Varian rubbed his eyes to verify he had to come to the right address once again.
Earth Academy of Sciences was enclosed in a gigantic wall, with an enormous translucent hemispherical barrier starting at the top of the walls. It covered every inch of the sky above the campus that not even a fly could enter.
The only way to enter the academy was the twelve gates.
Each gate was a dark blue color with shades of red and stood a hundred meters high and five hundreds wide.
Varian recognized the material to be Forium, an alloy that was said to withstand the attack of even a Level 8 Awakener.
More over, each gate had twelve laser cannons along with other weapons in case an intruder tried to break in.
But looking at the garrison of nearly five hundred troops at each gate, Varian wondered if there was really a need for such a tough gate.
The Military Academy of Sciences looked like an army fortress than an academy.
What about Imperial Defense Academy? Despite having defense in their name, they didn't even have a barrier.
Varian could already imagine Evander's explanation. "As aspiring warriors, you do not need barriers. You need to become the barriers!"
Shaking his head, Varian walked to the security check point in front of the gate.
Usually, visitors weren't allowed. But since it was the mid-sem break, Varian would be able to get in.
Or so he thought.
"Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow as he shook his Student ID.
The guard at the check point shook his head and replied indifferently. "You need to contact the student you are coming for. I will verify and let you in."
"But I can't contact him. He is likely busy. Besides, I'm on his form as a close friend." Varian showed the form where Kyle mentioned his relationship with him.
The guard still shook his head.
The people behind him in the queue were already impatient.
"Young man, move. Don't waste our time."
"Yeah. My baby is also waiting inside."
"I'm not looking down on you, but my boy is going to win the Chista award. I booked the best room in the riverside restaurant."
Varian looked at the eager parents and relatives with a frown.
He thought of asking Boo to fake the call, but it was too risky if someone found out.
Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and showed a badge. It was the blue metallic badge with an 'E' carved over it. Evander gave it to him as the symbol of their master-disciple relationship.
"This…" The guard was about to shoo him away, but the words were caught in his throat as he stared at the badge.
The scanning device shone blue before turning bright green.
"Please get in. Would you like to have me take you to the one you want to visit?" The guard's attitude flipped and he said in a respectful tone.
The crowd behind was also silenced.
As expected, once your strength crossed a certain level, the privileges would follow.
But Varian didn't show any arrogance. The guard was simply doing his duty.
So he said calmly. "It's my first time here. I'll have to trouble you to show me around."
"No trouble." The guard called his colleague and after handing him over the task, he led Varian into the campus.
"Son of a—" Varian nearly cursed at the sight.
Smooth blue roads branched in all directions all the way to the horizon. After a second look, Varian realized they looked blue as they were reflecting the sky.
People stepped on the road at one location and appeared at another.
Artificial Teleportation!
As Varian stepped on the road, a soft yet undeniably mechanical voice greeted him directly in his mind.
"Hello dear guest Varian, where would you like to go?"
Artificial Telepathy!
As he was still taking in the technology, the guard said. "Mr. Varian, you want to meet Kyle, right? Since he is a first year, he should be in the Virtue Hall. Today, the results of first years' work in the first half of the sem would be announced. Then, they are given a break."
Varian thanked him and thought of 'Virtue Hall'. The world blurred and Varian felt the space around him warp.
The next thing he knew, he was already standing in front of a large dome shaped building.
It was made of a crystal pink material and just by looking at it, Varian felt his mind calm down.
The guard appeared beside him and explained. "This is Chita, a precious alloy from the Ruins. It has an excellent effect on calming minds.
Usually, students have to pay their scholar points to enter this building. For today, it's free."
"Oh!" Varian gave him a surprised nod and entered the building.
Soon, he passed through the hallways and silently walked into the meeting.
Around a thousand students were seated across multiple levels in a semi circular seating.
Varian and the guard sat at the back as they tried to find Kyle.
The speaker on the stage was an a middle aged man with long beard and bald head.
The ceremony seemed to be ending.
The speaker first criticized the quality of the first years' work, then praised the rigor of the academy's research and finally announced the awards one by one.
As the guard explained to him along the way, Varian understood that Cista awards were something equivalent to the silver list.
Basically, the top ten ranking of the first year.
"Third position—Umar. He fixed a bug in the enclosure of…"
"Second position—Samantha. She found a loophole in the aura…."
Varian's eyes wandered across the students as he tried to find Kyle and Maya.
"First position…we have a special situation. There are two winners." The host said, surprise evident in his tone.
It must be extremely rare or even unprecedented. But Varian didn't care until—
"Kyle and Maya. For your contribution in teleportation and aura circuits, you both have won Cista prize."
Varian abruptly looked at the stage and found the nine rankers along with the host.
Despite the applause of the crowd, Kyle and Maya did not appear.
"Kyle and Maya, your second call. Please come onto the stage."
Varian's brows knit together.
"Final call."
The applause stopped. The host awkwardly ended the ceremony and left the venue.
Varian sensed something was wrong and looked at the guard. The guard was looking at him with worried eyes.
Perhaps he thought Varian would thrown a tantrum. After all, in his eyes, Varian was now a Young Master belong to Evander's family.
"T-Take me to his dormitory." Varian said, barely controlling his anxiety.
Kyle liked to show off every achievement. He did the same when he was the first in the entrance test.
How could he be absent for such an important meeting?
On the other hand, Maya was not the type to skip on such ceremonies.
'Something is wrong.' He knew it instinctively.
"Please follow me." The guard said with even more anxiety as he led Varian to the blue road and they teleported to a small community of villas.
Like Amethyst Community, there were guards outside preventing unauthorized entry.
However, the one with Varian hurriedly said something to them and they gave way to him with a respectful expression.
Of course, they weren't being stupid.
If Varian did anything wrong, the surveillance would record the whole sequence and punish him severely.
They just didn't want to offend him for something like an entry pass that he could easily get.
Varian stood in front of a small villa and took a deep breath.
Calming down his racing heart, he stormed inside and spread his senses.
He heard the clangs of metal and a faint breathing sound.
Whoosh!
He dashed to the basement and found a sleepy figure on a chair, testing a metal sheet on the desk with a scarper.
His hair was overgrown, and he looked unkempt. His body was frail and he looked like he could be blown away by the wind.
However, he would scribble something down every once in a while and change the metals before shaking his head and tearing the papers in rage.
He mumbled something weakly which Varian would've missed if not for his high senses. "Failed again."
Then the figure started drawing a design on the paper before eventually energy left its body and it collapsed on the desk.
"Kyle!"