"..." Levi followed Olivia into the hallway.
They walked silently, one behind the other.
" Don't hate Mr. Swon too much." She suddenly said.
" Huh? I don't..." Levi said.
" Him being uptight all the time is fairly annoying for many long time sect members, much less a new disciple like you." She glanced at Levi through the corner of her eye.
' Is she implying that I must be annoyed?' Levi thought, slightly surprised.
' Hmm, Hmm. Never underestimate a woman's intuition.' The demon saint nodded, his eyes closed in seriousness.
" Haha..." Levi laughed dryly.
" Don't like talking?" Olivia questioned curiously.
" Haha, I've always been awkward around people I meet for the first time. E-Especially girls, it's really hard on my nerves..." Levi scratched the back of his neck with an awkward smile.
' Ugh! I feel like I'm going to throw up...' The demon saint winced.
"...Is that so? If you find yourself in need of help, you can look for me." Olivia slowed her pace, allowing Levi to catch up, as they walked side by side.
" Thank you very much." Levi was about to bow as an outstretched arm stopped him.
" No need for that stuff. It's mostly the older generation who gripe about respect. While we youths do hold respect for each other, we don't overly advertise it like them." She said.
" Not when we aren't in front of them, anyway." They turned at a wide staircase.
"..." They descended the stairs silently.
'...This sight again.' Levi thought.
A long hallway stretched on.
The end couldn't be seen because of the building's slight curved shape.
On the left side of the hallway was a wide-open space a certain height from the ground, stretching the entire building, excluding the small pillars every few feet for support.
"..." He looked out at the sight he saw at the top of the mountain, noticing the subtle difference due to the change in viewing angle.
"...Oh! I'm so sorry!" Realizing that he was wasting Olivia's time, he turned anxiously.
" Don't worry about it. It's only natural to want to familiarize yourself with the scenery of a new environment." Olivia said calmly.
" But...Although I doubt you would be stupid enough, don't try to jump or climb through there." She pointed to the openings.
"..." Levi tilted his head.
" There is a powerful forcefield inscription tethered to these buildings. It's there to protect against stray attacks or any flying mutated beasts." Olivia explained.
" Stray attacks? This high up?" Levi asked in a surprised tone.
" Hmm, that kind of this is common. You will get used to it soon." She said.
" And although I don't recommend it, you can go touch the forcefield, just to remind you to carefully look out for it in the future." Olivia narrowed her eyes.
" Um...Okay?" Levi said as his body turned.
" You don't have to, you know. It is extremely painful even though it doesn't leave any wounds. Unless you slam into it." She muttered the last sentence.
"..." Levi went up and put his hand out, his fingers spread apart.
Zizi!
A light humming sound echoed, as tiny, vine-like red energy currents surrounded and stopped Levi's hand from passing, twisting and sometimes coiling around his fingers.
" Hey!" Olivia quickly strode up to and pulled down Levi's arm in a flurry.
" Are you ok? Does it hurt? If it does quickly eat this!" She spoke hurriedly while holding out a white pill on her palm.
" Um...It doesn't hurt, but...Are you ok, senior sister?" Levi asked with a strange look.
"...Normally when people feel the prickling pain, they immediately remove their hands, but you..." She sighed as cold sweat trickled down her face.
" Although this thing doesn't physically hurt you when you touch it, if you keep touching it for a long time it will start to erode your flesh, so be careful." She explained as they began walking again.
" Oh..." Levi looked at the empty space before following behind her.
'...That wouldn't work on me because of the effect primordial cultivation, but
you can never be too careful.' Levi thought.
Silence once again loomed.
"...Your eyes." Olivia suddenly spoke.
" Huh?" Levi responded.
" Were they like that from birth? Your eyes." She asked.
" Ah. I would think so? I wouldn't be able to tell you for sure since my parents died when I was very young, so I never got the chance to ask why they are like this." Levi raised a hand to his eye with a sad smile.
"...I'm sorry, for making you answer such a question," Olivia said.
" Oh, no, don't worry about it, it doesn't bother me. In fact...I'm surprised." Levi said.
" Normally, people either shy away from me because of these eyes or make fun of me since "such a wimp was blessed with eyes like these", they say," Levi said with a self-deprecating laugh.
" Oh?... I just felt that they were beautiful eyes, although it feels like a stifling danger hides behind them." Olivia whispered.
" In the end, they are your eyes, regardless of what others say. Accept that, and it won't bother you anymore." She continued.
" We are here; The new disciple dorm." They stopped before a door.
" All of the dorm rooms are in there, so since you are the first to arrive, pick a room for yourself," Olivia said.
" Ok. Tha...Thank you, senior sister Olivia." Levi stopped himself from bowing.
" No problem. A piece of advice though." Olivia said.
" Yes?" Levi answered.
" There are mainly steam baths here, which are purposefully stocked with light soap so that you can wipe it off with a damp towel later, so if you brought your own soap along, I suggest that you don't use it. At least not to wash your body." She explained.
" You guys are lucky...For us females..." She muttered.
" I'm sorry, I didn't catch that part?" Levi said.
" Nothing. Anyway, as I said, if you need something, look for me. I'm in the library sometimes. I hope you don't have too hard a time." She turned around and started walking.
" Thanks!" Levi shouted.
"..." He silently turned around before turning the doorknob and pushing.
' What a strange woman." Levi thought.
' Strange indeed. Looks into the eyes of a blood-sucking freak and says they are beautiful. I even got Goosebumps.' The demon saint sighed.
'...As if a wandering soul like you could get goosebumps...Also, we will all meet our maker at some point, but call me freak one more time and I will gladly allow you to meet them sooner. Do we understand each other?' Levi asked.
' Eye eye, beautiful eyed captain, sir!' The demon saint joked.
'...' Levi silently walked through the door.
On the other side was a similar hallway, but lined with doors.
It also had orbs of light in the ceiling.
" Oh?" Levi walked down the hallway, only to find an intersecting, narrower hallway, with a row of doors a few steps down.
" Hmm." He continued down the long hallway, passing by many more narrow, intersecting hallways before arriving at the end.
Another narrow hallway was beside the end of the main one.
" Huh. Can't escape having a room behind mine, hmm?" Levi muttered.
" At least it's better than the rooms with doors in those narrow hallways." He whispered as he turned the door's knob.
Inside, what immediately greeted his eyes was a narrow bed meant for one person.
In the corner behind the main hallway was a small dresser with 4 drawers.
"..." He silently moved toward the door that was at the foot of the bed.
Hiding inside was a narrow bathroom.
A shower, equipped with a white shower curtain sat at the very end, furthest away from Levi.
Just in front of it, on the below side of the room sat a white toilet, minus the lever that was used to flush with.
And finally, closest to him was a shiny porcelain sink, with a wide, clear mirror on the wall above it.
" Huh." Levi stepped out before pushing back in the door.
He put the metal plate down on the bed before taking off his shoes.
His outer robe.
His under clothes.
" I should probably keep this out of sight." He muttered as he took of the spatial ring.
Maybe for the first time, he seriously scrutinized its appearance.
It was made from a greenish metal, with partial carvings close to the top.
The top was flat, excluding the black, spherical material that was mostly embedded into it.
He unscrewed the ends of the necklace around his neck, before putting the cord through the ring and letting it fall.
It stopped beside the fingernail-sized jade cube.
Levi screwed the ends of the necklace back together, before removing the hair tie from his red locks.
" Siii." He winced softly as the tension on his scalp slowly faded.
" Sigh, when will I be able to leave this place? The things I do for myself..." He muttered as he entered the small bathroom.
...
" Tsk! I would like to meet the person who engineered this bathroom, to give my heartfelt thanks!" Levi cursed as he walked out from the room, slamming the door behind himself.
" Have to use mental energy to activate the inscription on the tank to flush the toilet, Have to use mental energy to activate the steam producing inscriptions all over the shower!" Levi complained.
" I'm just surprised that, in spite of needing mental energy to get water from the sink, the mirror works without it!" He sneered.
" Sigh..." He looked at the robes on his bed, before bypassing then and walking toward the small dresser.
Pulling open the drawer, neatly folded blackish-brown robes sat.
"..." After deliberating for a few seconds, he put on the robes.
Beside the dresser was a pair of similar brownish-black cloth shoes.
After once again tying the sword to his waist, he then tucked the necklace into his collar.
" Hmm, my ring finger feels naked." He removed the black ring, before putting it onto his ring finger.
" Haah!" He fell stomach down onto the bed.
"...I'll refrain from using this unless I'm going out. My head is too delicate for this kind of torture..." He clutched the hair tie while mumbling.
" For now...I'll just sleep." His consciousness slowly slipped away.
' Hey! What happened to using this time to cultivate!' The demon saint shouted.
"..." Levi wavered, his eyes rolling behind his eyelids before he finally fell asleep.
...
A while later.
Step! Step!
Step! Step!
Heavy stepping sounds echoed from multiple people.
" Ah, I'm so tired..." A voice echoed, devoid of life.
" Who knew the test would last that long...It wasn't easy either." A voice said, slightly dissatisfied.
" At least we passed, even if by the skin of our teeth. Those guys who failed...They looked like their souls had shattered!" A voice sounded with a hint of gloating.
" Hey, you guys wanna-" Before this voice could finish, multiple doors slammed shut.
"..." At this point, Levi was thoroughly awakened.
Although barely any sound seeped into his room, it still caught his attention.
"...Go explore? No? Alrighty then..." The voice slowly trailed off.
Click!
The knob of Levi's door turned with a click.
"..." Levi's pupils shrunk as he glared down at the door without changing position.
" Wh-Huh? S-Someone was already here? But I thought...I'm so! soooo! Sorry! I didn't know that someone had already claimed this room!" The boy had a head of light orange hair.
He clasped his hands before his face with raised shoulders.
Bang!
He swiftly slammed the door as he left.
"...There is a lock. I will remember next time." Levi mumbled.
...
Nighttime.
' Since it would be risky to release my blood energy, I guess I will be doing just this for a while.' Levi sat on the ground, engulfed in a large ball of blue, water-like qi.
A spiral of qi leading down to Levi Slowly vanished.
"...I guess I will nurture my primordial meridians. I wonder, will I reach a new 'layer'?" He muttered, eyes closed.
...
A few hours later.
The last bit of Levi's qi seeped back into his body.
His eyes cracked open and his attention immediately shifted to the metal plate hanging on the edge of the bed.
Puft!
"..." A dark, chilly mental energy floated towards the plate.
"...How can that green-haired idiot be able to affect physical objects when I can't?" Levi said after a while of silence.
' 'Cause it dudn't got nothin' to do with being smart.' The demon saint sneered as he picked his nose.
' Oh? Oh, great lord-No, Great demon saint! Please impart a nugget of wisdom to this humble soul.' Levi thought exaggeratedly.
' Humph!' Ths demon saint simply snorted.
' Nothing? Then keep your useless thoughts to yourself.' Levi got up, picking up the metal plate from his bed.
' This fool, when will he realize this whole room is designed to, at the very least, allow for mental energy development?' The demon saint thought.
" Hmm. Name...Age...Place of birth...Hehe, coming right up." Levi smiled deviously.
Squiggly letters soon appeared on and sometimes below the provided lines.
"...These people really want to infuriate people to death, hmm?!" A vein bulged on Levi's face.
...
The next day, Morning.
Levi sat cross-legged, engulfed in qi.
"..." His eyes suddenly cracked open, as he got off his bed.
As he opened the door, he saw multiple people walking toward the main door.
He realized that all of these people were male, regardless of height or build.
" Hey, stop blocking the road." A disapproving voice sounded behind him.
" Oh' S-Sorry." Looking back, a black-haired youth with sharp eyes stood behind him, glaring up.
" Tsk." The youth strode by after clicking his tongue in contempt.
' And I thought I had an attitude...' Levi thought half-jokingly.
"..." He shook his head and began walking.
' Don't mind it, don't mind. It's my first day today. First impressions are important.' The slight smile slowly vanished from his face, replaced by an anxious expression.
After getting out into the hallway, he followed behind the chain of people since he had no idea where to go.
" hmm?" After watching multiple people turn and vanish into the wall of the hallway, he curiously walked up to investigate.
A doorless doorway appeared in front of him.
He walked up the steep stairs while looking around.
Bulky tables lined the large room in ascending rows.
The closer to the back they were, the higher they were.
"..." Some of the people he followed sat by themselves, while others sat beside each other, chatting.
Levi walked up to the very last seat of the first row.
" Hmm?" Beside the seat, a similar opening to the one in the hallway stretched across the wall, all the way to the front.
" O-Oh! Hey! S-Sorry about yesterday!" A voice sounded beside Levi.
" Huh? Y-You're..." Sitting beside his desk was the orange-haired boy who opened his door.
' The home invader.' Levi thought.
" Don't worry, I should have locked the door." Levi scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
" Oh, No, No! It was my fault! Hey, what's your name?" The youth asked.
" Me?...Levi." Levi said as he sat in the fixed stool behind his desk.
' Oh, you can see outside even while sitting, lucky.' Levi glanced down through the two openings.
" My name is heil, H-E-I-L, not H-E-A-L! People often get them mixed up, haha!" The boy, heil laughed stiffly.
' This is the first time someone talked back to me! I can't mess up! I have to make at least one friend!...or at the very least an acquaintance.' His inner voice lost motivation as it went along.
" Oh, hi...Sorry...If I act kinda weird, I'm not too good with new people...Not good with people at all, to be honest." Levi mumbled the last sentence as he averted his gaze.
' C'mon, bite the bait!' Levi taunted in his head.
" Haha! Really?! Are you a child?! Don't worry, I'll help you out if things get too rough for you!" The youth turned his body to face Levi. He slapped his chest while proclaiming proudly.
' Haha! That was nice and smooth! This isn't as hard as I thought it would be...I can do this!' The flame of motivation was lit in his heart.
Step! Step!
" Hmm?" Levi's attention shifted as he heard multiple steps.
" Go take any leftover seats first." A droning voice sounded.
" Yes, Ma'am!" A collective of mostly high pitched voices sounded.
" O-Oh! Girls...The girls are finally here!" Heil whispered nervously.
" Hey, how do I look?! Good, right? There is nothing on my face?" He shouted softly to Levi with a hand beside his mouth.
" N-No..." Levi answered.
'...Why all of the excitement?' Levi thought.
' That...Is called 'youth' my boy!' The demon saint spoke in a high tone, adjusting his glasses.
' The real question is, though...Why do you not feel excited at the thought of girls of the same age? Hmm? Did you become this way after obtaining your blood-sucking technique, or before?' The demon saint questioned swiftly.
' And if before, why are you not attracted to girls? Don't tell me, you- AGHHGHGH!' He suddenly screamed out in pain.
"..." Without even bothering to respond, Levi watched as a small swarm of girls walked up the steps and into the room.
Some were already acquainted, as they looked for spots with two empty tables side by side.
Finally, after they all entered; Donning a large, gritty looking black mantle, a tall figure slowly walked up the stairs, skipping a few stairs with one step.
The figure had lengthy, curly black hair and very dark circles under their eyes.
A gloomy air hung over this person as they walked behind the wide wooden podium.
"...Starting today...Sigh...I will be your teacher. I will be for...well...until I'm not anymore." The person placed both hands on the podium, slouching slightly as they explained.
'...What is this person?' The boys thought incredulously, with a hint of worry.
" My name is...Miss Noble..." Miss Noble said gloomily.
'....It was a Miss?!' The boys thought collectively, shocked.
" Well...The females already know me, but...Ah, whatever...It doesn't matter anyway." She sighed.
' What doesn't?!' The guys thought.
" Ah, yes...Which one of you...took a separate test?" She swept her gloomy gaze over the wide room.
"...Ah, I-It was probably me, Miss Noble." Levi suddenly realized.
" Hum...It's Teacher Noble...Sigh, does it even matter?... In any case, Mr. Swon explained your situation...Sit..." She droned.
" Ah, yes..." Levi sat, slightly flustered.
'...Huh?' He suddenly got a weird feeling.
"...I-Is something the matter?" Looking around, he found that multiple dissatisfied gazes found their way to him.
'...What?' Levi wore a confused smile.
'...You are soooo screwed.' The demon saint said humorlessly.
' But what did I do?!' Levi questioned.
' Nothing.' The demon saint said.
' What?!' Levi questioned again.
" Er..." He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The atmosphere just got weird for no reason!