The Golden Throne

"Look at all the teachers! They don\'t care about us at all. See, none of them were even with us when we had to go do such dangerous things.", one student said in a low voice.

"Did you know that one of the teachers was there with us, and we just didn\'t know about it? He only came out after Lefrey lost his leg. That\'s so sad. He lost his leg because the teachers don\' care.\', another student pitched in.

"What do you know? There was this monster that was there, and we saw it very late. The boy you see there, he was chopping the firewood like he was told to do. In fact, one of the teachers was even there at that point, but he did not even move when the monster took the head of the boy. It was a sad sight to see.", a girl said.

Slowly, what was supposed to be the wonderful first day turned more into a riot, with every student complaining about how the teachers don\'t care about the students\' lives.

"Quiet everyone! Do you really think that we don\'t care about your deaths? Or is it that you don\'t care about your lives? When fodder like you enters the magical forest, a forest where every turn has a monster that can end your life in an instant, do you really have the leisure to enter a river to play? Do you really have the time to look back and talk with your friends? No place in the forest is safe. You are the people who have to be attentive. If you can\'t even do that, we won\'t be able to protect you. There are only four of us, and forty eight of you.", Cordelia shouted.

All the students went silent. But, it seemed that they weren\'t the slightest but calmed down. They all slowly dispersed though, leaving Liu Feng and Amelia, with a few others from groups that had no horrible occasion. Liu Feng came forward with Amelia now and gave the water to Cordelia. 

"That\'s our quota for today. I\'ll be in my tent for now.", he said.

Liu Feng went back to his tent, and he sat down to recover some of his mana that he lost when he used mana detection. He had to be careful now, because the monsters could detect his mana, and they could attack him through the mana. He did not expect the monsters to have this ability.

He then called upon his spirits. Primitus answered. "What do you want, child?"

"Well, how are the magical monsters able to use mana? It seems different from how we use it, yet similar in a sense."

"The monsters huh. It is truly and interesting thing. Good that you asked now, and not at the moment of fighting. They have a magic core that allows them to concentrate magic inside there. The core is basically a collection of all the magic that the monster had accumulated over its lifetime. If you want to, you can even eat the core. You will get a burst of magic that is surprisingly pure. Back in the ancient eras, magic cores were actually used as currency. But, seeing your era\'s strength, it seems that the people can\'t even hunt enough monsters to use them as currency."

"What do you mean fighting? Are they really powerful?", Liu Feng asked.

"Of course! Magical beasts can use the core within them to harness the power of magic. They can do it much better than these humans that you are with, Liu Feng.", the old voice echoed in his head.

Liu Feng nodded and thought about it. He then asked, "Do you think that I can kill magic beasts on my own?"

"Depends on the magic beast. There are orders within the beasts, and you can beat up to a fourth order. You don\'t have nearly enough experience to go after a fifth order monster."

"A fourth order beast. What are the classifications? Are they similar to the human and elves classification? You know, by the number of magical circles.", Liu Feng asked.

"That is difficult to say. Magical beasts are born in a harsh environment, where they have to fight for food and resources. So, most of the time, a fourth order magical beast is actually much stronger than a fourth order human. You are different because, well, you have four spirits contracted with you. You can fight with any element and get an advantage."

Liu Feng thought about it for a while, and then nodded in understanding. He then reached for his bottle to get a swig of water, but realized that it was empty.

Liu Feng went outside the tent now, to fill up his bottle, when he see that a lot of students were huddling near each other, and were talking intensely about something. He saw Amelia was still in her tent, so he asked if he could come in. 

"Yes, come in. Close the curtain behind you. I don\'t want any of those boys to see me with their lecherous eyes.", Amelia said, with her voice trembling as she said so.

"What do you mean? What happened? Are you okay?", Liu Feng asked her. He was concerned, as he never say Amelia so shaken up.

"Those a$$holes asked me if I wanted to … , you know since we never know when we could die, why don\'t you… do it.", Amelia sobbed.

Liu Feng\'s face darkened. "Who said it?"

"The boy with a red and white shirt. He was also with us when that boy\'s leg was eaten."

"Just wait here for a moment.", Liu Feng went outside the tent, and closed it behind him. He went to the circle of students. They were almost all boys, and they were clearly waiting for something. Liu Feng went forward to see what was happening, but what he saw horrified him. The boy with a red and white boy was trying to force a girl to rip her shirt. Liu Feng\'s face darkened, and he disappeared. He reappeared behind the boy and held his neck hard. The boy dropped the girl. She ran away crying.

"Who the hell are you? Do you know who I am?", the boy cried out.