Dalien’s face lost all its colors. He couldn’t do anything but tremble. The first reason was the shock he just experienced. The gauntlet was something way out of his league. He couldn’t even comprehend how it could have been made in such a short period of time. Usually, when you poured your mana in a magic item, unless there weren’t any impurities, you would face some resistance from the item. As your mana will adapt itself to the main component of the item, it will face some kind of resistance from the other components. However, when he poured his mana, it was like the gauntlet fused with his hand, and his mana flowed without facing any difficulties.

The second thing which surprised him was the efficiency of the arrays. He clearly knew how strong his wind blast was. And the one he displayed earlier was clearly stronger. He didn’t know by how much exactly, but he wouldn’t dare to doubt Grey’s words again. His brain was still processing on how he could get out of this mess. Losing to Grey wasn’t a problem, but being thrown out while he had the ability to pass the exam… It was something he couldn’t accept. Not only him, his parents would kill him if they learned about that.

“Seniors… This participant didn’t want to offend anyone… This product was something out of the ordinary and this participant just had some doubts…”

Dalien quickly gave an apologetic bow to the examiners while trying to clear his name. He needed to bargain his way out this mess. However, the old lady didn’t even bother answering him, looking at Grey, asking him what he thought about this. The latter was surprised by that. He never thought that in the end it would have been his decision which would matter.

“I don’t mind. He and many others doubted me, thus, his actions are quite understandable.”

Grey’s words made the face of many examiners satisfied. Since the beginning, when Dalien gave away his name, they were a bit restless. They clearly knew about his reputation. His arrogance wasn’t something he didn’t deserve. Until Grey appeared, no one would dare to call them first in the field of forging and crafting among the new generation. Since his family wasn’t of noble lineage, they needed to find a way to earn enough for their living. And about a decade ago, his family was renown in Archon for their prowess craftsmanship. If one wanted an item from their brand, it could be said that he had to wait for at least a month before they could even start thinking about crafting it.

Dalien quickly thanked Grey. He was arrogant at first, but now he clearly knew that he was inferior. And with his intervention he could still have a chance to stay in the Academy. Though the old lady wasn’t quite satisfied by that, she didn’t care. She made her intention clear that she had Grey in her sight. Only blind people wouldn’t see it. Since when did she ask for anyone opinion? Those who knew her well couldn’t even remember if she ever did. Besides the dean, she would slap you if you dared to contradict her without solid reasons. The older, the wiser? With her it was more like: the older, the fiercer. Her reason was simple: ‘I am this old already, why do I need to restrain myself with the bit I have left to live?’.

After all the commotion died down, the examination continued and finally came to an end. Dalien was chosen as a direct pupil by one of the examiners and left with him. Before he left, he apologises once again to Grey, clearly hoping to develop a better relationship with him in the future.

“You really did it huh?”

“What do you mean?”

Maya was looking at Grey with an accusatory glare. Though she was happy for him for getting the old lady attention, she couldn’t help but be a little jealous. She didn’t know if it was talent or anything else, but Grey’s abilities were something she had never seen before. However, she knew that everything wasn’t given for free. If he possessed so many abilities, it surely meant that he worked harder than anyone else to develop them.

“Humph! Men are always the same! Did you need to do that much?!”

Just as he was about to respond to her, Grey felt a piercing pain in his chest. His fell on one knee while holding his left chest. His breathing became rough. The cores which were situated where his heart should have been, have begun pulsating. He didn’t what was happening. It was the first time something like this was happening. It was like the cores were calling for something.

Seeing Grey fall so suddenly, Maya rushed to his side.

“Are you okay?! What is happening to you?”

“I am fine… I just need to rest…”

Grey’s voice was dry and weak. He didn’t know what was happening to him. But his cores were reacting strangely. Something must have happened. But before he could think about it, his vision was shrouded by darkness.

Soon enough, the old lady and another woman arrived near them. When the old lady saw the fainted and sweating Grey, her brows furrowed. She went to his side and placed her hand on his forehead. She was trying to use healing magic on him, but her mana could not penetrate Grey’s skin at all. A look of shock was visible on her face at that point. The middle-aged woman who was accompanying came for Maya and said to her that she will take her as her direct pupil. After that, though Maya was reluctant, she left with her, leaving Grey in the old lady care.

The old lady supported Grey’s body with a mana platform before heading toward her room.

-----------------------------------------

Inside the dean’s office, two men were facing each other. One of them was the dean. Edward Von Kalig, while the other one, wasn’t someone who belonged here. He was dressed in aristocratic clothes and a solemn look on his face. If one took a closer look, there were two bone rings on his fingers.

“Edward, please consider my offer. Our king will not last for long, and the princes are just a bunch of fools. There are only advantages for you if you take my side at that time.”

“Lacus… I am tired of those things. I don’t want to involve myself in that strife of power which is taking place in the capital. And, I don’t think I am qualified enough to judge who shall be the next king.”

While Edward had an exasperated look on his face, the other man’s complexion was still calm as ever. He came here with one goal. Ensure that Edward would either be his ally or stay neutral. His assurance on overthrowing the current monarch was high, but he needed more time. And during that time, he needed to gather more allies.

“How can you say that? Although you can’t judge who shall be the next king, anyone knows that the current royal family is falling into ruin. Due to their ineptitude, our kingdom is being led by the nose by all other countries. Our borders had never been so frail. We can’t let things continue like this. He did make the Elf Kingdom our ally, but how far are they? Demons and beast men are getting stronger and in just a few more years they wouldn’t think twice before invading us. Their hatred for humans is only second to monsters and magical beasts. We’re doomed if we don’t do anything.”

Edward stayed silent. Those facts weren’t unknown to him. But, he couldn’t afford himself to participate in that. He had responsibilities he needed to attend to. If their rebellion ever happened to fail, his Academy would be finished. He couldn’t be careless in this matter.

“Lacus. I am sorry. But I can’t risk it. I can just promise you that I will be watching from the sidelines.”

A smile grew on Lacus’ face. It went as expected.

“You won’t regret your decision, and I understand your troubles. I just wish you help me with something.”

Lacus took out the bone rings from his finger and showed them to Edward.

“I just want you to appraise those rings and tell me how much arrays they can handle.”

Edward frowned. This wasn’t something very difficult. And that was the problem. The appraisal skill was very rare but Lacus surely had men who could use it. Nevertheless, Edward took the bone rings and sent his mana in them to appraise them.

The moment his mana penetrated the bone rings, they started trembled for not even a second before rejecting the foreign mana. Edward was shocked. He sent another round of mana but in a greater quantity. This time, the bone rings trembled for few second before rejecting Edward’s mana.

“You should try to use your ice attribute on the ring on your left and use more mana by the way.”

The smile on Lacus face was still the same as if he knew this would have happened. Edward followed his instructions and used ice attributed mana on the left ring. This time, the ring didn’t reject Edward’s mana and absorbed it without any trouble.

“This… Where did you find this?”

If Edward was shocked at first, now he was horrified. The amount of mana he sent wasn’t something an ordinary item could absorb, let alone handle like this ring.

Seeing Edward’s face, Lacus began to laugh. If he was surprised now, he was in for a heart attack by the end of this.

“Secret. Let’s just say that I have more than a hundred kilogrammes of this material, though I lost some while doing some experiments.”

Edward took a deep breath of cold air.

More than a hundred kilogrammes… Since could you find this kind of things in such quantity?!

“It just happens that these bones are really special. They only accept mana of their own elements. The left one is an ice type while the right one is a darkness type. However, there is a huge problem with those. It’s impossible to engrave an array which quality is inferior to A rank. So, imagine the pain it is to find elemental engraver. Thus, I won’t be asking you to help me fight for the throne, just your help engraving those things.”

Edward stayed silent. Though Lacus said that he wouldn’t have to help him fight for the throne, isn’t engraving those common-sense-defying things the same as helping him fight?

“If you accept to help with this little matter, I can give 5 kilogrammes of ice bone.”

The smile on Lacus face grew wider. To him sacrificing 5 kilograms of bone wouldn’t be that much of a loss if he could find someone to engrave on them. He discovered that those bones were powerful but had way too much restrictions. First, in order to forge those rings, it took him a whole week, and five 2nd rank master fire magicians. It was just absurd. And to engrave them, you needed at least an A rank elemental array. A rank arrays were far from common but they weren’t that rare. However, elemental array was a completely different thing. The engraver’s attribute needed to be high and his mana pool too. And those rings needed a monstrous amount of mana to be engraved. And in the whole kingdom, only Edward had the qualification to engrave them.

“I… I can’t engrave the darkness type, though…”

Edward’s feelings were in turmoil. This was an offer only a fool would refuse. This thing was too strong. He could engrave multiple arrays on it and t would not even crack. Engraving multiple A or S rank array on an item was the same as destroying it. It would simply explode. But this could handle it. He was certain.

“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll deal with that later. I’m only asking you to engrave the ice type.”

After thinking things through again for a moment, Edward finally accepted.

Lacus smile showed his white teeth. Everything was going according to what he expected. Now, he only needed to wait, and continue his preparations.

“You won’t regret it. I’ll make this kingdom great again.”