Oliver seemed to pause a few minutes to let his words set in before he rose his hands up in the air. "I hope you all are ready because the Exams begin now."
Stunned by his words, most of the participants couldn't react as a blinding silver light swept passed them. Noah wasn't part of them though, he was quick to grab the arms of his two companions before the light swept over him too.
What happened next confirmed his thoughts. The three of them had appeared in a bright environment surrounded by thick steel walls on both sides, which meant that the Soaring Star Academy had someone that possessed a Spatial Affinity. This made the transmigrator excited as he dropped off any intention of staying low key. This was the Soaring Star Academy, if he wished to be taught how to perfect his control of both his affinities, he would have to reveal them.
Suddenly, the sound of retching disturbed his thoughts and made him direct his attention to the siblings he had brought with him. Seeing them puke their guts out made him a little confused because he never experienced such when he teleported and he wasn't feeling it now. 'Is it because of my affinity I'm unaffected or that they're bodies are weak?' "You guys okay?"
After calming down a bit, Damien heaved a sigh and nodded. But that action seemed to bring back some nausea which caused him to crouch and retch once more. Ultimately, it took a few minutes before the twos' conditions seemed to have improved.
Seeing this Noah nodded. "Okay, get ready. I'll check out which path to take." With a thought, his skill, Silver Dragon Eyes was activated allowing him to see a world of brilliant colors that depicted a type of Essence. But he didn't care about those, his goal was to search for a body releasing the strongest Essence signature. His guess was that the academy wouldn't leave the entrance to the center of the maze unguarded.
And his guess seemed to be right. At four points that seemed like a square, there were four strong Essence signature with about a peak Intermediate Stage strength. This meant there were four entrances to the center all guarded by an Essence Beast at the Peak Intermediate Stage. He couldn't exactly pinpoint where there were because they were quite far from him, thankfully the beasts made no attempt to hide their auras so he could sense them. 'Will I be able to take them on?' In the end, that thought anchored itself in his mind as he thought of engaging one of the beasts in battle. After the many months of training and traveling he had reached the 5th Level of the Intermediate Stage. He could take on the beasts if he used the Embodiment Martial skill but that would later leave him unfit for battle, and something told him reaching the center wouldn't be enough for this exam.
But he paused before staring at the two behind him and realized that he was thinking about it the wrong way. The two had also been training over the months and were able to break into the Intermediate Stage, it didn't amount to much against a beast 9 levels above them, but they could still be capable of helping him.
Suddenly his head whipped to the west as he suddenly felt an eruption of a familiar Essence signature. His next movements were so fast that he himself was shocked, his body immediately dashed towards his right, even utilizing Dragon Steps to increase his speed. "You guys should try to keep up!" 'I guess I'm really missing that kid, aren't I?'
Yes, he was going to meet the one of the first people that had an impact on his cold heart when he arrived at the world of Maest. Leonel Norton.
***
Leonel crouched as he retched after he appeared in his new environment but his didn't last as much as the siblings because of the Blood Essence that circulated in his body. Pulling his golden colored hair, a trait he had received from his mother, backwards, an aggrieved gaze appeared in his emerald colored eyes. "Goddammit! I was hoping to meet Noah before getting in here."
A roar soon brought him out of his thoughts and made him pay attention to the wolf like Essence Beast that stood before him glaring at him with hostility. But an apathetic look was Leonel's response to the beast's glare.
Feeling the Level 5 Intermediate Stage aura trying to press down on him, a smile of contempt appeared on his face. "Little doggy, lemme show you who's the real king of the jungle here." With a yell, his Battlesoul appeared above him revealing its Emperor Grade splendor. Above him was a 3 meter tall Golden Lion with its mane shining as if reflecting the stars in the sky. It was his Emperor Grade Star Lion. With a roar, the Battlesoul released a stream of Essence that coated Leonel's arms to create a Lion claw like structure that reached his shoulders. And with a shine of his World ring, a 2 meter spear appeared in his grip. "Let's play."
"Awooo!" With a howl, the wolf pounced forward brandishing its claws at the little child before it.
"Hehe. Constellation's Path: Shooting Star!" Executing his movement Battle Art, Leonel seemed to transform into a shooting star that appeared behind the wolf swinging his spear in a circle to release an arc filled with concentrated Star Essence. "Constellation's Wrath: Stellar Arc."
The wolf once more as it felt the attack dig deep into its back, splattering blood everywhere. Its anger soon overtook its pain as it jumped to meet Leonel in the air with a swipe of its claw. The latter stayed calm in the face of the attack and merely opened his mouth to release his first Soul skill, Star Lion's Roar. With a roar, the Star Essence in his body drained as a concentrated beam of Starlight was launched forward to meet the claw of the wolf, sending it crashing into the ground.
"Constellation's Wrath: Falling Star!" With Essence covering his body, the youngster fell to the ground with increasing momentum before slashing straight through the immobile wolf., killing it completely,
Watching all these from a distance, Noah's mouth widened a bit. "Well damn." Not only was this friend of his now strong, he even possessed a higher level than him. As hard as it was for the transmigrator to believe Leonel currently stood at the 7th Level of the Intermediate Stage.