...

The next day, Shin and the others were summoned by the Magic Ace Academy to finally take the special examination that would determine whether they were going to be accepted to the special program classes or not.

"Whoa! So, there are still a lot of people that are trying to test themselves?" exclaimed Arthur after seeing the huge crowd of young men and women in the school gymnasium.

"And almost all of them are quite strong," commented Leonard after sweeping his gaze at the whole place and assessing the strengths of everyone.

Hearing that, Shin nodded his head repeatedly before adding to their words. "Well, that is to be expected. After all, these people are some of the brightest stars of our generation. And if they are not at least on par with us, then they shouldn't be in this place in the first place."

Meanwhile, the girls were currently distancing themselves away from them, acting as if they were afraid to catch a contagious disease from them. They were very embarrassed to admit that they were with these three who were acting like little kids that were visiting an amusement park for the first time.

But at the same time, they also didn't dare to be too far from them since they didn't want to be bothered by the other boys in their surroundings. Given their looks and figures, it was impossible for the three of them not to be noticed by these young bloods.

"I hope Big Sis Shiella is here. A glare from her is more than enough to scare these annoying flies," said Cloe dejectedly while trying her best to ignore the eyes of the young men around them.

"Agreed, the looks on their eyes make me really want to puke. Idiots who always use their lower head first on all occasions," said Lorraine in a helpless manner.

On the other hand, Alice seemed to be indifferent to her surroundings as she was able to maintain the cold look that she was wearing.

"I guess being a celebrity is really a good thing for this kind of situation," commented Lorraine, feeling impressed by Alice's indifference.

The gymnasium started to be filled with more and more candidates as time went by. And not long after, everyone seemed to finally arrive as the doors of the place simultaneously closed themselves, turning the whole place dark.

But despite the sudden darkness, everyone that was present in the place remained quiet as they simultaneously turned their heads at the stage where a spotlight was directed.

Or rather aside from a sole individual.

Right after the darkness enveloped the whole place, Shin felt that his whole body suddenly shook for some unknown reason. His arms were trembling violently as the event triggered some of his long-forgotten memories.

Even though it only lasted for a brief moment before Shin was able to recover himself, Arthur and Leonard were still able to notice the flash of changes from Shin since they were right next to him.

Shin frowned his eyebrows due to that and quickly thought to himself. 'What was that? It is not like this is the first time that I experience something like this. But how come this particular one agitated me so much?'

He then swept his gaze at the surroundings with his sharp eyes as if he was trying to find something.

"Is this a coincidence or someone is purposely doing this?" he muttered with a quiet voice before directing his attention to the stage ahead of them.

At the same time, his two brothers also dropped the matter after seeing that Shin immediately went back to his usual self.

"Hmm-… Not bad," said an impressed voice from the stage, attracting the attention of everyone even more.

The young men and women below the stages were quite confused with his words as they were not sure what exactly he was impressed about. But they didn't have enough time to dwell on that thought since they saw someone walk out from the shadows on the stage before standing at the center of the spotlight.

It was a lean old man with a hunched back and seemed to have a very fragile body. But despite him looking like that, the air surrounding him was more than enough to inform everyone that he was not someone to be trifled with.

He was not doing anything aside from standing at the center of the stage with his hands crossed behind his waist. But from the perspective of everyone standing below the stage, there seemed to be a huge pair of sharp eyes staring at them from the darkness behind this particular old man.

Shin and the others were sweating bullets after sensing how dangerous this old man was. But aside from that, they were holding pretty well compared to the other contenders around them who were breathing heavily after enduring the pressure from the old man.

There were even some guys who collapsed on the ground after failing to endure the pressure that was pressing at them.

"Not bad! Not really bad!" said the old man repeatedly after seeing that there were still quite a lot of candidates still standing on their feet despite pressuring them with a hint of his aura.

He then waited for the surviving candidates to recover before nodding his head while saying. "I will not waste my saliva talking about useless things that may bore all of you, young buds and unpolished gems."

"But I may as well introduce myself since I feel that you need to know me to put your minds at ease. I'm Klaine Abeloth, the current principal of this Academy."

After that, he paused for a moment to sweep his gaze at the still conscious candidates, spotting a few noticeable individuals among the crowd before nodding his head with satisfaction. "That is all I want to say. As for the unconscious guy on the ground, all of them failed the first test while the rest are going to proceed."

Snap!

Then the old man made a snap with his fingers, turning on all of the lights in the gymnasium and illuminating the whole place. And at the same time, the old man suddenly disappeared without a trace as if he was never in that place in the first place.

"The heck, undergoing a test from the get-go?" cursed Arthur after stabilizing up his breath.

Agreeing with him, Leonard wiped off the sweats on his forehead while nodding. "That old man is scary. He minds me of the time when I first met my Master."

Meanwhile, Shin was still wearing his deep frown as he looked at the spot where the old man disappeared before saying to the others. "Let's go."

"Eh!?" The group was confused with his sudden words which made them frown their brows. They simultaneously turned their heads at Shin, demanding some explanations from him.

Feeling their gazes, Shin couldn't help but sweep his gaze at them while wearing an expression lingering between mockery and contempt.

He then made a quick snap with his fingers, creating a barrier made of Mental Energy around them. "Don't tell me that you guys are still unaware that our tests already started when we entered this place?"

After that, he pointed at the doors of the gymnasium that were still closed before continuing. "I'm not sure what they want us to do, but I'm sure that we need to get out of this place a soon as possible."

And the moment those words left his mouth, the group immediately noticed that the other candidates around them started grouping together before staring warily at their surroundings.

"Tsk! Don't tell the Academy wants us to fight each other this early?" said Arthur with a smirking tone after seeing what was happening.

"That's fine by me! It is much simple and easier this way," nodded Leonard while cracking his knuckles.

Pak! Pak!

But before they could even do something reckless, Cloe immediately hit their heads while saying. "Do you think it is really that easy? Of course, there is something they wanted us to do."

"Tsk! Complex stuff! Then I'll be leaving it to you. Just call me when it is time for action," said Arthur with pursed lips before crossing his arms in front of him.

Seeing that, Shin swept his gaze at their surroundings once again to observe the other groups around them. While trying to look for some people. "I can't see Big Sis – Brother Jerimiah and Vincent are not here either, I guess they really have a separate test from us."

He may not find who he was looking for but he still spotted a couple of familiar faces and was currently walking towards them. And with a quick snap of fingers, the Mental Energy surrounding them was instantly deactivated.

Arthur was currently sulking on the side as he couldn't fight the other candidates around them. But while he was still disappointed, he suddenly heard a familiar voice inside his head.

"Senior Brother!"

"Eh!? Telepathy? And this voice!" Arthur was confused at first when he heard the voice but he immediately identified who was talking to him after recognizing the voice.

He then spun around and looked for the owner of the voices before spotting Molton and Jillian making their way towards them. "Oh!"

Seeing those two, Arthur immediately walked towards them before warmly greeting two. "My Junior Brother and my Princess."

Arthur first hugged Molton as a form of greeting, to which the latter returned in kind. "It is good to see you again."

Their bodies barely touched each other when Arthur quickly let go of his so-called junior brother before proceeding towards Jillian, attempting to do the same form of 'greeting'.

Unfortunately, what greeted him was a swift punch straight to his abdomen.

"Oops! Isn't this a little too unfeminine way of greeting someone given that it is from a fine lady such as yourself?" said Arthur with a huge smile after catching the incoming fist with ease.

He then held it with both of his hands before quickly saying. "But I will not refuse a handshake if that is what you are offering."

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