Circular Area.

Cody and Edward were walking along the path to the Prospect building. Edward suddenly halted his steps and Cody looked over.

“Egg-head, what’s wrong?”

Edward looked up to the sky with a despondent look.

“Cody, it wasn’t really my fault, was it?”

Cody narrowed his eyes.

“Egg-head, we’ve been through these many times already. When I said it’s not your fault, then it ne-.”

“His look reminds me back at those times.” Edward reminisced about a tragic past as if he didn’t hear what Cody said just now.

“Edward!” Cody shouted at Edward and slapped him in the face, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Tsk, you’re drowning yourself in grief again. Let’s just get back on track. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

After the small interruption, they continued on their way.

……

Inside the Prospect building. Rainald, Edgar, Zito, Cassia, and the four freshmen mages were there.

“Amelia, is something bothering you?” Rainald saw Amelia having her head drooped down. She was thinking about something in her mind.

“Yes, I haven’t seen my twin brother lately. He hasn’t come out of his room too. I’m worried that what happened a few days ago must have scared him.”

“Don’t worry about it. The schools are really strict when it comes to bullying. Your brother is probably just resting in his room.” Edgar assured Amelia.

“Yes, senior.”

Cody and Edward came through the door. “Oh, senior Cody and senior Edward, you’re here.”

“Yes.”

Amelia stood up and ran to Cody.

“Senior Cody, I want to know the reason why Zachariel failed!”

“This again?” Cody massaged his temples. `What a stubborn girl!`

“Jockey, I didn’t know you’ve actually signed up for becoming a babysitter. You’re already old enough to be grandfather, what a letdown!”

Edward started mocking Cody.

“Shut up, Egg-head! At least I didn’t walk out of the area just because someone reminded me of the past!”

“What did you say?” A round of bickering started again.

“Amelia, sit back down. You won’t get any answers from him for now.” Rainald advised Amelia.

“Senior Rainald, what about you? Do you have any idea why Sir Matthias failed brother Zachariel?”

“Me? I don’t know. Only Sir Matthias and senior Cody know the answer.”

Amelia sat down grumpily, saying something in a low voice. “Why does everyone keep the answer from me? I’m just worried about brother Zachariel. Hmph! I’ll ask senior Cody later.”

Rainald twitched his mouth after hearing what Amelia said to herself just now.

“Senior Rainald,” Helena asked him.

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t the selection process only happen after the regular selection process next month? This is what I have remembered over the years, I don’t know why it was moved on the first day of class.”

“You’re not wrong, Helena. That was what had happened a few years ago, but when Sir Matthias took over six years ago, it was moved onto the first day of class the next year later, which was during our time. The ‘selection’ that happens next month is only for formalities. The representatives have been long chosen one month earlier.”

The freshmen were shocked. `They moved it because of him?`

“Six years ago, it was the first time that the Imperium won the skirmish event under the Prospect category. As such, the Imperium covertly moved the selection process to the first day of school in order to increase the training days of the representatives, while still maintaining the pseudo-selection process that happens one month after the start of school.”

“Many opposed it, but in the succeeding years that alternated between wins and small losses, all of the opposition shut their mouth. That is because whenever we lose, we only lose at most 3 times, unlike the previous Prospect advisers where we would lose more than that.”

“This phenomenon was greatly attributed to Sir Matthias and his great intuition with regards to selecting representatives.”

“You probably haven’t known this, but Sir Matthias is titled the Uncrowned Emperor 24 years ago when he was still a Prospect. I don’t know why the Imperium kept silent about such a great talent, and why only a select few of people knew about his accomplishments and greatness.”

“Although he didn’t have a great talent like Prince Kane Cromwell, his superior intelligence was something noteworthy. At just the age of 39, he’s already at the master-level, something that could only be achieved by those top-tier Elden Prospects.”

The freshmen were clearly dumbfounded. “Wait, senior Rainald. If he didn’t have the talent like Prince Kane, how was he able to achieve the master-level before the age of 40?”

“Helena, I’ve already told you the answer. Reflect back to what I’ve just said earlier.”

Helena was confused and started recollecting the words that senior Rainald said before. Their thoughts were interrupted when the door was abruptly opened.

There were two figures outside; a male and a female. They had sweat trickling on their bodies.

The male had a short stature, with short golden hair that covered one of his gold eyes. He was holding onto the girl’s clothing, afraid that he might fall to the ground and pass out.

The female was taller, with a brown ponytail hair going down her waist. She had a very wide smile on her oval face, and her large black eyes were curiously looking inside the building.

“Look Jean, we’ve arrived at our destination!” The girl excitedly shouted to her acquaintance.

“Scarlet, you’re causing trouble again! We’ve missed the previous meeting because of you, and now you’re barging in without knocking at the door!”

“Hey, brats! What the hell are you doing there?” Edward shouted at them.

“Ah! I’m sorry senior! We’re actually Prospect candidates and we’ve only come here today instead of the other day. I’m Jean Anders from the Great Historic School.”

“I’m Scarlet Amber from the Great Ancillary School, nice to meet you, everyone!” The girl excitedly said in her childish voice.

“Hoho, so you’re the two who were absent the last time, huh?” Edward approached them menacingly. The two newcomers were scared.

“Senior, we’re very sorry. My friend here wanted to take me over to her blacksmith because she wanted to craft a new weapon! I’m very sorry!” Jean panicked.

“A blacksmith, huh?” Edward turned over to Scarlet.

“Yes, senior. Do you want to take a look at my newly crafted polearm?” Scarlet handed out a beautifully crafted polearm with wide smiles on her face.

It was a halberd. The head had a very sharp and clean texture. The base was very smooth for one’s hands to hold it as well.

“Let me see!”

Edward took the polearm and dragged the two as well to the rotating area. Everybody else followed suit.

“Hmm. Good weapon. Brat, are you really the one who crafted this?”

Edward tested out the newly crafted polearm.

“Yes, senior!”

“Good, craft one for me later, okay? If you do that, this senior will forgive you!”

“Yes, senior! What do you want to be crafted?”

The senior and junior then planned out how the next weapon should be crafted out. Everyone else was speechless.

“Hey, wasn’t he a bit overbearing earlier? What’s the matter now?”

“Alright everyone, let’s go back to the lounge.” Cody dragged everyone including Jean out of the area. The senior and junior didn’t give a damn about being left alone and continued with their own discussion.

“Sabrina, you’re here? Where’s Zachariel?” Cody saw Sabrina sitting on the couch.

“Senior Cody, I thought Zachariel went ahead of me towards this place.”

`Damn it, this is worse than what I’ve expected.`

Cody massaged his temples.

“Senior, should I get him again?”

“No, stay put Rainald. I’ll go get him.”

Cody was about to go when somebody called out for him.

“Cody, come with me.”

It was Sir Matthias.

“Yes sir! What about Zachariel?”

“Leave him be for now. We have more serious matters to attend to.”

……

Zachariel was nowhere to be seen during lunchtime. Although he attended his afternoon classes, he went back to his dormitory room after their qi cultivation class.

“Zachariel!” Luiz called out. Zachariel looked over.

“Are you busy tomorrow? We want to train ourselves for the next round a few days from now and we’d like to invite you out.”

“Sorry, I’m busy.”

“Ah, yeah, yeah! You’re still busy with your training for the upcoming selection process for the Prospects, right?”

“The selection process is already done. I’m not part of it.” Zachariel left while saying those words.

Luiz and the rest were shocked. They looked over at Iria, her eyes were twitching. To think that her guess was on-point this time.

“Iria, what do we do now? Do we go ask for his help now?”

Iria snapped out of her stupor. “Idiot! He clearly said he’s busy. He’s not going to help us for now!”

“But aren’t we classmates?”

“Luiz, think carefully again! He’s probably not in the mood. Let’s do it on another day.”

……

Zachariel walked along the large path back to the dormitory. There were barely any people walking around. Solus was setting now, and its faint red light shone on his back.

“You must be thinking that their success or failure is nothing of your concern, right?”

A silvery voice came from one of the benches. Zachariel looked at the source of the voice.

“Senior Cody, what are you doing here?”

“Zachariel Strom, if you keep ignoring people who need your help like that, sooner or later, they’ll ignore you when you ask for their help too.”

Zachariel narrowed his eyes. “What are you trying to say, senior Cody?”

“You should consider the feelings of others in your set of decisions. Not only your feelings matter, you know.”

Zachariel snorted. “Did they ever consider mine?” He started to walk away.

“Anabella Strom.”

Zachariel stopped walking.

“She’s your mother, right? No, she’s your-“

Zachariel conjured all the mana essences in his mana cores. That last phrase triggered him.

`Just like what Sir Matthias has said earlier. How unbelievable.`

“Zachariel Strom, think about this carefully.”

Cody stood up and started to walk in the opposite direction. His voice echoing out with the wind.

“If you keep up this behavior, you’ll not only lose the chance of listening to the thoughts of those who are around you but also lose them too, forever. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”

“After all, you still need to know the truth from your mother.”

Zachariel was left standing in the middle of the path. His mind was in a mess after hearing senior Cody’s words.

`Zachariel, wake up, you fool!`

`Hahaha, Zachariel, isn’t this the life you truly wanted?`

Two voices of his inner-self started to dwell within his mind. One was light and silvery, while the other sounded demonic.

He continued walking to his dormitory; his mind still battling out which life should he strive for.

`Wake up! Everything isn’t as bad as it looks! Your-`

`Shut up! Everything is as bad as it looks! Haven’t you heard and seen it for yourself?!`

He sat down on his bed with empty-looking eyes. He was semi-conscious as his whole body slowly laid down on the bed.

He was then fast asleep.

……

Later that night.

A guard was walking around the hallway in dormitory building B. He held a magic lamp enclosed in a glass container. It was emitting strong bluish-white light.

He arrived on the end of the first floor. Suddenly, a strong putrid smell assaulted his nose. `What’s this? Something’s rotting here. Is it a student performing analysis on demon beasts?`

`No, it’s impossible. First years shouldn’t handle something like this. There’s definitely wrong here.`

He knocked on the door.

“Student, wake up. Your room is starting to smell bad. Open up the door and let me see what’s inside.”

He waited for a minute, and there was still no response. He called out the main security using a magic equipment. It was rectangular, with some horizontal linear holes at the top, and a button at the bottom. They called it a magic communicator.

“Roman Kadlek, reporting to security.”

“Received.” A monotonous voice sounded from the magic equipment.

“Something is wrong here at Dormitory B, Floor 1, Room 125. A strong putrid smell is coming out of the room. No response inside, requesting backup.”

“Acknowledged, sending additional guards, over.”

A few minutes later, 3 guards and one inquisitor went over.

“What’s wrong, Roman?”

“What the hell? What’s with this strong putrid smell?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I requested help earlier. The student inside is not answering. Probably asleep.”

“Inquisitor Radek, can you open up the door from outside?”

“Yes, give me a moment please.”

Inquisitor Radek gathered his mana essence and tried to decrypt the array formation inside the door. A click resounded after a few seconds.

“Open it.”

“Yes sir!”

As they opened the door, the putrid smell became stronger, forcing them to cover their nose. They stepped inside.

“Blood?” Roman felt like he stepped on something wet. He bent down and sniffed it. The strong rustic scent made him realize that it was blood.

He looked over and saw that the blood flowed from the other side of the room. It was spooky.

“Open the lights.”

When one of the guards turned on the lights, all of them saw a scene that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

“AAAHHH!”