Chapter 9: Chapter 8: New friends

Jack left the principal’s office after reading even more information from a fourth book that Meinhard had given him. It was a book about Nightblade, the faction that Meinhard reckoned Jack should spend time scrutinizing.

Jack wasn’t sure of the professor’s motive, but he could feel the pressure of the Corvus wasn’t just limited to the Harper.

“Hey, wimpy,” a condescending voice called out.

Jack turned around to see his ever-resentful former classmate, Patrick Hensley. He was a head taller than Jack, his body strong and hefty with a touch of muscularity that a kid his age shouldn’t have had. His face was still as childish as ever, with a pair of pinky cheeks glowing in the afternoon heat.

The Hensley and the Harper had been archenemies since the founding days of Oxdale. It wasn’t until this generation that the latter found themself on the back foot due to the lack of heirs and high-profit contracts. For a dominating powerhouse like the Corvus, these Harper’s problems were but trivialities that didn’t deserve their interference. If you wanted the Corvus’s backing, you first had to prove yourself worthy.

Unlike his own silky smooth robe, Patrick walked with another kid, slim thin and poor-looking, his clothes ragged and worn, sandal traps almost snapped. His eyes sneakily looked at Jack, like those of an untrained hound, confused about which target did its master want him to attack. Servitude existed, even among ten years old.

Jack rolled his eyes at Patrick and attempted to say something, but he decided against it.  He knew giving out even one response would just lead to escalation.

Jack just walked away, leaving Patrick drowning in the worst kind of language he could have prepared in the past two years. The reputation of the Harper trade association was going downward and an unpromising future without an heir could cause factions to turn their back against them faster than ever. The task given to Patrick by his parents was to ruin Jack’s reputation right here at school, giving Abraham some extra diversions and a handful of rumors behind his back.

Seeing his target heading for the door, Patrick picked up a cobble, swinging his hand behind for some three seconds, then threw the stone at Jack.

The projectile flew fast with mana. Stunted, all Jack heard was a whoosh in the air, and his shoulder was hit. The pointy end of the stone pierced through his robe and undershirt, reaching his skin to spill some blood before dropping down. Jack stumbled forward, almost losing his balance because of the shock.

Fighting the pain, Jack’s face hardened up, eyes opened wide. He immediately reached down, found a similar cobble, and turned around, facing Patrick. Seeing Jack’s eyes and feeling a strange pressure, Patrick unconsciously took a step back. Unlike him, Jack only needed a second to channel his mana and throw the stone.

It flew straight toward Patrick's head so fast that he wasn’t even capable of a simple reflex of hand covering or ducking down. He knew the stone hitting him in the middle of the face would be dangerous, but all he could do was close his eyes. Before he could cry out in pain from a laceration on his cheek, the kid next to him did.

Patrick opened his eyes and was about to scorn his servant before realizing that the poor kid had the same bleeding mark on his cheek.

Patrick turned his head behind him to see two blurry marks on the wall and two half of the stone rolling below them.

Patrick’s leg trembled. His eyes frighteningly turned toward Jack, who was smiling.

“Know your place, Pat!”

Having said that, Jack continued walking without noticing two small figures following but keeping their distance from him.

 

Jack noticed he had been rubbing his temples a lot the last few days. Using mana had been exhausting to him. Even so, he managed to get to the training field after some stops on the road.

Jack threw himself on the nearby grass, closing his eyes to rest and reorganize today’s information. The Nightblade progression bar had reached 5%, mainly because the book the principal had given him was about the faction’s history, unlike the Artificer’s one, which explained how the faction function. Nevertheless, he had managed to grasp some basic understanding of the faction, enough to feel interested and consider his future options.

All in all, Jack had basic understanding of five factions: Warrior, Nightblade, Arcanist, Maester and Artificer. Thinking while running, he reckoned that he should complete his study on Maester before approaching Nightblade. Just behind Artificer, Maester was the faction with the most relevant information on the Spirit and Mind aspect, the foundation for any further study on soul deficiency. 

Jack opened his eyes and got up as he heard an exhausting breathing sound approaching. It grew louder, slowly turning into a moan.

Jack looked around for the source of the awful sound and saw the fat kid who had sat next to him during Julia’s class. By his side was a completely opposite boy in appearance, slim thin like the one following Patrick around, though his tidy clothing and bright face instantly cast aside the idea of a poor background.

Jack stretched out and stood up as the two walked closer. The fat one was still breathing heavily, while the slim one was wiping away the sweat on his face before showing off his white teeth with an exciting smile.

“Hello, Jack Corvus. I’m Thomas, Thomas Horvarth.”

Thomas patted the other kid’s shoulder, signaling him to introduce himself. His big belly, however, was still heaving too much for him to hold any breath for a word.

“This one is Agostino Zorzi,” Thomas said in his stead. “You can call him Agos, or Fatino would do. Following you from school was a bit too much for him.”

Agos raised his hand, signaling a greeting, though that seemed to consume every bit of stored energy he had just regained. The heavy breathing continued.

Jack curiously looked at Agos. Thomas might haven’t noticed yet, but every time Agos breathed out, a tiny flow of mana also came out, only to be reabsorbed when he breathed in again.

Jack smiled. His eyes were still stuck on Argos, on his overweight body, but somehow had covered the distance all the way from the school.

Jack then turned his eyes back toward Thomas, as this kid is just as interesting. Every time Jack ran here, even from the mansion, he would be all sweaty. Thomas was just wiping away a few drops of sweat, appearing fully energetic, something Jack reckoned even Patrick with his abnormal physical strength and stamina, probably the strongest in Oxdale for his age, couldn’t even do.

Jack sat down on one of the stakes and started the conversation.

“Let me guess, you guys saw me deal with Patrick?”

Thomas nodded, and Agos had been moving his head up and down the whole time.

“And you,” Jack pointed at Thomas, “entice him to come here to be my subordinate”

Thomas raised his eyebrows.

“Wow, you sure know everything, huh? I’ve been talking to my dad and he told me to befriend you. Adults talk about dependence and stuff, but me and this guy don’t give a crap.”

Jack leaned forward.

“I thought matter like that was drilled into your mind from birth.”

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Thomas shrugged.

“Agos was too busy eating while I was too busy running around.”

Jack laughed out loud at the innocent answer from Thomas. More or less, he could tell that Thomas was speaking the truth.

“Then why don't you two talk to me at school, but instead track me all the way here?”

Agos raised his hand up for his turn to talk, but Thomas ignored it.

“I’ve been seeing you running since yesterday. I reckoned you were practicing something, so I just sneakily followed you to avoid disrupting your work. As for today, I couldn’t find you at the school when I wanted to talk. Sorry about that!”

Thomas bowed his head sincerely. Jack waved his hands and let things pass. 

As he raised his head, Thomas pointed at the stakes and asked.

“What are these?”

“Training field,” Jack said.

Thomas enthusiastically walked toward the stakes, he then climbed on one and tried to stand on it. Jack watched everything closely. The chosen stake had a small radius; its surface only covered half of Thomas' foot. Despite that, he managed to keep himself afloat between the stakes, though, with some imbalance.

What the hell are these two kids?

Only now did Agos open his mouth and say something. His voice was higher and more childish than Thomas’.

“Hey Jack, it’s been a while since we last talked.”

He ended the sentence with some puffing breathing sound. Agos then put his hand on his stomach. 

“So hungry,” Agos whined.

In his vague memory, Jack remembered seeing Agos in the junior class. A kid who was quiet and shy just like his former self, though, for different reasons.

Thomas hopped down and patted Agos back again.

“Why don’t you worry about losing some weight instead of eating?”

Agos’ face fell without any objection.

“Why lose weight?” Jack asked.

Thomas was surprised by Jack’s answer as Agos’ eyes brightened up instantly.

“Yeah, why lose weight? Eating is fun!” Agos exclaimed, nodding his head.

“No,” Jack said, “because you, fat one, can benefit a lot from eating.”

“Because what?” Both Thomas and Agos asked reactively.

Jack didn’t reveal his reasoning yet; he instead came up with a prank, something he had always wanted to do on Xerath.

“Call me Big Boss and I’ll tell you.”

“Big Boss!” The boys answered.

“Why do you call him that too, Thomas?” Agos asked.

Thomas pointed at the stakes.

“Big Boss Jack is definitely practicing with the stakes and I’ll ask about them anyway. I have to practice more to carry your fat face on our next field trip.”

Agos scratched his head, smiling.

“Field trip?” Jack asked.

“Ah yes, Big Boss hasn’t gone on any field trip yet, right?”

Jack made a small smile at how quickly Thomas had adopted the “Big Boss” custom.

“Two weeks from now, we will go to the Lavia Garden for some monster sparring. Miss Julia did mention it today, but you weren't in the class. Last time, Fatino and I got beaten up quite good by a Hedge Mole.”

Agos felt a sudden chill, slapping his belly like a drum.

Ever since his reincarnation into this world, Jack hadn’t had a chance to encounter any monster. He was really looking forward to getting some first-hand experience.

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