"You...you are that got lucky and didn't die, right? You were also at the Supervisor's office earlier. I must have thought why did a nobody like you appear there." Narcis uttered with contempt and disdain as he recalled his encounter with Varian.
Narcis never remembered the names of people below his own status. Varian was the only one who bumped into him three times and made him uncomfortable thrice.
"Science students, we have a briefing." An announcement interrupted the tense movement, and Kyle waved at Varian and slipped off.
Before he left, he whispered, 'This is a campus, don't worry. You'll be alright.'
Varian knew that fighting on campus wouldn't be overboard and he'd be safe, but he still wanted to beat Kyle.
'I swear I'll pay back.' He vowed.
"Are you going to bully an awakener at a level lower than you?" Adir stepped up and blocked Narcis's path.
"Do you really dare, Adir Caron?" A blue light flashed from Narcis's heart and covered his body.
The air got heavy, and the aura rioted.
Adir glanced at the people, pointing their fingers at Narcis, and felt everything was worth it.
He channeled the mana in his body, and the ground shook. An earthen spear made of rocks rose from the soil and aimed at Narcis.
"There is nothing I don't dare. Besides, him getting first only proves you can only be second. You lose to your brother. You lose to a nobody. You'll never be first." Adir gave a condescending smile and said out loud.
"...It's true. Narcis always lost to Charles."
"Charles was always first."
"I guess some people are destined to be second."
The murmurs increased and Narcis felt his blood boil. He glared at the crowd and was about to attack them.
'These people deserve to die.'
"Boom!"
The earth spear was suddenly blasted, and the crowd shifted their gazes.
There was a teenager the same age as Narcis. He was bulkier and taller than an average man. He was menacing.
At that moment, he crushed the earth spear with his hands and shot at Adir.
Varian only saw a few flashes in front of him, and a few rocks rose into the air.
"Boom!"
The broken rocks and stones scattered in all directions.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The teenager leapt on to the floating rocks and shot at Adir. At a breakneck speed, his fist was about to break Adir apart.
"Hmph!" A shield made of multiple layers of rock appeared in front of Adir, blocking the offense.
"Crack"
"Crack"
The teenager's fist continued to break the layers but slowed down due to the interruption.
His fist broke the last layer, but by that time, Adir channeled his mana and the earth slid him to a safe distance.
"Ryan Albert." a student exclaimed. "He's the best friend of Narcis... but is it alright to fight here, even if his grandpa is a marshal?"
"Huff, huh" Ryan stood panting and wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth.
'Ryan Albert… is that the grandson of the Sovereign Albert? Imperial Academy is indeed the hub of the best talent and background.' Varian thought and observed the status quo.
"Cough. Cough" Adir's expression was pale, and it didn't seem like he had the upper hand in the battle.
"You… wait." He gritted his teeth and walked away.
Before leaving, he also glared at Varian with a pair of venomous eyes.
'You're blaming me after butting in? I guess my luck is off the charts.' Varian facepalmed mentally and processed the strength of these monsters.
They were at level 3 and progressed quite a bit, even in level 3. At least for now, Varian didn't think he had any chance of winning.
But he could delay their victory if his Space path gets to level 2. He can defeat them if he advanced to Level 3.
Ryan nodded at Narcis and glanced at Varian. With a snort, he walked away. Varian saw the almost imperceptible shaking of Ryan's fist. It seemed that he had to leave to recuperate.
"Now who opposes?" Narcis flashed an arrogant smile and dashed to Varian.
Varian was about to teleport when …
"Assemble." a cold and young voice sounded and Narcis paused in his tracks. It was quite comical as he stopped in the middle of jumping.
A few students snapped a few shots and saved it to their cloud.
' It's the aura lock.' Varian observed the aura flow near Narcis.
Narcis was a Level 3, so the one locking him must be old. But the voice just now was… young.
The cadets moved slowly and suddenly, everyone felt a suffocating pressure. They hurriedly assembled into a standard rectangle formation.
Varian turned around along with others and they saw a young woman flying towards them on a sheet of ice.
She was flying at least a few hundred meters above the ground and approached them in the blink of an eye.
She jumped from the great height, and everyone braced themselves for the impact. But just before she landed, Varian saw bits of water bubbles appearing under her feet. They slowed her down, and she landed gracefully.
What others found as beautiful, Varian found it skillful.
He glanced at her name, 'Sarah'. 'She was flying on ice. So she must be a Water Awakener, at least Level 5. Usually, only third years are in Level 5.'
"The shortening of test period resulted in many complains." Sarah said slowly, but her voice, strangely, seemed to be amplified and everyone was able to hear it.
'Her voice seemed to be amplified. Is she a dual awakener?' He wondered.
Most of the cadets didn't notice the difference and instead nodded at her words.
The test was supposed to be for 24 hours, but it ended in a few hours. But the academy still demanded 10 merit points to join.
Of course, there were complaints. But there were many batches of candidates and theirs was just a single batch. They justified their decision by saying 'Only End results matter.'
"But you had the perfect opportunity to get more points when the city was in chaos. On normal tests, such a thing would be impossible. Abyss Lord would kill even the top students with ease and the best top students can do is to kill Abyss Commander." She said.
The subtext was that they had their risk but also the chance. If they failed to take it, it was their fault.
'Well, if it was a normal entrance test, I surely wouldn't be an honorary student. I might not even advance to level 2, which meant I wouldn't even be accepted here.' Varian thought and felt that despite the dangers, he was better off because of them.
"Now, you have a gift from the academy." She snapped her fingers and hundreds of small black squares flew towards them.