Blue light reflected in Simon's pupils. "Amazing.. amazing.. hahahaha.. The house of Desmond must be proud." The grin on his face was spreading from ear to ear. He would have missed these two prodigies in the group had Ms. Tracey not informed him of their identities.
"Nothing less expected from madam Rhine's disciple." Tracey too clapped her hands in excitement. Meanwhile, Gloria kept quiet, only her fists were crushed much fiercely now. A blue color talent, the same as her meant she can't be too complacent.
"Wow.. Ms. Christina truly had the talent to back her pride." Much like his peers, Aron stared in awe at the scene of exuberance. "Huh.. she is a total show off." Chris watched his sister garner all the attention to herself, making sure she put on the most extravagant pose.
Finally, the show came to an end with the fleeting light that was extinguished in the next minute. "Hmph..!" Christina swirled on her heels, confidently walking off the stage.
Chris followed her and once again flooded the premises with the same blue luminance. Nevertheless, he was much more modest than his sister, giving a bow to Mr. Simon before following in his footsteps of Christina.
"Do your best, friend." Aron and Chris walked past each other with the latter offering a thumbs up. "I will." With a smile, Aron took deep breaths all along the way. Needless to say, the attention of the crowd had now been directed towards the twins and no one other than Tracey had any interest in his results.
'Show me what you are hiding!!' Tracey mumbled to herself, watching the slightly nervous boy place his hand on the crystal. Her face of anticipation immediately turned to fascination when a similar blue light spread to the surroundings.
This was not what Simon had ever expected even in his dreams. His jaw almost touched the ground because the shade of the blue light was constantly turning darker with every passing second. Chris was no different. And so was Gloria.
Only Tracey cheered on with a gleeful laugh. Nevertheless, even her expression went for a toss when the navy blue color evolved into a purple. *Chirp* *Chirp* Sparks appeared all over the ball as the purple shade took on a deeper tone.
Everything occurred in a matter of seconds, not giving Aron any time to process. The light in his eyes took a deeper shade, now almost resembling black. At this point instead of illuminating the hall like his predecessor, the crystal ball was devouring any light from all directions.
Being the most qualified individual here, Simon can tell that the crystal ball had malfunctioned. Right when the sparks of darkness began crackling around it, he spurted in motion.
"Get back!!" In a single step, Simon put himself between the boy and the crystal ball. *BANG* Before anyone can tell anything, the crystal ball exploded. Fortunately, Simon was able to suppress the explosion, protecting the kids from the flying shards.
It took Simon a moment to calm down when he looked down and sighed in relief. The boy was safe and no one seems to have been harmed by the accident. "Hahahah.. sorry about that, kids. Sometimes this happens. There is no need to panic."
As an adult, he knew his responsibility to keep the order. Although this was the first time he had seen anything like this, he had to tone down the incident. Once he observed the people around him reel back from the shock, he laughed out loud once again.
"Haha.. it's okay. The academy doesn't lack crystal..." Still stupefied from the earlier occurrence, Aron found Mr. Simon suddenly stopping midway through his speech and looking down at him.
"Ahem... It was our negligence that the crystal ball turned out to be faulty. The academy has decided to allow the rest of you to pass this test." For the next minute, there was absolute silence in the training hall. When the group discerned his words, everyone broke out into loud cheers.
"What a surprise.. Phew.." Tracey wiped the cold sweat off her brows. "What was that? I have never seen magic crystals malfunction." Gloria commented, causing her friend to jerk her shoulders. "Neither have I. But one thing is sure, our little slave had just gotten even more interesting hehe.."
This time Gloria can't help but closely scrutinize Aron who was still standing alone on the stage, too shaken to move. 'Is Julia really planning something?' It didn't make sense for Julia to prop up a random slave into the academy. What will she gain with that?
Gloria was confused. Nevertheless, the rivalry between their families meant that she might need to inform her clan about this new development. The two clans had always been balanced in every parameter, no variables should be allowed to alter it.
"Here brother..!!" A befuddled Aron had only taken his first step down the pavilion when Chris called out to him. "What in the world was that, brother?" Aron smiled wryly. "How would I know? The best bet is that the two of you were too awesome for the crystal ball to keep up."
His words made Chris crack up as he patted his shoulders. "Haha.. I like you, friend. You are funny." Both of them were finding each other more to their liking. "Huh.. for a moment I thought you might be better than your fellow slaves.."
The crystal exploding had caught Christina by surprise, and now she wanted to one-up the boy for that. Aron once again chose to ignore her, instead of talking to Chris enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, Simon stood in his place, mulling over the matter. "Sir, we can always bring in a new evaluation crystal. Should we really allow so many kids to pass the second round?" One of the ladies helping him with the setup posed out of curiosity.
"No need for that. Don't worry, the next test is even more thorough. It's our duty to not allow mediocre talent in the academy." Seeing that Mr. Simon was not ready to talk in detail, the lady can only nod and take her to leave.
"Listen up kids.. we will have a short break. In case anyone is ignorant enough, let me remind you that in the next test we will be evaluating your combat skills live. So take my advice and have a small meal.. you will need all the energy you can muster." Simon declared.
"Why don't you show us around, brother? You must be very familiar with this place." Eager to explore, Chris held onto Aron's arm, giving him no choice but to acquiesce. Picking up their bags, they left the training hall together.
***
"What do you think?" Darlene sat together with two other individuals. The first one was the green-haired elf girl, Isabella. She still had her signature long gown with a hoodie that hid her long ears.
Beside her sat an old man with a long white beard, reaching down to his chest. At the masked lady's question, he chuckled lightly. "While I am not a brute force specialist like you guys, I have picked a fair amount of locks in my career." He carefully caressed his facial hair.
"Don't play with words, old man. Tell us if you can get the page out in time or not?" Isabella was not very confident of the guy, despite him being the de facto leader of their group, since their real leader was impounded.
"Hohoho.. you sure are feisty, Isa. Ten minutes uninterrupted, that's how long you guys have to buy me with the vault." Isabella didn't respond, instead choosing to look at Darlene. With half her face covered under the mask, the redhead sipped tea from her cup patiently.
"It can be done. As long as I don't have to face the principal, I am confident of holding everyone at bay." Zion gave a slight nod, mulling deeply for a while. "Mrs. Madelyn will be one of the primary guests invited. Apart from that, there is no way she is going skip the anniversary of one of her favorite students."
The current empress had been taught by Madelyn and from what the group had discovered, the teacher-student had a great bonding together. "What about that pesky old hag? She is another one to be wary about." Isabella interrupted with her own concerns.
While she didn't take a specific name, her partners knew who she was referring to. Zion shook his head, sipping another mouthful of his tea. "That's what I am worried about as well. In all possibilities, madam Nancy shall join the celebrations as well."
He took a long pause before continuing. "However, even if she doesn't. The mission will still need to be completed. We might not get this great of an opportunity again in a while. Not to mention we will lose the element of surprise."
"Everything depends on you, old man. If you take too long.. both of us will be pretty much fucked." Isabella complained. She was not used to relying on others when it comes to her life.
"It's okay, you need to believe more in master Zion." Darlene countered, making Isabella puff her cheeks and put her head down, grumbling. "Hohoho.. Then please allow me to take my leave. I will have to depend on you to invite me in a few more times, Darlene."
"I will have to reenact the deed a few times so we are ready for every eventuality." Zion got to his feet, ready to depart when suddenly a group of young kids entered the cafe, laughing out loud. "Hahahaha.. You are the best, brother. I have never laughed so hard...!!"
This was not the time for students to be walking around the academy. Darlene noticed the face of one of them and immediately her heart jerked. "Ahem.. you can come in at any time, master Zion. As long as you show them the badge, they won't suspect you."
Zion witnessed Isabella's gaze sharpen as she glared at the group of young students who had walked in and sat in one corner of the cafeteria. He took a sweeping glance over them, not finding any of them familiar.
"Isabella!" Once the old man left the scene, Darlene instantly pressed onto Isabella's arm. "Either behave.. or you are welcome to leave as well." Her word caused the elf's face to morph. Ever since they had been together, Isabella had always monopolized all of her affection.
So needless to say, she felt extremely threatened by the care Darlene displayed for a random kid. "He is...!" She wanted to protest, but Darlene's expression left no room for any argument. "Humph.. Then I better take my leave as well." Unable to stand it, Isabella chose not to remain in the cafe anymore.
"What are you saying brother? Come on.. please allow me to pay for the lunch. You just help us choose something delicious." Meanwhile, at the other table, Chris protested when Aron informed him that he brought his lunch.
Knowing there was no way off for him, Aron smiled wryly. "Okay.. then please remain seated. I will bring something." This time Chris did not contend with him. "You better bring something good.. slave boy." Christina had to pass on her own peevish remark, prompting both boys to astutely ignore her altogether.
"Who the hell he thinks he is?" Obviously, she didn't appreciate that the boy walked away without even batting her an eye. "You will never find a boyfriend like this, little sister. Will it really hurt you if you at least try to be courteous?" Naturally, his words fell on deaf ears.
Aron was still uneasy from the earlier explosion. Being muddle-headed, he ended up crashing right into another customer. Such was his luck that his head ended up right into her bosom. "Ohh.. I am so sorry, miss!!"
Even if he can't tell the gender from her extensive dull gown, her perky chest was enough reminder to him that he crashed into a lady. Her long green hair suddenly triggered a memory but there was no time for any of that because right now the woman was glaring at him with murderous intentions.
< Kudos!!>>