In the morning, Ann woke up and was ready to order the inns local breakfast when she heard something. Something like a moan or a sob. And sure enough, it was coming from the room right next to hers. A room which was supposed to be Rans.
She knocked on his door… no response was heard.
Taking that as a yes, she slowly opened the door. And what she found made her stiff. What seemed like a boy was curled up next to the window. A single sunray was hitting upon his face; glistening water streaming down it. The atmosphere was so somber that it was practically visible. It even trickled out the door and into the whole inn. Instantly, everyone in the inn, including both Ann and Bob, felt a tug at their heartstrings. Like a feeling one gets when someone related to you is hurt and you sense it even if they are far, far away.
A vicious sensation of listlessness overcame everyone. And if a person outside looked at the inn, they could barely see the translucent red aura that encompassed it. Not the red that is associated with rage, passion or violence. No… but, instead, one of pure, unadulterated frustration and helplessness. The kind that makes your face turn red and purple because you forgot to breathe.
Back in the room, Ann sighed. While she didn't completely expect this, growing up with him has bonded them together in many, many ways. She walked up to him, face to face, but Ran still failed to see her. His eyes were dull and lacking color. His cheeks were red, and tears were dripping off his chin and onto the floor.
At that point, Ann saw a light flash in front of her. Rans sigil had been activated and was flickering between a pale-pink and red-pink. Flickering between those two colors, Ann could also smell that familiar smell of sakura. In fact, it was even more intense than it would be otherwise and Ann was momentarily overwhelmed by her olfactory senses that she didn't notice that Ran was looking directly at her; with no emotion, almost like he was thinking about something else. And he was. He was too busy to look at her because he was recalling some of his memories with his family, and most recently his escape from the Holy City State.
"Ran. Ran, snap out of it." She was tempted to smack him out of his stupor, but refrained from doing so-and he woke up soon after; hearing his name. "Hey."
He didn't say anything and after silence for about a minute Ann decided to break it. "Are you-" but before she could finish, Ran interrupted her:
"Do you… do you think they're alright? I-I can't remember seeing Dad during the… t-thing. And Mom, s-she isn't… isn't…" He choked a bit here and for obvious reasons. His mother was actually just a servant at the castle that was recruited around the same time his father was going to succeed the throne-stunned by her beauty and peaceful nature… he decided to wed her.
"Ran, I'm sure they're fine. How do you think we're here right now. How are we going to get into The Academy then? Hmm? Torian, your father, was the one-the one who thought of all this. He told me to get you there as soon as possible because he said it was the only way to keep you safe from the Kesh Empire. He said the sheer amount of powerhouses in this land is far beyond any of imaginations! Don't you see, Ran? He thought of all of this and you think he wouldn't even account for himself and your mother." She smirked. Absolute confidence oozing out of her. Her nostrils enlarged, allowing gouts of steam to burst forth and cover Ran's face.
At first, Even as he knew that what she said made sense, he couldn't help but worry and feel like his throat was closing up on him. He immediately resumed thinking deeply about his parents that he didnt pay attention to her anymore. He was completely in a daze now and had shut himself off from the world. But as she said that last part, a spark of red-pink soul juice deep within his mind combusted and spread forth, crazily attracting any and all nearby energy-including Ann, Bob, the innkeeper, and all the people in the inn. It was like it was acting completely on itself without Ran's control.
Ran didn't even realize what was happening around him as his eyes were still dull and without vitality-deep in thought. His still activated sigil on his left palm shone an intense red-pink luster as it absorbed all the soul juice it had initially attracted. Tendrils of swirling, revolving and interlocking runes appeared and started creeping all the way past his wrist and stopped a quarter of the way through his forearm. Even as all of this happened, his eyes refused to shine as it once did at his awakening and his fight with Bob. His strength had soared and only stopped once it reached rank 9!
That's right, our Ran Ran here managed to breakthrough rank 10 in a single day! Now that's what I call an "overpowered mc", though he got his ass beaten yesterday.
***
At the entrance of the capital of The Conclave, the three stooges had just passed through the gates and could be seen passing through what seemed like a notice board for news to be seen by the population.
"What do you mean I sucked everyone, stole their energy and that's why I'm ranked 9?! I refuse to believe it! You must have given me some drug prepared for me to better protect myself." Ran said. "I wish you had given it to me yesterday though…" Ran thought, clearly blaming Ann for his loss against Bob yesterday.
A day had passed and they passed through the outskirts and finally got into the capital of The Conclave, His Majesty's Hair Comb. People just call it The Hair Comb though. Ann tried to console Ran some more and it worked, though the sudden rise in rank stumped her as well. It's just a surreal experience to watch someone who didn't even look conscious take your own energy from your body and use it to advance his own prowess. She was even a bit smug to be "the reason" for his rise in rank.
Ann looked at the two envelopes that she had in her hand and thought back to the words she had told Ran. Of course, she had absolute confidence in Torian, after all, she was originally an orphan; and was raised by Torian as Rans personal guardian angel. She was treated with significantly less care by Rans father, however, and quickly led to an abnormal view that every one of his decisions was correct. After all, who wouldn't want to protect your closest friend that you literally grew up with your entire life.
She was lost in thought when she heard his voice again.
"What?!" Ran shouted so loud people were giving him looks. In his hand was a newspaper from the local newspaper.
Religious Cult Decimated: Entire population killed; King, Queen and Prince missing.
Ran clenched his hands so hard that the newspaper was quickly crumpled. Noticing his reaction, both Ann and Bob picked up a copy and read it. Soon after, they too had turned their copies into crumpled pieces of paper and Bob even tossed his straight into an alleyway nearby. While Ann and Ran didnt tell Bob where they came from or who they were, he was smart enough to piece things together. From the location he had picked them up from to the way they were acting now; hence his reaction. They're his family now, so he too felt some loss for them.
Ann after reading it, quickly went to try to cool Ran but what she saw scared her even more. What she saw was Ran, of course, but he was unusually calm. Too calm in fact. His eyes were no longer dull as his iris' were filled with a pale-pink shade with an aureola of a red-pink shade on the innermost part-next to the pupil. This aureola was barely noticable and only clearly seen when in direct eye contact. If you glanced at him you wouldn't be able to see much of a difference. Ann, however, saw this change.
"Where's The Academy again?" Ran then proceeded to walk towards The Academy which was seated near the center of the capital; just past its business district, which takes about 2/4ths of the entire capital. It takes about an hour to get there if they walked there and they could get there before the opening ceremony since it was still morning and it didn't start until the afternoon.
As Ran walked ahead of the other two stupefied stooges, an indescribable smell penetrated everyone's nose within a 30 meter radius. One of sakura. Instantly, everyone stared at its source, Ran. Everyone who smelled it would have a feeling of bliss and tranquility wash over them as he walked past them.
I guess everyone forgot where this scent comes from, whomp whomp.
And of course Ann, being the weirdo, opened her nose like a vacuum and sucked all she could! It felt just as intoxicating as it did the first time. In fact, its fragrance seems to have gotten stronger and more intense than last time!
If people stared at him now, they would find a similarly calm and tranquil person, though they couldn't see the raging storm threatening to overflow into the real world within.