The entire canteen dropped dead silent as both students looked at each other. Emotions ranging from shock to amusement appeared on every face. But one emotion - hidden or visible - was mutual for every student.
Annoyance.
Zenon stared at Aurea who had widened her eyes in surprise like everyone else. Even her Familiar - the bird - was surprised, proudly standing on her shoulder. Her green eyes stayed fixated on Zenon's, not moving a single centimeter, as if she was analyzing his soul.
He had met people like this before. People whose eyes had a calculating glint to efficiently perform inside an unexpected scenario such as the current one. No matter how surprised they were, they could still maintain rationality.
Some people stepped back from them, leaving a clearer path. After a long minute, one of the students said,
"U-Uhmm... I don't think you realize how exceptional Aurea's Tier is. And you should have more respect, her parents are both Visionary Sound Whisperers."
'Oh, just great... knew she was a problem. Hope you are ready, Leviathan. You better put a good act because I'm blaming everything on you.'
The moment Zenon heard the words Sound Whisperers he felt as if his world came tumbling down. That damned Faction, one of the most respected among the six of them. In some situations more respected than Fire.
Sound Whisperers are, perhaps, the most competent Faction when it comes to politics, as they managed not only Ashton but the entire country ever since it got introduced to the Layers. Let's just say that antagonizing them was not the best choice. But his Familiar said otherwise.
"Huh?! Are you telling that while being part of the Sound Whisperers, she only got a Visionary Soul? What's exceptional about that?"
'Fuck off Leviathan. There's no turning back.'
Most of the Unseens' expressions changed from amazement and shock to hostility. Mumbling erupted from everywhere, drowning every other sound that wasn't man-made. One random girl climbed on top of a bench and said,
"How can you be so arrogant? To not believe that Aurea achieved such an impressive feat to even receive a Visionary Soul, must mean that you got something even better, right?! What did you get then? What did the Voice say about your Awakening?!"
Zenon suddenly realized something about this situation. It was not going well in his favor and was thinking of even making it worse for him. But,
'... that might work. Alright, Leviathan.' Zenon peeked at his familiar standing on his shoulder, 'Let's see how well you can play.'
Making a devious grin Zenon looked at Aurea, who sat at the table, and said with the most indifferent voice he could muster,
"The Voice said Supreme."
Some of the Initiators made some nasty expressions yet before anybody could say anything, Zenon continued and dropped a nuke inside the canteen,
"Not even that, but an Angel got me Named. I guess that's why I think that your Soul Tier is not good enough."
Suddenly, the atmosphere inside the canteen changed for the worse. Some of the students started laughing their asses off, but most of them stared at him with confusion written all over their faces. While it was possible that he was just a lunatic that went insane inside the Awakening...
... there was the possibility that he was part of one of the Six Factions. Maybe his parents trained him exceptionally well and managed to do great in the Awakening.
Aurea got up from his table and slowly walked toward Zenon. They didn't break eye contact a single moment before she stopped right in front of him and muttered,
"Are you sure you want to play this game? You might and will lose."
Zenon shrugged, bringing some chuckles to Aurea who replied, "You were more pleasant before your Awakening."
After some seconds of silence, Aurea said,
"Aurea, Sound Whisperer."
Zenon got up as well and while looking at her, he said without a wisp of shame,
"Zenon, Void Carrier."
And winked at her.
When everyone heard the word Void Carrier, they started either laughing or containing their rage. An outskirts rat that had no training whatsoever, not even got a supposedly better Elemental Soul than a Sound Whisperer, but even claimed to have a Void Element? Who was he trying to fool?
Hell, it was more believable to say that the Enlighteneds killed Fire than him getting an actual Supreme Soul!
Still, without breaking visual contact Aurea - who clearly knew Zenon's Element - re-adjusted her neck warmer and said while looking at the Unseens,
"Who knows? Maybe he did better than me." Then she looked at Zenon again, "If you may, please share with us the time you withstood inside the Awakening, it would be great."
Zenon sat on the table and crossed his legs. He supported his chin with his hand, making him seem as arrogant as possible. Then, he started narrating,
"Well, I managed to withstand it for more than nine hours."
Just mentioning "nine" made some people smile in ridicule. Nine hours? They were supposed to believe that when the leader of the Fire Keepers only endured five? What a joke.
"Oh really, that's impressive. Mind sharing your training then? It could prove useful for the future Awakeners."
"Training you say? Just get beaten up sometimes for being a Void Carrier, win some fights… maybe even get some fucked up trauma! Things like that."
The same girl from before shouted,
"Oh c'mon! Have some decency and don't lie. How the hell would some trauma help you endure nine hours inside that hell?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"It's up to you to believe it or not because that's exactly what I did."
Laughter followed.
"There's no way he believes his own lie."
"He's full of shit."
"Lunatic... he's bat-shit insane."
But Zenon couldn't care less about them. He kept staring at Aurea who was chuckling as well, but not with mockery. She was genuinely having fun with this conversation as if she was reading a comedy novel.
"Alright. That's pretty impressive, to say the least. Perhaps there's more to tell?"
"Well, I also went through several different environments. I didn't count them though."
"I see. Are you sure you weren't hallucinating because of the pain?"
"I'm sure."
Unseens around the canteen sighed while some others burst into laughs.
"And he's still lying."
"Will you stop? No one is buying that shit."
Aurea gave a look around, making everyone stop their whispers. She then looked back and said,
"Anything else? What about your Familiar? I don't see it around here. I thought you would be kind enough to let him breathe fresh air."
"Glad you asked. I also got an extremely powerful Familiar! That's right, he can even turn invisible to the human eye! He is probably as powerful as a god as well."
Aurea laughed and said, "Powerful as a god? Well, it truly is nothing in front of my achievements. Is there anything else?"
"I think that's all. Maybe I did more but I don't really remember."
Aurea looked at Zenon with an easy-going expression. After some moment she chuckled and said with a cold tone,
"I hope you can live up to your stories when we enter the First Layer."
"Oh... trust me, I will."
They looked at each other for some more seconds and Aurea walked back to her seat. Most of the Initiators did the same and went anywhere but near Zenon... again.
Yet the boy, instead of feeling ashamed, was feeling better than ever.
'I hope that worked... I was honestly quite scared of you emphasizing Familiar back there.'
He looked toward his shoulder and found the Leviathan staring daggers at Aurea. Ever since she started boasting about her achievements, his Familiar felt quite... uneasy.
That's also the reason why the Attribute was activated.
Nonetheless, now Zenon's reputation was that of a lying and arrogant outskirt kid, who only knows to make up stories to make himself look popular and great.
Add salt to the wound, they thought he was as insane as a human could get.
He could now be shouting around the shelter that he possessed a Supreme Soul and no one would give him an ounce of attention.
"Hey, guys! The Rankings are already on and you won't believe this shit. That low-life is ranked last! And his Elemental Soul is Unseen! The worst of them all! I told you he was boasting!"
Laugher erupted throughout the canteen but Zenon felt nothing about it. He stared at Aurea who was looking at him with amusement, before turning back and laughing amongst everyone.
However, this laughter was short-lived the moment someone jumped out of his seat and said,
"What... what is this?! What the hell! Is this wrong?!"
Everyone looked at the boy in confusion as he shouted, "Look at the first place!"
Feeling curious, Zenon did as well as was - honestly - left dumbfounded by it. After all...
[1. Aurea (Divine Voice) - Visionary Soul]