One week later.
It had been a week since Khaos joined the Black Academy, and during that week he had learnt a lot about cultivation and the world in general. However most of the time he spent Cultivating, trying to raise his stage.
He also tried looking for Instructor Ronan, the man who led the team which saved his life back then. However he learnt that Ronan and his team of Defenders had travelled to assist the White Academy.
According to Instructor Kira, the White Academy was suffering from three portals in their territory.
Another piece of information which disappointed Khaos. Apparently, the thing which contributed the most in encouraging him to join an Academy; Laws, where only available after one breaks through into the major realm which comes after the Magic realm.
Ironically the name of this realm was the "Law realm" and unlike the magic realm, it had five stages instead of ten. The stages also could be considered minor realms since they had individual names and due to the difficulty in advancing them.
There was also another major change which came with the breakthrough into the Law realm, but that's a story for another day.
Unfortunately, Khaos had encountered a problem; his Cultivation speed was too slow. In the few days spent doing nothing but cultivating, he made so little progress that sleeping was no different.
Because of this, Khaos was currently heading towards the shop to see if there was anything that could help him.
"Hello". he greeted the clerk, who was a woman with shoulder length blue hair and pale skin. Strangely, her fingers were completely covered by rings of different colours. It was hard to even see the skin of her fingers.
The shop itself was actually nothing but a table and the chair the clerk sat on. The only thing identifying it was the large banner on the wall behind the desk written "Shop" in bold letters.
Flux absorption bracelet'.
"Excuse me?" Khaos said.
"I said welcome to the Black Academy shop", the clerk repeated. "What do you need?".
"Uh". Khaos rubbed his forehead.
"Are you okay?" the clerk asked, concerned.
"Yes i am fine". Khaos smiled. "I need something that can...."
Flux absorption bracelet'
Khaos quickly looked behind him. But the closest person to him was over 5 meters away and she was quietly shining a sword.
"Sorry for that", Khaos chuckled at the clerk. "I thought someone was calling my name".
"No problem, now what did you say you are looking for?"
"Yes i need a..."
Flux absorption bracelet'
"A Flux absorption bracelet?" Khaos said with uncertainty. Meanwhile, the clerk's eyes opened wide.
"How do you know of that item?" she asked. "We received only five of them from the Lawgiver just yesterday and have not begun to spread the word yet".
Khaos was just as shocked as the clerk. "I uh, don't know", he stammered. Who would believe that there was a voice in his head to which he thought came from the Lawgiver?.
"You do not know?" the clerk asked with a raised eyebrow. "So you just happened to guess the exact name of a brand new Law artifact that only the Dean and i know of?"
"Yes". Khaos shrugged and the clerk sighed in defeat. It was not like he could torture the information out of Khaos and him knowing about the artifact was in no way a bad thing.
"The Flux absorption bracelet costs 10 marks", the clerk said.
Khaos narrowed his eyes. The academy gave all the new students 5 marks as an enrollment allowance so that they could afford missions.
"I need more marks". Khaos mumbled.
"Then i would suggest taking out a quest, and you better hurry. In about three days everyone will know about this artifact and as i said, we only have five". the clerk said.
"Okay, thank you". Khaos nodded and headed for the quest board just next to the shop.
To accommodate the large number of missions as well as their descriptions, the board was 2.5 meters tall and 5 meters wide. The text was also written in very small letters, not bigger than 3 millimeters, but it was not a problem for Cultivators to read from it.
"Killing of a mayor, kidnapping a merchants daughter, searching for soft rock herbs, Escorting a Mayoress and her mother, assistance in building of a bridge, pleasuring a widow...". Khaos skimmed over the list of missions.
Almost every kind of quest imaginable was available, some easy, some hard, some impossible and some downright weird. However Khaos did not care, he only wanted the quest which took the least amount of time while paying the highest amount of marks.
Of course the quest also had to be in his power range.
"This looks interesting, Kill the son of a merchant travelling to Gother city via the Dead Gorge. Expected to pass by the Gorge tomorrow at noon. Target is a stage 4 Cultivator and is expected to be guarded by at least 5 Cultivators, between the fourth and sixth stages". Khaos read the quest brief.
"Reward is 20 marks and quest fee is 25% of reward (5 marks). You will NOT get your quest fee back whether quest is successful or not. Special perk; Feel free to take all the merchant's goods after quest completion". Khaos thought for a few seconds before taking down the paper containing the quest.
"I would like to take out this quest please", he said to the clerk who was sited next to the board.
The clerk nodded and took the paper. "Name and student code?" he asked.
"Khaos, 4045". Khaos answered.
The clerk took out a stick and to the surprise of Khaos, began writing on the paper with the stick. 'How?' is all Khaos could think.
After writing Khaos' name and student code on the paper containing his quest, he closed his eyes for a few seconds. "You have 5 marks, so you will be left with nothing. Confirm?"
"Yes", Khaos nodded.
"Done, your marks have reduced to zero", the clerk put the paper underneath his table. "Just some advice Khaos, get someone to help you, this quest is too dangerous for your stage", he said.
"That is already what i had in mind, thank you". Khaos said before walking out of the ground floor and flying up to the first floor, which contained the living quarters for students in the Magic realm.
Arriving in front of a certain door, he knocked a few times and patiently waited. The door opened half a minute later to reveal a short girl with pale skin and wild green hair which looked like it survived a hurricane, some of it was even in her mouth.
"Good morning Zara". Khaos said. Zara was the name of that girl of with the bow, whom Khaos had met at the recruitment.
"Oh well what do you know, Khaos can actually talk to people besides the ones in his head, and he also knows my name. I am shocked", she yawned.
"I have a proposition for you". Khaos ignored her sarcastic insults.
"What kind of proposition?" Zara spit out some strands of hair from her mouth.
"The kind that will get you some marks".