Chapter 71: The Weird Vael

"When you were forming the axe, you really put a great amount of mana into it, making our bodies faintly aware of the danger it posed."

"When you flung it out, that sense of danger still remained, and our brain told our body to do what it should in the face of danger: dodge or scream."

"The average brain would never notice that, at the last second before the throw, you withdrew the destructive properties of the mana from the axe just a few milliseconds before it left your hands."

"Once it was out of your hands, it became nothing more than mana shaped into the form of an axe, and in such a state, it wouldn’t even harm a fly."

"The awareness of that is why I didn’t bother dodging or screaming..." he explained blandly, his eyes drooping even lower as though talking itself annoyed him.

"Perfect! Emrys is perfectly right."

"In this class, you will also have to learn how to withdraw the destructiveness of your mana at the last second to make sure you don’t accidentally harm others, and or fool your enemies."

"Making your mana more destructive and learning to remove that destructiveness in the blink of an eye is a necessary component of Dark Magic manipulation."

"That said, let’s continue with the class..." Mr. Ian said as he turned back to the board and began explaining more about the topic.

Most of it seemed like quite normal information to the other Voraths, with a few surprises here and there, but the same couldn’t be said of Arlo, who had his attention completely fixed on Mr. Ian as he scribbled away at the notes before him.

Two hours rapidly passed, which was quite a long time for a class, yet Mr. Ian was so good with his subject that he made even such a common topic incredibly interesting, preventing the students from yawning even once as they remained visibly engrossed in his words.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

The sound of intense ringing echoed through the room as Mr. Ian rounded up the class.

He picked up his book and whilst preparing to leave:

"The next class will be a practical demonstration of the various theories we covered today."

"I hope I get to see your beautiful faces looking just as attentive in the next class. You all have a nice one-hour break..."

Mr. Ian said before quietly disappearing through the exit.

The moment he left, the class seemed to turn into a massive party, with noise and murmurs breaking out everywhere as some students exited in twos and threes.

[You gathered quite a considerable amount of important information. Now, I am even more assured that coming here was worth it.]

The system notification panel appeared before Arlo as he nodded, mentally going over everything he had just learned.

The explanations had given him more than a few new ideas about manipulating the mana within him.

"Hey, are you going to the dining hall? Everyone is already heading there..." a voice rang out to Arlo felt a hand wrap around his shoulder.

Turning to the side, he found that the person was none other than Vael, the horned, purple-haired boy, who now had a wide smile plastered across it, completely different from his former grumbling expression.

"Um, is it worth it?" Arlo asked as Vael nodded.

"Yep. Especially since you’ll be taking quite the beating in the next class."

"It’s combat class, and you’ll need some heaven-defying energy to survive it, so we better eat well." Vael said, dragging him to his feet as they exited the classroom, among the last people to do so.

Outside the classroom and through the school corridors, hundreds of students could be seen running around in twos and threes, while even more covered the grounds like a swarm of ants across the plain green grass, engaged in various recreational activities.

"Never seen that before?" Vael asked, noticing Arlo furrowing his eyebrows at the strange game taking place before him.

It was a game where male Voraths ran around and roughly knocked their heads against one another, trying to knock each other unconscious, while the remaining participants loudly cheered them on.

"It’s, um, quite the rare sight..." Arlo answered and Vael chuckled.

"It’s the best game in the world."

"You know we get knocked out quite easily when another head like ours slams into our own, and the game uses that as its central rule."

"Usually, the last ten people left standing are praised as the winners, and you can even tell who the strongest among us are through the game."

"It’s so straightforward. Just don’t get knocked out..." Vael explained as a slight chill ran down Arlo’s spine.

He couldn’t imagine having his head roughly smashed against someone else’s before being knocked flat in front of hundreds of people.

It was an absolute scene of devastation.

"Wanna check it out?" Vael aked but Arlo shook his head.

"No, I’ll just pass on that one..."

"Good, I don’t fancy it that much either. Come, the dining hall is just a floor away..."

________________

The academy dining hall was an absolutely massive hall whose end Arlo couldn’t even see.

It was filled almost to the brim with students, something he could barely process.

The students had already covered the grasslands outside, and now they filled this entire place as well.

However, he couldn’t help noticing that the majority of those present were either fat male Voraths or females gathered together in groups as they talked.

He and Vael arrived before one of the chefs, who asked what they wanted, and Vael immediately began listing so many things that Arlo couldn’t even comprehend what half of them were.

"And you, what would you like for lunch?" the chef asked with the biggest smile ever as Arlo’s head buzzed, yet nothing came to mind.

"Um, anything he’s having too..." he said, pointing towards Vael, who raised an eyebrow, though the chef simply smiled before immediately running into the small building.

Just thirty seconds later, he returned with two trays in his hands, both filled with covered dishes.

"Nice..."

Vael said, rubbing his palms together as his eyes flashed with bright anticipation before they headed towards one of the less crowded tables and sat down.

He immediately began digging in before they had even properly settled into their seats.

"Hmm, even better than the last one I tasted..." He said, stuffing his mouth as Arlo looked at him blankly.

Turning to open his own dish, Arlo’s heart violently lurched as he looked at the wiggling things called food right in front of him.

"What... what the hell is this!?" Arlo couldn’t help asking as he shifted back slightly.

"The best cuisine in the world. Roitareath worms mixed with a little bit of skunk eyeballs and firorta butt skin. My favorite food.

Hey, dive in already, we don’t have all day. There’s less than thirty minutes left..."

Vael said as he continued digging in, occasionally releasing purring sounds like a cat enjoying the best meal of his life.

"Hmm..." Looking at his pleased expression, Arlo decided to satisfy his curiosity as he picked up his fork, speared a single worm, and tossed it into his mouth.

SPLART!

SPLART!

The sound of the squirming and wriggling thing filled Arlo’s mouth as he shut his eyes tightly, but after seven seconds of relentless chewing, his eyes suddenly shone with a bright light.

"Sweet!"

"Told ya..." Vael replied between mouthfuls as he continued eating, and Arlo immediately joined him.

The two continued going at their food until they were almost done with their dishes when a group of four suddenly came to stand around their table.

Arlo slowly raised his head, a wriggling worm hanging from his lips, which he sucked back into his mouth before looking up properly.

"Oh, gentlemen, what can we do for you?" Vael asked, wiping his mouth clean with a big smile plastered across his face.

"Oh, nothing really. Just a completely simple and tiny request..." one of them said.

He was the most muscular looking of the four, with an exceptionally ugly face and a long scar running horizontally across it.

"Oh, might I wonder what that is?" Vael asked with a nervous smile as the four boys looked at one another before turning back towards them.

"Nothing much. We just want you to pick up your weird food and your weird faces, then go sit over there. It can’t be any simpler than that..." he said as they all grinned.

But contrary to what they expected, Vael simply rose to his feet and picked up both his tray and Arlo’s.

"Such a simple request. You must have fancied this table. I do too sometimes."

"Very well then, the table is all yours."

"Come on, Arlo, let’s sit over there." Vael said as Arlo simply played along and followed after him.

Soon, they found another table sufficiently far away from the four boys and took their seats once more.

"Keep digging in, Arlo..." Vael said as he immediately continued eating, his satisfied expression not having reduced even in the slightest as he kept releasing those strange purring sounds, almost as though they hadn’t just been unfairly bullied a few seconds earlier.

’A very strange one. I swear he isn’t offended at all. Not even a little bit!’

Arlo thought to himself but then the panel flashed.

[Most likely because he’s a weakling.]

[The strong won’t allow themselves to get bullied. All I see is a piece of cowardly trash! You must always fight back, Arlo. No matter the occasion.]

’Or maybe he just has good enough brain to take the easiest path off the problem? What’s with you and your overbearingness lately?’