Chapter 458 - Armondo
She laughed louder while saying, "good luck with that. If she didn't kill you, you'll stay in bed for weeks. Believe me, she is as scary as that."
"Don't speak about others behind their backs like this," Mr. E suddenly appeared as he smiled in confidence, "I'm pretty sure this young man here is more than enough to crack the darkness around her heart."
"Tsk," Cesile shook her head before adding, "despite hoping she would end up being better and happy, I still can't bring myself to wish this via the man I chose."
"The man you just rejected," Arthur teased her.
"The vulgar man who doesn't know how and when to ask a girl out," she stuck out her tongue before Amanda finally finished the tests and started to head towards them.
"You've got a bunch of little monsters here," she said with a wide smile over her face, brightening up her beauty. "I would select at least half of them, and the other half aren't that shabby as well."
Arthur was happy more than anyone, like a father hearing praising words of his kids.
"Can you leave notes for those who failed to pass the test so they can be better later on?" he proposed and she nodded as she instantly said:
"I already left them some pointers, and will leave a couple of useful books for them to read and learn from."
"Me too will do the same," Cesile jumped in the speech.
"Hahaha, and me as well," Mr. E laughed before taking his glance away towards the distant Armondo. "This lad… he never ceases to learn."
"He is just like this for hours," Arthur said.
"Don't wait too much for him," Mr. E said before turning to walk towards Otman and Slone, "c'mon, this little master will take perhaps a day to wake up."
"I just hope he didn't forget the disciples," Arthur followed.
"Don't worry, this Armondo can't forget a single fight he just had," Mr. E said before adding, "in fact the longer he contemplated the higher the number of interesting fights he had."
"I hope he selects all," Arthur laughed.
"I won't be surprised if he did this," Mr. E laughed while the group finally gathered together with Arthur's main team.
"I have to say, those you brought here kid are really amazing," Otman said while Slone added: "Many talents undiscovered in this unknown world. There is a single one though, called Agnus, sigh… he is simply a monster."
"Hehehe," Arthur laughed before adding, "I already expected that."
"Is he that good?" Mr. E was interested as he added, "many talents are worth nourishing, but I didn't find a single outstanding one among them."
"I found five," Otman laughed, "and strangely three of those five are the rare Ley Lines talents."
"Wow, that's impressive," Cesile commented before adding, "I didn't find anyone in particular to be the most interesting.
"I found many," Amanda laughed while her words attracted the attention of everyone. "In each talent I tested, at least tens appeared above average while a couple or more were really eye-catching with their performances."
"Wow, that's great news," Arthur smiled in content as he added, "are you ready to announce the results?"
"I'll write them down for you now," Amanda said before Mr. E warned:
"Don't be loose over them to make him win the bet."
His words made everyone vigilantly look at her while she only chuckled as she nodded in understanding. Yet her smile made everyone here not comfortable with her choices, however they had nothing in hand to revise over her decisions.
After all the area she selected was one of the toughest areas in the academy, one of the weaknesses there. Not many masters are that experienced in teaching this stuff, and only her and another one were considered top notch masters in this field.
"Alright," Arthur said to end this about to erupt the debate, "write everything down and hand them over to me."
"Fine," Mr. E said as he glanced warningly again at Amanda before every master took his paper and kept writing the numbers of those who passed before handing these papers to Arthur.
"Two thousand disciples at Cesile, two thousand and half at Otman, Slone has three thousand, Mr. E one thousand and half, and Amanda…" he paused while glancing over her again before saying out loud: "Five thousand."
"What?" as Arthur said the number, everyone had their gazed move towards her. "This much? Didn't I warn you already not to be so loose?" Mr. E helplessly shook his head.
"Who said I was?" she harrumphed before adding, "feel free to go and test them after me. C'mon, I'll wait here for your final call."
"Amanda…" Mr. E paused while Cesile helplessly shook her head, "you know we aren't that high in this field. Wait a second, did you initially choose this so we can't revise your decision?" she directly accused her of blaming glances and deep tone.
Everyone understood what she did despite the fact that she denied this with her next answer: "I didn't do that, and feel free to send someone to revise after me if you have such doubts!"
Arthur smiled in amusement. "It's great to have someone backing you up," the golden dragon said before laughing, "especially such a beauty."
"C'mon, she is more than a beauty," Arthur joked with him while waiting for this little debate to finish.
"We'll wait for Armondo's call then," Mr. E sighed.
"Armondo won't choose more than a hundred, I'm sure of this," Slone confidently said while others nodded.
Arthur watched this little group of seemingly close ages to each other with interest. He never had such close friends before, only rivals or followers; nothing more.
"Tsk, this life doesn't suit me," he inwardly sighed.
"When you become stronger, you'll have some as your best friends," the golden dragon said before adding, "like that berserker."
Arthur recalled Orlaf as he silently nodded. "You're absolutely right, befriending a strong and clear hearted man like him is a blessing."
"You'll find more," the golden dragon laughed as he added, "many fools are out there to befriend."
"Fools?" Arthur asked.
"Those who love wars above anything else."
"Ah, I see, weakling dead senile old dragon," Arthur teased him while suddenly Armondo opened his eyes and the next moment he appeared in front of the group with excited look over his face.
"You broke through?" out of habit, Arthur said something of his past life.
"What do you mean by this?" Armondo said in confusion.
"Ah, I mean have you got good insights?" Arthur corrected his wordings.
"Sure, I have found a gem, oh not only one, but a hundred."
Slone laughed as he patted on Armondo's shoulder while saying: "Good bro, see? I told you, he won't select over a hundred, hehehe."
Armondo glanced at him weirdly before saying, "who selected a hundred? I only spoke about those outstanding disciples here!"
"What?" Slone moved to face him, "have you selected more? How much? Two hundred?"
"Wrong," Armondo shook his head while a big smile appeared over his face, "I picked up seven thousands."
His answer made the entire place dead silent before Amanda exploded in a wave of laughter. "See? C'mon, go on and doubt him as well, hehehe."
Arthur was standing there with a big smile over his face.. "That's good," he muttered to himself before adding, "no that's even great."