Sob! Sob!
The sound of sobbing rang through the room, interrupting Alden.
They all turned toward the source of the sobbing.
Down the arena, Owen was awake. Holding the dead little sparrow in his palms, he cried.
"Sob, Sob!" Owen sobbed, his hands trembling. "Little lightning. I am sorry." He spoke in tears, placing his head on the dead little sparrow. "It's my fault. I killed you."
Linda, Neo, and Alden walked down the arena to Owen.
"Owen, are you alright?" Alden asked, placing his hand on Owen's shoulder.
"Wooo!" Owen cried louder. "A-Alden, I killed it."
Alden and Neo did not know how to comfort him. It's not like they can say it does not matter. And they can not say it was not his fault either. After all, he was indeed the one who killed it.
"Stop crying," Linda spoke, her voice stern. "You sacrificed it, but it was worth it. Didn't you, in the end, achieve what you desired?"
'What is she saying?' Alden looked at Linda angrily. 'She is just going to make him feel worse.'
"You protected your friends. Isn't that what you wanted?" Linda continued. "Your friends are safe. Thanks to you, Carol is not going to bother them again."
Surprisingly, Owen stopped crying and stared at Linda blankly.
Neo smiled. 'She acts strict, but in just one day, she understood her students. She knows how to push her students to the limit but also knows how to comfort her students. She is a great teacher.'
"You are right. Thank you, teacher." Owen wiped the tears off his face with the back of his hand. He put a smile on his face, but the tears kept flowing down. Though Owen felt a little better thanks to what Linda said, the grief in his heart remained. He would need some time to get over the death of his tamed beast.
"Owen, let's return to our room," Alden said.
"Mhh." Owen nodded, yet again wiping the tears off his face.
Neo and Alden helped him get up.
"Teacher." Owen walked to Linda. He still held the little sparrow in his hands. "I can not just throw it," Owen said, pushing his hands with the little sparrow in them toward Linda.
Linda opened her palms, and Owen placed the dead little sparrow in her hands.
"Teacher, please bury it." Owen requested.
"I will take care of it," Linda said.
Alden and the others returned the weapons from where they took them and walked to the elevators.
They entered one elevator and chose the number 0, the ground floor.
"Now, they left," Linda muttered. The little dead sparrow in her hands disappeared.
The expression on her face changed. It turned grim and deadly serious, more than usual. She turned toward Chloe and walked to her.
Chloe was still sitting cross-legged down the arena in which she fought Neo.
'It will take some time for her to recover her spiritual energy on her own.' Linda thought.
She extended her hand toward Chloe, and out of her palm, golden dust came out, bathing Chloe. It was no golden dust. It just looked like it. It was spiritual energy, but it was so dense that it was visible to the naked eye.
Linda was giving spiritual energy to Chloe, helping her recover faster.
Chloe, bathed in the spiritual energy, was quickly absorbing it and recovering her own spiritual energy.
Ten minutes later...
Chloe opened her eyes. She had fully recovered her spiritual energy.
Linda stopped giving spiritual energy to her.
"Teacher, thank you." Chloe thanked her as she raised.
However, Linda did not mention anything. She just stared at Chloe coldly, her gaze enough to send shivers down the spines of anybody.
But Chloe did not budge. She stood before her, proudly with her head raised, looking directly into Linda's eyes.
"Teacher, do you need some..."
Boom!
Chloe could not finish her sentence, as an invisible pressure crushed upon her.
This pressure was not ordinary and controlled like the pressure Linda released on Alden. From the sheer weight of the pressure, the ground around Chloe had broken into pieces and sunk a few inches.
However, the pressure that could easily crush Alden's bones into powder only brought Chloe down on one knee.
But soon after it brought her on one knee, Chloe effortlessly raised back up and stood proudly, once again, directly locking gazes with Linda.
"That surprised me," Chloe said, unbothered by the immense pressure on her. The only reason she got thrown on one knee was because of the sudden change in pressure.
"You have a treasure on you?" Linda asked coldly. "It protects you from pressure and hides your cultivation level."
"Correct," Chloe confirmed Linda's deduction with a slight smirk.
"You know that the treasure protects you from the pressure I am releasing, but I can still kill you?" Linda spoke after witnessing Chloe acting arrogantly because her treasure protects her.
"I know," Chloe replied.
"Who are you?!!!!" Linda asked, the murderous intent clear in her voice.
"Chloe Hart," Chloe replied with a smile.
"How can you use the ice element?" Linda asked coldly again. "The only ones capable of using and controlling the elements are the members of my family. And I do not know you. You are not from my family.
If you do not give me an explanation today, I will kill you here!" The murderous intent in Linda's voice increased. Chloe knew that Linda was not joking.
"Teacher, I do not know what you are talking about," Chloe said.
"Do I look like I am joking?!!" Linda questioned.
"No, teacher, you misunderstood. I do not know anything about your family." Chloe continued. "Teacher, for as long as I can remember, I have lived in the far north.
It is cold, and the ground is covered in snow. I lived by a frozen lake, in a cave.
For as long as I can remember, I could control the ice. I do not remember why I was there, why I was alone. The only thing I could remember was my name, a cultivation technique implanted in my mind, and words spoken by a person.
I could clearly remember the moment the person had spoken those words to me, but I could not remember his face. When I try to remember, his face is without features. I can not remember his face.
'Practice this and get stronger. Survive.' Those were the exact words that rang through my head." Chloe explained.
Linda dispersed the pressure on Chloe and fell into deep thought.
'Lived in the far north. Capable of controlling the ice since young and also have a cultivation technique implanted in her mind?
She is a naturally gifted genius, but her parents also must be quite powerful. She must come from an extraordinary background. She is a little monster." Linda smiled. "What about the treasure that conceals your cultivation?"
"It's the same. It has been on me since I can remember." Chloe replied. Covered under her uniform, she wore a necklace.
She took out the necklace. "This is the treasure that conceals my cultivation." She said, holding the necklace for the thin chain. It was a jade necklace. A carefully carved, majestic dragon.
"My cave was filled with shelves of books. That was the only source of information I had, and that is how I learned all about the cultivation world. That is how I found that this necklace is an artifact."
"Incredible." Linda's eyes widened in shock. Her previous, threatening tone changed after learning the story about how Chloe can control the ice element. "Even though you are just touching the necklace and not wearing it, I can still not detect your cultivation."
Chloe nodded. "It is a high-grade artifact." She said. "I suspect it is at least an eighth-grade artifact."
"What is your cultivation level?" Linda couldn't help her curiosity, so she asked.
"I am still in the 1-star warrior realm. But I can feel it. I am on the verge of breaking through to the 2-star warrior realm." Chloe replied.
"Incredible. You defeated a beast in the 2-star warrior realm." Linda could not help but comment on Chloe's accomplishment.
"Teacher, I have great control over the ice element. That is why I can defeat opponents with strength greater than mine," Chloe said as she put the necklace back on. "The control of the element is the key
Yes, with the higher cultivation realm, my spiritual energy would not be exhausted after creating a single compressed ice needle. I could use the ice element more and in greater quantities.
But I made do with what I had.
With my cultivation in the 1-star warrior realm, I had to control how I use the ice. I wisely used the ice and reduced the burden on my spiritual energy as much as possible. That is why I won."
Linda nodded in understanding." I know that. But still, you accomplished a great feat. You need great control to compress the giant icicle to the size of a one-inch needle.
If you made just the slightest mistake, the ice would have become unstable and would have exploded."
"Thank you, teacher, for your praise." Chloe thanked.
Linda waved her hand. "Alright, you can go."
Chloe nodded, and after she returned her sword, she walked to the elevators and left the eleventh floor.
Linda was left alone.
"She is a genius," Linda muttered with a smile. "Those three are geniuses among geniuses. With this class, it might not be just a dream to win the tournament this year."
"But now." Her mood went down instantly as she looked around. One arena was ravaged, the wall cracked, weapons were all over the floor, and the floor cracked and sunk. "I need to take care of this."