Richie was a little startled but got on with it. After all this man was his senior.
Richie got done quickly after which the man pointed towards a certain dark haired youth a few steps behind him. It could have been none other than Lionel of course.
Lionel raised a brow.
"Everyone behind that young man move to the other line. Hmm, this hall will be filled after him, so there will be o space for the written exam for the rest of you here." The man yawned a little while he spoke, scratching his nose in an uncaring way.
The students behind Lionel who had come a little late had darkened expression. They would have to go join the back of the line again.
They looked towards the professor, with dissatisfaction, but their eyes cleared when they realized how it might be.
He was known as Wayne Morales.
He was completely unkempt from the hairs on his head, to the shaved beards that had been through suffering all the way down to his clothes.
Yet there was something about him that seemed to oppress everyone around him. Like a bottle with a leak but what was contained was contained was constantly being refilled.
Almost as if a Lion had been sealed with a cage, but would jump out breaking the cage at any sort of provocation.
He was a teacher who should have been quite high on the food chain, according to what Lionel heard from the surrounding conversations.
He frowned when he heard this 'Why would such a man be stuck at a student counter?' Maybe only he knew…
The whole process didn't take long. Soon enough Lionel was at the counter.
"Name."
Wayne didn't even bother to raise his head to see who it was or rather he usaully wouldn't. Even when he had pointed towards Lionel he hadn't really been looking at him.
But he raised his head this time. The aura the man before him was emitting was too similar to that man.
"Lionel. Lionel Kage." Lionel casually replied. But the moment he did everyone turned towards him like wolves that had just found a lamb in the forest. Their gazes reddening and not all for the same reasons.
They heard Ayo say his name earlier, but anyone could have the name Lionel. But those who carried the
name Kage? That family was one of devils.
"Lionel…Kage?" Wayne looked up, when he seemed to have verified what he wanted to, he started laughing manically.
"An arrogant bastard you are, you don't even dare to greet your uncle!
"I invited you to come here 4 years ago! Have you finally come to learn?
"That old man Kage is a lunatic wasting your potential like this…"
But everything else he said was blurred out by the students, what had caught their attention were the words, 'Invited 4 years ago.' When the reeled in their shock they turned back to look at the young man before them.
There was no way this man was older than twenty. So wouldn't that mean he got invited when he was 16 at least? They had noticed Sakura before but they refused to believe it.
Some people just looked more youthful than others right? But this here could not be refuted.
If only they knew he was 18, meaning he had received an invitation when he was 14.
But then they became confused. He didn't look like someone who had sealed the 4th lock. In fact he was giving off signs of an individual in the 2nd Lock.
Very soon they cleared their doubts, there was no way he was invited 4 years ago. Does it take someone that long to break through the 2nd Lock?
The hardest Lock to seal was the 1st. It wasn't so much the difficultly as it was rather the process. The
process of cleansing the soul and the body for the loosening of the Aether code and then locking unto that
feeling in their heart and minds.
It was like the Body Tempering stages like in all those novels. It had less to do with Qi and more to do with refining the body in order to perceive said Qi, or manipulate said Qi.
Of course variation abilities were no exception. A man who had no locks could never defeat one of the higher Lock else he cultivated his variance ability.
Of course if they knew he had spent the last 8 years in constant refinement of his body one would wonder how they would feel.
Of course Wayne knew about this.
Everybody calmed down when they 'realized' that Wayne was exaggerating. It was probably 1 or two years ago. Even so the shock was not little.
The difference of a year was larger than most would think.
Most of them were on their 3rd Lock already. They were all the top geniuses of Earth, some were already infinitely close to sealing the 4th Lock.
And very few of them were older than 19 which was the average age to receive an invitation to this school.
Wayne had already grabbed unto Lionel, trying to kiss him.
Lionel felt his scalp go numb, tears threatening to pour out. 'Is this how I lose my first kiss? I am unwillingly!
'How can a handsome man like me, receive such a short end of the stick?'
Lionel immediately broke free moving out of the way. He sighed in relief. 'We thank the Lord!'
Wayne who was now found on the floor got up, brushed his clothes, and continued to speak shamelessly. "Come, come. The exam is about to start. Let's go in." He moved towards Lionel, violently patting his back.
"But Professor the.." Lionel wanted to talk about the registration but what cut off.
"Don't worry about it! Haha!"
The both of them heading toward the hall but the right.
The students as well as the other teacher behind the counter watched on speechlessly. 'Were professors
so shameless nowadays?'
Nobody knew how to answer that question.
…
Lionel had walked into the hall and saw the only seat left which was in a rather conspicuous corner. He moved towards it and sat down on it.
"I don't have much to say to any of you except that if you have the ability to fail this, then your talent is not needed here.
"You have an hour. Begin." Wayne who had walked up to the front at one point yawned as he spoke to the hundred students before him.
As soon has Wayne finished speaking everyone had a gray hologram appear before them with the questions they needed to answer, there was a tablet with a pen embedded into the table for those that might need to write something down.
It was a general exam including Calculus, Modern Physics, etc.
The lights went out, but even as it did none of them dared to look around, or rather most felt no need to.
Calculation was not something people found hard these days, because it had been drilled into them since childhood. And not the basic kind.
An hour past by rather quickly. After all the failure rate for the written exam was non-existent. None of them found it even a little hard.
Some like Ayo and Lionel had already finished by the 15-20 minute mark.
"Well that is your time. If you haven't submitted by now you never had any chance at all, but of course I am sure all of you did."
Before Wayne started speaking the gray holograms had already disappeared, the tablets switched off, and the lights switched on.
"Now I shall list the score from top scorer till the least. This will determine your position in the class of 2231." Wayne scratched his ass as he spoke.
"You will be the 71st class since the founding of said Academy."
Then his relaxed demeanor disappeared, "Remember this is not a 'University.' This is a place where we breed monsters who have a chance to be part of the Six.
"If you have no pride nor believe in yourself you will never become not achieve anything here.
"The rules are negligible based on your performance. Slowly get rid of your civilian mindset because I wouldn't be surprised if some of you end up dead before the year ends.
"I am of the class of 2205. If you understand what happened that year you'll understand that none of
your lives are guaranteed here.
"Who knows? Maybe if it wasn't for Walter Kage I would be among the body piles too hmm?" He
suddenly let out a hearty laughter but the students felt their hearts turn cold.
Of course some of them seemed to breathe excitement, but only time could tell if it were a facadé.
"As for those bands on your hands they monitor your location constantly. If any of you think of betraying Earth to join invaders or any other…" Immediately the class felt like they had been dipped into a giant vat of ice, frost even permeating the surroundings, as things began to shatter and the walls began to crack.
"I. WILL. MAKE. SURE. TO. PUT. YOU. DOWN. MYSELF." He looked towards them with a gaze that could
freeze their souls multiple times over.
His aura was no longer restrained. The class looked on in shock, while some seemed to breed fear. Why did it feel that this man had at least sealed the 7th Lock? Weren't people at that level rare?
Even the Dean wasn't at this level right? But of course the students didn't know how much of a terrifying existence the Dean of their quadrant was. As for who was more terrifying of the two? Maybe only they knew.
Lionel was quite shocked because he was sure that the Dean had only sealed the 5th Lock. But now he wasn't so sure seeing the power a mere teacher was able to display.
Of course Wayne Morales was no mere teacher.
In fact it could be said that Lionel was the weakest existence to ever set foot on this academy. If only Mako had actually taken him seriously he wouldn't have dead such a meaningless death.
One shouldn't forget he never used his Blood Order, nor at skills nor techniques. He played with Lionel till the end. In his opinion they posed no threat at all.
He had a lot to meet of goals to meet up to.
"Anyway unto the list then." Wayne spoke out again, his relaxed aura returning.
"Of course first on my list is none other than my nephew, Lionel Kage, followed by the only other family that dares to carry the Kage name. Kage Fukuro, his cousin…"
Lionel sighed, he could feel the headache that would come with this preferencial treatment. Some were already staring daggers at him. 'Great.'
Wayne chuckled seeing Lionel's reaction before he went on to list the rest who he felt weren't as important.
"3rd Richard Kage."
Immediately The siblings and Ayo looked towards Richie with shocked eyes. Richie looked at their shocked expressions.
'What are they implying by that look? I'm a genius too you know.' He would really have to find a day to put these kids in there place.
"7th Ayo Ayodeji"
"…"
"12th Kage Sakura"
"…"
"57th Marcel Mthathi"
"…"
"91st Kira Love"
He was soon done with the list. When he was he said, "You all can go back to the room. You all have a
one-time access to the library whenever you see it fit."
"Dismissed."
As soon as he said this he quickly looked towards Lionel and smiled, quickly disappearing and reappearing in front of Lionel as his head leaned forward.
Smells of junk food, that seemed to have seeped into his bones as this point, washed over.
'Shit! I have attracted an old man of all things!'
Fukuro let out a slight chuckle at the scene, "Let's see if he can remain so arrogant."
"What was that?" Sakura who was standing next to him asked.
"Hmph! Nothing." With that he walked towards the dorms.
"Is he jealous?" Sakura held her chin in a manly way looking rather adorable. Fukuro who had managed to hear her almost stumbled.
"Hehe." She let out a light smile at the sight.Sonetimes this brother of hers was cute too.
[Author's note: I want to raise the bar a little so Richie will also be younger (19) and at the 3rd Lock.]