Lance couldn't bear seeing someone getting hurt because of him, that was why he had always chosen to keep quiet and not talk to anyone about his challenges.
It was better to take up the brunt of his problems himself and now this other guy had stepped in and he was going to be hurt too, he couldn't just stand behind and watch.
Just as he felt the closeness of the blades, he was suddenly enclosed by a blanket of something wet.
"Water Rune: Aqua Shield." Theo's soothing voice rang out causing a wide smile to creep on to Martin's face.
A soft blanket of water had enveloped Martin and Lance, blocking and nullifying the effects of the wind blades and causing them to disappear.
Martin felt like he could still breathe in the water that had surrounded him and his clothes weren't wet, causing him to wonder why but nevertheless it sparked up an intense curiosity in him.
Theo took slow strides towards the group and he had a small smile on his face.
"Well I guess we both broke the rules, why don't you go your way and we both pretend like none of this happened. "
Theo faced Jin who could only clench his first in anger, he had overexerted himself by creating those blades so he couldn't start a fight right now and he couldn't fight against this boy.
Everyone recognized Theodore, so they were basically powerless in front of him.
The group turned around and took their leave.
"Don't worry, we'd meet them after school." Rob brought his voice low, he also wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the whole situation. That Axton kid had to be taught to mind his business.
Martin looked at them and sighed, they would never learn, but now he had to figure out how to ensure that he never crossed their path again.
He was scared of them.
Cough.
How would someone like the great Martin be scared of some bullies, he just had to lay low until he had figured out what rune he had awoken and how to use its power
Martin turned to Theo and smiled, seemed like having a water rune was quite beneficial.
"You need to stay clear of them Axton, who knows what they might do and what if I won't be around next time. "
Theo furrowed his brows while his eyes was still kept on the retreating bullies.
"Ha. Don't worry, They won't be able to do anything to me." Martin said with his chest puffed out in confidence.
Theo turned his attention to him and then they both bursted into laughter.
"By the way, what caused the hassle?"
"Oh, I had to step in to help a friend… he's right here." Martin turned around and realized that the boy was no where to be seen, like he had completely vanished and he was just here a moment ago.
Lance had immediately vanished when he had gotten the chance, he knew those bullied wouldn't rest so he felt like he had to think of a way to appease them to leave Axton alone.
"Seems he went on ahead… can you take you to the library?" Martin walked ahead, inviting Theo to come along with him.
He felt like he kinda needed Theo around for a while, in case he came across any ego motivated bullies that somehow knew Axton in the past years.
"What class were you put in?" Theo suddenly asked, causing Martin to turn his attention to him.
"Oh. Class 2F."
"That's… " Theo didn't know what he could say, he didn't want to somehow hurt his friend's feelings.
"Yeah, I know. I don't mind really, I just need to improve my grades and get placed higher when we get to Class 3 right?"
Martin still had not gotten used to the school system, there was a lot of things he had yet to find out and he could only use Theo as an encyclopedia.
"Yeah, maybe we would even be placed in the same class." Theo grinned at him, he didn't want his friend to feel bad about his current class, just that he didn't know, Martin was only interested in using the library of the school.
"What class are you?" Martin looked at Theo with a raised brow, his class must have been the reason why those boys were quick to leave.
"Class 2B."
"Oh. Splendid, we would meet in Class 3A then."
Theo could only chuckle, he meant for them to meet in Class 3B but here Axton was saying something Class 3A.
He felt like he had gotten a jokester as a friend, aspiring to go class 3A was like a death wish. He knew what he had gone through but he was still placed in 2B, those A students were like monsters.
Yet no matter how Theo looked at it, he could tell that his friend was different.
He looked at Axton through the corner of his eyes, he walked in a different way, with confidence and power, maybe he could actually do this. Just maybe.
Soon they arrived at the library, Theo took Martin in and told him that he had to apply for a card before he could take any books.
"Weren't you given a student ID? The Dean should have said something."
"Not really, he only gave me a timetable and told me to return back to him some time later for some other business." Martin did think that the Dean was supposed to give him a lot of things but he wasn't worried as he was told to come back, and he could wait because right now, he just wanted to understand more about this world.
"Okay then, we can use my student ID, I'm in a higher class, you could be given some privileges too. " Being a 2B student had a lot of benefits, he would be allowed a special place where he could study without any disturbance, and the librarian would let him read more that five books during that day.
Theo led Martin to the librarian's stand and explained the situation, the librarian only glanced at Theo's ID and she didn't question him further, she was busy at the moment and he was a high class student, so all she needed to do was to just answer his requests.
Theo asked her to prepare a temporary card for Martin which would indicate that he was a 2B student and she immediately did so without bothering to ask any further questions. It really did seem like being at a higher level was really helpful or was the lady just too busy to give a fuck about some students.
"Here. You can sit and study for a while." Theo had taken Martin to a secluded area where only a few people could be seen, these people were grossly involved in whatever they were studying.
"I never thought I'd pick up a book again… " Martin muttered but it was loud enough for Theo to hear him.
"You do know that schooling actually involved reading?" Theo couldn't help but chuckle when he heard the grumble that escaped his friend's lips, he had taken the liberty of bringing down the books he thought would help Axton.
At the moment, his friend had just returned from being a drop-out.
He haddropped out from school when they were kids, so he practically had to learn four years of everything they had been studying, little did Theo realize how wrong he was.
Martin wanted to know everything from the start, what he had gotten from Axton's memories were simply not enough.
Martin's eyes scanned through the mountains of books Theo had placed on the desk for him–Elemental History, Rune Theory, Basic Fundamentals of Awakening, Rune Structures and their meanings, Forbidden Runes, Elements and their composition and a lot more others.
"Holy Fuck!"
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Martin knew he had a lot of work to do so he couldn't begin to explain what a word he had brought from his world meant.
"This… a lot." Martin rubbed his forehead and looked at Theo, unable to form words from his astonishment.
He was never the type who liked to read and he hated the subjects in his world, the stuff about English and Maths, and always looking for the value of X.
He had always been annoyed because after finding the value for X, the next day he arrived, he would be given another value of X to look for. Why did X have so many values?
Nevertheless he still topped his class, he had to, his grandfather ensured he never went a day without reading and he would always tell him a story or two about his life's journey, so although the books Theo had given him were a lot, he could still read them.
"You have one and the half months for this exam Axton, it would determine if the scholarship would continue or not?" Theo reminded him.
"But somehow, I can't help but feel that you got this." Theo cracked a smile and turned around to leave.
Suddenly something clicked in Martin's head. Theo knew about his scholarship? How?
"Wait, how did you know about my scholarship?" Martin yelled at Theo's retreating back forgetting that he was in a library.
His loud voice visibly interrupted some people's concentration as they glared at Martin.
"Shushhhh!"
Martin quickly bowed his head in apology in a way that said, he was ignorant of the rules.
Martin brought his eyes back to Theo who was looking at him with a silly smile, before he gave him a shrug and left.
Martin clenched his fist, he felt that Theo was hiding a lot of things but he didn't want to pry at the same time, he understood that Theo would definitely not hesitate to tell him if he wanted to.
The time that Martin had in his hands was very short, he looked at things from his angle and realised he had one month to completely memorise the theoretical aspect of Rune Magic.
He had to stuff eight years worth of education into his head in a month and the half.
Martin took a deep breath and opened the first book that Theo had picked for him, then he realised something–These books were different.
The information about this world were strange to him and somehow they intrigued him, he found himself skimming through all the books–He needed more.
He immediately took out an notepad he had collected from the librarian using his 2B student ID card and joted out some things
Elemental History, It was mostly like the history of how the runes and elements came to be.
Rune Theory was like Physics.
Elemental Beasts was more like Biology.
Basic Fundamentals of Awakening was mostly words and Martin immediately classified it as English literature.
Rune Structures explained the formation of runes, meaning of their intricate designs so it looked like the geometry he had studied back in his world.
Elements and their composition looked a lot more like chemistry.
There were other topics like Magical Emblems, Runic Tools and Embodiments, and a lot more.
After identifying the books in order of their importance, Martin arranged them and carried them to the librarian so he could take them back home with him.
Martin didn't realize the amount of eyes that were staring at him in amazement, as he carried those heavy books without straining himself or stumbling. They wondered why he still walked straight under those heavy loads.
He held them all on the top of his left hand and placed them on the librarian desk startling her.
The lady wore a fomal dress that was obviously too tight for her as her boobs were evidently strained against it.
Martin hadn't taken a good look at her before because he was occupied with discussing with Theo.
"I'd like to borrow all these books."
The lady settled her glasses on her face and pushed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.
She was obviously irritated that this boy had disturbed her reading as she was already immersed in the book she was reading.
She didn't even take note of the amount of books he had borrowed, she just wanted to just get on with her reading.
She had reached the part when the assassin was revealed to be the billionaire's sister and it was a massive plot twist.
"Axton Zavier. Student of the 2B class." She casted a side glance at him and placed the library official stamp on his list.
"Borrowing for a month." She said with an indifferent look, something little in her told her that it was against the library rules to borrow books for such a long time but who was she to talk, he was B student, he had more potential that she would ever hope to have for herself.
Martin was too lazy to even think about how easily everything had happened and he was given a bag like he asked for so he could carry all the books.
Looking at all this benefits, he definitely needed to get to that A class next year.
Reading all these books was the first step
*****