“You meant yourself, didn’t you?” Khidon asked while they watched Aeri approach the Orb. “The main family of House Willan are always blessed with the earth element.”

“Not my fault that she misunderstood my words.” Carmen shrugged, then quickly added, “I do hope that she successfully awakens though.”

“Me too.”

As Aeri got closer and closer to the Orb, she piqued the interest of many. Everyone wanted to see if the genius who scored a perfect in the knowledge exam will be successful in awakening.

Though the scores of the previous two exams do have an impact on the outcome, and a few students have failed due to poor performance on them, it was clear that the Awakening Ceremony far exceeds the others in terms of significance

Even the judges were full of anticipation as she picked up the Orb. After all, a ten on any of the tests were hard to come by, it would be a big shame if they were to lose her because of an unsuccessful awakening.

Thirty seconds passed...nothing.

A minute passed...nothing.

Yasen slowly shook his head in disappointment, “Aeri, rej...”

A spark of blue light emerged from her body and poured into the Orb

“It's the water element!” The crowd exclaimed.

The colour swirled and swirled until the Orb settles into a translucent state.

Taking a look at the Orb, Yasen announced in surprise at the high number, “Affinity, eighty-nine percent (89%)!”

A flash of light sparked, its brilliance was on par with Brayan's from earlier, who has one of the two highest power limits so far.

“Power limit, seven!”

Khidon and Carmen cheered alongside the rest of the students at their friend's successful awakening.

“Amazing! Another seven!”

“Haha, I expected nothing less from someone who scored a ten!”

While the students celebrated her success, the judges were having a conversation of their own, and not a pleasant one at that.

“The quality of the students this year really can’t compare to the batch from last year, huh,” Caren observed.

“True, but then again, last year was one of the strongest years we had in a while. There were several students who awakened with a power limit of eight.” Xaphon answered.

“And don’t forget Choris, who awakened with a power limit of nine,” Caren said proudly. Then, with a hint of distaste, “look at them, we’re three quarters through and the highest are the three people with a power limit of seven! It’s pathetic!”

Although seven was a number that some schools could only dream of getting, it can only be ranked as above average at Wilborne. After all, its reputation as the best school in Wilborne Territory is there for a reason. Only the eight and ups are usually considered elites within the school.

“Don’t count them out yet,” Yasen said quietly from the front. “Let's steer our attention back to the trial instead of complaining about meaningless things.”

Xaphon looked at Aeri, “This one is definitely a pass.”

Yasen nodded in agreement, and announced to the students, “Aeri, accep...”

Yasen was interrupted again as another light emitted from Aeri to replace the blue light that was in the Orb. Yasen’s eyes grew wide at the sight. The other two judges stumbled up from their chairs, carrying a similar expression to that of Yasen’s, total disbelief.

The students stirred in confusion.

“What is going on?”

“Didn’t she already awaken?”

“Could she be a dual element user that I’ve heard about?”

The new light that illuminated the Orb was dark gray, like the sky during a thunderstorm.

“Wind element!” kept his cool and announced her element. Yasen’s heart is now roaring, not only because she awakened two elemental power, but also because...

Aeri looked up at Yasen, questions flashing in her stormy eyes. Those who saw this might mistake it for her surprise at a second awakening. Only she knew that although she was indeed surprised by her double awakening, she was questioning him for an entirely different reason.

“Wait a second, didn’t a few people also awaken the wind element? Wasn’t the colour green?” A question perked up from the crowd.

“Hmmm, you’re right. Maybe the wind element can appear in both colours? I mean, the judge said it’s wind element, and he’s probably right.”

The gray quickly permeated the Orb, into a near-solid state. Then it flashed out in a blinding light, exceeding any of the previous awakenings.

“Affinity, ninety-three percent (93%)! Power limit, eight!” Yasen announced, and without consolidating the other two judges, “Aeri, Accepted!”

Xaphon and Caren were completely unfazed at the lack of consultation, there is a much more pressing matter at hand. Plus, it’d be stupid to disagree with Yasen on that decision anyway, who wouldn't accept a student like Aeri?

“Why did you announce her second awakening as wind element?” Caren asked outright, “That was obviously...”

“Quiet!” Yasen quickly stopped her in a serious tone, “You must keep silent about this. If anything slips, even House Willan won't be able to keep you in this school.”

“What are you going to do about them?” Xaphon looked worryingly at the crowd, “ You can’t possibly expect words to not go out when hundreds of students bore witness to this.”

“Don’t worry about the students, I can deal with them.” Yasen replied, “I will be speaking to Headmaster Ruo later, about her...condition.”

“A dual element user, how long has it been since the last one appeared?” Xaphon exclaimed, “Not to mention an evolved element on top of that.”

Yasen glanced at him in a silent warning before taking off to the students.

“There appears to be a malfunctioning with the Awakening Orb.” Yasen convinced the students as he picked up the Orb, “It was displaying an incorrect colour, gray was not on the spectrum.”

He brought out a new Awakening Orb to replace the old one.

“Try channelling your power into the Orb again,” Yasen told Aeri.

Aeri was confused but still complied. As she channelled her power into the new Orb, she noticed that something was off. She felt a strange power, a light that is not her own enclosing around the Orb, creating a dome of green around her gray. At this moment, she understood that for whatever reason, Yasen is hiding the true nature of her second element from the students.

She smartly held back her urge to question his intention. Whatever the reason might be, she’s sure that it will be revealed in due time.

The students were so dumbstruck by Aeri’s double awakening that they didn’t even bother to question the colour or the malfunction or whatever other shenanigans. All they knew was that someone just awakened TWO elements, which for most of them, is completely unheard of. Not to mention the fact that the weaker of the two elements is already on par with the strongest power limit shown so far, and had even a higher affinity.

As she got back to the spot where Khidon and Carmen is standing, the latter overly congratulating her on her success, a thought suddenly clicked into her mind. But before she could say anything...

“I think I noticed something,” Khidon furled his eyebrows, “remember the people who collapsed during Sir Yasen’s entrance?

“Ye, what about them?” Carmen looked over.

“They all awakened wind element,” Aeri answered.

“......” There was a moment of silence as Carmen eyed the students who had awakened wind element, including Aeri. He then acknowledged “Looks like Yasen isn’t as simple as he looks to be.”

Khidon and Aeri nodded in response.

While this took place, Argus stormed towards the Awakening Orb, constantly glancing in Khidon’s direction.

As soon as he picked up the Orb, an angry red devoured its surface, followed by Yasen’s booming voice, “Fire!”

It was the next two numbers, however, that sent the crowd into another frenzy.

“Affinity, seventy-six percent (76%)!”

“Power limit, eight!”

Though it was much less reality-shattering in comparison to Aeri’s double awakening in addition to her unusually high affinity, it was still an eight nevertheless. One of the two highest power limits so far.

Argus turned to Khidon and made a provoking gesture, slamming his fist into the palm of his other hand. However, the grin on his triumphant face soon melted after seeing Khidon’s reaction.

Or rather, the lack of it.

Khidon was still busy debating with Aeri and Carmen over Yasen’s connection to the wind elementalists and didn’t even spare a glance in his direction. Much less catch wind of his achievement. An infuriated Argus stomped back into the crowd.