《Moon Song (On Hold)》 Chapter 1/Prologue Prologue: Ellis Moon ¡°I¡¯ll be back ok?¡± Ellis patted the head of his little sister in hopes of calming her down. ¡°For how long? Will you be back tomorrow?¡± the little girl asked in return. Her name is Anise, she was seven and a little hard to handle little girl. The Moon family has only these two children. The family was once a glorious clan in the past but because of the mistake of their head in the past, they were sent into exile into this little town of Lutton. Because of this, Ellis has this strong desire to gain strength and show the world that their Moon Clan is not yet done even if they were already reduced as a small family now. The clan has already faded and only left some scrolls for the descendants to remember their glorious past. ¡°Not tomorrow but it will be quick. You won¡¯t even notice that I was gone and I will be back already.¡± Ellis tried to smile to hide his sadness. He was leaving Lutton for the first time and even though their sentence of being exiled has been lifted already, their family has nowhere to go now. He only desires to protect this little town from danger. If only the situation is not getting worse, he also hates to leave this place even if the Grim is constantly harassing their walls. ¡°Really?¡± Anise said while looking as adorable as she can be. She is also a smart girl but she prefers to act as a kid in most times. ¡°Yes of course. I will bring back lots of souvenirs when I come back.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± Anise ran away towards her room after hearing Ellis¡¯ reply. ¡°Is it me or she tricked me for presents?¡± Ellis looked at the couple lovingly smiling at him. ¡°You got owned once again sweetie.¡± The gentle looking and beautiful woman named Erika said in a teasing tone. ¡°We always get tricked by the Moon women son¡­ Pity us¡­ ugggu!¡± Peter, the father of the two kids of the moon family and the husband of Erika fell on his knees after a quick elbow from his wife. ¡°I heard it wrong right?¡± Erika said with a gently smile towards Ellis. ¡°Probably¡­¡± Elis does not have the courage to say anything towards this gentle looking woman in his front. Ellis tried to burn the image of this happy family in his mind. He will be gone for four years and go to a place where he knows no one and knows nothing about but the name and coordinates on the map. If only he can stay, sadly, he can¡¯t and need more knowledge if he wants to protect this little place he can call home. ¡°Go one your way sweetie, you still has a really long way to go.¡± Erika said as he hugged Ellis and looked at him in the eyes. ¡°Love you and come back safely ok?¡± ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am!¡± he said teasingly which earned him a pinch towards his nose.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Show those city boys who¡¯s the boss son!¡± Peter said as he pat the shoulders of Ellis. ¡°Too bad I can¡¯t do that huh?¡± Ellis can only smile bitterly. The town of Lutton is famous as the lands of the Exile. He being from the town already warrants unnecessary attention. If he really showed off too much of his prowess then the kingdoms may take notice of his family again and might lead to more complications. ¡°Too bad indeed.¡± His father also understands what Ellis means. ¡°Anyway, take care along the journey and send letters frequently.¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget your promise to Anise ok?¡± Peter reminded him as he handed him a box. Ellis opened it and it contains a small pendant of the image of the sun. It has a deep violet color which nearly borders dark but it was really eye catching. Ellis looked towards Peter in query. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°That is our Moon Clan heirloom. In the past, that pedant can only be worn by the head of the clan but now you are the only male successor of the family. You have to take care of the whole family soon. This old man can finally rest and spend my time lovey-dovey with his wife.¡± Peter said haughtily which earned him another elbow from the red faced Erika at his side. Erika hugged him once again and planted a kiss on his forehead. ¡°Take care of yourself ok?¡± Ellis nodded and bowed before going out of the door. When he closed the door, he can feel the sadness already hitting him bad. For the last fifteen years of his life, he only spent it inside the town of Lutton. Together with the other exiled persons or family, they all shared close ties. This time, he was the first person to be allowed to leave the town of Lutton without consequence. If the other residents of Lutton town leave, then they will be hunted by the whole kingdom of Vale. Ellis walked towards the sturdy gates of the Lutton town in a slow manner. He was taking in everything so he can never forget this place. Even if the place also crawls with so much lawless person, this is his home and homeland. This small town is too important for him. When he reached the gates, soldiers of the Vale kingdom which were stationed looked at him warily. They are replaced every year and so residents don¡¯t have many ties with these soldiers. Ellis handed a paper towards the guard. The guard looked at him in confusion at first but received the letter nonetheless. The guard read it for some time and went away with the letter. After a few minutes, a muscular man carrying two swords at his back appeared together with the earlier guard. He was the captain in this small town. He was the only one who does not go away and the resident of the Lutton knows him very well. ¡°I thought you of the Moon family will stay here until your lineage dies out.¡± The man said in a disgruntled tone. ¡°I really wonder what the king is thinking when he pardoned your family!¡± Even as the man said in a disgruntled tone, the soldiers are already moving and opened the gate shortly. Ellis extended his hand to ask the letter back since it was a letter of introduction he needed if he wants to enter the beacon academy. The captain was disgruntled but he returned the letter and went away right after the matter. The captain might be rude or maybe he is truly rude but he was a fair man nonetheless. ¡°Congratulations on escaping this hellhole lad.¡± One of the soldiers said as Ellis went pass the gates. After Ellis crossed the gates, it immediately closed. When he looked back towards the town, the walls were decorated with spikes and cannons all around. Along the walls, many soldiers of Vale are walking around warily. Ellis also burned this image in his mind. He does not feel any hate towards Vale but he was still disgruntled with how Vale treated Lutton town. After a brief period of time, he was finally satisfied and started to face the direction beacon academy is located. He took a map from his bag to be sure of it then took another cube from his bag. He threw it on the ground and the cube started to vibrate and soon started to expand and take another shape. After a few moments, it turned into a sturdy looking bicycle. It was too gaudy with too many metals and even the wheels are made of metal with so little touch of rubber. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go to Vale.¡± Chapter 2: Vale Capital City Chapter 2: Journey to Beacon Academy For a few hundred years, Beacon has stood the test of time. It got destroyed and rebuilt many times over the years. In this world, not only the Grim are the enemies but some people who desired more power and have their own twisted understanding of things try to do some things which harms more than do more good. It is just fortunate that every generation, a special Hunter or huntress always emerge to stand up and take the brunt of things. In time, the system grew more systematic compared to the previous generation. Back then, there is no distinction between warriors. Everyone can be really strong or really weak without any clue. For the present time, warriors were separated by ranks. It is from rank E up to the highest rank X. The warriors grew more systematic so the classification of the Grims also evolved. The Grims¡¯ level ranges from level 1-10 and 10 for the strongest there is. There are some fabled monsters which can¡¯t be included with this scale because it is impossible to measure their power because of their elusive behavior. Ellis is still riding his bicycle leisurely along the woods. Even with the unfamiliar place, he can still look up to the map for the distinct land marks. It was peaceful stroll for him compared to the south gate of the Lutton town. In the south of the Lutton town lays one of the most dangerous place of the entire Sielaria, the maze ruins. In a sense, one can call it a dungeon or some sorts as it was littered with countless Grims. Legend say that it used to be one of the prisons before the Great War and Grim overrun it due to massive negative emotion centered on the place. Anyway, in Lutton town, everyone is able to fight for themselves for days. Aside from being exiled as punishment, they need to defend the land from that dangerous place which rumored to have a level 10 Grim hiding at the depths of the ruins. In there, countless danger lurks but countless opportunities exist too. Many ancient artifact which humanity lost along the passage of time sleeps and if one is fortunate enough to discover these things then one can redeem his sentence and be a freeman with lots of open opportunity to start over a new life. Sadly those that discovered these artifacts did not turn over these things to the Kingdom of Vale but kept it for them to use. The artifacts themselves are useful in various ways. Some of them can be used as a great weapon, some can be used as a support mechanism in case of emergencies and some can really save a life in times. Because of those reasons, no one redeems themselves but continue to fish for luck on the ruins. Of course, the death toll is not low too. The Moon Song clan actually lost majority of their men due to their desire to find an artifact to redeem themselves but through the years only one member managed to find an artifact. If the ancestors of the Moon Song clan knew that their descendant managed to find two artifacts to redeem themselves and keep one to use then they will surely spit blood with how much effort they put into but failed. Good thing they are no more since the artifact will surely not fall into the hands of Ellis but these elders. For the artifact, one is being used by Ellis. A cube which can transform into two things which is a bulky metal bicycle and the other one is a huge slab of iron which is not suitable for a human to wield as a weapon. The other artifact is a shield that can easily block most of the Grim¡¯s attacks up to level 8. It can also split into two and be used as a double handed weapon. That artifact was sent back to the capital and the Moon Song family has been freed from their status as exiled. ¡°I wonder how people live in the city. I bet they are just chilling under the sun.¡± Ellis mumbled due to boredom. He has been riding his slow moving bicycle for three hours already and he really wanted to speed up his travels if not for the harsh terrain. Good thing is that the bicycle has a good balance and won¡¯t fall so easily even if it is too bulky. Ellis passed through a lake and decided to rest. The operation of the artifact is simple but it is quite taxing actually. The energy needed to push that bike is not efficient. If not for his semblance agreeing with the artifact, he would have sent the cube instead of the shield. ¡°Ahhh¡­ I am getting bored with the scenery. It is not much different in anyway.¡± He was just self-talking when he saw something move from the bushes. ¡°Hmm?¡± Ellis stood up and stood his ground preparing for whatever will come out of the bushes. His face was littered with sweat but not due to fear. He was feeling too excited that he feels like his body is burning. It was the first time that he was able to leave the Lutton town and he only went towards the south facing the maze ruins. This place is new for him and he was excited with the new experience, specially facing new Grims. When he was about to dash himself because he can¡¯t hold back anymore, a small black figure went out of the bushes and looked at him quizzically. It is a grim but it is so small in size compared to the ones he faced back in the ruins. He can¡¯t help but wonder if he is getting trolled. ¡°This is it? A small little guy?¡± The creature seems to understand him and angrily leapt into the air baring its little cute fangs. It was shaped as a rat with a lusterless silver bone covering its entire head. The little rat grim lacks intelligence and blindly attack Ellis. Sadly, it got swallowed by the cube in midair. The cube actually has three uses. One, it can transform into a metal bicycle, second, it can be used as a blunt weapon and lastly it can swallow Grims under level 3 and digest it for some time. Then after some time, the essence of the grim is added as new metal parts complimenting the whole artifact. Because of that function, Ellis decided to call it Abyss Devourer. Ellis was quite disappointed with his first battle outside of the Lutton town. He knows that the road towards the capital of Vale is quite safe due to the army constantly culling these Grims but still, he hoped for something more exciting. ¡°Better luck next time I guess.¡± He said as he stood up and picks the bag lying on the ground beside the tree to continue his journey. Ellis spent the rest of the day travelling and all he faced are small Grims shaped in rats, cats and even a frog. It is a disappointing experience for him but he consoled himself that it is just the journey towards the Vale capital. He told himself that there will be more when he finally arrived at Beacon academy. He rested on the cabin intended for the travelers to use which was constructed by the kingdom for those people like Ellis. There are some people around but Ellis does not want any connection with these people. For him, there are only three kinds of people in the world. For him there is only family/friend, an enemy and a stranger. For these people, he treats them as one would treat strangers. Some people tried to talk to him but he ignored them all and occupied a small corner to rest. All he is thinking is to arrive to beacon faster and be more powerful then go back to his town. The situation concerning the maze is starting to get worrying. The Grims seems to be evolving as they slowly started to become more intelligent. If the situation continues as it is, they will become a more fearsome enemy and the little town of Lutton will not be able to do something about it. Ellis rested the whole night without saying anything towards these people and early went out of the cabin to continue his journey. Some people are also up and saw the cube transform into a gaudy bicycle and were shocked. The technology level of Sielaria is high and they saw many types of vehicle but not this one. It looks old and actually inefficient yet unique enough to catch their attention. Ellis did not pay attention and continued his journey. At noon, he finally arrived at the walls of the capital of Vale. The place is littered with huge robots and only a few personnel here and there. He slowly walked towards the front gate and waited for some time before a red light scanned him. He heard someone clearing voice across the mic for a few times before someone actually spoke. Weirdly, it is a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°What business do you have here lad?¡± the voice tried to sound mature and all but Ellis can actually guess that the owner of the voice is only same age as him. ¡°I have a letter of introduction.¡± Ellis said trying to hide the snicker threatening to erupt from him. Ellis can her some shuffling sounds from the other side then a small compartment opened. There is a small tray inside and Ellis put the letter into it. After he placed the letter, the compartment closed again and he can hear the sound of paper being opened. The other side is clearly reading the letter and he can only wait until that one get someone with authority to let him in. He did not wait long until another voice sounded from the other side. It was deep and clearly an adult male¡¯s voice. ¡°You are Ellis Moon?¡± The other party surely can see his appearance with how they converse. It will be surprising if there is no hidden camera to watch who comes into the gates. ¡°Yes sir!¡± He said politely and showed his I.D he got from the town.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The person read the I.D and he frowned when he saw the place it was issued from. It was from Lutton town and that town is the place of exiles. Even with the letter of introduction, he does not have a good impression towards the people from there. People that were exiled were a bunch of lawless person who either committed sins too heavy to be carried by only a single person but needed to be carried by the entire family or clan. He has not heard about this Moon Song clan but he just knows that they are not good people anyhow. ¡°From Lutton Town? Why should I let a traitor in?¡± Ellis¡¯ face changed countenance the next instant he heard the word. He expected people to make it hard for him but not to the point of being labeled a traitor. The matter his clan did passed already a few hundred years ago but the name traitor still appeared form someone who does not even know him. ¡°Because it is not your business to decide.¡± His tone was chilly and clearly not polite this time. The other person flinched and he was about to respond when Ellis beat him to it. ¡°Will you really violate the command given by the authorities of Vale? You are a mere watch dog don¡¯t butt into others business on your own whim, you might not be able to bear the consequence.¡± The other party¡¯s face changed this time. He was not expecting a sharp and aggressive tone from a young brat. He was really tempted to make trouble for the fellow but he knows that he has no ability to shoulder the consequence if things got complicated because of his actions. The letter introduced the person in front of him and the purpose of it is also written in the letter. Sealed and signed by the headmaster of beacon academy himself, he can¡¯t possibly be too reckless with his actions. Even if he wanted trouble with the young lad, he can¡¯t go over the line. ¡°Good good. You better hope that I won¡¯t catch you doing something not right because I will send you back towards that shithole when I do.¡± The gate opened and the door slowly parted. The sound of it is heavy and Ellis can see how thick the door was. This gate is clearly designed to withstand great power from Grim attacks. Even if this is just the borders of the Vale Kingdom, the quality of equipment here is very high. Ellis walked in and glanced towards his left and saw a bald man holding a thick metal staff on his hand. His face was fierce and his gaze seems saying he wants to eat Ellis whole. Ellis just smiled mysteriously at him and passes by him. He was disinclined to deal with strangers. If he becomes an enemy then he can become the new food for Abyss Devourer. He walked in not bothering with anymore when he grabbed the letter back from a lady which seem the same age as him. He looked at her and noticed that she seems wearing a badge on her collar. He knows that emblem symbolizes the Beacon academy. He smiled as he thought how he made his first impression towards the lady. ¡°Well, we can¡¯t please everybody.¡± He said to himself when he was farther away for others not to hear him. He took out the map from his bag and looked where he is. He saw a statue of men fighting with level 4 Grims and realized he needed to go towards northwest to arrive at beacon academy. He took out the cube and threw it on the ground. Once again it turned into a bulky metal bicycle. He rode the suspicious looking bike and hit the spacious rode of the Kingdom of Vale. He finally stepped into a cemented road. Outside the walls of the Kingdom of Vale, the roads were just naturally formed by the walking travelers and it is not good to use a normal vehicle when trying to travel. It would be more comfortable riding a horse than a car outside the walls of every kingdom. Ellis took his time as he watch the new scenery before him. He knows that he looks like a country bumpkin but he does not mind. He was a country bumpkin anyhow and he was not ashamed of it. He sees new things and it fascinated him, there is nothing wrong with that. People also took notice of his ride and his appearance. Some people ignored it since he looks like a country bumpkin. Some people though, especially those with high knowledge about artifacts noticed some uniqueness of the bike. They curiously stared at the bicycle trying to gain some clues to its mysteries. Sadly, all they can see is a gaudy and inefficient looking bicycle that seems too hard to operate and balance. Ellis saw a yellow rabbit doll hanging inside a store and he remembered his cute little sly sister. He stopped and made the bicycle turn back into its original cube shape. The cube is only the size of his thumb and he made a bracelet that can hold the cube when he does not use it. He walked in the store and the sound of bells alerting the shopkeeper that they have a costumer. Inside, he can see various dolls hanging here and there. Some depicts of bright feelings but there are some that feels dark. There were even some small dolls of Grims. He wondered if this shop is a good place. Anyway, he wants to buy that single rabbit doll for his sister. He does not want to intrude about the matters of the shop and its owner. ¡°Hello?¡± He called since he still can¡¯t see someone on the place where the shopkeeper should be. Suddenly, he heard some creaking and a figure rose from below. An old lady with a bored face appeared. It spooked him a bit but decided to just endure and buy the doll. He was curious why the keeper is down below but noticed that a chair supporting the keeper can fold. Maybe the keeper just lay down until he showed up. ¡°How much is that one?¡± He pointed on the yellow rabbit near the window of the shop. The old lady¡¯s gaze followed his finger and frowned. ¡°That¡¯s for little girls you know?¡± ¡°It is for a little girl ma¡¯am.¡± He replied without minding the accusing gaze of the old woman earlier. ¡°I see¡­ Lover?¡± ¡°What?¡± Now Ellis is confused. Then he suddenly realized what the old woman is hinting. ¡°For my sister¡­ Souvenir.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ boring.¡± The old woman seems to lose her interest and took a tablet and scrolled to look for the price. ¡°100 white unprocessed crystals or 70 white processed crystals.¡± Crystals replaced the old currency of Sielaria. The crystals can be found from the Grim when one kills it. The stronger the Grim, the deeper color the crystal is. The colors start from white with the least value and the black as the highest valued crystal. The crystals can be processed to help one enhance his Aura. Ellis thought for a bit and found the price is just so-so. It is not cheap but not too much for him to fuss. He took out a small pouch from his bag and took out one thumb size unprocessed grey colored crystal. One of these crystals equals to 100 unprocessed white. The old lady received the crystal and looked at it meticulously. After nodding, the old lady placed the grey silver crystal inside a box. She then walked out from the desk and walks towards the rabbit doll. She handed the doll back to Ellis and then went back to her earlier position to sit. Ellis saw her press a button on the side of the chair and the chair started to form like a small bed. It amazed him how people come up with the weirdest ideas. One can just imitate the chair with simpler methods but yet decided to make an electronic system just for the half of the chair to move up and down. He walked out of the store feeling how different the place compared to the simple and humble living standard of the folks from the Lutton town and here. He was at the capital and he needed to adapt and not look things from a person staying in Lutton town if he wants to stay here for four years. He threw the cube again in the ground and it turned into a bicycle again. He rode it and this time hastens his pace towards Beacon academy. He saw many foreign things along the way but sadly he has no time to slowly discover these kinds of things. After an hour later, he finally arrived at the gates of the Beacon academy. He can¡¯t help but feel the majestic aura it has. Books told how this academy once fell into the hands of the Grims due to some people¡¯s scheme but seeing how majestic and mighty the place is, he can¡¯t help but think. Who can possibly do such a thing? The gate was wide open so he just walked in after retrieving the cube back in his hands. Some people curiously look at him but most of the people walking around the academy only spared him a glance and went on their own ways. Ellis tried to find a directory to see where he should proceed. The idea of asking someone never came to his mind sadly. After a few minutes of mindlessly walking around, he finally saw a directory. He memorized the location of the registrar and went on his way quickly. When he arrived, a man in his mid-thirties was on a desk pressing buttons on his computer. Ellis politely waited until the man finally turned his gaze away from the monitor towards him. ¡°What can I do for you young man?¡± Ellis handed him the letter and the man read it. After a few moments, the man typed something in his computer and verified the letter in his hands. After the verification, he handed the letter back and typed some more in his computer. Ellis patiently waited silently and after a few minutes the man seems finally done. He handed a bunch of files to him and smiled to Ellis. ¡°This is the directory of the whole Academy so that you won¡¯t get lost. I marked the place you will be staying and the room number. Be sure to not wander to the opposite building since that is for the young ladies. This one is your temporary proof until you officially be admitted to this school.¡± Ellis listened carefully towards the words of the man and he frowned at the end. He thought that he will be enrolled upon handing the letter but it seems not the case. He wanted to ask but the man seems to know what he wants to ask. ¡°Beacon academy only accepts people with real skills. Papers don¡¯t mean anything in our eyes. Only by proving yourself, you can stay in here. Until then, you will stay in this temporary dorm. Tomorrow at eight in the morning, the test will begin and that is when we decide if you will stay or will go home.¡± Ellis nodded and liked this idea actually. He wanted to see how capable the other people were. He was quite confident with his skills and he was excited to see how the other kids on his age fare compared to him. He was not thinking that he will be the best among the try outs though since he understands that the world is huge and there is always someone better at you. Even if it is not today, tomorrow might be the day when someone greater than you will be born. ¡°Thank you sir.¡± He bowed in respect and left the registrar after. He followed the marks on the directory map and found the building. It does not look that good but it still look ok. It is not the same as the buildings outside of the academy but since it is only meant for temporary dwelling for the applicants then he can understand why it is this way. He met many people along the way when he was inside the building and some of them greeted him actually. He only returned with a simple smile or a nod of recognition towards these people. Some that ignored him; he can only ignore them back since he is not looking forward in making conversations. When he arrived at the room, it only has four simple beds and a clock hanging on the wall. Then there are the neatly folded cover for the bed and some fresh pillow enclosed by plastic to not get some dust. He places the bag down the corner of a bed that he decided to take. It is near the window and the corner which he likes. There are better locations but he does not want to garner too much attention. With his identity and origin, he already has enough reputation and he does not want to get bothered with just bed issues. He cleaned the room for a bit to get rid of the dust that collected on every bed and floor. He does not need to do it including the other bed but he just felt that it would be a bother when he was done then people arrive and dusted the place which will scatter the dust all over again. That will be a real hassle so he just did the whole thing. When he was done, he took the clean covers and placed it on his bed. He took a pillow and comfortably lay down in the bed. He already ate along the way so he got nothing to do until the next morning. Somehow, laying down the comfortable bed lulled him to a sleep without him noticing. He entered a long and dreamless sleep. Chapter 3: Entrance Exam Part 1 Chapter 3: The next morning, Ellis woke up in a somewhat weak state. He can¡¯t help but feel sluggish since he woke up with other people around the room without him noticing. He thought that he must be too tired so he did not notice the arrival of the new people. He looked at them and noticed that they are all dressed differently compared to him. His outfit is for ease of travel when these kids dressed for appearance. There are only two more people and a vacant bed inside the room. The one who occupied the best bed looks like a son from a well off family or a clan with lots of baggage and a single slim fencing sword in his side. The last one dresses nicely and neatly and has a single spear lying down in his bed. He was not yet awake and is hugging his weapon in his sleep. Ellis can only smile at the scene. A grown man hugging something like a teddy bear is definitely a sight to see. He stood up and looked towards his bag which does not seem to show any sign of someone rummaging it. Even if the other party looks decent and all, he will never trust what his eyes see. He experience too much inside the maze where he can see even his ancestors for some reason because of some Grims. If he rely too much on what he see then he may probably be there sleeping at the depth of the ruins. He does not wish to bother the other two so he picked up his bag and decided to go for the door even if it is just over six in the morning. The other person seems to be asleep still and he made sure to minimize his noise until he closed the door. Outside the door, there are also some people that are already awake and walking the corridors with their luggage. Ellis donned his hood to minimize his exposure to these people. He walked without bothering them and fortunately managed to exit the dorm building without people bothering him. Though he knows that he was a bit anti-social, he can only act this way to graduate from beacon without being entangled with many unnecessary troubles. The reputation of his family is not the best in the first place. If he can avoid some troubles that may arise from him being to conspicuous, then he will be more than happy to accept the bargain. He want to gain power in this place in the first place, he does not want trouble while doing so. He arrived at the cafeteria after a few minutes of walking with the help of the directory the man gave him yesterday. The place is densely packed already and he can¡¯t help but worry if there will be a place with lesser person so he can eat quietly and peacefully. He picked up some bread and a soup to warm his stomach and waited in line to pay for his food. When it was his turn, a little lady with pink stripes in her hair appeared in his front. He can¡¯t help but grimace when he realized who this person is. This lady has the same face as the one on the gate yesterday when he got into a bad argument with the guard. Even if the hair is somewhat different, their face is the same. He wonders if this is the same person back then or maybe a sister or some sorts. Anyway this smells of bad onions. He tried to be silent and handed his crystal towards the lady which only eyed him for a brief moment then accepted the crystal. He wanted to leave right that instant but he got called out instead. He can¡¯t help but frown. He can only accept what trouble may come at this point. ¡°Your change buddy!¡± the lady said with a teasing voice. ¡°You don¡¯t hope to buy my beauty with just this measly amount right?¡± Ellis can¡¯t help but be embarrassed. Even if he has enough crystal to go hungry for the entire ten years, his actions really is quite embarrassing. He looks flustered with how the lady put it. His face finally went red which made the lady in the counter laugh at his expense. Ellis tried to get the change back as fast as he can so he can leave the spot faster but the lady seems so fixated on making fun of him. ¡°Are you stunned with my beauty? Don¡¯t be shy, this elder sister won¡¯t be that mean.¡± She handed the crystals back to Ellis with a laugh. Ellis received it hastily and got out from the spot as fast as he can. Some people laughed at him but he can¡¯t be angry with them. If he was one of the viewers, he might actually act the same way as them. The only problem is he was on the receiving end. He does not dare to raise his head but only walked randomly to blend into the sea of people. When he felt that he was farther from the place, he looks around to try and see if there are some vacant spots. Fortunately, there are some vacant spot around the corners which no one seems to want to sit into. He gratefully occupied the seat without bothering why this single table is vacant and the rest are full. As he started to feast on his meal, some people are looking at him weirdly. He can¡¯t help but notice their gazes and read that trouble might be here coming soon. He tried to eat faster and avoid the trouble but the place suddenly got quiet. Only the sound of his spoon hitting the bowl can be heard along the particular area. He can¡¯t help but stop eating and look around to see what is happening. Then he saw what it is all about. A lady that looks like a doll which came to life is standing in his front. The lady has shiny raven colored hair and fair white complexion which actually contrast but still makes her have this unique type of sense of beauty. He stared back to this lady and can¡¯t help but notice the silver eyes staring back at him unemotionally. ¡°You can take any seat you want. I will be done soon anyway.¡± He said since he decided that he will leave after finishing the last bits left of his meal. The people around him started to murmur and whisper to themselves at this point. All eyes seem to focus to him and the lady which is still standing at his front. He was not aware of this of course because he is eating as fast as he can. ¡°Please leave my table.¡± A fine and gentle but robotic voice said to him. He raised his hand to signal a minute since he will be done. In Lutton town, people don¡¯t get up in their table until they are done. It is rude to leave the table when food is not done yet. When he finished eating the last bit of bread he has on his plate, he picked up the tray and plan to leave. He stood up and plans to walk away but the lady in front of him is still standing there with a blank expression on her face. The people around is also quiet at this time. He can¡¯t help but feel something bad is about to happen. Who is this little lady to have this kind of effect on a place? He only ate on a vacant table which sadly as the said belongs to her. He wondered what is wrong with people in the city for causing such disturbance. ¡°Please don¡¯t sit here again.¡± The lady said politely but there is this chilly vibe he can feel. It does not matter he thought since he won¡¯t be eating in this table again in the future. What is a table compared to a peaceful four years of his stay in beacon academy. He nodded towards the lady and left the place hastily. People continued to whisper along the way and it is making him a bit irritated so he grabbed someone to ask finally. ¡°Who¡¯s that lady?¡± he asked not politely. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Do I look like I know?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The other person was shocked to hear that someone does not actually know that lady. Everyone in the Vale kingdom knows her. He can¡¯t help but conclude that this person does not come from the kingdom of Vale. ¡°That is Emerald Rose of the Rose Clan. One of the great clans of Sielaria and you don¡¯t know?¡± Ellis actually read about the four clans which started to gain some fame six hundred years ago when the Beacon academy first fell. The four were the Rose clan, Schnee clan, Xiao Long clan and lastly the Belladonna war clan of the Faunus people. They literally saved the entire world once and their clans continued to prosper even after six hundred years. The most famous huntress of the Rose clan is named Ruby Rose which uses a scythe/gun named Crescent Rose. She was two years early when she first came to the beacon academy but proven herself to be capable and formed a team of four with the other ladies of the famous clans. Until today, the Crescent Rose was kept as the family heirloom even if it¡¯s not up to standard during battle. The fire power of the device is clearly weaker compared to the new and more advance device the kingdom has developed but the value of Crescent Rose towers the entire artifact out there. It is once the weapon of the greatest hero of the world of Remnant. ¡°The Rose clan¡­¡± Ellis can¡¯t help but curse inside his head. He let go of the person and hastily left the place. He knows that he may probably invite some trouble. Even if he tries to avoid her, some people already took notice of him when he made contact with that famous lady of the Rose clan. For now, he can only try to evade and keep lesser contact with famous people so people can forget about his existence. He was just a small character after all. He occupied a bench and sat upon it while waiting for the test to be announced. It is only around seven in the morning and another hour before the exam. He can only wait passively until then. He spent his time playing with the cube in hand while staring blankly across the distance. When the clock finally strikes eight, a broadcast across the whole academy resounded. ¡°Welcome aspiring students to Beacon academy. Please proceed towards the designated place marked on your directories. At 8:15, the test will finally begin. Be ready and bring your respective weapons. Good luck to everyone!¡± Ellis got up and donned his hood again and tried to blend with others. No one bothered with a suspicious looking Ellis fortunately. He was not aware that his actions and get up only made him more noticeable. If he knew, then he will definitely bash his head in anger. Ellis arrived at the place which seems to be a cliff. Three people await everybody patiently, one woman and two other men dressed formally. When the clock arrived at 8:15, the woman in the middle holding a simple and unadorned cane which only has a design of gears stepped forward with a smile. ¡°First of all, I am Reena Ozpin, the headmistress of Beacon academy. I welcome all of you in this great kingdom of Vale. A lot of you came from prestigious family from Vale and outside. Some of you may think that you are already a student of this academy but sadly that is not the case. Once again in this year, we are doing our tradition in admitting new students. Each of you will transverse the forest behind me.¡± The people around started to whisper among themselves but the headmistress waited for them to settle down. ¡°Today, you will also be given with teammates. You will be paired with someone, today and that partner will be with you for the next four years of your stay in this academy. It will be the best if you get along with this person.¡± The Headmaster smiled mysteriously at this point. ¡°So, we will be watching everything that will happen inside the forest. Some instructors and some cameras were placed around the entire forest for us to see who¡¯s going to be paired with whom. How do you take a partner then? Here is the fun part young ones. The first person you make eye contact shall be your partner¡­ for the next four years.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ellis did not notice that it was his voice that interrupted the headmistress speaking. He quickly bent his head down due to embarrassment. ¡°Though it may sound simple, not all of you can pass this test. Inside this forest, you will find a shrine. Inside, relics can be found. The numbers of relics are limited so you better not take your time. When you got a relic, together with your partner, you will need to travel towards the north. There will be ruins in there. All you need to do is climb the cliff and submit the relics to the professors there.¡± This time, the face of the headmistress turn serious. ¡°Be sure to do your best because we will be watching. All your performance shall be graded at the end of this test. Everything you meet inside the forest is not friendly, be it Grims or other contestants. There is only one rule in this exam. Push through and destroy anything that blocks your path.¡± The headmistress stepped back and nodded to the man beside her. The man took a step forward and checked the mini microphone beside his mouth. ¡°Check¡­. Check¡­ Ahemm. Take your stance and be ready. We will be sending you there shortly.¡± Ellis also took his stance and held Abyss Devourer firmly in his hand. Some people were already launched in the air with catapult style. The locations they fall are random but they are relatively the same. People disappeared one by one inside the green forest. Finally, Ellis was also launched into the air. He can see other people flying at the same time as him and he can only feel amazement when he saw many and bizarre things people started to take out to help them land. Some of them grew mechanicals wings, some used their semblance already and safely landed to the forest. One of the many things he noted is the red scythe cutting through the air effortlessly then also disappeared inside the forest. Ellis himself is nearing the forest and he needed to land safely. He has no experience in landing from high places like this but he also has his trick under his sleeve. He extended his arm and made a grabbing gesture towards the think branch of a tree nearby and his body swung upwards slightly. Even if he slightly rise higher, his earlier momentum was gone and the thick branch gloriously broke after receiving his entire weight. He look for a suitable branch to make a landing then repeated his earlier actions to finally land on the ground. While others frantically run forward after landing, Ellis bent down and placed his hand towards the ground. It was a common practice in Lutton town to scout the area. The small vibrations around a few meters range can be read by him and sometimes it can extend into a kilometer if he really focus more. He can pick up some people running here and there and he was surprised that they are not that far from him. He decided to keep his distance and silently move forward while not alerting others. He prefer to work alone anyhow. He donned his hood and threw the cube on the ground but this time it did not turn into a bicycle and turned into a huge metal slab which seems like a sword without handle. The next second, the sword that lacks a handle floated vertically above his head. He walked around the forest while trying to stay away from others but still manage to not get left behind by the crowd. He was just walking down the forest when he suddenly heard the rustling of leaves not too far. He was sure that he stayed away from other participants which only leaves to one thing. A Grim! He was not disappointed when a huge black visage appeared out from the covers of the bushes. It has almost the same appearance of a grizzly bear but with the skeletal helm covering its face along with the numerous spikes protruding on its back. This one is a level 4 Grim called Ursa. It has relatively slow speed but has great defense and great power to back up its huge build. Grahhh! The Ursa charged towards him on fours seemingly want to overrun him. This is one of the most common tactics of the Ursa, the charging skill which is relatively hard to stop due to the huge momentum it can gather with such short distance it can charge. Sadly, he was facing someone who plays with more Ursa anyone can imagine. Ellis swung his arm like he was slashing a sword himself and the sword followed his action without any delay. It was like Ellis himself was wielding the huge sword. The sword faithfully did its job and slashed towards the Ursa. Contrary to the motion, the Ursa was not sliced but sent flying accompanied by the sound of bones breaking. The spikes on its body fell on the ground and it lay motionless on the ground with only a few pitiful whimper before it completely went silent. ¡°Better than rats I guess.¡± He said as he made the sword transform back into a cube and threw it towards the corpse of the Ursa. The cube extended slowly as if it is melting. Soon it fully enclosed the whole corpse then slowly compress back to its original cube form. Ellis pick the cube back and made it transform back into a uselessly huge sword form. Once again it floated vertically above his head and he resumed walking towards the north. He decided to run this time since the number of relics are limited and it will be bad if he failed due to not being able to grab one for his own. He traveled in a straight line and actually met some pair along the way. The other pairs did not bother when they saw the huge sword floating above Ellis¡¯ head and actually chose to stay away from him. The headmistress reminded them that inside the forest there is no alliance other than your own pair. Other people are actually your competitor. Ellis did not mind since it is more convenient to move when there are no people around him. He did not need to mind his strikes and make sure that no one will be accidentally be swept together with the swing of the sword. He dives to the maze ruins alone and he is not confident in doing work with someone suddenly. He is thinking that if he ever got a pair after this test, the cooperation will need serious work since he is actually bad in terms of teamwork and communication. ¡°Now where is that shrine?¡± Chapter 4: Entrance Exam Part 2 Chapter 4 Ellis continues to travel on a relatively fast pace. He met some more Grims along the way but they are just small fries for him. The average levels of the Grims he met so far are only level 4 at the highest and level 1 lowest. It was disappointing for him for a bit but he also understands that the academy will not place the applicants into too much danger especially with the background of many people taking the test. He can only keep his feelings under control and expect not too much. Ellis¡¯ journey has been bland and boring until he stumbled into this pair of sibling. The siblings are facing a few level 4 Grims and in his view, they are in quite the trouble. If nothing miraculous happen to them, then he is afraid that a pair of body will be buried in this huge forest. He stops and tries to decide if he wants to help. This is a test and everyone is a competitor but seeing people in trouble and doing nothing is not easy thing to do unless one does not have the thing called conscience. In the end, he decided to help and do something normal for once. He leapt out from his hiding place and smashed one Ursa to lessen the pressure towards the siblings. Two pairs of eyes instantly focused on him and he can only nod at them at this time. He does not want to say anything and just charged towards another Ursa while the siblings also started to regain control and gain some breathing space. This time, Ellis is not showing the Abyss Devourer and only manipulates some random things he can get his hands on. A relatively big stone, a branch anything that can deal some damage towards the Grims. Even if he does not deal the killing blow, just by absorbing some pressure, he can already help. He does not want to help too much and gain a suspicious reputation instead. After a while, the siblings finally started to eliminate some Grims and the fight started to reach its conclusion. The siblings are not too bad in actuality but there is just too much level 4 Grims crowding them and not letting the two perform in their best. When the last Ursa fell, Ellis is just sitting on the corner waiting for them to finish. When the fight ended, the siblings are on the ground panting hard. The both of them actually seem to be twins but they have opposite gender. The girl has dark bluish hair and a pair of deep and black iris like a deep dark pool. She has a fair complexion and she seems to be from a well-off family. On the other hand, the male actually looks like a rough hooligan. He was dressed neatly but the scar across his cheek only serve as contrast to his get up. He also has a dark bluish hair and same deep dark irises than only strengthen Ellis¡¯ guess for this siblings to be twins. ¡°Thanks buddy!¡± the young lad is the first to strike a conversation. ¡°No problem.¡± Ellis said as he prepares to leave the scene and continue on his way. ¡°Wait!¡± this time the young lady interrupted and hastily got up. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Ellis¡­¡± Ellis wanted to say his last name but stopped. He knows that their family reputation is not the greatest. Sometimes, the mistake of the ancestor would also be the burden of the descendants. ¡°Ellis? Which clan are you from?¡± This time the young lad stood up and walked towards Ellis. ¡°Like the idea of traveling together?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know you guys and yet you want to travel with me.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ silly me. The name¡¯s Jake, that ugly girl is called Kyle¡± Jake made a disgusted face as he pointed out his sister Kyle. ¡°You dumb monkey is the only one that can say that I am ugly.¡± Kyle snorted and looked back to Ellis. ¡°Would you mind if we tag along?¡± ¡°Up to you.¡± Ellis did not say anything else and just starts to head north once again. The twins followed him at his side as they advance. Not long after, they finally see a small shrine which looks so ancient. The bricks were all covered with black soot. The walls of the shrine has countless hand prints as if the place gathered so much prints from different people that once also participated in this test. Ellis wondered if some of these hand prints across the walls are from a famous person. He can see how long the shrine withstood with such ancient air it exudes. ¡°I wonder if some great people¡¯s hand prints are there¡­¡± Jake said as he looks towards the many handprints. ¡°It will be a good thing to boast if I actually stamp the same place they did¡­ I can proudly say that I stomped a great figure.¡± ¡°As always, you are an idiot.¡± The siblings started to quarrel not minding the many crystal chess pieces placed on some places. Ellis did not pay attention to the sibling and walked towards one of the crystal chess pieces. He looked at some and he decided to take one crystal pawn to himself. The twins saw his action and also hurriedly went forward to take one piece. ¡°Well¡­ I guess we just have to cross the rest of the distance and bring these relics back¡­¡± Jake is actually such a blabber mouth now that Ellis stayed with the twins for some time while Kyle is a bit of mean kind of a lady towards her brother. ¡°Do you always talk like this?¡± Ellis really wonders if they are actually siblings. He thought that siblings tend to be more intimate and not like a quarrelling pair. ¡°Like what?¡± the both of them said at the same time which only made Ellis face palm. ¡°Never mind.¡± Ellis said as he placed the crystal pawn inside his small bag. ¡°To the other side then!¡± Jake said in an excited way. ¡°This is why I am the intelligent one and you are the monkey.¡± Kyle said which only made Ellis sigh once again. ¡°Look around you monkey. You see these pieces? There are a lot of them left but how many participants are there?¡± ¡°A lot?¡± ¡°And? Go on.¡± Kyle nodded intending Jake to continue. ¡°Go on what?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ You monkey.¡± Kyle shook her head. ¡°We can take extras just to be safer. Who knows if there will be a time where we will need an extra relic?¡± Kyle said in a somewhat superior manner. ¡°As good as that plan sounds that is a death trap you know?¡± Ellis this time said before this lady actually takes one more relic. ¡°Why?¡± Jake said in confusion. He is looking between Kyle and Ellis simultaneously. ¡°Like she said, there are a lot of participants this time. You want to be hated by those that are not able to take a relic just because you happily took one more extra? Let¡¯s say there are a few hundred of us, how many relics are here in the shrine?¡± The siblings look around and saw that the number is less than a hundred. ¡°Let¡¯s say we manage to pass and those few hundred failed. How will they feel when they discovered that you kept one? Wouldn¡¯t they think that if only you did not take one, they might be able to also succeed. How will they feel, I guess you can also realize.¡± Kyle and Jake shuddered at the same time as they picture out what will be the result. They will really get lots of animosity in exchange for a possible useless relic. The two of them hastily reigned themselves and got away from the relics. ¡°And here you are coming up with bad plans once again.¡± Jake said with an accusing tone. ¡°This is why I don¡¯t trust your plans. Look what we got into when you said take the shortcut and we met a bunch of Ursa which we nearly died by the way.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You are just imagining things! We were just unlucky at that time!¡± Kyle defended but her face reddens for a bit due to embarrassment. Ellis looks at the both of them with a weird gaze. There are only a few kids around his age in Lutton town and those kids don¡¯t know the meaning of easy going. Those kids also dive towards the maze ruins in hope to get fortune or earn more crystal. The scene in front of him is a first for him and he doesn¡¯t know what to feel. He wondered if this is how the people that live in the walls of Vale kingdom are like. Somehow, his lips loosened up and he thought that this kind of life doesn¡¯t seem too bad. Though he will never say in front of other people. He just turned his back and started to walk towards the designated area. The twins noticed it and also started to walk with Ellis leading the way. ¡°You don¡¯t have a partner right?¡± Kyle said when she caught up to the side of Ellis. Ellis looks at her and nods without saying a word. Jake also caught up and he looks quizzically at Ellis. Jake wanted to ask the same question actually but feels awkward himself. ¡°What do you plan when you arrive at the end of the cliff? Will the professors deem you pass if you don¡¯t have a pair?¡± Jake asked. ¡°There is no such rule saying I need a pair. It said one needs a relic to pass.¡± Ellis said casually. ¡°You¡¯re not fond of partners huh¡­¡± Kyle said in conclusion. Ellis ignored her and continued to walk towards the cliff of the north. They encountered some Grims along the way but the twins quickly made a quick work out of them. The twins are both using twin swords but one sword is always shorter than the other. It looks weird if Ellis was asked but he doesn¡¯t have any comment when he saw how the twins perform with these swords. While walking, they suddenly heard the sound of clashing weapons against each other. They heard sounds of battles along the way but the clashing of weapon to weapon is the first for the three. They curiously walk towards where the sounds are coming from and see two people going at it. Ellis tried to be silent with his approach but Jake just has to trip and alert the two people battling. Ellis nearly cursed out loud but decided to see what is happening. Ellis saw a man and a red-haired girl standing still while looking at each other with animosity burning in each other¡¯s eye. A man with silvery hair is holding a whip with serrated edges like a saw. The other party is a girl holding a simple and unadorned staff painted in yellow. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± The silver haired boy shouted without taking his eyes off the girl in front of him. Of course Ellis will not answer back. He just remained silent and let things go on their way. He is not planning on interfering or do something at all. He just wanted to see but who would have expected that Jake will blatantly alert the opposite party just like that? ¡°Now you have the luxury of taking half of your attention huh? Stop looking down at me!¡± The girl once again charged towards the silver haired boy and once again the battle started. The girl swung her staff horizontally but was parried by the sword of the opposite party. The red-head girl tried to use her staff as a pole and performed a kick but the guy stepped back and answered with a straight thrust of his whip which straigthened up suddenly. The girl¡¯s reflexes are actually really good as she tilted her head just a little bit and successfully evades the attack. With the small space the girl has, she still attempted to rotate herself to throw a round house kick. This time, the silver haired boy does not have any space to perform another block. He has too little space to block so he just gritted his teeth and took the blow as a man. Before he flew though, he still managed to swipe his sword and successfully hit the cheek of the girl leaving a slim line of red across. Once again, the two of them were separated with space and the girl lifted her hands to feel her cheeks. When she saw the blood on her hands, her body shivered a bit. ¡°Well, he is ruthless enough I guess.¡± Jake said with a grimace. ¡°He will never be popular with women.¡± Kyle said in a low voice as she performed some weird actions with her hands while mumbling incoherent words. ¡°First you hurt my brother that made him not able to participate in this test and now you actually dared to make a maiden¡¯s face bleed. You are just one hell of a scum.¡± The girl said in a chilly tone and slammed her staff towards the ground. She repeated it five times which looks like she was performing some sort of ritual. Suddenly, electricity started to crackle along the staff and a blue lightning started to rotate beside the girl. Then a small crown made out of lightning appeared on her head. One of her eyes started to dim which seem to be that of blind person''s eye. Ellis thought the transformation was done until a scaly tail popped out of her behind. It was slim and a metal arrow which colored green adorned the tip of the tail. Ellis looks at this in shock and awe. Who could have thought that the girl in front of her is a Faunus with a semblance related to lightning? At this point, the air started to shiver as the girl started to walk towards the silver haired boy. The boy in turn grimaced with an ugly face. ¡°You know it was his fault. Why are you pestering me during this time? We are still trying to pass the test! Why can¡¯t you realize that?¡± he said indignantly. ¡°Test?¡± The girl tilted her head in return. ¡°What test is more important than the future of my brother?¡± Suddenly, the ground around the girl exploded and the girl appeared right in front of the boy with a raised staff ready to smash the boy into a pulp. Fortunately, the boy already saw a similar transformation and leapt back hastily managing to avoid the strike. The ground he was a second ago turned into a wide horizontal whole like a water canal. The girl slowly rose and looked at him with anger. ¡°Come take me on you pussy. Is that all the Schnee family amount to?¡± The girl taunted while raising her middle finger. ¡°What can you expect from barbarians?¡± He shook his head and small blue formations started to rotate around him. Swords started to appear from those formations and remained suspended in the air. Suddenly, humanoid figures of a knight started to grab the swords and leapt out of the formation. They stood like a wall in front of the silver haired kid. ¡°Don¡¯t blame be being impolite then.¡± At this point, Ellis wanted to leave. He can see that the both of these warriors have a grudge to settle and it is not right to take sides especially if he is just a stranger. The twins though are not having the same thought at him as they already took out their weapons ready to charge at any moment. ¡°What a total dick!¡± Kyle cursed and stood up from her hiding place. ¡°What an unreasonable woman!¡± Jake said at the same time. The twins look at each other shocked. The two of them actually thought that the both of them will side into one side but it did not happen as Jake thinks that the girl is unreasonable and does not know how to read the other¡¯s dilemma. Kyle on the other hand thinks that the boy actually deserves death as he hurt a maiden¡¯s face. Even if she does not know what the root of this is, the fact that the boy left a red line across a maiden¡¯s cheek was unforgivable. Now the twins are once again starting to argue and quarrel at the side. ¡°What kind of situation is this?¡± Ellis asked to no one actually. He just finds the situation confusing. At first he just thought that the two warriors just need to settle their own grudge and he can just leave them to whatever happen to the both of them. He can¡¯t be thinking of intruding in this kind of affair. Who would expect that the twins will actually want to meddle and actually pull out their swords at this time. Ellis doesn¡¯t know what is happening anymore and left the four of them to their fates. Ellis left the scene without the four people noticing but the four of them are actually inside a weird atmosphere. Jake and Kyle are both baring their fangs at each other while the original combatants are also confused on what is happening. Two people with almost the same appearance appeared but then started to argue with each other who is dumb and who is hateful. ¡°You brainless monkey! I curse you to never find a girl that will love you unless it is a grandma!¡± Kyle shouted as she tried to punch Jake on the face. ¡°You ugly duckling! This is why women are mean animals! You just insist your own ideas without minding others! Totally unreasonable!¡± Jake responded as he dodged the strike from his sister and step back. Even if they are quarrelling he can¡¯t possible hit his sister right? He can only take the blows passively and evade. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± The silver-haired boy actually took his sights off the red-haired girl which was also stunned with what is happening. When the four of them are about to fight again, a broadcast across the entire forest sounded. ¡°Attention! Only ten more relics are not taken. Those who don¡¯t have a relic yet still have a chance. Ten more pair is needed before the test officially end. Good luck to everybody!¡± After the broadcast, the silver-haired boy actually ran away towards the north side where the intended place for redemption of relics is. He is not having any nonsensical fights with the red-haired girl. Besides, he knows that the girl has no relic and if he just handed over his relic, he can pass and leave the girl and won¡¯t be seeing her anytime soon. With this reason, he dashed madly like his life depends on it. He was travelling as fast as the wind as formations started to appear beneath his feet as he travel which boost his speed faster. The red-haired girl also noticed this and she also madly rushed after the silver-haired boy. Every step she takes makes the ground explode as too much strength is being transferred towards the ground as she moves forward. She was shouting angrily as she smashes tree after tree that blocks her way. Jake and Kyle also tarried and they looked at each other strangely. ¡°Say, if people ganged up against us and we lost our relic, I am sure that grandfather will not make us feel better.¡± The two of them nodded and started to rush towards the cliff in a rush. After a few moments, shadows started to appear and noticed their tracks and angrily shouted then followed after the earlier people on the site. As more time passes, more and more shadows started to appear and chased after the four people earlier. For them, all that matters is that they get a relic and pass. Whoever has those relics does not matter as long as they get accepted in Beacon Academy. The end of the test is nearing. Chapter 5: Entrance exam part 3 Chapter 5: Entrance Exam End Ellis not bothering with the twins advanced without looking back. They were not friends anyway and they can do whatever they want and he will not feel anything about it. Honestly, he felt a bit of lonely now since it is nice to travel with somebody. It¡¯s just too bad that the twins have too much energy to spend on useless things. As he continues to advance, he noticed the red streak traveling almost at the same pace as him. It was faster than him actually but not too much so he can keep up with it. Rose petals scatter everywhere it traveled and he knows who the one is causing such bizarre phenomena. He sighed as he asks himself why it has to be her. He told himself many times after their first encounter to make sure to stay away from popular people and just quietly amass strength and go home after. He can only resign to his fate as the two of them travel straight towards the designated location. After traveling for some time, he caught the presence of some people trying to catch up. They are fast and they have considerable numbers. The announcement earlier might have caused this chase down when he think about it. He can only guess that these people does not have a relic for them to pass and hoping to snatch from those that are not yet able to submit theirs by cutting them off along the way. Ellis actually hopes to compare his skills against other people outside from Lutton town. He also longs to prove himself and actually he only traveled the whole journey uneventfully. Aside from meeting the twins and the crazy duo battling without minding the examination, he has not even made a move. He deliberately slowed down his speed and let the pursuers catch up to him. After a few more seconds, the first pursuer finally caught up to him and without any words, the pursuer started shooting to hinder his path. Ellis looked back and saw the appearance of his pursuer. It was a slim male with black hair with contrasting green eyes. It was a weird combination but an interesting one nonetheless. Ellis dodged left and right but his speed only slowed down more as more time pass. The pursuer is equipped with two hand guns with such explosive ammunition which only adds to the difficulty in dodging as the bullets were not made to penetrate but for mini explosions. Ellis found in interesting because no one in Lutton town uses guns. In Lutton town, there are only bizarre looking weapons; it is refreshing to see standard type weapons from the people of Kingdom of Vale. As time went on, more pursuers started to catch up and their numbers are building quite fast. Ellis wonders if he can really stand up his grounds and if his skills are really up to standard compared to other people. He stopped his advance and skid before completely stopping. After a few more moments, six people surrounded him with weapons in front. ¡°Give us the relic!¡± A man which seems to be the leader of this pack said. Ellis stayed quiet even with the angry roars from the other people surrounding him. He finds it funny when people battle with words too when they will be crossing swords in the end. He threw the cube on the ground and it started to morph into oversized sword with no handle. The people looking at this scene stared at the scene with amazement. They are people that were educated from young and they thought they saw all kinds of weapon which can be infused with aura and empower with dust but they never saw such barbaric weapon from a tiny cube. Their brain started to rotate on what the cube is and they all arrived on one conclusion. Artifact! Lost Artifact! They recognized it after a few moments of thinking. Their weapons can also transform but not to the point of breaking the laws of physics. Only the artifacts of the old can do so and they are all sought by every clan and every kingdom. They looked into Ellis to size him up again and honestly they are disappointed. A male that clearly looks like a country bumpkin is holding such precious artifact. They are also from prestigious academies and well off family and clans but they can only hold standard equipment but this country bumpkin actually holds an artifact. Jealousy and envy started to crept into their hearts and somehow anger started to rise from it. In their minds, they are more superior to this kid and they deserve it more than him to wield such artifact. As jealousy and envy started to corrode their thinking, the sword once again shocked them as it floated from the ground. They looked at Ellis in horror after seeing the scene. They have huge collection of semblance and their tiers learned from the academies they went in the past. All of them can see that the semblance of the kid standing on the center will be the minimum of Telekinesis. The tier of Telekinesis ranges from rank B to rank A. It is one of the semblances which have many uses depending on situation. They are not yet sure of what the semblance of the kid is but they are showing more vigilance with the Ellis now. ¡°Hand over the relic and the artifact kid and we will be on our own ways!¡± The leader of this group said once again as he look at the artifact with excitement. Ellis looks at him like he is an idiot. He waved his hand and the sword made a sweeping motion. The people, even though they are having bad intention and despise Ellis actually still keep their guards all the time. It is the basic of the basic to not lower the ground when facing an opponent. They scattered like flies and evaded the strike and started to counter attack. Most of them are equipped with guns varying from pistol to some auto-rifles. The leader is the only one different as he is wielding a big sword which exudes flame aura but much smaller compared to the sword Ellis has. Ellis shielded himself with the help of the sword surrounding him and blocking the bullets from many angles. The attackers are actually surprised to see how flexible the artifact is despite its huge size. It only fueled their desire to possess the artifact more and they started to attack more aggressively. Ellis is actually just sizing them up at this point. Humans fight differently compared to the Grims. He has only little experience battling with fellow humans and they are only sparring at best. The citizens of Lutton have the maze ruins that always keep them at their toes and they have no time to fight among themselves. If they let up just a little bit, their town might get overrun instantly. Because of that, the people of Lutton have good relationship towards each other aside from the newcomers and some people who does not like interacting with people. Ellis watches them as they perform. He is trying to see what level they are compared to the people of Lutton town. After a few moments of dodges and blocking, he was actually disappointed. The attackers have good reflexes and good grasp with their weapons but they are actually too cowardly to take some risks and change the rhythm of the battle. They just continue to shoot from a safe distance trying to wear him down. They are hoping to empty the Aura of Ellis by harassment but they did not know that Ellis consumed countless crystals back in the ruins to survive. The sheer amount of Aura Ellis has is monstrous already. Paired with his rich battle experience, the fight seem like a tease to him. After a while of expecting something new will happen, Ellis finally had enough and waved his hand and the sword cut through the surrounding trees. He leapt towards one of the attackers which shielded his face from the fragment of broken trees. When he looks at the advancing Ellis towards his direction, he frantically shoots to deter Ellis attempt. Sadly for him, the sword in front of Ellis faithfully blocked all of his shots. When the distance is enough for Ellis, he plans to eliminate one but the others also recovered and frantically shoot towards him. Ellis has no choice but to dodge and place the sword in his front towards the sidelines to stop the assault of other people.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Even though he is forced to guard, Ellis is not as simple as attack and block kind of warrior. He dives the ruins many times and almost reached the deepest part of it and he has learned some tricks on fighting a crowd. He extended his arms and made a crushing motion towards the one which is frantically trying to create some distance from him. Sad for him, Ellis is not having any more scruples with them. Suddenly, the man trying to flee felt his body being held by something. He felt like a huge palm is holding him firmly. He looks towards Ellis in horror as he felt the hold in him started to tighten more until he can¡¯t breathe anymore. He felt his head spinning and his sides started to creak as if his bones are starting to break. He can only look at Ellis in hopes of him showing some mercy towards him as he can¡¯t even open his mouth to speak. Before he lost consciousness, he saw something hovering above Ellis and he can only look in horror. If he knew that Ellis is one of those people then he will have never messed with Ellis. With those last thoughts, he lost consciousness and fell towards the ground motionless. Ellis wanted to eliminate one of the attackers but he also knows how to hold back. He did not want to shed the blood of fellow humans especially since this is just a test. It is not worth the trouble of him crippling someone for life just for an entry to an academy. He only maintained the grip until the man lost his consciousness and left him on the ground right after. He leapt from his position as he saw the leader of the group fall down from above while bringing the huge sword down towards his body. The ground where he is a few seconds ago exploded and dust started to mix in the air making the visibility low. Ellis used this chance to gain some breathing room and regain some control over the battle. In a fight, it is important to grasp the control or maybe just gain some of it so that one will not be too passive and lose in the end. Ellis started to quickly go around and look for this second victim. The oversize sword hovering in his head in also dutifully complying by not knocking on the trees around him and so he can move more quietly. Ellis saw a frantic girl equipped with a small dagger and a pistol on her hands. She was looking all around him and was clearly on panic. She has not thought of the current situation being like this. It was six versus one but they are clearly being pushed back slowly. She also saw the bizarre event earlier where his comrade fell due to an unknown power them the one they are besieging. She has not expected the bumpkin to be formidable to this degree. As she was frantically scanning his surroundings, a figure leapt out from her side and she hastily look towards the direction just to see a mismatched pair of eyes. One of the irises of the man is actually red as if it was bleeding and the other side is golden yellow. She can¡¯t help but fear when she sees this. She already saw the man earlier and he has normal pair of brown eyes earlier. When one is under unknown situation, people tend to panic and blank out just like this. The girl hopelessly looks as the huge surface of the sword smashed towards her stomach knocking out the air out of her. She lay on the ground like a gold fish out of the water trying to breathe but it was useless. She felt her surrounding spin and she lost consciousness soon. Ellis looked at her and can only offer a silent apology. They are on opposite sides and he prefers not to do anything with others, sadly the situation does not allow for him to do nothing. If he wants to be admitted to beacon academy, he needs to force his way in and show some skills. After saying a silent apology in his head, he left the scene and blended with the surroundings. When the dust finally settled down, the attackers are in shock when they see their comrade lying down on the ground unconscious. The events happening in front of them are starting to spin out of their control. Their opponent they are after is clearly well adapted in fighting crowds with how he moves. They also saw how their opponent keeps his form hidden behind the huge sword most of the time unless he will attack. They all noted this but they can¡¯t do something about it and force the enemy to show some weakness which they can capitalize. The battle seems like they are being tied into strings and they can¡¯t follow up on their own. ¡°Don¡¯t spread out and keep a close formation!¡± The man angrily shouted and the other three people left on their group started to group up. ¡°What do we do Ben? This bumpkin is too strong!¡± the last female of their group which holds an auto-rifle on her hands earlier is now holding the second form of it as a straight katana form. The sharp side of the blade is gleaming with a scary luster which seems to reflect the light. ¡°Keep calm! He is alone and we can do this! We need that relic to pass and we can¡¯t afford to fail! I don¡¯t want to shame my family with this failure!¡± the leader named Ben said as he scans his surroundings for any sign of their enemy. The other three also realized their situation. If they don¡¯t get a relic, they will be going home with shame painted on their back. They still need two more relics for their three pairs to pass. They are already running out of time but they can only wait for their target to make a move. They warily look around waiting for something to happen but after a few moments, they felt something is wrong. They are supposed to be the attacker and aggressor. They are the hunter and not the hunted! They realized this and someone their face changed. They can¡¯t feel the presence of their opponent which can only mean two things. Either their opponent is too good in hiding his presence of he already left. ¡°He would have not escaped right?¡± One of the member holding twin pistols said doubtfully. ¡°A coward is the only one who will escape!¡± Ben shouted towards the surrounding trying to rile up their opponent. Sad for them, there is no response from their opponent. They can only fell down in disappointment as they realize that their opponent already left the scene. The girl started tearing up as the pressure started to press down on their body. They traveled far from their homes just to attend the academy in hopes for a better future. They went to many schools for huntsmen and huntresses just to be ready for this day and yet they are clearly failing. If they don¡¯t find three relics, then they will be going home in shame and they can¡¯t possibly bear it. They felt that their world will crumble if they fail in this test. They went towards their fallen comrades and started to see if they are ok. Fortunately, their opponent is not ruthless enough to incapacitate them for the whole duration of the test or for life. They nursed their fallen comrades until they finally woke up after a few minutes. They offered water and laid them down while two of them left to scout for targets they can take. ¡°Are you ok? What happened back there?¡± Ben asked the guy that first fell during the battle. ¡°It is a rank S¡­ it is not telekinesis¡­ We are fools for clashing with that fellow.¡± The man said with cold sweats running down his face. ¡°What do you mean? He clearly makes the sword float.¡± Ben said trying to get more information. ¡°It is not him making the sword float.¡± The guy shook his head. ¡°What?¡± Ben was shocked and his brain started to rotate once again. ¡°Avatar?¡± The guy nodded in response and Ben can¡¯t help but fall down in his butt flat on the ground. His knees started to shake in fear and gratitude at the same time. Avatar type semblance is a unique and enigmatic presence in the world of Sielaria. They are so rare that one is not normally aware that they exist. Their existence¡¯s records are so few and only rumors and some random legend support their presence. Some people consider them as just myth and random talks of drunkards but Ben knows that they exist. They are just so rare that people don¡¯t meet one in their lifetime. One thing for sure is that they are either the highest tier warriors or the most useless ones. Clearly the one they fought with falls into the first class. ¡°We were lucky he was not too ruthless to cripple us.¡± Ben said in fear. ¡°What were we thinking?¡± The other girl on their group which lost consciousness started to wake up and cough a bit. She greedily took air into her system before calming down. She can¡¯t help but shiver in fear as she remembered the scene before she lost consciousness. She remembered the mismatched pair of colors staring at her on the last moments. ¡°What a bunch of weaklings¡­¡± They heard a girl¡¯s voice suddenly. Ben looked up and saw a lady in black outfit with a red scythe staring back at him. Then the surroundings suddenly went dark. A gush of wind descended upon them before Ben started to fill dizzy and his body hurting all over. Emerald Rose looks at the fallen people below him unemotionally. She watched the battle between that boy and with these guys. At first, she is not expecting much but when the battle unfolded and she saw the artifact, she stayed to watch. It was six versus one but the result is unexpected. The disadvantageous side managed to knock out two people and leave the scene without scratch. She saw how the guy fights and she can¡¯t help but be mesmerized. It is not just the raw power he has shown but the movements and the planning he has when facing crowd of opponents is flawless. She can¡¯t help but somehow admire him and wanted to test herself against this random bumpkin she met earlier. ¡°Weaklings have no right to be on the spotlight. Go back in shame and train another 10 years.¡± She left the said with those words of contempt. Chapter 6: Entrance Exam End Chapter 6 Emerald Rose was born with everything on her grasps. She has all the things she wants and does anything she likes. Basically, she was born with a golden spoon on her mouth. Even with the things she owns, she is never happy with her life though. Her image, her semblance and even her weapon was made to look exactly the same of their most famous hero of the clan, Ruby Rose. When she was born, the entire Rose family was ecstatic due to her arrival. It was the new century and her arrival only signifies a new chance and beginning for the family. As she grows older, people started to notice something really amazing about her. Her eyes are exactly the same as Ruby Rose. The same silver eyes started to proudly show its glory towards other members of the family. It was said to be a great weapon towards the Grims which only intensified the frantic attention she is getting. At first, she was happy and very grateful towards her family members but as time goes on and she started to discover her semblance, she can¡¯t help but feel like something is wrong. All the attention and affection showered towards her started to feel disgusting for her. For her, all those attention seems to be directed towards someone else and she was no one but an image of one of their greatest ancestor. She started to hate all the attention and hated all those people surrounding her. Soon, she felt like she is not living her life and someone else is living for her. People treated her like the ancestor because of how much she resembles her. Her despair only strengthens when they made a scythe with the image of Crescent Rose in mind for her weapon. At that point, she knew that she will never truly exist as Emerald Rose but just a copy of Ruby Rose. She just started to accept things and trained really hard to match those expectations reflected on her father and mother¡¯s eyes. She grew stronger and stronger as she gets older and finally left other kids of her age behind in terms of skills and ability. Jealousy started to seep into the heart of those kids due to the constant comparison of their parents towards Emerald. The kids started to isolate her more and very soon after, Emerald found herself with only a scythe in hand with no one else. When the time that she graduated her middle school, she felt more isolated from the world. No one will take a chance of conversation with her due to her fame and name. No one dares to even take a seat together with her which only made her sadder as time went on. She took the first and topped every record there is but there is nothing that made her happy. All she has is power and skills with a life which she feels that is not even her own. When she took the entrance exam for the Beacon academy, many people¡¯s eyes were focused on her. The teachers as well as the headmistress paid special attention towards her and made sure that her treatment will be the best there is. When she arrived at her room, it was spacious and very well decorated with all things a lady can ever ask for. Sadly, the only thing that she really wants is not given in this time too. She only longs for someone, to share her existence even for a brief moment. The accident that happened back then at the cafeteria is such a shock towards her. At first, she wanted to really talk and do change things in this academy life. She meant to say new and good things but all her mouth uttered are condensing and ridiculing words. She really regretted it and threw her food like a brat due to her disappointment and people only perceive it as her being angry for being disturbed. She really wanted to cry at that point but she can¡¯t do that and fail her family with just little things. She decided that she will just fulfill everybody¡¯s wish and pick up little happiness along with it when it presents itself. Aside from that, she knows that she has major issues about weak people. She hates weak people right and straight when she first learned about how the world works. Weak people can only cling to stronger ones to take on their problems. They back stab those that helped them due to jealousy which they don¡¯t even have the qualification to envy. If they just stop and try harder, for her, they can actually change their status and yet they wallow in weakness and continued to pull those that wanted to advance. To her, being weak is a mistake. Because of that, she even eliminated the straggles among the examinees. She stayed just to eliminate those which do not even have the qualification to become huntsman and huntresses. The fight between the strange boy and the six people actually made her more interested with the guy who tries to be low-key, yet he was standing out too much. It is funny for her but she can only have that shallow happiness in life and she is willing to take it in everyday she can. Emerald left the scene after knocking up the four people. She thinks that these people do not deserve a chance for greatness at all. It was six versus one and they pitifully failed. Their presence will only hinder those qualified people in the academy. For her, these people will only stimulate the appearance of Grims with their constant failure which will bring more negative emotions in their heart and finally turn rouge. Rouges are hunters and huntresses which do not use their talents and ability to defend humanity but craves for more power whatever the cost. Those are the most dangerous people out there compared to the naturally hostile Grims which you can see at first glance. These backstabbing people, Emerald hates them the most. She starts to travel again but not to the direction where the goal is. She wants to hunt some more trash before finally going through the examination. This way, she can show off her skills and earn reputation for the Rose family while eliminating those weaklings. She started to watch the battles between fellow participants from the sidelines. Sometimes, some people will succeed in stealing the relic from the original holders of them but some also failed and they were mercilessly squashed by Emerald after when they started to turn their sights to other people. The hunt did not last for long as the announcement saying that there are only three more Relics inside the forest that is not yet submitted. Emerald walked the forest broadly and unhurriedly. She wants to invite people to clash and fight with her to prove their worth. She does not mind giving another relic for those that will dare to challenge her. Even if they lose, at least for her, they showed courage and effort to change their fate. Sadly, once again she was left disappointed as none dared to block her path and people only watched on the sides as she advances leisurely towards the goal. People thought that since it was Emerald Rose, no one will dare to raise a hand towards her. If there really is a fool that will dare, then he/she will be having bad blood with the Rose clan. Besides, there will be two more Relics that need to pass through the area to get towards the goal. They thought that they will just let emerald pass and ambush the remaining two pairs that holds the relics. Emerald stepped into the platform where a teacher is sitting with a table in front of him. Emerald handed a crystal pawn towards the teacher without saying anything. The teacher accepted it and wrote something on his tablet. Then he nodded to Emerald like saying that it was done. When she was about to step down on the stage, the headmistress suddenly called her out. ¡°Miss Rose, please wait a moment.¡± The headmistress stood from her seat. Emerald looked at her without saying anything and no emotion shown in her face. ¡°First of all, you still don¡¯t have a partner and I can¡¯t even pair you up with anyone since you made sure to not make any eye contact toward other participants without a pair yet.¡± The headmistress is having a teasing smile on her face as she leans her face closer towards Emerald¡¯s face. ¡°You have the same silver eyes.¡± Emerald¡¯s face instantly changed and a fire of fury ignited in her eyes. She has heard that phrase so many times and every time, it riles her up to no end. She was sick of being constantly compared to someone which existed more than a few hundred years already. Just when she was about to explode, the headmistress laughed out loud. ¡°The rumors are true! She really has other expression when you say those lines!¡± The headmistress is laughing while slapping the shoulder of the man who announced the start of the exams. ¡°Look Clyde! She looks feisty isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°Reena¡­ stop these actions right now! Your image!¡± Clyde said as he tried to stop the childish acts of the headmistress. ¡°But it¡¯s amazing you know? I can control her expression just like that! So easy!¡± ¡°That easy is starting to unbound her scythe! Student please calm down!¡± Clyde said as he tried to drag the headmistress away. ¡°Wai wa wait!¡± Reena said hurriedly as Clyde starts to drag her. ¡°Please put out the two relics for others to take!¡± When those people that have no Relics heard what the Headmistress said, all of their vision gathered at the body of Emerald. They are hoping to get the last two relics whatever it takes but who would have thought that it will be carried by Emerald already in the platform? Various expressions started to emerge from these people. Some people started to flare up due to anger because they think that Emerald is such a greedy fellow. It is enough to get one and pass but taking another is clearly provoking the popular anger. Some people started to regain some hope as they already gave up to this test. With how many people are waiting on the spot, they don¡¯t even have the chance to struggle for the last set of relics.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Amidst of all various gazes concentrating on her, Emerald is still angry about the lines of the headmistress. She took out two Relics from the pocket attached to her belt and showed to the public. The people gasped in both amazement and anger. Those that passed also thought of taking one more relic for safety measures but realized the consequence of it. They are amazed on how gutsy this lady is. Those people with angry looks clearly are infuriated with Emerald¡¯s actions. They thought that if only Emerald did not take those relics, it could have fallen on their hands and they are now chilling with those that already passed the exam. When everybody is intently looking towards those relics, Emerald threw it on the air suddenly. People thought that she is giving it away to whoever is lucky to pick them and make it towards the platform but suddenly, Emerald unbound her weapon from its gun shape and morph it to a scythe and slashed the relics. In everyone¡¯s horror, the relics not only split in two but started to disintegrate. Everyone was shocked and actually many jaws fell down because of what they seen. The hopes of those that did not manage to take a relic disintegrated right in front of them. It was the ultimate wakeup call that they failed. In the middle of all this, Emerald left the stage and disappeared into the crowd of students that already passed the exam. Everyone split apart and let her advance without hindrance. She disappeared right after and people were left standing there dumbfounded. ¡°Hateful!!!¡± ¡°Bastard! Slut!¡± Voices started to mix and more angry shots started to emerge one after another. People that spent their time waiting towards the last stop of the exam are nearly going insane due to anger. ¡°Headmistress! She destroyed the relic! We should get another chance because she broke the rules!¡± Ellis watched all this silently. He arrived at the top of the platform by forcing his way in and sweeping anyone that blocked his path yet he watched as Emerald Rose advances leisurely without any obstacle. At first, he thought that the world is too unfair but he can¡¯t do anything about it. The next events that unfolded before him only confused him more. He can¡¯t understand the excessive behavior of Emerald Rose even how much he tried to think about the reason behind those actions. She can pass without any trouble and even no effort at all yet she did something so hateful and became public enemy number one. Ellis watched the crowd raged on and started demanding thigs. They are growing rowdier and rowdier as more seconds go. Ellis sighs and looks towards the twins beside him with amusement. The twins are frozen in the spot as they watch the scene. They nearly took one more relic and they could have been the target of all this animosity if not Ellis telling them not to. Beside the twins, two more people complete the group. A red-haired girl is holding her staff vigilantly and seems to be looking for an opening to strike while staring intently at the silver-haired guy. The silver-haired guy is having a cramped expression on his face. He would have never expected that he will be the one to bring the crazy girl and pass the test with his very help. He plans to ditch the girl since she has no relic but he forgot that their gazed locked more than one more time which actually made them a pair. The heat of their conflict made them forget this point and now he has to think of a way to live together with the crazy girl as his teammate for the next four years. Ellis laughed at this silently. It is really funny watching people with this kind of interesting predicaments. As the surroundings grew noisier, Ellis plans to leave the scene already when the headmistress once again took the limelight. Those that failed are still complaining and all when the headmistress pats the mic a few times before speaking. ¡°For those that did not have a relic, the journey is over! Please go home and good luck next year!¡± She said cheerfully only fueling the anger inside those that failed. ¡°That is unfair!¡± ¡°Headmistress please reconsider! This is such a shameful event! I will tell everyone I know if you don¡¯t revoke your decision!¡± The headmistress listened to all of them but her expression did not change for one bit. People also noted this and the teacher beside her sighed regretfully. ¡°Reena be lenient ok?¡± Clyde said out of nowhere. Ellis can¡¯t understand what he means until the air in the surrounding seem to vibrate. He felt tremendous aura being discharged towards the air which makes breathing hard. ¡°When was I not lenient?¡± Reena, the headmistress tilted her head trying to look cute. It would be perfect if only people did not start gasping for breath. ¡°See? No one died.¡± She said in a casual manner and made everyone in the surroundings; even those that passed the test consider their entry towards Beacon academy. People started to lose consciousness for some reason and soon everything went silent. Reena got off the stage as she leisurely walks back towards the direction of the Beacon Academy. When those that failed started to wake up, they can only cry on the spot due to failure. Now they need a reason to tell their respective homes why they failed the test. Some people just stared at the sky blankly and some just sighed and accepted defeat but their eyes did not get clouded by defeat but determination to try again. Ellis saw all these and made sure to remember this moment. He wants to record all those emotions being shown by people both good and bad. He doesn¡¯t know why but he just feels like remembering this moment is something worth doing. The feeling of the victor and the defeated actually differs this much. He is not that ignorant but he got to admit that he only knows so little outside from facts pertaining towards Lutton town. How people act inside the kingdoms is truly foreign for him. He looked at both at the victor and the defeated one last time before following the crowd the managed to pass the examinations. The day is quite eventful for him and thinks that these kinds of days are the days that he wants to have in his life. New things to learn, new moments to remember and new people to meet, those things might be too much but he will be greedy in asking anyways. When all the students gathered inside the hall, Ellis can more or less deduce that the number of students that actually passed numbers only around fifty. Ellis wondered why since there were lots of relics or places relics should have been when he picked one. When he looked around, people are quite skeptical about the same thing as he is and are looking around the same way. ¡°Hey¡­ since you don¡¯t have a pair what are you going to do?¡± Jake, once again is the guy who just loves to strike up conversations. Ellis looked at him for a brief moment before turning back his gaze towards the stage. Jake wanted to say something more but the crowd started to quiet down and Jake was forced to follow them. Ellis saw the headmistress Reena once again with a playful smile along with two teachers on both of her side. Reena looked around before her gaze settled on some students and winked at them playfully. The kids, including Ellis blushed on how random the headmistress can act. ¡°So I noticed that most of you prefer to be lone wolves.¡± She said in a cheerful tone but anyone can see that she was quite displeased about it. ¡°I specially made the rule but some people just traveled straight without looking for a pair or avoid others like some disease. But¡­ I will not criticize you at this point since you passed fair and square.¡± Ellis breathes a sigh of relief when he heard what the headmistress said but before he finishes his moment, the headmistress snorted cheekily at the microphone. ¡°Too bad for you I will still pair you up whether you like it or not¡­ so here is what we will do¡­¡± The grin plastered on the headmistress¡¯ face is quite irritating at this point for Ellis. ¡°People who handed the same type of Relics will be paired. Those that obtained relics but chose to be alone will be paired with someone with the same colored Relic. To complete the group of four, I especially made four of every relic since I know a bunch of you will be too cheeky and think they can tackle everything alone. I will tell you now and you brats will only suffer defeats which you might not be able to make up for.¡± Reena snorted in a disdaining way while looking at those students that handed relics without pair. ¡°I am saving your asses so be sure to send me dozens of roses when you graduate. With all of that, let¡¯s announce the naughty pairs!¡± Clyde took the microphone and started to call the names and people started to go up to the stage one by one after being called. People with same relics were paired and those that took a pair obtained two more people completing their group of four. Time went on and Ellis name was finally called. ¡°Ellis Moon¡­¡± Clyde looked around when he read the name. ¡°Come up buddy.¡± The air seems strange as people started to murmur some things. ¡°Is it the traitor Moon Clan? They are still around?¡± ¡°No way, that was three hundred years ago¡­ maybe just an unlucky guy with the same surname.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the guy? Is he from that cowardly clan?¡± People are whispering here and there but Ellis confidently walked towards the stage. Those kids in front of him made way for him without causing trouble but their silent snickers actually feels offensive and quite irritating for Ellis. He prepared himself for this event but it still does not make the matter easier. When he is finally standing on the stage, people only whispered more and more. Ellis tried to block them out as much as he can but it was actually hard surprisingly. He has some resentment towards the ancestors of the Moon clan but in the end, they are his family so it actually hurts when people slander them like this. Clyde looks at this and he knows that he made a mistake. He should have been more professional but he has a bit of history with the Moon clan. He can¡¯t help it but now he is feeling quite a bit guilty since he knows that the kid will be isolated mostly because of his mistake. He started to think of a way to diffuse the current situation and he finally found something. He hastily coughed to take back the attention towards him and to continue announcing names. ¡°Emerald Rose, please come up on stage.¡± This time the air seems frozen as the people suddenly fell silent. They all remembered how gutsy this slim and doll looking lady of the Rose clan. They saw her actions through some monitors that the teachers use as the way to watch the events happening inside the forest. They saw how Emerald crushed people like crushing bugs and they are quite apprehensive of her more than the infamous Moon clan. Clyde actually thought that he salvaged the situation but he only made it worse. Two of the most infamous person suddenly becomes a pair. He is now having headaches with how unlucky their stars are with how they became a pair through this way. One person from an exiled clan and one from a famous and well-respected clan is suddenly a pair. He doesn¡¯t know what will become of their futures but he can only resign to what actually happened. ¡°You two will be a pair for the next four years so I hope you two lone wolves will try to at least get along with each other.¡± Clyde can¡¯t help but worry. He can see that Ellis tries to be low-key and Emerald on the other hand is too anti-social with how she acts. ¡°The last members of your groups are also a pair which took a crystal pawn.¡± Clyde said and looks towards the crowd once again. ¡°Sarah Lie, Robert Brooks. The four of you will be team SEER. Lead by, Sarah Lie.¡± Clyde said with more enthusiasm than normal. Inside his head, he wishes all the luck that Sarah Lie will be able to handle two trouble makers. Reena looked at all of this and she can¡¯t hide the excitement hidden in her eyes. She was the one who adamantly took measures for the King to pardon the crimes of the Moon Clan or family now. She also took the shield artifact and took all the responsibility in handling matters concerning the problematic Moon Clan. She knows the whole truth behind the exile of Moon clan and it is not just as simple as the Moon clan abandoning humanity during the most crucial times. There are always two sides of the coin and she just happens to know of it. ¡°Once again, it is turning to be an interesting year.¡± Chapter 7: Team SEER Chapter 7 Team SEER When Clyde finally finished the announcement of teams, he gave out the room numbers for every team. There will be no such thing as separation of males and females this time since they are now a team and they have to deal with each other every day from now on. Some, already expecting such arrangement just happily took the chance to try and improve their social skills while some of those picky and a bit temperamental have some complains but sadly fell on deaf ears. The arrangement has been there for so long and they are not the generation that will break such costume of the academy. In the end, they can only accept it and grumpily go towards their respective rooms. All in all, there are a total of twenty one teams due to some people greedily occupying a relic without a pair. The numbers of students that were accepted this year reduced for almost twenty percent. Reena was not too happy about this fact but still finds the new youngsters to be interesting so she happily made arrangements for them. As for team SEER, they are occupying room 827 of the freshmen dormitory. They are all taking in the surroundings curiously especially Ellis. He is, in a sense the true meaning of a country bumpkin. On the other hand, their leader, Sarah Lie is calmly sitting on the bed she claimed for herself. She is a slender female without much curves and one of her worries is her future. She came from a pretty good clan which also gained fame the same time as the four major clans of Vale kingdom. In history, their Lie family ancestors were orphans due to Grim attack after the bandits attacked their village. From there, the two founder of the clan met during the event. After the event, the both of them attended Beacon academy which as history told to be the golden era of Beacon academy. From there, their ancestors started to gain merits after merit following the journey of the four major clan founders. Even until the final battle, the Lie clan ancestors were there supporting the major clans on the back without any hesitation. There are more clans back then but sadly some of them already died due to passage of time. Back to the present, Sarah is looking around and sizing up her new teammates. She did not expect to be the leader of the group since she never has that experience in leading people. But, since she was selected to be the leader, she wants to be worthy of being a leader in any way she can. She pretended to cough to get the other¡¯s attention. When all three people are looking at her finally she stood up from her bed. ¡°So, since we are going to spend the next four years of our stay in this academy, I thought we should get to know each other more.¡± Robert, one of their team member snorted before started to fiddle with his phone again playing some game again. ¡°I don¡¯t take orders from those weaker than me. Don¡¯t misunderstand because we became a pair back there at the forest.¡± Sarah¡¯s face instantly turned white when she heard it. She knows she is not the best out there but she successfully managed to enter Beacon Academy. That much should be enough to speak tales about her skills yet here is one two faced bastard saying some things after they finally got out of the forest. Sarah really wants to bash his head here and then but decided to calm herself down. She is the leader of the group and it is not wise to show too much animosity right off the bat. Though she will make sure that this Robert will get what he deserves sooner than later. ¡°Sh*t-heads aside, let¡¯s continue our discussion.¡± She said as she looks towards Ellis at this time. In all three other member¡¯s she feels like she can converse with Ellis more. Even though he was the most silent one of the group, he does not make things difficult or awkward for others. She can say that he was trying to blend in the group with his own ways. With that reason, she thought that he will be the first one she will try to win over. Ellis looks to his side to see if there is another person beside him. When he sees that there is no one else, he points his finger to himself like he is double checking if he is getting this right. When Sarah nodded her head, Ellis coughed a few times to get his voice prepared. ¡°I am Ellis Moon; I just arrived in Vale yesterday. I am from Lutton town of the south borders.¡± He said as briefly as he can. ¡°Wait! The south?¡± Robert this time threw his phone to the side and sat directly beside Ellis like it is natural. Ellis can only nod because he doesn¡¯t know what this excitement all about is. He can¡¯t understand why other people feel that way when one mentions the south border. ¡°What is life at there like? Are the Grims awesome as the books say?¡± Robert is like a kid as his eyes burn with excitement. The other two people in the room also became more curious about the south at this point. All their life, they only stayed in the walls of the kingdom. Outside the walls is a foreign affair for them so far. Now that they are trying to become a Huntsmen and Huntresses, they need to know more information about the world and not just the capital. ¡°Normal I guess?¡± Ellis tries to remember something interesting but so far he can¡¯t remember except for some exiting events. ¡°Mostly normal but sometimes, fun things happen.¡± ¡°Define normal please.¡± Sarah also sat back to her bed intending to listen to the information about the world outside the walls of the kingdom. ¡°Hmmm¡­ it¡¯s just fighting Grims, gathering crystal and trying to dive deeper inside the maze ruins.¡± Ellis said nonchalantly but the faces of the other three changed at this time. They all grew inside the kingdom and all they faced so far are only weak Grims that form when too much negative energy gathers on some area. Outside from that, they never had the experience of taking out crystals from these Grims since they are too low in level. ¡°What levels are those Grims?¡± Emerald, the most anti-social of the group is surprisingly showing interest on the subject. Ellis was a bit amazed but smiled faintly. He thinks that he is doing well so far and he is not gathering animosity or any unnecessary attention so far. ¡°On good days, there will be only few level 5 Grims. On the worse days, there will be a level 7 mixed in the crowd. On the worst days, there will be one or two level 7 leading the charge towards the walls.¡± Ellis said like it was the most normal things like when one talks about weather. ¡°What?¡± all three other people¡¯s face changed after hearing his words. Ellis looks at them with a confused expression in his face. ¡°Is the days in the kingdom different? You have taller walls so I guess it will be easier right?¡± Sarah at this point discovered how broken the common sense of Ellis is. Level three Grims inside the kingdom are rare to see inside the kingdom. The army makes sure to sweep the entire kingdom of Grims every now and then. There are no special locations in the kingdom for the Grims to gather and so they can only train with older huntsmen and huntresses most of the time. Facing Grims like the ones Ellis told, they are not confident with themselves now. ¡°What the heck are you saying dude?¡± Robert said with a frown. ¡°What level 5 and level 7 Grims? Did you hit your head and brags too much?¡± Ellis looks at the faces of the other two people and frowned. He already expected their lives to be easier than their but he never expected it to be too much just like this. With how they look right now, he can tell that they never faced a level 5 Grim in their entire life so far. He can only sigh inside in his head. Now he is thinking if going to Beacon Academy is the right decision. He needs a way to enhance his prowess and the only thing he can think of is this famous Academy. ¡°I guess our standards in life are really far huh¡­ I don¡¯t know if I should envy your easy lives or be disappointed at this point. What will you do if one day you need to face Grims way out of your league? Will you just run and leave those that are slower than you to die?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The three grimaced when they heard Ellis. They can¡¯t help but to think, in history, even Beacon Academy fell a few times. It can¡¯t possibly be the work of some crowd of level 1 Grims or level 3 right? When they realized this, they can¡¯t help but admire this country bumpkin in their front. ¡°It is not my intention to brag but I hope this statement can open up your horizons. Since we will be a team for the next four years, I hope no one will die until we went on separate ways in the future. The situation outside the walls of Vales is becoming worse as time goes on. Why do you think I traveled far for this academy? To loaf? I came here to enhance my strength. If I don¡¯t advance then I can¡¯t dive deeper in the maze ruins.¡± Ellis said as politely as he can. The other members also realized this point. If what Ellis is saying is true, then they are falling behind. If the day really came that they will need to face Grims stronger than them then they will surely despair and run leaving behind someone weaker than them to die. Will they not be regretting that for the rest of their life then? Right now, they can feel a different pressure resting on their shoulders. They don¡¯t want to feel that regret in the future. Their safe and easy life needs to change before it becomes too late. ¡°So what is the situation back there now?¡± Emerald said as she sat on Ellis¡¯ bed just a little far from Ellis. Ellis sighed. He also hates when people needs to change their lifestyle due to Grim problems. He already saw too many people like that in the town of Lutton. Those that managed to change their ways survived for a while without the help of the older citizens but those that haughtily tried to do things on their own old ways were mercilessly crushed by the Grims. ¡°They are getting smarter and smarter every day. So far, I faced a Grim with the intelligence nearly as that of a ten year old child.¡± ¡°What? They have intelligence?¡± Robert said amazed on what new things he is hearing. ¡°Yes. The older Grims already knows that attacking us humans will not end well for them. So they hide, they grow, they learn as they observe how humans act. They pick up scraps of intelligence from how we act. It is not only our negative emotions that they carry sometimes. Sometimes, some unique Grims with intelligence are born and they grow much stronger than your common mindless Grims.¡± ¡°Then why is the army of Vale and the other kingdom not doing something about this?¡± Sarah said as she is a bit afraid of the things she is hearing. ¡°You are the people living in the Kingdom right? I am from the town of Exiled how can I know?¡± Emerald, as one from the four major clans of the Vale Kingdom felt like there is a silent responsibility now hanging on her shoulders. Even though she despised the weak that can¡¯t do something good, she is not biased to those commoner who does not have the opportunity to strengthen themselves. If the things Ellis says are actually happening outside the walls of the kingdoms, then their situation is equally getting worse and they are not even aware of it. ¡°Then what are we going to do?¡± Robert is the first one to panic at this time. He has lived a sheltered life with all the trainings he can get form the huntsmen and huntresses under his family. He would have not thought that his trainings so far actually only weigh as much as a feather when placed to the real world. ¡°What else?¡± Emerald said with conviction. It was really rare for her to talk too much but she is not aware of it anyhow. ¡°Get stronger, much stronger than now.¡± Emerald walked straight towards Ellis and made a bow. Ellis is shocked on what is she doing and hastily tried to make her stop what she is doing. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t bow! We are fellow teammates. This is embarrassing so please.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay weak. Please help me.¡± Emerald said meekly which is so far in her normal way of doing things. She has this smelly mouth which spouts nothing but venom when she speaks. But the Emerald of now is quite accepting of her own weakness. She, of all people hates the most the weak. She will not allow herself to be the weak one. Ellis is actually really confused on what is happening. He never expected that people of the Vale kingdom will act like this. When he arrived at the kingdom, he knows that their living conditions are not the same. He expected for the people of this kingdom to look down on him because of his family name and his origin but he never expected for some people to actually acknowledge his worth like this. Even one of the mightiest clan of this era is actually bowing towards him and asking for help. ¡°Please spar with me!¡± Emerald said after bowing once. The other two people are actually in shock when they heard Emerald politely asking for a match. They are people who grew up inside the kingdom and they know the reputation of this doll face lady of the Rose clan. She has this infamous title of the Red Queen due to how she fights. She leaves only a red trail of red while knocking every opponent she faces. Even those older huntsmen and huntresses have difficulty in dealing with Emerald Rose. ¡°Wait¡­ wait a minute please!¡± Sarah said suddenly. ¡°Calm down a little shall we? It is just the first day. If you two fight at this moment then wouldn¡¯t people mistake us as not getting along?¡± ¡°Are we getting along?¡± Robert said like it is natural which made Sarah face palm herself. Sarah felt that being the leader of this group will really be a hassle and a pain in the ass. There is this obnoxious fellow, there is the Red Queen which acts like a robot most of the time and there is this super mysterious fellow outside of the walls of the kingdom. Now she feels that she might not be able to act as a leader in this group yet she can¡¯t think of someone else leading them. Emerald is too tactless and actually has a sharp mouth most of the time. Robert¡­ well he is Robert alright. As for Ellis, he does not speak when not asked and really tries to be low-key even though he fails at it miserably. The only remaining normal of the group¡­ in her own sense is herself. Ellis and Emerald look at each other and nod. They too understand what Sarah is trying to avoid. It is not wise to do a duel right after they went towards their room for a few minutes. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss something else for now and know others more.¡± Sarah said as mediator for the group. ¡°I am Sarah Lie. My overall rank is B-, my aura rank is A.¡± ¡°Robert Brooks, my overall rank is B¡­ I can¡¯t believe I am ranked lower than you¡­¡± he said as he looks towards Sarah. ¡°My aura rank is A-.¡± This time, all three people are looking towards Emerald. All of them are curious to see what rank she is. The three of them heard some things about this lady of Rose clan and they want to know how much her rank differs from them. ¡°Emerald Rose, Overall rank S, Aura rank S+.¡± her voice is calm but one can feel how proud she is with her rank. This time the rest of the people want to hear Ellis¡¯ rank. They want to see what rank is needed to be out there challenging those high level Grims. ¡°Once again, I am Ellis Moon and I don¡¯t know what are those ranks.¡± He said scratching his head embarrassed a bit. Sarah and Robert burst out in laughter after hearing him. Emerald too, is trying to hold the smile threatening to emerge in her lips. Sarah coughed and successfully stopped the laughter inside the room. ¡°The overall rank is the combination of Battle skills, Aura quantity and Strength of your Semblance. This test is conducted by the Hunters¡¯ Association. The lowest is E and the highest as X with + and ¨C in middle of every letter. ¡°The Aura rank is the raw quantity of your aura. The more Aura you have, the higher your rating will be. For the Battle skills, it is measured on how well you handle your semblance during battles. Basically, it can be said to be your total experience in the field. For the last category, the semblances also have a ranking of their own. The Association has a list of semblances and they separated them in ranks based on their utility and strength. Like the semblance of Rose clan¡¯s founder, it is rated as S due to its versatility and not mere strength. Though people also argued that the ranks of semblances depend on how well people use them which is somehow true now that I think about it.¡± Sarah patiently explained the whole thing about ranks to Ellis. Ellis on the other hand does not know what to feel. For him, no one can really measure another. People always perform different in varying situations just like his clan. How should people really measure someone? Besides, don¡¯t the classifications only separate people more? With a higher rank, wouldn¡¯t one feel more superior compared to those lower than him/her? Ellis wanted to say what he is thinking but he decided to keep it to him. He does not want to act so self-knowledgeable in front of other people. He knows that his opinion on things only weighs the same as others¡¯ opinion. They will just create friction if those opinions crashed. The kingdoms have their own reasons behind it. Ellis told himself. The four people spent the rest of the afternoon talking with each other trying to know more about their new teammates. Sarah and Robert don¡¯t seem to get along much and Emerald is surprisingly more amiable than the rumors floating around. They also went to dinner together and people are quite shocked when they saw the Emerald Rose with her new team sitting together in one table. The atmosphere is quite weird and people continued to whisper until team SEER finished their meal and went back to their room to retire for the day. Ellis suddenly opened his eyes in the middle of the night. He was perspiring all over and his breathing is quite abnormal. He stood up and opened the window to look up the moon shining in the sky gloriously. He can¡¯t help but hum a song until he is singing it lowly. It was a song that her mother sang when she is trying to make the siblings sleep. I''m lying on the moon My dear, I''ll be there soon It''s a quiet and starry place Time''s we''re swallowed up In space we''re here a million miles away There''s things I wish I knew There''s no thing I''d keep from you It''s a dark and shiny place But with you my dear I''m safe and we''re a million miles away He kept singing on low voice but the other three are also quietly listening to him sing. They already noticed when he woke up with ragged breathe but are shy to get up and ask why Ellis woke up in the middle of the night looking distress. The other three knows that everyone is entitled with their own sorrows. It is not right to intrude when one is not invited to know. They felt like Ellis will tell them when he is ready and they earned his trust. Chapter 8: First Lesson Chapter 8 The next morning, team SEER woke up almost at the same time. Ellis who is not good in morning still feels sluggish and heavy. Nonetheless, he needs to get up and officially start as a student. Four years still awaits him and this is just the first day concerning his goals in the future. ¡°You¡¯re pretty shabby in the morning huh?¡± Ellis turned to see Robert already in his uniform attire. Robert, as Ellis expected is from a well off family. The brook family might not be a famous clan like the major clans but their family holds several businesses which generates lots of money. They are mainly dealing with weapon production and their name is well known in weapon industry. ¡°I¡¯m surprised a rich kid like you can move so well without servants.¡± Ellis said as he tries to stand up from his bed finally. ¡°It¡¯s only seven in the morning¡­ Sheesh.¡± ¡°That is why you are poor. You must always use every time you can and make something happen beneficial to you.¡± Robert adjusts his collar in the mirror with a smile. ¡°That is the way my friend.¡± The two are talking until the ladies finally went out of their separation curtain. Even if they are sharing the same room, the ladies are quite nervous sleeping totally being seen by the opposite sex so the team agreed to put some separating curtain between them. Emerald is the first to step out with her usual expressionless face. Robert smiled teasingly towards Emerald and sad beside the yawning Ellis. ¡°I like seeing your doll face so early in the morning.¡± Emerald did not say anything but the fire in her eyes is enough to shut up Robert. Emerald may be awkward between people but her fiery temper is well-known to all. After a few more moments, Sarah also joined the trio also dressed already leaving Ellis to be the only one to still be on his sleeping attire. Ellis also realized this so he started to walk towards the bathroom to tidy him up. ¡°Look at this guy¡­ tsk¡­ tsk¡­¡± Sarah says as she picks up the blanket Ellis casually set aside. ¡°This is why guys¡­¡± With Robert being the only male left in the room, he also feels a little bit intimidated in front of the ladies. Now that he is looking, he can say that he is one lucky lad since he was given the chance to be in the same room with these two beauties. He wanted to talk like usual but somehow his words won¡¯t come out at all. The fiery gaze of the two female directed at him is enough to stop his comments which he usually doesn¡¯t have any scruples in saying but somehow, he can¡¯t be that guy now. The three people sat on their respective beds as they prepare their own things for the incoming lecture. Ellis did not take that long before he went out of the bathroom now with the absence of his sleepy eyes. Now that people looked at him more closely, the hue of his irises seems a bit different. His right eye seems to be tinted with some pale and nearly unnoticeable red while the left is with pale and nearly unnoticeable gold. If you look afar, the hues are not that visible but now they are a more visible. ¡°Ehh¡­ with different clothes, you don¡¯t look like a bumpkin anymore.¡± Sarah said with a laugh. ¡°Hey¡­ I¡¯m a bumpkin but with a style.¡± Ellis jokes with her as he rummages his bag he carries. He took out few notebooks and the small square object named scroll given to every student right after the dismissal. ¡°Dude¡­ the notebooks are still alive?¡± Robert says teasingly. Ellis looks at him with confusion since back at Lutton town the school still uses notebooks when taking down notes. The Kingdom of Vale is impossible to allocate the town with too much technology for comfort. In the end, the town if for the exiles and it is not right to give them too much comfort. Even some narrow minded people push some ordinance to completely isolate the town from Vale Kingdom. If not for the threat of the maze ruins, the ordinance may have passed and the town of Lutton will be literally sentenced to death. Even with how many seasoned warriors the town has, they still need commodities from the kingdom. If those supplies were to be removed then they will be pretty much finished. This is also one form of control the kingdom imposes to the town as precaution if ever the people revolted. ¡°Actually, yes¡­¡± Ellis said as he took another small bag neatly folded inside the bigger bag he has. ¡°This is our life there.¡± People also felt the little bit of resentment mixed with his tone and the other team members don¡¯t know what to say. They lived their lives with comfort and they can¡¯t picture out the life Ellis led back in the Lutton. They wanted to comfort him but they also know that the town is for exiles. People there are 90% guilty of heavy crimes. It is impossible for the kingdom to treat them equally with the peaceful citizens. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s get some light meals before class.¡± Sarah broke off the heavy silence looming over the team. The other members did not object and the team arrives at the cafeteria not long after. The four lines up with the line that is starting to grow longer. ¡°By the way, what is the maze ruins like?¡± Sarah asked Ellis curiously. Ellis looks at her then looks around. This action was noticed by the other three and did not ask further. Ellis took the same meal yesterday and fortunately did not meet the lady yesterday. He will really feel embarrassed if the lady throws more teasing towards him so early in the morning. When the four people sat in one empty table near the edge of the cafeteria, Sarah looks at Ellis once again hoping for Ellis to answer her earlier question. She read some files about the dangerous areas of Sielaria but it only contains about general information. She is hoping for Ellis, who frequently dives in one of the most dangerous places, to tell her some more things about the maze ruins. Ellis did not disappoint her and started to talk some more things not written on the files. He told them about some rumors and some legends about the place. He also told them about the general strength of the Grims inside the ruins. ¡°I myself have not reached the deepest part on only about near half of it.¡± Ellis said after swallowing a piece of egg. ¡°But some rumors said that there will be more artifacts on the deeper parts.¡± ¡°Then why is the kingdom not sending manpower to excavate the place?¡± Robert said doubtfully. He thinks that the Kingdom is impossible to let those valuable artifacts to fall in the hands of people of Lutton town. ¡°Some old folks said that the kingdom tried a few times long ago but failed due to the strength of the maze.¡± Ellis said with a cold tone. ¡°Because of that, they are using us to scout the area and take the brunt of everything and pay us with those artifacts we get. Those artifacts are not the best out there after all.¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s cruel!¡± Sarah said with a face of disbelief. ¡°This is how the world works Sarah. That is what it means to be exiled.¡± Robert said as he sighed. ¡°It¡¯s ok. The people of Lutton also understand this matter very well. If they want to be free, they can redeem themselves already but chose to remain because they have no place to stay in this whole Sielaria anymore. Lutton town is our last haven.¡± ¡°That is just sad.¡± Sarah said while wiping the tears that are threatening to fall. ¡°Don¡¯t mind it; we can¡¯t do anything about it anyway. We are too insignificant to do so.¡± Ellis said trying to lighten up the mood. The four of them ate peacefully with few small talks here and there. The people around them are curious about this new team because of Emerald Rose in it. Her fame in the capital is really high and people can¡¯t help but want to know about her affairs especially her new team. They are shocked to see that the team is quite harmonious even though Emerald is not saying much. When the four members of team SEER finished eating, they walked around for some time until the bells went off. Ellis mistook the bells for some kind of siren of warnings and Sarah and Robert laughed at him for some time because of it. Them, being the city kids never expected someone treating the bells for a siren but deep inside they also understood how bad the living standards of Ellis back at the town of Lutton. When the four of them found their respective seats inside the classroom, people started to murmur things once again while looking at them. Ellis can only bitterly smile because he knows that all of this is because they have Emerald on their team. He sometimes thinks if all this attention is worth in the end. In the end, he can only oblige with the arrangement of the school. He himself doesn¡¯t think that the arrangement is bad anyway. The classroom is still noisy with people whispering on their own when a teacher walked in. He was wearing a neat suite and sharp looking spectacles which only gives him the aura of a professional with strict attitude. The teacher looks around the room and his gaze stayed on those that still are whispering. After noticing the sharp gaze the teacher is giving them, they finally settled down.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. When the room is finally silent, the teacher opened his bag and took out a few miniature figures of Grims. He placed them in the table neatly and for all to see without any difficulty. When everything is ready, he stepped out the stage prepared and looked around once again. ¡°I am Eddard Cartwright. I will be teaching you about Grims which most of you only knows so few about them.¡± He looks around and his vision stayed into one student with spiky hair on the front. ¡°You¡­ Please stand.¡± The student hastily stood up following the instruction. He was surprised for a bit but composed himself fast to not embarrass himself right on the first day of class. ¡°Introduce yourself and what you know about Grims.¡± Eddard said. ¡°Ahem¡­ I Richard Nox, I came fro¡­¡± He was not able to continue because he felt the sharp glare of the teacher. ¡°Get on what you know about the Grims. Your family name and where you came from is irrelevant.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± The student can¡¯t help but respond like that. ¡°Grims are the product of all negative feelings of humans. Anger, sadness, longing, fear and many more is their main source of power. They appear on places where these feelings linger for longer time.¡± ¡°Sit down.¡± The student sat down and can¡¯t help but thinks if he did good or bad. The teacher walks back to the stage and grabbed one of the miniature Grim. ¡°This is a Nevermore Grim. You can see a few of them outside of our borders nesting on the forests. How can they appear there when there is no one to feel those negative emotions inside the forests?¡± The question left the students baffled and confused. If the definition of Grimms is as simple as that, then wouldn¡¯t the Grimms appear inside the town and not outside? The situation is too common that they also did not consider this before the teacher opened this subject. Now they are thinking why. ¡°All of you know that they came from negative emotions. That is normal but do you think that only humanity, Faunus and Half-lings are capable of those negative emotions?¡± Once again the classroom is as silent as it can be. The teacher placed the figure of the Grimm back at the table and pressed a button from a remote. Then texts appeared on the hologram screen for all students to see. The students can understand some but most of it left them confused. ¡°Grimms¡­ One can call them mindless beings only seeking destruction. But don¡¯t ever underestimate them. They occupy more than half of our planet and that speaks volumes on what they are capable of. We all concluded that Grimms came from negative emotions but that is not the only reason for their appearance.¡± ¡°Grimms can be attracted by those negative emotions which gave birth to the idea that they are born from it; which is actually true and false in a sense if you ask me. I can¡¯t confirm it but I will share my observation to you.¡± ¡°Grimms are truly born out of those negative emotions but they are not born just like that. Grimms may have been collecting these emotions from us like bees. How they collect? I am not able to tell yet but let¡¯s put a Dragon Grimm as an example. In history, a Dragon Grimm is one of the major reasons why Beacon academy fell for the first time. The records wrote about how this Grimm rained down Grimms from the sky. Reports said that black pools fell on the ground which in turn became Grimms of various shapes and sizes. From this event, we can conclude that the birth of Grimms is not just because of negative emotions.¡± The students are focusing so hard on every word the teacher is saying. For them, these kinds of information may not actually be proven right now but they are also trying to pick up the reasons behind the words of teacher Eddard. ¡°I believe that they can be created with some method we are not aware. It is true that this method also concerns about negative emotions but I don¡¯t think that is all there is. The studies about this part are not advancing much because of how little we experience about the birth of Grimms.¡± ¡°I want you to take this chance and learn whatever you can in my class and I expect all of you to know every nook and cranny about the Grimms when you finally leave my class in four years. If you die due to your lack of knowledge about a Grimm then that will just be too sad in your part.¡± Eddard says as he pushes his spectacles upwards. ¡°In this class, I will be conducting some matches between some selected students and a specific Grimm so you all better prepare yourselves. Even if you won¡¯t die due to it, a broken bone or a limb will still haunt you for many nights if you injure yourself.¡± ¡°First of all, let¡¯s discuss the most common Grimm, the Beowolf.¡± The class went on as the teacher discussed more and more about the characteristics of Grimms. He pointed out some of their habits and their way of combat. Students were faithfully taking down notes furiously. In all of these, no one noted someone writing traditionally on a notebook. Other students are furiously encoding words and copying the picture on the screen when someone is manually making a drawing towards his own notebook. Ellis admits that the knowledge he has may be many compared to others since he lives outside the walls of safety of the kingdom but the new knowledge he has to their origin is also minimal. All he knew is that they are attracted to those negative emotions. They gather in a place where there is a think remnant of those emotions but he can¡¯t discredit his teacher¡¯s theory too. With how vast the world is and how many Grimms scattered all around Sielaria, there will be places where humanity has never intruded yet there are presence of Grimms out there too. If his teacher¡¯s theory can further progress, then they might just be able to untie the mystery behind the birth of the Grimms and maybe eradicate the cause once and for all. ¡°For the Nuckelavee Grimms they are classified as mid-level 7 Grimms. One can say that they are unique amongst the Grimms. They already have their behaviors, routines, intent and even started to feel some emotions such as anger and sorrow. It is not every day that you will meet one so you can breathe a little actually. Grimms may be mindless but they are actually able to evolve and step into higher ranking Grimm which greatly boosts their powers compared to us which needs a long time to train and perfect our skills. Once they evolve into a higher ranking, they gain boosts of powers and some of them start to have intents but not too much.¡± ¡°Sir, a question please.¡± One female student raised her hand. ¡°Go on.¡± Eddard said. ¡°If they start to feel emotions, will their intelligence also start to develop?¡± the said then sat back to her seat waiting for Eddard to answer. Eddard frowned and was quiet for some time. His look tells the student that he is actually taking the question seriously and trying to come up a satisfying answer. After a few silent moments, Eddard¡¯s vision landed on Ellis. ¡°I have some information but those were not confirmed and I am not willing to divulge you to information that might be wrong and without any credible evidence behind so let¡¯s ask someone which might be able to answer your question.¡± Eddard said as he nodded towards Ellis. All vision turned to Ellis at this moment and everybody is looking at him doubtfully. In their head, what can a country bumpkin add in this information based discussion? He is mysterious but it does not mean that he is also that knowledgeable compared to them which grew up surrounded with information they want to get. They are having some air of superiority actually and they are not willing to believe someone which they think below them in many aspects. ¡°As you know, Mr. Moon is not from the kingdom of Vale. Many of you may already hear some information about his family and their circumstances but compared to you all, his experience towards Grimms is way more superior by far. I once visited the town of Exiles and I saw first-hand the situation there and I will tell you, no one here will survive there for a month with your mentality and possibly by skill. I am not looking down of you but the things I saw during the entrance exam are enough for me to come up some situations and compute the chances of you guys overcoming the situation.¡± Some students wanted to protest and they are talking in low voice clearly showing their dissatisfaction but they are not brave enough to clash with the teacher in front of them with superior prowess compared to them. ¡°Now hush! You can all argue with me but that is my opinion. It might be wrong for you but it is right for me. We shall proceed since you want to know if Grimms will be able to develop some intelligence in the long run. Mr. Moon if you please? Can you shed some light regarding the topic?¡± Ellis is hesitant but since the teacher asks him to, he can only comply and share some knowledge. ¡°They can and I have seen one.¡± When Ellis said that, the classroom literally lit like a powder keg and exploded. Some were in shock and some were angrily shouting that he is lying. Ellis is not actually caring about if they will believe or not. It is not his duty to and he also does not want to say more than that. ¡°Interesting¡­¡± Eddard says as he pushes his spectacles back up. ¡°Mr. Moon, if you have the time this afternoon, please meet me and we can talk more if you don¡¯t mind.¡± Ellis don¡¯t know if he should comply or not but the slight elbow beside him is enough to hint him what to say. ¡°I will make some time.¡± The classroom is still in uproar and Eddard slammed his hand towards the near table which made a lot of noise. The classroom became quiet and the attention is once again focused on the body of Eddard. ¡°Chet¡­ that actually hurts.¡± Eddard shakes his hand a few times before looking at every person who still clamors somehow. ¡°If you can¡¯t accept information and be open into it, why are you even studying? What is the goal of learning? To keep what you know true and make it stay that way? Why the cat are you in here then?¡± The rebuke of Eddard made all the faces of those students awkward. Those that are still being rowdy quickly lowered their heads due to embarrassment. Even if they will not accept the information, the information may be true even if they don¡¯t want to accept it. In the end, if they did not open their view to new things then they might as well be miss most things and suffer because of it in the future. ¡°Since we are running out of time, I will end the discussion a bit earlier but you will not be going out just yet.¡± Eddard said as he started to turn off the hologram and started to put back the models inside his bag once again. After all of the models were placed inside the bag, he looked back towards the students once again. ¡°You should all prepare for tomorrow. We will be trying if your skills can back your confidence to yourselves. I will prepare various Grimms for the session tomorrow and we will be holding the lesson in the training yards. Remember; bring all your skills out if you don¡¯t want to lay down the bed for some days.¡± After saying those words, Eddard walk towards the exit and when his body was out, the bells also started to ring notifying everyone that the first half of the day is done. Every day, first years only attends two classes. One in the morning and the last part on the afternoon until the weekdays are over. The next following week will be the same but they will be having different subjects and those will last until the week is over. All in all, the students have six subjects and they will be consuming a week for each one before changing into another. ¡°Well that is kind of¡­ what can I say¡­ educational?¡± Robert laughs himself and looks towards his teammates to see who got his joke but sadly realized that no one laughed and he looks silly. ¡°You really tweak your mind a little bit.¡± Sarah said patting his shoulder before walking past him heading for the door. ¡°What? it is not funny?¡± Robert said seeming like he was in so much injustice. Emerald looks back at him before following the back of Ellis which is also heading towards the door. Robert was left inside the room with just a few students still packing up their things. He looks around but only saw a twin fighting among themselves and a red-haired lady which is panicking while moving her hands around which seems like looking for something usually attached towards her waist. ¡°Will this scene be more interesting than my joke?¡± Robert said in doubt. ¡°Well¡­ three hours of lesson about Grimms is enough already to dampen my mood. Who knew that they were that tricky to deal with?¡± Robert walks towards the door with a little smile on his face. The lesson is interesting enough and he is looking forwards the next lesson of the day. Chapter 9: Short duel Chapter 9 Ellis is just standing near the window as he watches the scene in front of him. He was in the sixth floor and he can see so much of the city. The view is both mesmerizing and bitter at the same time for him. At first, he thought that he can just brush off his status and just go on and study then go home and finish the secrets of the maze ruins. Now that he actually experienced the life inside the city of the Kingdom of Vale, he can¡¯t help but wonder what if he was born here and his sister too and same for his family. He knows that many things will be lost if that actually happened but he too will gain so much. Life inside the city is peaceful most of the time. There will be no ferocious Grimm trying to rip you apart every day. There will be no more annoying warning bells when level 7 Grimms attack and most of all, he won¡¯t experience the sight of him seeing Grimms tear apart someone. In his life, he already saw too much blood and gore during the town defense. If not for the veterans and those brave rouge huntsman risking it all when some mishaps during the defense happen, the town of Lutton will be no more and that will be the same fate for his family. At this time, he can¡¯t help but think what if someday the defense fails and he goes home with no one to return to? What will be left in his life then? Strength which he has nowhere to use to? Artifact which can protect anyone but fails to protect the most important in his life, what is the point then? He is staring blankly in the sky as his mind wanders when suddenly a hand rested on his shoulder. His skin suddenly stood up and he hastily leapt sideways ready to transform the cube in his hand to his weapon when he sees that it is only Sarah staring at him with a confused expression. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Sarah asked while tilting her head sideways. Ellis sighed and placed the cube to its holder back. He stood back up and tries to calm his rapidly beating heart while trying to regain his bearings. He really needs to adjust his old habits. This is the Beacon academy and not the wilderness where anything close to you might just be an enemy. ¡°I am just trying to pass time. I got dazed while trying to.¡± He said as he finally regained his normal pace. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Sarah waves her hands hinting him to come closer since it is quite awkward to talk with too much distance. Ellis also understands this so he walks back towards the window he was in earlier. ¡°Do you like the life in the city?¡± Sarah asked trying to change the topic. Ellis frowns since he is not sure what to say about the topic actually. Sure he likes the vibe but somehow dislikes it too. The city reeks of easy life, if he gets accustomed to this pace, he will get rusty and his skills which he can¡¯t use frequently inside the kingdom will slowly diminish. This will not go well with his plan and now he is considering if the four years of stay here will be worth but then again just the first day and he got some useful information. Even though these information might not add to his strength literally but just knowing things can make things happen. If he can utilize those information efficiently and apply when he battles then he can go through battles more comfortable and safely. ¡°It is useful at least so I guess that matters.¡± He answers as bleakly as possible it can be. ¡°You know, I am not confident on being the team leader of this team.¡± Sarah says as she looks towards the scene outside the window. ¡°I have this infamous Red Queen on my team, then there is this mysterious guy from the outside and lastly this blabber mouth dude who does not acknowledge my position and acts as he likes. I don¡¯t know how to handle you guys actually.¡± Sarah sighed in her heart. She knows that her skills are sub-par at best compared to the two top members of the team and Robert is such an enigma too since all you will notice to him is his rascal behavior and his contempt to those weaker than him but so far, she has not seen what he is capable of. Unlike Emerald and Ellis which she first hand saw how capable they are, Robert only follows her back during the examination exam. You can say that he used Sarah to sneak his way in without any effort into beacon academy but Sarah can¡¯t help but put her guards around Robert. Sarah knows that Robert¡¯s family might not be that famous compared to other clans but that doesn¡¯t mean anyone can easily brush them off. If the Schnee family holds the industry of Dust, then Robert¡¯s family holds the best weapon-manufacturing industry in two major kingdoms. Sarah heard some nasty rumors about the Brook family but she is not willing to make conclusions especially since Robert became one of their members. ¡°You can just tell us what to do and we will comply you know.¡± Ellis said. ¡°That sounds easier than done.¡± Sarah snorted. ¡°You think people will obey those that they don¡¯t acknowledge?¡± ¡°Fair enough¡­¡± Ellis said without thinking much. ¡°That is why I am in dilemma right now. I am not that much compared to you or Emerald or maybe even Robert. How will I actually keep this team together? I have no confidence at all.¡± Ellis doesn¡¯t know what to say at this point. Back at Lutton town, commanders sometimes fall during sieges of Grimms and anyone can take the responsibility without anyone questioning. In town of Lutton, everyone only thinks how to survive and nothing else. If one is confident enough to lead then people will actually acknowledge the order without much opposition as long as the command does not sound crazy. ¡°You are thinking too much I think.¡± Ellis said not confident about his statement at all. ¡°It is just the first day. What can you prove at this point?¡± Sarah also tries to absorb what Ellis is saying. It is true, it is just the first day and she does not have that much opportunity to prove herself. What she actually fears is that her teammates not cooperating with her and not the position itself. If their team gets messy because of the issue of leadership then all the blame will fall in her shoulders without a doubt. ¡°Want to practice while waiting for class?¡± Sarah gratefully smiles and nods her head. She also realized the intent behind Ellis¡¯ invitation. It is not just a simple sparring much or training but a chance to prove herself or just deepen their bond as a team. She really can¡¯t understand how Ellis thinks. Sometimes, he gives this unapproachable aura around him like telling everyone that he is not the kind of guy you want to associate with. Sometimes, he also feels like your awkward childhood friend who doesn¡¯t know how to do things but still tries to help you. ¡°Come on then! This big sister will show your place!¡± Sarah pulls Ellis hand and laughs while running towards the training yards. People look at them with a weird stare as they passed other students along the way. When they reached the training hall, there were no other students aside from the two of them. Sarah placed her scroll on one of the stage and the crystal door opened for the two of them to pass.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The stage is just like an open space without walls aside from the reinforced glass caging the stage so that the surroundings will not be swept along the battle. ¡°Welcome student Sarah Lie and student Ellis Moon. You are allowed to use the combat stage for an hour.¡± A mechanical voice echoed inside the combat stage and the two of them split up on opposite sides to prepare. ¡°So¡­¡± Sarah is taking off her jacket and looking straight at Ellis. ¡°What is this going to be like? Weapons on or not?¡± ¡°Weapons on, we can wield our best capabilities in this way.¡± Ellis answered as he too, took off his jacket. Ellis tries to hide his intent because he knows that stating his intent any other way might offend Sarah instead. He too wants to see how capable his leader is. ¡°Oh¡­ You are going to enjoy this.¡± Sarah smiles mysteriously as she closes her fists. Suddenly, the bracelets around Sarah¡¯s both arms started to expand rapidly. Two spikes grew from the side and another straight spike grew on the upper top which formed like a horn of a bull but with an extra at the top. The tri-blade hand claw looks bizarre and unique at the same time. Ellis whistles out of amazement. ¡°Fancy weapon you have there.¡± ¡°I designed it when I was still young. Back then I only know how to draw but fortunately my grandfather is a weapon smith and helped me realized this one.¡± ¡°Ok¡­ let¡¯s warm up a little bit.¡± Ellis said as he threw the cube on the ground which transformed into a handle-less blade. ¡°Heh¡­ your weapon is really bizarre even though it is not the first time I see it.¡± Sarah said in return. ¡°What is it called?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know its original name since I only picked this up from the ruins but I call it Abyss Devourer.¡± ¡°What an ominous name.¡± Sarah smiled. ¡°That is just like you.¡± ¡°Here I go!¡± Sarah said as she charged straight towards Ellis. Ellis seeing this doesn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. Charging straight might be effective when fighting mid-size Grimms but when you face the likes of an Ursa or those with big builds like the Night stalker and Mammoth, anyone can be crushed here and then. Ellis does not want to say anything at this point since he also wants to see what Sarah is capable of. The sword slowly floated from the ground until levitating a few inches above his head. Sarah quickly arrives at his front and thrusts her right arm straight towards him but the sword above his head faithfully blocks the strike. Sarah seems to expect that her strike will be block but she does not give up and delivered a left hook. Ellis is frowning while he blocks the left and right combo of Sarah. Her fighting style is clearly meant to combat a human instead of a Grimm and he doesn¡¯t know why. Her movements and preparations, the way she positions herself clearly shows that she is only expecting blows which human makes. He is not saying that her posture and actions are bad but she is actually good. He just doesn¡¯t know why she is expecting that blows will only come from those angles. At this point, Ellis wanted to show her something new so she will not be surprised when the time comes that she needs to face bigger and stronger Grimms. Ellis shoves his weapon forward which surprised Sarah making her step back. Ellis waited for her to regain her balance before advancing himself. He made a horizontal swing which aims at her waist. Sarah seeing the massive action of Ellis is actually surprised. She is actually used in fighting and her training partners says that she is quite perfect in positioning and planning her moves but Ellis is not the same of those people. His moves are crude but the power behind it is actually too much for her to handle. Seeing the sword swing from the right, she hastily stepped back successfully evading the sword but when is preparing to counter attack, she saw how the sword which missed a few seconds ago is now crashing down from above towards her head. Sarah hastily blocks it with her two hands infusing it with Aura. When the sword landed, she can¡¯t help but lose her breath. It was like a mountain is crashing downwards and one of her knees actually gave up. Just when she is about to gather momentum to throw the sword sideways, she felt a sudden impact on her side which knocked her air out of her lungs. She can¡¯t help but curl on the floor clutching her sides with a painful expression. Ellis did not pursue at this point and waited for Sarah to regain her stance. The kick he delivered from the side is not infused with his full power since he does not want to injure her. When Sarah stood up, sweats are pouring down non-stop from her face but she did not say anything but once again advanced straight to him. Just when Ellis sighed in disappointment, the figure of Sarah started to blur until it totally disappeared. Ellis¡¯ eyes shone with excitement when he sees this. He knows that this phenomenon is related with Sarah¡¯s semblance. He wants to know what it can do aside from erasing her figure. Ellis has much experience in battle and he can recognize small disturbance around him. The slight vibrations, the air changing its course due to obstacle gave out the position of Sarah. When he is about to strike towards a direction, he suddenly felt something is wrong and did a forward roll because he felt that the disturbance he is watching did not disappear but now the disturbance around him is slowly increasing. It is like there is two invisible Sarah circling around him. ¡°What an awesome semblance.¡± He can¡¯t help but say at this point. Soon, he felt that there are five disturbances around him. He waved his hand and did a 180 degree sweep forcing the five presence he is picking up to step back. With this, he regained a bit of ground to work with. He dashed towards one figure and the sword made a straight thrust. He can feel the sword connect and sparks flew out in his front. When he is about to follow up, the other four presence also made their move and surrounded him from all directions. He felt his sword get clamped and he can¡¯t pull it easily like he used to be. If he pull to hard and Sarah lets go, he will be placed into an awkward position so did not bother. She is clearly different with her semblance on. Ellis smiled and transferred his center of gravity while lifting his body up trying to drop kick towards his front. The presence in his front seems to read his intentions and it stepped back to avoid. When the sword was freed, it suddenly performed a massive sweep knocking all the other presence away from him. Suddenly, Ellis felt the presence disappear one by one until only one remains which is the one in his front. He saw Sarah on one knee down gasping for breath. Their exchange is not that long but the numbers of blows Sarah delivered is no joke. With how light it is, it may feel like gloves but still do massive damage if it actually hits. ¡°Your sword is unfair.¡± Sarah said with indignation. ¡°Am I fighting a giant instead of a student?¡± ¡°You know leader, your fighting style is really good.¡± Ellis said as the sword transformed into a small cube once again. ¡°But if you face bigger and stronger in physical aspects Grimms, you will be done for.¡± ¡°I noticed that¡­¡± Sarah said a bit embarrassed. ¡°When fighting you, I seem to fight a huge giant swinging his club around while ignoring all the damage I can give and I am forced to step back again and again. It feels so suffocating.¡± ¡°Maybe it is because you are accustomed into fighting with other huntsman and huntresses that all your preparations are expecting blows which only reach the limits of human ability. When faced with strikes you can¡¯t parry and dodge by small margins, you will be forced to step back again and again. You can still fight at that point but the pressure you are accumulating will start to weigh on you and will hinder you significantly until the time you makes a mistake due to pressure and lose everything here and then.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ This is quite the experience for me.¡± Sarah said as she extended her arms towards Ellis. Ellis pulls her up until Sarah is standing on her own. She is still clutching her side which seems to be stinging in pain. ¡°Can¡¯t you be more lenient? I think this one will be bruised.¡± Sarah said unhappily. ¡°It¡¯s because you don¡¯t use your small build the right way. Why are you even charging straight just like that? Will you really have the courage to charge straight on and lock in combat with a Mammoth Grimm?¡± Ellis scolded in return. ¡°Use your size to your advantage, dodge and position yourself where you can evade at all times and do not rely on parry. If you face something with big builds, even if you block it, you will be blown away easily and that will just open up the rhythm for your opponent.¡± ¡°Still¡­ How can you kick me with too much strength behind it?¡± Sarah is still salty about it. ¡°You have no consideration for women.¡± ¡°Hey! Stop sulking and listen to me alright?¡± The two of them started to bicker back and forth. Unbeknown to the two of them, they are not the only ones aware of the short duel. Someone with a wide smile that seems to reach the eyes also witnessed the duel. The whole school¡¯s facilities were al attached into the main frame of the system of the school and any authorization will be notified to the headmistress¡¯ office especially the training grounds. ¡°My my my¡­ How lovely.¡± Reena said while watching the two new students leave the training yards. ¡°I think the plan is going well.¡± Chapter 10: Aura Chapter 10 Sarah, after getting into a duel with Ellis learned a lot from a single fight. So far, she fought huntsman and huntresses which really highlight their finesse and agility more than brute force. In some cases, she also had experiences with some individual with higher physical aspect than her but Ellis¡¯ way of fighting in the duel showed her that sometimes limiting your views to only human limits can be costly. Besides, there is no one who uses such an oversized sword among human hunters. On the other hand, there are a lot of Grimms with huge builds and overwhelming power behind their strikes where one needs to dodge fully and not lean on some sides. If there will be a second time, she hopes to last longer and utilize her semblance more. She has been blessed with a great semblance which makes her body nearly invisible. Her presence still remains and so all the disturbance she creates while moving can be used to pin-point her location just like Ellis did. Sarah is also aware of the problem so she developed a way of making more disturbances which can imitate her own presence. Her semblance is actually not invisibility but imitation of things. She makes herself nearly invisible by imitating all of her surroundings to the last bit of grain of color which makes her hard to be seen. With the same ability, she imitates the disturbance she creates and places them to various directions which can act the same way as her but sadly it can¡¯t be used to injure someone since there is no power behind it but just mere disturbance. The fight with Ellis only ended that way since she was grazed by the sweeping motion of the sword emptying her aura for defense to the last point. At that time, one of her decoys held the sword for a bit but if Ellis wanted to actually pull it, then the disturbance won¡¯t be able to hold for a single second. Sarah wanted to use that situation to ambush Ellis but sadly that oversized sword is just too unfair. It can cover such huge area and can block her strikes easily because of how thick it is. The worst part is Ellis is not even holding it. The sensation, the force needed to hold such sword, the vibrations created with every class of weapons, all of it is not applicable to Ellis. Ellis can wield it as easily as that without any requirements such as strength, grip, and tenacity to keep the sword. In a sense he breaks all the sword arts in the first place since he doesn¡¯t need to consider inertia, momentum and the likes which limit the human body. He is just one unfair fellow. Of course, not all things she gained are part of combat but some personal things about Ellis. First of all, she can determine that Ellis is at least rank S in semblance but she can¡¯t determine the aura level without proper measurement. The second thing is he fights with instinct and not pattern. All arts, in a way follow a certain pattern. All motions can be at least leave a clue where the next blow will come from. All those counters and moves can be determined with how one can read well the position of the opponent. It is like how one can¡¯t throw a right hook and perform a 45 degree kick from the left the next second. In this way, Sarah reads those positions and calculates the possible attacks that an opponent can throw. You can say that Sarah is gifted in computations and possibilities. For the last and the most important part, Ellis is the definition of abiding with gender equality. He treats everyone the same either is a male or female. One thing Sarah finds funny is that some people complain about being treated as inferior compared to males in any circumstance yet in some and most common situations, females asks to be treated as a lady which includes the leniency, the gentleness, and most of all, not harming the face. Even she is aware that she also falls into that kind of person but the matter also touches the morality and respect of a person and that is a more complicated matter to define clearly. ¡°So¡­ What are your plans after the class?¡± Sarah asked Ellis which went to his own little world of staring blankly ahead. Ellis snapped out of his daydream and thought of the question. He has nothing else to do really and nowhere to go. At these times, normally he will be on the walls with guard duty hoping that the day will go on peacefully. Now that he thought about it, he really doesn¡¯t know what else to do. He knows no one aside from his teammates or maybe the problematic twins. Most of all, he doesn¡¯t know places here in Vale aside from Beacon academy. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess infuse more Crystals?¡± Ellis said casually. ¡°You are actually talking like they are candies huh?¡± Sarah said as if she heard a great joke. In the past, Grimms leave nothing behind when they fall but after many years of their evolution, they started to drop these kinds of crystals which trap Aura energy inside. Studies about these crystals are only at their initial stages since they can¡¯t find appropriate specimen to confirm their theories due to the Grimms leaving nothing behind but crystals. At first, stronger Grimms started to drop pale white crystals and as more time grows, stronger Grimms when slayed dropped deeper colored crystals. Researchers have their own theories about the formation of these crystals but many hunters believe that this is the crystallization of all energy of the victim they slayed in their lifetime. Because of such idea, hunters also prioritize to eliminate stronger Grimms in hopes of finding deeper colored crystals which they can use to trade or reinforce the quantity of Aura existing on their body. Not every crystal is suitable for practice too. Only violet crystals and above tier can be used for practice as they contain significant Aura inside. Those pale violet colored crystal can be used but it is too unrefined and contains so little Aura inside. Ellis wanted to confirm his earlier statement but noticed that his common sense once again differs with others so he tactfully shuts his mouth. He has enough crystals to scare a mid-sized company and he has almost violet colored and above crystals which he intends to use until he finish his study in Vale. The rest of the crystal he has is only silver crystals for trading things he will need in case. ¡°What will you do after class then?¡± Ellis asked in return trying to investigate what other kids normally do during these times. ¡°I¡¯m going to the port to help out my family business.¡± Sarah answered. ¡°Hmm? What does your family do?¡± Sarah frowns a bit but remembers that Ellis is from the outside of Vale. It is natural that he won¡¯t know the major families and the well-known families inside Vale kingdom. ¡°My family owns a security agency. We provide hunters to those traveling merchants using the sea.¡± Sarah explained more details to Ellis. Ellis can¡¯t help but be surprised of how the business works. In a sense, it is like a patrol duty back in Lutton town but with a much more lucrative pay and lesser danger with how thorough the agents sweep through the routes. As long as people stay on course with those routes then it will be not too dangerous with the help of a few dozen hunters accompanying a ship. Ellis also learned that those hunters mainly deal with pirates along the routes more than the actual Grimms. Ellis can¡¯t help but understand why Sarah¡¯s way of fighting leans more towards combating human instead of Grimms. He can¡¯t help but wonder why people want to raise their own weapons to fellow humans or even if the other party is of the Faunus race. In the end, they were all sentient beings capable of communications and understanding. He was trying to come up the reasons why they are not focusing on eliminating the Grimms instead of fighting among themselves. ¡°Want to come and observe?¡± Sarah invites Ellis before finally arriving to the room for the next class. ¡°Let¡¯s see after the class. I will think through it.¡± ¡°Hey that is bad right?¡± Sarah joked as they sat on the unoccupied seats in the middle.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. There are still only few students inside so they occupied four seats for the rest of the team members to arrive. The two of them chatted away the time until Emerald arrived and naturally sat beside Sarah without saying anything. Ellis does not want to say anything and Sarah also felt awkward with Emerald most of the time. With how silent the tree of them, the atmosphere started to turn awkward slowly as more time goes by. ¡°Say¡­ We are quite an awkward team what should we do about this?¡± Sarah said trying to change the vibe around them. ¡°If you can make her talk, we will be having more success on the matter.¡± A voice intruded and Robert sat beside Ellis. ¡°Obviously that is impossible.¡± Emerald glared at Robert but he just grinned in response to her. Sarah felt the sparks floating around and she can¡¯t help but complain because of how difficult to keep this team is. Emeralds is like an ice cube, Robert is like a firecracker making things rowdy every time and Ellis tries to be a piece of stone doing nothing until someone actually picks him up. ¡°You know if we could actually tone down our tendencies we will be having more success actually.¡± Sarah said in a depressed voice. ¡°Robert, can we say something nice once in a while?¡± ¡°Am I not saying nice?¡± Robert laughs. ¡°Later I will say something nasty so you can actually know how nice I am normally.¡± ¡°You¡¯re hopeless.¡± It was a rare voice to actually join. Emerald snorted and took her scroll out looking at the time. ¡°It¡¯s really unfortunate to be teamed up with someone so atrocious.¡± ¡°Heh¡­ I thought we only have three people in the team?¡± Robert still smiling said. ¡°Since when did you join the team?¡± ¡°Ok let¡¯s stop before we actually smash our team more than this.¡± Sarah glared at Robert and this time he actually backed off and sat there quietly. ¡°And Ellis¡­¡±Sarah this time glared at Ellis. ¡°At least do something when these kinds of things happen.¡± ¡°Eh? Why?¡± Ellis asked confused. ¡°You country bumpkin! You¡¯re quite the heartless one too! Why are you leaving me to deal with these two blockheads?¡± Sarah said indignantly. ¡°Eh¡­ Ok.¡± Ellis complied but actually confused on what is happening. He is thinking that it is natural for the city kids to quarrel like that but now he thinks otherwise with how Sarah reacts. The atmosphere is somewhat weird but at least it is better than the awkward one before Robert arrived. The four of them exchanged conversation here and there or mostly Sarah and Robert going back and forth. When the bell signals the end of break, students started to quickly fill the classroom. When the seats are nearly occupied by the students, a female teacher arrived and occupied the stage. She looks around to see if there will be more students coming but it seems unlikely so she sat down in the chair in the middle of the stage and attached a small storage device towards a port connected to the hologram. Out of all expectations, she started calling up names and checking the attendance which only a few actually practice nowadays. In the new system, your skills are all that matter. If you attend or not does not matter as long as you complete the missions that will be handed out by the academy and pass the exams every semester. After calling out the names and checking who is present and not, the teacher¡¯s brows furrowed in displeasure while looking at the screen. ¡°They better have a good reason for not being here in my class.¡± She said as she looked towards the students around her. ¡°I am Amanda Hans. I will be the one to teach you about things related to Aura.¡± She pressed something on the screen and the screen changed showing various picture and some simple descriptions. ¡°For the general idea, Aura is the projection of one¡¯s soul. It shields you from harm and enhances your power temporarily. The greatest tool out there for any huntsmen and huntresses during combat is Aura. Your weapons, your gears, everything all started on Aura and concerns Aura every time. How deep you know about aura may be the thin line of your victory or defeat.¡± ¡°Now¡­ Let¡¯s ask some of you what do you see Aura as¡­ You there¡­¡± Amanda looks at the tablet she has, to see the name of the female student she is pointing. ¡°Ms. Blank, please share your thoughts about the subject.¡± This student is a member of the team including the twins Ellis met back at the forest and the silver-haired kid of the Schnee family. She was a bit caught off guard but she composed herself quite fast and then stood up to answer. ¡°Aura is the greatest sword I can have. It strengthens my blows and eradicates all that stands my way.¡± Her answer amazed all the students including the teacher. Who would have expected that a slender female will answer like that? Coupled with her vibrant red hair and a valiant aura she is exuding, she looks just like a heroic person right now. The only one that disagrees with the opinion is of course that is the only male that actually knows her true self. That is Michael Schnee. He wanted to evade this crazy girl because he accidentally injured her younger brother during a small duel back then which made the younger brother be hospitalized for a year thus missing the entrance exam of this year. He also did not want to injure her younger brother but he was just too strong for him to keep his hand which resulted in this complicated event. He thought that he will quietly take a relic and pass the exam as fast as he can to ditch the female chasing him every time they meet. Who would expect that he actually will meet this lady again inside the forest and became partners instead. ¡°What a straight forward answer.¡± Amanda nodded and asked another student. ¡°Aura for me the best support I can ask for. It helps me escape in tricky situations and blocks strikes that I am not able to guard in emergency.¡± The discussion went on and on and everyone is quite happy to contribute about the discussion. The only ones not raising their hands are Ellis and Emerald which actually garnered some attention from both students and their teacher. ¡°Miss Rose if you would?¡± Amanda said trying to let Emerald join the discussion. ¡°What is aura for you?¡± Emerald stood properly before answering in a monotone voice. ¡°Aura helps me crush the weak that can only cling to others for benefit or drag those that actually tries to have a better life.¡± She said and promptly sat down after saying those words. The temperature seems to drop down a few Celsius and the aura inside the classroom feels really awkward at this point. The students are frowning and the teacher does not know what to do at this point. She was the one who asked the students¡¯ view about the subject and their opinions are neither right nor wrong. Amanda has no choice but to move on and nodded towards Ellis this time. ¡°Mr. Moon? What are your thoughts about Aura?¡± ¡°Aura lets me survive another day.¡± It was a short answer and now everybody is flabbergasted. What¡¯s wrong with these kids? Amanda thought while crying in her head. It was her first time teaching and she wanted to leave a good impression. As things are now, it is not going well for her part. Many of the kids answered normally aside from several kids. One from Rose clan, one from Brook family, twins from Medric family, one from Blank family and lastly from Moon family gave out weird answers and she don¡¯t know how to manage the situation properly. She is expecting that her students will be normal in thinking with great skills to match up their family prestige but she never thought that the combination of students this year which unluckily fell in her hands is a mix of peanut and ketchup. In the end, Amanda is forced to remedy the situation every time by either moving forward or changing the topic. ¡°Now that everyone has given their opinion about Aura, let¡¯s talk about their application. How the application of one¡¯s Aura can defines themselves.¡± Amanda snapped her fingers and the lights in the room started to dim. ¡°Most of you know that Aura is the fuel of all of your abilities. Your semblance, your protection to the last motion of your attacks is all fueled by Aura. First of all, let¡¯s talk about the general application of Aura. The screen showed a figure of a man defending from a Grimm attacking. The figure is desperately blocking a Grimm almost two times his size but still holding his ground. ¡°First category is the most common. Aura helps us withstand forces greater than our own as shown in this clip is the first and mostly used application of Aura. It does not mean that we are getting stronger but the Aura absorbs the damage instead of our body taking it. As we continue to block and take damage, Aura starts to deplete until it will be just be your own physical prowess taking on those blows and that will not end very well.¡± ¡°The second application is for enhancing your attack. In here, everyone uses quite differently. Some use it through weapons and tools but there are some that use together with their bare hands and other parts of the body. In this category, you are not depleting your Aura but releasing it towards outside but those energy will be coming back to you so if don¡¯t use huge moves which your regeneration can¡¯t keep up then you can be using this method as long as you want.¡± ¡°Last is the most bizarre and hardest application one can do with their Aura. When one¡¯s quantity of Aura exceeds a certain point, one can influence things around them. It can be used both in attacking and defending and the limit is your own imagination. The only thing that limits this is your capacity of Aura. Just like during the entrance exam ending where the headmistress exuded overwhelming pressure towards those unruly applicants. Some people also use their Aura to make impression. Then can make their presence nearly undetectable, they can also make their presence as bright as the sun or either seems to be normal and blend towards the surrounding. This last category might not have direct impact physically but this last method directly affects the mental strength of the opponent. There were even legends where one only needs to look at a Grimm to petrify them in fear. That is how powerful and mysterious this last method is.¡± ¡°In your years ahead, I will be teaching you not the methods on how to use your own Aura but how to wield it more efficiently. I hope that everyone will cooperate and we can have great years ahead of us.¡±