Chapter 17 Preparation For The Graduation Tournament
"…"
A long silence stretched on between the 3 friends as they walked to the car park where they would get a cab to their home, Bowling Town.
This was uncharacteristic of the 3 friends. Whenever they were together, most especially when Ben was around, it was abnormal for them to be this quiet and they all knew it which made the current situation all the more awkward.
A few minutes ago, while they walked, Ben's blabbering mouth already spilled everything about the previous day's event to Cassandra.
Now, all they were waiting for was Rex's input.
Rex could feel the awkwardness in the air, but he tried not to respond to it as they walked through the pedestrian's lane.
He tried to distract himself by looking at the beautiful golden sun, and the beautiful high-rise buildings, most prominently the skyscrapers in the distance that set Obedin City apart as one of the biggest cities in Delta State.
His method didn't work though, his friends were not having it.
"Rex, do you want to say it yourself or you're keeping secrets now?"
"…"
"Sigh!" In the end, Rex gave in.
One way or the other, his friends would have known of his living sword, so he felt that telling them about it now did not result in any difference.
If it brought any difference, it would be a good one as it could smoothen doubts that they may have had if they knew of it later.
"Well, what you saw is my living sword".
"What is a living sword?" Ben was fast to ask.
Rex cleared his throat before continuing. "The sword is…"
Rex explained only a part of the true story to his friends but managed to convey enough information for them to understand the basic things to know about the living sword.
In the end, he painted his living sword as a family heirloom that was left by his father and he only fulfilled the requirements to take it when he became 18.
Of course, he was not foolish. No matter how much he trusted his friends, he refrained from telling them anything that was related to the ancient Vector family and the fact that he already had a mystic ability.
The fact that his family had a powerful enemy alone, and that telling them could endanger their lives gave Rex the reasons that he needed not to tell them.
He would never forgive himself if misfortune befell his friends because of his inability to hold his mouth.
Cassandra and Ben had different reactions to the revelation.
"Your family is indeed special!" Ben was amazed.
Cassandra took in everything calmly which was in line with her personality. By this time, they were already before the car park so she could no longer speak as unbridled as before.
With the sale of the mystic beast and all the other beasts that Rex killed with his friend, they finally had money to splurge on public transport after years of living as perpetual paupers.
Once they got into a cab, the 3 friends went on their way and got back to their town in 15 minutes.
…
Once they got home, Rex waved to his friends before finally going inside his house. He threw his bag in a random direction in the sitting room and went straight to his bedroom where he threw himself on his creaking bed.
Creak!
Listening to the creaking sounds of the bed as he tossed left and right on it, Rex felt like he had been out of home for years whereas it was only for 1 day.
As his body moved instinctively to his emotions, Rex's mind could not help but flashback to the blood phenomenon that he witnessed yesterday.
Till now, despite thinking long and hard about it, he could not arrive at an explanation for the strange phenomenon yesterday.
He already confirmed that it was not a mental attack from the mystic beast, he also asked Ben and confirmed that he was the only one who encountered it which left him more befuddled.
What was that bloody battlefield? How was it related to him?
The more he thought, the more he found himself ending up in circles so he settled with attributing this anomaly to his increasingly mysterious family.
With the blood phenomenon off his mind, Rex once again thought back on his first official battle against a mystic beast.
All he could describe the battle with was that it was a rollercoaster. He experienced a lot of emotions, exceeded his limits, and even bonded closer with his living sword, unlocking more of its mysteries.
He was not sure before but after the battle against the mystic beast, Rex was now sure that his living sword was a mystic treasure.
Referencing the words of the hivemind when he first bonded with it, he made the extremely bold guess that this was a mystic treasure that could evolve.
This was not Rex's first-time hearing of evolvable mystic treasures, but as treasures that were more prevalent in the 7 Great shelters, this always seemed so far away from him that he felt flabbergasted that he was now a wielder of one.
Life was really a randomly spinning wheel.
Putting aside the fact that he got severely injured and had to be taken to the hospital, Rex was certain that the battle against the mystic beast was a turning point in his life that opened his eyes to a lot of possibilities.
Of everything that was remaining in his mind, what Rex gave the highest scale of preference at the moment was his sword master's advice.
His master advised that he should focus on recovering and preparing for his graduation battle which was exactly what Rex got resolved to do.
Originally, though he never admitted it, Rex always saw himself as inferior due to his lack of mystic energy even though he was the best swordsman in the sword department of the academy.
Swordsmanship was awesome and all that, but without mystic energy, he would still be thrashed by the powerful students.
The situation now was different though, after awakening his mystic energy, Rex was now more confident of his chances of achieving a good ranking more than ever before, he believed in himself now.
Rex was determined to prove all his mockers and doubters wrong.
This was why he was ready to throw himself into a marathon training for the remaining days to the battle. Today was Wednesday, and Saturday was the D-day.
After a hectic training, once Rex retreated for the night, he had a dream.