The familiar smell of old books and paper, the faint light that was coming from the windowsills, even the whispering noise of other children inside the library were once again giving Luke a melancholy vibe. The library was also one of his most favorite places to go to in his previous life, going there when there was no mission given to him, studying different languages and ethics from all around the world, he treated the library of his previous life as a safe haven of knowledge and a place of comfort that reminds him not to be conceited and become ignorant of the world outside the den.
"I always feel safe whenever I am surrounded with books. Unfortunately, some of them are prohibited for me to read, but not till I grow up and able to comprehend the vast knowledge that was contained inside of all these books", Luke thought, as he walk between shelves to shelves, touching them using his hands as he pass by, until he and Nora reached the door where Levi and his friends were inside.
"At last, your highness. Please find a seat to rest and listen to my lectures... You can also listen to my words, Nora, if you want.", wearing a silver robe, bearing a black skull regalia upon the chest part next to the heart, Levi stood and greeted them both with a smile as they entered the room.
Feng and the others were already sitting down listening to Levi when Luke arrived, but it seems like they just started the lesson. Earl was sitting in the back as his height will obstruct the vision of the ones behind him, while Jed was already drowsy beside him as he leaned on Earl's arm.
Luke sat on the front row together with Mizu and Mimi who waved at him with a smile as he sat between them. Feng sat straight and was giving a scholarly aura as usual, and Mir, who was recently added in the class just like Luke, was sitting beside Feng with eager eyes.
Levi cleared his throat to gather the children's attention towards him, holding a foot-long wooden stick on his hand and continued the lesson, "Now, where were we again? Ah... yes, the requirements to be a classified star warrior and achieve greater heights that only chosen mortals can achieve. But, of course, since Prince Luke has just arrived, I will go back to my first explanation, and tell what makes us, mortals, absorb gracia and used it to cultivate.
Since the beginning of the world, gracia flowed through every single matter and made us, the living and sentient being, together with the beasts and animals, strengthen our bodies to a certain point and nothing more. We continued to live like this for thousands of years, making civilizations and creating landmarks, making our lands flourishing and our everyday needs equally distributed. But then, a certain star beast gained intellect, becoming smart enough to realize that the living beings in our world were living not enough to it's expectations. This beast was proud and powerful, and he found it boring, the useless slaughter of different races, the worthless wars that they make for overall supremacy, just to be destroyed by him in the end.
So, he made a deal with the gods above, saying that he will end the useless wars and killing by himself, but make them be strong just like him first instead. The gods were pleased by the arrogance of this beast and made a deal with him, but there's a condition to it; 'he may kill every living beings that opposes him and the gods shall let him be, but if he were to lose, all of his kin will be ostracized and be hunted down by the races that will survive and be their sustenance to get even stronger and reach the gods.'
The beast agreed and started slaughtering the different races that he sees all by himself, over and over again. At first, he was bored by their weak powers, happily killing them with great vigor, but then, the battle lasted for hundreds of years and he still can't slaughter them all. The races other than his kin kept getting stronger and stronger in every passing years until finally, the five most powerfully individuals in each race battled with him to the death, ending his reign of terror and banishing him from wherever the abyss lays.
The living beings other than the beast succeeded in defeating him, retaining their acquired strength, rebuilt their broken civilizations, and continuing to live well as the time goes on, and that star beast that gave despair and calamity was no more, becoming history and a deleted part of a forgotten time."
Levi stopped for a second to look at his students, who were all seemingly his grandchildren, making an amazed and mesmerized faces while staring at him. Especially Luke who was hearing it for the first time, making Levi smile and brushed his grey beard in satisfaction.
"Wow! There was something that happened like that?!", Luke hopped in his seat.
"That story never gets old, Grandpa.", Feng said, shaking his head while smiling. Hearing this story over again never gets him bored. Even Mizu was nodding excitedly in the front row together with Luke.
"Meh! That star beast was definitely weak..! One versus five? Pft! I can do it even there are one hundred fighting against me alone.", Jed boasted, obviously awake by the exciting story Levi just told.
"Yeah, yeah... like you can actually do that. Maybe if your opponents are chickens then you will have a chance.", Mir contradicted. She shrugged her shoulders while Jed glared at her.
"You! Don't you dare test me, tomboy! I can clearly beat you while I'm half- asleep and not even a scratch will be left on me!", Jed blurted out while pointing his fingers on Mir.
"What did you just say, you monkey?! Say it again at my face!", Mir stood up and bump her head towards Jed's as she bared her fangs.
"Alright, stop, you two. I will not see you fighting in here again. Maybe you can fight at your house, but not here.", Levi forced the two to stop quarreling as he separate their heads away from each other. He sighed while the children where laughing at them as they attempted punch each other, " This two were just so similar to Hector... their both hotheaded.", Levi hopelessly thought.
Luke watched Levi and the others stop Jed and Mir from fighting inside the room in a happy mood. It is nice to see how close they really have became since Jed started to fully train under Mir's father and their body strengthening teacher, Hector. Luke still doesn't know a lot about his two new teachers as they were just accepted to be here in the Sanctuary just like the other soldiers camping below the canyons just beside the barrier.
Then suddenly, an excruciating pain coming from his chest, making his breathing uneven, made Luke jolt and left him off-balance and fall without strength coming from his body. He would've crashed to the floor if it were not for Nora who was alerted from Luke falling so suddenly. Nora called out to him while putting his head on her lap, "Your highness! What is happening to you?!", she called out alerting the children on the room as well as Levi who immediately assessed what was going with Luke.
"Make way for Luke, children. Make him breathe more... Feng, would you please open the windows. Earl, go with Jed and tell the King and Queen what is going on here. They should be in the courtroom right now, quickly.", Levi calmly said, checking Luke's blood flow at the same time.
Feeling the flow of blood under the boy's skin, Levi was left surprised and gasped a little as he checked it again, " What is going on here?! His blood is flowing so fast, his chest cannot keep up with it! And most of all, there's no blockage at all.", he thought.
Levi then used his used gracia to try and slow the blood down, or else Luke's heart may collapse if it continued more. He was at the first stage of awaken his star soul and his body may not keep up with the gracia flowing inside him, cleansing all the vessels and strengthening his body more.
"Is the prince okay?", Nora asked in a worried tone and tearful eyes. Her face was full of emotions for Luke and she could not help but tear up while thinking that Luke was in danger. "If I can just something about what's going on with Prince Luke!", she thought.
"He is okay for now as I am slowing his blood flow and keeping his gracia at bay. You should rather worry about his future enemies, Nora. This child's inner strength is monstrous! I've never felt something like this before.", Levi told Nora excitedly, while grinning, thinking about the things that Luke can achieve in the future. "I expected that Luce's child will be strong, but this child surpassed my expectations."
While Levi was slowing Luke's blood flow, Luke was experiencing the most pain he had in his life including the previous. Getting your chest flayed was better feeling than this feeling. It was like the blood in your heart was curdling and being boiled inside his blood vessels. Even his wrists were aching so aggressively, he felt like his upper body was being torn apart.
"S-so painful..! It feels like... I'm dying in the most... painful way!", Luke thought, even though he was trying to fight the pain, his body cannot keep up with him and could not resist it at all. His lower half was now shaking profusely because of the blood flow in his brain flowing faster and was affecting his body.
"Th-this is getting dangerous, Lord Levi. I need to call his highness and the queen! I cannot let the prince die!", Nora was now panicking, seeing Luke having a seizure in front of her. "Minerva can help Prince Luke, Levi! Let me call her... please!", she pleaded, this time, there tears falling down her eyes.
"Calm down, Nora..! I told the children to tell the king and queen what was going on. They will be here by the second! Just keep holding onto Prince Luke!", Levi said, with a serious face. "Where are they now?! I cannot hold his blood flow for much longer! It's getting more violent by the second! All I can do is slow it down.", Levi thought, gritting his teeth, pushing himself more.
And then help came, rather it was Luce who barged inside the room. His face was full of worries and his mind was in disarray. But seeing Levi controlling the situation, helping his son overcome this predicament, he calmed down and see the surrounding clearly. He first looked around and notice the girls watching Luke with worry on their eyes.
"Girls, circle around here carefully and exit the room. Stay there and wait for us, okay?", Luce said, forcing a smile on his face to calm the girls down.
"Um... Is Luke going to be alright?", Mizu, despite her being timid, had the courage to tug Luce's clothes and asked him with tearful eyes.
"Yes... he is going to be okay, Mizu. Your Grandpa is with us. Don't cry now...", Luce calmed her down, rubbing her hair as he knelt down and wiped her tears.
As soon as the girls were all outside, Luce quickly closed the door and checked Luke's pulse. He felt the what's going with Luke's body, closing his eyes, and suddenly opened it again after a second he reached Luke's chest.
Luce hurriedly grabbed Levi's arm and said, "Let his blood flow, old man. It will not stop until we do this. You'll just prevent him from awakening his gracia, causing his blood vessels to burst.", he seriously stared at Levi and the latter only nodded at agreement. He could not let his precious son die here!