[Are you watching Alaric? You better not blink] went a string of words in Alaric’s mind. At first, the boy was sure he’d been hallucinating… but then, Alia confirmed what he’d heard.

It was Aiden’s voice calling out, loud and clear. The fact that the Aspirant had achieved this without the aid of an awakened Guardian made it all the more impressive.

Alaric had watched the performance with increasing interest. One by one, the spirits silently stood and raised their hands in honour of the young aspirant. With each addition, the glowing sparks of energy increased in number.

Aiden continued his dance for what felt like forever. The tiger fell to the pincers of his mantis only for the boy to return to the centre of the podium, this time drenched in sweat only to take another stance.

Master Jill lost his breath at this sight. His wife had to hold his hand to keep him from interfering.

One by one, the spirits continued to stand and raise their hands, sending shimmering stars of energy into the silver orb glowing in the air… As the shimmering stars of energy filtered into the orb, it gained a few intricate patterns.

‘The quality of the orb is improving…’ Alaric observed, ‘But that would defy the results of his Appraisal. That should be impossible.’

It seemed the spirits were directly changing the results of his appraisal. Turning inward to his guardian, he spoke [I thought someone’s Appraisal came from the power of their sleeping guardian. There shouldn’t be a way to increase the power of someone’s guardian… should there?]

[It’s a difficult task… but not an impossible one,] Alaric’s guardian replied, [It looks like the people of Jack’s Fall have access to one way.]

Even then, to get the spirits to improve the quality of the orb, an aspirant was meant to go through the same perils Aiden was enduring right now.

[The Ceremony is like a test] Alaric wondered.

[Perhaps to those that wish to attain more power before embarking on their journey in a chosen career] the guardian stipulated.

Putting speculations aside, Alaric watched as a gathering of shimmering lights floated into the orb, the shimmering collection of aether appearing like a vast ocean of floating snow.

Calling it aether, however, wasn’t enough to explain this type of energy. Alaric easily noticed how concentrated each spark of aether was, each bearing enough power to sustain one of his most difficult spells to cast.

Some were more concentrated than others even. The scope of what was happening was almost too vast to grasp.

The flow of aether continued, now flowing from both spirits and humans as they watched the intricate dance unfold before them.

The awe-filled silence soon transformed into a chorus of handclaps, congratulating the boy on the brilliant performance… and yet, Aiden didn’t stop.

“Aiden… I think,” the announcer mentioned from his place in the bleachers…

His voice didn’t have an impact on the boy’s neverending battle against the creatures conjured up by his dance. To the man’s dismay, Master Jack waved his hand at him, silencing him.

“Great Ancestor…” Master Jill stood up, “This is enough. He’ll die if he keeps pushing himself like that.”

Master Jack, however, looked angrier the more Master Jill disturbed him.

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[This is bad] Alia whispered into Alaric’s mind.

But Alaric was of a different mind. This was far from bad…

‘You should come watch me,’ Aiden had said only to call out to him again mentally during the whole dance. The choreography happening before them wasn’t just a suicidal attempt at wearing himself out beyond exhaustion.

Alaric looked up at the orb that was reaching the pinnacle of power in the B-class and raised his hand. Deep down in his gut, Alaric felt something stir. The performance had certainly ensnared him… but now, something else swarmed in his mind. His hands twitched with impatience.

[Alia, what do I do?] Alaric called out.

His intuition rang out… but he found himself stumped. What was he supposed to do?

When no response came, he walked out of the VIP booth, leaving everyone in the VIP booth staring at him with mixed expressions. Alaric walked down the stairs. If Alia wouldn’t give him some sort of clue on what he was supposed to do, then he’d do whatever came to mind.

What was the worst that could happen?

Alaric chuckled to himself, ‘This is absolutely crazy.’

He broke into a sprint and went flying down the stairs. Right when he was halfway, he poured aether into his legs and leapt off the stairs, sailing straight for the podium…

To Alaric’s surprise, he never landed… Instead, he stayed floating in the air, caught by an invisible force. He locked eyes with Aiden for a split second before a ghost of a smile appeared on the sweaty aspirant’s face.

With one final move, he dashed straight past a gigantic centipede, slicing the creature in two. For the first time, however, he didn’t return to the podium to start another variation of the Dance of Swords.

Aiden turned and flashed a pearly white smile at the floating boy, “You came.”

“You asked me to,” Alaric replied simply, then looked around, “Why am I… floating?”

“That’s… sort of my fault,” Aiden rubbed the back of his head.

“How come!”

“Well, I was sort of…”

“YOU WISH TO SERVE MY MASTER…” a feminine voice boomed across the colosseum. From a shadow on the podium below Alaric, a majestic two-meter-tall knight emerged, rising till her head was beside Alaric’s floating form. As soon as Alia appeared, all spirits bowed in respect.

Alaric’s eyes nearly popped from their sockets, [Alia, there is no S-class Barrier…]

[Relax, Alaric. With this many spirits in one place, there have to be measures to avoid attracting unwanted attention] the guardian responded in Alaric’s mind.

Meanwhile, when Aiden saw the guardian manifest from the shadows, he got down on one knee and kept his gaze on the ground, “Alaric saved my life… and did so without caring for his own. I know it’s selfish of me to ask this but I would serve no one else.”

Alia had walked up to him and regarded the boy for a bit. Alaric waited in silent anticipation, waiting to see what his all-powerful guardian would do… only for her to turn to Alaric and go, “Well…?”

‘Well…!!!’ the word echoed in the boy’s mind. He blinked twice… then caught up with reality.

[WELL!? IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT? YOU ABANDON ME, LET ME TAKE OFF RUNNING AND FLY STRAIGHT INTO… WHATEVER THIS IS AND ALL YOU HAVE IS… WELL…] Alaric mentally screamed.

The female knight flinched at his mental voice, then coughed, [Can we get back to that part later? I’ll make it up to you.]

The dark-haired boy huffed, then turned to Aiden.

Finally taking the time to look at Aiden again, several flashbacks went through his mind, going over the events of the day. It wasn’t that he’d just met Aiden today that he hesitated, it was that even before he talked to Aiden, he’d felt drawn to the boy.

He took pleasure in teasing him and even listened to him gloat about all the things he knew back at the Tower of Seekers. While many hid their personalities under layers of deceit, Aiden wore his on his sleeve.

He was a complicated human, but less complicated than most. He got angry and made mistakes like the rest of them… but he was himself, never wearing another personality just to fit in.

“So you fought all those monsters just to prove that you could be of use to me?” Alaric asked.

Aiden nodded.

Alaric chuckled in response, “That was reckless. Look at you, all beaten up.”

Placing a hand above the boy, Alaric let a spell unravel in his mind, drawing from his vast pools of aether. Aiden’s body was still standing purely because of his will. In truth, he should have succumbed to the heavy burden of exhaustion a long time ago.

As Alaric’s magic mended his wounds and torn muscles, Aiden grew weaker, fatigue finally hitting him in full swing. Alia caught the blonde boy before he hit the ground, unconscious.

With a sigh, Alaric raised his hand and willed the silver orb to float down to his palm… He intended to let aether flow into the orb as well, just like everyone else had done.

When it touched his palm, however, something extraordinary happened. His aether flowed into the orb for only a moment, bathing the room in the pressure of his vast reserves of aether, then, the surface of the silver orb shattered to reveal an emerald orb within, pulsing with immense power.

Aiden was now A-class.