Chapter 132 - Together this time
Inside Avrion's library, near the far back away from the prying eyes of others, Ray and Gary were sitting down at a table opposite each other.
Ray was currently taking in everything that Gary had just told him. When they went down to the red door area together, Ray was only able to open the giant steel door due to the system. If what Gary was saying was true about the Divine Being, did this mean it was all somehow linked to him?
If so, Ray wasn't sure about getting others involved in his business. Ian had already died and Ray's path was going to be a bloody one.
"Why do you need to see the Divine Being so badly?" Ray asked.
Gary replied almost instantly.
"Power. Just like how the founders gained special abilities, if we meet the Divine Being, we too can get stronger."
This was what Ray was afraid of. It was fine to seek power for your goal. Ray himself was doing that exact thing but Ray was never so power-hungry that he relied on others. When he learnt he couldn't use magic, he decided to focus on his combat skills.
By chance, he was able to come across the system and gain massive strides in strength. Of course, Ray would use this to his advantage but the system wasn't a one-sided thing in the first place. It rewarded you based on your achievements and if Ray never came across something like the system, he would have trained himself.
Gary could see Ray was being quiet for some reason and continued to talk as he thought Ray just needed a little convincing.
"Do you know Ray that the Allure Kingdom is the weakest of the 6 kingdoms, and we can forget about the empire," Gary said. "Once the Dragon Knights disappeared, the other kingdoms started to bully us in trades. It caused poverty to spread across the kingdom. And yet because of where our kingdom was placed, we were forced to do battle on the front line with the shadow plague, causing the land to suffer even more."
What Gary was saying to him now was taught to all of the knights at school. Ray never bothered looking into it with too much detail. When he was a dragon, the continent just looked like one piece of land to him. He had no clue about borders or such.
"We were practically all bullied by the Dark Guild and when the news spread to the other kingdoms, they laughed at us for how weak we were," Gary said as he clenched his fist. "I've already spoken to Monk and Jasmine and they want to come too. They know something is wrong with Avrion Academy. When I came here, I thought I could change the kingdom and help my family out. Now I can see that's impossible the way I am right now."
Suddenly, a voice was heard from the side.
"I agree, something needs to change."
Gary popped his head up to see who was listening in on their conversation. When he did, he was surprised to see it was not only one person but a group of them.
Ray had noticed them a long time ago but once he figured out who they were, he thought there was no reason to make a scene.
"Slyvia and… what the hell are all you guys doing here?" Gary said
Out from behind one of the shelves of the library came out Slyvia but she wasn't alone. Standing by her side was Martha, Kyle, and Dan and behind all of them was Monk who was hiding behind Martha like a kid who had done something bad.
Of course, Gary spotted Monk and straight away knew what had happened.
"You!" Garry pointed at Monk, "You told them!"
"I couldn't help it. It was Martha…she blackmailed me. She was going on about how couples shouldn't keep secrets from each other!"
Suddenly the whole room went silent. As everyone turned to look at Monk and Martha. Monk's face was now bright red as he couldn't believe he blurted out the only secret he managed to keep for so long.
Martha sighed.
"It's not like we were going to keep it a secret forever. Well, now you all know."
Slyvia then stepped forward.
"I want you to take us with you. We all know that something strange is happening at this academy and…" Before Slyvia could finish her next sentence, tears started to build up in her eyes. But she swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. "And I don't want to lose another, not ever again."
Ray looked at all the others. Ray had promised himself at the arena he would protect his friends but Ray knew he was going down a dangerous path. He thought the best way to protect them might be to not get them involved in his business but now it felt like whether he chose to involve them or not, somehow, some way they would manage to get themselves involved.
"Fine, we shall go together as a group but only when I say so. Of course, not a word of this to anyone and that includes the master knights."
Everyone agreed and then they headed back to the dorm rooms together. As they were walking through the streets, Ray suddenly stopped.
"Looks like I forgot something at the library. You guys go ahead without me," Ray said as he ran back towards the library.
During the whole conversation with Gary, Ray had an odd feeling. It felt like he was being watched. It was the reason why he had activated his dragon eyes. When he saw it was Slyvia and the others, he seemed to calm down a little bit once they had revealed themselves. Ray still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was listening in on their whole conversation though.
Once Ray had left the library the feeling seemed to have gone away. Ray decided to head back to the library to see if he could find traces of anyone or if he could still feel the presence of someone watching him. Ray searched and searched but he couldn't find anything strange, nor could he feel the presence of another person.
Ray had no choice but to leave for now and head back to the dorms. That night though when Ray was in the middle of his sleep once again, he started to have a strange dream.
It was similar to last, where he was in an empty dark room but the room was illuminated by a single white light. Ray's body was drawn to this white light and as Ray tried to walk towards it, it seemed like Ray never got closer.
"You need to find me…." The white light said. "Before it's too late…"