When Emery and the others stepped their feet inside the room, the atmosphere instantly turned a little bit colder. Even more so, the moment Emery's group locked eyes with those who had bad experiences and not-so-good intentions towards them.
This particular, distinct hostile aura felt much deeper and stronger from one person: the maniac Lodos. Emery, who realized the aura was completely directed towards him, stared at the man calmly, utterly unfazed by it.
However, it looked like his Thracian friend did not think the same as him, as he complained in a loud voice, "What is his problem?!!"
Gerri, who knew exactly what the problem was, could not hold it anymore and chuckled, "Hahaha! Just imagine! Imagine! Being the number one on the class and then almost being thrown out to regular class because of our Emery here. If you are the one, will you not be angry?" Gerri said, asking the last part to Thrax.
However, Emery cut him off before Thrax could respond to Gerri's question, "Wait a minute, that's not accurate."
"You also helped, Gerri. So why am I the only one to bear the brunt here?"
Hearing that, Gerri laughed and pointed his finger at the black-faced Lodos, "That's right! Don't worry, Emery. You are not alone! Didn't you notice the guy gave me the same weird look he gave you?"
Emery only chuckled lightly in response.
Thrax who finally remembers who Lodos was said,"Ahhh! I remember who he is! But... isn't that guy not supposed to be in this class?! He lost in the game!" Thrax commented, which caused Lodos' face turned even more ugly when he heard that.
"Is he receiving the same privilege as us?" Thrax continued, while turning his head to Emery for confirmation. The problem was, his voice was too big. As a result, several gazes landed on Thrax, curious about what he meant.
Gerri, who was also curious, led the pack as he asked the question, "Privilege? What privilege?"
Realizing the bull would spill the beans, Julian quickly intervened, "Shhhh… Yes, very good, Thracian. Why don't you just tell everyone? Just tell the world about our special privilege and let's see how friendly they are gonna be with us!" Julian said, while pulling the bull and whispering the last part.
Julian and Chumo both graced Thrax with a death stare, because he blabbered about the privilege he received. After all, the two of them also received the same privilege from the headmaster.
Gerri and some of the elite acolytes approached and introduced themselves to Emery and the others. They would be classmates from now on and forging friendly relationships would always be better than hostile ones.
Evidently, the acolytes' main interest were Emery and Klea, as one could see the two of them getting swarmed by the others' introductions. All this happened due to the fact that the two managed to reach the final stage of the Magus Games.
"Hello, beautiful. You can call me Gerri and I am at your service." Gerri shamelessly said, while grabbing Klea's hand and kissed the back of it.
Unexpectedly, Emery noticed it was Anas who was bothered by Gerri's extremely bold act. After thinking it for a moment, Emery realized the man had been eyeing Klea since the first day of academy, after all.
Looking away from Gerri's unscrupulous act, Emery scanned the entire class and realized there were only 50 acolytes here. It meant an elite class only had half the number acolytes of a regular class.
This time, it looked like it would be easier to get along with the class as Emery and his friends already had a reputation of their own. Their current situation could truly not be compared to the first time they entered the Magus Academy. They were a nobody back then.
Of course, there were still people who eyed them with hostility. In response, Emery could only shrug his shoulders and ignore those people, as one could not really get along with everyone. It was simply an impossible matter, no matter how good and perfect a person was. Emery was sure there would always be people who did not like him and find his existence as an eyesore.
Afterwards, a few figures walked into the room. All of them exuded the same aura as Magus Minerva, which meant they were probably magus-level instructors. However, Emery was attracted to one of them in particular, the person who stood at the front, a dark-skinned burly man with many scars visible on his face that gave off an even greater aura than the rest.
When the group arrived, everyone in the room immediately turned quiet and Magus Minerva began to introduce them.
"Everyone, this is Grand Magus Aimon, he is this Class head instructor." Magus Minerva said, pointing at the burly man.
Grand Magus Aimon nodded his head, "Welcome to the Elite Class 7. First of all, congratulations for being chosen to enter an elite class. You all will be instructed by me and these magus beside me for the next 2 months."
Minerva gave Aimon a piece of parchment and the grand magus looked at it for a while before saying, "50 acolytes, with 15 of them being upgraded from regular... This is a new record."
Grand Magus Aimon then tore his gaze away from the parchment and said, "Before we began, I have to say something and I will only say this one time."
Everyone unconsciously straightened their backs as well as perked their ears when they heard the esteemed magus wanted to say something.
Sweeping his sharp gaze through the room, he said, "I don't care where you come from nor who you were before. When you are in my class, I only care what you will become tomorrow. I want to see progress. Do you all understand?"
"Yes! We understand!" everyone said together, except Emery and the other regular acolytes who only said yes. From the looks of others, Emery guessed they probably already knew about this grand magus before.
Fortunately, the grand magus did not seem to mind their lack of answer.
"Now for those who are new here, I will introduce your instructors."
"Magus Nayla will be your Spirit Reading and Control Instructor."
"Magus Rommy will be your Combat Instructor."
"Magus Clio will be your Universe Lore Instructor."
"Magus Minerva will be your Ethic and Principles Instructor."
Even though Emery and his friends were quite excited to have 5 magus as their instructors, they could not help but be dumbfounded hearing Magus Minerva would be the one who taught the ethics.
"Over the next 60 days, the schedule will be divided into ten days of rotation, during which you will all first go through the compulsory 5-day training led by us in this facility. After that, you are free to do whatever you want for the remaining five days."
"That means all of you will have 6 meetings with each of us, meetings I don't want you to miss! Do you all understand?"
"Yes! We understand!" Everyone shouted, this time louder as Emery and the others ex-regular acolytes followed the mass.
"Now, to make sure all of you are motivated, I will give out several of this to the most outstanding acolytes." Grand Magus Aimon said, taking out an object from his ring, an object that Emery was very familiar with, a Spirit Foundation Pill.
Emery could clearly see the eyes of many acolytes glistening with anticipation. After all, the pill was the most effective method to increase the realm after reaching rank 7.
"Now, all of you will follow me. I will let you all see the facilities the academy has provided for the elite class."
All 50 acolytes quickly followed the grand magus, walking through a hallway that was guarded by dozens of knights. They continued to walk until they finally came out of the building and stepped into a big balcony that provided a view of the whole island.
"This island, Island 7, will be your home for the next 60 days."
Emery then realized there was a group of acolytes, about hundred, on the other side of the balcony. They were wearing a slightly different uniform compared to him. He then realized they were third year acolytes.