Chapter 81 - What Is A Blessing? (1)
Chapter 81 - What Is A Blessing? (1)
The next morning...
"Good morning students, I hope you all enjoyed your first day at the academy. But let's get a bit serious about your studies, shall we?"
A man who appeared to be in his late fifties was standing in front of them on a podium. He was about 5'9" tall with a hunched over back. He also had pale and wrinkly skin which further added to his old look along with his eyes that were closed shut as if the eyelids had been glued together.
Despite his old appearance, there was not a single strand of white hair on his head or his ground-touching beard. Although, he might have dyed his hair as black as his curved back and support stick gave away his old age.
"I am professor Merlin Bancroft. You are free to call me by my first name or last name. I wouldn't mind at all." Professor remarked, "Now how many of you are excited to know a bit more about our origins?"
It was their first theoretical class about the history of the virus and the world that came into being because of it. Also, in this class, they would be able to get a better understanding of their blessings and how they worked. So a lot of students were excited to learn about that.
Well, Ashton on the other hand could not wait to head out of the class. The mistress had already taught him a bit about the world where humans once dominated everything and what happened afterwards. To be honest, the things she said while teaching him, sounded unbelievable if not downright ridiculous.
After all, how could the weak humans rule over the entire world when they couldn't even defend themselves against vampires, werewolves and the undead? And chose to run away instead? They supposedly had weapons that could wipe away entire nations and yet could not get rid of a fcking virus? How did any of that make any sense?
"Mr Bismark, I know theoretical knowledge might seem a bit boring to hot blooded individuals such as yourself. But I ensure you, if you pay enough attention you'll find this class to be a bit more interesting than you presume." The professor said with a wide smile on his face.
"My apologies Professor Bancroft. My mind wandered off for a second." Ashton was being polite to Merlin because well, he wasn't a purist like Amaira.
"Don't worry about it. I know how it feels to have all that hot blood flowing through your veins. So, let me ask all of you a question. What is a blessing?" Merlin asked while his wise eyes scanned the class, "You don't have to be correct, just make an attempt. Oh, Ms Swan, would you like to answer?"
"Basically, a blessing is the source of our power and also our mutation. Right?"
"Correct. But not entirely. That was a good attempt Ms Swan, you may sit down now." The professor said before turning his back towards them, "A blessing is indeed the source of our power as well as the cause of the mutation of our genes."
"But there is something more. If it was just as easy as to describe what a blessing truly was, we would have spent so much money and time trying to decipher its secrets."
Merlin continued, "Despite a century having been passed since our people received this blessing, we have little to no knowledge about who or what granted this power to us. Some call them gods, some devil. But the term by which they refer themselves to us is as 'Administrators'."
The moment Merlin uttered the word 'Administrator', the students started whispering amongst themselves. It was clear some of them already knew about the existence of Administrators, just like Ashton did. However, Ashton decided to keep that knowledge to himself.
After hearing the way Merlin was comparing Administrators to gods, Ashton knew revealing the information that he knew an administrator would only cause him problems.
In the meantime, Professor Merlin gestured for everyone to calm down. It was a good thing that the students were excited to learn something, but babbling amongst themselves would only cause chaos and nothing else.
"Looks like you young ones are already aware of the admins. Good, excellent even. It makes my life as a teacher a bit easier haha." Merlin mumbled while stroking his beard, "Then I shall ask you, what or who do you think is an administrator?"
The entire class was silent. None of them had any answer to Merlin's question. All they knew was that beings called Administrators existed and only the ones who had ascended were able to establish some sort of contact with them.
"No one? Well, it's to be expected. Merely talking to an administrator would mean you are destined to do great things in future. You could become the messiah or the devil. But regardless you would achieve things no one ever could."
He continued, "To be honest, there's not much we know about blessings or the administrators apart from the fact that they can be divided into several different colours. Can anyone name them?"
"Blue, Red, Yellow and Black." To everyone's surprise, it was Ashton who answered the question.
"Correct. Mr Bismark. See, I told you the class would get a bit interesting if you pay enough attention."
"I have never heard of anyone actually having a black blessing. It's just a stupid myth." One of the other students chimed in.
"You never know that, Mr Kevinson. However, what you said is somewhat true." Merlin nodded while leaning over his ancient-looking stick, "No one has any proof of a black blessing to ever exist. But it is said that the first ones to ever receive a blessing were the ones who had black blessings."
He continued, "Our progenitor, Lycaon is said to be one just like Dracula is the one who apparently had a black blessing amongst the vampires. As for the undead, well, most of them possess little to no intelligence so it's next to impossible to find out who was their progenitor."
'No wonder Lucifer told me not to mention anything about me having a black blessing. They would never stop hunting me down if they know I had a blessing only heard of in myths.' Ashton got lost in his thoughts, 'Also, it finally makes sense why I got the black blessing in the first place.'
According to what he could derive from Merlin's talks, the first beings of a kind got the black blessing. Which meant since he was the first-ever Zompirewolf, he had the black blessing as well.
But there was an issue. Unlike the other blessings, there was no way for Ashton to obtain any information about the unique traits of a black blessing.
For example, those who had a Red blessing had superior physical abilities than the others. Those with a Blue blessing had exceptional talent in using mana and related abilities. And finally, those with a Yellow blessing were the jack of all trades. They could use mana related skills as well as physical abilities but were often not able to master either of the two styles of combat.
'It seems like those with black blessing can use both mana and physical abilities as well. That's why Lucifer told me to say I have the yellow blessing whenever asked. What a sly person..' Ashton shook his head and got his head back into the lesson.