Rey leisurely approached the gateway, attempting to leave the schoolground while inside the Mirror Dimension. As expected, he hit an invisible wall right at the border of the gateway. He removed the gem from his pocket and began searching for the final target, Threshold of Hell.

The entrance Rey and his group passed through every day is known as the Gate of Hel. All the eight gates were named after their corresponding world (their original names) at each Cardinal Direction if seen from Speir, or Midgard.

The world at North is Vanaheim, now commonly known as Zion. It was a world unknown to anyone as they would not let anyone in or out, no matter the reason. But of course, there are always exceptions. In the past, at least a hundred thousand years ago, a few carefully selected high ranking Angels, the citizens of Zion, often visited Speir to exchange knowledge. In this age, no one can tell whether or not they still do.

At Northeast lies the world of Niflheim. There lives the Irregulars, beings that cannot be easily categorized by scholars. However, they still coexist with various familiar races. Niflheim and Speir have peaceful, diplomatic relationship, but the residents of Niflheim rarely visits The Floating World, unlike the adventure-driven people of Speir.

Asgard, or Terra, is not much different from Zion’s attitude of keeping its residents in and strangers out. However, there is still some major differences between those two worlds. Terra is essentially isolated from the larger realm by a strong force field, created by an unknown entity eons ago, hence explaining why nearly all of the natives know not of the larger realm. Since the force field is not impenetrable, travellers from various worlds have visited Terra in a discreet manner.

In the Southeast, the world called Jotunheim, or Eintracht, shelters humongous beings such as giants and tiny races such as gnomes. The rarely communicate with the beings from outside world as they do not possess keen intellect. Nonetheless, there are groups that are willing to learn and establish mutual relationships with other worlds to further interests from both sides.

The world located South to Speir is Hel, known also as hell or purgatory, supposedly home to the sinners. Not much can be told about them as they were even more secluded than Zion.

Muspelheim, AKA Razerus, is occupied by all types of elementals. Only those who seek death would dare to enter the world of pure chaos and destruction. Still, there those who risked their life in order to further their knowledge about elementals or those who seek to capture the elementals and sell them to the highest bidder.

At West, we have Myrkheim, or Tenebrae, which mostly consist of dark beings, such as dark elves and daemons. The residents do not possess evil hearts, but races from other worlds despise them and they are usually the root cause why beings of Tenebrae drown themselves in violence. The good news is, after millennia of laborious work to restore peace within the world, all tyrants controlling the land has been eliminated and no more overlords will ever appear again.

The world populated largely by light beings and different types of elves, Alfheim, or well-known as Arcadia. Speir has a relationship with Arcadia that goes way back when, tens of millennia ago. Arcadia is a paradise which many people imagined it to be. The purpose of many beings within the world is to widen their range of knowledge in every conceivable field.

Rey trod along the border with the gem in front of his eyes, hoping to elicit the gem to give off a reaction. When he reached the other end, he stopped and dawdled perpendicularly away from the gate. After he had satisfied with the distance between him and the gate, he aimed the gem at the gate, which fit right into the gem’s surface. The sparkling gem slowly turned into an opaque, dark red stone with a few words that looked like it was carved on the rock. Rey didn’t know that even in the Mirror Dimension the game can still go on.

Rey strolled back to where the two minions were. In front of him was still a circular wall of fire, only it became higher and he could hear shouts coming from within the flames. He arrived beside Hinoko and commanded her to lower the height and intensity of the flames, but made the circle even smaller.

As the flame subsided, Marty stopped shouting and jumping around while his partner drew closer to Rey and the little girl beside him silently. Marty hasn’t given up on the mission entrusted to him from Alan, so he fired his gun and failed once again. His partner gestured him to come closer and halted his shootings. Marty was reluctant in the beginning but soon after, he surrendered, admitting to himself that it would be pointless to continue. He ceased his walking motion before hitting the fire wall and had a good look at the young girl.

The girl was wearing a white hoodie with patterns of dancing flames and a pair of ‘fox ears’ protruding atop of her head. She had a short scarlet hair, opal coloured eyes which reflect her pure and innocent soul and other facial features that would make any adults scream the word ‘cute’. She wore a private school style miniskirt with the colours of black and grey along with a matching brown boot. She was one head shorter than Rey with a body shape of an average eight-year-old girl.

“Tell me how to get out--”

“I’m telling you nothing!” Marty immediately interrupted Rey. Hinoko could felt anger bubbling up inside Rey. He absolutely hates to be interrupted.

“--or I can command my Kitsune here to burn you to a crisp and have your companion tell me what I want to know. After all, you don’t die in the real world even if you are dead in the Mirror Dimension, but I bet it’s going to be very painful. You have three seconds. 3.”

“Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you! Don’t burn me!” Marty did a ‘stop’ gesture with both of his hand. Despite that, Marty was still hesitating whether or not if it’s a correct decision to go against Alan.

“I already won the challenge with Alan.” He showed Marty the petrified gem as proof. Marty’s expression undergo from horrified to...relief?

“Is that so? Alright, I’ll tell you how to get out.” After Marty told him the only way out was to knock out the caster’s opponent, Rey grinned devilishly at Marty. Marty, aware of his inescapable fate, decided to give up and let Rey do whatever he needs to knock himself out. So, Rey ordered Neto to hit Marty at the head, hard.

All of them were pushed out from the Mirror Dimension. Alan’s minions left while Eli hurriedly went to Rey’s side. Hinoko had transformed back to her fox form before they exited the dimension.

“Did you complete the last stage, Rey? And what about the Briseur they used? Is it the illegal one Aster mentioned?” Eli asked.

“Yes. After that, the gem gave me a name. It wants me to find this person. And about the Briseur. Yes, it’s illegal. Don’t worry, they won’t bother us anymore.”

“This person the stone wants you to find, do you know where to find him?” Rey answered his question by searching the name with the Academy’s search engine. Eli distanced himself from Rey and called Aster so that he won’t disturb his friend while two individuals sauntered past them.

“Have you read the manga I told you to? The one about a teenage boy with the ability to stretch his body like rubber?”

“Hmm? You mean the one that the protagonist wants to be the greatest pirate in the world? I haven’t read it, it’s too long.” Their voice disappeared as they stepped onto the express lane.

“What the hell?!” He yelled out angrily and partially confused at the same time.

“I found evidence of your hack into the dorm’s system, Alan, and I’ve filed a report against you. I’m here to escort you to the Director,” Before Alan could think about whether he should escape from Ada, she continued, “However, if you won against Aster here, you can request me to drop the entire thing and let you go immediately.” After Ada finished, Aster stepped forward and began entering the details of the challenge.

“Wait a minute. There’s something wrong about this.” Alan put his left foot backwards, preparing himself to run. “Why would the Director let you just drop the entire thing if I win? I don’t recall him being this...nice.”

“I reported you to him, yes, but I didn’t hand him the evidence yet. I am supposed to bring you to him within 15 minutes, together with the evidence. You know what he will do if we’re late unless I told him that I couldn’t find the evidence or you and tell him to just drop it. He’s still busy with the paperwork, so I don’t think he’ll mind if I do.”

“...Fine! Whatever! Let’s get this over with!” He definitely does NOT want to face the wrath of the Director.

“We’ll play three rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissor. If I win, you’ll obey Ada’s orders for thirty minutes, just in case you try to run. If you win--” Aster was interrupted by the angry blonde.

“Ada will NOT report me AND she will obey MY orders for one hour.” His fingers moved swiftly on the holographic keyboard.

“As long as it doesn’t cross the line.” Ada backed a few more steps away from them both.

“The same goes to you too.” He pressed ‘Confirm’ as soon as he keyed in all the necessary details. The screen disappeared and they both walked closer to each other.

“On go! 1, 2, 3, go!” And they flashed out their hand in one of the three patterns. Alan chose scissor while Aster chose paper.

“This is going to be easy.” They repeated the process for the second time. “Dammit!” Alan rock, Aster paper. Then another round, “Fuck!” Alan scissor, Aster rock. And one more, “Yes!” Alan paper, Aster rock. A silent pause followed. Alan tried to predict Aster’s next and final move, but it made his mind became even more chaotic when he saw Aster’s bland expression, as there were nothing for him to analyze Aster’s move.

“Hey, get on with it!” Ada said loudly.

“Shut up!” He turned his head to Ada and roared. He turned it back and began the final countdown, “3! 2! 1! Go!” Aster won, obviously. Alan’s body froze as the result screen appeared in front of Aster and Alan. A blue holographic collar showed up on Alan’s neck.

“Okay, Alan, do not leave this floor until I tell you otherwise or you will be shocked by electricity until you faint, but not dead. Oh, don’t harm Aster in any way too, or you’ll also get yourself electrocuted until you black out. See you later.” She proceeded to prance forward at the direction of the elevator.

Alan thought his heart would be filled with intense rage, instead, he felt that all of his energy was sapped away from his body. He fell down to his knees and slumped against the wall, sitting in a despaired manner.

“We didn’t actually report you to the Director. Rey told us you would take the bait and ensure his victory.” Aster walked to the opposite wall and sat down while facing Alan.

“......So, this is all Rey, huh?” His voice sounded disembodied.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t this the time for you to explain what his plan was, like every time in the story when the bad guy lost? I don’t have anything to do now, anyway.” He seemed to be recovering from his loss and started to smile.

“Okay? Before I start, I should inform you that Rey knew you sent two of your underlings to attack him,” Alan sat up and glared forcefully at him, “And he wants me to tell you that he already prepared himself for it and you shouldn’t be looking forward to your victory.”

“How--” He rose up to his feet, “That son of a bitch!” He raised up his fist, attempting to hit Aster. But he recalled Ada’s order and smashed his powerful fist against the wall behind him instead. He paced back and forth for a few minutes before stopping and returned to sit across Aster.

“Tell me,” He spoke with a slightly stifling voice, “How did he know?” At this moment, a person suddenly plodded out from the closed door beside Aster. The female vampire stared curiously at both of them before power-walked away from them.

“Rey knew you, or rather your minions, would be surveilling us from the moment, or even before, you Force him into a challenge. He knew you would be constantly watching our every move, so he made sure you only see what he wants you to see.”

“Just get to the point.”

“During the first day of the challenge, he predicted you might send someone to physically damage the door in order to slow down his progress. He knows for certain that you wouldn’t tell your underlings to hurt us substantially according to his observation on you, so it was easy for him to list out all the possible actions you might take.”

“How in the name of Aether could he possibly know about that?!” He jumped up and leered down at Aster.

“Maybe because he’s some sort of genius? He didn’t say anything about it, so I didn’t ask.. It’s also probably related to his Ingenium, but we’ll get to that later. Please, sit down,” Alan wanted to yell at him even more, but decided to listen to Aster and bumped himself against the wall before sliding down to his original position, “He knew what you were planning to do, so he casted a spell on the door. It’s like a Source tracking device, it latches on to whoever close to it and it’s weak enough to blend in together with background Source. After that, he would know exactly where those two were located.

Rey deduced that you wouldn’t do anything throughout the second and third day of the challenge because you would thought this could lower our defenses.” Upon hearing the previous sentence, Alan lowered his head and became ashamed for his lame strategy.

“Rey had me and Eli prepared for a few possible scenarios. However, he told us the most probable action your underlings will take is demanding Rey to engage in a challenge with them, no matter the means.”

“You wanna tell me how in the world did Rey take down both of my underlings in three seconds?” He forwarded his body in interest.

“I don’t know,” Aster saw Alan’s doubt grew in his eyes, “I swear. He didn’t tell me. I was wondering about that myself too. Anyway, back to the challenge. He told us he has absolute confidence that he would win because he was positive that he could influence your minions with ease, which he did. Weirdly enough, he also said it would be advantageous to him if the challenge was a physical battle, to ensure we would not freak out and disturb him, despite the fact that he doesn’t look like a fighter of any sorts.

As a side note, Rey purposely stated that his time dilation spell would drain enormous amount of his energy. He knew that if he lied about it, your underlings would lower their guards and be even more prone to Rey’s manipulation.

He ordered Eli, after he won 1000 Units from your underlings, to go and buy a Force Briseur through a temporary link account he set up with Eli the night before. He knew your drones won’t follow Eli because there wasn’t any point in doing so and you couldn’t’ve know they set up the account because you wouldn’t be able to hack the Academy’s system even if you have the aptitude for hacking, which is why he let Eli buy the Force and secretly handed it to me during the ride back to the dorm.

Thereafter, it was even easier for Rey to grasp what decisions you would make. There was a 100% chance you will once more send your minions to ambush Rey. As a counterattack, he sent me and Ada to trap you here today.

The plan was originally for Ada and me to simply report and stall you as long as possible, but Rey didn’t want his ‘future underling’ to get into any more trouble as it wouldn’t do any good for him. The other reason this plan was abandoned because you would most likely to be desperate enough to ignore Ada and ran away. In the end, he decided to play a psychological game with you.

After I use Force on you, Ada would tell you that she was going to bring you to the Director, exerting pressure on your mind and disrupt your mental thoughts. Right before you would consider escaping from the both of us, Ada would suggest you to accept my Force challenge and play three rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissor. You would most definitely choose the ‘easy way out’ that Ada presented you, rather than facing the Director, especially when you assured yourself that your minions’ ambush will hold Rey longer than we could even if you lose.

Rey was right about his predictions as you fell into his trap perfectly. Just so you know, I don’t feel particularly good doing this, but since you’ve been playing dirty from the beginning, I went along with Rey’s plan. I don’t want to see him become your underling.” Alan was speechless. As if it wasn’t enough to make him feel terrible, it irked him, even more, when he recalled Rey has been telling him not to underestimate him.

“.....It’s an elaborate plan alright. But, how did Rey instruct you and that Eli kid what to do without being noticed by my drones? Neither you or those brats could’ve possibly used an encrypted frequency to communicate with each other without the drones caught any of it, even with the Academy’s system. No, I don’t believe you three have the capability to pull that off.”

“It was Rey’s Ingenium. I don’t exactly know how it works, but, basically, when he touched our heads, he could enter our mind and talk to us. Even though it felt like we were talking for ten minutes, not a single second passed when he deactivated his power. Which is why, on several occasions, he would touch his own head and spent many hours in his head, searching the correct answer to the hints while didn’t waste any time at all.” As soon as he stopped speaking, a screen appeared in front of Alan with the word ‘LOSE’ on it. He sighed angrily for an unusually long time before closing the screen. A band of symbols surfaced on his wrist before vanishing.

“Tell me, what kind of person is Reynard Foxtale? I was busying with The Avarice Wisdom and so I don’t have the luxury to watch your every movement through my drones. I would prefer to get to know my future *cough ‘boss’ better.”

“He’s...unpredictable at times. He often shows a cold attitude to me and Eli, but there were also times when he acted like we’re his close friends, especially to Eli. He’s cunning, no doubt, and he doesn’t seem to like talking a lot. That’s all I can tell you, for now.”

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? A third-year following around a freshman like a dog? Don’t you realize how he is using you without giving you any benefits? I don’t see a clear reason why you would follow a brat that doesn’t seem to give a shit about you.”

“Well, I am his guide.”

“Oh, come on. Seriously?”

“I don’t really know. I guess he has a unique charm? I just have a feeling that if I stick with him, I could witness something marvelous.” Suddenly, Aster received a call. Using his finger which the Circulum rests, he roughly touched his left ear and mouth before answering Eli’s call.

“Yes? …Is that so? …Okay, I’ll meet you both there,” He laid down his hand and glanced at Alan, “I got to go now. Eli told me that Rey will call for you when he decided what to do with you. Goodbye.” Aster stood up and walked away.

After Aster had left his sight, he murmured to himself, “I wonder if I can still keep my own underlings.”

“Professor Albert Quelle, huh? Never heard of this name. Supposed he really is a teacher in the Academy, I don’t think we’re going to find him before school officially starts.” Aster handed the red stone back to Rey. Rey shoved the stone back to his pocket and brought up the bookmarked profile to show Aster the result of his search.

“Well, well. He IS in the school.” The green circle beside the name indicates said person is within the schoolground. Rey touched the ‘Current Location’ bar on the screen and it responded by giving him a coordinate.

“First Ring, Section 6, Room 34-5.” In a blink of an eye, they arrived at their destination. Rey was about to go for the doorknob, but Aster blocked him.

“He’s in Room 34-5, which means you need to use this,” He aimed his finger at a keypad beside the door, “unless you want to spend additional time walking.” Aster pushed the number ‘5’ and a white coloured ‘5’ appeared on the screen above the keypad. The numbered turned green as he pressed ‘Confirm’ on the pad. To both Rey and Eli’s surprise, they now heard the voice of a woman and a man speaking to each other behind the wall. Aster gestured Rey to enter the room before him and that is exactly what he did.

Upon hearing the sound of the door being opened, the man behind a lecture station and the woman beside it turned their body instinctively to see who was coming through that door. Rey halted after a few steps into the room and began scanning the two individuals who were staring back at him.

The man was around the age of twenty-five, had a short, dark grey hair and about 170 cm tall. He wore glasses of thick black frame, a fashionable collared shirt with different shades of blue, a navy blue jeans and a pair of red slippers. The lady, on the other hand, was around the age of eighteen. She had a long, light golden hair with a blue headband on it, wore a cream-coloured dress which made her looked nothing less than a graceful noblewoman despite its plainness and a pair of casual shoe. However, there was one thing peculiar about her, which was her closed eyes. She didn’t open her eyes for even a single moment, yet Rey’s analysis of her micro facial expressions suggested that she could see the three of them stepping into the room.

When Aser realized who that lady was, his eyes widen and his jaws almost dropped. He quickly tapped the shoulders of Rey and Eli before bending down so that his head was in between theirs.

“You two, see that lady over there? She’s the Vice President of the Student Council!” He whispered into their ears. For Eli, he immediately became nervous and tried to act normal; for Rey however, it didn’t affect him in any way.

“Standing there won’t help you three accomplish anything, you know? Come closer.” The man spoke. The three of them sauntered at the same pace towards the rather large station, and when they do, Aster was the first to greet the famous woman.

“Good morning, Miss Elizabeth and Professor Albert. My name is Aster, and these two here are Eli,” He patted Eli’s head, “and Rey,” then he patted Rey’s head. The fox on Rey’s shoulder made a sound, possibly wanting to be introduced as well. “And the fox over here is Rey’s Kitsune. Her name is Hinoko.” She then climbed to the top of his head and stood proudly. Aster put down his hands while Elizabeth walked closer to Eli.

“How cute,” She gently touched Eli’s head as he blushed until his entire face became red. She removed her hand from his head before proceeding in her attempt to shake his hand. Eli shyly grabbed Elizabeth’s soft hand and allowed her to shake their hands. “Nice to meet you, Eli,” He nodded once but didn’t say a word. He still aimed his sight on the ground due to his sheepish nature even after he let go of her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Rey,” She shook Rey’s hand, “Congratulations for capturing the Circulum thief,” and let go of it after finishing her sentence. “Thank you.” Rey bowed slightly at her. Aster was like =_= after witnessing Rey’s humble attitude.

“So, why did you three came here?” When Albert attract their attention to him, he was changing the colour of a pair of crystal earring into dark blue. After was satisfied with his work, he handed it to Elizabeth.

“Here you go.” He placed the earring on her open palm.

“Thank you, Albert.” She then brought out a small box from her PDS, stored the earring into the box before inserted the box back to the PDS.

“We’re here because of this.” Rey removed the red stone from his pocket and laid it in front of Albert.

“On top of solving the theft of the first year’s Circulum, you even cleared The Avarice Wisdom. Truly impressive,” Said he, after taking a long glance at the stone, then at Rey, then back to the stone, “I wonder if there’s something inside this.”

He put the stone beside a whiteboard, where the earrings were previously placed in the center. He wiped away the alchemical circle with his hand before he drew another much simpler circle with an odd, bulky marker. He placed the stone at the center of the circle after he had completed the drawing and a few words floated appeared on top of the stone.

“This...could it be...” He quickly removed the stone and erased the circle. He then proceeded to draw a new circle with his precise, swift and accurate movements. A mere minute later, a delicate and complex alchemical circle was completed, one that even Rey was fascinated by. After the stone was set in place, Albert activated the circle. The surface of the red stone was slowly turned to dust, essentially vapourising into the air. As its size gets smaller and smaller, everyone in the room was more and more excited to see what resides at the heart of the stone.

“This is...a Source stone,” A red, illuminating crystal with the size of a bean was all that remained of the stone, “The legend was true, there IS a Source stone hidden within The Avarice Wisdom. You might be the first one ever to find it! Or it’s just those who did find it said nothing about it since this can be sold for one hundred million Crowns, give or take.” Albert’s statement blew Aster’s and Eli’s mind.

“One hundred million Crowns...That’s...a lot of money.” Aster remarked in a shaking voice. If he had that kind of money, it could greatly improve the situation in his homeworld.

“Well, yeah. For a stone that is able to give off infinite amount of energy and Source, I think one hundred million Crowns would be an understatement, if not for its size and that this stone is fire-element based,” Aster heard rumours that most of the residents of Spier were rarely appealed by money, but to be this nonchalant about it is unheard of for him, “Tell me, Rey, how did you know that this gem contains a Source stone?” And so, Rey narrated his experience during his time in the Room of Choice. He skipped some of the part to hide his Ingenium.

“Interesting. So, what are you going to do with this Source stone, Rey? Will you sell it? Or will you wield its power?” Rey answered his question by action. He ordered Hinoko to sit on the table while he grabbed something from his PDS. What he took out was an empty and transparent amulet. He took the stone, opened one end of the amulet and stored it inside. A few seconds later, the surface of transparent amulet with a stone that emits bright red light inside it became petrified with red and there were intricate engravings appeared on it. He put it around Hinoko’s neck and let its fur shroud the existence of the amulet.

“You let your pet wear a Source stone on its neck?” Albert definitely didn’t see that coming.

“Hinoko is not a pet, she is my familiar. Her affinity with the fire element will most certainly allow her to maximize the potential of the Source stone better than I can. Selling the Source stone would be an unwise decision as it would attract unwanted attention.” Hinoko hopped back to Rey’s shoulder as he explained.

“Hmm. I suppose no one would suspect a familiar wearing a Source stone around its neck. Now that you have finished your business here, it would be fantastic if you all could leave the room right now. Not that I’m trying to be rude, it’s just that I still have a lot of things to do before school officially starts.”

“Of course, Professor Albert. Let’s go.” Aster gently pushed Rey and Eli towards the exit, signalling them to promptly leave the room.

“Goodbye, Albert.” “Until next time, Lady Elizabeth.” Albert winked at her before she also made her way to the exit behind the trio.

“Wait.” Said Elizabeth to prevent them from leaving after stepping out into the hallway. The three of them turned their backs and looked at her. Elizabeth ambled closer to Rey and Eli.

“Rey and Eli. Are the both of you willing to join me to attend The Banquet of Wunderkind this evening? It will be held in the Maze Field, between the Razerus Gate and Tenebrae Gate.” Aster’s eyes almost popped out when she said that.

“I gladly accept your invitation, Miss Elizabeth.” Rey nudged Eli with his elbow after his sentence was completed.

“I..I..I would love to go to this banquet too.” Eli was so embarrassed about his stuttering he immediately covered his face with his hands as he blushed. Elizabeth chuckled.

“Might I ask why are we invited? And what is this banquet?” Rey asked.

“Every year, there will be freshmen that perform incredible feats during the first week. In order to help these students achieve greater heights, those who hold the title of President and Vice President, no matter what club or association they might be in, have to bring two freshmen of their choice to the banquet. As you had captured the Circulum thief within an hour a few days ago and found the hidden Source stone within The Avarice Wisdom, you are undeniably a suitable candidate.”

“I see. Thank you for your succinct explanation, Miss Elizabeth. I have yet another question, if you don’t mind,” Elizabeth nodded, “May I bring along Hinoko with me to the banquet?”

“Yes, you may. However, she must not stay on your shoulder as it might displease some of the other guests. Speaking of which, the both of you shall meet me at the Gate of Razerus before 8 o’clock. The banquet has a strict formal dress code, I assume you both have the appropriate attire?” The two of them nodded, “Very well. Goodbye, Rey, Eli, and Aster,” As soon as she stopped speaking, she brought up the ‘Travel’ app and teleported away.

“Aster, you might want to stop looking at the both of us like that,” Rey said annoyingly after he turned back and saw the goat-Demi bewildered stare.

“How can I not?! The both of you just got invited to one of the most prestigious banquets in the Academy anyone could dream of! And it was the Student Council’s Vice President who invited you, no less! I’m happy for both of you!” He hugged his two juniors tightly as soon as the last word came out from his mouth.

“Aster, you’re suffocating me.” Eli protested. Aster let go the both of them, “Sorry. I got a little too carried away. I am so proud of you both.” He couldn’t let go the big smile on his face.

“But, why was I chose to go too? I didn’t do anything special at all.” Eli felt slightly painful asking this question, but he really doesn’t understand why he was chosen. Was it because he just so happens to be Rey’s friend and was a freshman?

“You helped me, didn’t you? If not for you, I wouldn’t have caught Alan and successfully completed The Avarice Wisdom without major setbacks. Cheer up.” Then, Rey gave Eli a sincere smile, which caused him to blush yet again.

“Aster, could you tell me more about Elizabeth and The Banquet of Wunderkind?”

“To think the great Reynard Foxtale would ask me a question. I am honoured to answer you, my lord.” He bowed at Rey for several seconds after he ended his jest. Rey hit lightly on Aster’s head, telling him to stop.

“Okay, okay. Elizabeth is the daughter of the famous Videre family, heard of them before?” Rey shook his head while Eli nodded. Aster was slightly surprised, but he continued nevertheless, “The Videre family has the Eyes of Omniscient, which means they can’t just open their eyes whenever they want or else they’ll get blind from the power of the Eye, but they could see perfectly fine with their eyes closed, or so they said. She and the current President are one the youngest to ever hold their titles and they are, it goes without saying, very good at carrying out their responsibilities. That’s pretty much all I know about her.

As for The Banquet of Wunderkind, its history dates back to only one or two thousand years ago. A lot of protagonists from real life stories happened within the schoolground and geniuses always managed to bring themselves into the spotlight during the first week. The Academy realizes this and created this banquet. It would help the Academy to uncover even more students with potential for greatness and introduce said students to various professional they invited from the outside, with the hope that they would aid the development of the students’ abilities even further. A lot of important people is going to be there tonight, so put up your best show, you two.” Aster winked.

Later, Aster parted with the duo as he had some business to attend to and they went their separate ways. Since they had nothing to do for the next few hours, Rey, with Hinoko on his shoulder, and Eli visited various locations in the Academy by themselves.

With the night approaching, they went back to their room and made preparation for the grand banquet. Unlike Rey, Eli knew how to apply makeup on himself and use a bunch of other stuff to make him more...seductive, or so Rey joked as he lazily dressed. In the end, Rey accepted Eli’s help to make him more appealing.

“Are you ready?” Rey and Eli now stood side by side in front of the station while facing the Razerus Gate.

“Yeah. I’m, I’m ready.” He was nervous to the point his hands were shaking and his voice trembling.

“Relax,” Rey hold the timid boy’s hand tightly until the shaking gradually declined. Once Eli had calmed himself down, the impassive lad released his hand. Hinoko, with her fur groomed and preserved by a spell, let out an excited bark beside Rey’s feet.

The three of them then advanced towards the gate that would soon bring a momentum change to their lives.

✵End of Chapter 4✵

Advisor: Jigoku Shounen