101 rested on his bed while carrying a book. He skimmed through the pages of the Dark Summoning Arts Manual he received.
The working dynamics of the Dark Arts were unlike the Cultivation Arts he was familiar with.
From what he could gather, there were four main stages of the Dark Arts:
—Mark Awakening/ Link
—Summoning
—Transmogrification
—Manifestation
The manuals mentioned the workings of the latter three stages meticulously. However, he could not say the same for the Mark Awakening.
He'd also noticed each of the Dark Arts manuals had a set of letters imprinted on the bottom of the first page. The letters engraved on his manual were "101101".
Sigh!
He had a hint of disinterest in his eyes. The reason being he understood the radical mechanism of the Dark Arts. Cultivators used the natural essence to arouse the power within themselves—the prominent fact being that the power one obtained through cultivation would be theirs.
However, Dark Summoning Arts did precisely as its name implied. The technique helped a person summon strength from other beings. In simple words, borrowed power.
Sigh!
He rolled left and right in the bed. Was it too much to ask for a simple technique that did not have a devious aura around it?
There was no way he would practice such an Art. In his world, cultivation was said to be the gift of heaven. Hence, not everyone could use it. Naturally, mortals who could not cultivate saw the power of cultivators as forbidden fruit, and it's basic human nature to try and obtain such a fruit. In his past life, this resulted in the establishment of numerous cults that attempted to replicate the power of cultivators.
Getting rid of such cults was no cakewalk. He'd to sit in an incredibly uncomfortable chair and command his generals to do the heavy work.
Sigh!
He continued to roll left and right. Those who used borrowed power always ended up suffering a tragic fate. And the manual failed to mention anything about where the summoned power originated from.
What if the power of the Dark Arts originated from an old demon? And what if the demon later asked for his soul or something in exchange for the power he used?
As strange as it might sound, such things did happen.
Sigh!
An incident that happened right after his birth flashed in his mind. It was when one of the servants used a spider to heal his broken arm.
He stopped rolling. Something did not add up.
He jolted his body up, crossed his legs, and skimmed through the pages again.
-
One day later.
-
"Ugh! This sucks!" 71 said as he ground a bunch of green parsley leaves.
"Don't whine like a girl." 18 sat above a dining table. Opposite her sat 101. On the desk they sat on, there were piles of books lying around.
"A gem," 101 looked over the pages of the Medicinal Arts—his eyes slightly glittered.
Since his deal with 82, he'd obtained a copy of all the arts.
The Medicinal Arts comprised a wide variety of topics, covering the anatomy of various organisms, poison management, diagnosis, disease prevention, angiology, cardiology, acupuncture, etc.
101 had dedicated ample time to researching medicine and human anatomy to try and cure his condition.
Although the names of various terms differed due to language differences, the core concepts were similar. There were many different postulations in areas, such as poison, but they were mainly due to the herbs and diseases that were unique to this world.
But covering them wouldn't pose much trouble. Also, the remembrance of his medical skills had started to get hazy; the Medicinal Arts served as a perfect aid for emendation.
"Tch, why do I have to do it alone?" 71 complained.
101 lifted his bandaged arms, "The best I can do is flip pages."
"My arms were way more severely damaged, yet they healed overnight," 71 said with a proud face, "Why hasn't yours?"
"Guess I'm just not as resilient as you're." 101 shrugged off the question. Then his gaze fell upon the book 18 was holding—Organism Physiology. For once, she looked focused.
"Since when were you interested in such things?" 101 asked.
"I'm not," 18 tilted her head. "From the countless stories I read in the library, I discovered that boys usually grow taller than girls."
"So…you want to be taller than everyone else?"
"No, I rather like it right now when we are of the same height. I'm researching ways to keep it that way."
101's eyes fell on the piles of books beside her, "And you read through all that, just to grow taller?"
"Yes," 18 said with a straight face.
101 rubbed the back of his neck, "So, how are the things in the library?"
"A mess." The library was vast and consisted of a wide variety of books. Right after Robert's speech, the restrictions placed on the kids not being allowed to read certain books were lifted, and everyone was free to read anything they wanted.
Since the classes were canceled, some kids chose to spend their entire day in the library. However, not all of the kids were of the same division.
"There are other classes? Just how many?" 101 asked with a furrowed brow.
18 shook her head, "I have just seen kids who were not in our class. And they were weird. Some even tried to pick up a fight for no reason, almost like they were trying to test who is superior."
"Who won?" 101 asked with a curious look.
"No one," 18 shrugged, "The librarian didn't interfere when two kids started to fight. But when one of the kids used a book as a weapon, the librarian thrashed him so brutally that everyone started to treat the books with respect. Still, minor conflicts take place once in a while."
-
Night time,
-
"5"
He poured all his strength into his biceps,
"6.."
Thump!
101 fell on his chest to the ground.
"6 pushups," He managed to do only six pushups, but in no way was he disappointed. Standing up, he looked at his bandaged arms. One of the strands of the bandages kept popping out.
He grabbed the strand and decided to unravel the bandages. He'd severely damaged his arm from punching the wooden post till he passed out. The damage had spread throughout his upper limbs, not just his knuckles. The bones had cracked, and 71's wounds were even worse. The bones in his fist had dusted.
However, 71 regained the sensation in his arms just hours after being bandaged and fully recovered that night.
After unraveling the bandages, 101 could see that his skin tone had reverted to white. There were no scars on his fist. From the outside, it looked to be completely healed. But he could still feel that the bones had yet to heal completely.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at his arm. The one common thing that even a person with little medicinal knowledge knows is humans don't heal naturally this fast.
101 had not applied any prescriptions, and neither had 71. Yet 71's bones healed within the night. And 101's would heal after two full days.
This made him wonder just who he and the other kids were? And for what reason were they born?
101 decided not to do any more exercise tonight. He instead focused on the Medicinal Arts. He chose to ignore Dark Arts. It seemed too shrouded. After a bit of research last night, he was sure the servant did not heal him using either Dark Arts or Medicinal Arts.
The second stage of Dark Arts, Summoning—summoned a mold. To give the mold life and shape it into a living creature was the final stage 'Manifestation.' According to the manual itself, manifestation was a stage only reached by those who truly mastered the Dark Arts. And even those who learned it rarely used it because it consumed too much strength.
There is no way a casual servant would have been able to use it. And even if the one who healed his arm was no casual servant, the chance of a master spending his strength to manifest a spider just to heal his little wound seemed pretty low.
Also, thinking back, the spider in the servant's arms did not feel like a manifested spider but just a rare species of spider.
This caused him to think of a simple explanation. The techniques given to the kids and the techniques practiced by the servants or the professors were different.
Sigh!
He crash-landed on his bed and rolled left and right. By his calculations, he should be able to master the Medicinal Arts within the next 20 days. At least that would help him avoid punishment.
He also had a deal with 82, so he had to figure out a way to test compatibility. He was confident he could hold his end of the bargain, but if he did, everyone would learn it. So, if any form of combat lessons or trials started after this month, he would be at a severe disadvantage.
He'd to find an alternate means to fight. That, too, fast.