Zaroth, while being cold and often appearing like an emotionless individual, didn't enjoyed watching people in pain, especially people that had not wronged him.
So, not wishing to see the rest, he turned his back on the gruesome scene and left.
'I guess it kind of makes sense that the masses don't like people who have made a deal with a demon,' he was lost in thought as he walked.
'It may be beneficial to learn more about demons, and specifically vampires, since I've made a deal with one.'
Deciding that the first thing he would do after getting some free time was to go to the library and pick some books on the matter, he went home and prepared dinner for himself.
"Can I eat, too?" Luna sat across from him, eyeing the food he had made.
Zaroth raised an eyebrow. "Do you have to?"
"No, not really. I just want to taste the things you cook."
With a sigh, Zaroth prepared two dishes and had a peaceful dinner with his dragon.
Silverfang was looking at him intensely, but he pointed at Luna, saying that if he wanted any, she would be the one who had to share.
Luna grimaced but, in the end, gave a portion of her food.
Zaroth was looking at his two summons, lost in thought.
Before, just maintaining one of them was hard, but now, as he got stronger and his mana regeneration increased enough, he was able to sustain them indefinitely.
Of course, this was only if Luna remained in her human form.
But this was also bad news—it meant that he now didn't have an efficient way to train his mana core, other than connecting sparks to it.
"I really need a third beast," he muttered as he collapsed on his bed, exhausted.
*****
"Good morning." Zaroth yawned as he approached his three friends, who were sitting, waiting for the lecture to start.
"How did it go?" Zack asked.
"I won, of course," Zaroth replied with a smirk.
"Never mind that, are you ready for the exam?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
Zaroth's eyes suddenly narrowed in horror. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Did you forget already? The professor has been reminding us about the exam for about a week now."
Zaroth slapped himself in frustration.
'Did he? But that guy is so boring, it's really possible that he mentioned some kind of test and I just ignored him.'
Zaroth hoped Lily was mistaken, but after the lecture began, he found himself looking at a white piece of paper that had a quiz on it.
With a long, tired sigh, he cursed inwardly.
'A test first thing in the morning?!'
But left with no other choice, he glanced at the questions.
-----
Question 1:
How many continents are there, and who controls them?
Answer:
There are nine continents inhabited by:
Humans - three continents.
Elves - two continents.
Demons - four continents.
-----
Zaroth wrote down what he remembered.
He was sure there were more, but he could remember only so much, especially so early in the morning.
-----
Question 2:
If a beast ranked Rare (tier 4) and a demon ranked Greater (tier 4) fought, who would win and why?
Answer:
The demon would win. The reason being that demons have a higher level of intelligence, often surpassing even that of humans.
-----
In the end, after a lot of cursing, he finished the exam and handed it in to the professor.
"How did you do?" Lily spoke with a smile, clearly happy with herself.
"Bad," Zack answered with a sigh, crossing his arms.
"What about you?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Zaroth answered with a grim voice.
Roran looked calm as always, so it was pretty easy to guess that he had studied for the exam ahead of time.
'Hey, Luna, did you know about the test?'
'Of course!'
'Then why the hell didn't you tell me?!'
'If I had, would you have spent time studying?'
Zaroth wanted to retort, but quickly realized she was right, so in the end, he answered,
'Fair enough.'
It's not like he had much to do, so after the lectures, Zaroth headed straight for the library.
It seemed that the library was actually more useful with teaching important stuff, rather than attending the lectures.
'Shouldn't it be the other way around?' Zaroth wondered.
It was almost like even the most prestigious academy in the empire withheld information.
But Zaroth had so much on his mind, and with all the things he had to focus on, he chose to completely forget about the matter.
It's not like it was going to appear later and bite him in the ass…
...Right?
*****
Gasping desperately for air, Vera opened her eyes.
The next moment, she rolled over and fell from the bed.
Trying to control her violently shaking body, she forced herself to stand up and approached the sink.
Removing her white mask, she splashed her face with cold water, trying to calm herself down.
But it didn't seem to help as her heart continued to beat uncontrollably in her chest.
Her lips were dry, even though she had just drunk water.
Then she heard a knock on the bathroom door.
"Hey, honey, are you alright? I heard a loud noise a moment ago." It was the voice of a clearly concerned woman.
It was Vera's mother. She was fortunate to live close to the academy, so she didn't have to live in the provided apartments.
Even though the voice of her mother brought her some comfort, she was too scared to answer her.
Fearing something might have happened, her mother opened the door, only for her eyes to widen as it had been a long time since she saw the face of her daughter, who always hid behind her white mask.
"What happened?" she asked, grasping Vera's shoulders and checking for injuries.
"T- em-…"
Vera was clearly having a panic attack.
"Calm down and look me in the eyes," her mother tried to reassure her.
Vera forced her dry lips to open as she spoke, tears falling down her face.
"The empire… it will fall. All of us are doomed."