Brak—!
Roan cursed loudly as he was knocked over to the ground.
His nose was crooked and bleeding.
Almost instantly, one of the hooligans grabbed the metal plate and threw it hard.
Kai raised his arm to block and stood up, knocking his chair over. His hand was quick to grab a fork as the other hooligan leaped across the table and tackled him down, making them the center of attention.
"You ass-wipe!" He mounted Kai and socked his knuckles down.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed, making others whistle and cheer.
Kai's left arm wrestled over control of the mid-space, but at the same time, the other hooligan already got up and charged. He gripped the steel fork hard and stabbed it into the thigh, and twisted his torso, avoiding the foot that would've kicked his head like a soccer ball.
He rolled and stood up, only to find one already on him.
Realizing that Roan was getting up, which was trouble, Kai raised his arms as a distraction.
From below, he swung his foot, slamming his instep into the guy's crotch.
Saliva bursts from the guy's mouth—as the kick landed right on his family jewels, forcing his legs to bend inward. Kai breathed and raised his gaze, only to find Roan, with a broken nose, charging in with speed.
He tried to swing, but missed.
Roan blocked another of Kai's strikes and drove his fist into Kai's stomach.
It instantly paralyzed Kai from head to toe; the disparity in strength was evident.
As he dropped to the floor, Roan began stomping on him in anger.
The other two also participated—violently stomping on Kai until a professor noticed the odd gathering of students. He's a bald man wearing a red and black tracksuit, and he immediately broke up the fight.
"No violence in the main building!" He roared, glaring at Roan—and his goons. "Do you want to get a ticket? Do you want me to double your fucking quota for this week?!"
"No, Sir," Roan pushed in one side of his nose with a thumb and exhaled sharply, clearing out the blood. "He attacked me first."
"He attacked you first?" The bald professor glanced at Kai, still struggling to stand. Then, he looked to the other students present, noting that Roan seemed to be telling the truth. "A Lesser Angel is already making trouble on the first day he's in the academy? That's brave.
"Your Mana Ores quota would be doubled this week," He said sharply. "Remember that."
Once the professor came, the crowd dispersed.
Most have already gone back to their dorms.
Since today was Sunday, all of them are free for today, so there will be no mandatory mining.
At least for those who already racked up enough for the weekly quota.
"Nice fight."
Kai looked up and saw a familiar woman with golden eyes and a black high ponytail.
He saw him in the class sitting at the very front.
"You've got heart," She said, offering a hand to help him up. "But you're really lucky they did not use their Legacy Skills." Kai took it, hissing from the sharp pain that lanced his lower left rib. She didn't let go. "But I understand why you did it."
Once he was standing, the woman raised her brows in surprise.
"I didn't realize you were tall," She commented. "You should be shorter than me."
"Should be?"
"I'm at the front of the orientation, so I saw you clearly."
Kai sized her height, and then at himself, only now realizing that he's now taller.
He was seven feet before. Now, he's about four inches taller.
"I only awakened my bloodline recently," Kai shrugged, then pointed at her. "And you are?"
"Matilda," She answered and looked down at his lower rib. "You should get that checked."
Matilda told him where the infirmary was, and he went there.
Of course, he loitered around for at least fifteen minutes to avoid bumping into Roan.
Considering the broken nose, he's going to be visiting the infirmary, too.
Kai consulted with the healer, a middle-aged woman who emanated a pleasantly healing aura, and was treated. But when she asked about his student identification, that privilege was instantly gone as she only gave him a few healing patches and sent him on his way.
It was the life of a Lesser Angel.
Angels and High Angels would probably be instantly healed by her.
Not him, though.
Kai dragged himself back to the dormitory after putting on one healing patch where it hurts.
He made a turn and instantly stopped, seeing that Roan and eight others were hanging out right outside the dormitory building. Roan's nose was already fixed. And he was keeping his eyes open, presumably searching for someone.
Yeah, I'll go try getting in through the back door.
Kai went around the building and reached the backyard.
He was surprised to see four established Angels working on something. A big, magical circle could be seen at the mouth of a gate leading to the basement. It was easy to tell that they were established Angels from their distinct blazer uniform and animal-shaped masks.
New Angels are given a faceless white mask.
So, that's why the gate was locked.
Along the way earlier, he saw that the gate to the backyard was closed and locked.
Of course, Kai climbed over it without thinking much.
Now he realized the backyard was prohibited. Or at least for today.
No students around.
It was probably why Roan and those from the Ursa Minor group were only hanging near the gate.
I need to get to the back door, but that'll mean going around them.
Considering the wall around the back door was neck high, he could duck down and reach the back gate, that'll lead to the back door. But entering through the gate meant he's going to be exposing himself.
It was a completely open field.
But there's no other way in.
Kai's eyes flickered, recalling something he had, "Nigh-Phantom."
He used his Legacy Imprint again, having a theory in mind that he needed to experiment.
Reaching the gate was easy, but now, it's time to walk over to the back door.
Nigh-Phantom imprint is said to make me only visible to intent. In that case, these Angels aren't going to be able to see me.
Kai inhaled deeply and walked silently towards the back door.
About twenty feet away from him, the Angels were carrying crates into the basement. Nothing is shielding him from their periphery, but none of them turned to look at him. Kai was walking at a normal pace, and yet, nobody even glanced at him.
His heart was pounding inside his chest in worry.
But even until he pulled the door open, nobody looked his way.
It was a success.
"Huh, so that's how it worked," Kai smirked inwardly.
Back inside the prison, the Angel came to check on him, so the Nigh-Phantom imprint didn't work its magic. Now, those Angels outside are there to do whatever they were doing. None of them has any intent towards him, so he's basically invisible to them.
"I can easily sneak onto people with this," He nodded, happy with the finding. He then looked outside the window, at the Angels. "But what are they doing there? And why do they seem to be hurrying?"
Kai didn't think much about it and went to his room.
Many students were walking around, so nobody paid him any mind.
He sat on the mattress on the floor that he had dusted, and opened his uniform.
As expected, his left side was now purple. He tried to curl his body and protect his vitals, but one stomp slipped through his defense. "Shit, that's a broken rib for sure," He cursed aloud. "If tomorrow is the start of mining, then I'm screwed. No, wait... I need to start mining today.
"No, I don't think a day of mining would be enough to gather the quota for the week. I'll fail this week's quota regardless."
Kai lay on the mattress and supported his head with his hands.
He stared at the ceiling in thought.
"I'm stronger than I thought," He recalled the fight, and was pleasant at the result. "I thought taking a hit from them would devastate me, but only Roan's punch did. All thanks to her. On top of the Nigh-Phantom, she also made my body stronger, I bet."
Pushing aside those thoughts, Kai took the book from Professor Hera and started reading.
He needed to catch up quickly.
Something about what Professor Hera said, that she wanted to give him a fighting chance, bugged him. It almost feels like something bad was going to happen to them, and he might be the only one who's not ready.
Later that night, Kai inhaled deeply, but that only made him cough.
He tried breathing, but he couldn't gain enough oxygen.
Shit! Did the leaves run out?!
Kai had been focusing on learning that he had forgotten about finding a refill for his reservoir.
Now, it ran out, and it instantly felt like he was being choked.
For the next twenty minutes, Kai tried his best to crawl towards the staircase. His chest was heaving up and down crazily, and his face was already pale. If he tried his hardest, he could probably survive until morning.
But he didn't know where to get his refill, so he needed to move now.
His mind snapped to focus when he heard the sound of knocking.
"H-Help!" He forced out the word. "Someone help!"
Just then, the door creaked open slowly, and a familiar face poked inside.
"Kai? Are you down there? It's me," Bree called out. Her eyes immediately went wide when she saw him choking and pale at the bottom of the staircase. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She rushed down with a box in hand.
Swiftly, she took a few leaves from the box and changed Kai's reservoir.
It took a minute for the effect to kick in and for Kai to finally gain a proper breath.
"Thank you," He whispered, clutching her hand hard. "Thank you…"
Bree chuckled lightly and flicked his mask, "See? What would you do without me?"
She helped him to lie on the mattress, and then went to the corner of the basement. There was a bigger reservoir there, exactly like the one behind the mask. She placed a couple of leaves in there before closing it.
On the side, the red light turned green.
"What's that?" Kai asked.
"It's so you don't have to wear a mask inside your own room and waste the Ox Leaves in your mask," She squatted down and placed the box down. "Only use your mask when you're mining and outside. Don't use it in the main building and your room. You don't have an unlimited supply of Ox Leaves."
"And what is this?" Kai took the box and looked inside.
It was empty.
"It's our rations called an Accolade. At monday, follow the crowd, and you will get to the post to take your Accolade for the week along with submitting your quota." She took the box from his hand and placed it down. "Just bring your student badge to get it. Normally, you will be given enough to survive the entire week, but you're a Lesser Angel, so you will probably get less."
"And the Ox Leaves you put there?" Kai looked at the room reservoir.
"I covered it for you, and it'll last a few days," She placed her elbows on the mattress and placed her chin on her palms, looking at Kai with a smirk. "How about it? Do you still think you can survive on your own?"