A group of four students had just stepped inside one of the terminals of the famed Radiance Arena. For some reason, three of them were currently focused on one of their mates. "Member of Elite-500? My ass!!" Chris spat in loathing.
"Ahem.." Finding himself to be the center of attention, even someone like Ben who took pride in his thick skin, can't help but feel suffocated. Turning his gaze up, he can see clear demarcation on the large board that carried the names of every talented individual currently enrolled in the Academy.
Written in golden words were the names of the first ten individuals. Those were the so-called Nebulas or the cream at the top of the Academy. After them, there were three more categories, namely Elite-50, Elite-100, and Elite-300.
The three newly inducted students, could not find the Elite-500 section as claimed by their buddy just a while back. Rather, 500 was the absolute limit of the names that were visible on the board. This meant the Academy didn't value any ranks after that to even bother naming them.
"Hmph.. you guys are new here. Sure we don't have any official term like Elite-500 but so what? Because that's exactly how we are referred informally." Ben nodded his head vigorously as if trying to convince none other than himself.
"Yeah, yeah.. let's stop with your bullshit. Tell us if you can bring us in?" Chris was thoroughly incensed by this guy's repeated attempts at chest-thumping. To think even such a weak guy was able to make it into the top 500 talents didn't actually inspire confidence in him.
Ben can only seem refuge with Aron, who though irritated, didn't take to insulting him right in front of the young lady. "Sure, you guys wait here. I know a few guys here. Let me pull some strings." This was the only way for him to win back some face.
"This guy.. he sure loves boasting haha.." Watching Ben's back disappear among the crowd of students, Aron chuckled. He truly found Ben's ability to lie with a straight face rather fascinating. "Sometimes he gets on my nerves.." Chris barked while Christina was at a loss for words.
Since Ben was no longer with them, they did what the only thing they could.. that is to stare at the billboard with various names. The words written with golden strokes attracted the most attention.
"Hazel Erickson, Rudina Sapphire, Nadira Nuna, Ivana.. MacMillan?" Aron was acutely aware of the family name of the fourth lady on the Nebula list.
"Is she related to Gloria?" Christina turned to him, but he can only shrug his shoulders. "Don't know."
"These girls take family matters too seriously. They don't usually speak up front is what I had gleaned from them." Aron judged, thinking how he had pretty much been in dark about the Julia's very own sister being such a celebrity in this Academy.
"Most big families are like that. We can't blame them since the matters are complicated at higher levels itself." Christina added her inference. "I guess you are right. Let's ask her about this Ivanna lady next time."
"What is the name of the lord..??" While the boy and girl were busy discussing their matter, Chris was sinking into the abyss of despair. Having glossed over the list much faster than his buddies, he noticed the anomaly pretty soon.
"Twenty-third position? Are you kidding me?" Chris looked like he was in deep pain with a despaired look on his face. Aron was about to confront the boy for such bizarre behavior when Christina lightly chuckled.
"Haha.. leave him be. See there..?" She pointed her finger to the name of the person at the position her twin had called out. "That's the first boy from the top. He is probably traumatised by that."
Chris and herself had held a lot of verbal fights over the superiority of the sexes they belonged to. As such, Christina could very easily determine his situation.
"This.." Aron scratched his face. This performance.. it was nothing more than abysmal. Can it be any more insulting than this? Even for someone like him, who is not too interested in the rivalry of sex, he can't help but feel a passive embarrassment.
"Is the scale really so lopsided? Damn.. don't tell me we got to live in that stupid building all the upcoming years." Christina looked at Aron who in turn patiently explained the situation.
"Hn.. so there is something like that. Truly.. the difference was too glaring to ignore." She nodded her small head, not sure whether to laugh or cry at Chris's circumstances. "Twenty-third.. I guess you guys are better off waiting for the next year to commence."
Aron himself was pretty stumped, lacking any kind of reasoning to console his friend. "Hey guys.. come here..!!" Right then Ben called out to them, distracting them successfully from the ranking board.
"Let's go. I got permission. We are assigned the third terminal." Watching the three teenagers walk up to him, Ben pronounced confidently. Chris's eyes shined as he immediately turned to Aron. "I can't wait hehe.."
Ben brought the group over. "So what's with these terminals? I recall we were assigned to the fifth terminal or something during our screening trials." Christina asked.
Ben was happy to answer. Not to mention this allowed him to make sure the group was not discussing his Elite-500 status. "There are five terminals in the Radiance Arena. You can take them as dueling areas."
"The fifth one is the smallest and acts as the spell testing grounds as well. The other four terminals are multiple times in size, easily able to hold the duels between actual powerhouses. So much so that even teachers can fight in there with minimal damages to the structure."
"Ohh.. then is there a hierarchy here.. regarding the access to terminals?" Aron mulled and Ben shook his head. "No.. nothing like that. Anyone can use whichever terminal is available. At the end of the day, it's just an extra large fighting arena and nothing more."
The group had only stepped through the gates in order to start a long walk up to the terminal when their talk attracted some undue attention. "Nothing more than a fighting arena? Oi.. oi.. looks like we got a bunch of first-year punks here."
Aron and his buddies had to stop because a large group of students had chosen to stand in their way. Led by a ruffian-looking girl the group gathered around them with mean eyes.
"Ahh.. so it is Ms. Tina.. please pardon this junior's slip of tongue." Ben was quick to apologize, even when he had no clue how he offended this second-year freak.
Usually, first-year students are sheltered by the academy, as such it's rare for students to get picked up. Nonetheless, when it comes to this girl, Ben was aware punishments mattered less to her.
Remaining clueless, Aron and the twins stood in their place, letting Ben handle it. "No.. no.. just now I got an impression like you brats were growing too rampant." "Haha.. who in their right mind will try being rampant in your presence, Ms. Tina."
Ben remained faithful to his disposition, quickly resorting to sucking up to the girl. His words won him a lot of disdainful looks from the boys and girls around them, nevertheless, it didn't affect him a bit.
"Hm.. is this the first time you toddlers had stepped in the Arena?" With her hand crossed across her chest and a navy blue jacket placed over her shoulders, Tina lost her interest in Ben, instead choosing to scrutinize the other three guys.
"Indeed, miss. This is our very first time coming here." Finding that Chris remained uninterested in doing any talking that didn't involve his hands and his sister being too proud for her own good, Aron could only step forth and answer.
Tina brought her face right next to Aron, almost sniffing his face. "Hm.. What's with this doll-like face? Delicate kids like you should stay away from this place.." She could not help but take another look at the boy.
"Ahem.. well.. thank you for your suggestion, but I would still like to take a look for myself." Aron was smiling widely as if the boy was appreciative of this small conversation. Tina was at a loss. It's not every day she finds such inherent cheerful brats around here.
"Didn't you hear Ms. Tina? Are you trying to mess with us punk?" It was the boy standing next to her who reacted. Aron had seen him stand disinterested for a while when suddenly he sprung into motion on his response.
His hand reached out to grab Aron, but too bad for him, the slave boy was much faster at evading his grasp. Instead of his hand choking the boy, the group found Aron calmly holding onto the boy's wrist, in complete control of the situation.
The boy responsible for the escalation stood motionless for a second, unable to react to this discrepancy. Tina and her group were just as stunned while the twins had taken a step to stand right next to Aron, in case the situation spiraled out of control.
"Ah.. ahahaha.. haha.. what in the world are you doing, junior?" Out of everyone present, Ben was probably the only one sweating profusely. Who would have known they were going to run into Ms. Tina, the first thing in the morning?
Ben reacted fast, holding Aron's hand and quickly freeing the second-year's hand with the most apologetic smile he could come up with. He could see the boy's face twitch in embarrassment.
Who other than Ben can be more aware of how it felt when you are disrespected in front of a beauty you are desperately trying to impress?
Innately opposed to any conflict, Ben did his best to diffuse the situation. "You..!!" Even so, it seemed like he was a tiny bit late in his reaction. The second-year boy's face morphed into anger.
Nevertheless, to Ben's great relief Tina stepped in. "Let it go, Marky. It's your fault for being reckless. You can't hold it against a junior. He was only being prudent in his reaction."
"I.." The boy wanted to explain himself, but Tina simply didn't give him any opportunity for that. Her attention was already focused on the exquisite boy. "Hm.. what do you mean by new? Are they not students?"
Ben was about to answer when Tina changed her mind once again. Stepping closer to Aron such that there was only a finger-length distance between their nose, she questioned him directly. "What's your name?"
"It's Nora." "Nora..? What kind of name is that.. anyway.. which family do you belong to?" Aron had obviously never given a thought to that. All he did was reverse the letters in his name to come up with a fake one. Obviously same he can't do for his surname, which simply didn't exist.
Thankfully, Ben was there for the rescue. Even before the twins, the scion of the Gallant family was the first to discover what Aron desired. "Ah.. Ms. Tina, he doesn't belong to a family. Rather, he belongs to our house."
Tina can't be any more surprised than this. "You mean to tell me, he is a servant with your family?" Aron had not expected Ben to be this quick-witted. "Indeed I am, miss."
Not wanting to be held up by these meaningless conflicts, Aron sidestepped the girl with his signature charming smile. "Now then, please excuse us."
The twins followed Aron, completely ignoring the group. On the other hand, Ben made sure to pass on some further explanations before leaving them as well.
"They sure got guts to lie to our faces." Another girl beside Tina came forward to stand with her. "Indeed. These guys.. sure are an interesting lot." The way those twins had stayed unmoved meant to tell her they were no noobs when it came to handling conflicts.
"Especially the boy.. what he said his name was... Nora.. yeah, whatever man. You sure are one hell of a servant hahaha.." Tina laughed uncaringly. It's funny how he didn't even bother to act out his lie. "Come on, we are not done with them."
< Kudos!!>>