Born in Blood



Liam's studies and cultivation continued.

Cultivation, Battle, World Knowledge, World History, Race Studies, Forging and more revealed countless pieces of intriguing knowledge.

Liam spent most of his free time in the Expansion Rooms and studying, leaving little time for any enjoyment.

Firstly, cultivation was really the easiest class to go through, especially for Liam since he had genuine interest in the subject. 

He also learned the mental transmission trick fairly quickly. 

It only worked if the person you're connecting to wants you to connect to them, and practice was the key to learning it. 

…Thus, Liam had to pair with Nord of all people, since nobody else wanted to work with either of them. Everything was a challenge to the boy, and studies were no exception.

[Test, test. Did it work?] Liam transmitted to Nord's mental sphere. The look of shock mixed with defeat in his vermillion eyes indicated success.

Velia was shocked that Liam learned it in a week, especially since it took her more than a month.

As a reward, she gave him five thousand 'Ora' Stones and an early introduction to the next topic… which gathered him even more enemies.

…Wonderful.

On the other hand, battle was something Liam excelled in like no other. 

Everyday, it looked like his classmates were getting more and more dejected from losing to him… except Nord and Rin, who tried harder every session, to Janice's delight.

Meanwhile, his forging sessions had been going well. 

They'd finally moved on to using magical beasts corpses to forge small but powerful weapons. 

Jordan gave Liam special attention. 

To everyone's dismay, he'd outshine them in that topic as well, unaware of his previous experience.

Rin hadn't let up either. During his lunch breaks, she'd sit opposite him in silence, making her usual gestures and receiving a shrug back.

'Is she hoping I'll eventually tell her?' Liam shook his head.

What shocked him the most during his studies, was how the Thousand Year War did actually happen, and the Ashura's did exist!

Ancient records – which the academy apparently had – mentioned that the entire world was in a chaotic state for a thousand years, roughly 3000 years back.

Liam's history teacher, Noris Jhest, even brought out illustrations of what ancient Ashuras looked like.

They were giant, six-armed humanoid species, spanning from 3 to 5 meters tall.

Their chests, arms, legs and fists were extremely chiseled and defined, wrapped in what looked like ancient markings and patterning – the surface was reflective, like a dense metal alloy. In contrast, their skin was tanned.

It was their natural body defense, Noris explained, said to be extremely hard. Even tougher than magical beasts by comparison.

Liam didn't know if it was exaggerated, but their sharp eyes were a crimson shade, and wild, snow-like lustrous hair either flowed freely behind their backs, or was spiked upwards.

There were even drawings of the pants they wore – loose hakama trousers of no specific color, hung by a similar sash at their waist.

Every drawing Liam saw of them had this wrathful face, as though they wanted to devour the world.

…Well, turns out, they did.

At least, according to history, they wanted to devour earth and all its inhabitants with their vicious maws – lined with human-like teeth, but incredibly sharper.

Female Ashuras were presumably the same, but apparently, the species did not have any breeding capabilities, and their origin is still unknown.

There weren't even records about their centers of power or unique abilities. Not even the academic archives knew that.

The war ended when all the human countries temporarily allied to fight them.

After a relentless battle, the Ashuras had gone extinct from then on, not a peep or whisper.

Liam learned about the ancient Psion race too, who humans had reaped the Psionic Runes from.

They were also humanoid shaped, except much, much skinner. Horse-shaped heads didn't make them look pleasing in the least, and a hollow but glowing circle hung at the top of it, like some sort of alien crown.

Within the hollowness of the crown, was the Psionic Rune Liam recognized, floating freely.

Besides that, they had no other distinct features.

Psions disappeared too. 

Well, the correct term would be extinct, since they were massacred in large numbers and farmed for their Runes. 

But presumably, they were still alive… hidden somewhere safe, away from human hands.

Meanwhile, Language consisted of learning about almost every tongue in the explorable world – vampiric, dwarfish, elvish, including the surrounding countries that bordered Echoria.

Liam decided to learn each and every one, just in case it came into use one day – but focused mainly on vampiric.

The very last and most peculiar class was Realm Studies.

Liam made his way to a secluded corridor of the Lecture Hall, then came across a small room barely enough to house two people at once.

A man's back was to the entrance door, who sat behind a marble desk and wrote down with a quill feather.

"Mr Kilver?" Liam called out, prompting the man to turn around.

Kivler Urwol was middle-aged, but hardly looked like it – graying short hair, dark bags under his drooping amber eyes, along with three lines of stress creasing his forehead. 

"What do you want?" he asked impatiently with a frown. 

"I'm here for the class," said Liam. The word class was an exaggeration.

Kivler looked shocked. 

"You are?" he uttered, a wide smile growing on his face. "Well come right in!"

Liam nodded and muddled through the cramped space, settling on the small chair opposite to a smaller board.

"Excuse my lack of accommodation… I haven't had a student in roughly 5 semesters, so I've been reassigned to this room," Kivler said bitterly. 

Liam did a slow nod of understanding, wondering why he was there in such a class. 

"Well, the correct name for this class should be realm theory, since this topic isn't confirmed," Kivler explained. "In essence, what I theorize is that there are different realms."

Liam hummed in understanding, slightly interested.

"I've been called a madman more than once… but I know this is true!" Kivler gestured passionately. "Think about it, where have the Celestials gone, besides the inheritances they left behind? What about the Ashuras? History says they are extinct, but that's bull! They just disappeared one day."