A week had passed since the night Darol's head rolled across blood-slicked floorboards.
Jonna stood once again before Kai, her demeanor was nervous with blend of fear and forced composure. Her once haughty posture had been eroded by the reality of her situation she was no longer a predator, but prey kept alive by utility.
Kai sat on the edge of his dorm's desk, arms crossed, his eyes boring into her with the weight of someone who had seen too much too fast.
"So… that's it?" His tone was flat, yet laced with the promise of consequences.
Jonna swallowed, then nodded stiffly. "Y-yes. I found some rumours. One more thing… there's talk between clans. People think that the Claymore Clan might be involved in the Drakkor massacre."
At the mention of that name, something dark passed through Kai's eyes.
Claymore.
Again.
Everything pointed to them. Every trail of blood and silence, every broken clue whispered their name.
His fists clenched. But he forced himself to breathe normally.
He needed time. And he needed money, a lot at that.
But he couldn't ask Jonna. Her father a high-ranking noble tied to the Academy was too vigilant. Too calculating. If Jonna started funneling gold or resources without cause, suspicion would follow like hounds to a bleeding fox.
Instead, Kai ordered, "Keep digging about Claymore. Look for different perspectives in this matter. Any suspicious visitors like a high ranking magus or cultivators, secret meetings etc. Anything out of place in or around the Claymore's territory. I want to know everything."
Jonna nodded quickly, almost tripping over her own boots as she turned to leave, retreating like a rabbit from a serpent. The door clicked behind her, and silence returned.
Kai exhaled and looked at Nyx, who was coiled on his windowsill, soaking up the weak morning light.
"I need money."
---
The Academy's Task Zone was a large hall, buzzing with noise and movement. It wasn't grand like the libraries or elemental training rooms this place was raw, built for function, not flair.
A massive wooden board dominated the far wall, covered in dozens of parchment slips. Bold letters above it spelled out TASK BOARD, chiseled into the stone in blood-red dye that never faded.
Students swarmed the space like crows, some tearing tasks from the board, others waiting in line at the nearby reception desk to submit their forms or receive payment. Maids in dark gray uniforms walked among them, pinning new task sheets to empty slots.
Kai stepped in, his dark robe fluttering slightly behind him. Whispers followed in as he passed some students. His name wasn't spoken aloud, but his presence had become infamous since everyone remembered the pale-faced Joanna rushing out of his room.
Kai didn't pay any attention to them.
His eyes scanned the task board. The slips were color-coded by rank white for Rank 1, blue for Rank 2, green for Rank 3, and so on.
The Rank 1 section was filled with petty tasks ingredient gathering, low-risk escort missions, pest extermination. He bypassed them all.
He wanted to take risk for his growth.
His fingers stopped on a blue slip, a Rank 2 mission. The handwriting was tight and military neat.
> Task Code: P15
Assignment: Orc Extermination
Location: Perfi Village, Outer Forest Belt.
Details: Local villagers reports sightings of rogue orcs band in the nearby forest. Estimated group: 12–20. All Rank 1–2 threats.
Objective: Eliminate all targets. Collect Collar Bones above the heart of each orc that you kill.
Reward: 20 gold per Collar Bone.
Group Size Recommended: 3–5 Rank 2 magus.
Time Limit: 5days.
Notes: Orcs have grown increasingly aggressive. Several civilians went missing. Proceed with caution.
Kai raised a brow. Twenty gold per orc? That kind of money would make a low-rank family drool over. Now he understood the rumors why magus lived in luxury while others begged for copper.
He tore the paper from the board and moved to the reception desk.
The maid gave him a side glance. "Group?"
"Solo," he replied flatly.
Her eyes flicked to the form, then back at him. She hesitated, but something made her stamp the parchment without protest. "Approved. Deadline starts now. Miss the return date and it's automatic failure."
Although it was a mission for a group of Rank 2 she approved it because many students thought highly of themselves, that they need reality check every now and then.
Kai nodded and turned away, the stamped paper tucked into his sleeve.
Seeing Kai's departing figure she shighed and said
"Another haughty youngmaster."
---
Back in Kai's dorm, he began his preparations.
He packed the basics rations that he brought from leftover money. He tied the sheath of his sword across his back. It was still a cultivator's weapon, rough and unenchanted, but it had seen him through blood.
A real wand or staff would've helped. Channeling magic through his fingers was crude and it waste his Qi in casting a magic spell. But they weren't cheap. Even the weakest wand could cost hundreds of gold, and a proper fire-element focus? Closer to thousand.
His robes were reinforced with a layer of inner leather, not enough to block serious spells or blades, but enough to turn glancing blows.
He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He didn't look like a student anymore. The black of his robe, the silver trim that marked his Rank 1 status and the crimson eyes.
Nyx slithered across his arm, her obsidian scales catching the sunlight.
She hissed once.
Kai smiled.
"You're right. We'll just have to do it the hard way."
He has some plan in his mind.
---
Perfi Village lay five hours northeast, nestled between two cracked hills and surrounded by dark oak trees. It was the kind of place that existed on no map, ignored by the capital, protected only by the prayers of peasants and the occasional wandering cultivator according to information provided by academy.
Kai took the main forest road, riding a hired horse while keeping his senses sharp. The deeper he traveled, the heavier the air grew like the forest itself was holding its breath.
By the time he reached the outskirts of Perfi, the sun was dipping low, staining the treetops with bloody orange.
Smoke curled from the chimneys of a dozen homes. Farmers stared at him from behind fences. Their faces were lean and weary, carved by years of tiredness. Fear lingered in their eyes of the forest, of the beasts that now crept too close.
A child darted behind a door. A woman clutched a pitchfork with white knuckles.
Kai dismounted and walked toward the largest house, where an old man with a crossbow waited on the porch.
"You the one from the Academy?" the man rasped, his eyes narrowing.
Kai nodded, handing over the task form.
The man took it and read it carefully before stamping it, then looked up slowly.
"Orcs took three of our guards yesterday. These orcs are nesting deeper in the forest. We've seen their lair, there was almost Twenty or more orcs there. But their behaviour was different, these orcs were destroying everything on their path like mad man. They brutally smashed a person in front of me to paste." he shivered remembering what he had saw.
"Could you handle it?" there was some hesitation in his voice. Because looking at this young boy in front of him he could not tell if he was powerful enough to handle a single one of them.
Kai didn't flinch and said "I will handle it, but give me some information of their common routes and a simplified forest map first."
The man nodded and opened the door behind him. "You can sleep here tonight. Don't go into the woods for now. Rest well, they commonly attack on dusk."
Kai stepped inside. The room smelled of stew and firewood.
He sat by the hearth, watching the flames.
Nyx curled around his wrist silently hissing.
The first mission had begun.