Volume 2: Masquerade
Chapter 59: Hunting Game [1]
Caelus returned to the academy, and it was morning right now, early morning, 5 AM. The time difference in the Mist Forest is entirely different; otherwise, it would have taken two days to come back since Caelus and Aiven were both in the Mist Forest for over two days.
He still doesn't know how this works because he only got memories of Envy's childhood memories and Pride's face and about him a bit information which is almost useless to him, and when he thought he could learn more about this world, he didn't get any information about this world, and he even didn't get no memories of the people Envy devoured, nor more than that, because he got out of those memories without reaching the end.
So, he has to learn about the world on his own and also hide himself from being found out by the Sinners.
The only reason he could come this far was because of the nightmares he had been having for the past three years. The nightmares caused his intelligence and mind to be strengthened to that of a peak of a rank 5 awakener, and this caused him to have adaptability to things that he is unfamiliar with, like killing others and still having the mind to stay still and emotionless, or acting in front of others for the first time.
That is why Caelus could act like that and not make any mistakes all the way along, but without knowledge about the world he is in, when Envy is one of the knowledgeable beings in the world, he is not going to cause problems for him, so what he needs right now is information.
Without information, he is cooked as fuck.
"Sigh, life is too hard on me; if only I could have gotten my core to rank 5 when I devoured Envy, but it is useless to think about it." Caelus sighed in his thoughts as he came to the mission center and submitted the requirements to complete the mission they had taken.
On the way to the academy, Caelus took the materials required to finish the mission and came back to the academy, and of course, to look like Envy, he didn't do the work and let Aiven do the work. In his opinion, Envy was one of the leaders in the sinner group since sinners are made of seven sins, and Caelus knew about it; he read novels, of course, which his grandpa told him to read, and he saw the usage of the seven sins a lot. So, he guessed it based on that.
And he was right with his guess; this guy Aiven worked and brought him all the materials he needed.
In the academy, classes are not held daily; rather, they are scheduled on a day-by-day basis, with classes one day and breaks the next. In this break, most choose to do missions to earn points, and from my analysis, this is why the academy gave so few points to everyone, as this could motivate people to do missions and work without taking breaks all the time.
And the classes are same every time I have classes since the classes I had will cover up everything, since first block is the physical training, second is Leym energy and applications to learn more about affinities, third is practicing and applying the applications learned in the second block in that chamber or even try to absorb leym energy to increase rank of their cores, fourth block is the history block which will let me get knowledge about the past, next fifth block I have the optional classes so I can go to library or do some training extra, the sixth block is small break where I can walk around the academy freely, with seventh block a competition which can also let me earn points and also rank up, with remaining blocks one being can learn from teacher but I don't need it, Second is dinner time, and last is just a social break and free time until the time to go back to dorms.
'Such a long-ass schedule I have. Despite all that, I have a full one-day holiday day by day. I can't thank enough the one who put those rules in the academy. Still, fuck the person who created the schedule like shit.'
After submitting, they went to their first class. On the way to the class, Caelus saw Uriel and Aeren walking in front of them. As if sensing Caelus and Aiven, Uriel and Aeren both turned their backs and saw them both.
Uriel has a slightly different expression from yesterday, and it is a soft and sad expression.
Her eyes can tell that she did not get proper sleep, and Aeren only looked at Caelus and felt he was being attracted to Caelus. (No homo, this is not that attraction.)
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(Aeren's POV)
What is this feeling? I am feeling like it is like meeting a long-lost brother; my soul is reacting to this guy's soul. It's just like last time in the cathedral when he came close to me; my soul reacted, causing the soul to almost come out and attack Caelus, but this time it increased a lot.
My soul affinity is reacting to him, and this has never happened before. I feel like I am missing something very important. Does this have something to do with the future memories I saw in my dreams?
I wish I could see those again and find out more about them, but since I have awakened, I have not had those dreams again. Alas, not all plans go the way we think.
If I had gotten light affinity, it would have been perfect, but the assassin that came to my house was a darkness affinity, and with no choice left, I got this affinity and had to use it to hide my real affinity.
If my affinity is exposed, it is going to bring many organizations and churches in the world to hunt me down, and my father can't protect me all the time despite him being the richest man in the whole world, since churches like to lock up people who are strong and uncontrollable or even new ones with new affinities withinthe church and make them devout, who only follow gods, and make the person a machine who follows orders.
It's not that I am an atheist or someone who would go against their rules; I am religious and even believe there is a god in this world, but not the seven gods, rather only one god who is the absolute being, a god who can control all life and creation of this world. (People who are reading this, this is fiction. I am going to say this: don't compare it to the real world, and this guy, he is religious and prays to God, but he thinks these seven gods are just clones of the real one, and you find out more about it while reading. I didn't give any spoilers.)
And mainly what I want is to live freely as I wish, not work all day like a machine.
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'What the fuck am I feeling? I feel like killing this guy right at this instance.' Caelus was feeling a very different emotion from what Aeren was feeling; while Aeren was feeling the emotion of a long-lost brother, Caelus was feeling the emotion to kill Aeren.
Hmm, now that I think about it, there is an instance where I almost died due to this guy. Is this a coincidence or something? And if it weren't for that, that Envy guy's rank 5 core would have still been in my body, which could have let Envy easily defeat me.'
Envy was only rank 2 the whole time he was in the mind barrier, and the reason for that was also the core; if the core was still there, he could have used it and won easily, but to hide himself from the head bishop of Aevum Church, he had to sacrifice the core.
'Yes, this is a reasonable theory in my opinion; otherwise, it doesn't make sense for a person who used to be rank 5 to lose so easily to me. Even with all those butterflies and abilities I got, I could not put up a fight to him, and now that I think about it, since the core is a spiritual object and the soul is also a spiritual being, it can be said that the soul is the one that is containing the core and affinities of every living being, so we are awakening the soul, not the physical body, but then how does the human body get enhanced by the awakening? Hmm, something's fishy; it has to be related to rank 5, if not more than that. But now is not the time to think about that stuff; I have to deal with today's hunting game or something. But I want to sleep; I am so fucking tired from all the stuff.' Caelus thought as he yawned.
Aiven, who saw Caelus yawning, thought, 'Lord Envy must have been tired from doing such hard work for over four years. If only it weren't for the mission, Lord Envy would have already been rank 5 and be one of the strongest people in the world.'