Dorian cursed him throughout the whole way back to their hideout. Saying that he wasn't gay and liked girls the same as other normal guys, which made him sound even more gay.
Of course, the talk about him being gay was only to avoid the discussion.
Kai knew exactly where Dorian was going by bringing up Abigail.
Spending the week together made the three of them closer. Far closer since they had gone through life-and-death together. But even so, Kai saw him eyeing Abigail multiple times. She was radiating with warmth that could easily draw anyone closer, but that didn't affect Dorian at all.
His divine bloodline made him biased against women, and it was on full display.
It was easy to spot that Dorian doesn't trust her.
He doesn't seem to trust any of the normal Angels or High Angels.
As a matter of fact, the reason Dorian decided to save Kai was probably that he's also a pariah. An outcast for being a Lesser Angel. Had that not been the case, Dorian would've let him be chased to his death.
Dorian thinks Abigail doesn't have enough of a backbone to beat the other teams.
But Kai thought it was natural.
Most of the new batch of Angels don't know what they are getting into, so it's quite understandable for Abigail to buckle when faced with pain. Though I said that, I can't lie that I also sense it.
Kai stared at Abigail across from him.
She is now wearing his tunic, which was fortunately long enough to reach her thighs, covering what's important. Kai tried finding more clothes or looting from those he took down, but he never got the chance to do so.
Earlier, he had the chance, but he forgot.
As for Kai himself, he wore only a leather sleeveless jacket.
It's chilly with only this on, but he could endure the cold better than the others.
Before Abigail is a bonfire with a steel pot above it.
She was making a humble stew stuffed with the meat of a few rabbits she caught.
Although the chests were mostly looted, there were scraps that weren't used by the other teams scattered around. One being a steel pot and a few wooden bowls, which were perfect for them since Dorian can make fire.
Most of the time, Abigail looked normal, especially when in front of them.
But there are times when she looked like she was forced to do what she was doing.
Right now, for instance, there was an edge in her eyes.
Her well-being heavily depended on them, so she had to do her part.
Kai didn't blame her.
Being abandoned in this dog-eat-dog place is a really terrifying thought.
I should really say something, but I don't know what. Matilda makes it hard to trust others again, but she doesn't look like the type to abandon others easily. She was cornered back then, so there was no other choice but to surrender to the other team.
I don't think she would surrender easily if she had options.
"Here," Abigail handed Kai a bowl with a smile. "Eat it while it's still hot."
"Thank you," Kai accepted the bowl and turned to Dorian. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"I can make my own food, thank you. Besides, I preferred deer meat," Dorian waved his hand while lying down before turning to look at the ceiling again. "Don't mind me and eat."
"Deer meat? If you got one, why didn't you share it with us?" Kai raised a brow.
But at the same time, Dorian's stomach made a growl.
His face instantly reddened in embarrassment.
Kai shook his head as it was now apparent that Dorian hadn't caught any deer.
In the few days since they settled here, he ate with them.
But lately, he hadn't been eating what Abigail made.
"I did something wrong, did I?" Abigail stared at the bowl in her hand dejectedly.
"Rather than you doing something wrong, I think I did," Kai chuckled inwardly, changing the topic to lighten up the mood. "Just earlier, I found out he's gay."
"If we're still on the surface, I'd sue you for defamation," Dorian barked angrily.
Kai brushed him off since he seemed to get Abigail to smile.
"Oh, Abigail, take and absorb some mana ores from that bag. Get ten," He pointed at the two bags stacked on the corner. "I overheard some from Team Coeus had already opened their second Divine Lock. We need to pick up our pace."
"Ten mana ores?" Dorian sat up and stared at Kai in disbelief. "She did nothing and got thirty percent of the resources we gathered? Fuck that, I'm not sharing mine. There are thirty, so I'm taking fifteen."
"Fine," Kai didn't argue. "You can take ten from mine."
"Is that really okay?" Abigail asked hesitantly. "If I took ten, then you'd only get five. Let me have the five. Dorian is right. I don't think I did that much to get that many. I'm sure with the pace of your pillaging, I'd open my second Divine Lock in no time."
"Did you forget?" Kai raised a brow. "I only have one Divine Lock."
Abigail blinked.
She almost forgot that Kai is a Lesser Angel.
It made Kai feel good that she saw him as a competent person, not a Lesser Angel.
And eventually, she agreed to take ten.
Later that night, Kai sat on his own corner and glanced at the others.
Dorian had already finished absorbing the Mana Ores, so he was now getting some sleep. On the other side, Abigail was in meditation with a Mana Ore in hand. She should be finished in a few hours.
As for Kai, he looked down at the Mana Ore in his hand.
It's shaped like a normal rock with blue lights emanating from the cracks.
He clutched it hard in his hand, and in an instant, all the mana in it was absorbed.
A few seconds is all it takes for Kai to turn the glowing rock into a regular rock.
[A minuscule amount of mana has been absorbed into the Primordial Lock]
I still can't get used to this.
Days earlier, Kai and Dorian had stolen from Team Coeus' mining operation, securing their first Mana Ores. That was when Kai discovered that while the others needed time to absorb the Mana Ores, he could do it almost instantly.
Additionally, Dorian always grumbled about wasting almost half of the mana.
From that, he learned absorption efficiency differs from Supernal to Supernal.
Talented Supernals will waste only a little mana from the Mana Ores.
But Kai doesn't waste a single mana he absorbed from the Mana Ores. It was perfect absorption, which completely caught him off guard. From absorption efficiency alone, he's at the peak of talent.
Yet, it doesn't mean anything when he doesn't feel a change.
Every time he absorbed a Mana Ore, there was no change to his Primordial Lock.
It felt like feeding a bottomless abyss.
Status.
…
[Status]
Name: Kai #####
Rank: Grade 0 Awakened
Bloodline: First Son of the Primordial Night
Primordial Lock: 1
Legacy Skill: Deep Slumber
Legacy Imprint(s): Nigh-Phantom, Dark Discharge
Ending: Perfect Slash
Path: -
Ending Fragment: -
Useable Exp: 16.7
Quest: Explore the House of Night
…
[Physical Stats]
Strength: 4
Speed: 4
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 4
Mana: 20
…
Compared to the last time he checked his status, there were not many changes.
Firstly, despite the hazardous process of fully mastering the Perfect Slash with Noxian, he managed to succeed in the end. He did not know how long he had spent in training, but it should be months, and it felt like an eternity due to the mental and physical exhaustion.
Nevertheless, his Perfect Slash is now complete.
He now benefited from the slashing intuition.
As the name suggests, it's an intuition that guides him during battle to make the perfect slash.
It made him subconsciously calculate the movements, angle, striking opportunity, and also the power of his attacks, greatly increasing the output. That was the reason why he could slice through the student's vambrace and sever his arm.
The culmination of all his calculations manifested as a pull—an invisible force guiding his swing.
Like there was a magnet pulling his arc to the best possible place to land.
And with the mastery of the Perfect Slash, he also completed his first-ever quest.
From it, he got the Dark Discharge imprint.
[Dark Discharge: Imbue your attack with mana that would discharge a blast of energy upon impact, which heavily depended on your mana and strength stats]
It was exactly what Kai needed right now.
An offensive imprint that would allow him to deal enough damage through defense.
Kai's status window now displays a new section that calculates his accumulated exp from the past week. He hadn't yet figured out how to use it—or even how to use it. But he has several ideas in mind.
One being the same process as calling out Noxian in the House of Night.
With enough exp, he could probably meet another Nightborn in the House of Night.
One that would certainly make him stronger.
Or perhaps one that is a little bit chattier than Noxian, so that he could learn more.
And doing that would be aligned with his new quest.
But he decided to postpone that.
For now, he wanted to figure out what his next moves would be. He needed two Divine Locks to pass this rite, and yet his Primordial Lock didn't feel anywhere near full if it could even grow to two locks at all.
He hoped it was possible, but hope was all it was.
No… For now, my main goal is to survive the other teams. To do that, I needed more raw strength.
Kai nodded his head decisively.
Instead of opening the second Divine Lock like the academy mandated, he ought to progress his rank.
For an Awakened Supernal, in order to progress through the rank, one must start by empowering their blood vessels and turn them into Awakened Blood Vessels that would better accommodate the divine blood in them.
Other than the necessary skills for survival, Professor Hera's note also explained this part in detail.
Kai didn't know why the academy wanted the students to open their second Divine Lock first, but that doesn't matter right now. Based on the notes, there are no drawbacks to ranking up without unlocking it, so he would take this route.
At least that way, I can easily match the other students' growth.
Especially Team Coeus.
A fire of rage burns behind Kai's eyes as he thinks of what Team Coeus did to the corpses.
Sooner or later, he'd cross paths with them. And when that day came, he intended to give that team a dose of their own medicine. Lion, in particular, was his target. He had heard enough about that student's atrocities to know he deserved no less.
And then finally, Matilda.
"I'll see how you'd react when your chosen team lost this rite."