Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 76: Follow vicious Karen

Baler was sent to the Infirmary and class continued mostly with Professor Kragsten highlighting everything Caius and Delia did wrong. Delia was back to looking uninterested and unbothered by anything her sister said. Caius tried to look just slightly reflective like he was taking her word to heart.

But of course that wasn’t the end of it.

At the end of Combat Magic Class, while everyone filed out of the classroom to head to Alchemy, Professor Kragsten called to him.

”Caius, a moment.”

Caius hung back but Cynthia said nothing until everyone else was gone. It didn’t look like she wanted privacy. More like she just wanted some time to articulate her thoughts.

”Explain yourself,” she said after a deep sigh.

”What?” Caius asked, confused.

”Last week, you were on the right path. You thought and acted like a Mage. Today, you’re almost all the way on the other side. The wrong side.

Explain yourself.”

Caius paused and then he let out a sigh as he shrugged.

”I don’t know what to tell you, Professor,” he said, ”It seems my Father’s Lectures are starting to take hold of me.”

”Gods,” Cynthia said and she sounded so sad about it. She seemed to have really taken Caius as her personal project and considered this a major setback.

Caius saw an opportunity in that and smiled to himself before returning his expression to normal as he said.

”I mean, your lectures are very informative and I truly feel I have a calling in the Path of Mage. But the truth is, you teach me Combat Magic as a Mage for hours but my Father gets to teach me the ways of a Mage-Knight for days.

You know what I spent the whole weekend doing?”

”No...” Cynthia said not in an unaware tone but rather a tone that made it sound like she was dreading what Caius was about to say.

”I spent it working out my muscles,” Caius admitted.

”By the Gods!” Cynthia exclaimed, ”And how much time did you spend meditating on the spirituality of Mana and Magic?”

”No time at all,” Caius said, shaking his head, ”I barely even had time to use the Arcane Codex to improve my Enlightenment. Apparently, according to my father, a stronger body should always come before all else.”

”Of course he thinks that,” Cynthia said through gritted teeth.

Caius shook his head, sounding and looking very melancholic.

”It’s unfortunate. I truly had a passion for the ways of a Traditional Mage. But, I suppose it’s hard to rise above family pressure. On that front, Delia is better than I.”

Mentioning Delia to end that sad speech was a calculated move and Caius knew he had succeeded when Cynthia sniffed, unhappily reminded of where her sister’s priorities lay and even more affirmed in her self-appointed goal of making sure there was one less Mage-Knight among her sister’s generation.

”We’ll have to up your teachings, then,” She said.

”How?” Caius asked like he couldn’t even fathom how that would work.

”Why, Extra Lessons, of course,” she said and then leaned forward as she placed a hand on Caius’ shoulder, staring hard into his eyes like she was trying to comfort him,

”We will beat this, Caius. Together.”

Caius sighed, appearing just the right amount of doubtful and trusting. Like he didn’t think it was possible but was willing to try.

”Just tell me what I have to do, Professor,” he said.

”Go off to class now,” Cynthia said, ”I’ll reach out when it’s time.”

”Alright,” Caius said with a nod and then walked away, he glanced back once and saw Cynthia walk over to the wall, her brows screwed in thought before she opened up the Portal Gate and left for her Office.

Only now did Caius smile and he walked out of the classroom and down the corridor with just a little bit of spring in his step for a successful manipulation.

...

He arrived at Alchemy class just as Arlette was starting to teach and she just let him off to his seat with barely a word and just a little smile shared between them.

Unlike last week when they got to extract ingredients, today was spent discussing theories and prepping for yet another Alchemical experiment coming next week.

Baler returned while class was ongoing. He had no signs of injury on his face and showed no signs of being in pain but he still offered it as an excuse with a note from the Infirmary to prove why he had been late.

Arlette could hardly be bothered and waved him to his seat with a natural smile as she went back to teaching. Baler glanced at Caius when he passed by his seat and Caius raised a hand to wave at him, causing Baler’s face to contort into a frown of anger that became one of distress when he remembered the reason why he had to go to the Infirmary in the first place.

”Hey Baler,” Eloise said with a wave and a kind smile while Kaya just shook her head at how oblivious her best friend continued to be.

Even Baler looked surprised and then suspicious.

”Are you mocking me?” He asked when he remembered how she had cheered when he got punched out of the Ring. Granted everyone had been cheering but it hurts more when the person enjoying your pain is the reason you even got into that situation in the first place.

”What?” Eloise asked genuinely confused but Baler was already gone. He took his seat beside Aurelius looking grumpy as hell.

”What did I do?” Eloise asked Kaya.

”I-I don’t even know how to answer,” Kaya said and chuckled a bit while Eloise just remained confused about what was so funny.

When Class ended, and just after Arlette left the classroom through the Portal Gate, a loud *CRAW* sound rang out and all eyes went to the door as they all watched a Raven fly through holding a folded piece of Paper in its talons.

”What?” Caius said in surprise and started to stand up from his chair when he realized the Raven was coming at him. It dropped the folded paper on his desk and flapped its wings to remain at his eye level while opening its beak to let out in an even louder and impatient tone,

*CRAW!*

Wincing at the volume and frowning, Caius grabbed the folded paper and opened it to read;

’So Caius, It’s Professor Lea Gilligan.

About those sessions we talked about... Follow Karen...’

Caius raised his eyes from the paper and looked up at the Raven, its black eyes staring at him in a look far too intelligent for a bird.

”Let me guess,” he said, ”You’re Karen.”

The Raven let out a *Craw* that Caius took to mean ’Yes’.

He returned his eyes to the paper to read the rest of it;

’Don’t delay. Karen pecks hard when she’s impatient. She’s vicious like that.

See you soon.’

Caius folded the paper as soon as he was done reading and shoved it into his pocket before waving at the Raven as he let out a sigh.

”Lead the way.”

”Caius?” Kaya called.

”I’ll see you at break,” he called back to her and saw that she and Eloise shared a look before he turned his eyes forward and followed the raven as it flapped its black wings and flew slowly so he could keep pace.

Caius followed the bird through the corridor in silence before he found himself itching for small talk. As silly as that was.

”Karen’s an... interesting name for a Raven, I think,” he said.

There was something about the bird’s body language that told Caius she just rolled her black eyes at him. That made him crack a smile.

Now that he had time to think about it, he decided he should have known what was happening the moment the Raven came flying in. Only Lea Gilligan, the Beast Tamer, would use such to pass a message. To be fair though, it was effective. Loud but effective.

Karen stopped at a door now and Caius had to laugh at how, for a moment, he had thought he was being led to the Lochxen Forest.

Karen let out her signature screech.

*Craw!*

”Come in,” said Lea’s voice from behind the door, and the door clicked and swung open on its own so Caius could step in and lay his eyes on the awaiting Professor.