Khaos entered his room and removed his damaged uniform before cleaning his body. The cold water soothed his burns and eased the pain by a little bit. Then he wore a pair of cloth shorts before sitting on his bed and taking out the box containing the Flux absorption bracelet.
"Can this even be called a bracelet?" he wondered as he inspected the artifact in his hand. It was actually a thin black circular chain made of small, oval shaped links.
Khaos quickly slid his right hand into the 'bracelet' and to his surprise, it shrunk until it fit perfectly on his wrist, leaving almost no space in between.
"How will i even remove this in the future?" he wondered as he assumed a lotus position and began to cultivate.
One week passed without Khaos moving a muscle, then when he finally did, he smiled slightly. "My cultivation speed has gone back to normal".
He wondered why his cultivation had slowed down after the breakthrough into the fifth stage in the first place. At first he thought it to be normal, a consequence of growing stronger. However, after talking to Zara, he discovered that was not the case.
But after all the weird things happening to him lately, that was the least of his concern. He then decided to sleep for the rest of the day since although back to normal, his cultivation speed was too slow for his needs and the full week of it had tired his mind.
"Khaos, my fate is your destiny".
"I chose you because only you, are me".
"Come, help me. I quickly tire".
As usual, Khaos woke up the next morning covered with sweat and with a confused mind. However, this time he managed to remember a few words from his dream.
"Is that really the Lawgiver?, if yes what kind of help does he need. What can i possibly save him from?" Khaos wondered as he took out another uniform from the trunk under his bed.
Maybe i should start learning more about this Lawgiver'. He thought. The more visions, voices and dreams he had, the more he believed that there was something at play, and he was a big part of whatever it was.
Khaos flew out of the residential floor and into the classroom floor. After passing a few doors, he entered the appointed room, and inside he found some of the students he enrolled with sitting in groups, conversing.
After spotting Zara sitting alone at the back corner, he went and sat beside her. "Hello", Khaos greeted.
"Hie Khaos", she smiled, "Does it work like you intended?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The artifact you bought". Zara replied.
"Yes it works just fine. Thank you for asking about it and not my injuries", Khaos said.
"You still do not want to tell me what it was?" Zara pouted.
"Fine i will tell you". Khaos sighed and Zara beamed, shuffling closer to him. "It was a burnt shoulder and a cut on my thigh".
"I hate you so much". Zara said.
"Thank you Zara, that means so much to me", Khaos mocked.
"I thought you said you do not wear jewelry", Zara said.
"I don't", Khaos shrugged. Zara answered by pulling away Khaos' right sleeve and lifting up his hand, to show the black chain on his wrist.
"This one is special". Khaos said.
"Oh was it a gift from a girl?" Zara asked.
"Yes, she gave me this while professing her undying love for me". Khaos said while stroking the Flux absorption bracelet with a smile.
Zara was about to answer when Instructor Kira walked in; "Good morning students, today i am going to instruct you on beast ecology, their names, classifications and so on". She said, getting straight to the point since she knew the time of a cultivator was valuable.
"Beast names are very hard to teach since there are more variations to them than there are humans on Zylon. But they all have similarities, so we gave these 'similarities' names instead of individual species....."
Six hours later;
"So in conclusion, as long as you are not yet in the Resurgence Realm like myself, stay away from humanoid class beasts. You will have no chance at survival", Kira said before leaving the room.
"Horned Lion". Zara said.
"What?"
"Horned Lion is the name of the beast which killed my mother". Zara explained.
"Oh" Khaos, thought for a little bit, "Giant toad for my father and earth worm for mother". Khaos said.
"I am sorry" Zara put her hand on Khaos'.
"You too". Khaos smiled, bitterly.
"By the way i need to buy Flux stones, do you have any idea if the Academy sells them?" Khaos asked as he removed Zara's hand from his own.
"I am not sure, you should ask the clerk at the shop. Or you could just buy a few hours in the Flux room". Zara replied.
"Flux room?, What is that?"
"Just as the name implies. Cultivating there is like sitting inside a giant flux stone. Your Cultivation speed becomes at least 10 times faster". Zara said.
Khaos sighed. "Why did i not think of that. Of course the Academy would have something like that, otherwise they would not have given us this ridiculous demand".
Part of the rules of the Academy stated that all students must become stage 10 Magic realm cultivators no more than two years of entering the Academy. This rule was easy to accomplish for the Cultivators who enrolled with a higher cultivation.
For students like Khaos, who were still in the fifth stage, it was very hard even with Flux stones and impossible without.
"How much for an hour?" Khaos asked.
"1 mark". Zara answered.
Khaos nodded as the duo flew out and into the residential floors. "Hey do you want to come inside for a bit?. I bought some wine yesterday maybe we could open a bottle, or we could open something else". Zara said slightly pulling down the neck of her shirt.
"Maybe another time Zara, i have to..."
"No need to explain Khaos, see you later, or next year". Zara opened her door and walked in without another word.
Khaos sighed and walked towards his own room.
Khaos',
"Zara i...huh?" he turned around, but there was no one else in the hallway behind him. Turning back towards his room, he saw a dismembered head staring at him. It floated to be on his eye level and blood flowed from it's fully green eyes.
Help me!' the figure screamed, with a screech so loud that Khaos covered his ears in pain, stumbling backwards.
Then Khaos blinked once, and the figure was gone. "What the fuck?" he mumbled in confusion. It must be noted that normal people would be terrified after such an experience, but Khaos was a cultivator.
Feeling something running down his neck, he touched the area, and his fingers came back covered in blood. His ears were bleeding.