The Library

'Like I didn't know that,' Rem thought.

He had been an Apprentice for almost a day now and he could already see that it wasn't easy at all- but there was always a price to pay if someone wanted power and now having someone repeating the same thing to him was getting on his nerves, Rem silently clenched his fist… an action that Cole noticed in an instant.

"It requires a fierce amount of determination and grit to survive here," Cole said, "These instructors have a deadly side to them and when training, nothing less than a 110% must be gotten from you- I noticed you were staring at the walls and gate,"

"You're a stalker," Rem shot back.

"If you're looking for a way to get to the Outside world, sadly there isn't any. The walls and gate are high and thick, one could climb on them but they have some sort of enchantment magic laced in them that will alert the guards any time a person touches them," Cole said while folding his arms, "Any thoughts of running away to probably see a Lover should be held off until the Apprentice Tournament,"

"Lover?" Rem muttered under his breath.

This was the first time he was hearing such a word- as someone who was an orphan, the only ounce of love he had felt was when his Mother was alive… after she left, he was quickly introduced to the game of Survival.

"What's a Lover?" Rem asked in curiosity, his childish curiosity getting the better of him.

Cole stepped back, his eyes shaky with surprise as Rem narrowed his eyes at him- cluelessness evident in his eyes.

"You don't know?" Cole asked while rubbing the back of his head nervously, he never thought he would see such a day where a 14-year old didn't even have a glimpse of what a Lover was, "Well a Lover is…"

The huge ring of a bell was heard and Cole sighed.

"That's the 6 o'clock bell," Cole said, "We're supposed to be at the dinner table,"

And with that, they both sprinted off toward the dining.

#####

Different assortments of food adorned the dining table, it had a table of 5 and the scrumptious dinner was meant for the Apprentices… of course they had to make a bit extra since a Beastkin was amongst them and their race had a tendency to eat a lot.

'There's meat, rice, stew… so many things,' Rem thought, before he would give a lot to have a meal such as this one but to think that it was served to him after a little spar would rile up the people living in the slums.

Even with all this food, Rem really didn't have appetite for much… He just wanted to have enough to fill him up and then proceed to getting to reading- the Mansion had quite a big library and the library was something that Rem wanted to explore to the fullest.

"Wow," Krista muttered under her lips, this was surely unexpected-

As she spent most of her time as a Slave, Krista was under-valued. Her only use to the Bandits being as diversions for the big picture, she usually ate leftovers and was grateful that she was at least being treated better than most slaves were, at least she got food in her stomach and any wounds she sustained were instantly healed by the Bandits-

Her lips got wet as saliva streamed freely down her chin, the prospect of eating meat was surely enough to make her happy.

Rem eyed the girl but nevertheless he was still hungry, a lot more hungrier than he used to be.

Of course they were scheduled with some time to rendezvous with each other- especially through food as this would help their bonds grow stronger, but Rem didn't want any of these so called bonds… in a way they limited not only him but the person he was bonding with, Rem was definitely not going to spend his energy fighting for some else who had hands of their own…. only for them to desert him when it was their turn to provide assistance to him.

That said, he wasn't going to leave his dinner waiting any longer… picking up a piece of meat with his fork, he brought it to his lips and chewed on the meat slowly. A combination of sweetness exploded in his mouth and he ate the meat greedily, unable to get enough of this scrumptious animal skin.

"So the newbies," Mika said, "You guys mind introducing yourselves?"

Her gaze was fixated on Rem, perfectly ignoring the others as if they didn't even exist- she had to admit he was handsome although his behavior to the others needed some work.

Krista mumbled, dropping her meat onto her plate and turning to Mika with a friendly smile… There was something strange going on with this girl as well, when the battle had been going on- her demeanor had shifted in an instant, and murderous intent had been leaking out of the girl, Mika could still remember that gaze filled with hate but it all changed in an instant… Now she was acting kind, but it didn't feel like she was acting.

"My name is Krista Griffin and it's a pleasure to meet you," Krista said while locking eyes with Mika, "And I'm sorry for what happened earlier on the battlefield, I shouldn't have attacked you mid-air like that,"

Mika waved her off- a bit surprised herself but nevertheless she accepted the apology.

'It's a spar, she was meant to do that. Why is she apologizing?'

The girl in question, Krista, was really mysterious and Mika felt like she could keep her guard up against her. But there was something else… A gaze lingering from the corner of the table, locked on Krista's figure with green eyes- filled with understanding.

Mika turned to the gaze and found Rem, eating his rice with a poker face, it would be hard to tell if he even liked the rice or not.

"What about you?" Mika asked yet she received no reply from Rem- an action that shook her to the core, she was beautiful right? Guys should be happy that a pretty girl such as herself was asking for their names.

Noticing that Mika wasn't going to allow him get away with that so easily, he turned to face the girl and sighed.

"My name is not to be known by just anybody," Rem said, "And nobody should try acting buddy-buddy with me either, I detest that kind of attitude – we are Apprentices and our only purpose is to help the other grow by spars or by choosing to share some valuable information we have gathered which will help our fellow Apprentice grow,"

He raised up his cup and drank a bit of water before continuing.

"You see, I'm not the kind of person that wants to be everybody's friend… and I'm not the kind of person that will share any valuable information I get, or to teach a fellow Apprentice- instructing them on using a technique that might even let them surpass me," Rem said, "I am the kind that keeps to myself,"

Mika turned away, while Rem exhaled outwardly- the first time he had actually shared so many words with fellow human beings but surely he felt the tension toward him increase, the aim of a get-together was to of course reduce the tension between the Apprentices but he had increased it specifically for himself, this way they would know to keep away from him and leave him alone which was a bonus on it's own.

Dinner went by swiftly and it was time for the Apprentices to return to their own devices before it was 9PM, which was the time they would sleep- Rem was going to spend the remaining three hours wisely and research in the Library, amongst the shelves, there was bound to be a book containing a special ability like Drew's manipulation over the Light element while using his blade.

"Speaking of Drew, where is he I wonder?" Rem muttered under his breath as he pushed open the door of the Library, revealing an immense room inside.

It was really wide, wider than how Rem had imagined and there seemed to be endless shelves, stocked to the brim with books to choose from. He almost salivated on seeing how much reading he could catch up on.

At first Reading had started as a hobby, coming into play the time when he stole a book from a Noble. A thick black book with many pages, it had been quite an enjoyable read although the book had been stolen some time later when he brought it outside…

As his eyes continued scanning the room, Rem sighted Drew. Leaning against a chair with his burly figure and curling his hair back with his finger, seated beside the window which was letting in little gusts of wind- He certainly looked handsome while reading.

Drew raised his gaze to the boy that stepped in and smiled.

"Ah Rem, what brings you here?" Drew asked.

-

Author's Note:

If you're enjoying the book so far, don't hesitate to add this to your library and throw in some power stones for me, and if you're feeling really generous- you can support me with a golden ticket or two, and a gift too!