Chapter 17: The Professor of Pain and the Missing Floor (Part 1)
Location: The Battle-Mage Arena (Sector 3).
Time: 9:00 AM.
Class: Practical Combat 101.
The arena was a circular pit filled with sand, surrounded by tiered seating. The air smelled of ozone and scorched earth.
Standing in the center was Professor Grendel. He was a man made of scars and muscle, wearing a sleeveless vest that showed off burn marks from dragon fire. He held a heavy iron staff.
[ NPC: Professor Grendel ]
[ Level: 40 ]
[ Class: Battle-Mage (Earth/Fire) ]
[ Trait: Sadist. ]
"Magic is not waving a stick and shouting pretty words!" Grendel roared, pacing the sand. "Magic is artillery! It is force! If you cannot cast a shield in 0.5 seconds, you are not a Mage. You are a corpse!"
He pointed his staff at the students lining the wall.
"Today, we test reflexes. I will fire a [Fire Bolt] at you. You block it, dodge it, or eat it. I don't care."
The Solaris students smirked. They had shields and artifacts. The Terran students looked nervous.
The Umbra students (Ren, Kaelith, and Bastion) stood at the end of the line.
"Start!"
Grendel fired. Boom.
A Solaris girl raised a barrier. The bolt shattered against it. "Pass."
A Terran boy dove into the sand. The bolt singed his hair. "Sloppy. Pass."
Grendel reached the Umbra line.
He looked at Bastion (the Earth Golem).
"You're a rock," Grendel scoffed. He fired a massive fireball.
Bastion didn't move. The fire hit his chest and did nothing.
"Efficient. Pass."
He looked at Kaelith.
She backflipped, firing an arrow mid-air that intercepted the Fire Bolt, detonating it harmlessly.
"Show off. Pass."
Grendel stopped in front of Ren.
"The Null," Grendel grinned. "I heard you caught a Firestorm yesterday. Some say you cheated. Some say you have a toy glove."
Ren stood with his hands behind his back.
"I am just a Retainer, Professor. I carry bags."
"Then carry this," Grendel flicked his wrist.
He didn't fire a Bolt. He fired a [Fire Lance]. A spear of concentrated plasma moving at supersonic speed. This was lethal force.
"Ren!" Caelum shouted from the Solaris line.
Ren's eyes narrowed. [Analytical Eye] slowed the world down.
Trajectory: Chest. Velocity: High. Mana Density: Lethal.
He couldn't use Mana Drain openly again so soon. It would confirm the rumors. He had to use physics.
Ren activated [The Index].
[ Source: 'The Acrobat's Handbook' ]
[ Borrowed Skill: Flowing Water Stance (Rank E) ]
Ren didn't block. He didn't dodge away.
He stepped into the attack.
As the lance approached, Ren spun his body, slapping the side of the lance with his Gauntlet (reinforced with Mana). He didn't stop it; he redirected it.
Swish.
The Fire Lance grazed Ren's ribs, burning a hole in his uniform, and slammed into the stone wall behind him, melting the rock.
Ren completed his spin and returned to a standing position. Smoke curled from his side.
"You missed," Ren said calmly.
The class went silent.
Grendel stared at the melted wall. Then at Ren.
"Redirection," Grendel mused. "Martial Arts? Against magic?"
"My Lord gets into a lot of trouble," Ren said, glancing at Caelum. "I learned to parry."
Grendel laughed. It was a terrifying sound.
"Good! Finally, someone with guts! Ten points to Umbra House!"
Draven Thorne, standing in the line, crushed the wand in his hand.
Location: The Academy Cafeteria.
Time: 12:00 PM.
The cafeteria was segregated by House. Solaris had a gourmet buffet. Umbra had gruel and stale bread.
Ren sat with Kaelith and Bastion at the dark table in the corner.
"That Professor is crazy," Kaelith chewed on an apple she had stolen from the Solaris table. "He aimed to kill."
"He was testing me," Ren said, eating his bread. "He wanted to see if my 'Artifact' would activate. I disappointed him."
Ren looked across the hall.
Caelum was sitting at the Solaris table. But he was sitting alone. The other nobles were ignoring him, or whispering while looking at him with cold eyes.
Caelum looked exhausted. Dark circles rimmed his eyes. He wasn't eating.
"Something is wrong," Ren whispered.
He stood up and walked over to the Solaris table.
"Hey!" A Solaris student shouted. "Umbra trash! Get back to your kennel!"
Ren ignored him. He walked up to Caelum.
"My Lord," Ren said loudly. "Your schedule for the afternoon."
He handed Caelum a napkin. Inside, he had written: Meet me in the library tonight.
Caelum looked up. His eyes were glassy.
"Ren?" Caelum blinked, as if waking from a dream. "I... I feel heavy. Everyone here... they keep talking about Rankings. Who has the most mana? Who has the richest father?"
Caelum gripped the table.
"I hate them, Ren. I want to crush them. I want to take their mana."
Ren froze.
Take their mana?
That wasn't Caelum talking. That was Envy.
"Snap out of it," Ren placed his hand on Caelum's shoulder, injecting a tiny pulse of [Void Presence].
Caelum gasped. The fog in his eyes cleared.
"Whoa," Caelum shook his head. "What was that?"
"Don't eat the food here," Ren whispered. "Eat only the rations I gave you. Someone is spiking the water."
Ren pulled away as Draven approached.
"Plotting something, Null?" Draven sneered.
Ren looked at Draven.
[ Analytical Eye ]
[ Target: Draven Thorne ]
[ Status: Corrupted (Stage 1). ]
[ Aura: Green Miasma (Envy). ]
"Just serving my master," Ren bowed.
He walked away.
The contagion was spreading. The Academy wasn't just hiding a Sin; the Sin was actively feeding on the students.
Location: The Great Library.
Time: 10:00 PM.
Ren was on his shift. Archivist Grey had gone home, leaving him with the keys to the Sub-Basement.
Ren stood in front of the elevator in the main lobby.
It was a brass cage that serviced Floors 1, 2, and 3. There was no button for Floor 4 or Basement 4.
"Grim," Ren summoned his guardian. "Show me the anomaly."
Grim appeared, holding a ghostly blueprint. He pointed to the shaft wall between Basement 3 and the foundation.
There is a gap. 10 meters of empty space.
"A hidden floor," Ren nodded.
He couldn't use the elevator; he didn't have the key. He had to find another way down.
He walked to the Maintenance Closet on Basement 3.
He picked the lock with a wire. Inside was a service hatch for the ventilation system.
"We crawl," Ren said.
He removed the grate. A blast of cold, stale air hit him. It smelled of ozone and... something rotting.
Ren activated [Shadow Veil]. He slipped into the vent.
He crawled for twenty minutes, following Grim's guidance. The vents were narrow, dusty, and full of spiderwebs.
Finally, he reached a vertical shaft. He looked down through the grate.
Below him was a room.
It looked like a laboratory.
Inside the room, there were rows of glass tanks filled with green liquid. Floating inside the tanks were students.
Ren's breath hitched.
He recognized one of them. It was a Terran student who had "failed" the Entrance Exam Service Trial yesterday. The boy who had fallen into the mud pit.
He wasn't dead. He was hooked up to tubes. The tubes were draining his mana, pumping it into a central machine.
And standing in front of the machine was a man in a white coat.
Ren zoomed in. [Analytical Eye].
[ NPC: Professor Vexis ]
[ Class: Alchemist / Warlock ]
[ Affiliation: House of Lunaris / Cult of Envy ]
"The battery," Ren whispered. "They aren't expelling failures. They are recycling them."
Suddenly, the door to the lab opened.
Another figure walked in. A tall, imposing figure wearing the robes of the High Inquisitor.
It wasn't Voss. It was someone higher.
[ NPC: Cardinal Malthus ]
[ Level: 60 ]
[ Affiliation: The Church of Light ]
"How is the harvest?" Malthus asked, his voice smooth.
"Yields are up," Professor Vexis replied. "The Envy Signal is amplifying the competitive drive in the Solaris students. Their mana output is spiking. We will have enough to feed the Eye within the month."
"Good," Malthus nodded. "The Third Seal must remain broken. If the Gluttony King fell, we need Envy to rise to maintain the balance."
Ren froze.
The Church wants the Sins to rise?
To maintain the balance?
Seraphina had warned him. The Church wasn't pure. But this... this was conspiracy on a global scale.
Suddenly, Grim yanked Ren's hair. DANGER.
A small, mechanical spider was crawling in the vent next to Ren's face. It had a red camera eye.
It blinked.
BEEP.
"Intruder detected in Sector 4 Ventilation," a mechanical voice announced in the lab below.
Malthus looked up directly at the vent grate.
"Rats in the walls," Malthus raised his hand. [Spell: Holy Smite].
A beam of blinding light shot up toward the vent.
"Move!" Ren shouted.
He kicked the grate out and dropped down into the lab just as the vent exploded behind him.
He landed in a crouch amidst the glass and machinery.
Professor Vexis screamed. "A student?! Kill him!"
Malthus didn't scream. He smiled.
"Ah," Malthus said. "The Null. I was wondering when you would find your way here."
Ren drew his Shiv.
Level 19 vs Level 60.
"Grim," Ren whispered. "Open the Index. I need everything."
End of Chapter 17 - Part 1
Summary:
Combat Class: Ren survives Professor Grendel's lethal test by redirecting a Fire Lance with martial arts, earning grudging respect.
The Sickness: Ren notices Caelum and Solaris students behaving erratically—aggressive, jealous. He realizes it's the influence of Envy.
The Investigation: Ren sneaks into the ventilation system of the Library.
The Discovery: Ren finds Basement Level 4. It is a laboratory where failed students are used as mana batteries.
The Conspiracy: Ren overhears Cardinal Malthus (Church) and Professor Vexis discussing feeding the "Eye of Envy" to maintain balance.
The Trap: Ren is detected by a security bot. Malthus attacks. Ren drops into the lab to face a Level 60 boss.