Rayen fell to the ground and coughed up blood. His vision blurred. 'No, I can't collapse here.' He fought to stay awake. 'I need to stop the mana.' His first idea was to send the mana outside, but he stopped. 'If I send the mana outside, it will break my body, I need to use it inside me, but how? I don't know any spells...'

The badge appeared in his mind. 'It may work...' He visualized the badge inside his body. 'It's part of me, I can summon it anywhere.' He saw the outline of the badge appear, then the badge materialized. This wasn't his physical body, but an ethereal body where the mana existed.

The mana current collided with the badge. All the mana and remnants went there. They all disappeared inside the badge. The circle that formed the eye opened. Rayen saw an image flash in front of him for an instant. It was the castle. He saw it from above, as a bird would. The image was burned into his mind. He could see all the details of the castle. There were thousands of lights floating in the there. One could see through them, as if the didn't existed, but they clearly were there. The castle was full of those lights. They were like a liquid floating on the air, forming rivers of transparent lights around the castle. They weren't impeded by walls. What caught his attention the most weren't the lights, but the plants in the inconspicuous greenhouse. It was hard to access it, but from up there he could see it clearly. He didn't know the castle had a greenhouse. It will be useful for him.

'I need to continue, I need to form my foundation...' Rayen lost his consciousness, but on his subconscious mind, the foundation symbols appeared. They formed the foundation once again. They broke again, this time only in his mind. He could clearly identify those that had failed.

"Little ones," Suei shouted outside his room, "time to work."

Rayen woke up. He didn't know how much time had passed. He looked down, his clothes were filled with blood.

"Ugh..." He took his clothes out and used the back of his bed to clean them. He didn't have any visible injury, but he could feel it, inside him, where mana was supposed to be.

'I think I see it now. I know where I was wrong. Those symbols... They don't belong. Why were they there on the first place? How could I not notice before? They just... feel wrong. They shouldn't be there. But what should exist there? Hm... I can't comprehend it yet.'

"Leave in one minute," Yuhal said.

He sighed and put his clothes back on. They were now completely clean, without any hint of blood. He went outside. Everybody was going out of their rooms. He saw the rest of his group and went with them. Remya didn't want to be near Yune, so the two rakuyas were far apart.

'Those two are still fighting, uh?'

"Good morning," Yune said.

"Good morning, Yune."

"Leave her alone, you beast!" Saya got in front of him, so he couldn't get close to Yune.

"I'm just saying hi..."

Yuhal voice interrupted them. "All those who are good at cooking, step forward. Those who aren't, step back."

Rayen, like most of the servants, stepped back. Saya stepped forward.

"Ugh..." Yune sat on the floor. Her spirit leaving her mouth. "I'm good at cooking. Really..."

"Don't fret over such things, my princess." Vesh put his hand on her shoulder. "I will devour your food, without holding any significance to its abominable flavor."

Yune felt worse, even Vesh was mocking her.

"Don't worry," Rayen said. "I know how to cook, yet I also stepped back."

"The little ones who stepped ahead, come with me." Suei left followed by some servants.

"Nooooo," Saya screamed. "I cannot leave you, Yune, not with those guys." Still, she couldn't resist following Suei.

"Follow me." Yuhal turned around and left. "We will clean the rooms."

They went into another corridor. The carpet on the floor, the paintings on the walls, it was completely different than the one they were before. Even the doors were different, these were sturdier and more pleasing to the eye. The rooms were farther apart, which meant that the rooms were much bigger compared to the ones the servants slept in.

"Divide into groups of two and clean three rooms. You cannot take anything from the room. Go." He waved his hand and the cleaning tools from before appeared in front of the servants.

The rakuyas entered a room together. Vesh knelt in front of Yune. "My beloved Yune, let's merge to accomplish this endeavor."

"Let's go, little Ray." Yune smiled and put her hand on Rayen's shoulder as they went into a room.

"Going into a room with another man?" Vesh cried. Stone took him by the neck and dragged him into a room.

Rayen felt a relaxing cool air. "This is so nice..." As expected, the interior was much bigger and luxurious. Unlike his room, it had furniture, sculptures, paintings and a much bigger and comfortable bed.

"Ray, what happened?" Yune cleaned the room.

"Is it that obvious?" Rayen helped her.

"Yes."

"I... got an accident last night, the mana went wild inside me."

"That's terrible. How could you survive that? You are better than you should be."

"I was lucky."

"Let me see." Yune closed her eyes and passed her hand on Rayen's chest. Her hand emitted a red light. Rayen felt his chest warm up.

"You can already use magic?"

"Yes, but not much. This is easy."

"..." Rayen couldn't even get a foundation down, while Yune clearly succeeded.

"Don't worry about those things, little Ray. Look, you are hurt. You can't practice magic with those injuries."

"This is nothing, I can continue."

"No, listen to me. First, you need to get yourself healed, or wait a few days at least."

"If I wait a few days, I will fail to get the barrier and die."

"True... Normally, a professor would help you. But..."

"Those two aren't going to help me."

"Yes, we need to do something."

"I will look at the books."

"You want to heal yourself? Are you sure? You will fail and cause a mess again."

"It's not like I have any other choice."

They finished cleaning this room and went to another room. With two hundred servants, it wouldn't take long to clean them all.

"Ray, don't you trust me?"

"Eh? Why do you ask?"

"You clearly didn't use the technique I taught you... That makes me sad."

"The other one was better."

"Sigh... Teaching you was dumb on my part. Do whatever you want."

"Fine..."

"And please, don't tell anyone I taught you, specially Saya."

Rayen knew, if Saya learned, she will kill him.

"I won't."

"Thanks."

Cleaning the room was fast, there wasn't a lot to do. In a few minutes, they finished and went to their last room.

"Why do you treat Vesh like that?" Rayen asked.

"Eh? How?"

"You know how. Tell me. We're friends. We should trust each other."

"Okay, I will tell you. Vesh is dishonest and a liar, unlike you. You're simple and honest."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Well, yes. I like people who are honest."

"I..." Rayen stopped and looked at her. "I like you too. You're very pretty"

"No, dumb-ass. I like you as a friend."

"Oh..." He looked to the ground. "I see."

"Hahaha." She grinned. "See? you are simple and honest. You're a good person."

"You're good too."

"Am I?" Her lips formed a desolate smile.

"Yes." Rayen nodded. "I'm sure of it."

The other servants finished at about the same time. When they left the room, they saw Yuhal waiting outside.

"Let's go." He waved his hand and the cleaning tools disappeared. "The food is ready. You will have to serve it."

When Rayen arrived at the kitchen an irresistible sweet aroma invaded him.

"You guys cannot eat any of the food."

If it wasn't for Yuhal ordering it, the servants would've attacked the food. They stopped and looked around. The aroma came from the big table on the middle. It had hundreds of trays, each one of them with many different pastries on it and a big cup of hot chocolate. At the other table, Saya and the other servants were cooking, their hands moved at a hard to see speed. Their bodies and the ingredients were covered by a green aura. The ingredients became pastries in a matter of seconds. All thanks to that green light. The green light came from a guy behind them. He looked at the newly arrived servants. He had green eyes, silver hair and wore clothes different than those of the captains. He had a white symbol on his forehead, just like Ren's.

The servants never stopped for a second. Sweat rolled from their heads, but it failed to reach the food.

"That's enough." He stopped giving them mana. The cooks fell to the ground, breathing as fast as they could.

Yune went to see how Saya was. "Are you okay?"

Saya was holding herself on a table. "It... was... terrible..." She fell to the ground like the others. "Commander Jin is a monster." She glared at the silver-haired man.

"It's your duty to serve the followers," Jin said. "Bring these trays to them. The cooks can stay."

Rayen took one of the trays and went to the great hall. The great hall was filled with followers. The followers looked at the servants with derision. He noticed that Ren was missing, but he saw Kris sitting there, with clothes similar to those of the guy who went into the advanced library yesterday.

"Hiiii." Kris shouted and waved her hand at them.

"Kris, you shouldn't be so loud." Yune gave her her food.

"Hehehe. Don't worry. They told me I'm an elite or something and gave me these funny-looking clothes." She showed her clothes. "I wanted to keep the cat emblem, but they told me not to."

A blue-haired girl walked toward them. She also had elite clothes like Kris. "Don't talk with those lowly slaves." She looked at Yune with disgust. "And you, scum, remember your place. How dare you talk to an elite with that tone." Her hand shone with a white light and she tried to slap her, but the slap never reached Yune. *Paaaa* Saya appeared in front of her and took the slap for her. *Baaaam* Saya slammed against the floor, throwing the nearby chairs away. Everybody looked at the scene. She tried to slap Yune again, but Saya stood up and took the slap once more. *Baaaaaaam* Her body almost cracked the floor.

"Don't bully Saya, she is my friend!" Kris stood up and put herself in the middle of them.

"Heh, how can a slave and an elite possibly be friends. You are bringing dishonor to the Red Demon. You may be new, but you must learn how to behave yourself."

"Now, now, calm down, Xuxie. Let's not fight between elites." A handsome blond guy appeared. He was the same guy that went to the advanced library yesterday. "And you, if you finished serving, go back to get more food. Don't be lazy."

"Eolf... Humph, fine." She went to another table to eat.

That guy, Eolf, sat near Kris and ate with her, sometimes talking to each other. Rayen served another tray and went back to the kitchen.

"Ugh... That bitch slapped me." Saya glared at Rayen. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, nothing..."

Yune came to comfort Saya. "There, there..." She hugged and petted her.

"Thanks." Saya calmed down.

Once the followers finished eating, the empty trays were replaced with hard bread and water. "Here is your food," a captain said.

"This?"

"Yes, eat. You will have to work a lot later."

They sighed and ate it.

After breakfast, another captain took the servants to the inner ward. The place was full of dust, blood and broken pieces from the towers and castle. "We need to have this place cleaned, the sooner the better. So clean it. Now. Here are some tools to help you." He waved his hand and shovels and wheelbarrows appeared. "Remove all the rubble."

"But... where do we throw it?" A servant asked.

"Whatever, just throw it outside. It doesn't really matter. It's not like we will stay here forever. Just don't block the gate."

"We can't go outside the castle."

"Sigh... I give you permission to go fifty meters around the castle. Happy? Now get to work."

The rakuyas took the shovels and filled a wheelbarrow with gravel. Stone went to the biggest stone and lifted it as if it was made of paper. Vesh went to a much smaller stone, but even that weighted over 30 kg. He tried to keep a relaxed expression, but his veins popped out. He was at his limit. Rayen saw this and took a similar rock. Yune and Saya carried the wheelbarrows outside.

The hard work continued for over an hour.

"What a strenuous labor." Vesh touched his arms. "My queen should be excluded from that drudgery."

"Easy," Stone said.

"Hehehe," Yune said. "Stone is big and powerful. He has no trouble with it."

"I will greatly outdistance him. My queen, please bear witness to it." Vesh tried to lift the biggest stone that there was. It was much smaller than those Stone already carried, but still far bigger than he could. He fell back, out of breath. He got up and tried again, but to no avail.

Saya looked at Rayen full of killing intent.

'Why me?' Rayen thought.

Dust floated on the air. The servants were sad, but that didn't matter, they had to work anyway. The dust stuck on their clothes, which became dirty rags, except Rayen's, Rayen were as clean as new. They kept eying him weirdly, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'm used to work," Rayen said, "so I won't complain. But moving rubble... wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I joined the academy."

"Yet, here you are, complaining," Saya said. "Work harder then."

A group of followers appeared on the distance, they were going to another building. Rayen recognized them, they were the followers who were going to join the dark cat academy. Some of the servants were looking at them, but the followers looked to another side. Except for Kris, she ran toward the servants.

"Yay." She jumped in front of Rayen. "I need to leave right now. Come with me. They will do me a foundation thingy."

"Can we really go?" Rayen asked.

"If I say you can, then you can."

"Servants can't go," a captain said.

"I want them to go."

"That's not how it works."

"If they don't go, then I won't go either."

The captain held his head. "Fine, fine... I give you permission, just come."

They followed them. The other servants' jealousy was apparent on their eyes. They too wanted to stop working. Rayen's group wanted to ask things to Kris, but they couldn't do it in front of all the followers.

They entered a big room full of the captains and commanders. The floor was covered with lines and circles made of strange powders and liquids. There were dozens of those formations.