Novel Full Chapter 927: Ten Years Later 3
Chapter 927: Ten Years Later 3
Sanctum Academy, Meridian Keystone, Lucian.
Fiona entered the office carrying a stack of documents.
“Is it done yet?” Lucian asked.
“Almost, the council members are handling it.” She replied.
The student council was indeed quite reliable at times. Lucian glanced at the runic clock on the side of the wall and exhaled. It was almost time, and that idiot had still not arrived. Three years of marriage, and they still acted like newlyweds.
Understandably, Nyxara was quite a beauty, but still. Men were so painfully simple at times. When the princess of Malveria arrived at Meridian Keystone with her people to oversee the trade and work/student exchange programs, this outcome was in no one’s mind.
The last prince of Dawnstar and the princess of Malveria had found each other and got a bit too comfortable after spending months together.
Well.. who was she to judge them?
Lucian looked at the picture on her desk. Her daughter and husband, together with her. She couldn’t help but smile. Altheia and Alex Seablaze.
’She used to have such chubby cheeks once..’
Finally, she sensed the distinct second-ranker mana she was looking for and heard the Axiom ship land on the campus. After several minutes, Maelor, the Mayor of Meridian Keystone, pushed her office door and entered.
“Sorry! I know I am late. But I really need to take a look at my speech, so can you scold me later?”
Lucian just glared at the man as Maelor and his assistants barged into her office and took up any available seats without asking.
Today marked the eleventh year of the Academy’s establishment. The eleventh academic year was about to begin today, and as every year, the Mayor of the region and the Lord Keeper were going to congratulate the graduates and wish them good luck for the new academic year.
Sam had several other places to visit on the island and was scheduled to arrive midway through. She and Maelor had to start it with their speech.
This was a special year though. For the first two years of the junior academy years, parents were invited to come along with their kids for the opening ceremony. Because they rewarded the top students of the last year today. They also did granduation ceremony where they gave each student their degrees, but rewarding the top students was a tradition for today.
Other than the latest runic tools available in the Sanctuary online shop, the reward also involved choosing classes that the other students in their year could only do so after one more year.
Rewarding the talented was a neccessity but she did not let them skip too much either. Just one year and only for a few classes at that. If a student consistently tops in all his or her academic years, they can complete the whole 15 years of education in just seven. The minimum age for admission was 5 years.
Lucian looked at the list again and smiled. The students starting their second year of junior academy today were quite a familiar bunch. A few kids starting High Academy’s third year today were also familiar ones.
———
***Sanctum Junior Academy, 2nd Year Class, Meridian Keystone.
Altheia Goldilocks, Daughter of Lucian and Alex.
Bunch of kids. All of them.
Altheia exhaled in annoyance, seated one side of the class.
“I am the true number one! I deserve the noble Toph!” Rhydan (Firstborn son of Sam and Grace) declared with his annoyingly loud voice.
“Wheeee‑ah!” Toph reacted, hearing his own name.
“I don’t think that’s how it works..” A small voice tried to remind Rhydan while tugging on his clothes nervously. “He’s part of the Sunblade house.”
It belonged to Eris (Luca and Ely’s daughter), the girl with third highest score in the exam. The girl’s logic, however, was ignored completely by all present in the class.
Seated atop the small light-pink elephant, the white-haired, light-dark-skinned boy with white, sharp horns and angular ears glanced down at the pouting Rhydan and smiled, acting all smug.
“Only the most powerful deserve such a noble ride; peasants like you should praise the great me and be happy.”
That did it. That pushed all the buttons that angered Rhydan to the limit. In the next second, Rhydan mumbled something, and a glowing, cyan, dull-edged toy-sword materialized in his hand. The fool of a boy did not waste a single second before throwing it straight at the other fool named Orian Sunblade (Firstborn son of Damian and Vidalia).
’Why does he keep doing that despite knowing how meaningless it is?’
A pool of darkness extended below Toph and the elephant and boy seated atop, both submerged inside. Only appearing some meters away. Orian laughed, looking at Rhydan while continuing to ride Toph.
He could have gone far, but chose to escape just a few meters to give Rhydan false hope of catching him as Orian led him by the nose.
How in the world had Rhydan of all people snatched her rightful place of number one was the question eating her away all vacation. She knew why. But just could not accept it. Altheia’s aura control was the best among her peers, but Rhydan and his damned cyan lighting aura were beyond unfair!
She got 99 in Aura mastery, and the fool got a full 100!
Just one number. This slight slip-up made Rhydan first and her second. It was so embarrassing.
“Let it go already..” The girl seated beside her said, patting her back. “He is not that good in other subjects. This year, you will definitely come first.”
Altheia gritted her teeth for a moment, then ignored the chaotic kids running behind each other foolishly. She should be the one consoling her best friend; instead, it was she who was doing it to her.
Faelis Darkwood (Sylian and Olivia’s daughter
)* was the only other sane person in the entire class. All others were beyond childish. This was the academy, one of the most important places in Sanctuary. They ought to show respect! People like these kids were the ones increasing her mother’s workload!
[Sylian and Olivia’s daughter: Sylian Darkwood is the Eldoris noble kid who challenged Damian in the academy and was supposed to marry Evrin. Olivia Goldflame is Maelor’s little sister.]**
Just as Rhydan was about to catch up to Orian, the son of the Void King submerged in the void once again. But this time, an abyssal black jaguar beastman was waiting for him and jumped onto Orian the second he emerged from the darkness, finally dethroning him and claiming the ride for himself.
However, in the next second, Orian released glowing golden chains from his hand, which wrapped all around Kazak (Kamisen’s son), successfully tying him to the ceiling of the class. Orian raced Rhydan to Toph even though he could have easily used his darkness and lost.
He wasn’t that good a person though, Altheia knew that for a fact. The reason behind letting Rhydan sit on the back of Toph was much more insidious. Before Toph could take a single step more with Rhydan on his back, smiling like a fool that he was, teacher Sir Every entered the class.
And the first thing he did after entering was to tell Rhydan to get off Toph and take a seat like other kids. The villainous laugh of Orian, who had taken a seat who knew when, was not missed by Altheia’s eyes.
’Why do they think they can defeat Orian without their first ranker jobs?’
Orian was a powerful esper, and not just any esper, but an esper with an Elf for a mother and Void King for a father. Both of which had several times the normal amount of manapool.
He was such a cheat that the Academy had excluded him from rankings in the exam because of his overwhelming advantage.
But the fool Rhydan and muscle-brained Kazak always chase behind him as if they could suddenly become magically better after waking up one morning. That’s not how its done! Only after training and learning new techniques and spells can they hope to defeat him.
And it wasn’t something fools could do! Only she could do that!
———
Sanctum Academy, Meridian Keystone, Sam.
By the time Sam reached the academy, finishing up all the small and big things he needed to do on the island, Maelor’s speech was just about to end.
With his assistants and guards, Sam remained off-stage till Maelor finished speaking and Lucian welcomed him amidst the applause of the thousands of students.
He stood at the podium, looking at the thousands of awaiting, eager faces. Kids.. the innocent eyes that looked up to them. On the side, some parents of junior first and second year students were seated as well.
Many of which Sam recognized. One of the couple was Ely and Luca. The broadcast channel team leader and one of the pilots of Damian’s Apex Vector super-fast runic jets. Vidalia herself was present as well with her three-year-old daughter in her lap. His own wife, Grace, had joined Lady Vidalia on the front row. In her arms, their young boy Kaelen played happily.
Kamisen and his wife were present as well, leaving all work of their guild aside for today. Alas, Damian and Alex, the two fathers of the two hard-working kids, were not present as always, busy in their continuous dungeon diving.