Chapter 12: Training

Nicholas gulped, eyeing Levina's fist in front of him. He held her hand and pushed it gently.

"I'm sorry. I—"

"Stop bothering me and leave! I don't need you here," Levina hissed, dropping her fist.

Nicholas sighed, eyeing her. He then nodded and slowly dragged his feet away from the woman. He stole some glances at her before he completely left the academy's computer lab. He saw an obsessive behavior in Levina in how she was eager to gather information about the Black Void. He knew that something was going on with her, but she didn't want to converse about it with him. Perhaps it was too personal.

Levina sat back on the chair, brows creased. Her fingers were dangerously tapping on the keyboard, ignoring the eyes of other students inside.

The few students inside the lab averted their gazes from her upon noticing the exasperated expression plastered on her face. They all know her since she's part of the S-rank level, and they're also aware of how powerful and intelligent she is, especially in combat. So, it's not good for them to eye her to avoid troubling themselves.

Levina clicked on a link that piqued her interest. It was a recent news article about a kidnapping issue in Faewood town next to their town. Based on the news, children from the Dayton Orphanage were kidnapped earlier this morning, and it was caught on CCTV. The news was speculating that the kidnappers were part of the Black Void organization due to their dark eerie cloak and their black magic that was caught on the footage.

Levina's brows furrowed after reading the news. She copied the link and sent it to her email address to review more later in her dorm.

'They failed to take the children from our town, so they went to the neighboring town,' she thought, gritting her teeth. She turned off the monitor and marched out of the computer lab. The students inside gazed at each other, and fear was evident on their faces.

As soon as Levina arrived in the dorm, she saw Kaia studying at her study table. She then locked the door and went to her bed. It was peculiar. Kaia didn't greet her nor bother to look at her—she was too focused on the book she was reading.

Levina changed into comfortable clothes, glancing at Kaia, a solemn expression displayed on her face. Suddenly, she remembered seeing her arguing with Hestia earlier before she went to the computer lab.

Wordlessly, she sat at her study table and opened her laptop to continue searching. Based on the news she had read earlier, she speculated that the Black Void was moving from town to town to kidnap the children. If her hunch was true, then their next target might be the town next to Faewood, the Greenleaf town.

Mechanically, she searched for any orphanage in Greenleaf town and found nothing. As far as she knows, Greenleaf is the smallest town in their country, Mythralis. Therefore, it's not a surprise that there's no orphanage in their town. Infrastructure is rare in that town, and most of the townspeople are working in agriculture.

However, something within her is perturbing her as if telling her to dig more into any information about that town. So, by following her concern, she searched for all the present infrastructure in the Greenleaf town that would lead her to the Black Void.

Levina searched through the online map, looking for any suspicious place that might be their next target. All she could see was the large hectares of farmland with different farm animals.

She kept searching and searching, and when she was about to give up, she noticed an enigmatic barn. The barn was in the middle of a farm lush with carrots and strawberries and in front of the door was an old man with a lot of kids. But what caught her attention was how the kids seemed to be crying. She copied the exact location of the barn and wrote it on a small piece of paper. They did not look like a family due to their differences in skin and hair colors. It's as if they're orphan children living in that old man's barn.

Levina took a screenshot of the place and sent it to her email to remember what it looked like. If they're not family members, she needed to go there and check. There's no orphanage in that town, so that barn may be taking the orphan children to support them... Support? It doesn't look like it based on their terrified expression from the map.

If her hunch was right, if the Black Void's next target is Greenleaf town, then there's a possibility that they'll attack that suspicious barn. But what if they're not? What if they attack a different town since there's no orphanage in Greenleaf?

Levina ruffled her ebony hair. "Fuck it!" She shut down her laptop and decided to still give it a try. She'll go to the Greenleaf tomorrow to check.

She stood up from her seat and planned to take a rest, but her phone vibrated. She opened it and checked her email, seeing Professor Evans' message that they have a training after class tomorrow. She cursed inside her mind, sighing. She had no choice, but to attend the training, she just hoped that nothing bad would happen to the children in that barn.

—

It was 2 in the afternoon when Levina arrived in the training hall, where all of the other S-rank students were present. Their class ended today at 1 p.m., so their training is earlier than usual. Their usual training time before was 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Levina steered inside the hall, placing her bag on a blue bench lined up at the side. She was clad in a black tactical bodysuit with a high collar, waist belt with attached pocket and loops, black trousers, and boots. Behind her is her katana.

Nicholas approached Levina with a small smile on his face. "You're pretty overdressed for our training today."

Levina shifted her gaze to the taller man behind her. "I preferred this one." Also, she'll rush to the Greenleaf after this training.

"It looks good on you," Nicholas complimented, his voice was gentle and genuine.

"Thanks." She steered past him to start stretching her body.

Nicholas chuckled, his gaze following the woman. Unlike her, Nicholas was only clad in a black pajama with a white line design on its sides and a fitted white shirt.

Joaquin watched them from a distance. He was sitting on the bench while tying his shoes, wondering when the two had gotten close. Just like Nicholas, he was also clad in a casual attire of a black fitted shirt accentuating his muscular physique and black shorts.

"Where are you looking at?" Thomas questioned, approaching Joaquin before following his gaze. "Oh, Levina? Why?"

"Nothing." Joaquin averted his gaze from her, standing from his seat. "Let's go."

Thomas nodded and glanced at Levina before following Joaquin to stretch. He was clad in a black sleeveless shirt paired with black athletic shorts and white sneakers.

While the four are starting to do their stretching routine, Hestia remains sitting on the bench, lost in thought. Her argument with Kaia flashed through her mind over and over again as if reminding her that she's a worthless woman alive in this world.

All of them stopped what they were doing when a professor entered the hall. They anticipated it to be Professor Evans since he's always the one teaching them in their training, but today it's different. It was Professor Vale, their history proctor.

All the S-rank students gathered together and bowed their heads to greet the professor.

"Good afternoon. I know all of you are wondering why it was I who came here, not Professor Evans. The reason is, I'll be teaching you all how to do the teleportation magic. As you all know, Professor Evans failed to learn that technique despite being a combat trainer, so he asked me to take over instead," she explained, eyeing them one by one.

This news lit up Levina's mind. If she learn how to do this technique, she won't have a hard time fighting with her opponent. She won't need to use any transportation to travel to different places.

"However, teleportation magic isn't as easy as you think it is. It was hard to master, which is why a lot of sorcerers don't know how to utilize this one." She cleared her throat. "But since you all are part of the S-rank level, I have high expectations for you all."

Nicholas raised his hand, stealing all of their attention. "I have mastered that technique a long time ago, do I still need to participate in this training?"

Professor Vale smirked. "Yes, you still need. Show it to us."

Levina's eyes widened upon hearing that Nicholas could do it. They all walked to the side of the hall and waited for Nicholas to start teleporting.

Professor Vale crossed her arms, waiting for him. Nicholas smiled as his body disintegrated into thin air with a blue air swishing away from his position.

All of them were surprised, especially Professor Vale upon noticing that Nicholas's teleportation magic is well mastered due to his speed.

"You're indeed exceptional, Nicholas."

***