"Alright you, on the left, do you know what you did wrong today?" asked Mr Rud as he stomped his feet into the detention room pointing at a thin pale boy with a black curvy hair who looked no older than 20. The boy stared at him silently as he began to mumble.
"No clue sir, I just woke up in this weird room and I saw this...."
"BOOM!" Mr Rud slapped the table, cutting off the boy as he was trying to explain himself.
"ALEX TILMAN! YOU WERE IN THE STORAGE ROOM TRYING TO STEAL A BLOODY MEDIUM GRADE CRYTAL!" boomed Mr Rud as he waved his right hand, activating the magic array in his glove to project a wave of blue magical essence. This essence transformed into the body of the boy trying to put a stone into his left pocket while turning his head left and right.
"That's not right sir, it was actually the right pocket and I don't think I was actually looking around too," admitted Alex as he put his hands up in defeat . The school surveillance system had got him good this round.
"Had it not been for your.... " seethed Mr Rud as he kept his next few words in his mind, aware of the consequences of their meaning. Alex smiled begrudgingly as he had no plan to stir the mighty counselor of the academy. After all, it was his fault that he got caught and also his name's fault that he just got off lightly.
Mr Rud swiped his head in anger and aimed his next few words at an azure haired girl sitting in the middle of the class.
"You! Diona Dracea! What the hell is wrong with you?! Why are you at Au Revoir during the assembly?" questioned Mr Rud angrily as he conjured up another essence to show a form resembling Diona sitting down in a fancy restaurant. However, instead of replying to his question, Diona simply opened her eyes in amazement at his magic control and clapped her hands softly.
Seeing as he was not going to get an answer from the girl, Mr Rud dismissed his spells and turned his attention towards the remaining two people in the cursed room. He looked at the red haired, well-built boy. His name was Bryan Burson, a tier one knight recruit proficient in both sword fight and magic. As the sole recipient of the Emperor's Future Guardian award of the past 20 years, Mr Rud knew better than to let off his anger on the young adult and simply stared at him.
Noticing Mr Rud's attention, Bryan looked up from his book, the art of keeping calm, and in a dead-pan tone, said "I did told Mr Dunder that I can't really control my strength sir."
Mr Rud nodded in response and directed his eyes to the final troublemaker of the day: Claire Lightborn. Dressed in a nun rope, the former saintess candidate curved her lips to form a smile as soon as she noticed his attention. "A smile of the devil" he thought quietly as he remembered the injury report of her now-castrated victim. It was rumored that she was catcalled by the tier 3 knight after the news of her dropout in the saintess race broke out. The man forgot that any saintess candidate is an irregular existence.
Seeing the devil in the flesh looking innocently at him, Mr Rud discarded any thoughts of trying to stir the hornet nest. Having met several candidates of positions to power in his four decades in this damn world had taught him that non of them had regular minds. He sighed as he placed his hands on the podium and looked at the clock. "Forty Five minutes more." he thought as he gestured for attention of the troublemakers. He spoke.
"Alright, listen up, just in case some of you don't know yet. The dryads have been telling us that a couple of their kind have gone missing in the northern forest. So try to avoid those areas. Can't be sure which one of us went insane again."
"By insane, you mean becoming a darkling sir? I thought most of us in the empire have relatively decent mana core's stability. Even more so in our academy town. Why do you make it sounds like it's a common occurrence?" asked Alex as he whipped out his short knife to play around.
"Well kid, this is where you learn about the more advance things. You see, there are other ways to make someone a darkling. Shattering one's mana core usually gives you the weaker ones and most of us are strong anyway so there's practically zero chance of that happening. If a darkling can make a bunch of troubles in that forest, the chances are that it's a darkling made via corruption or insanity." explained Mr Rud as he ignored Alex's action. He tapped the table, activating the mana circle in his gloves and created 2 projections: a blue translucent ball and a mini person. He continued.
"The process of corruption usually requires extensive level of preparation without the target's knowledge. Or we beat the target up so badly that he and his core immunity can't protect it. The signs of corruption are small strains of black lines penetrating towards middle of the core. Once these lines reached the middle, you are screwed. Think of em as virus but in mana term. Although I guess that doesn't help since y'all haven't learn biology yet." As he talked, Mr Rud demonstrated the process and turned the blue ball black.
"What about the other way?" asked Bryan as he leaned forward, taking a rare off-time from his book.
"Well, this is where it gets interesting. For all and most living beings, we have this funny spiritual plane that only us has access to. The plane is unique for each individual and represent who we really are at that time. But we still have our mind and they have their differences. Usually these differences got corrected. What happen if they don't? What if someone can't accept themselves for who they truly are? Yes they turned into a bloody darkling and a strong one at that." While finishing the sentence, Mr. Rud transformed the mini human. The plain looking doll buffed up, its eyes darken and generate a dark, menacing aura.
"Wow...." spoke Diona in amazement. Suddenly, she squinted her eyes as if recalling something and softly said, "Mr. Rud. Ehm.. Is that aura the actual aura of the darkling?"
"As close to the real thing as it gets without being one. So yes. Where did you see it?" replied Mr. Rud in an inquisitive tone as his eyes suddenly focused on the happy go lucky girl.
"Actually, er... this morning? I saw it on my way to school. Erm... yea actually the forest, i usually take that route sir." confessed Diona as she play around with her hands. Mr Rud closed his eyes as he felt another incoming headache.