The Novel's Professor

Inside a broken, torned down house, an unconscious blonde haired man uncontrollably trembled, his brows quivering while his eyes were closed.

At that moment, his eyes opened. He panted, sweat pouring down from his head, "Ha..ha..ha..haa.."

'Are you okay, kid?' Beside him, a muscular man floated ontop of the air.

"No, not at all.." Rio answered, his head shaking. He raised his hands to the air, staring at it uncomfortably, "..I had a vision about my past."

'Oh—Wait!' Faust exclaimed, his spiritual figure dashing to the inside of Rio's body, 'Yep, I didn't expect you to experience it the moment you peaked Rank C,'

"What is it?" Rio asked, frowning, "Is it bad or is it good?"

'It's not bad, per se. It's good, but...'' Faust answered, the frown on his face deepening, 'You're close to advancing Rank B...'

"Rank B..?" Rio wondered, his brows furrowing in confusion. He wasn't entirely ignorant of what the man meant, he was just confused on what does advancing to Rank B relate to having flashbacks.

'Yep! The rank of true miracles, as everyone would say,' Faust replied, his body reappearing beside Rio, 'Are you wondering on why you're having flashbacks of your past?'

"Yeah.." Rio nodded, his gaze shifting to the muscular man. Uncomfortable as it may be to discuss his past, he wanted to know why he kept getting flashbacks.

'It's complicated, actually. First of all, you must know that beyond this universe, beyond this plane of existence, beyond everything!' Faust explained, his hand drawing a large tree in the air, 'Somewhere...there exist the fabled source and origin of all things, The Root.'

Rio nodded, listening intently. He knew that. It was mentioned off handedly in the novel a lot of the time. The Root, apparently, was this cosmic phenomenon that originated everything in existence.

The concept of The Root was only vaguely explained in the novel. He knew very little of it's mysteries and uses. But he did know that beyond Rank C, all Miracle Invokers start to get a faint connection to The Root.

'Now, what's it connection to the flashbacks and advancing to Rank B, you might ask?' Faust continued, 'The prequisite requirement at advancing to Rank B differs from each profession; a Martial Artists does not advance the same way as a Sorcerer. Nor, does a Sorcerer advance the same way as a Martial Artists. But, all the same, both profession must undergo a phenomenon called [Revelation].'

"[Revelation]..?" Rio muttered, bewildered. There was no such term that was mentioned in the novel at all. It was only stated that advancing to Rank B was difficult, extremely difficult. Granted, he might have missed it when he was skimming through the chapters.

'Yeah, and a [Revelation] certainly isn't the easiest thing nor is it the hardest thing to achieve. The difficulty varies from each person to another.' Faust sighed, his body hovering in air nonchantly. 'A [Revelation] entails a catharsis, or acknowledgement of oneself. It means that, to advance Rank B, you must first find your true self and acknowledge it, thus you are able to continue. Some may have an easier time over it, or some may not. Personally, I had a much easier time to it.'

"So..basically, the flashbacks or visions of the past are hints to my true self..?" Rio asked, his body standing up. Now that would make sense, the only thing he was confused about was the acknowledgement of his true self.

He had long acknowledged who he truly is, and what he truly wanted. However, how had he not advanced yet? Was there something missing? Something more...?

'Oh yeah! Don't try to advance Rank B right now,' Faust advised, his body leaning in to Rio, 'Just trust me.'

"Alright," Rio muttered, nodding his head. The man's words had never let him down so there was no reason at all to not follow his advice.

"Oh, hey! You're awake!" In front of him, a voice resounded, snapping him out of his daze.

Rio pursed his lips, suprised from the sudden voice. His eyes followed over where the sound came from, noticing a black haired man with mature features, "Ciel? How long have you been there?"

"Don't worry, I just arrived." Ciel answered, waving his hand dismissively.

Rio inwardly sighed in relief. That was good. He didn't want the man to get any weird idea of him being crazy. At another person's view, he would have looked like a mental patient talking to nothing but air.

"So," Ciel asked, his hand crossing over his chest, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, but my body is a bit sore—" Rio answered, his hand stretching over. Crack. A cracking sound resounded, his body twitching uncomfortably. That was his bone... "....Ignore that. Besides, what happened to the group?"

"..They're dead. No one is alive, atleast from what I've gathered," Ciel replied, his head shaking, "I know the faces of several of them. They were a rising star on the Underground."

"...The Underground," Rio muttered, frowning. It wasn't exactly a secret that beside the empire, a large area of unoccupied land was situated. The place was called The Underground, a place infamous for it's questionable workings. 𝑓𝘳ℯ𝒆w𝘦𝘣𝙣𝘰ѵ𝘦𝚕.c𝗼𝓶

At first, the place was a barren wasteland without anything of value at all. Even the empire ignored it due to the fact the living conditions were too horrible to the point of abyssmal.

During that time, the land was the place where most people settled their feuds and where jail escapees, or run-aways had gone too. It was a haven for scums and criminals. It was rife with violence, drugs, and various forms of crime.

There were no rules at all. Only chaos and violence without direction.

Not until they came. Like the dawn of dark dusk, seven figures came onto the land. They proclaimed their sovereignty, divided the land to each, and established rules and hierarchy to the place.

The originally barren, contiminated land, prospered by the rules of the seven figures. Ever since then, they were heralded as the "seven—godfathers". Each respectively, owning a piece of land of the large continent and known for pioneering a whole new country in, itself.

However, their arrival did not remove crimes. It merely tamed them down and made them more organized. It was used for business. It turned into a profiteering—organized crime place, if he will.

If he would cite an example, it would be like Las Vegas from Earth, but more significantly dangerous and on a much larger scale.

Though, that was practically public news. No one bothered about it, not even the empire itself was bothered enough to do anything about it.

Everyone in the community accepted it, for the benefits it brought and and the convenience it grafted.

Even if the empire was bothered enough to deal with it, they wouldn't be able to easily do what they want.

Namely, because as long as the seven—godfathers were to rule the place, no one would be able to mess with the Underground.

It was rumored that the combined power of the seven rulers was enough to match 'Him', the strongest human in earth, the King of Man, Arthur Pendragon.

"Right, that's not all," Ciel said, his hand taking out something from his pocket, "I found these."

His hands showed three luminiscient shining stones, their material molded from the rare crystal diamond, and magical energy floated, hovering beside it.

"These are—" Rio spoke, his frown deepening. He knew these things. These were exceedingly rare artifacts, "—Stone Dimension Catalyst."

"Bingo," Ciel spoke, his hand caressing the stones softly, "These are rare, extremely rare stones. Barely even sold in the market. Even if it did, guilds and companies would buy it immediately. Understandably so, given enough magical energy and accurate coordinates, one could even travel to any place."

"How did they even know how to use it?" Rio asked, his eyes raising in wonder. Not only were they rare, but they were also difficult to use. It would take some tight, preparation and proper magical control to use. It wasn't just something a third rate Miracle Invoker could use.

"Beats me, the only thing I know is that," Ciel shrugged, his eyes shifting to the stones, "These are being used to teleport to somewhere. Somewhere within our world, perhaps."

"Do you have any idea where?" Rio wondered.

"Nope, not at all. That's why I'm thinking of using it," Ciel said, his hand grasping the stones tightly.

"...Is it your natural skill to just court death?" Rio asked off-handedly.

"Hey! W—well..." Ciel sighed, his head shaking, "You have a point, but then again, everything else is already over is it not? I just need a final report. Just one tiny peek over the place. Nothing could go wrong."

"...I could already tell everything would go wrong, without a doubt." Rio sighed, his body walking forward.

"In any case, thanks for the help earlier," Ciel said, his tone filled with sincerity, "I owe you a lot."

"A lot is an understatement. You owe me your life," Rio spat out, his head shaking, "We could discuss this later when I need your help. But for now, hand me those stones."

Ciel nodded, raising his hand as he threw the three luminiscient stones to the Rio. Mid air, the stones shone brightly like a stone made from heaven.

Rio reached out his arm, catching the three stones successfully. Contrary to what he expected, it was quite heavy. He had thought it was just light from it's size, "Alright, let's just do a pee—."

However, before he could finish his words, the stone shone more brightly. His hand touched the crystal diamond, unintentionally transferring magical energy to the stone.

Small glyphs and formations within the crystal glowed. A white, magical vortex slowly formed on top of the three stones.

In that instant, before both Ciel and Rio could react, a white vortext manifested and pulled them in, warping their body to a different place.