52 Rule or Be Ruled

"Good. I'll first begin teaching you the [Spectral Scythe] mage art."

Marcus was slightly surprised at this choice. He'd expected to be taught one of the other less lethal-sounding mage arts first, but it seemed he was wrong.

Nekros seemed to notice his confused expression as he decided to speak on his thought process.

"This is the most obvious choice seeing that you do not possess a weapon at the moment."

Marcus nodded his head to show his agreement and urge his master to continue.

"First, you'll need to further improve upon your ability to wield and control your emotions.

"Without them, you won't be able to perform any of your spells effectively and will end up like that idiotic fire mage you encountered."

Marcus recalled Callum, the mage whom his master was referring to, trying to burn him alive when he was trapped in the [Earth Cage]. Had he not lost himself in his anger, things may have turned out differently.

"Though this will also prove difficult due to the emotions the darkness element draws out of its wielder."

To this, Marcus recalled his own emotions when he'd killed Tom. He still wasn't completely sure of how he felt about that and wasn't eager to recall those memories either.

He felt as though in feeling those emotions, he'd be reneging on his promise to Beatrice.

Marcus didn't care about those he harmed, especially if those same people tried to harm him; however, Beatrice acted as his mental anchor by not allowing him to get lost in those feelings of hate and resentment.

Nekros seemed to be able to read Marcus's conflicting thoughts as he spoke the following statement.

"Your memories of that woman will prove to be both a blessing and a hindrance to your future."

Once Marcus heard this, he became vexed.

"She has a name," Marcus spoke in a vengeful tone.

"And so what if she does.

"She's no longer alive, so why should I bother remembering a dead woman's name."

By this point Marcus was no longer merely annoyed, and was beginning to grow angry with his master. The only reason he hadn't lashed out was because he had nothing to lash out at.

The one thing he could do was engage in a battle of words with this master of his, but Marcus highly doubted he'd ever win such a thing, so his anger only increased as his master continued to insult his savior.

"Honestly, any mage worth their mana should have been able to escape from such mindless creatures, that is if she wasn't so pathetically weak.

Unknowingly, small orbs of black mana began to form around Marcus's tightly clenched fist, and his expression only became darker due to him having nowhere to vent his accumulating rage.

"Not to mention, the woman wasted her time trying to take care of some half-dead-starving child when she could barely take care of herself," Nekros spoke in an increasingly mocking tone, which seemed to only further anger the boy whom he was speaking down towards.

Had Marcus stopped to think for a moment, he'd realize his master's last statement was clearly contradictory to previous events. Hadn't Nekros also saved him when he himself was on the brink of death, and not to mention, mages below the classification of a ranker had no business fighting a rank-F monster, let alone almost succeeding in escaping a pack of them.

Unfortunately for Marcus, he was unaware of this and could only allow his rage to fester into horrifying and disturbingly malicious emotions.

With that in mind, if one were to peer inside Marcus's mind right now, it'd be hard to say if the duo truly possessed that of a master and disciple relationship because right now his thoughts towards his master were anything but pleasant.

While Marcus continued to stew in his thoughts, he hadn't taken notice to the dark and malevolent aura that was also radiating off his body, but one individual had, and that individual was of course Nekros.

It seemed his goal was merely to get a rise out of Marcus and he'd succeeded.

Even with all the meditation and training Marcus had underwent, it seemed Beatrice was his soft spot and Nekros was well aware of this as he once again began to speak to Marcus. Only this time, Nekros ceased his snide remarks regarding Beatrice and instead, he spoke in a far colder tone completely devoid of any emotion.

"Boy."

Marcus was still only communicating with Nekros via their shared link and as such had no real way of seeing one another. The entire time Marcus conversated with him, he was looking into space with no clear direction of where his Master was observing him from; however, this time things were different.

Marcus stared at one spot in particular. It was like his eyes had locked onto something or someone and that they had.

Even through the blindfold, Marcus could once again see a light. Well calling it a light was incorrect. What he saw in front of him was both black but shining.

It was as bright as a light from a lighthouse, while at the same time being far less welcoming like that of sleeping inside a dark room and staring at the darkness within the closet that shared the room with you. Said darkness was both inconspicuous and frightening.

This was all to say that Marcus didn't know what this 'light' was in front of him, but he hardly cared as he stared at it menacingly, Seemingly wanting to extinguish it's light and envelop it in endless darkness just as he'd done to Tom's.

"Control your emotions or forever be ruled by them.

"Do not let them be your weakness.

"Make them your strength and acknowledge them as such."

Marcus was still pissed at his master's earlier comments and hardly had the mind to care about whatever it was his master was trying to teach him, but his master's following statement allowed him to achieve some clarity of mind.

"Look down at your hands."

Nekros only spoke that single statement and somehow it temporarily removed the fog of rage clouding Marcus's mind and allowed him to see the slowly dispersing black orbs of mana surrounding his fist.

"Huh?"

"Emotions are a powerful thing boy. Allow them to rule and you will become weak," Nekros stated whilst at the same time, the mana around Marcus dispersed and his rage along with it.

"But, rule them and you will possess a power few can ever hope to reach."

As Nekros finished saying this, the malefic black-mana that surrounded his palms extended to the rest of his body and Marcus felt a surge of power he'd never felt before.

After this, he subconsciously checked his status page and was surprised by what he saw.

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Str = 26>31

Mag = 15>20

Dex = 15>20

Spd = 20>25

Def = 11>16

Res = 15>20

Lck = 0

Health = 500/500 > 525/525

Class = Unavailable

Rank: Elementary

Mage Arts: [Darkness Manifestation]

Constitution: Eclipsing Phantasm

Elemental Affinity: Darkness

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All of Marcus's stats jumped up by a considerable amount and the amount surpassed that of when he'd devoured the swamp creeper.