Ten days had passed since Kai began studying at the Academy.
In that time, he had gained five Apprentice-level magic spells, though none were remarkable on their own. Each had taken hours of careful study, painstaking analysis, and countless failures to properly execute. Every drop of progress had to be earned.
His days followed a disciplined routine, mornings were for sword training in the small stone in his dorm, afternoons for classes and spell study, and nights for meditation using the reversed technique, Nyx had helped perfect.
He could have progressed even faster learned more spells, delved deeper but he was shackled by poverty.
Of the gold his father had left behind, only three coins remained. A single basic meal cost ten bronze, and though his tuition had thankfully included food for the year, it left him with no spare coin for anything else not reagents, not tools, not even bribes for advanced materials.
He was learning to stretch every copper.
And he had learned disappointment, too.
When he first arrived, Kai had believed that the vast Magic Library would offer him spells of every element and tier. But once his elemental affinities were registered fire he was only granted access to the fire library, a portion of the Apprentice-tier collection. No dark magic books. No water manipulation scrolls. No secrets of necromancy or shadowmancy which were part of dark element, even though he could feel those affinities humming inside his core.
The Academy claimed it was to "protect students from harm," but Kai knew better.
Knowledge here was hoarded like treasure. More money you threw more knowledge you get.
This academy, Graveyard of Dead, as it was officially called, was situated in the eastern reaches of the country of Huz. The country itself was small compared to the great nation Atlus.
The largest city Shar lay nearly a thousand kilometers westward from Azure City.
Rumor had it Shar was a place of magi towers, spell forges, and flying carriages powered by crystal cores. A true city of wonders. And it had many free magic libraries, but the problem was it that was controlled by a Platinum clan named "Phoenix Force."
Kai wanted to go there.
But that dream felt far away. Right now, Kai's strength was nowhere near that he can travel a thousand kilometre without getting killed.
He was surrounded by apprentices Rank 1 and 2 students. Rank 3 did not even glare at him.
At first, many of them approached him.
Some extended hands of friendship. Others offered to sell used reagents or basic spell scrolls at inflated prices. Some even invited him to join their practice groups.
He refused them all.
He didn't need friends. He needed power. Although it was a childish behaviour on his part but what can he do, he can't trust anyone for now. A slave would be better off than a fake friend.
And so, they began to avoid him not because he had rejected them, but because of something else.
Nowadays Kai seemed to be very angry.
He was short-tempered, withdrawn and unpredictable. Many whispered behind his back that he was cursed. Others claimed he was possessed.
And in truth… they weren't entirely wrong.
It had all started with his dreams seven days ago.
At first, they were bittersweet. Visions of his childhood, the laughter of his parents, the scent of breakfast cooking on the old hearth. His clan's compound standing proud beneath the moonlight. He would awaken with tears on his cheeks and a hollow feeling in his chest.
But soon the dreams turned darker.
He saw his father's severed head rolling across the floor. His mother's blood pooling beneath her as she clutched his hand. He heard their screams. Smelled the fire and death.
Every night, the same horrors replayed more vivid than the last.
He grew pale. Restless. Cold.
Desperate, he sought help from the Academy's resident physician Magus Hex, a Rank 5 healer known for his skill and sharper tongue.
Hex performed a soul scan and frowned.
"You've been cursed," he said bluntly, his fingers glowing with healing runes. "Memory affliction, emotional distortion, and a minor soul tether. Nothing life-threatening, but it's feeding on your grief. Making it worse."
"Can you remove it?" Kai asked.
Hex nodded. "Of course. That'll be five gold."
Kai hesitated. "I only have three."
The healer snorted, then scowled. "Then get out."
He was thrown out of the room, humiliated and seething.
One day he'd rip that man's throat out Kai swore.
But for now… he needed to know who had cursed him.
Only one name came to mind: Jonna Velran.
She was the daughter of one of the Academy's largest benefactors. Pretty, wealthy, and utterly cruel. She delighted in crushing the will of weaker students watching them suffer until they quit. The Academy didn't care because tuition was non-refundable.
He had seen it happen.
Books stolen. Meals poisoned. Dorms vandalized.
Kai didn't have proof, but the curse was too refined, too petty, too perfectly cruel.
It had her signature all over it.
So he began investigating. Watching for any person with suspicion. Asking subtle questions. Tracking her movements.
But if she truly was behind it, she hadn't approached him directly.
Not yet.
One evening, after a bland dinner of rice and roots, Kai walked in a dim corridor leading to his dorm.
The air felt colder than usual. The torches flickered.
Then, from around the corner, a figure leapt out.
Kai flinched, reaching instinctively for the dagger on his belt. He couldn't see the person's face, but they stood unmoving in the hallway, shrouded in shadow.
He stepped closer.
And froze.
It was her.
A woman stood there, smiling gently, her dark hair falling past her shoulders in waves. Her robes were bloodied, torn. Her eyes were soft and kind.
"…M-Mother?"
His voice cracked like a child's.
She reached out a hand, eyes glistening. "Kai…"
He staggered back, trembling.
This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.
She was dead.
He'd watched her die.
But she was standing there, smiling, like nothing had happened.
Tears burned at the corners of his eyes. His fingers curled around the dagger, unsure whether to fall to his knees or plunge the blade into his own heart.
And then…
Her face changed.
The smile widened far too wide.
Her eyes turned black.
And her voice became a whisper, echoing in his skull: "Kai. Come home."
He was stunned seeing his mother face distorted like this. He grew cold. His anger was at peak his blood surging. Who was messing with him. He released his death Qi in surrounding he can sense 30 metres around himself due to his physical core.
He circulated his death Qi towards his. Then he saw it.
The thing standing in front of him was a skeleton it had illusion spell casted on it.
A skeleton was needed to cast this spell.
After that he also sense two presence standing behind a pillar. Both of them were inept apprentices. He grew raged. Kai jumped towards the skeleton. He punched it, he punched it so hard that it's head shattered into pieces.
Then he ran towards both apperentices he unsheathed his dagger and instantly killed one of them. Because he also had inept apprentice cultivator physique, he had reached in front of another boy in no time. Kai slashed at his foot.
He stumbled and fell on the ground.
"P….Please spare me. I..It was not my plan." the black haired boy said weeping.
"It is Jonna, isn't it ?" Kai said, black haired boy eyes widened.
"H..How.." before he said something Kai has already slashed his throat.
Soon he fell lifeless on the ground. Kai want to hurry and kill Jonna but she was a Rank 2 mage. So he had to be cautious.
He collected both of the bodies and skeleton in one place and started absorbing it with his new improved absorbing technique.
He stood up he has reached Peak Apprentice level magus.
He had skipped twenty days of meditation with just simply killing two inept apprentice and one skeleton which was summoned by them.
He was still raged, he dragged both of their bodies toward his dorm.
.
.
Next day a heart wrenching news got out.
Two inept apprentices died. Their heads was found outside the private dorm of a female magus. Their body was turned into meat paste and was thrown into the windows of her dorm.
No one knew who did this.