All of a sudden this was not some fat kid that decided to pick a fight, this was all the people that had oppressed Aarav in his past life. He couldn’t say why the situation triggered that reaction, whether it was the expression the crowd or the words or perhaps it was a combination of the three and Aarav was just in that exhausted frame of mind that he had found himself in countless time while being beaten relentlessly by the people that were supposed to be taking care of him.

“ROOOARRRrrrr!” An explosion of noise erupted from Aarav as he charged into the boy again with all the ferocity of a lion. The end result was more like that the charge of a lion cub trying to throw its weight around and as expected Aarav was repelled and slammed back having lost another third of his health.

Critical Hit! You have taken damage -250HP!

On top of the pain, it was profoundly frustrating. The sneering boy and the pitying looks of the people around him were just icing on the cake. This was what all this effort and power amounted to? He had the survivability but couldn’t protect his honour and pride in this? It was the same thing his abusers had relied on. But if there was one thing he had learnt from his time in this world, it was that enough effort would make anything possible. Even the weak could rise up with the right tools and he might lack those as the moment but he would and could acquire them. Then he would wipe that smug grin from the boy’s face.

The cold of dread and helplessness washed over him as he continued to look at the boy but somewhere among that cold feeling the heat of passion and drive and anger burned and would not b extinguished. The boy quickly grew bored with the fight and issued a proclamation. “Take note of what happens to people that don’t show proper respect to people that deserve it! We are nobles, and we are better than you!” It seemed he was a spokes person for the group.

Aarav stayed down on the ground one wing burned and the other flapping feebly with his legs collapsed under him, panting hard. He marshalled his anger and helplessness into a bonfire that he would use to forge himself in these next months. That someone could just walk through life squashing the people weaker than them made Aarav sick.

Boren quickly ran to Aarav’s side and helped him up. “Sorry Aarav, I didn’t know what to do. If I had acted I was worried that it would expose me and I didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to get identified in the first day, you know?” Boren’s expression was pleading, begging Aarav to understand his logic and not condemn him for not coming to his aid.

Honestly, a small part of Aarav had been resentful that no one had come to his aid, to help him but then this was almost like high school, they just started early here with their stronger power and greater difference between the haves and have-nots. But he couldn’t be specifically annoyed with Boren after looking into his eyes and seeing the divide in them. It was his own fault for not walking away from the fight in the beginning, he had wanted to put the boy in his place for mouthing off and disrespecting people without knowing that there were consequences.

“It’s okay Boren, there was nothing you could have done anyway. Even if you had decided to get involved, you would have just gotten hurt yourself as well.” Aarav said quietly, he knew about Boren’s unique circumstances that had stopped him from being trained to the same level as these nobles. One of the stranglers from the noble group, a boy that seemed dressed in clothes too big for him gave Aarav a commiserating nod as he left with the rest. This only infuriated Aarav further but he kept his peace. He had to hold this all in and use it to fuel his growth.

The thing that quelled Aarav’s raging emotions was the look in Boren’s eyes after his words. They simply said that he truly understood what it felt like to be weak and he hated it every bit as much as Aarav did.

“Let’s just get back to the group, they will have a better understanding of what happened than we can, you are a noble so you won’t get it and I am new to the country and city so I absolutely have no idea.” Aarav suggested to which Boren nodded quickly. It was only thing they could do.

As Aarav sat back down in his seat a weariness pervaded his limbs. He hadn’t felt like this for a while but it was bone deep. The wing he had lost had already started growing back and he had suppress its growth lest it attract undue attention. His wounds had closed up and were no longer bleeding ichor. He didn’t have blood.

The rest of the gathered crowd dissipated but he kept seeing glances towards him from people in the room as he tried to hide his exhaustion. His arms and legs felt heavy and he struggled to keep his eyes open. Maybe it was side effect of loosing so much health in one go?

“We should get him to the infirmary…” Aarav heard someone say as he started to fade further. “He doesn’t loo….” Aarav didn’t hear the rest before the blackness rolled in.

***************************************************

“…happened?” Aarav woke to the sound of a woman speaking. Asking some kind of question. Then off to the said there was a dull rumble and he realised someone was speaking in response to her question. He looked into Aarav’s eyes and he groaned and turned his head away. He just wanted to sleep, couldn’t they leave him alone? Why did this all need to be done now? After a short rest he would be fine.

“Poison?” The single word was like a shot of adrenaline in his system and he bolted upright. The slime in his body clenching in response. The woman looked at him with his sudden movement.

That was when Aarav noticed the notification he had missed earlier. Immediately after the damage one he had gotten another.

You are poisoned drowsy effect and -3HP per second for 60 seconds!

Poison Resistance reduced damage by 2%!

Poison resistance has increased to Level 3!

Holy carps! That was more health than he had at the time. The kid had been trying to kill him! If he hadn’t possessed Poison Resistance he would have died! As it was he would have been left with the smallest amount of health possible.

As he checked his health he saw that it was above half though. Wait, what? Shouldn’t it close to 0?

“Don’t worry. Your friends brought you in quickly enough that I was able to heal you and then treat the poison in your system. It was lucky since you were close to death. Then I was just asking what happened. It is not often we have such a dire situation walk through our doors.” Aarav could only shudder at the thought that he had come so close on his first day. He would need to tread very lightly here. Boren was pale.

Aarav could only image what was going through his head. Because of his lack of intervention his friend could have died. “I am fine Craden, don’t worry about it.” Aarav quickly said seeing his friend spiralling.

“Huh, who is…” Boren quickly cut off that line of questioning. It was a clear indication of how distraught he was at the development and somehow that made Aarav feel a little better.

“Sorry, Aarav. We should have stepped in to do something but we thought you were just letting him win to end the match quickly and without escalating.” Badru said quietly. “If we have known…” it hung in the air, the new skater friend he had made unwilling to finish the sentence. Weak, if we had known you were genuinely that weak. Aarav finished it himself bitterly.

Still, whatever had happened, it had shown him one thing, compared to what he had faced in the forest this was a different situation entirely. He would need to work on his skills and abilities and surpass the bully to get him back. For now that was his goal. “Who was he? I never actually got a name.” Aarav asked almost in retrospect.

“That was Morton Fobar, the other around him were also nobles but he is probably the worst of them. Thinking commoners are scum and wastes of space are his two favourite pass times.” The stark hatred and bile in Badru’s tone were at complete odds with his usual demeanour. “if I had the chance to put him in his place without reprimand…” Badru’s voice trailed off and the infirmary attendant chose to ignore his words even while her head nodded imperceptibly.