Friday morning.
The last few days had been quite uneventful, Zen had just spent this time going to classes and back to the dorm.
He had managed to complete all his daily quests so now he had seven stat points and fifteen exp.
Zen woke up in the morning feeling a slight headache.
[Good morning host]
[Strength: 15](+1.0)
[Agility: 18](+2.0)
[Endurance: 15](+1.0)
[Intelligence: 15](+2.0)
The increase was quite large today, but it no longer surprised Zen. He had actually started to suspect that this was another bloodline thing.
"Good morning"
A slightly ethereal voice greeted him
Zen looked around and noticed he was the only one awake in the room
"Who is that?"
"It's me! Look to your wrist"
Zen checked his wrist and noticed Black was back on it.
"Black? Is that you?....are you using my own voice to speak to me" Zen asked
"Yes, I'm speaking directly into your brain. Isn't this much better than before?" Black said
"And as for the voice,i can use any one you want " Black said as it suddenly switched to Zaria's voice
"It's fine,use whichever voice you want?"
Black gave an affirmation, switching back to Zen's voice
Zen didn't know how to address this, so like most things,he just ignored it for now.
After taking a shower and getting dressed, Zen headed for the gym room to complete his quests.
On the way, Zen fed and talked to Black who explained that he wasn't exactly sure how it did it, he just suddenly felt like it could, and did.
Black suddenly pointed out that Zen's body "hurt", to which Zen replied by asking if it could feel pain, but Black replied that he couldn't, and rather than saying "hurt", Black rephrased it, saying that Zen's body was fighting it, every single blood cell to be precise "
Zen thought for a while but could only attribute this to his body's natural healing,resistances and immune system recognizing Black as a foreign entity in his body
When asked if this was a problem, Black replied that it wasn't, and it only made it a bit more difficult to move through his body,it even went ahead to say that it would have to stay in Zen's body for hundreds of years for it to actually get harmed, and that was if it decided not to fight back.
Zen wasn't sure how he felt about that fact so he left no comment.
****************
[98/100]
[99/100]
[100/100]
Quest completed
"Good job"
"Good job"
Zen was congratulated by both Freya and Black.
Zen had realized that Black seemed to be able to hear Freya even if it said it was a bit difficult and it couldn't always hear her,but it didn't work the other way around,a fact that made Freya feel really aggrieved.
Zen felt it was interesting that he could speak to them both telepathically but they couldn't communicate with each other. Perhaps it was because Zen and Black's link was based on biology, while his and Freya's was more mystical.
Black suddenly squeezed out of Zen's body and onto his palm.
"What's this for exactly?" It asked
Zen was surprised
"I can still hear you?" He asked
"I left a small piece of my body inside you so we could keep communicating"
"You can separate your body?"
Black demonstrated by splitting it's slimy body into two smaller but equal separate entities.
"Yes, and when I do,i don't communicate with the other body, both bodies have the same consciousness and are equally me"
Once the explanation was over, the two Blacks joined back together to become one.
Zen was impressed and asked Black to tell him all the other things he could do.
For the next few minutes, Black explained and all its new abilities while making it clear to Zen that as far as it knew,it had never attempted any of these and didn't even know how it knew them.
Zen attributed the knowledge of these things to species inherent memory and instinct while listening carefully.
At the end of the explanation, Zen looked down in thought for a few seconds before looking at Black.
"I need your help for something" Zen said plainly
"So do I" Black replied
When Zen asked what Black wanted, the answer surprised him.
"I want you to teach me stuff"
"...."
Zen suddenly realized that he kept forgetting that Black had absolutely no memories, and although he had already shared some of his knowledge and understanding with Black,it had only been bare bones. Black probably didn't even know why Zen had to go to school everyday.
Zen felt like Black could've already done this while he was asleep and just wanted to ask for permission, so without much thought, he agreed to it and Black joyfully brought the rest of his body into Zen and towards his brain.
Zen closed his eyes as the process began and for the first few seconds it was relatively easy, but after a while a sharp pain suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Zen's head as he winced painfully.
Thousands of memories flashed through Zen's mind in an instant, especially quite a few unpleasant ones.
"Nggghhh" Zen groaned for a second due to the surprising pain, but stopped after a second .
"Sorry"
Black suddenly stopped and the pain gradually disappeared.
"What...was that?" Zen asked
"I tried to run too much information at once,i didn't realize it would have such an effect"
Zen didn't bother pushing the matter any more and simply asked
"So what's the solution?"
"We take it slow, unfortunately this could take some time"
Zen didn't see any problem with that and asked
"Are you feeling impatient?"
"No, it's fine.....besides,i already learned a lot just now"
Before Zen could say anything, Black continued
"Like this Clyde person. Why do you want to assassinate them?"
Zen was surprised that Black had learned about that but still answered
"Because his death by my hand will make me stronger.... that's actually what I need your help for "
Black seemed to understand this answer completely and even seemed happy to help, there was just one thing.
"How will you become stronger if you kill him? Are you like me?"
Zen thought about how to answer, and ended up being partially honest. He said that he wasn't like most people of his race and could grow stronger from fighting, killing, and completing specific tasks. The only thing he didn't mention was that this was all tied to a system .
"I see, so what's your plan?"
Zen began to tell Black his plan and exactly how he would be one of the core factors in it.
"Interesting"
"So can you do it?"
"Of course, but for your plan to work,i need to be able to make physical contact with this guy"
Zen had already thought of that and used the info transfer method to show Black the many different animals, specifically,a spider, with long legs thinner than a spider and a body that weighed almost nothing.
Black quickly absorbed the information and transformed a small piece of its body into the spider while the rest of its body stayed as the watch on Zen's shoulder.
Zen checked and even asked Black to confirm if there was still enough of him left over for the watch to retain full function, and luckily, Black replied in the positive.
"Good then. Everything is in place,i must admit Zen, I'm feeling extremely eager, almost as if I can tell this will prove to be extremely entertaining"
The bestiary had described Black's species as the ultimate predatory species,it seemed to be true because even without any possible way of knowing how it would feel to take a life, Black could feel a strange excitement awakening within it.
Zen nodded and and stood up when Black informed him that it was going to use a bit of its concentration to slowly meld Zen's memories and knowledge into his mind. It made sure to tell him that although it would be painless as it would be doing it slowly, it might prove annoying as his train of thought might frequently get interrupted by the transfer.
Zen replied that he was okay with it and left the gym for the cafeteria. He was quite late already and the others might already be there.
**************
Zen got to the cafeteria and just as he suspected, his roommates were at their table, although the atmosphere didn't seem like usual, even Xavier was unusually quiet.
Zen didn't think much and just grabbed his lunch and went to sit before focusing on his food.
Zen was halfway through with his meal when their table was approached by five students with different uniforms from them.
"We need you four to come with us, now!"
Xavier, Maximilian and Neo already knew what this was about, seeing the different uniforms. They didn't bother arguing and stood up to follow them.
One of the students suddenly noticed that Zen had acted like he hadn't heard him and was still eating his food
"Hey you,did i not make myself clear? Get up"
Zen turned around to look at them
"Different uniforms? Second years? What a pain.... wait,is that?"
Zen suddenly noticed a certain smell on this student and realized that the situation was possibly much more dangerous than he originally thought.
Zen looked at the second years' watches and realized they were all above level four.
Zen examined the one that was speaking to him and felt like he could knock him out if he acted before he used his ability, but once the others retaliated,he was done for.
"I'm eating. Could we maybe do this later?"
The entire cafeteria was suddenly filled with gasps as no one could believe Zen had just said that.
"What did you say?"
The second year seemed to have been angered as he began to use his ability.
Zen's nose was once again assaulted by that strange smell
"Alright, let's go" Zen said.
He wasn't afraid of the second years. The most they could do was send him back to the infirmary with Elaine, and that wasn't exactly the most unpleasant place to be.
He was doing this to see if that smell was what he suspected.
************
The four walked behind the second years as they led them to the second years School building which was separate from theirs.
Neo who was already sweating buckets looked back at Zen who still looked like he was out for a stroll.
"How can you stay so calm in this situation?" Neo whispered
"You should really calm down " Zen replied
"Why"
"Because you haven't even seen what you should really be scared of. For now, these ones aren't the danger"
Zen didn't bother lowering his voice and seeing how the second years didn't try to attack him for that,Neo calmed down.
After walking a bit more they had arrived at a secluded area in the second year building where another student was waiting for them
"They're here" one of the students reported.
"Good. You can leave for now"
Zen sighed and muttered
"Damnit"
The student who was still aloofly sitting with his back facing them suddenly felt a burning sensation on his back. He suddenly sniffed the air as a strange expression crept up on his face.
He turned around with an expression of amusement, noticing a certain one of the delinquents wearing a baggy hoodie over his uniform.
"You! What's your name?" He demanded, pointing to Zen
Zen kept quiet
"Are you fucking deaf? I asked you-"
He suddenly went quiet as Zen revealed his face.
"....YOU"
"Greetings Keith. I see you've gotten back on your feet"
Zen's roommates looked at him with looks of disbelief.
"....Ha...ha....ha...HAHAHAHAHA. Zen! It's actually you!"
Zen's roommates were confused about what was happening but things seemed to be going....well?.
If Zen was actually friends with this second year student who was powerful enough to control others, they might not be in trouble after all.
The look on Zen's face however wasn't warm or friendly. Combined with his usual indifference was a hint of caution as he assessed the person in front of him and realized that he was actually stronger than the last time they met.
"Just get it over with" Zen said.
Keith slowly walked towards them with a smile that would make children cry
"Listen here. I heard that some higher tiers were chumming it up with a few lower tiers"
Xavier was the first to reply. He didn't care if this guy was Zen's friend, he was going to give him a piece of his mind.
"So what? There are no rules against it"
Keith smiled but didn't focus on Xavier and instead on Zen.
"I'm guessing by now, Zen has already explained to you,he always was a know it all."
"What you four are doing is going against the natural order. Like trying to make fire cold, or chaos peaceful-"
"You're one to talk" Zen replied sharply
Keith smiled and continued
"It simply doesn't work. Once low levels begin to think they're worth a shit, that's when people like Zen appear, people who need to be put in their place, people who won't conform to their given role as worthless playthings until they are forcefully destroyed from the bottom up in every single way possible,rebuilt again, and then molded to fit their given purpose life"
"And who exactly shall be doing the remolding" Zen asked completely unfazed.
"Why, the higher levels of course. For example ME"
Neo was already shivering as he realized this was going south
"B-but aren't you and Zen friends"
Zen and Keith replied at the same time with one word that explained their situation.
"Friends?"
Keith suddenly burst out laughing hysterically
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! I forgot, you still don't know. Well then,let me ask you this. Do you fear death?"
Maximilian's eyes widened. That was the same question that Zen asked him.
"If the answer is yes,then I have to advice you to ditch the low levels and avoid him like the plague, because like it or not, you die in this academy Zen, whether by my hand,or another, and you definitely don't want it to be by my hand"
"And as for all of you,follow the rules,or else you'll see how i deal with people who dare cross me "
Zen shrugged and turned to leave , he clearly wasn't intimidated by Keith.
The others quickly caught up with him.
"What the hell was that about?" Xavier asked
"I think you know" Zen replied looking at the air.
[New quest received]
[Contents hidden]
[Complete requirements to unlock details]