Chapter 108: No regrets

Instructor Emma was doing a mock practical exam with all the students in the class to prep them with useful advice and give them more confidence for their big day tomorrow.

She spent more time with the weaker students first and soon it was Sly’s turn.

Instructor Emma really liked Sly and she appreciated that when Cassian was sick Sly smoothly fulfilled the duties as class monitor and was a pleasure to be around.

"Start, whenever you are ready," encouraged Instructor Emma.

Sly stopped fidgeting, took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and closed his eyes to feel more composed.

Soon he reached a fixed point in his mind and began to focus his tendrils on entering Instructor Emma’s spiritual landscape.

After entering, it was like walking down a tunnel with closed doors and Sly kept pushing until one of the doors suddenly opened.

Inside was designed to replicate the chaos of an alpha sentinel’s spirit landscape that had entered rampage mode.

The spiritual sea was rough and turbulent, Sly wasn’t even given anything to cross it.

He had no choice but to construct a flimsy raft out of all the debris being tossed around in the dark murky waters.

Feeling more secure with something beneath his feet Sly used a stick to navigate and guide the raft to the center of the spiritual sea.

Several times the flimsy raft almost capsized with Sly due to the boisterous waves pounding against the raft.

Just like Instructor Emma had taught them Sly created a mental barrier to cover himself and the raft which felt like the most difficult part as it required a lot of spiritual energy and sapped Sly’s strength.

Now that he was in the center of the sea and somewhat stable after reinforcing the mental barrier, Sly called forth more mental tendrils and flung them into the raging spiritual sea.

At first nothing happened even though Sly was trying with all his might and just when Sly thought he was about to fail the mock exam a strange light started to glow from beneath the dark, muddy waters.

Sly’s spirit energy was slowly cleansing the water and had finally built up to the point where it became visible to the naked eye.

He had done more than just calm the water; he had purified it before Sly could scoop up some of the clear water in his palm; he was ejected out of Instructor Emma’s spirit landscape.

When Sly opened his eyes he immediately wanted to apologize, "teacher I’m not sure where I went wrong, I must have overdone something. I still can’t control the volume of spirit energy that I cast into the spiritual sea, did I ruin the practice exam for others?"

Instructor Emma was still in shock over what had happened in the mock simulation practice.

No other student had ever come close to purifying the chaotic waters of an alpha sentinel in rampage mode.

The most they could hope for is to calm the spiritual sea a little in order to pass the mock exam.

Sly had certainly exceeded all her expectations, he was learning at a faster rate than the rest of the students and definitely didn’t belong in her class she would be sad to see him go.

Instructor Emma said calmly, "it’s the opposite you did well Sly not only can you calm the chaotic landscape of an alpha sentinel in rampage mode but ou can also purify the sentinel’s spiritual landscape. You also have the capability of reconstruction, since you were able to make a raft to avoid getting wet, you have the potential to reshape a sentinel’s damaged spiritual sea and make it seem brand new. Not many guides can heal or purify a sentinel on the brink of a mental collapse. Sly, keep this news to yourself, if your classmates find out they may become jealous and act irrational towards you."

Sly was really getting along with his classmates and Instructor Emma feared he might get excluded or bullied.

The upcoming trials required teamwork and she didn’t want such a bright student future to be ruined because of jealousy from others.

There were many students at Paradise Military Academy that were from elite and prominent families that had been cosseted and spoiled from childhood.

If news leaked out about Sly’s unique abilities before he learned how to properly defend himself both mentally and physically they would try to get him expelled or even turn to campus violence.

This happened a lot in the past, and Sly was practically an orphan with no parents or support, his only listed guardian was probably far away in some remote part of the galaxy.

Sly would definitely become an easy mark for some of the more ambitious and ruthless students during the upcoming trials.

"I understand Instructor Emma," replied Sly earnestly.

Sly was relieved that he had not destroyed the mock exam for others, and after the teacher made sure that Sly was alright she moved on to the next student.

After class was dismissed Sly used his spiritchoker to send a message to Khaldun even though Sly was not sure he would get a response due to the nature of his mission.

He spilled everything that happened that day in a voice message, his soft voice trembled and became emotional at parts but what really touched Khaldun’s heart was when Sly said, "I know that even without this official test that you insist on that or compatibility is high, I want to be your exclusive guide through my own merit and hard work. After being praised by Instructor Emma I realize I can only accomplish this through more training and studying. I will become stronger and stand by your side as an equal."

For the first in a long time tears came to Khaldun’s eyes after being left astounded for a few minutes.

Even though he wished Sly had the courage to say this to his face and not wait until he was on a mission to spill his guts.

Still it was a vast improvement in their relationship that Sly was being more honest and open with him.

After sending the message to Khaldun, Sly felt no regrets, he briefly wondered what Khaldun would think when he replaced the message, would the alpha lose interred or think Sly was worthy of him?