Liam spent the following week checking out the various facilities the academy offered.
He had to skim through most of them, but he got the general gist of how each establishment worked.
For starters, battle halls were giant rectangular buildings built close to one another.
The interior was similar to Liam’s basement – vast empty floors illuminated by natural white lights, the walls of which were reinforced with steel and protective inscriptions.
It was also where students could do friendly duels, train, and wager their wealth, techniques and dwellings.
Accepting a wager or duel wasn’t mandatory, but paying a hefty fee of 10K Stones could grant you an ‘Force Accept’ slip.
It cost a massive amount of money and any individual with half a brain would avoid pointless wagers… but nobles were a peculiar species.
The slip forced the one challenged to either accept the wager, or pay the huge fee the slip cost.
That… annoyed Liam. But he knew it was to create competition between the students.
On that note, Liam browsed through the academic missions administered by the Main Hall – a hub for all things academy related.
He soon realized that missions were granted by the Headmaster himself. They would only be given after the first month of studying, and depended entirely on how good or bad the student was doing.
Those with greater marks would also be given longer breaks, and vastly more rewarding (but presumably harder) missions.
At the same time, there were Expansion Rooms – the floors of which were heavily inscribed and studded with runes that helped with expanding the sea of consciousness, simply by applying strong pressure on their mental spheres.
There was already something similar to that back in Ucladd, but this one was made to steadily advance the mind depending on what level the individual’s mental sphere was on.
Paired with the Psionic Rune, it noticeably bolstered the expansion speed, but too much of it would have negative effects on the mind.
Although he visited the Grand Library – probably the biggest establishment, even bigger than the Main Hall – he just didn’t know what to look for because of the sheer amount of books there.
Finally, it was one day before classes started, and Liam had to visit the Oracle.
Truth be told, he was worried. Extremely worried. He didn’t know what ‘peering into the soul’ entailed, but he knew it meant trouble.
If he could, he’d obviously not go.
But this was mandatory.
If he knew anything about himself, it was that his soul was corrupted in the most literal sense of the word.
…Could they sense that?
He suppressed his paranoia and made his way to the Oracle’s Suite, an orb-shaped house made from black glass with a small door in front.
There weren’t too many students around, since most had already completed their appointment.
Liam heaved a sigh and walked in.
His eye was greeted with a crusty old hag, gray unkempt hair flowing wildly over her shoulders. She wore a single, silky black garment which shone under the dark light illuminating the space.
Her face was wrinkled and sagging, and an expressionless look rested on it.
“Ugh, I thought we were done for the week,” she uttered, annoyed. “My head hurts, dammit. Let’s get this over with.”
Liam knew the Oracle as Nelsa. From the rumors circulating around the first week of the academy, she was probably the highest paid one there.
Nelsa gestured for Liam to sit across from her, then heaved a long, annoyed sigh.
“You ever been… ‘Oracled’ before?” she asked in an annoyed tone, to which Liam responded by shaking his head. “My mental waves will enter your sea of consciousness. When that happens, you may feel a strange sensation, but it’s only for a moment. Don’t resist it, or else the reading will come out wrong.”
Liam nodded firmly, but he couldn’t hide the nervous look in his eye.
“It’s not that serious. I can’t uncover any of your secrets or life memories – I’m not advanced enough for that. It just gives me your specialties and what your motivations are.”
That did nothing to soothe his worries.
“I shall begin,” Nelsa said, turning stern.
Her mental waves left her forehead and swirled around Liam’s mind, slowly seeping through his sea of consciousness.
Meanwhile, Liam noticed how her mental waves were completely different than anyone else’s he’d seen. It was dense, with different types of invisible energy mixed into it.
The process continued.
Liam didn’t feel pain, just an itch that made him want to scratch the inside of his brain. It was a momentary sensation, but eventually it ceased. 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
Nelsa closed her eyes, her consciousness drifting into a slumbering state.
When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the same room.
///
Nelsa took a moment to steady herself.
Readings were always difficult to do. It’s what caused her condition to slowly deteriorate, and what made cultivation so arduous for her.
Although some considered her connection with the Opposition a blessing, she herself regarded it as a curse. Especially since it was that very connection that made her come to such a state.
Although it caused her mental waves to have special properties – and gave her certain abilities – her body and core were never strong, even from a young age.
Still, being an Oracle promised her a wealthy future, one she capitalized on all she could.
She held her head to calm down the starting headache, then slowly stood up, her gaze gaining enough focus to assess her surroundings.
Darkness.
Cold, cold darkness.
Everywhere she looked was pure, unadulterated dusk. Even her stretched hand was consumed by the thick shadows.
And it was so cold! Her skin instantly stiffened, goosebumps growing on her body.
The floor below her was a crimson liquid… the pungent smell of which indicated blood.
Nelsa was instantly unsettled. Fear creeped into her heart like the shadows that lingered all around, but she suppressed those feelings.
‘What’s wrong with this kid?’ she wondered bleakly, realizing the dark liquid beneath her feet had started to squirm and gurgle.
Abruptly, solid lumps started to emerge from beneath her feet.
Nelsa’s eyes widened in shock when she realized they were corpses.
