The Messenger of Death

"Her direct disciple? He might as well be a walking corpse now." Katherine mourned.

"How unlucky do you have to be to catch the eyes of that witch?" Adrian thought out loud.

"Since the day Alex left the suite, the library has been locked. People that wanted to get martial skill books have been waiting outside the library for days now." Drake told them current news circulating the school.

"They should report the case to the higher-ups of the academy." Emma reasoned.

"They already did, but they haven't responded. I told you guys that the staff in the school are afraid of the psychopathic witch. Only the principal can reason with her and I heard that he left the academy a day before the report came in. Now either they wait till the library opens or the principal comes back." Drake concluded.

"I don't think anything bad will happen to Alex. You said that she always beat students up and send them to the infirmary, has she taken any of them as her disciple before?" Camron asked.

"No, now that you mention that, it does sound weird," Drake answered.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that it is a misfortune for Alex. I mean she took him as her disciple and locked the library. She might be out training Alex or something like that." Camron was optimistic about his friend's predicament.

"Or she took him to the perfect place that she could kill him and bury his body in a place where no one can find it." Drake imagined Alex being killed and buried at the bottom of the sea…

"We'll just have to wait and see." Camron returned to his seat and thought of when the principal was going to be back. The principal asked him to come and see him when he had taken two of the pills.

'I hope he doesn't stay long.' Camron thought.

*********

TWO WEEKS LATER.

"Argh!!"

A young boy whose body was on fire, screamed out as he dodged the incoming log of wood that was sent at him by his pursuer. The young boy on fire was Alex, he had his fire bloodline ability activated.

Alex screamed out as he ran for his life. He was back in the forest behind the snow-covered mountain. From the moment he woke up, Nana brought him here again. This time without any explanation. He had been running for days now, the monsters he encountered were all stronger than he was and Nana still hasn't returned his storage to him.

He got his bones broken or dislocated during some of the pursuits until he had exhausted every energy in his body before Nana would intervene and save him from the monster he is been pursued by.

She would take him to a safe part of the forest, heal him, and force a pill into his mouth. The same type of pill that she gave to him that put him to sleep. Whenever he woke up, his wounds were already done healing and he always felt rejuvenated to the brim. Throughout this ordeal, Alex made sure that he didn't switch with any of his alters.

Now today, he was been pursued by a brown rhinoceros beetle the size of a car. In spite of its huge size, it was swift and agile. It was also 3 ranks above Alex in his peak form.

"Nana!!! Nana!!!" While running, he called out to his master.

"Nana!!!!" He cried out when she didn't respond to his first call.

"Such a clingy disciple," She hissed. "What do want now?" Her voice reached his ears.

Alex searched around for her as he ran but he couldn't locate her. "Don't waste your time looking for me. Tell me what you want quickly, I was taking a nap before you savagely called my name."

"This beetle is way above my capabilities. If it wasn't for the trees in this forest slowing its speed a bit it would have already caught up with me." 

-Boom!!

He looked back and watched the beetle bulldoze through huge, thick trees that he had passed by.

"I know, that's why I left only one to go after you," Nana responded nonchalantly.

"Can you at least tell me what the use of me running till I almost pass out every day, is? I said that I wanted to learn alchemy first but you have been sending beast after me!!"

She sighed. "You dumb disciple, haven't you noticed the difference in the way you utilize your QI?"

"Huh!!! Don't answer me with questions, just tell me!!"

"Not only are you clingy, but you are also demanding. Alright, I will satisfy your curiosity. The first time that I brought you here I noticed that your control and utilization of QI was worse than sh*t. while you were running away from the monsters you used way too much QI required for just a move."

"And so!? What does that have to do with alchemy!? Get the point already!!" Nana heard the urgency in his voice but chose to ignore it.

"Sometimes the level of a cultivator isn't determined by the level of QI they have in their core, but the usage of it. If you don't know how to regulate or measure how much QI you need to use then you are still a long way from wanting to start practicing alchemy.

In alchemy, apart from using telekinesis to control the conditions of ingredients when concocting. You also need to imbue your QI in the production process. If you can't control how much QI you supply when doing so, then your work might as well be considered a failure." She explained.

"I am very sure that there are simpler ways to go about this so I won't ask you about that," Alex said in frustration.

"Good, you are learning fast, disciple," Nana commented.

"Indeed." He whispered as he thought of how he could lose the beetle. His QI was almost reaching its limit.

['For some reasons this beetle isn't afraid of my flames. The hyephants and rabbits were at least wary of it that they didn't approach me whenever I had the ability activated.']

"System, any suggestions on how to wade away this beetle with fire?"

*Searching for possible solutions.

-Ping!

*Here are suggestions that are likely to produce the results that the user wants.

1. The user can aim for the Beetles wings and set them on fire, but to do that would be challenging. The beetle's exoskeleton is very thick and hard, it serves as its armor.

2. The user can set the insides of the beetle on fire, although its outer body is thick and invulnerable to fire, the insides of the beetle is venerable.

The system suggested.

Alex jumped down from a green hill that he had arrived on. The beetle dived down and followed him not long after. Without the obstruction from the trees, its speed increased and it was quickly catching up to Alex.

['Why the hell did you come to open space. And a hill for that matter, are you trying to break your neck this time?'] Al asked.

['No, I've got an idea. I will be going with the second suggestion the system gave.']

Alex put out his flames and waited for the beetle to approach him.

['What the hell is your idea!? Get eaten!?'] Al panicked when the beetle was within Alex's reach.

-Fvoom!!

Alex activated his fire bloodline ability again.

-Ksshhh!

The giant rhinoceros beetle hissed as it opened its mouth to swallow Alex.

-Fwoosh!!

Alex spewed flames into the mouth of the beetle as soon as it opened its jaws. The flames flew right into the mouth of the beetle and sent a blazing, excruciating, spiraling sensation to its brain.

Alex increased the flames that he was throwing into the mouth of the beetle and used the force from his attack to propel himself away from the jaws of the beetle.

-Bahruuhhaa!!!

The beetle screamed in agony. It started to fly around randomly.

-Boom!!

"Oh, Ahhh!! Sh*t." Alex crashed on the floor with his back first. His body made a little crater on the ground.

['I forgot to make plans on how I was going to stick my landing.'] He mentioned.

"Ouuff. I think I broke a bone again, but I don't know which of them got broken." 

-Barruuuhhh!!

The beetle gave up on flying and stopped flapping its wings. It started to drop, falling straight to where Alex was laid on the ground.

"Incoming." Nana's voice alerted Alex.

He opened his eyes saw the beetle falling at him.

"Sh*t!!!!" He forced himself up and scurried to safety.

-Boom!!!

It crashed and continued to cry in agony.

-Huff, huff!!

Alex was breathing hard. He had expended all the energy in him. He looked to his left and waited for Nana to appear.

-Whoosh!

And she did, on cue.

"You manage to deal some damage to the monster that was after you today. That's a plus. I commend you for that. But what I still don't understand is why you still haven't used the lightning element. I mean it is common sense that those that use the element are speedsters, you would be able to lose the monsters easily." She handed him a pill to take when she finished saying what was on her mind.

Alex looked at the pill and shook his head. "No, I don't want to go to sleep after taking that."

"Don't be scared. This is a different pill, it won't put you to sleep. It will only help your core refill quickly." Nana stated.

"And I'm supposed to believe you just because you say so? Not happening."

"You stinking boy, I am your master. Do I need to lie to you?"

"Hmph!" Alex turned his head to his right and ignored her.

"You either take this pill or I take you to where bears with strength comparable to that of a cultivator in the nirvana realm are." She threatened.

['Take it, this b*tch means business when she threatens.'] Al advised.

Alex collected the pill and swallowed it. Surprisingly after he took it he didn't feel sleepy like he usually did in the past. He looked up at Nana with surprise on his face.

"I told you. Stinking kid. Get your energy back quickly, we are leaving the forest today. And I will be giving you a little break from the warm-up we have been doing the past few days." Nana sat down beside him…

'Warm-up?' He thought in fear as he swallowed the saliva in his mouth.

Roughly 30 minutes later Alex recovered a bit of his strength and they left the forest…