Silence.
Freya stood before the 15-year-old boy, an unfathomable expression on her face as she looked at him.
Sitting on the ground and resting his head against a wall, Ramon was still upset as with his eyes closed, he clenched and unclenched his fists.
Standing to the side, Aegon had a look of exasperation on his face.
"What happened?" He asked but no one answered him.
Freya finally broke the eerie silence after Aegon's question even as her eyes remained fixated on the boy who sat on the ground. "He said I should thank you, the leader of the entourage from the Lightning Manor".
Ramon finally opened his eyes and looked at her.
She continued. "He said that the Bearman Gang had been giving them a lot of headaches, and that what we achieved is impressive".
Ramon looked at her. "Really?"
"Yes". She finally turned to leave but paused. "You said our mission was not yet finished until you avenged the girl, I disagree". She looked at him.
"I'm not referring to the details and objective of the mission as directed by the Macintosh lady," She emphasized.
"To me, what matters is that we removed a thorn of society away".
"The same way the man from the Lightning Manor thanked us, a lot of other people will be grateful for what we did so to me, our mission was already accomplished then".
"What you did was rash, the Lightning Manor is responsible for that".
"Lastly, about Jolly, you should control your emotions better".
"It's not about you, but your family". She looked into his eyes. "He comes from a powerful and influential family, just a whim of his can affect your family negatively, think of this next time you want to lose control".
"Umm…," Aegon chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his white hair. "Sorry, don't mind him, he's always like that".
"I was not looking for an apology, but thanks".
With that, this 15-year-old girl finally left.
With his hands on his hips, Aegon faced his roommate the next moment. "So, what did you do again to make her like that?"
Ramon laughed then he stretched. "I feel so much better all of a sudden".
"Huh?" Aegon was confused.
Ramon chuckled at his confusion. "Sitting down there, do you know what I was thinking of? I was thinking of different ways that I can slice that arrogant spoiled brat to pieces with my sword". He laughed.
"But Freya is right, why should I care about a fool like him?"
"What matters is that I completed my mission, I got my reward, and people are happy because of it". He grinned and rubbed his head.
"Hihi," He chuckled. "I love freedom".
"Hmmm," Aegon flicked his now long white hair. "I have no idea what you just said, what I do know is that you're a fool".
"What makes a fool like you think you can call others fool?"
Ramon's eyes darkened. "Aegon…!"
Aegon ran before he could erupt.
As he pursued his roommate round the academy, Ramon for a moment had a flashback to those days when someone took him on a tour round the academy.
He suddenly stopped pursuing Aegon. "F*ck! I miss Brother Shaggy!"
Aegon also stopped, looking at him. "You really are a weirdo".
A few years back, after completing his 7th year in Centerpoint Astral Academy, Shaggy and Frank finally graduated from the academy as certified astral warriors.
Through his family's connections, Frank got a job to work in the small outpost of the Lightning Manor based in Centerpoint City. As for Shaggy, he entered the labor market here in Centerpoint City, working as an astral warrior for hire.
Last Ramon heard; he was doing well for himself.
Running around with his friend, Ramon soon forgot his anger at a certain young master's arrogance and was soon foolishly enjoying himself again.
"Aegon, join my crew!"
"You fool! You're still yapping on about that after so many years?"
Ramon laughed, then he roared. "Join my crew!"
"You must join my crew!"
Returning to their room, like expected, Elmas was all alone deeply focused on cultivating. These days, he was even more of a recluse, completely retreating into himself and only focused on training and cultivating.
And like usual, Ramon and Aegon acted like he didn't even exist, casually entering the room to do their thing.
Despite the fact that rooms and roommates were supposed to change every year, due to some messed up reason, the 3 of them remained roommates from their 2nd year till now even as most of their other classmates stayed alone in single rooms.
…
After taking on his first high danger level mission, Ramon finally built a pedigree in the academy as a capable astral warrior.
For the next few weeks and subsequently months that followed, apart from training and cultivating while occasionally going on expeditions to the Wheat Trye Wilderness, Ramon occasionally took on high-paying missions too.
Just for the experience, he took Aegon along for most missions.
With every passing mission and passing training session, his combat power and battle experience increased as he became more conversant with the astral world. By now, Ramon already killed more astral travelers.
Every single time, at night, the kills always haunted him, testing his conviction and reason for killing them and each time, Ramon managed to fight it.
He wondered if it would stop or every kill would keep haunting him like this.
A few months of this later, as 2nd semester of their fifth year began, Aegon finally took the big step, becoming the 3rd of their batch to become a low-tier Knight Stage Legionnaire Stage astral practitioner.
Aegon celebrated it wildly. "Finally, I've achieved it!"
"My family and my dad will be so proud!"
"I can't wait for our holiday finally to brag before him!"
Ramon's reaction?
"Hmm, you brag before your dad? Who does that? That's so girly".
"…" Aegon was speechless.
They clashed due to that and reconciled; life moved on.
As more time passed, Ramon and Freya slowly developed reputations in Centerpoint City as capable astral warriors after completing a dozen high danger missions without any blemish in their record.
Time moved fast even as Centerpoint City experienced a time of peace and calm and in the blink of an eye, it was already the end of the semester.
The 3 of them were the only ones who made it to the Knight Stage yet.
Their 5th year was about to come to an end after which they would finally be able to go on holidays after what felt like so long.
Compared to when they were just 10, they were far older now.
Ramon was hyped to meet his mom again, Aegon was even more hyped.
Amid all these, Elmas kept on cultivating diligently, living his recluse life.
Again, to end another year, examination was here.
Unlike in all their previous years where the examinations were one-dimensional, mostly combat settings which made it very easy for the brutely strong students to pass, the 5th year examination was different.
Mr. Guendouzi who was now a high-tier Knight Stage Warrior explained it to them in his last class for the year.
He ended his training agreement with Ramon since his 3rd year.
The boy got so good with his sword that he had nothing more to learn from him, the only few times they met were to duel against each other.
Mr. Patrick's one day intervention when Ramon was just a 1st year student in their training really affected a lot.
"The headmistress has already given her verdict". Mr. Guendouzi addressed the students. "The promotion examination for this fifth-year batch shall be a 3-fold examination".
"The 3 sides of the examination are a written exam, a group tournament battle, and finally a one-on-one tournament battle".
"A maximum point of 100 can be gotten from each exam, making it a total of 300 points for the full fifth year examination".
"To pass, you must have a total score of 150 out of the possible 300".
"Unlike in other exams, in this one, half of the students will not be weeded out. If you all perform well, every student has the chance to be promoted".
"And lastly, for the first time in years, the headmistress has proposed to organize an end of the year academy party".
"It will be held at the last day of your exam, the one-on-one tournament".
"Another thing is you can invite your family to the party".
The students reacted with surprise, muttering excitedly.
Mr. Guendouzi smiled on hearing all the chatter. "Goodluck to all of you, I hope to see you as a 6th year student next year".
With that, the class came to an end.