Aria Luxford was lost in thought as she still couldn't believe the news about her little brother's disappearance.
She wanted to regain their family's lost honor by gaining enough reputation by using her impressive talent as an Arcanist. She even gained a legendary ring during the Arcana Bestowal Ceremony which ignited her desire even more.
"Father… What should I do?"
Aria muttered with a trembling voice. She had a lot of burden on her shoulder even though she was only twelve years old.
In truth, she couldn't even fully leave her mother to handle the business matters of their family as she wasn't educated.
The matters of their business were currently being handled by their head butler and a couple of servants in their territory.
The mansion of the Luxford family at the Rosen Town was one of the five remaining assets they have.
Sigh~
If not for the disappearance of the Baron, the head of the family, who was later rumored as a traitor, they would have continuously grown in power…
Unfortunately, before they achieved this, an accident occurred.
Aria believed that their family was plotted against by those nobles who harbor evil intentions, nobles who didn't want others to rise in power.
"Aria! Aria!"
"Ah, Emily!"
She was jolted awake by the sudden call out. They were currently within the training grounds of the Royal Academy and now practicing a high level of Spiritual Energy control.
She has already learned about this level of control when she was 10 years old so she wasn't too interested in it.
"Are you still thinking of your brother?" Emily asked in concern. She was one of Aria's trusted friends who was also a daughter of a baron that was studying here in the Academy.
Aria only smiled at her after saying this.
This made her heart skip for a bit! Aria was truly one of the top three saintesses of the Academy.
Aria has straight, long, black hair and gray-blue eyes. Aside from that, her pale and unblemished skin together with her soothing voice would always add to her charm.
If not for their declining family especially with the rumors behind his father's disappearance, there would surely be a lot of nobility who would ask for marriage once she reached her coming of age ceremony.
While they were chatting on the training ground, three of their academy combat instructors had suddenly arrived.
They were told a while ago by their instructor to practice their Spiritual Energy before he left and now came back after an hour. This time, he even brought two other instructors so everyone was quite curious.
"You've been practicing this for over a week already… It is now time to check your prowess… The three of us will decide whether you pass or not before we will allow you to enter the Wailing Forest Trial…"
After the announcement, sudden exclamations were heard due to their excitement.
When they received their Arcanas, they have been very eager to use it in a real battle against the wild beasts or even evil beasts. But they didn't have a chance.
'What? We can now use it for real?'
'Hahaha! It's my time to shine!'
'I'll pass in this test and go to the forest…'
'The Wailing Forest? Isn't that the infamous forest further south?'
'Yeah… I heard that it was scary there…'
'I'm worried… I hope that instructors can protect us once we're inside…'
Different opinions were suddenly heard. They were already aware that this will happen at some point in time but they were all still surprised.
"Alright… This will be quick…"
The instructor leading the class then gave his instruction for the test.
"First, create a ball of Spiritual Energy at the tip of your finger. Make it the same size as your fist."
"Yes, instructor!"
Everyone then raised their forefinger and created a ball of invisible energy. Only those who practiced the energy was capable of confirming them.
There were only 25 students within this class so the three instructors could easily confirm the stability, size, and thickness of the Spiritual Energy that the students used in just 4 to 5 seconds.
"Now, you have to shrink the size of your spiritual energy to that of your fingernail…"
The instructor suddenly said after confirming that everyone had already completed the first step.
Everyone was surprised in their minds but they couldn't lose their focus at this moment. So they have to quickly gather their thoughts and concentrate.
'Size of a fingernail? Interesting.'
Aria only smirked after hearing this.
That task was a bit challenging to others considering that they were only tasked to compressed their energy to the size of a coin in their previous training.
Anyway, no one complained and only worked harder.
Soon, many of the students failed to compress their energy as it scattered through the air after losing their concentration.
"If you failed to compress the energy, you can try again until the class is over!"
The instructor doesn't seem to be too strict as he gave chances to the others.
It didn't take long before the talented students showed their prowess.
"Alright… Yui, Aria, Emily, Marco, Axel, Travis, and Alexander had already passed! Right, I would like you guys to remember that sensation. Your Arcana would someday require such a concentrated form of energy."
The instructor advised them which made everyone feel a bit excited, especially when that time comes.
They were aware of Arcana Awakening and the instructor might be referring to that moment. Anyway, they kept it in their minds and waited for their other classmates to finish the test.
Once they passed, they would need to prepare for a three-day Wailing Forest Trial. A training meant for the young Arcanists who had just received their Arcana
***
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The tree where Reiji asked for the installation of the hanging wood training tools had seemingly improved as one could see that the number of the woods had increased.
"I did it again! Hahaha!"
Diether laughed and shouted in joy.
He did it!
He wasn't hit even once by those hanging woods even if they had increased their numbers!