"Next please."
Victor nodded and stepped forward. His eyes landed on the "hologram projector" device.
It was small and compact, made of worn out metal with faintly glowing runes etched into its surface.
At its center was an empty circle, presumably the slot where the student's emblem was meant to be placed.
Rather than the advanced, sci-fi look that he was expecting—it seemed old and worn out, like a relic of an ancient civilization.
While Victor was examining the device, a commotion suddenly occurred.
"Huh? That's Victor Cruz…"
"Wait, wasn't he in the Great Origin realm two days ago? So he managed to awaken a core?"
"What's the big deal? As a scholar, he should've already awakened before us. What a disgrace."
"Save your insults for later. What do you think the quality of his core will be?"
From a distance, Maxwell, who had just noticed Victor's presence, looked over in surprise.
'This fool managed to catch up?'
From what he had heard, Victor was one of the last few that remained in Professor Anastasia's class until the end.
As if the man surviving wasn't a miracle enough, he also made a breakthrough in his cultivation. The man was mockable in many ways, but his luck…
Maxwell sneered. He could only say it was better than most, and even then, it was nothing compared to him.
Victor placed the emblem into the device, causing a hologram projection to appear.
[Name: Victor Cruz
Status: Skylar Scholar
Realm: One Core Realm - Jade Quality]
Silence descended on the colosseum, only to be broken by the sound of mocking laughter.
"Haa?"
"No way, buahah, haha…"
"Jade quality!? A few more years, and even a pig could be a Sky Scholar. What an absolute disgrace!"
"It's unfair. How come we have the same talent but he's not paying any tuition and gets a lot of free stuff? Tsk! Damn it!"
"Hahahaha, don't worry, after this he'll no longer be a Skylar Scholar. Even the one supporting him can't reason with this result."
Victor stood silently amidst the sneers and mocking laughter, his expression couldn't be anymore detached.
Humans were jealous creatures. When they see others at a better position than them, they would tear the person down and pull them below their level.
He understood that more than anyone else in the room. He had lived through worse in his past life, where envy and hate turned friends into enemies.
At first, he cared and he was hurt. But their endings were always the same. They either faded into insecurity or died by crossing the line with him.
Maxwell was laughing inwardly. He looked at Victor's expression, hoping to see a crack on the man's emotionless facade.
But he was bound to he disappointed.
To his annoyance, the man was still calmly taking everything without a care in the world.
A surge of anger pulsed through him.
'Victor Cruz…'
Ignoring the noise, the attendant shook her head.
"Jade quality… unfortunately you didn't meet the requirements for the Skylar Scholar benefits. You can only choose up to two common beasts."
"Thank you."
Victor nodded and gave his thanks. The attendant smiled and returned the emblem.
After receiving the emblem, he entered the colosseum with the other nine without wasting anymore time.
Soon, the mocking voices of the other students faded.
***
In the teacher's faculty.
"That's a Skylar Scholar?! The standards these days sure are low, a few years ago even a Lord-quality talent would beg for that title."
"I heard a board member pulled some strings behind for him to get it. However, they probably didn't expect the student to be just so mediocre."
"Kids these days…"
Amidst all the mockery, Victor's professor—Anastasia looked at it differently.
'I'm sure when I checked at him two days ago he was not close to breaking through… how did he breakthrough in two days?'
'No special resources can accelerate the first awakening… did he deliberately slow down his progress back then? Why?'
Her eyes gleamed, with a trace of confusion in them.
"He passed, that's good. But…"
"Is something the matter, Ana?"
Lavender tilted her head.
Anastasia snapped awake from her daze. She shook her head and continued watching.
"No, it's nothing."
She started to realize why the kid was so lax and casual two days ago, enraging her to no end…
'But that doesn't mean your laziness can be tolerated, Victor Cruz.'
If only she knew that not only did Victor broken through in two days, but also had done so after resetting all his prior progress.
***
Somewhere in the academy, a middle-aged man was looking at the screen with a callous expression.
"It seems I made a mistake."
After saying that, he sighed and turned off the screen. When he was saved by the boy, he saw hope…
But the future was as strange and unpredictable as ever.
It wasn't the first time his ability failed him, and it wouldn't be the last time either.
***
Victor didn't know that he caused a commotion in the academy with his results.
Of course, even if he knew it was not like he would care.
Walking steadily, he took a moment to observe his surroundings. There were seven rooms in the common area.
He looked at each room, a symbol marked on top of its entrance. There was a leaf symbol, a fire symbol, a water symbol…
Symbols of the five elements were present, as well as the twin lights, darkness and light. However, it was worth noting that there was no lightning or ice symbol among the rooms present.
Lightning and ice attributes were more seen in rare beasts than common ones, that's why.
Victor's eyes wandered to the symbols for a brief moment before he started walking towards a particular room.
It was clear that he already decided on the type of beast he wanted beforehand.
Victor walked to the dark room. Since he had a darkness attribute core, it was best that he picked a beast with the same attribute.
He inserted the emblem on the entrance slot. After a second, the door opened and allowed him inside.
Beep!
However, as he stepped inside, his eyes widened in surprise.
Lining the walls were rows of display cases varying in sizes, each case contained a strange shadowy figure that was sealed behind a transparent glass.
The dark beasts seemed to be asleep, unaware of his presence.
He approached one of the smaller display cases and examined the dark beast inside it.
Below the display case, a plaque read: [Name: Silent Crow].
"The Silent Crow… I didn't expect to see this beast immediately!"
He suddenly mused, thinking back to last night. To help with his choice, he already narrowed down the dark-attribute beasts he wanted.
One of them was the Silent Crow.
The Silent Crow was a common dark-attribute avian beast known for its agility and sneak attacks. It lacked brute strength, but excelled in speed and ambush tactics.
It was one of the popular dark attribute beasts, as it had the ability to fly. It could harass its foes from the air, making it an annoying beast to fight against.
Since the beast had appeared before him, Victor wanted to try out his idea immediately.
He turned on the Ancient Eye and focused at the sleeping crow.
"Appraise."
Information appeared in front of him.
[Name]: Silent Crow
[Gender]: Male
[Attribute Type]: Darkness
[Description]: A common dark-attribute beast.
[Skills]: [Dark Flight], [Sharp Pierce]...
Victor's eyes lit up. The Ancient Eye can see through a beast's skills!
When choosing to tame a beast, there was an element of luck involved. Oddly enough, some beasts were stronger than others of its kind, while some were slightly weaker.
These beasts were called "Mutant Beasts", beings that possess extra skills and talents.
They were highly sought off by beast tamers. But the problem was that Mutant Beasts and ordinary ones were almost indistinguishable from one another, making it difficult to spot one.
Last night, he thought of using the Ancient Eye to see through which beast was a mutant variant, it seems his plan was possible.
His eyes landed on the Silent Crow.
"It's just a normal Silent Crow. If it was one with an extra skill, I would've considered it..."
Victor shook his head regretfully, thinking it was a pity. He stepped away and went to look at the next display case, appraising the beast inside it until he found the one he wanted.