BXBX NOVEL Chapter 94: An Angry Void
He slowly stood up, pretending to walk out of the door. "Welp, if that\'s how it\'s going to be... I guess I\'ll just head out to buy some more mana cores."
Void\'s eyes snapped open the moment he heard mana cores, and in the blink of an eye, he zoomed across the room at a blinding speed, blocking Kyle\'s path by positioning himself directly between Kyle and the door.
"W-wait! Hold on! No need to leave just yet!" Void stammered, his voice suddenly bright and eager, as if trying to make up for his earlier cold shoulder.
Kyle smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as he raised an eyebrow. "Oh, now you want to talk?"
Void nodded furiously, his usual bravado replaced with a pleading, almost desperate tone.
"Of course, of course! You\'ve already gotten yourself some mana cores. Can\'t you get some for me too, please!"
Kyle pretended to think about it for a moment.
"Hmm... I don\'t know. You\'ve been really bad lately, I\'ve not been happy with that—"
Void, sensing that he was about to lose, suddenly changed tactics. He puffed up his cheeks and made his eyes go wide and teary and his whole face transformed into a picture of exaggerated cuteness.
"Kyle, please! Look! I\'m being good now!"
Kyle stared at Void with a straight face, barely holding back his laughter.
"You know I\'m not buying your act."
Void immediately switched strategies, dropping the cute act and instead bowing dramatically, hands clasped together in a gesture of total supplication.
"Please! Oh great Kyle, oh kind and generous Kyle, I beg of you! But for me mana cores! I\'ll do anything! Anything!"
Kyle kept his poker face, though he could feel his resolve weakening. "Anything, huh?"
Void nodded enthusiastically, practically throwing himself at Kyle\'s feet.
"Yes! Yes! Anything! You want compliments? I\'ve got compliments! You\'re strong, powerful, and the best cultivator in the academy.
Your mana core shines brighter than the sun!"
"Hehe!" Kyle suddenly burst into laughter, not able to take it anymore. Void\'s compliments had pushed him too far.
He kept laughing for some time while Void quietly stared at him, feeling an ominous dread from his sudden outburst of laughter.
\'Did I say anything funny? Is he laughing at my desperation?\' Void pondered as beads of sweat fell off his face.
\'No. I know why he\'s laughing... He had been lying all around!\'
Void eventually came to a conclusion on the reason for Kyle\'s laughter, but he couldn\'t bring himself to admit it, deciding to probe him further.
"Do you mind letting me share in your laughter?" Void asked, trying to maintain his politeness, just in case he was wrong.
Kyle tried to control his laughter, but it was no use. "Sorry, Void," he managed to say between the chuckles.
"This was all just a prank. I wasn\'t actually planning on going out to get more mana cores right now."
Void\'s face hardened as the truth sank in. His usual playful nature vanished, replaced by a cold, simmering rage.
His eyes narrowed, and for the first time since hatching, Kyle saw an expression on Void\'s face that made him uneasy.
\'I might have gone too far this time,\' Kyle thought as he saw Void\'s anger rise.
"A prank?" Void\'s tone was cold and flat. "You watched me lower myself... beg, and it was all for a joke?"
Kyle swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable under Void\'s piercing gaze. "Hey, Void, I didn\'t mean to—"
"No," Void interrupted, his voice sharper now. "You did mean to. You enjoyed it, didn\'t you? You enjoyed watching me grovel for something you never intended to give. What\'s worse, you knew how much I liked mana cores. And you laughed."
Kyle opened his mouth to respond, but Void wasn\'t done. The small dragon\'s tail flicked with irritation, and his voice trembled, not with weakness but with restrained fury.
"Do you know what it\'s like, Kyle?" Void continued, his tone rising. "To need something so badly? To feel that burning hunger, that drive, and then to be made a fool of for wanting it?"
His voice broke, but the intensity of his anger only kept on growing. "You toyed with me. You watched me grovel, and you found it funny."
Kyle flinched. Void\'s words hit harder than any spell could. He hadn\'t realized how deeply he had hurt his companion.
He thought it was a simple joke, a light tease, but now he saw it for what it was—cruelty.
\'Damn, I really screwed up,\' Kyle thought. His chest tightened as he realized just how badly he had misjudged the situation.
Void\'s anger wasn\'t just about the joke—it was about trust. Trust that Kyle had shattered in a matter of moments.
Kyle reached out, taking a step forward. "Void, I didn\'t mean—"
"You didn\'t mean what?!" Void cut him off again. "Didn\'t mean to humiliate me? Didn\'t mean to use the one thing I wanted to manipulate me? You saw me beg. I begged you, Kyle. Do you know how that felt?
How much it hurt?"
Void\'s claws twitched, and his tail whipped to the side with frustration. Kyle could see it now—the pride Void had, and how Kyle had trampled all over it.
Void was still a kid who had just hatched some days ago, he had strong feelings—and he had toyed with those things like they didn\'t matter.
Kyle stood there, rooted to the spot, his guilt rising inside him. This move was a complete failure on his part. He hadn\'t thought at all.
\'I messed up. Badly.\'
Void turned his back on Kyle, his shoulders trembling slightly with suppressed anger.
Without another word, he walked to the corner of the room, curling up into a tight ball.
His tail wrapped around him protectively, and his golden glowing eyes closed as he began to cultivate, shutting Kyle out entirely.
"Void?" Kyle called out after some moment.
The room remained silent, Void didn\'t even flinch. He took a step forward, then stopped.
What could he say that would make things better? He had hurt Void, not just with a careless joke, but by betraying the trust the dragon had placed in him.
\'What the hell was I thinking?\' Kyle\'s thoughts spiraled, and he ran a hand through his hair.
\'I\'m such a douchebag. Why did I think teasing him like that was a good idea? Void\'s heart is so young, and I played with his emotions just like that?\'
He sighed heavily. Kyle knew that he couldn\'t change anything by complaining. He could only try to reverse the situation.
\'I\'ll make it up to him,\' Kyle promised himself. \'I\'ll get him mana cores—lots of them.\'
Kyle glanced over at Void who was still curled up, before crossing his legs and sitting on the bed.
He had to focus on something productive, and cultivating was the best idea.
\'Status.\'
———————
Beginner Mage: Lv 3
EXP: 3291/4000
HP: 78
Energy: 100
MP: -
Agility: 51
Strength: 55
Vitality: 37
Stamina:
Intelligence: 41
SP: 0
[Elements]
[Skills]
[Lightning Bolt(Lv 1)]
[Lightning Dash(Lv 2)]
[Inspect(Lv 2)]
[Gobbler(Lv2)]
———————
Kyle scanned his status screen. His EXP was going up steadily and he was almost there. But despite the obvious improvements, he couldn\'t shake the nagging feeling that it wasn\'t enough.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing on his EXP bar—just 709 more points until he reached Level 4.
\'So close,\' he thought, staring at the number. \'Yet it feels like I\'ve been stuck at this level forever.\'
Kyle felt that his cultivation was improving at a snail\'s pace. He should be the closest to a breakthrough among most of his peers, especially considering the mana cores he had just had now, but that didn\'t make the wait any less frustrating.
Kyle couldn\'t help but compare himself to Void, who could gain 100% mana from a mana core after devouring it.
\'If only I could achieve the same,\' Kyle thought. \'I\'d be in Level 4 already—probably halfway through it.\'
It wasn\'t that he wasn\'t grateful for how what he had access to. He knew plenty of students who would kill to be able to gobble mana cores in exchange for cultivation.
But knowing how much potential he had inside him, he couldn\'t stop himself from wanting more.
With a sigh, he dismissed the status screen and crossed his legs on the bed. There was no point in obsessing over numbers.
If he wanted to push past this bottleneck, he had to keep cultivating.
\'I\'ll get there,\' he told himself, closing his eyes and beginning to cultivate. \'I\'ll make sure of it.\'
As he began to cultivate, he could feel the energy around him building up as he began inhaling the Mana around him.
But as his thoughts drifted back to Void, a plan began to form in his mind. The small dragon had been furious, and Kyle knew he owed him big time.
A simple apology wouldn\'t cut it. Void wanted mana cores, and Kyle had promised himself he would make it up to him.
\'I\'ll grind for some credits in the arena tonight,\' he thought. \'I\'ll get him enough mana cores that he\'ll forget everything.\'
He opened one eye, glancing over at the small figure curled up in the corner. Void was still cultivating, lost in his world of mana.
\'Tonight,\' Kyle promised himself as he returned to his cultivation, \'I\'m going to make things right.\'