This little group of children were the ones hand-picked by the mysterious old man and were led into a spacious room with glittering markings on the walls and rune-like lines on the floor that led from all corners of the room to the center where the peculiar kind of stone was lying on the altar-like pattern of lines.
As children are curious, everyone was glancing around in wonder and there was a kind of pacifying aura that could calm one's mind coming from the ground, obviously from the runic lines. The stone in the center was like a ruby as its flat sides reflected the light falling on them. As lines pulsed, resembling the veins of a human body, the stone released the refreshing aura as well as the invisible Spiritual Energy that the kids couldn't feel yet. They only felt a refreshing air and a calming aura, but not the powerful and thick Spirit Energy that came from it.
Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka figured out there was a trace of powerful Spiritual Energy because the shiny gem in the room was slightly bending the surrounding light. Even though it was unnoticeable to others, with a Spirit Power much stronger than the rest, Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka had no problems discerning it.
There was a familiar face among the children - the Princess. Asura Ryuu knew that the Princess was likely to be special even before the testing, but seeing is believing they say. He was slightly curious about what each of these children had special to be picked out of the crowd and also wondered why all of them were led into this room. Even though it was a prestigious institution, Asura Ryuu didn't blindly trust that there were no evil minds even among the core members of this Academy.
But anyway, he didn't bother with that too much because the Crimson Star Academy is just a temporary stop, until he gets to know the world a bit better. Considering the academy is so powerful that even Demon Beasts and Spirits choose to come here, there are bound to be some secrets behind its lengthy past. Now that his thoughts ended up here, Asura Ryuu wondered, where did the Spirits and Demon Beasts come from?
Did both of these races live together or did each race have their own habitat? Is there inter-racial conflict among them? Are there... elves? What about other mysterious races? Now that he thought of all that, Asura Ryuu got excited which made his mouth curl into an excited smile.
Asura Ryuu: "This will be fun..."
As he was grinning, all of them were told to sit down on the floor with legs crossed and wait until someone comes into the room. The elder responsible for leading them here told them not to touch anything and just be patient.
As the four sat down, Asura Ryuu glanced to the side and noticed the Princess only a few meters away from him. At the same time he noticed her, the Princess also noticed him and realized they were practically next to each other with nothing between the two. Asura Ryuu smiled and nodded his head slightly as a greeting. The Princess's absent eyes focused, and she returned the greeting with a reddened face as her heart gradually sped up. As soon as she returned the greeting, her gaze shifted to the side and she gave it her all to remain natural. That's what she was taught to do, after all.
But still, that didn't answer her question. Why does her heart speed up whenever her eyes meet this little boy? How could she even guess that Asura Ryuu's Spirit Power was much, much, much stronger than she can imagine? The reason why her heart uncontrollably raced was partially because of the psychological pressure brough by Asura Ryuu's gaze, but about the other part...
Well, she would find out in the future.
The others were slightly flustered being taken away from the crowd, hence nobody talked even among those who knew each other or were of the same group, like Spirits and Demon Beasts. Everyone was quietly sitting and meditating except the Asura Ryuu's group of four and occasionally, the Princess. She would now and then steal a sidelong glance to Asura Ryuu and the other three of his group for reasons even she didn't know. It happened subconsciously while she was deep in thought.
The silence in the room made everyone be self-conscious of their breathing and the beating of their hearts, which quickly turned the atmosphere very tense. If all of them were to wait like this for more than an hour, surely someone would be unable to bear it. Luckily for them, only after a few minutes of silence, the door opened and the old man who was responsible for their current situation came in. All of them glanced curiously at the old man with a wide smile on his face, but he just pretended not to see them and strutted to the chair in a corner.
He sat down and his old but sharp eyes once again scanned every child of the twenty-something kids that were in the room. As if satisfied with what he saw, the old man nodded to himself and coughed twice to clear his throat. His eyes seemed a point softer, but there was still a wild and a bit crazy look hidden within. He smiled once again and broke the silence as he introduced himself to the children.
Old man: "Welcome, everyone. As all of you already know, this is the most famous academy on the continent, the Crimson Star Academy. All of you must be wondering why were you separated from the other children so fast, right?"
The old man paused and only continued after seeing several children subconsciously nod.
Old man: "My name is Xun Feng, the prophet who foresaw the descent of the legendary star today. This is also the reason why all of you are here right now. There's a very high chance that one among you is the person we're looking for. The one who will change this world's fate."
As his speech ended, replaced by a concealed sharp gaze, the kids who were at first shocked by his words now felt beyond excited. Who didn't want to be the legendary child who'd change the fate of the world? That's something one could only dream about!
The old man smiled and then continued: "Alright, let's not dawdle any further. You were summoned here in order to use the stone you see there to awaken. This in itself is a very big benefit that you'll need to repay to the Academy in the future, but that's a long time from now. What you need to do is to focus and do the best you can when you enter the illusory world later. What kind of Soul Spirit you'll be able to bond with depends solely on yourself and your will. I wish you all luck!"
As the old man said that, in his hands suddenly manifested a staff that resembled a scepter with a violet-colored gem at the top. The staff stabbed into the ground as the previously inactive runic lines flared up, absorbing the energy from the staff and pouring it into the crystal. By the time all of that happened, all the children were already unconsciously lying on the ground, Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka included.
Their souls were already absorbed by the red stone crystal as soon as it came in contact with the energy that surged from the old man's staff. The old man glanced at the unconscious children and leaned back into the chair while closing his eyes. In that moment, the red-robbed elders who were previously outside entered the room one by one.
"Old man, why didn't you wait for us?" asked one of them as he entered.
The old man sitting on the chair slightly opened his eye to see who the fool disturbing him was and closed it again, not bothering even for a second. The elder that got ignored naturally became slightly angry, but the anger multiplied when the others started making fun of him.
Elder Lan, called Lan Yao, was standing at the side, trying to avoid Qi Jian but to no avail. Qi Yun noticed Lan Yao, who was being bothered by Qi Jian and reprimanded him. Although it seemed as if she was disciplining her nephew, her tone was actually calm. Many knew that she planned to support her nephew in marrying this young elder with no background and bringing her into their family. It was just that she couldn't be open about it, but aside from that, nothing else stood in her way, at least for now.