinking to join him. After all, he knew Dylan and even witnessed his power. He thought that there was no way that Dylan would invite him to a group just to exploit him.

He left Mark's room and went into his, taking Matt with him before going towards the cafeteria. Max decided to eat something while waiting for Dylan to come.

He entered the cafeteria where lots of people were idle, chatting, or getting something to eat. Max got in-line waiting for his turn. He got some low-tier magical meat before looking around for a clear table.

A few minutes later he was sitting at a table for two, ready to gorge himself on the food he just bought. He brought a piece of juicy meat to his mouth and…

'Max wait! I want to ask you something!' Matt's voice resounded in his head.

Max immediately stopped eating; he was curious about Matt's sudden request so he withdrew the fork from his mouth. He had no idea of what Matt was going to say.

'Can you try using the black flames on the piece of meat? I was thinking about something. If the ability can devour any kind of magic and make itself stronger because of it, wouldn't it be able to absorb magic from Magical Beasts?' He explained and Max finally understood Matt's curiosity.

He knew that meat from any magical beast still retained an amount of magic particles inside it of a certain type of element, if the meat was being consumed by any individual of the same element then the individual would be able to absorb the magic particles from the food, otherwise, nothing happened.

Max's element was darkness, one of the rarest mutated elements. One could understand that meeting a beast of the same element was a difficult task to achieve even if Max traveled around the world looking for such an encounter.

What the academy offered as food was meat from beasts of the most common elements such as the primordial ones or variant elements more commonly awakened. Max didn't have a chance to taste meat from a Darkness Elemental Beast unless it was specifically brought for him.

In an attempt to find the answer to Matt's question he aroused the black flames from inside his body. They rose to the surface where they were slowly controlled towards the piece of meat on top of the fork Max was holding. Upon touch the meat began sizzling as if being surrounded by boiling oil, this was the reaction it created. The strange sound attracted the attention of some people around him.

They spotted Max, seeing him concentrating on a piece of pork that was burning in black flames. A strange sight of course but it didn't bring any more curiosity for the individuals that saw him.

Max retracted his flames after the sizzling stopped. He took that as the indicator for the amount of particles inside the meat, if the sizzling was fierce then there was a considerable amount of magic, but if the sizzling stopped then the amount of magic inside the piece of meat was zero.

Max looked at the piece of meat, inspecting it, before taking a bite out of it. Max was surprised, the taste of the meat was extremely bland, with no juiciness, and no flavor. It felt devoid of any taste and such a thought intrigued him.

He played around with this concept for a while before someone sat right in front of him. Max looked towards the person that just sat down and was able to see Dylan and two other individuals behind him. They both took a seat after bringing chairs from another table, and Max realized that he knew one of the individuals. He was the person that attacked him a few weeks ago after bumping into him, he didn't know a lot about him though so he looked towards the other person. He was a new person that Max had yet to meet.

"These guys are all part of the White Fangs" Dylan introduced them while Max was giving a stinky eye to the individual on his right. The person was smiling as if not remembering what he did before, this angered Max but he managed to calm himself down.

"This guy is named Ernie… I just recalled that I shouldn't have brought him along…" Dylan, seeing Max's reaction, remembered what happened a few weeks before as well and apologized to Max while massaging his forehead.

"There is no problem for now, nice to meet you Ernie" Max responded to Dylan before shifting his attention to his right once again. He extended his arm towards Ernie trying to seem polite.

"Nice to meet you as well Max," Ernie said while smirking before extending his hand. He reached for Max's hand, grabbing it and then shaking it slowly in a friendly manner.

Max tried to let go of the other's hand but when he did so Ernie's smirk turned into a big smile. He tightened the grip on Max's hand, using all his force to keep Max in place.

Max suddenly felt a strong force pressing his hand. He felt great pain from it, feeling like his bones were about to break but he didn't show it.

Without saying anything the black flames rampaged towards Ernie. The uncontrolled flames enveloped Ernie's entire right arm in a moment and his grip on Max's hand lessened immediately, trying to get away from him.

'How the turntables' Max thought, a smile accidentally showing on his face signaling his content.

"I am not as weak as before. You can call this payback" Max said while clenching his teeth, he used the hand that was almost broken after all.

Ernie immediately felt like passing away, his arm was already numb and the feeling began spreading through his whole body as Max in a fit of rage used the flames to their full power, covering the entirety of Ernie's body in them.

This wasn't something that would normally happen. Ernie was, in fact, a powerful individual and because of that, the magic inside his body was feeding the flames at a high rate. This was the only reason why Max was able to keep the flames from extinguishing at this moment.

Ernie couldn't fight against the flames, and after a short while, he wasn't even able to scream. It looked like the flames did nothing to him as they weren't even burning the clothes on his body but that wasn't true at all. Ernie's body fell and his head hit the table he was sitting at with no restrictions.

Dylan was finally aware of what was happening, all this time he thought that Ernie wasn't able to feel anything from the flames.

"Max stop!" He yelled while looking at the two individuals still holding hands as Max never let go of Ernie, still absorbing the magic from his body.

Max looked at Dylan before recovering his senses, for a reason or another the anger he felt at that time overtook his rationality. He swiftly looked at Ernie that didn't move a muscle while his face was planted on the table.

He quickly retracted his flames, letting go of Ernie's hand before clasping his own together and asking Dylan to forgive him.

"It's nothing, you didn't kill him or anything after all…" Dylan said while sweat began forming on his forehead. He was able to hear Ernie's heartbeat continuously weaken as the flames were continuously raging around his body.

'This guy will have to give me some payback for saving his life' Dylan thought, thinking about Ernie. He didn't feel bad as he knew something like this will happen the moment he remembered that night, maybe this encounter with Max will make the hot-headed Ernie know his place once again.

"The person on your left is named Bryce" He then continued with the introductions, overlooking what just happened completely.

Max once again extended his hand forward while greeting the newly acquainted Bryce. He hesitated in grabbing Max's hand and the latter understood after seeing the hesitant movement Brice was doing. He withdrew his hand and a sigh of relief left Bryce's mouth.

"Nice to meet you as well Max" Bryce greeted in an awkward but grateful tone.

Max nodded at Bryce before looking back at Dylan, wanting to ask him about the situation.

Seeing Max looking at him intently Dylan understood what Max wanted to ask for so he began speaking.

"Yesterday as you remember, I invited you to the group but decided to talk more about it today. The situation became a little more complicated you see… I wanted to have your approval so that I could announce to the leader that you joined us. But you didn't accept and I still had to report it back which brought us to this moment right here." He then looked at Bryce before continuing.

"The formal way of joining our group is to be recommended by at least two members or to be personally invited in by the leader… I am not the leader… So, in other words, you need Bryce to recommend you as well to be called an official member. The normal protocol is to bring three people and if two of them recommend you then you will join as an official new member. I am recommending you from the start so if you want to join…" Dylan then turned his head toward Ernie who was still passed out.

"Bryce would be your only chance for now" And finally he finished explaining everything.

Max looked at Bryce that still had an awkward smile on his face, he didn't seem to be enjoying the spot he was in.

"What happened if you invited me yesterday? Didn't you just say that two members were needed to invite someone officially?" Max wondered after being attentive towards Dylan's words.

"Well yes… but I could've asked someone else to say that they were with me and that they also recommend you… Hehe…" Dylan said while scratching the back of his head, a smile presented on his face.

"I will need you to answer some of my questions, I still don't know if it's worth it or not joining a group," Max asked and Dylan responded with a nod.

An hour went by and most of the people inside the cafeteria were already gone, replaced by other individuals that came to eat as well. All but for individuals stood at the same table, discussing all along.

Dylan finally finished explaining to Max all the advantages of being in a group, alongside the disadvantages of course. Max remained surprised as most of the disadvantages could just be called inconveniences while the rest weren't intended for him, a newbie.

Max would have to go hunting for beasts at least twice every month, either with a team or solo. He would then have the responsibility of showing the beast hunted and defeated before handing them over for a monetary income. The price was standard, depending on the level of the beasts.

This requirement was a rule made by the leader as this would help the group expand and earn additional rewards when a number of beasts were defeated alongside other conditions were satisfied.

Max would be allowed to leave the academy parameters whenever he liked but would still have to present himself every day for the weeks where teachers will be present. This rule was made so no one will slack on their studies and just go hunting every day, each month.

"I will be real with you Dylan; I came here with the intention of joining from the start. It's true that certain individuals aren't in my good books…" Max's gaze shifted on the now-awake Ernie. He woke up after about half an hour of sleeping, still feeling dizzy and weak.

"… but that is beside the point, I am not expecting to be friends with everyone in a hunting group after all" He continued explaining after shifting his view back on Dylan. "I am willing to join as this is an opportunity to get stronger, now the question is if I fulfill the condition" Max's gaze once again shifted, this time it landed on Bryce.

"Well, you are strong enough to take care of yourself," Bryce said while thinking back on the small confrontation Max had with Ernie. Knowing Ernie's power first hand, he was extremely surprised. Not being able to even put a struggle against Max's ability… even if you disregarded the fact that Ernie almost died in the black flames, Bryce would still feel terrified.

"If you accept the oath of silence then I will gladly recommend you as a highly-skilled individual."

Bryce extended his hand toward Max while saying so, the latter looked at Bryce's hand before grabbing it.

"I swear not to tell the secrets of the group" Max pledged, making Bryce smile.

"Then, I will be the first one to greet the newest recruit of the White Fangs" Bryce quickly responded while shaking the other's hand vigorously.