"Yes, yes. As you know already, Dorothy, the Junior Academy of the Gifted opens once, every decade! Unlike most academies, they pick out just the best amongst the best of geniuses. It's every cultivator's dream to be able to walk the ground of the JAG.
"The founder of this great academy is also the founder of the two most popular academies in the Phantom Dynasty, namely the Intermediate Academy of the Gifted of the Dwindling Mountains, and, finally, the Pinnacle Academy of the Gifted of the Magnificent Spirits!"
As the Acorn Master spoke, one could feel deep reverence in his voice for those great academies, there was a kind of unfathomable warmth.
My interests were piqued.
"Is there a fee to be paid or something, to get enrolled?"
It was a fact that great academies of these calibers tended to be extremely expensive.
It's just like schools like Kings College and Queens College — they were extremely expensive. But a fact was, the teaching quality and facilities were two folds better off than most schools.
"Fee? Not at all!" the Acorn Master said with a little chuckle.
"But..." I was confused. How could it just be free?
As if seeing through my thoughts, he began to explain.
"It is true that the Junior Academy of the Gifted is free... however, this does not mean that it would come in grand luxury at one's disposal!
"Difficult tests would have to be challenged by the candidates. If they successfully pass these challenges, they'll be able to freely become enrolled students of this great academy!" The Acorn Master explained, calmly.
"Oh... I see!"
I finally understood what he meant. Since the candidates were supposed to challenge some trials to test if they're worth it, plus they'd be paying nothing at all, the best analogy is a "scholarship". People get to write exams of the desired academies open to scholarships, and if they eventually pass, they'd be entitled to lots of privileges without having to pay huge sums of money!
Dorothy and I continued asking more questions, and before long, we were able to acquire a preliminary knowledge of this academy.
The academy of the Acorn Valley had nine professions, in accordance to the nine cities. And it's the same way in the other two empire-like kingdoms of the Phantom Dynasty.
So far, I've only known two professions, beast taming and thaumaturgy. The former is known for their ability in taming all sorts of savage beasts, according to their respective powers. The thaumaturgists, on the other hand, were completely different.
Thaumaturgist were practitioners of diabolic means. In truth, in the Phantom Dynasty, they were the most looked down on. The reason was because of their connection with magic and enchantment. Practitioners of thaumaturgy were naturally those who had gifts in line with the profession.
Take Uncle Ramsey for example. It just happens that his gift is hypnotism; the art of inducing a trance-like state in others, wherefore the victim(s) has heightened suggestibility, and in which suppressed memories may be experienced — like in the case of the tax collector at the border, earlier. With wiggling his fingers, Uncle Ramsey was able to, not only deceive the other party into believing that nothing went wrong after all the fusses, but also stole from him!
On the other hand, Dorothy was a... fairy. She's able to fly, and she's still in the process of creating a crystal ball... which of course, I shouldn't go into explaining.
That being said, the Acorn Master left some minutes after, asking us to send his regards to my uncle. Young Master Jaiden did not say a single word all through, but just kept looking on, as though there was something he couldn't bring himself to believe yet.
Not minding that, Dorothy and I began to practice our abilities throughout. We knew that it'd not be any qualms for Uncle Ramsey to accept our decisions of wanting to participate in the scholarship, so all we had to do was prepare ourselves.
* * *
"Finally!" Dorothy screamed.
Before her, in-between her hands, was a blue, crystal ball floating in midair.
It'd already been five days since the Acorn Master's visit, which meant that two days were left before we'd be off to pursue our goals.
I stared on, just as excited.
We were in the garden at home. Ever since the Acorn Master's visit, my cousin and I began reinforcing our cultivation together.
The garden was very lively and beautiful. Apart from that, just being here gave one the feeling of great tranquility. If not that this was our home, I'd have thought that the Heart Calming Formation had been set up.
"What does it do, Dorothy?" I asked, curious to know just why it was so important to her. After all, she couldn't possibly use a crystal ball in fighting, as a replacement for swords, right?
"There's only one way to find out," said she. She slowly separated her hands from the ball, leaving it to hang in space without any propeller. Next, Dorothy dropped a droplet of her blood essence on the ball.
It made a sort of jingling sound in my ears as the blood came into contact with the crystal ball.
Instead of seeing the ball make an outburst of power and manifest great pressure on onlookers, what rather occured made my mouth drop ajar.
"Why is it opening like a blooming flower?"
Dorothy kept staring hard into the ball, as though she expected what she was seeing, and as though there was more than what met the eyes.
Curious, I began walking over from where I'd been reinforcing my cultivation, only to he halted.
"Don't move an inch, this is a crucial stage for my advancement in thaumaturgy!"
I stopped. Instead of asking more questions, I began to stare hard at the ball.
Eye of Insight!
The top of the crystal ball was opening slowly, taking it's time. I also noticed that Dorothy was facilitating its blooming speed by nourishing it with her spiritual essence.
Her face began to pale, little by little. It was as though she was giving her life to the crystal ball. Energy left her body in a speed visible to the naked eyes. When it looked like she'd breakdown, Dorothy would quickly throw a revitalising pill into her mouth.
This continued for thirty minutes straight before...
'Poof!'
The petal-like part of the crystal finally opened completely, and a burst of cold yin energy shrouding something, flew out.
"Hmm?" I frowned.
A certain feeling came to me that brought a sudden connection between the thing that flew out, and myself. Despite the power of my Eye of Insight, I couldn't see the figure of whatever was enshrouded by the spiritual energy.
I immediately let out my animal aura to see if there would be any reaction to the thingy.
"AHHHHHH!"
A very tiny, mouse-like scream came from the mist, and 'swoosh', it flew back into the crystal.
Dorothy and I were taken aback. The former quickly looked at me in bewilderment, before asking, "Do you by any chance have a unique constitution in your blood?"
"Unique constitution?"
My eyes lit up. She must have been referring to what Teacher Kira had mentioned about bloodlines. So instead of going into explaining the unnecessary, I simply nodded in affirmation.
Her eyes widened.
"What kind of constitution could possibly make it to tremble this much?"
She shook her head, then paused halfway of the gesture.
"Could it be the..."