"Xie Leiana, seven hundred point aural reading, cleared the fourth floor, ten minutes to break the illusion. Light Staff, apprentice class. Long Yaoyang, eight hundred point aural reading, cleared the fourth floor, eight minutes to break the illusion. Dark Saber, novice class."
Char nods as the words meet his ears. Of course these two were able to reach the highest rank. He'd have been a fool to think otherwise--
"Hufang Tara, nine hundred point aural reading, cleared the fourth floor. Due to overexhaustion she was unable to take the final exam. However, because of her former scores, she shall be placed within the Dark Saber novice class." This last announcement was met with utter silence, Char suddenly having lost breath. This had to be a nightmare, truly! What kind of ridiculous score was nine hundred points?
"This concludes the reading of all examinees who have joined Eightsword Martial Academy. Come twilight, Flame Axe and Water Spear students will head to the Water Goddess temple. Stone Staff and Wind Saber to the Wind Goddess. Iron Axe and Thunder Spear to the Lightning God. To the trio of the highest rank, head to the God of Night's temple."
The reporter only read the names and their score, no illustration, to protect some of the anonymity of the aurators. Outside of the nobles who they had glimpsed of before, not including Long Yaoyang and her Highness Xie Leiana, most of the wanderers and upper families were unrecognizable to the commoners anyway.
Tara's dazed that she had been taken into the highest ranking class! Her cousins and Niven cheer and praise her as they lead her away through the dispersing crowd. They find the fanciest restaurant fit for nobles and order drinks (juice for Tara obviously) and food with desert! Sure they had to pool their money together to order but what was money to students of the Eightsword Academy? And one of their own was in the highest ranking class!
The word of Tara's ranking spread like a fire in an old forest. The name Hufang Tara reaches the noble families within the hour and the ears of the King and Queen even sooner!
Having a member enter Thunder Spear was enough for at least consideration of nobility but having someone enter Dark Saber cemented their family's candidacy. The Queen herself, who had heard about Hufang Di's strength, organized to set out before news came to the family.
With full bellies and proud hearts, Tara bids her cousins goodbye and heads to the God of Night's temple. Graivej was known also as the God of Monsters along with the God of Night. Those that had trouble sleeping or strange dreams came here to pray and be looked after by His followers. It was also the best place for struggling aurators outside of Eightsword to meditate and focus.
Though she isn't supposed to be here for a few more hours, Tara desperately wants to start consolidating her status as a low tier Blood Directing. She's already been given a peek at the next set of memories and quickly wants to organize them. The priests of Graivej are well aware of Tara's identity and find her meditation spot. They would bring her to the meeting spot within an hour of the meet up.
Finally, she notices the dagger charms on bracelets, which Tara thought were very cute! Tara quickly centers her energies as she meditates on her experiences within the Eight Swords of Death Tower.
Tara recalls how she fought against the different stages before fighting that strange person in the arena. It was thanks to her breakthrough into Blood Directing that had allowed a stalemate in the end.
Instead of revolving her energies through her body entirely, they instead follow the natural flow of her blood. Being a Blood Directing aurator meant that she could direct blood to stabilize wounds or hasten her blood's movement to quicken healing.
It seems that the next set of memories corresponded with the healing and recovery aspect of Blood Directing. Since her mental form had glimpsed one of the martial techniques available, both of them were more accessible than Sun Piercer or Moon Cleaver had been. They were called Lunar Stability and Solar Recovery.
Lunar Stability is what she had used in the previous fight. At the novice level, she could use it to get rid of a little mental fatigue and refocus her mind if placed in an illusion or extreme emotional state.
On the other hand Solar Recovery could heal her body and close up minor wounds. Adding the natural regenerative properties of solar energy and recuperation power of lunar energy, Tara wouldn't need to fear injury!
Tara practices circulating her blood alongside her solar energy. This went on for several hours before a priest arrived to pick her up. Tara's brought before a very different teleportation diagram. Now all she could do was wait out the final hour before arriving at the Academy. It wasn't enough time to further organize her thoughts, but it was enough to lament on her insights of elemental energy manipulation and the two recovery skills.
Just as Tara was planning on seeing if she could repeat what she did with her Ember Gather and Rain Scatter with her new abilities, a wave of killing intent wafts over her! Tara merely snorts as she rises from her spot, brushing off the pressure that wasn't anywhere close how Alian had weakened theirs.
"Oh, good, the rumors are true," A deep voice says as a tall handsome fifteen year old steps into space. His eyes were a strange violet color and on his back was a polearm with a large blade. He wore golden yellow robes with blue linings, a dragon pattern woven into the fabric. He is the second son of the Long Family's Patriarch, Yaoyang. "Otherwise, I was afraid this would be boring."
"Now, Yaoyao, play nice," A sweet, melodious voice comes forth and for some reason this puts Tara more on guard then the older teen with ill intent. "We can't give a bad first impression to the youngest of our little trio."
This shorter young woman with amber brown hair looks a year younger than her counterpart. She is the Third Princess of Riversword, Xei Leiana. She carries no visible weapons but this only unnerves Tara more. Her face is like that of a priest: veiled except for her stormy gray eyes that seem to take in all around her.
"I will ask you seniors to look after this small junior." Tara bows to the two of them with cupped hands. Yaoyang scoffs, about to say something rude but Leiana cuts an eye at him. It was clear that despite her weaker ranking, Yaoyang fears her for some reason. He thought for a moment to pick his words before speaking.
"How'd you trick the old folks into letting you in? There's no way some mountain family has anything worth bribing the Headmaster with."
Leilana groans quite uncouthly in annoyance as Tara's taken aback. Tara clenches her fist at the insult and is about to tell him off, when Lunar Stability happens without her prompting.
His words had been filled with a mental attack. As Tara realizes this she merely glares at him silently. He snickers at her look of anger with crossed arms.
"It's best if you ignore him. He's been quite prickly since the reveal. Doesn't like the new name they're calling him." Leiana reveals to Tara, laughing behind her hand now. Tara's lack of response told her that the younger girl didn't know what she was talking about. "As I said before, we're a trio now. Little Ying is the Thunder Serpent, this big sister is the Ice Terpsiphone, and you, little sister, are the Star Serval."
Tara actually thinks the names are quite adorable and likes hers. Yaoyang curses under his breath, only stopping when the princess throws an arm around his waist. Tara watches as his imposing face melts with a blush at the closeness. Tara can't help but giggle.
"Come now, Yingying, it's unbecoming of a man of your status and power to be concerned with how people think. I think it's a great name for someone as mischievous as you."
"You're too close, Leilei," He mumbles, turning his head away from her. Leiana winks at Tara playfully, finally causing the younger girl to relax.
"For a serpent, he's a really softie on the inside," Leiana teases Yaoyang, "I'm sure he will look after you as best he can until I can transfer."
"You can transfer ranks?" Tara asks aloud. Yaoyang clearly forces himself not to roll his eyes before he replies.
"Within Eightsword there are two ways to raise your rank. The first is to challenge someone to a duel. If the challenger wins they take the spot of the loser while the loser drops a rank. The second way happens every six months in the form of the true Eight Swords of Death. According to my elders, within that tower the foes use a full range of abilities and skills not confined to just combat arts." He explains, trying very hard to pretend Leiana wasn't clinging to him.
Tara files this information away for later, mentally preparing herself to be constantly challenged and eager to see where she would rank on the leaderboard.
Before she can ask anymore questions from her two seniors, a woman steps out from the diagram. She has long black hair, black eyes, and umber skin. Her aura was faint but that's what made the three of them catch their breath. The power from this woman was unimaginable!
"Oh good you're getting along. Usually those of your rank are always at each other's throats. It must be nice to join with your childhood sweetheart and have a new little sister to look after," The woman pokes fun at Yaoyang, whose blush destroys his intimidating appearance. This woman looks at Tara and smiles lightly, "I am the Headmaster Beiling and I welcome you to Eightswords Academy. Follow me."
Tara watches as Beiling waves a relaxed hand only to have the diagram shift and the inscription be rewritten. Tara follows behind her and stands to the right of Leiana as she clings to Yaoyang's arm. They are instantly teleported to a fancy yet serene courtyard with two pavilions. One was pure white and the other was deep black.
Leiana pouts because arriving meant they would need to separate for now. Then she grins wickedly before she sneakily stands up on her tiptoes and pecks Yaoyang on the cheek. She ruffles Tara's head lovingly before floating away like a fairy.
"Leiana!" He bellows after her, his face as red as a tomato. He doesn't even look in Tara's direction as he angrily bows at the headmaster and storms off to the black building.
Tara's surprised to find herself alone with the Headmaster, feeling uncomfortable with such a powerful woman for company. The headmaster seems to have expected such antics, waiting for Yaoyang to vanish within their quarters with a charmed smile.
"Tara, as far as I am aware, you are the youngest student to ever enter this academy. This will likely cause many to challenge you. Your placement within Dark Saber was a testament to your skill and potential but also as a deterrent." Beiling is honest with the child next to her as they stroll to the Dark Saber living quarters.
"Will I still need to take the last test?" Tara asks worriedly. Beiling shakes her head with a chuckle. Given how fast her family members broke through, even the lower ranked ones, there was no doubt in Beiling's mind that Tara would pass the last challenge easily.
"There are many advantages to being a Dark Saber student. I will go over them with you tomorrow morning. Simply ask one of the maids to direct you to my office. For now get accommodated to your new living space. Welcome to Eightswords Academy, Star Serval." Beiling led her to a room closest to the entrance and nearest to the low tier Marrow Sparking singular guards outside of the building.