‘Did he poison me? No, I didn’t even eat the bread… or is it by contact… I touched it—’
Suddenly, Valentine’s voice echoed in his mind, interrupting his thoughts.
“Oh now, that’s taking it too far.”
Malakai cursed silently. He’d made the mistake of letting his surface thoughts run wild. Now Valentine had heard everything.
He sighed. ‘Taking what too far?’
“Everything!” Valentine snapped. “Heart attack? Poison? Really? Damn. Just admit you feel guilty, and that you like the boy.”
Malakai’s brows furrowed. Him? Like Renlo? Impossible.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Valentine sighed again. This time, it was long. Drained. Like someone doing work far above their pay grade.
“C’mon Malakai. Trust me, it’ll do you good to just admit it…”
‘I have nothing to admit.’
Malakai shook his head and blocked Valentine out. The chubby man had to be insane.
‘It’s probably a medical condition… Maybe my blood node is acting up.’
He threw out excuse after excuse, refusing to accept Valentine’s words.
Eventually, he stopped. He couldn’t understand it, so he left it for later.
Malakai sat down on the field, ignoring the usual piercing stares thrown his way. He decided to train and absorb vita.
He wasn’t tired anyway, and there was no point wasting time.
Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and soon enough, the Blood Arts training began.
Nothing eventful happened during this discipline. It was mostly what Malakai had done the day before. And after two hours, the class ended, and he immediately headed to the circular hall for the Darkness Theory discipline.
The day went by in a blur. Every lesson played out the same way as the day before to Malakai. And soon enough, the time hit 5:30, it was time for the Darkness Creature Hunt discipline.
Malakai had made it before anyone else, as he hadn’t bothered resting after the Live Combat Simulation class. He stood by the clearing, just at the edge of the forest.
Soon enough, the other youths started streaming in, and with them…
“Ninth Vein!” Renlo’s excited voice suddenly sounded as he approached Malakai. He seemed genuinely happy to see him, and his usual trembling was nowhere to be found.
But the moment Malakai turned and locked eyes with him, the trembling came back in full force.
Renlo got nervous. “Um, h-how were your other classes, Ninth Vein?”
“…Fine.”
“T-that’s great, N-ninth Vein,” Renlo responded, pausing and clenching his fist tightly, before adding,
“Mine was really terrible. I felt so hungry I could die during the Darkness Theory class and eventually blanked out. I didn’t even know what happened until it was break time. I’m so glad the teacher didn’t catch me sleeping. After that I…”
Renlo went on and on and on about how his day went, and Malakai couldn’t help but stare, utterly baffled. Just what was going on here?
‘It’s here again.’ Malakai frowned. That same feeling in his chest had suddenly returned. He had been right, Renlo was the cause.
‘Is it some proximity poison activation?’ Just as Malakai started crafting another absurd excuse, Valentine’s voice cut in.
“This is just insane.”
‘Shit.’ Malakai cursed internally. He had made the mistake of using his surface thoughts once more. Now Valentine had heard everything.
‘Insane?’
“Yes! Just admit you’re happy to see the boy.”
Malakai’s brows furrowed. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Valentine sighed heavily. But he didn’t say anything else after that.
Malakai focused back on Renlo just as he was finishing his story.
“…because of that, I couldn’t eat anything for hours, it was hell!”
“You have food remnants on your face.”
Renlo quickly wiped it off and laughed. “Haha, I only had a tiny bit of bread on my way to class.”
Malakai shook his head. “You don’t have anything but bread?”
Renlo cleared his throat, cheeks turning red in embarrassment. “It’s what I can make… but I love it.”
After a moment of silence, Renlo asked, “What food do you like, Ninth Vein?”
‘Do you only talk about food?’ Malakai was flabbergasted, meeting Renlo’s eyes that had suddenly turned serious. He looked like nothing was more important than Malakai’s answer.
‘Food?’ Malakai thought. Honestly, he had never given it a thought before. His focus had always been on surviving in this bloodthirsty clan.
“I d—”
Just as he was about to answer, the instructor’s voice cut in.
“Welcome once more, students!”
Yonin fixed his gaze on Malakai before smiling and starting the class.
He used the same format as yesterday, calling on each student to battle a darkness creature.
Malakai had witnessed Renlo’s struggle against another Grade One, but luckily, he had eventually prevailed, smiling widely with his bloody teeth at Malakai after the battle.
As for Malakai, he had also faced and killed another Grade One with one strike, gaining another surge of vita and more whispers from the youths.
Unfortunately, because it had been a darkness formed from beasts, and a Grade One, the energy had been significantly lower than the ones from the assassins. He got about 80 points added to his total. Regardless, it was a good haul.
After the Darkness Creature Hunt discipline ended, Malakai and Renlo separated, with the latter bowing and saying they’d meet later.
Then came the Will Conditioning discipline. That went as expected, with Malakai dominating the class, much to the dismay of the other Veins, who didn’t hesitate to make their hostility known.
At this point, Malakai could say Maximus was the only one who wasn’t openly hostile. After his clash with Aurelia, she didn’t seem to want to let the matter go.
Any time they were in the same space, he could feel her cold killing intent directed at him.
After the final discipline, while the other youths tried to recover, Malakai left the area, heading toward the exit. As he walked, he pondered the matter.
‘She’ll become a problem.’
Currently, Malakai was still too weak to consider facing Aurelia. He hadn’t formed any cores, while she had three. But because of their earlier confrontation, he had already become a target.
‘She’s going to be a problem during the Hunt.’
Now, aside from Julius, Aurelia would also be gunning for him.