Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 136: Dry Joke

FEW HOURS BEFORE.....

’This odd’

Kieran thought, his eyes following Ruby’s figure.

He had happen to catch sight of her again, and watched how she moved tensly, her eyes fixed on a certain noble group.

From his spot, he could see an expression he had never seen on her face before, hate.

It was overflowing despite her attempts to keep it at bay. Just when he thought she was going to get called out, Jake stepped in and directed her away.

"...."

Kieran took his eyes back to his watch, he couldn’t interfere in matters that he knew nothing about.

...NOW...

"I dare you to say that again!"

Ruby’s voice followed the sound of the glass shattering, bringing the hall to a silence.

Everyone’s attention was now gathered on her and whatever was happening. Kieran was no exception as he looked on, curious at the unfolding events.

Ruby stood in front of the same noble group he noticed her staring at earlier, at the front was a face he didn’t recognize, an older looking recruit who took on her threat with a smile as light as the breeze.

’An older second year?’

Kieran wondered what business she had with a second year recruit of an older batch, but the recruits next words made him frown deeply, his gaze returning to the trembling body of Ruby.

"Oh come on! Isn’t this funny? Why would the adopted child of a fallen family come to his camp in the first place? Don’t you know what that means?"

The recruit said, looking to his companions at his side for silent support.

"You don’t mean it, Edrick! Revenge is impossible and stupid!"

"She should know that!"

Another one of them said with narrowed eyes.

The rest of them laughed at the mention of Revenge, like it was some peak joke.

A vast majority of the noble audiences present smiled at that comment, shaking their heads in agreement to the words of Edrick and his group.

The others just watched on in curiosity, it was a nice development in their opinion. They got to witness some drama of what seemed like the last descendant of a fallen family out for blood. A truly funny situation.

Kieran watching all this, still in confusion, fought the urge to interfere as a sense of familiarity washed over in.

He could easily tell the cause of that feeling. He had been in situations similar to what Ruby was currently in, more than he could remember.

’Sigh!’

Kieran sighed internally, dismissing the image on his watch, shifting his weight from his body prepared to intervene, but that wasn’t needed.

"You lot should watch your tongues!"

Jake’s voice came in low and threatening, his massive build covering Ruby like a shelter, protecting her shivering body from the eyes of those watching.

At Jake’s arrival, Edrick and his group slowly backed down unwillingly.

They might be above Jake, but the young beast of the Blake family wasn’t to be provoked or joked with.

"Let’s leave"

Kieran’s ears caught the words Jake whispered to Ruby as they saw theirselves out of the hall.

"Tsk! Well, she definitely can’t be looking for revenge with mind as timid as that!"

"Hahaha!"

Edrick sneered and the rest of his group laughed in agreement.

Meanwhile Kieran observed from the side, sinking back into his seat. He didn’t need to intervene after all.

"Idiots!"

He breathed out.

He recognized that feeling and the expression on Ruby’s face.

She wasn’t shivering out of fear. That was a person trying her possible best not to attack him outrightly. She was burning with anger and Kieran suspected that if not for Jake’s timely intervention, this little commotion would have taken a more dangerous turn.

The commotion was quickly forgotten and the recruits got bored again, returning back to their redundant chats, plots and schemes.

Kieran also returned to reading Lost Origins while thinking about how he needed to get a new scythe technique.

He had long since reached the limits of the basic combat technique Ruby taught him, and the camp didn’t have anything of interest when it came to the scythe.

’Maybe I can convince August to do something about it. He did manage to give me Lost Origins...’

Kieran wondered, thinking up ways to get the lazy instructor fired up on helping him. He should have just brought it up during their training phase.

Pretty quickly, hours passed by and Kieran stepped out of the meditative state he had fallen into a while back, something he had been doing more often since his training with August.

The hall was less occupied, the music had been tuned down drastically and those left were no longer with smiling expressions.

The slightly tense atmosphere starting to fill the room told Kieran all he needed to know, as he stood up to take his leave, moving along with the other groups who were doing the same after coming together.

"Kieran, I missed you throughout the night. So, did you get anything?"

Leora blocked him midway, her eyes looking everywhere but him.

"Yeah, thanks. I’ve got to go!"

Kieran rushed those words, moving around her to make his exit.

He didn’t see any reason to stay a single second longer, and Leora wasn’t going to stall him. He didn’t mind leaving her conflicted and feeling embarrassed.

"Hmm?!"

"Watch where you’re going!"

A hand hit his chest preventing him from crashing into the blue head in front of him. He had gotten lost in thoughts.

Liam’s face was cold seeing that he had almost crashed into the person in front of him. He applied force to his palm, but his eyes narrowed seeing that he was unable to push Kieran back even an inch.

’Wasn’t he a normal human? So why?!"

His shock wasn’t felt by Kieran whose focus was on the person that had turned to face him, the one he had almost crashed into.

The hard look in the cold blue eyes of Sabrina stirred something in him, as his eyes narrowed, slight and his icy exterior almost broke before he took back control.

’Was I feeling threatened just now?!’

Kieran’s mind sharpened and his body subconsciously went into combat mode.

"It’s been a while, Kieran."

The cold look her eyes melted into something more warm when she recognized his face and felt the subtle bloodlust that leaked out from him.

"You’ve changed a lot since we last talked. I would’ve loved to catch up, but I’ve got to go. Later!"

She said with a small smile that reminded him of how she felt before this sudden character upgrade, the feeling of her shoulder length hair brushing across his face distracting him from the fact that Liam had almost attacked a second ago.

’Well, you weren’t the only one!’

Kieran sighed.

Their whole recruit batch seemed to have gone through chnages of their own and everyone suddenly seemed so different. Even Ethan the other guy who stuck to her like a fly was nowhere to be seen beside her.

"Did you get it to him?"

"Yeah, I did.."

Their conversation faded from Kieran’s ears as they moved further away.

’What is it this time?!’

Kieran was starting to tick with frustration as he felt another dreadful presence behind him. He wanted to leave early so he wouldn’t catch the attention of anyone, yet he was starting to feel like the main character of an unknown show.

"What the fuck do you wan—"

"How come I’ve never seen you before? You should put a better lid on your temper!"

The cold voice of the person in front of him interrupted, and after a moment of clarity given by the chill he felt, he recognized the monster I front of him.

Asher Black.

The number one recruit of the Origin Camp, with the ridiculous danger rating of 16000.

Asher looked just like his younger brother, but Kieran could easily tell the difference between them.

The familiar itch in his bones, and that dangerous look in his eyes was all he needed to know.

"Well maybe you should sneak up on people like that, I happen to dislike social interactions"

Kieran responded, suppressing the subconscious urge to pounce at the monster in front of him. August had really done a number on his mental state.

Asher stared at the recruit in front of him, straight into those gold rimmed eyes of his, and cracked a small smile, the overbearing aura around him vanishing.

"You aren’t half bad, you know?"

The sudden change in tone left Kieran feeling uncomfortable and slightly disappointed that he didn’t get what he wanted.

"What do you want with me?"

He rephrased his initial question.

"Nothing much, I happened to spot you with the Aurora princess. Judging from how the other guy didn’t do something stupid right away and the fact that she spoke to you, I guessed you have a good relationship with her."

Asher said, walking with Kieran to the side.

"So?"

Kieran asked, not revealing anything.

"Well, I wanted to hear your thoughts about her!"

He said with a smile.

"I don’t know her well enough to have thoughts about her. She is different from how she was before though. You can find out what changed if you’re really that curious!"

Kieran said, walking away. The whole conversation felt like a dry joke.