What kind of neck was that? No matter—Linden told himself. The sword was old and ordinary, barely invested with the power of Blood Core. The sword was only good for practice anyway, not for battle against the monster at the peak of the Elementary Realm. He threw the useless sword away and popped another blood pill into his mouth. He circulated his Drogen to the extreme, at the edge of it becoming painful, any more than that, and he would shatter his meridians. Linden dashed past the bushes and branches, pouncing on the monster. He dodged each of the flaming projectiles that barred his path. His fate perception made it easy. It was a time like this that made Linden want to kiss Riot for choosing him. If only she didn’t have that… personality. Linden pivoted, evading the flaming monster’s lunging kick. He swallowed the blood pill in his mouth and grabbed the beast by its neck. The flame surrounding the beast flared to greater life as a defensive measure. The fire engulfed Linden, y

That day Edwin went to visit the said office to retrieve his class schedule. In his room, Edwin read the list of his classes. —No. 1:- The Drogen’s law —No. 2:- Meditation & Household Magic —No. 3:- Battle Magic —No. 4:- Theory of Cultivation & Vital Technique —No. 5:- Combat Training —No. 6:- Law & Politics —No. 7:- Hunting Each module came with the number of classes per week, its time and venue. Hunting and Battle magic didn’t start for a month. Edwin looked forward to all these classes except for Law and Politics—it was never his strong suit. Chris would probably ace it. *** Edwin clutched the map in both his hands so hard that he almost tore it in half. Chris laughed at his expense. Edwin was glad that he and Chris shared all their classes, even if she was laughing at him. He didn’t want to be alone among the strangers. “Why does this place have to be so huge? And everything looks the same. How do people even navigate this place?” She extended her hand to him. Edwin fr

It took Edwin some time for him not to be completely affected by the effect of Drogen. It still sometimes got the better of him. Through meditation, Edwin drew power into his core and opened his eyes. The world around him glittered as it always did when he drew Drogen. Apparently, the glittering particles were Aether, the energy of the Earth. “Good,” the elder said. “Now focus on your core. You will sense seven reserves of power within it. Find the power that gives you the impression of heat. Don’t worry, you will know when you find it. It’s instinctive.” As the elder had said, Edwin instinctively found the Fire Law. “Normally, other elders would advise against it. They will say Fire Law is too dangerous. However, I have a fire core. It will be safer this way. Each Law of Drogen requires a unique method to control it.” Edwin nodded. Edwin had expected he would have to wrestle for control, but the Fire Law obeyed his grip like a subservient puppy. “Good,” the elder said, placing

Five Years Ago. It had been about five years since her mother died. Killed was more accurate. A band of people made from Dwellers and Vampires had killed her mother. And even after five years, Chris still wept herself to sleep. She had abandoned her in her time of need. They punished the murderers of her mother for their actions. They were flogged and tortured publicly before being killed. And yet Chris still could not feel at peace for the death of her mother—like everyone told her to do. Even though they had already received their punishment. Even though they were already dead, she still hated them for taking her mother away from her. How could they do such a thing? How could they have no regard for human life? That question always haunted her. Their death wasn’t enough. Someone else deserved punishment—it was her.A part of Chris wanted to forget about her mother. So that she did not have to hurt, so that she did not have to cry so much, so that her father would not have changed

[PRESENT TIME] Chris Scoured through the sect library searching for information on collectors. She had hoped to find some record to understand her powers. Useless, there was nothing she didn’t already know. All that knowledge in here and they were all deadwood to her. Unless she broke into the restricted section of the library, there was nothing new she could learn. That meant she would have to learn everything by experiment. The thought of experimenting with her powers sent a shiver down her spine. Playing with something she didn’t understand didn’t sound healthy to her. All her classes went well, better than well actually. She was one of the best in her class—aside from a few mishaps like that one time when she had turned into a giant; it was one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to her. What surprised her most as she navigated through her powers was the fact that her abilities were incredibly similar to that of a Dweller and, at the same time, quite differen