“As you can see the boy is not able to do anything after a bad reaction from the drugs, luckily I was in time to save the young master.”

The commander had the same cold voice he had the first time George had met him, and he felt like there was something more going on than just the principal trying to teach him a lesson.

“I'll take you at your word, the most important thing is that my cousin is fine, it’s true that he is trash but he still has our grandfathers blood and we can’t let him die a disgrace in a starts village. I will make sure to ask the next principal to take good care of him so he can’t make any more trouble. As for you principal Maxwell, you have done a great job, the annual amount the academy makes is one-third higher than the last couple of years and it’s a shame you will be leaving us in just two session days.”

George got surprised but didn’t know what was the point of all this was if he would be leaving in just two session days.

“Commander, about the request I made last time, did you have the time to discuss it with the elders?”

The commander took a long time to answer and the room became completely quiet. George didn’t know what the principal was talking about but understood that everything had been a big act for the principal to get what he wanted.

“To tell you the truth the clan decided to reject your proposal, we only accept new members directly in beginner’s villages and we were going to advise you to join the army and prove yourself, this decreases the possibility of traitors and spies. But after the incident with Martin the Hooper the clan decided to give you a chance, however, you will need to go to the capital and there will be a memory test and several background checks.

The principal hearing the commander got happy and started to laugh and thanked the commander.

“I want you to take care of this boy, make sure people don’t see him like this and blame Martin or the clan, give him a few drops of this and he will go quickly.”

George understood what the commander meant, after he took the poison he would be sold as a slave or city worker for two years and by then everybody would have forgotten about this incident. The principal agreed and walked towards George with the poison in his hands and put it in George’s mouth. George felt hatred he had only felt against Vincent and promised he would take revenge one day.

After a while, George opened his eyes and the principal was standing in front of him with a torch in his hand. George tried to move his body but could only move his hands and it would take a lot longer before he had full control of his body back.

“You know the first time I came to the mines the old principal told me that this was a formation hidden deep inside the mines and anyone who entered would die instantly. I studied it a lot and I must say it’s a lot more remarkable than that, my power has been locked so I couldn’t examine it to the best of my ability but I found out that it’s a formation that seals the user inside and won’t let them get reincarnated after death, which means that when you die inside you will stay death until someone drags your corpse outside of it. I didn’t want to do this to you kid but I had an opportunity and I took it, I should admit that the plan did almost go south when that insane boy almost killed the three baboons I send. The plan was to make them almost kill Martin and save him at the last second, but what I didn’t expect was for that the boy to take a forbidden pill that even experienced martial artists are afraid to take, to take a pill that could break someone’s spirit completely, he really has the mind of a warrior, it’s a shame luck is not on his side. I couldn’t let them die inside the village because the owner of the village deed will sense it and there would have been an investigation. so, I took the risk and made it look that it was all about teaching you a lesson because I knew that even though the two cousins hate each other, the chance of him going to the commander for help would be too great if he sensed any real danger. So, I soul linked you both and waited to see what you were going to do next and you both did exactly as I hoped, Martin hates his family and didn’t go to them for help and you like always just kept to yourself and didn’t tell anyone about my involvement, but I must say you did surprise me a little when you found their identities so quickly. That’s when I knew that I couldn’t take the chance to let you live, I can’t take any chances on this mission and the only way to make sure my cover isn’t blown is to make sure you don’t get the chance to meet Martin or the commander ever again, and the only thing left is to do is tell Martin that you died on the daily hunt and was sent to another starters village.”

George couldn’t hold his anger anymore and started to move his body but he was still too weak from the drugs, he hated himself for beeing to weak and for falling for the lies the principal had told him. But he also felt fear, was this going to be the end of his life?

“Don’t worry kid, you will still have the time outside of the capsule and maybe you won’t die immediately, I just hope that you have kind roommates that are willing to feed you, so you don’t starve to death. If you want to blame someone, blame your back luck for everything turning out the way it did.”

The principal took George and kicked him inside the formation, George took a last look at the principal with killing intent in his eyes, the principal had a cold smirk on his face like always and didn’t seem to show any compassion. When he passed the formation, he found himself falling but he couldn’t see where he was falling or how far it was, George couldn’t explain the fear someone feels when they don’t know if the next second is going to be their last. Luckily for him, the drop was only about three meters high and it wasn’t high enough to take his life, but because he couldn’t move his body his head hit the ground hard and George lost consciousness.

When George woke up he was inside a big room with no exits, the thing that surprised George the most was that there was light without any torches or other sources. George tried to move but every part of his body ached, it took some time but George got up in a sitting position and started to look around. The room had a couple of corpses inside and all of them were so old that the only thing that remained were the skeletons, this only happened when someone died inside the capsule from something like a heart attack or in this case properly starvation, the corpse should disappear after a session day but the formation had stopped the system from removing the corpse. George’s heart skipped a beat thinking about what the principal said and that this could be a sealing formation which meant that he would never be able to leave this place. George was still young and didn’t want to die, but this was not the time to think about those things, he had to find a way to get out of here and tell everyone what the principal had done to him.

George started to look around to see if some of the other people left some belongings and found only one person with a ring, the man had properly taken everything from the other corpses and put them in his own storage ring. George couldn’t stand up and had to crawl to the corps, he took some blood from his head that had opened to bind the ring. George looked inside and it looked like the last user had used all the credits and was only left with a couple of energy stones and some healing pills. George took one of the pills and used it, the feeling of energy entering his body and slowly healing him felt like someone gave him a glass of water inside the desert. The pill took a couple of hours to work and it didn’t heal every wound on his body completely, George could walk again but he still felt a lot of pain when he put pressure on his left leg.

George got up and started to walk towards the only wall that had drawings on it, he didn’t know what kind of drawing it was but he had the feeling that it was part of the formation. The feeling the light energy gave him was unreal, it gave him the feeling that let alone him, the whole of Wine village wouldn’t be able to break this formation with force. George slowly extended his right hand out and touched the wall slowly.

Extra experience points gained for finding a second memory file from the life of Thaddeus Packard.

Do you want to activate the memory?>

George got pleasantly surprised and activated the memory and before long three people were standing in front of him walking slowly towards the wall he was standing next too. He could see Thaddeus Packard leaning on a young boy who was clearly helping him to stand up, the two were wearing a simple white robe and only the man in front of them was wearing a luxurious golden robe.

“You shouldn’t have tried to force your way into the royal court father, we have already lost the war and there is no way the king could accept the request you made.” The boy said with a sympathetic look in his eyes, Thaddeus Packard shook his head and at the same time, the man in front of them started to laugh out loud.

“You’re lucky that we didn’t exterminate your entire clans, did you really think that you could just barge in and make his majesty change his mind after all that you have done?”

The man walked to the wall and started to draw lines on three different areas of it, a small door opened in front of them and the three exited the room. George was trying to concentrate on the patterns and tried to memorize them to the best of his ability, but it didn't take long before he felt a sharp pain and this time it was so painful he passed out.