Chapter 46: The Academy

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: The Academy

Elisabeth and Aldrich stood there completely frozen for a while moment, their eyes locked tightly onto Aeon’s transformed posture.

Elisabeth was the first to regain her composure, voicing out her confusion.

"Aeon? Is that... is that truly you, my sweet child?"

Aldrich held an identical, unanswerable question written across his face as he stared at his wife and then back to his son.

Aeon maintained his calm smile, immediately launching into his fabricated, pre-planned explanation to soothe their worries.

"It is really amazing, right? To be completely honest, I have absolutely no clear idea what happened to my body, but the exact second my core started its breakthrough into the D-rank stage..." He then smooth-talked his way through the exact same cover story he had delivered to Tera just moments prior, detailing his sudden loss of consciousness.

When he finished speaking his final lines, his parents looked at each other in a state of quiet wonder, entirely unable to understand what could have triggered such a radical aesthetic mutation within their son.

Seeing their lingering doubt, Aeon immediately stepped forward with a far more believable, rock-solid explanation that tied into their existing knowledge.

"If I had to make an educated guess, it could also be because of my Special Talent, [Absolute Evolution]," Aeon told them, deliberately referencing the public, EX-rank special talent they had all witnessed on the panel of awakening stone during his Awakening Ceremony years ago.

"Maybe the advancement into a major rank forced the talent to automatically activate, causing my physical form to undergo some kind of rapid biological evolution."

Aldrich stroked his chin in deep, calculating thought after processing Aeon’s words. A sudden expression of profound admiration and pride washed over his regal features, and he spoke in an imposing, proud tone.

"To undergo a massive physical evolution by simply breakthrough into the D-rank stage..your special talent truly is nothing short of amazing, my boy. It is a performance entirely worthy of being an EX-rank."

Elisabeth also let a warm smile grace her face, the heavy worry lines mapping her expression relaxing completely as she let out a long sigh of relief.

"I am just really glad it isn’t the result of some terrible external curse or a side effect that our medical teams can’t identify."

She paused for a brief second, her motherly instincts tracking a specific phrase trapped within his narrative. "But you mentioned the presence of eggshells. Are those remnants still resting inside the private training chamber?"

Aeon had already fully anticipated this line of question, answering her with a simple, casual explanation. "I ate them. The moment I regained my senses, I felt this intense, instinctual attraction and an unyielding hunger toward the shards. Without even thinking about it, I simply consumed the entirety of the shell."

The Duke, the Duchess, and Tera’s eyes widened in total shock and rapid realization this time—far more than when they had initially witnessed his physical height transformation.

Aldrich suddenly stood up from his seat, closing the distance to get closer to his son as he questioned him in a hurried, urgent tone.

Standing right in front of each other, the two dragons now stood at the exact same physical height, sharing a similar level of posture.

"Son, tell me the truth. Did you find yourself resting in your dragon form the exact moment you regained consciousness inside the room?"

Aeon feigned a beautifully surprised look, his cosmic eyes widening slightly in perfect innocence. "Yeah! That’s exactly what happened! How did you know that, Dad?"

In reality, he already knew the exact ancient draconic law they were currently had in mind.

The parents and Tera simultaneously let out a massive sigh of relief, now completely certain of what had transpired inside the training chamber.

Aldrich placed a heavy, proud hand on his son’s shoulder, speaking clearly. "It is exactly as I suspected. You simply went through a premature Birth Evolution. Under the ancient bloodline laws of our race, dragons that are given birth in a humanoid form emerge from their mother’s womb without a dragon egg shell, they normally develop like other humanoid species during their childhood."

He stopped for a brief moment, letting the heavy weight of the racial lore settle into the room before continuing his lecture. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Dragons are primordial apex predators that are fundamentally supposed to be born in their draconic forms from an egg. Because of modern prevense, when a humanoid dragon finally scales their power up to reach A-rank, their bloodline will trigger a Birth Evolution.

They undergo a profound rebirth where their body transforms back into a true dragon form, enveloped inside a protective dragon egg until the you you break the shell.

It is just that you somehow underwent that exact evolution years ahead of your rank. Your special talent must have for you to under go Birth Evolution early with out problem."

Aeon nodded his head in enlightenment, pretending to be someone who had zero understanding of dragon race biology and history, while acting completely amazed by the news.

On the contrary, he had already successfully underwent his Birth Evolution centuries ago when he was refining his E-rank Warrior path back at the Drakonius floating continent right after the awakening ceremony.

Clap!

Elisabeth clapped her hands together with a soft sound, stepping forward to interrupt the heavy talk as she walked toward Aeon and Aldrich.

"Enough with this, dear. It doesn’t matter how the evolution triggered, as long as our boy is perfectly fine and healthy. On the other hand, I have gone five years without seeing my sweet baby!"

She cast a playful glare at Aldrich, effortlessly nudging the massive Duke out of her path to wrap her arms around Aeon, locking him in a tender, deeply affectionate hug.

Aeon warmly returned the embrace, a genuine wave of happiness flushing his thoughts as he replied softly. "I missed you too, Mom."

Standing on the sidelines, Aldrich pointed a finger at his own chest, speaking with a thoroughly wronged, comical expression.

"Hey! What about me? Did you guys completely forget about my presence? Did you not miss your father at all? Where exactly is my hug?"

The mother and son completely ignored his whining, remaining locked in their embrace to quietly enjoy the family moment.

Left with no choice, Aldrich marched straight toward their positions, wrapping his massive, muscular arms around both of them to pull them into a bear hug.

"Well, if you two won’t invite me, I will just have to forcefully join the circle."

Standing near the edge of the dining hall, Tera witnessed the display and let out a soft, happy chuckle, deeply touched by their beautiful, funny family dynamic.

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After finally releasing each other from the family hug, Elisabeth gently took Aeon’s hand, guiding him to sit down in his usual spot directly next to her seat.

With a sharp snap of her fingers, a line of waiting maids marched into the dining hall, wheeling in several silver food carts piled high with fresh dishes.

After placing the hot food across the table, Aeon and his parents began eating their breakfast, casually exchanging words regarding the state of the empire and many other stories.

In the middle of their conversation, Aldrich suddenly remembered a critical matter, looking up to lock his eyes onto Aeon.

"Aeon, now that your isolation is wrapped up, it is l time for you to enter the Academy. Your mother and I have already submitted and finalized your official admission papers. Exactly two weeks from today, you and the young children of the other ducal families will accompany the First Princess Elysaria to Nexus Academy."

Aldrich went straight to the point, leaving no details unaddressed. Aeon maintained his polite smile, not just because of his father’s announcement, but because of a massive, glowing interface that suddenly manifested directly in front of his vision—a display that only he could perceive.

[Ding]

[Chain Quest available:-]

[Sub-quest 1: Attend Nexus Academy]

[Time Limit: 1 month]

[Reward: 1x Random Box]

[Penelty: No reward]

☆---------------☆

[Sub-quest 2: Rank first in the combat Academy Entrance exam using Only Avarage D-rank combat power. This includes not using any active abilities from you bloodlines, physiques, and special talents]

[Time Limit: Until the Exam ends]

[Rewards: 1x Bond slot, 1x Random box]

[Penelty: 99% of your power sealed for 1 year]

☆---------------☆

[Sub-quest 3: The wicked are after the hope, turning the Academy entrance exam into a bloodbath. Save every student.]

[Time Limit: Until the last enemy falls]

[Rewards: 1x Bond sloth, 1x Random SSS-rank Special Talent, bloodline, or Physique]

[Penelty: 99% of your power sealed for 2 years]

☆---------------☆

[Sub-quest 4: Kill Every enemy] [0/200]

[Time Limit: Until Every enemy is killed]

[Rewards: 1x Bond slot, 1x Random EX-rank Special Talent, bloodline, or Physique]

[Penelty: 99% of your power sealed for 3 years]

Aeon calmly dismissed the glowing panel with a thought, redirecting his complete focus back to his father’s voice.

He had already scanned the panel and in a second, his mind perfectly memorizing every single detail.

Although he kept his facial features completely unreadable, he was internally both highly satisfied and slightly bothered by the quest descriptions.

He currently held 4x Bond Slots, 3 of which had already been used, leaving him with only a single vacancy slot for Princess Elysaria.

If he successfully cleared this entire chain quest, he would secure 3 additional slots for his arsenal.

Furthermore, the system would grant him a guaranteed SSS-rank and EX-rank Bloodline, Special Talent or a Physique.

The exact millisecond he integrated those rewards, his [Infinite Evolution] special talent would instantly ascend them straight into the infinite-rank category.

But what deeply bothered his thoughts were the severe power-sealing penalties and the dark contents of the third and fourth sub-quests. ’An organized army of hostiles is planning a coordinated ambush against the new examinees inside the Academy testing grounds? And there are exactly two hundred enemies participating in the infiltration?’

Aeon calculated silently, reviewing his thoughts to determine who could possibly hold the suicidal audacity to pull off such an operation.

Then, the answer hit him like a thunderbolt. ’There can only be two factions backing this play. Either a swarm of wild, high-tier Voidborn monsters... or the fanatical races who worship them,The Voidbound Cult.’

Aeon recognized the latter option as the far more believable, logical outcome. Voidborn monsters generated a dense, highly noticeable energ signature as well as their physical looks that would instantly expose them and trigger the defensive arrays guarding the academy perimeter, making a mass infiltration completely impossible.

But for the members of the Voidbound Cult, the tracking process were entirely different.

Although they were relatively easy to identify them because their cultivation systems utilized neither cosmic energy nor standard spiritual energy, their racial biology granted them a significantly higher probability of slipping through city security checkpoints unnoticed.

Aeon looked across the table, calmly replying to his father’s gaze. "Understood, Dad. I guess it is finally time for my Academy Arc, huh?" he murmured, a confident spark entering his cosmic eyes as he anticipated his upcoming adventure.

Aldrich raised his eyebrows in complete confusion, blinking as he stared at his son. "Arc? What Arc?"

Aeon simply shook his head, a smooth, knowing chuckle escaping his lips as he returned to his meal. "Don’t worry about it, Dad. It’s nothing at all."

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