Chapter 4

(A.N People were confused about Seth and the others. I've aged them to be the same age as Grey and Caera (twelve) )

CAERA DENOIR

I looked around at everyone who was staring at me. I just realized what I had said and how I dropped my cold persona. I didn't care about my persona anymore ever since I met Grey but it became second nature when out in public.

"Grey taught you? I thought you were trained by a Scythe?" asked Mayla. I had just met Mayla but she was kind and she didn't treat me like "Lady Caera," and I didn't discriminate against her because she wasn't a highblood so we became quick friends.

"No not really, I've been sparring with him for about 3 weeks and he's helped me a ton with my swordsmanship. It took me 4 days to land a hit on him, and I still haven't defeated him." I replied. I looked at Grey to make sure I didn't say too much but he just shrugged and motioned for Seth to train with him.

"Hey Mayla, this is a training period, do you want to spar now?" I asked her. "I'm not that great, could I learn some things from you?" " Mayla asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not. I can't promise much though. Grey is probably better at teaching, you should ask him when you have the time," I replied, getting into position 5 meters in front of her. Once she attacked me I noticed that she punched quite poorly. I looked around to see everyone was doing just as bad as her.

"Ok, Mayla when you throw a punch twist your back leg so that your punch does damage." I then performed it for her to see and understand. Mayla copied my movements and I let her punch my hands.

"Much better," I said as she practiced her punches until the bell rang. "See you later Mayla," I called out as she left.

I left to go to my next class. It was my swordsmanship class next. Also the only class I didn't have with Grey. I was disappointed but there was nothing I could do. The classroom was an arena with seats at an elevated level all around.

Halfway during the class I almost fell asleep standing up. This professor was mediocre at best. He was good at swords, yes, but compared to Grey and Seris he was like a 4 year old fighting his master for the first time.

"Hello again Lady Caera, I ask that you watch my demonstration today."

I turned around to see the boy who introduced himself as Eujean last week. He was a typical spoiled blood who only wanted my body and the power my blood held.

Before I could say anything, Eujean was covered in water and was now wearing a banner that said, "I'm a Clive rip-off".

Everyone jumped back at the unexpected change. The teacher demanded to know what was going on. I knew what happened though. Grey probably froze time, conjured water above Eujean, put that banner on him, returned to his class and resumed time.

I didn't know who Clive was but it was clear he was similar to Eujean since Grey had that banner prepared. A few students broke down in laughter while the teachers freaked out, wondering what just happened. Since Grey doesn't leave mana signatures when he freezes time it's impossible for it to be connected to him.

"Stop laughing!" yelled Eujean, he was red with anger and embarrassment. The class was canceled because of the strange phenomenon. Once the class was over I made my way to the lunch hall. I looked for Grey but I couldn't find him. "He probably got lost. Serves him right," I thought as I sat down to eat.

***

After lunchI made my way to "training for ascents." It's probably the most advanced class first years can take. I took it because I want to help Sevren with his research on aether. I don't know the exact reason Grey took it but it was probably because he wanted to fight something strong. I went in and sat down next to Grey. "Thanks for earlier," I whispered to Grey.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked back with a slight grin on his face.

"You're the only one who can and would do that," I responded.

"Where was the dinning hall? I got lost and had to skip lunch," Grey said, clearly upset. "You should've memorized the map, or do you need a trail of strong challengers to lead the way?" I teased. Grey groaned, "I'm not that battle hungry." I rolled my eyes at him.

Then a boy I recognized as Valen from the many parties my foster parents forced me to go to. He sat down across from me and Grey. Since the tables are four person rectangles it would make sense he comes to us. I have political power and Grey probably grabbed his attention during melee enchantment class.

"Lady Caera, Blood unnamed Grey," Valen said as he sat down. If Grey was confused as to why I know him he hid it well.

"Valen of Highblood Remseyer," I replied.

"Please, call me Valen, I don't like formalities." he said, waving his hand around.

"Then just call me Caera,"

"And just call me Grey,"

"Very well, I must say, I was impressed at your hand to hand combat abilities Grey. You seem to have a very deep understanding on the topic." Valen praised.

"Thank you, although I excel in the sword I take pride in my hand-to-hand combat skills." responded Grey. I never noticed it until now but Grey has amazing etiquette skills. He said he was a commoner so that doesn't explain anything. "It might have to do with his secret." I pondered.

"How do you two know each other?" asked Grey, he seemed jealous, I think? I had no clue.

"Our parents forced us to meet others at every party we go to. We've met a few times at the parties but we never got close. Our parents even tried to get us to marry but neither of us wanted it." I replied, Grey nodded in understanding.

"How did you two meet?" asked Valen as he somehow made eye contact with the both of us at the same time. This was the last question I wanted to answer. I didn't know what to say in order to make sure Grey's identity was safe. Luckily Grey answered.

"I'm an orphan, I was camping in a forest that Caera was training in. We hung out not telling each other our identity. Once Caera returned she introduced me to her parents and they let me stay with them on the condition that I help them in the future. That was about a month ago. We've been training with each other for basically the entire time." Grey half-lied.

Valen's eyes went wide but he quickly put up a neutral expression. "To impress Highlord Corbett to such a degree, I'm impressed."

"If you learned that Grey actually impressed Scythe Seris you'd lose your mind," I mentality laughed at the scenario.

"Settle down class, today we'll talk about how the relictombs work. Now, who can tell me the three types of zones?" the teacher asked.

I raised my hand eagerly. "Yes lady Caera?"

"There are normal zones which have no consistently and mainly consist of solving puzzles and/or killing monsters found inside. The second is the sanctuary, it acts as a safe place and resting zone. The third is the convergence zones, a zone that multiple parties end up at and must work together in order to clear it." I answered.

"Very good, now can anyone tell me what the first two layers of the relictombs are?" asked the professor to no one in particular.

This time Valen put his hand up. "The first layer consists of farms and markets but is also famous for being shady and untrustworthy. The second layer house's many named bloods along with a few highbloods. It is also where one of the trial halls is located." answered Valen.

Grey looked confused. I never told him about the first two layers so he'll probably ask questions later.

The rest of the class consisted of basic trivia. It was the first day so that was to be expected. Our final class was nothing special, just basic studying and learning.

After classes were done I said good night to Grey and went to my dorm room. "I wonder who my roommate will be? They never told us," I thought as I entered my room. Inside I saw a familiar girl. "Hey Mayla," I exclaimed.

The kind and excited girl I had met in the morning turned to me with a shocked then happy expression. "Hey Caera!" she said as she jumped up and hugged me. I was surprised by the hug but I didn't care. It was nice to have someone I knew as my roommate.

GREY

I entered my dorm room to crash for the night. I opened the door to see Seth at his desk flying through a stack of books. He was so immersed in them he didn't notice me entering. I snuck up behind him, concealing my mana so that he can't notice me.

"Boo!"

"AHHH!!!!" Seth shot back, sending his chair back while he fell.

"Hey Seth, looks like I'm your roommate," I said as I looked down at the now annoyed Seth. Seth then started coughing like crazy, "Woah, Seth are you ok? Breathe, Breathe."I got down and started to help him. I was training him earlier and I knew he had an abnormally weak body but I didn't think scaring him would hurt him this much.

Once Seth calmed down I helped him to his bed. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you that badly." I admitted.

"It's ok, I've always had a weak body. Portrel and Remy keep beating me up so I'm used to it." replied Seth. I was enraged, that was no way to treat someone regardless of who they are. "I have an older sister, she's been trying to find a cure for my illness but she hasn't found anything." Seth explained.

"Can I check your core?" I asked, if it's something to do with his core I might be able to fix it. Seth looked at me with a questioning glance. "You have a spell form for hiding your mana and checking someone's core? You must be a really good Sentry then." he reasoned.

"Shoot, I forgot any usage of mana needs a spell form, oh well. It's too late now," I thought, regretting my recent choice of actions. "Lay down, I'll check your core." I instructed.

"Alright, I doubt you'll find anything. No one ever has." Seth said, not believing my words.

Once he laid down I put my hand on his abdomen and checked his core. What I noticed was… disturbing. His core was slowly destroying his body. It was similar to something from my old world. A virus that would kill anyone that didn't have a ki core by destroying their body with excess ki. Anyone with a core could enchant themselves would be immune to the virus.

Seth's condition was similar to this. It seemed his body was naturally weak and since he needed a spellform to use any mana he couldn't cure himself. I honestly felt bad for the boy, if not helped he would die before he hit his twenties.

I then absorbed the extra mana stabilizing him. He should recover first but if I tell him I just cured him that easily he'll start to become suspicious of me. "You have excess mana that is slowly destroying your body. If you gain some muscle then your body will be able to handle it and you should be cured." I explained.

"He's already cured but him getting stronger isn't a bad thing," I thought. Seth is a nice boy and I could probably get him to teach me more complex things about Alacrya Caera hasn't yet.

"Seriously?! That's it?! You're telling me if I just exercised I could've been better?" Seth asked, he sounded annoyed probably because it was such a simple solution for him.

"Well, I assume you never tried because of your weak body. Am I right?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I took melee enchantment class to do just that," Seth confirmed. He lowered his head, breaking eye contact with me.

"Well, you should start with more basic stretches than do exercises, a lot of people don't do that leaving them sore and in pain after only a little bit of fighting. Training how to fight with a poor body can be disastrous since you'll only be hurting yourself." I explained.

Seth nodded, " Thank you Grey, I should probably clean up the mess you made when you scared me," he said as he went to his desk to pick up the mass of papers he dropped when I scared him.

"Let me help you with that," I said as I assisted him.

Once I was done helping Seth I sat down at my desk and pulled out everything I had in my dimensional ring. The Denoir's were kind enough to give me a much bigger ring. I pulled out my casual clothes and uniform, I then pulled out a copy of the aether detecting lightbulb Sevren had made for me. I pulled out dawns ballad, unsheathed it and put it on my desk. Upon seeing Dawn's Ballad Seth's gaze became curious but he didn't ask anything.

I then pulled out my old ring to put my excess stuff in when I realized there was something still in there. Once I pulled it out when I realized what it was. The Elderwood Guardian's core. I was planning on giving it to Reynolds once I told him my secret but…

It probably had a ton of mana in it and I knew one person that would love to receive it. It's a shame that– if it has a beast will– it'll be useless because there are no elfs here in Alacrya. "Seth, I'm going to go out for a while, I'll be back soon," I said as I left my room to go find Caera.

"Now, where could Caera be." I couldn't go to the girl dorms for obvious reasons. I could approach it and stop time but I'd probably scare the life out of her roommate. I checked the dinning hall to find nothing. I then checked the library and saw a head of blue hair deep into a book. I looked around to find no one in view since it was late.

I sat down next to her, causing her to yelp in surprise. "Hey Caera," I said with a smile.

"Hey Grey, what brings you here?" she asked, closing her book. "Did you miss me so much that you needed to hunt me down?" she teased with a sly smile.

"Maybe," I thought. "I found something I forgot about that I think you'd like. What core are you at anyway?" I questioned.

"Solid orange. I'm quite the prodigy aren't I?" she said, raising her eyebrows up and down.

I was impressed. The highest core I saw in a first year at Xyrus who didn't abuse elixirs upon entering had solid red. I guess the talk about Caera being a genius was true, even without her swordsmanship.

I pulled out the Elderwood guardian's core and handed it to her, "I was planning on giving this to my father after I told him about my secret…"

Caera looked at me with a saddened expression before she checked to see what it was I just gave her. "G-Grey this is…!"

"It's the core of the S-rank mana beast 'Elderwood Guardian'. I killed one back in Dicathen during a dungeon raid. There's still a ton of mana in it if you want to use it. Since I'm in the dark yellow it's less effective for me and I think you should have it." I said, earning a surprised look from Caera.

"You killed an S-rank mana beast?! Actually I don't know why I'm surprised, you're an outlier when it comes to common sense. Are you sure you want to give this to me?" Caera asked to confirm.

"Of course, you want to get stronger than me right?" I asked with a knowing smile.

"Of course, don't come crying to me that I left you in the dust!" Caera gave me a hug before running to her room. I laughed at her antics and made my way back to my dorm.

CAERA DENOIR

I ran to my room, making sure to keep the core in my dimensional ring. Grey doesn't know how valuable this is. There are barely any high ranking mana beasts in Alacyra since Agrona destroyed the dungeons. The ones that did exist are really hard to find and are never hunted because all the people capable of killing them are in the relictombs. You would need a team of 25 high-ranking mages to kill an S rank and come out without any deaths.

Even a B-rank core is priceless, for Grey to even have and give me an S-rank core. This thing could cause multiple Highbloods to go to war, which is exactly why I have to use it.

I got to my room and started to absorb the mana inside. There was a ton of it. For some reason the mana inside the core wanted to be absorbed by me. I had no clue why but it was welcome. I jumped when I heard an unfamiliar noise coming from the other side of the room. I quickly hid the core and looked for the source of the noise.

Luckily it was just Mayla snoring loudly. I turned my attention back to the core and resumed extracting the mana. After a while I absorbed all the mana. I checked my core to find I was now dark yellow. I was ecstatic, I caught up to Grey. Even though it was through his help I still did it.

I don't want to just stand by his side, I want to rival him.

Strangely, the core didn't turn to dust after I emptied it of mana. "Guess I'll give it to Sevren and see what he can do," I decided.