A new day began, as every disciple woke up after a long night, in which few of them were able to sleep properly. Arslan was overall satisfied with the battle he had the day before,
"I was almost perfect yesterday. Mom, Dad, I won't let you down. I will become the strongest person of this world and no one will be able to even come close to my sister," He said as he prepared for the day. In normal days he just spent his daytime by cleaning the floor of the different halls the Academy had and by picking up herbs from the near forest, as ordered by Elder Oak," And even today I must spend all my time by cleaning the floors. This truly is annoying, but I can't say that I would have something else to do, considering I can cultivate only after dusk." Thus, Arslan got ready and went out of his dwelling, heading to the large building that contained the library for the outer disciples' techniques.
While he was walking, his path was blocked by 4 figures,
"Hey Arslan, where do you think you are going, without asking us for permission to move?" One of them asked with a grin on his face. Arslan looked at his surroundings, as he noticed that he got encircled by them, 'I can't run away... I didn't expect Troy to send them so early.'
"What do you want Robert?" He asked while paying attention to the moves of the other 3 guys. Robert was the eleventh in the outer disciples' ranking and his friends were all in the first fifty spots, thus, for Arslan this was a difficult situation. They were the ones who beat him every time that Troy asked them to do it. The reason for them to follow Troy's orders was that Robert once challenged Troy for his outer disciple position, but lost and even got an ugly scar covering the left half of his face. After that event, Robert and his friends didn't dare to reject Troy's requests.
"Simple, we want to take care of you as always." Robert said, as, in the meantime, a small crowd gathered around them, "Look Arslan, it seems you have an audience... so it is right to give them a proper performance, don't you agree?" He continued as he started to get closer.
"Guys look! It seems Robert and his friends are here to make troubles again for Arslan." Someone from the crowd said as he remained in distance, in order not to end up like Arslan.
"Yeah, they never let him be. I wonder if Arslan will use again yesterday's techniques to react against them." Another one wondered as the crowd continued speculating.
"Have you heard Arslan? It seems they think you can beat us... Why don't you give it a try? We are jealous that you kept your strength hidden from us." Robert was provoking Arslan to see if he would have dared to rebel against them, 'Troy told us to be careful because he is using some strange techniques, but I don't believe he is stronger than us.'
Arslan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He was having a hard time trying to keep control of his actions, 'I can't, I can't yet... Arslan, think to your sister, she comes first... if Troy decided to take revenge on me by hitting her, I wouldn't have the power to protect her yet... I must resist, for her safety!' He looked at Robert with bloody eyes as his anger was unimaginable.
"So you are still the useless trash that we all know you to be!" At that moment, Robert kicked Arslan in the stomach and sent him flying for some meters.
"It seems they began!" A disciple said as he watched the scene.
"I'm sorry for Arslan." Another one said as he pitied Arslan.
"Arghh..." Arslan tried to come back to his feet.
"You will never have the courage to rebel because you know you are useless!" Robert kicked him again. He and the others started taking turns in beating him, "You thought that just by beating a newcomer you became strong eh?!" The beating continued and Arslan just tried to protect himself without fighting back.
'Think to your sister, think to your sister, everything will be all right once this will end. You will have your time for revenge Arslan, and you will utterly crush them! But now you must resist!' Arslan was talking to himself to keep control of his actions and not to lose focus on his objectives.
In the meantime, Elder Song observed the beating from distance, without interfering...
Troy took advantage of the situation and entered Arslan's dwelling, with no one noticing it, as everyone was focused on the beating Arslan was taking,
'Finally, I'm inside. If I were Arslan, where would I put a book that no one must find?' He wondered as he looked at his surroundings.
After some minutes, he started looking for it everywhere, as the research was more difficult than he thought, "Damn it, I can't find it anywhere. Is it possible that it isn't here? Then where could it be...?" He said as his frustration increased, 'Maybe it is in his room inside my residence! I didn't think he wouldn't bring it with him to the Academy. But this would explain why I never saw him cultivating here. It must be there for sure!' He suddenly realized. Then he went out, reordering all things in the room as he found them when he entered.
For the time Troy left Arslan's dwelling, the beating Arslan suffered finally ended, as there was no more fun for the bullies, due to Arslan's body not moving anymore,
"Come on guys let's go. The fun here is over." He was left there, unconscious on the ground.
The crowd left as no one cared for the boy covered in blood, laying on the ground. For a moment, Arslan was awake and felt someone taking him in his arms and bringing him somewhere. He could only see a white beard before falling unconscious again. He woke up as evening came,
"Where am I?" He wondered as he felt he was in a way more comfortable bed than he was used to. The surroundings were also different from those of his dwelling. Whitestone walls were all around him and the room was bigger than his.
"You are in the infirmary. Yesterday I had to bring here the guy you defeated and today I had to bring you. This is quite a funny coincidence, but you are lucky not to have anything broken." The person in the room said.
"What is there of funny Elder Song? My whole body hurts as never did befo- arghh..." He felt a sudden pain in his left arm, "They were even harsher than the other times."
Arslan tried to sit down in the bed, 'And it is not luck if I don't have broken bones... without the Power of Darkness I would have been barely alive.' He thought, after hearing such preposterous words.
"Is this how you properly greet an elder who saved you?" Elder Song asked as he wasn't expecting such an informal speaking from a disciple.
"Saved me? With all due to respect Elder Song, you were watching the whole scene from afar from the beginning and you didn't do anything to prevent what inevitably happened." He was looking at Elder Song straight in his eyes, as he finished talking.
The Elder was shocked,
'How could he see me, a Sky level martial Master, from such a distance? It was a good choice to come to talk to him... this disciple is hiding something.' He thought as he noticed how Arslan was watching him. His eyes showed strong grievance and determination,
"I'm truly surprised you could see me from such a distance. I'm sorry for not stopping them, but I hoped to see you using your powers again. I'd like to know more about the techniques you used yesterday." Then he waited for Arslan's answer, but he just looked away and didn't say a word,
"I know that Elder Oak is prohibiting you to learn useful techniques, so, could you tell me where did you learn those?" Elder Song continued as he wasn't receiving an answer.
Arslan's eyes widened open, staring at the bed beneath him, as he heard those words, "Elder Song... If you knew about the abuse of power Elder Oak was doing... Why didn't you stop him from doing it?" He once again looked at Elder Song in his eyes fiercely, as he didn't expect Elder Song to know all of that and still not do anything to help him. Elder Song didn't know how to answer such a question, then Arslan continued,
"We are all your disciples, but, if there isn't any help from other Elders when an Elder bullies a disciple, why should we show respect towards you?"
Elder Song could feel the tension between them rising instead of decreasing as he, instead, would have desired. He couldn't tell him that the reason was that he didn't consider Arslan a disciple good enough to deserve his time to deal with Elder Oak,
"If you explained to me what techniques you are cultivating, I would go to talk to Elder Oak about this matter. You might be in danger if, by mistake, you cultivated wrongly. My experience would surely help you achieve your goal." He said, thinking that in this way he would have convinced him to talk about it.
"So, in order to get you doing your job as an elder, you request me to give you something in exchange?"
"DISCIPLE ARSLAN CRIMSON!" The elder stood up from the chair he was sitting on. Feeling that his higher position was being doubted, he released his power in anger.
Suddenly, Arslan felt as if his weight increased by several folds,
'My God, what a pressure... I can barely breathe,' He thought as his bed collapsed on the ground and his body got crushed as well while he was trying to look up at him with his eyes, 'Is this the full strength of an elder of the Imperial Academy?'
"I won't tolerate any other rebellious behavior. I'd think twice before saying again something so disrespectful if I were you. Now, let's back down to business. Tell me what you are cultivating!" Elder Song said with a domineering tone of voice and a gloomy expression on his face.
"I... won't... tell you!" His glare pierced through Elder Song, who got startled by such strong will.
'Those eyes... He has no fear even in this situation. I won't get anything out of him.' Elder Song sighed and released his power. Seeing how that method wasn't persuading Arslan in telling him what he wanted to know, he eventually had to give up and so, he left him alone to recover.
'There something suspicious here... I must talk with Elder Oak about this.' Elder Song thought as he left the infirmary with a worried face.