Chapter 56: Weird Atmosphere in the Academy

Frederic sent us to our dorms while he had a meeting with the other teachers. Not just us, but most of the students were back in their dorms.

I asked him if we could stay in the library instead, for now. We all wanted to research things about demons.

"Yes, sure, but don’t stay there till late. Return before 9 pm, please."

Before he left the office, he said, "So you’re sure Mary is dead, Maison too, and there was nothing inside the treasure room, only that demon?"

Tom and Ethan got quite nervous, but I remained calm, answering the question without looking suspicious at all.

"Yes, correct. The whole treasure was just a lie to attract people and free the demon from that place."

Frederic sighed. "Tsk. These demons love doing shit like this. Thank you for sharing all of this with us so quickly. But please, what we talked about doesn’t leave this room, understood? Even if your friends ask you about it, don’t say anything."

"We understand, sir."

We left the office and headed to the library. There were students leaving the main building, going back to their dorms as the principal had requested.

It took a while for the message to reach everyone, so some students were still clueless about what was happening.

Once inside the library, Tom took the lead in looking for the right books.

"I think I once saw something about demons in this place," Tom said as he walked through the corridor, running his fingers over the books on the shelves, "though I can’t quite remember where."

We searched for the books together, not just looking for obvious words like demon. Sometimes, the information was hidden in books that didn’t look like they had anything important in them.

Tom, for some reason, knew a lot about the library, as if he had been there multiple times.

Well, he had been, since the day he came to the academy, but there was more to it. I think it was due to his brother. He must have gone to the same academy, so he would have talked to Tom about the library. It had to be that.

"Found it," Tom said.

The book didn’t have the word demon on it. It was a history book about the creatures that roamed the lands in the past.

"I was looking for information about... that thing," Tom said, looking at me, "and accidentally found out about the demons."

Tom was talking about that information he knew, about how the rifts had appeared more than 1000 years ago. It wasn’t the first time, but the Hunter Society was hiding that information to make it look like a new thing.

Ethan caught on to the fact that we had a secret among us, but he didn’t ask about it. Instead, he asked about my secret.

"When are we going to talk about the fact that the octopus said some weird shit, as if you were a monster too, and then you had some glands and excreted a weird liquid? What the fuck was that, Vincent?"

I still didn’t know how to share that with them. Like, how the fuck was I supposed to say I had a Primordial Serpent Bloodline? Should I even say it?

Saying nothing would only make things weird between us, and at the moment, Tom and Ethan were the only friends I had. The only ones I could trust.

Well, Tom was trustworthy. Ethan was still getting there, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he was quite helpful and was trying his best to become someone trustworthy.

So, I decided to share a few things with them. It was the only way for things to stay normal between us.

I shared how I escaped the rift, how my pocket dimension might be the key for humanity to explore the rifts in the future without worrying about the time limit inside, and also about the weird serpent I found that gave me a bloodline.

That was a lot, I know, but it was the only way. If they didn’t respond accordingly, then I could just resort to some methods like... killing them.

Hell, I don’t know why I even thought about that. Was the bloodline changing my nature, making me more primal, more animal-like? I wasn’t sure.

Gladly, they responded better than I expected.

"That’s dope! What the fuck? How did you find that serpent? Primordial? I don’t think I’ve ever read about them," Tom said.

He was so excited to learn about something he hadn’t seen before. That was just how nerdy he was, always looking for new things to learn.

Ethan was also curious about everything, especially my ability and how I could avoid the unknown energy that killed hunters if they stayed inside for too long.

"This could mean we can finally explore the rifts and learn more about them," Ethan said, "like, not even the S rank hunters can stay for too long, yet you can basically stay inside forever. That’s how you survived more than 1 week inside the Unstable Rift, right?"

"Correct."

It was a shock to them. They were already thinking about the possibilities of my power.

"So maybe that’s why they want you to explore the new continent," Tom realized. "Does Lion Heart know about your power?"

Tom was quick to put things together. Lion Heart certainly knew my ability was weird and that it was the reason I survived in the Unstable Rift, but he didn’t know for sure. Yet. I hadn’t told him. But that man was also smart, so he certainly had a good guess.

"Maybe," I said. "I didn’t share any of this with him. Perhaps he just wants my ability to bring supplies during the exploration, I don’t know."

I answered a few questions so we could get back to doing what we were there for.

"You’ll keep my secret, right?" I asked them.

That was the only thing I wanted from them. No one could know about it, especially about the bloodline.

"We will," Ethan said firmly, "but the bloodline is changing your body, so I don’t know how long you can keep it a secret. You must already know that, right?"

I knew it. Every time I used my toxin, anyone would know something was wrong. My ability had nothing to do with poison, so having glands and expelling a toxin was just weird.

"I know," I said, "I’ll try not to use it much, but there’s no way I can keep this secret forever. I just hope to have enough power to protect it."

I was getting stronger, for sure, but I still had a long way ahead of me. Anyone or anything strong enough could get me and extract the information by torturing me, or worse. I really needed to get stronger.

We focused on the demon again. Things were better between us. Before, they were apprehensive, certainly thinking about the things they had seen and heard about me.

But now that I explained everything, our trust was back to where it should be. A trio that trusted each other.

"This isn’t good," Tom said as he scanned through the book, flipping the pages, reading things pretty damn fast.

"What?" I said.

"It says here that the demons are ancient creatures, which we already know, but the way the book describes their homeland, it does sound like that new continent they are exploring right now."

"What? Really?"

If that was the case, then the demon might return to the new continent.

"Wouldn’t having a powerful demon make the exploration of that continent even harder? I mean, your brother is already missing..." I said.

"Your brother is missing?" Ethan frowned.

The man was not quite updated on a few things, so we filled him in.

"There isn’t much information about their powers or how to kill them, at least not in this book or any book available to us right now. I know there are restricted areas inside this library, but should we try to sneak in?"

We instantly looked at Ethan. He was the one who could turn us invisible, so if there was someone capable of sneaking in, it was him.

"Look, we could try this shit, but not now. The academy is on full alert with the whole demon problem, so is it a good idea?"

I was sure it was the best time to do it.

"The principal said he would go to a meeting with the other teachers, right? And look, not even the librarian is here. Isn’t this the best time for us? I don’t think it can get better than this."

Tom and Ethan looked around. They hadn’t realized the librarian wasn’t there. I did because of my heightened senses.

"Now that you say it, this might be a good opportunity. But the restricted sections certainly have defense mechanisms, right? What do we do?"

I had no idea, honestly, but we had to try something.

I walked over to where the librarian worked, searching behind his desk, hoping to find anything useful.

That’s when someone else walked into the library, alone. It was Zeph, that fucking noble blond dude.

"May I ask what you are doing here? Should I call the guards?" Zeph said with that arrogant tone of his.