7 Chapter 4

It was currently the day after headmaster Anansi had announced the Inter-Academy Championship. The Dusk Academy had been rather quiet in the past few months after the 'Purging' had ended. A minority of students had been thrown out, having failed to survive in their allocated beast ranges for even a month. The rest of the students had been brought back from the beast ranges immediately after the one month was over. At first, the academy had wanted to test how long the groups would be able to survive and progress in the wilderness, with the best teams being rewarded handsomely. However, after the followers of Eris attacked Favian and his group, it was decided that the students wouldn't be put in any more danger than they needed to be, for now. It would be a lot easier to protect them once they were at the academy, since there were various defense mechanisms built into it that even the most powerful organizations couldn't break.

"Are there any news about his whereabouts?" Anansi asked, speaking into a communications device that was hung around his neck. The device was charcoal in color, and was in the shape of a spider.

"There's nothing concrete that we've been able to find out yet, master. There is something peculiar, however. The barrier to the south is nearing its weakest state in more than ten thousand years. All of the other organizations on the continent are slowly coming to realize what danger this poses, and the manpower guarding the area is being bolstered. It's still not enough, but we are getting there," a female voice replied.

"Keep me posted as much as possible Kalifa," he replied with a sigh. He hadn't found out what he wanted to, and the situation was slowly starting to stress him out. "We don't have that much time left, do?"

…

Favian had just woken up, when he'd gotten a call from Aria through his communication device. She'd asked him to come visit her at her office, which he hadn't done in quite a long time. He had postponed seeing her for a while now as he'd been too busy trying to find out where Dunkel was and how he could help him. He had made sure to only do what he deemed necessary, which was to increase his strength and find information on the southern continent. He would rarely meet up with Licht, however, this also worked as a means to swap information as the two were both working towards the same goal.

His room had changed in its appearance in the past months. There were diagrams littered around the walls, stuck onto them with some adhesive. Favian had written his ideas and thoughts onto the, the visual nature of it helping him sort his ideas out. He could have used his game system to do this, but he felt the need to do all of this by hand. The diagrams depicted what the different areas of the southern continent Luna should look like, according to the pieces of information he'd been able to gather from the library. There were many conflicting pieces of evidence, but he was able to sort these out in the best way he possibly could. The map of the 'Dark Continent' was much larger than that of Ortu Solis,and it could accommodate almost 3 times its land mass.

Favian gave his diagrams a last look before leaving his room. He walked towards Aria's office quickly, and saw the usual signpost that floated above the little cottage like a cloud; the name 'Aria Pencost'. Favian didn't bother knocking on the door, since he'd figured out that Aria was able to sense whenever he was there. Since the door to her cottage had no doorknob, it took Favian a long time to figure out that it opened by transmitting some arcana into it, which would then act as the energy to push it open. 'These ingenious magicians,' Favian had thought when he first realized this.

"Ahh Favian, thanks for coming here so quickly. Come, have a seat," she said, her voice as sweet as ever. Aria's snow-white skin looked as fair as ever, and her beauty was still at the pique of existence, at least in Favian's opinion. By now, however, Favian noticed that she treated him like a child, as if he were her own son. All thoughts of her on a romantic level were therefore shoved out of his mind, and even if they weren't, he'd need to at least become a more powerful magician to court her, which could take decades that he wasn't willing to spend on an unrequited love.

"Master, what do you need me for?" he asked, having taken a seat in front of her desk, tea having already been prepared for him. The jasmine fragrance that emanated from the beverage soothed his mind and spirit.

"Well,I have something to tell you. I am almost certain that you will be representing us at the Inter-Academy Competition, and ask that you just do me a little favor," Aria said whilst twiddling her thumbs together.

'Weird, she's never acted so shy before. Is this really Aria?' Favian thought to himself. He was confused why she would act so suspiciously, especially when she wanted him to do her a favor. "Uh,I would love to agree but I need to hear what you want me to do first," he replied.

Aria proceeded to sigh, and thought about how to formulate the words that she wanted to say. She furrowed her brows, after which she finally said, "So… I have a daughter. I know this might come as a shock, but she is the same age as you, and studies at the Dawn Academy. I know, it's a cliche, with me being a teacher at the Dusk Academy and her father being a teacher at the Dawn Academy. But, I haven't talked to her in so long because of that bastard of a man!" She quickly calmed herself down, her drink having been spilled unintentionally in her rage. Aria knew how to keep her emotions in check for the majority of the time, and they would only flair up in very specific situations, but she'd be able to calm them rather quickly.

"Sorry about that, where was I now? Yes, you see, I just want you to tell her that I love her, and that she has all the rights to hate me. Can you do that for me?" she asked, her eyes slowly watering up, however she didn't let any tears fall onto her face.

Favian was surprised at this revelation. He would have never thought that she had a child, especially when she didn't even look older than 30 years of age. 'How old must she be if her daughter is already 17?' Favian thought.

"Yes of course I will, you just have to point her out for me and I'll make sure she listens to the message," he said. He could see that his master was pained by her situation, so he'd try to help her however possible. "What's her name master?"

"Sharie, her name is Sharie," Aria said dejectedly. "Anyways, moving on. I would give you a speech or something because you'll need to qualify for the competition, but I'm sure that you'll be fine. Good luck my boy!" With that, Favian bid farewell to Aria and left to go to back his dorm on a rather uneventful stroll.

Favian contemplated over what his master had just told him. He hadn't realized that she was battling with such a mental scar, or at least it seemed that way to him. Favian was unsure what he would do if a child of his own hated him or was taken away from him. He'd witnessed many things at his medical school, such as scandals surrounding a parent not paying the child support needed to fund a kid's medical expenses, so he knew how tough such situations were emotionally.

'Anyways, not much I can do about that. I wonder what type of person she is though? I bet she's a loose cannon. It wouldn't even surprise me because of Aria's nature.'

Favian had now reached his bedroom and ordered some food for himself. The competition within the academy to select the top five students would be starting soon, so he wanted to consolidate his current strength. 'System, show me my stats!' he ordered.

[DING! Strength 5.0, Constitution 5.5, Agility 8.0, Intelligence 14, Arcana 14, Total Mana Pool 14000. Experience Total 21000]

'Hmm, seems that my stats haven't really grown that much, except for my intelligence and arcana. I guess that's the aftereffect of spending so much time at the library instead of doing martial arts. At least I was able to gather some achievements and get my experience to 21 thousand because of it,' Favian thought. He had only used himself and his game system for training this whole time as he didn't want anybody to find out about his shadow for now. However, it seemed that he'd have to release it soon, as he was rather defenseless without it. 'Hopefully I only have to use it at the Inter-Academy Competition against the other academies and not against my peers here,' he thought.

He then proceeded to meditate for the rest of the day and through the night until morning came, in order to gather up his strength. The sunlight showered his meditating face, urging him to get up and proceed with his day that would surely be packed to the brim with action.

"Dunkel, wish me good luck."