Heaven's Greatest Professor

Chapter 45  Fatemark

"You're going to lead me to where the dungeon was," June said, as if it was a matter of fact.

"Um, sure," Warden agreed. "How about tomorrow morning?"

"No, we're going now."

Warden shook his head. "Like I said, it had been dealt with. You don't have to worry about anyone getting hurt." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The people around them began to move away, worried that the clash of their aura might hit them again. June noticed that and made sure not to release her aura, while Warden was ever carefree, not letting out even a wisp of his aura. He was unaware if it was his cloak that hid his aura, or if he was naturally good at controlling it, but a spike of emotions didn't seem to affect his aura as much as it did others.

Even when he was furious before he began slaughtering the bandits, his aura was condensed in a cold fury, not in an outward show of might.

The elf still looked stuck up about completing her task as soon as possible.

"Don't be such a killjoy," Warden told her. "These villagers had a tough day today. You never know, our absence might bring in another trouble they didn't need to bother with."

June thought hard. It could be seen through her expression, and finally sighed. "Fine," she said. "But the first thing you'll do is lead me there."

"Sure?" Warden drew his palm. "Shake to agree?"

June lifted an eyebrow at his oily hand from holding too many kebabs and cooking.

"This one is clean," he laughed, drawing his left arm. He was a little embarrassed but didn't show it on his face with the number of people watching. He might just dump on tomorrow morning's agreement with the elf if she refused to shake hands.

Warden could deal with tens of cursed creatures, but not the awkwardness a refusal to shake hands brought.

Sadly, the elf didn't seem interested, but then her eyes narrowed at the eerie-looking spiral mark on his palm. "These are..." her eyes literally glowed with interest and some magical ability, perhaps. "Fatemarks!"

Warden frowned and drew his palm back.

"Wait, let me see them." Now she had an almost fanatic look in her eyes. Her emotion changes far too quickly, like a woman in labor.

"You saw them," Warden returned, unperturbed.

"Let me study them," she demanded.

Man, these city folks seem to have a lot of demands. Warden was growing more impatient with her. Even her beautiful face might not be enough for him to keep entertaining her requests any more. Although Fatemarks felt like some familiar term that he would like to know more about, he saw no reason to keep excusing her behavior.

Thankfully, June seemed to notice the change in his demeanor and in her behavior, and was quick to apologize.

"I apologize, Sir Warden," she said, bowing deeply. "Fatelocks are an extremely fascinating subject. I just couldn't contain my enthusiasm after finding such a peculiar one in a low ranker."

Warden snorted.

"I mean, iron ranker," she explained. "Rankers rarely have the fate to possess fatemarks in all their life, but those that I've seen having one are all high-ranked individuals."

"How high?" Warden asked, curious.

"All Diamond rankers I know seem to have one," she said. "There are theories that a ranker needs to have fatemarks and master its power to transcend Gold rank. But I have seen them in Iron and Silver before as well, though they were not as complicated and hard to inspect as those of Diamond ranks."

"You're saying fatemarks become more profound as one ranks up?" It was only a hypothesis, but how his spiral marks got more prominent after the opening of a second aperture seemed to hint at that. Warden hadn't even considered there was a meaning behind the words; they just looked obnoxious to him.

"Something like that," June said.

"I didn't even notice anything profound on the mark in your palm in the beginning. I thought they were some normal tattoos."

"Why do you think they are not?"

"Because they are not," she said, incapable of explaining. "Ahh, I can't explain it to you if you haven't seen their intricacies. And even though they manifested on your arms, I can see them more clearly than you can, I think."

Warden had another thing to think about.

"If you like, I can show you the intricacies," June tried, her voice almost pleading to know more about the marks. "I have this ability where I can transfer visual and verbal data into others' heads. So what do you say? Will you let me take a look?"

"Maybe." Warden was still not convinced by everything she shared. It made him more zealous to keep his secret hidden.

"I can provide you with something of equal value in return," June continued. "Potion, weapon, rare treasures, knowledge..."

Warden frowned, considering. Although all of that interested him, something else was more important to him at that moment. "Do you know any great healer?"

June wasn't quick to answer, her mind calculating. "I do," she said at last. "Why, are you in need of one?"

"Something like that," Warden didn't explain clearly now as there were many prying eyes and ears in the surroundings. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow."

"Um, sure."

"Warden, are you planning on leaving tomorrow?" It was Xiv, who asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry, I couldn't teach you more at this moment." Xiv's injuries would take a month at the very least to heal, and even then, Warden wasn't sure if he could push the boy through hard training. While getting more attributes might help, it wasn't enough for someone below copper rank.

"Don't worry, I'll come back to check on you," he said. "As for the training, I guess you can ask your bodyguard in my absence."

Xiv nodded after hesitating for a while. He probably wanted him to stay or ask to go with him, but he knew it wouldn't be fair. In the end, he resigned to the great system's design.

"I'll be a lot stronger the next time we meet."

"I'd be looking forward to it."