Black Snow Royal Academy's Main Gate.
At this moment, there seemed to be a sea of humans present here, with a stretch of black covering the grounds, extending endlessly towards the horizon. The noise and chatter resounding from within perfused throughout the surroundings, spreading and reverberating far and wide.
Countless young males and females had gathered here, with everyone having excited expressions on their faces as they just finished their midterm exams and would be going out to the city, either to visit their families or simply looking for some fun. They had worked hard and did their best in the exams, so it was the time to reward themselves.
At the corner of the sea of humans was a group of six youthful figures standing together. Looking towards the surrounding crowds, they appeared somewhat cramped, with their gazes showing a slight bit of annoyance.
"What are the academy staffs thinking? How could they inspect everyone before allowing them to go?" Qi Di spatted.
"Well… It can't be helped. After all, I heard that someone actually stole a very precious treasure from the treasury room this morning. The academy must be trying hard to capture the culprit at this moment." Qi Long calmly stated.
"It's unlikely that the culprit is a student, but the academy still need to check their belongings before allowing the students to go. Moreover, there is a possibility that the culprit used certain spell to look like a student and is currently standing amongst us." Elsa slowly said while checking her phone for any new messages.
"Hmmm.. But what is actually the treasure that got stolen?" Linda asked both Qi Long and Elsa.
"A formation disk. There is no information about what kind of formation it is and its grade though. They are kept as a secret by the academy. However, it is surely a very formidable formation. Otherwise, the academy would not be searching for it to this extent."
"What a bastard.. He makes us waiting here like fools for hours." Qi Di truly did not like to wait. He was thinking to cut the line, but the other youths stopped him.
As the atmosphere on the ground was heating up, a blazing red streak of light suddenly appeared on the sky as it easily passed the academy's barrier.
"Welcome back, Erza Valentine. Second Year student, class A." Soon, there was a voice coming from the formation spirit which announced Erza's arrival. As the holder of the special academy token, Erza was allowed to go in and out from the academy anytime she wanted. She also did not need to pass the academy gate or going through an inspection.
It did not mean that as long as someone stole her token, they could also easily go in and out from the academy. The token would not be active if it was not injected by her soul power. After Erza refined the token, then only her would be able to use it.
"Eh, she's back?" Most of Second Year students were pleasantly surprised to hear about her return. After all, Erza was their idol. She was arguably the face and the leader of the Second Year students.
"Erza Valentine? Why her name is so familiar?" A First Year student asked his friend.
"Hey, isn't she the champion of last Year End Tournament? The strongest amongst Second Year students?"
"Well, it's not only amongst the Second Year students. At present, she should be the strongest student in the academy." A Fourth Year student argued. It might indeed be the truth. After all, the current Sixth Year students were Ling Men's generation. Since they lost to Erza, didn't that mean Erza was currently the strongest student in the academy?
Even though Erza had not fought yet with the leaders of the current Third Year and Fifth Year students, some students believed that Erza was the current number one student in the academy.
"Heh.. What an entrance." Mozart smiled as he looked towards the incoming red light.
The figure then stopped a few metres above the ground as she was looking for some familiar faces.
A strange silence filled the previously noisy ground. Everyone was stunned to see the figure who was standing up in the air.
"What a beauty!" Someone blurted out.
The current Erza really looked more like a 16-17 years old girl rather than a 13-14 years old girl. She was almost 160cm in height, way taller than her peers. Elsa, Linda, and Lisa could not help but be amazed at her transformation.
Luckily for Qi Long, he was also taller than his peers, around 160cm in height as well. Otherwise, some people might make a joke of him.
"Is she truly a Second Year?" A First Year girl was totally bewildered. The silence was then broken as everyone was busy talking about Erza.
..................
"Hey…." Erza moved towards her friends as soon as she spotted them amongst the crowd.
"Erza! I miss you so much." Lisa came forward and gave Erza a hug, followed by Linda and Elsa.
"We are so worried about you.. Why there was no news from you in these past six months?" Elsa said as her eyes glistened with tears.
"We heard about the explosion that happened in Nanda Empire, and we also knew that you were there. Some bastards then said that there was no survivor from that explosion. You have no idea how worry we were!" Linda also started to cry.
"Sorry.. Sorry.." Erza could not help but felt her eyes turned watery. There was actually nothing Erza could do to communicate with the outside world when she was inside the seal. It blocked any communication with the outside world.
In the end, the group decided to cancel their outing and spent the rest of their day in the academy. Erza did not not forget to send an apologetic gaze towards Qi Long as she was talking with her girl friends. The couple would surely have their private time after this.
Next, Linda briefly told Erza about what had been happening in the academy and Black Snow Empire in these past six months.
"Heh… Congratulations you two." Erza was not too surprised to hear that Elsa and Mozart had officially become a couple.
"Thank you." Elsa blushed a bit while Mozart simply chuckled.
Other than that, Elsa's sister, Bella had successfully brought Black Snow Royal Academy to glory in the last Hathaway Olympic, while the last Inter Cup was won by Hathaway Academy. It was not because the Fourth Year students were weak, but there was a monstrous genius 'Rider' amongst the Hathaway Academy's students at that time.
"How about you? Tell us what happened while you were gone."