Chapter 59 - Warp Arrays.
"Hey, you stand up!" Professor Tacitus pointed at Blake with his frown deepening.
'How did he know what I was thinking.' Blake was surprised by the professor's command.
"Not you, the one behind you." Blake turned and saw a noble kid laughing behind him.
'Phew… that was a close one… I almost thought he could read minds.' Blake was sweating balls; he couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when he was told to sit.
"What's so funny!" Professor Tacitus stared at the kid with a soul-chilling gaze.
"I…" The kid was sweating buckets, he couldn't deny the fact that he was laughing neither did he want to rat out his friend that cracked a joke about professor Tacitus's height.
Although professor Tacitus had seen both the kid and his friend laughing, he couldn't hear their conversation so, he called up the kid to tell him. If he denied not talking more points would be deducted, and even the kid told the truth the points will be deducted if the joke involved him, but no matter what they did they will have their points deducted.
Seeing the kid was not ready to talk, professor Tacitus decided not to waste more time on them. "Minus 300 points for you and your friend."
The professor's actions caused the students to begin murmuring, but Tacitus's eyes were on the kid who looked like he was trying to make a difficult decision.
"Is there anything you would like to say in your defense?" Professor Tacitus gave the kid the little push he needed to spill the beans.
'Why should I get punished when he was the one that cracked the joke. This is my chance to vindicate myself…' The kid saw the professor's words as a chance to save his skin or so he thought.
"He was the one that was making fun of your height, why do I have to get punished." The kid's confession shocked the life out of his friend that was beside him, as well as the whole class.
Instead of flying into a rage just like Blake had predicted, professor Tacitus made an evil grin that gave Blake the creeps.
"Make that minus 700 for saying such a thing about your professor and for you, minus 500 points for laughing at the joke." Professor Tacitus felt satisfied when he saw the dread on the faces of both kids.
'Not only does he have a temper, but he is also both ruthless and cunning.' Blake couldn't help but feel sorry for them, this was the first day of school and the point balance was already running in minus.
'Rich kids never know the rule of the streets "thou shall not snitch", they only want to save their skin.' Blake wasn't so surprised as the rest of the class because he had heard their conversation, but didn't care about it.
When the kid was called up, the thought of snitching on them in order to gain the love of the bad-tempered professor, but because the rules of the street were so entrenched in him it only lasted but a second.
After the drama that had occurred the class was way quieter than it was at the beginning of the lesson.
When professor Tacitus was done with his introduction to forging, he whistled and went through the warp gate that appeared in front of the class.
'What a job well done.' Professor Tacitus inwardly parted himself on the back as the job of instilling fear into the hearts of the students was completed effortlessly.
…
The end of the forging class marked the end of the day. Blake made a mental review of how the class had gone as he was on his way to his room.
'All he taught was a glorified version of a blacksmith. Considering the fact that this is just the introduction, I'll say it's not bad, just hope things get interesting after this.'
When he got to his room, he had a little rest before he planned on going to concealed space to practice with the katana and his breathing technique.
Blake just stepped out of the room and was about to head for the closest warp array, when his badge began glowing.
"Blake Wilson please report to the principal's office." After repeating it three times, the badge deemed ending the announcement.
'I wonder why am being called.' Knowing he hadn't done anything wrong; Blake didn't worry about the announcement as he headed for a warp array.
(AN: A warp array and a warp gate are different. A warp array is a stationary array that does the same function as a warp gate but thinks of it as a magical elevator that warps people to different warp arrays simultaneously, while a warp gate can be opened anywhere so far, it's entry and exit points were in a controlled environment.)
The warp arrays were placed in strategic areas all around the first floor allowing the students to access them with ease. When he got to the warp array, he saw a large perfect circle that had six more circles inscribed in it.
Just like other students in the area, he stepped into one of the circles and when he infused his mana into it, a menu popped up in his mind and he selected the administration building.
'Nice privacy policy.' Blake was a little bit scared that those around would know where he was warping, but when he saw the mind link menu he was impressed.
After selecting his destination, the ring began glowing before he fell into the little. The sudden fall made him shut his eyes in fear, but when he opened them, he saw himself in another warp array that was in the administration building.
He quickly regained his composure and left the array. After waiting for more than 20 minutes, he was finally ushered into the principal's office.
"Good day principal Lovren..." Blake said with a bow.
"How was your first day in school." The principal asked with a warm smile.
"It was more exciting than I thought..." Blake replied.
"That is nice to hear… The reason why I called you here is to tell you about the reward which the school promised to give the top three students." Seeing Blake's confused face, principal Lovren reminded him. "The cultivation rooms."
'Oh! Luciano told me about it.' Blake nodded.
"Before I grant you access to the cultivation room, I want to know if you have undergone the fusion process because the reward would be as good as useless without it." Principal Lovren asked with an expectant.
'The fusion process for the space element is already active and according to the system, it would be useless for me to absorb more energy without all my elements being fused together. Also, he told me not to let anyone know that I have knowledge of the method.' Considering the system's warnings, he knew that he had to act dumb.
"What is this fusion process?" Blake asked why making his best-confused expression.
'Seems like I had too much hope for him. I hope he can hold on to his position because most of those in the elite class had already begun the fusion process, while those two have completed theirs.' Principal Lovren thought as he didn't get to notice Blake's acting.
"The fusion process will be taught to you by your homeroom teacher, professor Gibson and when you have completed the process you will be given access to a cultivation room. You may return." Principal Lovren said while adjusting his monocle.
"Thank you principal Lovren." Blake bowed before leaving the office.
After getting out of the administrative building, Blake didn't return to the castle he went straight to the concealed space.
…
3 hours later when he was done with his weapon training and practicing his breathing technique, Blake returned to the castle for a bath before heading to the canteen for dinner.
After dinner, he returned to the room and sat in a crossed led position.
"Here we go." Blake as he gritted his teeth and poured in mana to quicken the fusion process.
"Ahh!" Blake screamed when he felt a mind-numbing pain that afflicted every part of his body. Unlike last time, he had gotten a little bit resistant to the pain, prompting him to last longer than usual before he passed out.
…
The next morning Blake woke up early as always and checked on the fusion's progress.
"How long before it's over?" Blake asked the system.
[Because the rate at which you inject mana is lower than before, it will take not less than 4 days.] The system replied.
"Four days?!" Blake could only worry because it meant 4 more days of torture.
"If the fusion process is to end when I am in the classroom what am I meant to do?" Blake soon realized a big problem.
If he wasn't trying to hide it, it would be a normal thing, but since it was meant to be a secret it would be a big problem.