After Professor Davin's lecture, the students went their separate ways. Some headed to the training grounds, some went to the library, and others returned to their accommodations. Aeren, however, spent a few hours traveling around the academy before finally making his way to the library.
He stayed there for hours, the sun slowly sinking below the horizon. When the red moon finally rose in the evening, Aeren left the academy to return to his café. He reached his café in half an hour by foot, but when he arrived, he found nothing but ruins.
Aeren stared at the crumbled walls with no emotion on his face. He thought,
'No place to sleep for today'.
He walked to a large piece of the broken wall, leaned against it, and looked up at the sky, his eyes fixed on the moon. After a few minutes, he rose and, with a single, massive jump, launched himself toward the sky.
BOOOOOM.
The café was completely erased. The very ground around it shattered, and the air itself was consumed by the force of Aeren's leap. The world, known as 'Pearl,' trembled. The mana in the area was almost completely eradicated, leaving a desolate zone where life had been only moments before.
Screams and cries of terror echoed across the world as blood was splattered everywhere. Most of the living beings in the immediate vicinity died instantly. Only a few quick reactions were able to survive.
Aeren's form was a dark streak in the night sky as he traveled through void. He landed softly on the moon, the ground a pure red color. He sat there for a few minutes, looking around at the monster-filled landscape. He then began to capture some of the nearby monsters, making them unconscious with a single knife swing, and took them with him.
He walked until he found a secluded, empty place and started the construction of a new café on the red moon. In a matter of minutes, a new building materialized, rising from the red soil.
"Now, the work is done," Aeren said, a faint smile on his lips for a single second before it vanished into his usual emotionless expression. He walked inside and arranged the tables and chairs, making the interior peaceful and beautiful. He then went down to the basement he had recently constructed to secure the monsters he had captured, before returning to his café to wait.
After a few hours, footsteps echoed outside, and Aeren returned to the main floor.
A hulking figure, with an ugly head and a body of solid muscle, peered through the doorway. The monster was a massive beast, unlike any Aeren had ever seen. It stared at Aeren.
"Hmm, what does 'café' mean?" the monster asked, its voice a gravelly rumble.
Aeren looked at the monster and began to make it a cup of coffee and answered.
"It's for a light breakfast and for enjoying silence with a friend or a loved one. It's a place to work on paper peacefully."
The monster stared at the simple cup in Aeren's hand.
"You are quite young for a human to reach this moon," the monster said, its gaze now filled with a respect. "I have never seen a human so young on this moon."
Aeren looked back at the monster, a polite tone in his voice.
"You think so? I came here recently."
The monster's large head tilted. "I can tell, you're new because of the way you speak."
"Hmm, can I get information about the moon?" Aeren asked politely.
"You have to pay the price for information," it said with grin.
"What works as money here?" Aeren asked, his tone still polite.
"So, on the moon, Moon Stones are currency. They're born in the bodies of the moon's monsters and are far more valuable than gold or silver from Pearl," the monster said, watching Aeren carefully.
"How do I earn Moon Stones?" Aeren asked.
"You have to find and kill Moon Monsters. They look half-red and half-silver with a bright light." Aeren looked at the monster, which was a dull silver color. He calmly gave the monster a cup of coffee and some cookies.
"How many Moon Stones do you have?" Aeren asked, his voice flat.
"I have none. But if you help me get some, I'll tell you more."
"What?" Aeren said, his gaze unblinking.
"You are new here. You don't know a thing about this place, and I will help you survive in this hellish Moon."
"Tell me, how did you found this place." Aeren asked politely.
"It's a secret."
Aeren turned away, continuing to clean the counter. "Then forget about a companionship."
"You won't be able to survive alone here," the monster said, its tone now serious and a hint of desperation in its voice.
Aeren did not turn around. "I don't care. Tell me your secret, and I will consider it. Otherwise, forget it."
The monster looked at Aeren's back, a flicker of defeat in its eyes. "Okay, I'll tell you. But you have to promise me you will join me."
"Hmm, okay," Aeren said, giving the monster a brief nod.
The monster let out a sigh of relief, its wide smile returning. It pulled down its collar, revealing a swirling, red mark on its neck. "When you are dispelled by your world, you get a Mark from the moon on your neck. The longer you spend on the moon, the stronger the Mark gets. You don't have a Mark on your neck, which means you just came here recently."
"When you join the moon, you get a Mark. The more time you spend here, the more you connect with the moon. Your search range will increase, and your mark will grow stronger, supporting you more and more. If you can grow your moon tattoo to its full size, you will be able to connect with the moon itself, but no one has ever done it yet."
Aeren nodded, his gaze fixed on the moon Mark on the monster's neck.
"Did your mark bring you to this place?"
"No, I was walking around trying to find food, then I saw this shop. I've never seen one like this before, so I just guessed," the monster said, scratching the back of its neck.
Aeren looked at the monster from head to toe, his cold eyes unblinking. "I'll join you, but give me one last answer."
"What do you want to ask?"
"Tell me why you're trusting me to be your companion."
"Oh, that's easy," the monster said, its voice filled with genuine warmth. "Once, I met a human being, and he was kind to every species he met. He even helped me in the past."
Aeren's expression did not change. "Is that so?" he said, his voice flat. Then, with no warning, he delivered a single, devastating punch to the monster's stomach.
BOOOOM.
The monster's eyes widened in shock before it crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Aeren dragged the monster's body to the new basement he had just constructed, a place with thick, soundproof walls. He left the monster's body there and returned to the quiet of his new café, its doors now officially open.