Chapter 31: CHPT 31: A Promise to Oneself
A week passed by as fast as night falls at the end of the day. Due to the new and crazy schedule, Claude hadn't found the time to get to a library and learn about the mysterious "(HellBred)" snake him and Ursula killed. Instead, he found himself in a steady cycle of getting up at his usual time and being scared to leave his simple closet sized room because he had a strange feeling that Jack roamed the halls of the University at all times. So, he'd wait in his room and read over his books or practice using his element which he learned was called the Nature or Forest element.
Not much was known about the element since not many people had it, but the ones that did used it incredibly, being able to conjure entire forests to use in combat. The oddest thing was that it's the only element that's also a living thing so some people are averse to users of the element.
Claude got up from his small twin sized bed and walked over to his desk that had books about Aura/Elements and Tangent species strewn across its surface. The window right in front of his desk brought in the glow of the rapidly falling moon and the rising sun, giving him a nice natural reading light. Pots full of flowers and plants lined his windowsill.
He'd practiced growing them and speeding up the reproduction process using his Forest element.
Little did he know, vine like tendrils of greenery climbed the outer wall leading towards the window to his room.
Today was different. The past week or so was a repeating process of going through classes he learned little pieces of important information in and seeing new students almost everyday as people continued to be reborn. But today, he would venture into the Tangents with his training class and test the limits of his strength and teamwork.
He knew the most advanced and dangerous Tangent species they'd be fighting were; low ranking Goblins, Ratmen and other species that also found their strength in numbers. So, Claude read up on both creatures making sure he didn't step into the Tangent lacking information he could easily attain in his free time.
Morning slowly set in as Claude worked with his flowers and read in excitement until a guard came at the usual 6 a.m and began waking up the students that resides in the south wing dormitory hall.
KNOCK KNOCK!
"Alrighty, students time to wake up!" A familiar Irish accented voice spoke down the hall of rooms.
"Wait...Prof. Brennan?" Claude thought in confusion.
He warily stepped out right as the Professor was about to knock on his door.
"Uhm sir, where is Jack?" Claude asked wondering why it wasn't the south wing guard waking them.
Prof. Brennan seemed to be caught off guard by the question and stammered for a moment before responding, "H-he's out....sick, he came down with something that's all."
"Why are you lying to me?" Claude thought before responding, "oh alright, I'm going to get to class now, sir. See you in training."
"Don't forget to grab breakfast Claude, big day today."
"Yes, sir."
Claude grabbed his short sword and bag now filled with books and headed to the mess hall.
He wolfed down his usual breakfast of meat and veggies while he talked with Ursula— more like she talked and he listened. They established a dynamic that worked well and he found himself thinking of her as a regular part of his life.
After going through his classes that felt unnaturally long due to his excitment and eagerness, he found himself heading down the usual set after set of staircases and through the long hall that led to the training field.
"Hey, you ready for this?" Ursula asked from her spot at the door where she waited for him.
"I think I am." Claude responded confidently.
"Hey Claude! You notice your buddies out today?" Samuel asked from his spot on the wooden platform where he spotted his friend Amir— the guy who tried to trip Claude using earth manipulation, who was he benching an impressive 225lbs.
Students around the field that heard Samuel began to laugh and snicker.
The ongoing joke was that Jack was somehow buddy buddy with Claude since he was escorted to class by him on the first day and they both shared a rugged appearance. It didn't help that Claude was often staring at Jack whenever he was around.
Claude felt his cheeks warm as various student eyes fell on him. Soon enough the embarrassment caused his anger to set in. He felt a hand hit his arm suddenly— breaking his focus on Samuel.
"Hey, I think he's still a bit sour about having to cheat to beat you all that time ago." Ursula said to Claude.
"Next time he won't get a chance to cheat." Claude responded staring at Samuel.
"Excuse me." A male student with long black hair and cool grey eyes said to Claude and Ursula.
"Yea?" She responded.
"My names Conroy, do either of you know where Prof. Galens office is?" He asked— more so to Ursula than Claude.
"No, sorry." She responded for both her and Claude.
"W-wait!" Claude said as Conroy began to walk to the next group of students to ask for assistance.
"Yes?"
"I know where his office is...I uh....I can take you." Claude said nervously.
"Very well." Conroy replied as they headed back into the building in a hurry.
They headed down the long hallway until they were in the main hall where the large Phoenix art stood out from the black tile floor. Claude led Conroy down the left hallway that took them to the Professors rooms. They reached the last room where a card was on the door that said "Professor Galen."
KNOCK KNOCK
Conroy knocked on the door twice and waited.....nothing. He knocked a few more times and still got no response.
"Maybe he's out?" Claude said.
"It seems that way."
"Why don't you slide it under his door then?"
Conroy decided to take Claudes advice and slid the white small note under Prof. Galens door. As Conroy walked past Claude to leave, Claude was hit with an overpowering smell that made him nervous and reminded him of his Astral Quest.
"Blood?" He thought as he got closer to the door.
He noticed as his physical strengths increased, his sensory skills also increased— although by very small increments, but he could now recognize the smell of Ursula and almost follow her scent for short distances and he could tell what meals were being prepared in the mess hall way before he got there. So, he was very confident that the coppery smell that permeated from Prof. Galens room was indeed blood.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Conroy asked once he noticed Claude wasn't moving from Prof. Galens door.
Claude ignored him and tried the doorknob. His anxiety reaching new heights as his mind provided gory images of what was behind the door. His hand closed the distance between himself and the knob.
Locked.
"Dammit." Claude thought as the smell of blood flooded his nostrils— now accompanied by the smell of rot and decay reminding him of Jacks breath but magnified.
Claude and Conroy decided to head back to training in a hurry, while Claude continued to think about why Prof. Galens room smelled of death...he hoped the most obvious conclusion was incorrect.
As they continued deeper down the hall and into the main hall, a thick and viscous red liquid began to seep out from under Prof. Galens door and onto the floor of the hallway.
***
"So, your the one with that Forest element right?" Conroy asked Claude from his spot in front of him.
"Uh..yea, and your a mage with Lightning and Ice affinities right?" Claude replied.
"Yes, I must say, I'm interested to see what you do with it."
"Yea me too." Claude responded unsure if that's how he was supposed to respond to that statement.
"Erhm, if I may. Why are you and Samuel always at each others throats?" Conroy asked.
Claude was surprised by the question so it took him a moment to respond. "There's a number of reasons but the most recent reason is; I kicked his ass in a sparring match a while ago."
Conroy stopped and let Claude catch up to him, he had a look of surprise on his face. "YOU...kicked Samuel— a Dark Knights, ass?"
"Yea....it was at the academy before we were rebor-"
"Oh, then you probably wouldn't be able to do anything now." Conroy interrupted flatly.
"What makes you say that?" Claude responded with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Well what's your class?"
"Beast Tamer."
"Do you know any famous Beast Tamers?...do you know any that are even remotely known for their strength?" Conroy asked smugly.
Claude thought about Conroys question soon realizing he in fact didn't know any at all.
"See, it's simply not a strong class...and when compared to a Dark Knight it's almost nothing in comparison." Conroy responded to Claudes silence.
This statement lit an inextinguishable fire inside of Claude. It angered him that Conroy would so confidently and easily label someone as weak and cast them down to the bottom of the food chain.
He found himself making a promise as they walked out of the building and back into the training field to go into their first Tangent.
"I'm going to change that narrative. I swear it."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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_Avatar0FFury_ Hey thanks for reading and sorry for the delay, I had my first case of writers block. Anyway I’ve learned that my chapters go far too long without action and can get stale so I’m dropping another chapter tonight and I promise you it will be DENSELY PACKED WITH ACTION. Also, thanks for the powerstones SilverIncorperated, rasi, Quinton_Clark, natsu_dragonell, NomiBarom and frenandoi. Thank you so much for you support it means a lot!!!!! Btw, if you like the story plz leave a review!
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