After he entered the room, the librarian did not immediately lead the next elf out, but instead walked over to his two colleagues and began to discuss the matter of Alz's results.

Meanwhile, Alz naturally returned to his seat after he entered the room, oblivious to the extent of the stir his results created. As the librarians were discussing, Tia and the librarian looked towards Alz with surprised expressions. Tia's gaze contained pride and surprise which the other librarian shock was written all over his face.

The discussion concluded quickly, and the librarian walked out of the room again, bringing Polon along with him this time.

About 45 minutes later, the two elves returned but judging from their expression, Polon's tests did not go well. Polon appeared utterly exhausted, as though he had just returned from a war and slumped lifelessly on his seat after he returned.

The librarian glanced at Polon and shook his head with a sigh before bringing the last elf out to conduct his tests. Clearly, he had not been impressed with Polon's earlier performance.

When the pair finally returned in another 45 minutes, the tests finally concluded, and the librarians gathered together and began a discussion amongst themselves while the hatchlings patiently waited in their seats.

Lein had already left earlier when the second elf was brought for his tests as his presence was not needed here this time. His role at the library was normally to watch over the hatchlings, but Tia and her colleague were here so his presence wasn't needed this time and he went off to handle other matters.

“That was so tiring, I only managed to solve 4 puzzles.” Link complained to Polon.

Polon rolled his eyes when he heard Link and replied, “At least you solved 4, I got glared at by the librarian because I only solved 2… That was scary.” his body trembled slightly at the end as he remembered the chilling gaze he received from the librarian.

“Wow you solved 2? didn’t think you had it in you.” Link said with his eyes and mouth widely opened in an exaggerated expression of shock.

“Hey, are you calling me stupid?” looking at this, Polon immediately snapped back in an angry tone, but a closer look at his face revealed that he wasn't actually angry.

“No, I just didn’t think you would be able to actually sit down and focus on something like this.” Link replied seriously this time as he voiced his honest opinion.

“…Yeah, I fell asleep halfway through so the librarian got mad at me... but my head hurt and I couldn’t think anymore.” hearing this, Polon paused for a moment before he replied, using a pitiful tone towards the end of his sentence.

“…” Link stared at Polon in shock again, but this time the shock contained on his face was genuine.

Suddenly, Link and Polon both turned to peek at Alz who was nearby. The three friends were seated close to each other and Link initiated the conversation with Polon fully expecting Alz to cut in halfway through, but it never happened.

“Alz?” Polon asked while waving his palm in front of Alz's face.

“Oh, sorry was thinking about something else. What were you two talking about?” Alz finally came back to his senses and asked. His mind had been occupied with the previous events since he returned and was spacing out.

“We were talking about the test. How did you do?” Link immediately replied.

"I solved all the problems in the test.” Alz hesitated slightly when he thought of the librarian's actions earlier but decided to reply frankly.

""What!?/Huh!?"" Link and Polon simultaneous jumped out of their seats while gazing at Alz as though he were some kind of a monster.

They had long since knew that Alz was smart and expected him to perform well, which was why Link was asking Polon about how he did first, so he would feel less dejected when heard Alz's results. Yet, this served little purpose when it actually came down to it.

Alz hurriedly pulled the two back to their seats, not wanting to cause a commotion. The test results were supposed to be strictly confidential within the higher-ups of the tribe and the hatchlings themselves.

This was implemented so that hatchlings would not compare their results and form distinctions within the group, threatening the harmony of the tribe. There was little chance of it happening, but they were a small tribe and no risk was always better than little risk.

Although, they usually turned a blind eye towards hatchlings sharing their results among small groups of friends as they understood that it was only natural to discuss it and did not enforce anything as long as the hatchlings did not go overboard.

Alz had considered concealing his results from his friends, but finally decided against it as he did not think that their friendship would be threatened by something like this, and he didn't want to lie to them.

Link and Polon regained to their senses when they were pulled down to their seats, but the shock on their faces remained. The three other hatchlings also turned to give them a quick look but turned back to their own conversation soon after.

“Shh! Remember, we’re not supposed to share our results.” Alz placed a finger on his mouth and said.

“Yeah, sorry... but how did you do it? Were there any special tricks to it?” Link apologised for their huge reactions earlier but quickly turned to ask curiously.

“Umm… I just did it?” Alz titled his head slightly as he tried to recall, but soon replied in a slightly puzzled voice.

"“…”" Polon and Link stared at Alz with eyes and mouths that narrowed to a slit when they heard his reply.

The three did not harp on the subject too long and soon, the conversation developed into one of their everyday conversations as though the earlier incident had never happened. Alz inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at his friends' reactions as they continued chatting as usual.

Meanwhile, the discussion at the front was slowly becoming. Tia started shouting at the other two librarians in what sounded like the beginning of an argument. The two librarians were showing helpless faces as they looked at Tia, trying to calm her down to no avail.

Suddenly, the three librarians went silent and exited the room, leaving the hatchlings confused at what was happening.

Alz was directed concerned eyes towards his mother but knew that this was not something he could interfere with and continued chatting with his friends while appearing slightly distracted. Polon and Link naturally noticed this but acted like they didn't and continued the conversation.

About fifteen minutes passed before the three librarians finally returned to the room with calm expressions on their face, as though there hadn't been any disagreements earlier. They seemed to have came to a consensus that they could all agree upon and Alz finally smiled as he saw this.

“All of you did very well today! You are now dismissed, she will bring you out so follow closely behind her." Tia praised the hatchlings for their performance and dismissed them while pointing to the female librarian who stood beside her

Before the hatchlings got up, she turned to look at Alz with a complicated expression and continued. “Alz, you stay behind, we have things to discuss with you.” her face was a mix of pride, worry, excitement and loneliness all in one.

The other hatchlings shot curious gazes toward Alz, but Alz did not look surprised as he had already expected something like this from the librarian's reaction earlier. Instead, he suddenly felt a pang of unease as when his gaze met with his mother's.

The female librarian walked out with the five hatchlings in tow, leaving the three elves in the room. Tia slowly walked over to Alz and patted his head lightly while looking at him with loving eyes.

“Alz, I am very proud of you. I will support you regardless of what you choose.” Tia started saying tearfully and held Alz in her arms.

Alz felt confused at the sudden development while the sense of unease he felt became stronger, causing him to start panicking slightly and tears started forming in his eyes.

“Calm down and listen, you have two choices now, we will fully respect your decision." Tia released Alz from her embrace and began to explain seriously.

"If we report your results truthfully to the council, with your results, they will probably bring you back to the central village right away. You will go through special training to enter the council and have a bright path ahead of you.” Tia then paused slightly to give Alz some time to digest the information.

This choice undoubtably lead to a bright future for Alz as there had been a precedent of such a case in the recent years. One of the acting elven council members was called back because she solved 9 problems during the test, creating a commotion in the tribe 30 years ago when she was brought back to the central village to undergo special training.

Since she joined the council, she had also been performing well and proved her worth in the council. Given the results of this, if they reported Alz’s score to the village, it was not hard to imagine the same thing happening to him.

“The other option would be to report a lower grade to the council. You will be able to continue with your trial here, but you will be missing out on a huge opportunity.” after a short pause, Tia begin to explain the alternative option to Alz.

This was what their previous argument had been about. They were in charge of the test today, so whatever they reported would be taken as a fact. Tia was adamantly fighting to give Alz this freedom to make his own choice, as she wanted to give him a chance to decide what he wanted himself.

Alz silently listened to Tia go through the two options. After she finished explaining, a sense of relief washed over the uneasiness he felt. When Tia was going through the first option he felt like his world was spinning out of control and something was rising from the pits of his stomach.

Alz highly treasured the bonds he had with his friends and family and did not want to be forced to separate from them, much less after he finally had the reunion he had always been waiting for.

He was still ten. His feelings for the tribe did not extend beyond what he felt towards his friends and family. The decision might have been unclear but any other elf, but he already knew which he would choose when Tia reached the end.

He had seen council members in the past and knew how much the elves in the tribe respected them, but that was not worth more than his friends and family to him. He pretended to be deep in thought for several minutes before he voiced his reply, so they would not think that he made his decision rashly.

“I will stay here, in the fourth village.” Alz's said with a clear and resolute voice.

“Are you sure? Most elves would never give up on this chance and such an opportunity may never come again.” the male librarian who tested Alz earlier asked.

“I'm sure. I don’t want to leave my family and friends like this.” Alz turned to the librarian and repeated his decision with no hesitation.

“You might regret this, why don’t you think more before making the decision.” Tia asked Alz in a shaky voice.

Tia understood that she was actually being selfish when she helped Alz fight for this chance. She would be lying if she said she didn't want Alz to stay, but she was also afraid, afraid that this might end up ruining his future.

“This is my decision and I'm sure of it. I will definitely not regret this, ever.” Alz affirmed his decision again, looking at Tia with a wide grin on his face. After he finished his sentence, he walked up to his mother and hugged her, patting her on the back lightly to reassure her.

The male librarian sighed and shook his head slightly as he looked at Alz. He could hear the resolution in Alz's words and knew he was not going to change his mind. He felt like it was a huge waste of Alz's potential for him to stay here.

Yet, a smile soon surfaced on his lips as he felt something from the heart-warming scene before him. He had a sudden urge to visit his parents back at the central village, a thought that hadn't crossed his mind in the recent years.

The female librarian also looked upon this scene by the entrance with a warm smile. She was on good terms with Tia and had sided with her earlier in the argument as well, because she knew she would probably do the same if she was placed in Tia's position.