Ike Malacite, or Purple as he was now, stepped forward before pulling a large pouch from his robes. Kneeling he opened the pouch before presenting his offering with raised palms and a bowed head. The entire endeavor had been fraught with peaks and valleys. He had developed no less than two brand new techniques over the entire process of acquisition. One was a poisonous touch that stimulated the opposite gender, which he named Heaven’s Feather. The second was a vile creation that rendered his fellow man impotent for a period of time, which he named Hell’s Tooth. Both techniques had played critical roles in gaining the substance known as BH2 that was rumored to provide ecstasy and a minor increase in strength with prolonged use.

Their new teacher floated the bag off his hands with a casual display of power before bringing it to her face. A quick peek at her caused Purple to feel like something was off, but he didn’t know the woman well enough to be sure. It almost looked like she was smiling, which only showed how tired he was to be seeing hallucinations.

“There appear to be minor changes to the base formula. A good theft, tell me how did you manage it?” Zun Eve asked politely after returning the bag to him.

“I developed two new techniques. The first makes women more agreeable, while the second makes men unable to…perform.” Purple said with slight stiffness at the giggling behind his back from the other three.

“Oh! Fearsome weapons, here test that one for women on me.” Zun Eve said lifting him effortlessly with a telekinetic Skill or Spell. She held her hand out and Purple tapped the open palm with a straight finger strike.

There was a moment of silence before Purple asked, “Perhaps your resistance is too high, teacher?” Zun Eve sighed and deposited him back on the ground before saying, “It appears to have a slight Soul component to the effect. Unfortunate.”

Immune to soul attacks!? Purple thought as he took his place with his fellow students. Monstrous!

Purple watched as his return to the others was the trigger allowing Red to move forward.

Rix Dell or Red as he was now, stepped forward before pulling a glowing glass orb filled with molten fury from his robes with casual pride. Holding it on his palm, the orb cast a fiery red light that struggled with the brilliant white brightness currently lighting the training field up. He wasn’t as weak, and his posture showed strength. The Dell knelt to no one, as many had found over the centuries. As he offered up the Fire Orb in one hand, Purple felt the distant touch of a localized field of mana pressure. Normally an elder would use such a method to demonstrate their superiority. He saw brown eyes glinted down at Red with a cold smile glittering on her tilted head.

“Arrogance without power is suicide.” Zun Eve said as she slowly allowed her mana pressure to be revealed like a stage magician pulling a monster from the top hat.

“I understand,” Red said.

Purple watched with amusement as sweat broke out over his friend’s body. Red could withstand temperatures that would melt steel, but he crumbled facing such potent mana. The pressure Zun Eve emitted was higher than the Grand Elder of any of the four families. It was as if a creature from the Deeps was staring out from a crevice, in reality, weighing and judging whether they would be worth the effort to butcher.

Purple shuddered.

Red was a true freak to subtly challenge someone like Zun Eve. Such a move was great in storybooks, but the reality was much harsher. He had no interest in being squished like an ant by a passing titan. The Fire Orb moved from Red’s hand into their teachers with minimal effort. He could see from her expression in the demonic tinted light that she wasn’t done with the lesson.

“Did you manage to steal this, Fire Orb?” Zun Eve asked.

“Of course! I beat a shopkeeper half to death to get that thing!” Red said without shame. Purple’s amethyst eyes narrowed as he sensed falsehood in his childhood friend’s words.

“Lie.” Zun Eve said with her gaze half-lidded as she uttered the condemning word. “You lie. No, don’t bother attempting to claim otherwise. Truth Stones are the weakest form of detection, not even close to what I’m using on you. It would have been better to come back empty-handed than return to me with a blatant lie.”

Zun Eve brought the Fire Orb to her mouth before she opened it revealing sharpened teeth and took a bite. The crunching noise was disturbingly like bones being snapped to Purple. He gaped along with the rest of his companions as the Fire Orb was consumed like a piece of sugared rock candy from the market. When the final piece disappeared into her maw, Zun Eve said, “You are angry?”

“Yes,” Red said his fist clenched. The tense set of his muscles showed how close he was to the edge to anyone looking.

“Do not bottle up the source of your power, strike then!” Zun Eve said with a magnanimous gesture as she lay on the boulder. Purple felt an ominous sense of doom emanating from the Zun Eve, all the training he had ever received told him that attacking her was a very bad idea.

Red didn’t seem to have received the same training, sadly.

Flames of molten fury coated Red as he activated his family’s signature Skills and Spells. Flame Cloak gave protection and speed. Flame Claws gave hands and feet a brutal melee-based combat form of metal melting heat. The enhancement of Flame Eyes granted thermal sight allowing invisible enemies to be revealed. Fueled by Fury increased the amount of mana regeneration available allowing for a massive increase in combat staying power. As soon as everything was in place, Red launched a strike upon Zun Eve without showing mercy.

Purple watched as Flame Claws approached their teacher who still sat casually atop the tallest boulder. Without warning, there was a sudden blur of motion that caused Zun Eve to ripple like the image seen in a pond once a stone was dropped. Red’s crumpled body folded inwards before he slammed down at the bottom of the boulder, like a piece of discarded paper.

Zun Eve floated down to the ground before moving to stand above Red with a hand on her hip. She raised her bare left foot and slammed the heel down in two quick blows. Snapping noises signaled that both of Red’s knees had been shattered, although the accompanying scream would have been enough for most people.

Turning to the other three Zun Eve kicked backward without looking cutting Red’s screams off as he was casually knocked out. “Make no mistake. My methods of teaching are not for questioning by the likes of barely evolved children. When I tell you to do something, it is based on more life experience than all four of you have combined. Do not test me. My patience is minimal, and the contract merely stops me from killing you.”

Purple shuddered as Zun Eve leaned forward in a threatening manner said in the same tone his mother bought vegetables, “Death is not the worst thing that can happen, I assure you I can do far worse than merely killing someone.” His mind conjured all sorts of horrific tortures that could be possible causing Purple to repress a shudder.

“Now, let’s continue. Glitter, show me what you have.” Zun Eve said.

Minerva Varen, or Glitter, stepped forward with grace. Even with fear running in his veins Purple couldn’t help but take a hidden glance at her bouncy assets. If he had a choice in the matter, there wouldn’t be any question of which of the two girls his family would marry him to in order to cement further ties.

Unfortunately, I’m not the Heir at the moment. Purple thought. Minerva is more likely to marry my older brother than either me or Red unless I actually reach Tier Five.

There were rumors that both Glitter and White had the training to utilize the Charm Stat. Purple could easily believe it as both girls seemed to draw the eyes to specific body parts without effort. More than once Purple had to control the impulse to just stare without even trying to hide it. The impulse was contrary to everything he had ever been taught which made him extremely suspicious of it. Glitter reached inside the V-shape on her upper chest before pulling a small box from within. Purple couldn’t see how there was even space for such a thing with the way her robe’s chest area was so tight.

Zun Eve took the box and opened it without bothering to look for traps. Clearly, she couldn’t care less if there were any on the item. As soon as the lid was fully open a tiny bright green serpent launched a lightning-fast strike at her right hand. Instead of killing it instantly, or counter-attacking, Zun Eve gently gripped the little creature before applying light pressure causing it to release the bite on her hand. Once the serpent was fully visible, Purple blanched, the tiny green snake was a Soul Viper, one of the most lethal creatures with venom that acted on the mind, body, and soul at the same time!

It only took a moment for Purple to calm though. Zun Eve had done too many impossible things, and her reaction didn’t appear to even give a nod to the danger she was in. He watched the poisoned hand turn green, and then just as quickly go back to a normally tanned brown-bronze. Without even breaking a sweat Zun Eve spent the time in between playing with the little green snake feeding it delicious treats she pulled from somewhere.

“A wonderful gift! How exactly does it help increase your power though?” Zun Eve asked Glitter completely ignoring the attempted assassination.

Glitter rallied and said, “With a proper ritual it would add poison to my Glass particles. Even if they can survive the glass, the poison would kill them.”

“Oh? Nasty!” Zun Eve said before she continued, “The ritual wouldn’t kill the cute little guy would it?”

“Ah, yes?” Glitter said, her face confused. Most rituals killed the creatures used as components after all.

“Oh, that’s too bad. I’ll just take care of it myself then, no need for some witch doctor amateur hour ritual. Kudzu likes the little guy, and wants to study him.” Zun Eve said while she made a gesture as if she was throwing something at Glitter.

Purple watched in awe as silver dust multiplied into existence before surrounding Glitter in a bright whirling cloud that concealed her completely. When the silver dust vanished a few moments later Glitter was staring with a blank expression reminiscent of someone looking deeply into their Status. Purple watched the shock pass through her eyes before she moved back to stand next to both of them. He didn’t know exactly what had happened in the silver cloud, but going by the whispers between the two girls it was something good.

“White, it’s your turn now.” Zun Eve said as she placed the snake into her hair atop the jade flower ornament. The ornament’s petals closed around the snake keeping it secure and out of the way.

Chelsea Eltren, or White, as she was known now moved to stand beside Zun Eve. Carefully she took a small chunk of crystal from the inner pocket of her robes. Unlike the well-endowed Minerva, Chelsea didn’t flaunt her assets in a common manner. Instead, she used her Light affinity to reduce her appearance so that Minerva was always in the spotlight. Purple watched the younger girl hand over the crystal and his eyes narrowed in thought.

Why would she misdirect attention to Minerva with illusions? Purple thought. I never actually wondered about that at all. In fact, the more I go over my memories it is almost as if the thought slipped right out of my head each time.

“Ah, a basic but useful Elemental Crystal for Light. Not priceless, but something that could easily be lifted. You used illusions during the theft?” Zun Eve said with a smile at the younger girl.

“Yes,” Chelsea replied.

“Ok, go ahead and attack. I’m sure your Elder gave you the same instruction as the other two. Honestly, Purple is either really smart, or his Elders didn’t even care enough to tell him anything.” Zun Eve said glancing at him with amusement.

Purple was confused for a second before he stiffened. Reaching into his spatial ring he removed a Clan communication talisman. A quick check revealed he had a plethora of messages on hold. Going through the messages took merely a moment, and Purple winced as he cleared them from the talisman. He had been supposed to lead the attack by poisoning Zun Eve providing the spearhead for the other attacks to work. Unfortunately, he had been busy stealing the pouch of BH2 and had placed his communication talisman away during the process.

Oops. Purple thought. I can truthfully state to the Elders that my poison didn’t work. I’ll just leave out the fact that I didn’t even use it.

Nodding to himself, Purple watched as White pulled the Light from the orbs that Zun Eve had kept overhead. Power accumulated into a massive bundle forcing White into her elemental form of Light. The glowing figure filled with pure white light raised one hand pointing an imperious finger forward before launching a beam of light directly at Zun Eve’s forehead.

Purple watched as the light seemed to get stuck halfway to the target. It moved forward, but instead of instantaneous contact, the beam of light had been slowed to a trickle. Slowly the invisible shielding was revealed as the overload of energy was bled out of the light beam’s attack. Countless layers of silver dust rippled into existence around Zun Eve like silver smoke given form. There was a soft slurping noise and the light beam attack was devoured like a string of spaghetti during a busy bistro mealtime.

Purple’s shock was similar to the two girls. Blocking attacks was understandable, but Zun Eve didn’t do anything so common, no, instead she devoured the energy feeding it back into her shields. He had no idea how something like that could even be possible, but the sheer level of control it would require was astronomical.

Tier Five doesn’t look so far away now. Purple thought as he watched Zun Eve return the elemental affinity crystal back to the now tired-looking Chelsea.