Unfortunately for Nora, Fen wasn't really in the mood to talk and took most of the time before the announcements to recover from some of his more minor injuries that he still had from the Void Spawn invasion. The Archon had warned him that he'd be fighting one of the Chosen to demonstrate his own strength and their power, so he wanted to be in the best condition that he could be.
His bones still ache from infusing so much of his energy into his body during the Void Spawn invasion despite how much he'd rested, and only by gently washing his body with circulating Vitality did his wounds recover at a slow pace.
In Fen's opinion, he still wasn't powerful enough to defeat a Chosen in a one-on-one fight to the death. He killed Edmond because the Mage underestimated him and allowed him to get close enough to land a Death's Influence spellwork and severely wound his nervous system. With Kara and Hondo (he learned their names after the Task), he killed them thanks to his sudden transformation into a complete Vitul, and even then, the Warrior would have killed him if only Fen hadn't redirected some of his energy back into his Aura core and stored it before it could all explode.
Still, no matter how little he cared for conversation, he wasn't stupid enough to ignore her. After all, the Principalities were the closest things he'd have to allies, excluding his own Squad, inside the Program since they'd have no one else but each other to rely on after the Opfer fully understood what their role was.
And after his own actions during the announcements and the mutilations he performed to scare away the Opfer, the line between the Principalities and the regular Opfer was drawn very clearly. The next few days split the two different groups of candidates even further as the Principalities began their new duties, making the lives of the Opfer living hell.
Before the Principalities existed, there was no need to be wary inside the facility no matter who you pissed off because of the Executioners and their nigh-omnipotent combat capabilities, but now, every Opfer had to keep an eye out for one of them.
Every time they stepped outside a Lesson they had to worry about whether or not one of the ten Principalities would appear and drive them to the edge of living.
Except for the Opfer who unfortunate enough to get picked out of the crowd, the rest of the candidates didn't put up any resistance to seeing their peers getting tortured. The shock and fear they felt from Fen brutalizing Opfer with his Vital Spears were still fresh in their minds alongside the knowledge that compared to the Principalities, they were powerless.
If it weren't for the Archon's constant reminder that they'd need points to survive in the next Task against Chosen, their fear of pain would've forever restricted them from going against the Principalities.
After more and more of their points were siphoned away, the Opfer started to get organized. Groups of candidates started walking to their Lessons, dropping off people and picking up others as they finished their Lessons. In that way, part of the Archon's expectations were met as the feeling of unity between the Opfer blossomed from facing a common enemy they faced every day rather than the intangible Chosen, who they rarely even saw.
The faces of the Principalities became emblazed in their minds as enemies. They were people who deserved fear and hatred. The Opfer's pent-up emotions grew so much that some of the larger groups even resolved themselves to fighting back against their enemy, an evolution from the simple grouping method.
In terms of individual power, the Principalities were second to none among the Opfer, but when they faced entire groups of enemies, they started facing issues with meeting their quotas every day to the point where the Foundation started putting pressure against their vulnerable Squadmates to motivate them to find a solution.
After halfway through the third month, the Principalities gathered up to discuss what they should do. It was the first time they all met up at the same time since Ellora announced their existence, and they all met inside an empty Training Hall with their Squadmates standing by the sides.
Nobody risked leaving the people they cared about alone; the organizing candidates gave some of the stronger ones among them the idea of taking out their Squadmates to eliminate a Principality's authority, thus removing one of their enemies. In a way, they were helping them meet their quotas by coming to them directly, but the fear that they might actually succeed in killing one of their vulnerable friends still prevailed.
The VPF was kind enough to offer them the basic materials to hold a meeting, including chairs, a long stone table, and a large mobile interface meant for projecting images, all of which were set up in a circle at the center of the room.
The ten of them sat down in the circle with their Squadmates behind them, waiting for somebody to start the conversation and break the silence. They all looked tired, with battered bodies and bruises everywhere on their bodies from having to deal with groups of Opfer.
Some of them had come to the meeting straight from the Healers after having them bandage and treat their wounds, taking the time to purchase healing items at the same time so they wouldn't need to come back immediately. The Foundation still forced them to pay for these healing items even though they were responsible for them needing them, but they at least had the decency to give it to them at a discounted price, even opening up some of the more advanced healing items up for purchase. Some of those items wouldn't have been unlocked even after the fourth Task where their authority would be upgraded once again, so the quality was guaranteed.
Most of the points they earned were burned through from purchasing these healing items, which were decreasing at a rapid pace from the number of injuries they sustained through each fight as more and more Opfer organized themselves into groups to make their jobs harder.
At this point, the number of points they gained from educating Opfer wasn't enough to keep up with the necessary purchase of healing items; that was the main reason why they had this meeting, because otherwise if they didn't, their combat power would eventually dwindle to nothing from not being able to afford treatment.
One of the Mages, Horace, started the discussion by addressing the issue, saying, "If they start gathering into larger groups then it'll be impossible for any of us to meet the damned Foundation's quotas, especially for the Warriors. Even before this whole thing started they were having trouble against other Stage one Mages, especially you Bernard."
At the end of Horace's pointing finger, the singled-out Warrior glared at all the Principalities that shifted their gaze to him like he was too weak to even receive their pity. And his thoughts weren't that far off either; at least Nora had the power to take care of herself while he could do nothing but rely on their help and dumb luck to complete his quota every day.
"If I could get some better equipment it wouldn't be an issue, but they're getting points faster than I can take them," he snarled. "Eventually, it'll be a miracle if I can even take out a single one of them."
Nora raised her voice to add to his point, sweeping her light hair out of her eyes to stare at all of them in turn. "It's true. Warriors like me and him are at a disadvantage against any of the other Classes right now. They can control energy to disrupt everything we do, and if another of them uses Mana to attack us then we can barely even escape."
Even with her ability to adapt to most situations thanks to her instincts and the ridiculous amount of equipment she carried, Nora had barely managed to slog through her quota every day. Fortunately, there were still Opfer who believed in their own strength and were reluctant to join the groups, but that small number of people shrank every time they encountered one of the Principalities.
"We can't even heal ourselves because we don't have energy, forcing us to go to the Healers more than you guys and waste our time there," she said with a bitter look in her eyes. At her words, all of the Principalities looked with envy at a single one of their members who calmly met their gazes with his dark eyes.
Fen raised a ball of green energy above his head and made tendrils of Vitality slither through the air near the more injured Principalities. He said, "I can try healing you again, but I can't guarantee that the results will be any better than the last time you told me to try."
He smiled at the looks of discomfort they had at his words, his Vital energy tendrils flicking at the air. The Principalities remembered Anthony's pained screams after he agreed to let Fen try to heal him with his Vital energy and shivered, looking at his Vitality like a burn victim would look at an open flame.
The result of his attempt at healing had been that the Mage's wounds blackened and groups of cells died off while they were still inside his body, literally flooding out his pores in bloody messes while some of his tissue came off the bone as his flesh turned to goop from the difference in Vitality between the two candidates.
In the end, Fen's instructor Raisen had to come to fix the mess the Stage two Knight made after trying to heal him. After a few days of recovery, Anthony finally came back as an active Principality and the Foundation excused him for his inability to complete his duties, but the Mage still couldn't hide the terror in his eyes every time he looked at Fen.
"Thank you for the offer, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's better if we stick to the Healers." Horace stiffly rejected his offer.
Fen said with disappointment, "Suit yourselves. I've practiced a bit, too."
"Anyways, I think it's better if we start going out in groups to prevent them from outnumbering us so that we don't have to worry about the groups of Opfer as much," Horace continued speaking. "We can get more experience with fighting in groups at the same time; remember, we have to go through the Tasks same as the Opfer. Our status doesn't give us any privileges regarding fighting against the Chosen, so this could be a good experience."
"Now, the idea I had was that some of us could get in groups of three or four while some of the more powerful guys go with each other to maximize our efficiency."
Nora supported the idea but also proposed her own twist on it, saying, "Why don't we put the weaker people like Bernard with the strongest of us like Fen or me, and have us carry them?"
Marcus raised his eyebrows at her suggestion and surprised all of them with his expressive facial expression. "I'm surprised that you'd want something different from letting the strong Empowered group up, what with your interest in Fen being what it is."
At his words, a certain red-haired Mage perked up and set her eyes on Nora.
"What was that, scarecrow? I thought you said something to me, but I couldn't hear over the sound of your bones rattling together." Nora scoffed. She referenced the time at the beginning of the Program when Marcus was little more than skin and bones, but right now the Mage was anything but that with a lean physique that matched his attractive face. Still, her verbal insult put a frown on the usually expressionless youth.
"Ahem, about that," Horace interrupted before the two of them started fighting again. "I actually proposed my idea to the Archon before this meeting to see if the Foundation had any more restrictions for us, and that was it. The weaker ones of us can't rely on guys like any of you to clean up Opfer for them to turn in for their quotas, so you'll have to group up together, if you even want to at all."
Horace added the last part after seeing the disinterested expression on Fen's face that clearly expressed his opinion about him fighting in groups. Even when he went with Marcus, it was more for bonding rather than fighting together- and knowing how antisocial he was towards everyone else just went and showed how much he liked the Mage.
After some of the other Principalities expressed their own opinions about the suggested plan, they eventually met an agreement. The Principalities would switch out of their groups every other day except for Fen, Nora, and Marcus. The Archon clearly dictated that they should only fight alongside each other because of the gap in strength between them and the other Principalities, or at least that was what Horace said.
In any way, it looked like Fen would have to bear the Warrior's presence because if he didn't fight with her, then it was certain that she wouldn't be able to meet her quota without another Principality.
****
"Raisen! You around here?" After escorting his Squadmates to their rooms, Fen walked to the Vitality Training Hall to find his instructor and ask a few questions regarding a certain item that he came across. He was originally going to ask Dey, but for some reason, the Void God hadn't made an appearance the last couple of days.
It wasn't that the God had left him completely; every night without fail, Fen was transported to another reality to practice like usual without worrying about anybody peeking on his progress but the God's manifestation just wasn't there anymore. Fen simply drew it off to him being busy, but after several days of him not appearing he started to wonder what kind of event could draw the attention of a God so completely.
He was the overlord of this dimension, after all. There shouldn't be much that could trouble him while still being inside the Void.
His call was met with silence, leaving Fen alone with a blank expression on his face. Raisen too seemed much more preoccupied than usual over the last couple of days, but the Knight still at least showed up to their daily Lessons without fail.
With a sigh, Fen pulled out the blackish-red core that had been sitting in his pocket for the last few days. The Aura core had been burning a hole in his mind ever since he came across it, and after exiting the second Task the item was never far away from him. After pushing the core into the exploding orb of Hondo's energy while it exploded, he didn't really expect the item to teleport with him back to the facility, but there it was, still gripped in his hand.
At first, the core only had a little bit of energy left over inside it, but over time the core filled up its energy reserves with Void energy until the previously crimson Aura inside it diluted and transformed into the current blackish-red energy that swirled around inside the core like a vicious gas, just waiting to be released from the confines of the core.
After the Void Invasion he was a little preoccupied with other matters, like his duties as a Principality, to pay close attention to the item and so he just stored it away, but now that the Void Spawn invasion was dealt with and the Principalities had fallen into a steady rhythm of educating their peers, what better time was there to examine the core?
After seeing the destructive capability of Hondo's explosion at the end of his life, Fen originally intended on transforming the item into a makeshift bomb, but as his body grew more accustomed to the changes in his senses from his completed transformation Fen noticed a burning need inside him every time he thought about the core.
It was the same feeling he had when he devoured the energy inside Kara's core, but the intent was different. While his body craved the energy back then to survive, there was no life-or-death situation right now.
"What am I going to do with you?" Fen muttered under his breath, grabbing an empty chair and rolling the core in between his fingers.
The glassy feel of the core felt soothing to his fingers, but every time he touched it the energy inside recoiled and whipped at him, stinging his senses and forcing him to wrap his hand in Vital energy so that he didn't get injured from it. It was strange, but he could clearly sense the Aura rejecting his touch while the blacker parts of the core welcomed him like a long-lost friend. The new, transformed energy still rejected him more than it accepted his control though, so he put the observation out of mind for later examination.
As far as he could tell, he was feeling... greed. It was like his body knew more about the value of this object than his mind did, which would be a ridiculous idea if Fen hadn't recently finished his transformation into a complete Vitul brimming with natural energy, and experienced situations exactly like this.
There was the first time he 'awakened' as a Knight and assimilated the Vitality stored inside a training orb, and what Raisen released for him, and there was the second time when he was embroiled in Edmond's memories and his mind instinctively shielded itself from the human aspects of the Chosen's ego that tried to merge with him. The third time happened in the second Task when his body was in critical condition, and he relied on his instincts to break apart Kara's Vital core to assimilate her energy, after which his body took over once again to remold his body into that of a Vitul, finishing his transformation.
None of those were bad things, in Fen's opinion. In fact, every time his instincts controlled his actions, his strength experienced a positive change.
But just because something bad hadn't happened yet didn't mean that it never would. Like a mantra, Fen uttered the words, "Caution in everything," under his breath before continuing to roll the core in his hand.
He glared at the Void outside the window in the Training Hall while suppressing the heavy feeling in his chest, saying, "Dammit Dey, you annoy me all the time but to even be annoying when you're not here... Must be a skill that comes with Godhood."
Not seeing the point in staying any longer when Raisen wasn't here, Fen put away the Aura core and stepped outside the Training Hall.
Besides, there were two certain memories that he wanted to dive into that were sure to have a few goodies inside them.