Loyal To The Academy And...

"Oh wow, you're already at the peak of the Crabstynian realm? Elena, you're amazing, much faster and younger than me." Sakura said as Fengli and the rest looked at Elena. The latter shook her head before saying, her tone stable and not showing any pride. "I saw about 10 fellow student troops younger than me with better cultivation talent fall beside me. I can't say I'm that amazing. I have an incredible Master many would wish to follow, let alone have his indirect protection. Without him, and... sparring with a powerful rival, I would've suffered instead of gaining in this war."

"Look at you. You're already at the peak of the Spirit Formation realm. No matter what you say, I can sense your foundation is very stable, equal to mine after training under Master's guidance. There's nothing to say, only... we must try harder for the Academy." Elena added, causing the Concealed Ornament Team to feel warmer in their chests. At this point, not wanting to be left behind, Milyy said with some trembling words. Oh, she was new to sudden socialization. "Err, t-that's right guys. Do the best we can!"

"Hehehe, how cute." - "My, to even make my amazing Fengli like you, no wonder team leader threw his claws..." - "What 'your' amazing something? Huh?! You're lucky we're in front of our upper echelons!" - "... gulp." The Concealed Ornament Team gladly laughed after Milyy's words, causing her to calm down a little more. The claws at her fingertips relaxed, and she felt her slender fingers grasped by a caring Elena. Milyy wasn't aware, right then and there, how rare this sight was for the world. She smiled and returned the tight grip before chatting with her and the COs, including Gloria, who blushed as she sat beside Aleksander.

… Back to Heian Ciemnosc, he was brought to the Wrath Nihility Academy’s entourage of upper echelons. In it, he even saw Teacher Conde, Elena’s master. The Headmaster brought him around before starting with an old man. He had a long, white beard, looked wise, and was half-Human. The Headmaster beamed with a smile as he presented him to Hermian Ciemnosc.

“This is one of the fellows defeated by me in the competition for the Headmaster’s position, Dean Bo Pakal. Be careful with him. If you’re not, he may let others plot against you. He won’t let others try attacking, ambush, capture, torture, rape, or kill you, but he won’t stop those who wish to obstruct you. Besides the Vice headmaster and me, you count on him for your safety and anything concerning the Academy. He is one of the oldest and most powerful powerhouses in the Academy.”

“He’s, in fact, one of the mightiest powerhouses in the Blackotia Kingdom. Without him, I couldn’t have killed Enac and his 2 fellows so easily under everyone’s eyes, even after you did a number on their territory. Heh heh hoh.” The Headmaster added. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the Dean, expecting to see a reaction, but the latter didn’t refute it, so it was the truth.

“You mean you wouldn’t be able to act without being noticed?” Dean Bo Pakal retorted at last at the end of the Headmaster’s words. The Headmaster’s lips twisted, and his face stiffened. The Dean added with a shake of his head before walking away, but not without addressing Heian Ciemnosc. “Rofalto, you better start taking care of things unless you want to see the Academy’s tradition continue. Your vows shouldn’t have been forgotten already, I hope…”

“Kid, if you ever get the chance, don’t be indecisive as this boy and do as you wish. Don’t let your eggs hatch somewhere else for millions of years so they can be born as powerful as possible and deny them growth. Even more so, abstain from being a coward, or your people might have to occasionally go through unnecessary losses. Groan…” With that, the Dean left, not giving Heian Ciemnosc any chance to say something in response.

“Sigh, don’t listen to that oldie, and don’t let his ideas get to your head. What’s so wrong about being careful? Tsk, tsk.” The Headmaster looked at Heian Ciemnosc with an awkward expression. Then, Heian Ciemnosc asked him, “Headmaster, how old is he?”

“Hm? About 4 million years old, why?” The Headmaster responded, not wondering about why would a kid like Heian Ciemnosc ask this. However, the pale teenager asked again, which made his face stiffen. “Then, how old is Headmaster?”

“... 4 million- anyways! Let’s go meet another person,” the Headmaster interrupted his own words and brought Heian Ciemnosc somewhere else. With those questions, Heian Ciemnosc understood the Headmaster undoubtedly had a longer lifespan than anyone else because of his Race. Although he might have an even longer lifespan because of his specific species. Heian Ciemnosc also understood that the wise, old man was the Headmaster’s right hand despite the differences they showed him in between.

“Student Heian Ciemnosc, this is Dean Lorena,” the Headmaster walked to an old granny with orange hair and Fairy’s features. She was clearly a half-Human and half-Fairy aged lady. Fairies’ age was much longer than even Demons and Elves. One could only imagine how old she was. “Did you know she taught the Crimsonbreaking Faction Mortal Close-Combat from her department even after Lil’ Alyona left the Academy?”

“Oh, please, you dumb kid, don’t play like this in front of a child.” The old granny was so nice and warmhearted that Heian Ciemnosc had to feel closer to her than the Headmaster or the previous old Dean. Heian Ciemnosc caught on something and asked the old granny with focused eyes, “Are you the Dean in charge of the Mortal Close Combat Department?! I wanted to go there the second half year of my second year, but the war…”

“Oh~, darling.” Dean Lorena seemed touched by Heian Ciemnosc’s eagerness and looked at him as if she would die if she didn’t comfort him. “No worries. I have plenty of lessons to give you. As my sweet little students’ husband, I can only give you the best, special, and different treatment than anybody else. But that also means your body will be hurt. Don’t think it can escape my eyes that innate Supreme Art for body tempering, boy!”

“Ah, haha…” Heian Ciemnosc became somewhat awkward as his thoughts were clean. He hurriedly shook his head and eagerly said, “No, of course not. I’m close to improving my bodily strength and advancing through my Supreme Art levels. I can only seek help from your Department for that matter.”

“Oh~! It’ll be all in my hands then. Worry not, boy. I’ll ensure you have what is needed to instill fear in Tania and Grietta. Nobody in your future missions will dare face you without an Earth grade weapon.” The old granny bragged, showing her stick-thin arm and making faces as if Heian Ciemnosc was a baby, but it set him in a better mood.

“Wait, old granny, did you say Tania? What did you mean with… your ‘students’ before?” Heian Ciemnosc suddenly felt something wrong and asked. The old granny seemed somewhat confused, too. Along with a tilt of her head to the right, she explained without feeling something was wrong. “Tania, Grietta, Little Alyona and Little Mei Mei. They are your wives, are they not?”

Heian Ciemnosc: (๑ơ艸ơ๑)♡ฺ (◎_◎;)

“Err, Dean Lorena… Only 2 of them are my wives. Grietta is married to Elyor,” Heian Ciemnosc said, leaving the old granny feeling somewhat paralyzed for a while. She then smiled and reacted with a congratulatory demeanor, “Wow! They finally got together! That bad boy doesn’t deserve her. Are they well together?”

“Mn, she’s very friendly with me… cough.” Heian Ciemnosc said with an embarrassed expression, but the old granny nodded as if it was a severe matter to speak about. She relaxed her face and continued, “That’s good. It’s what she deserves. Anyhow, how is Tania doing? Did she find something else besides… being a crazy girl?”

“Nope, she only gets worse, I think. By what Alyona and Mei’er tell me.” Heian Ciemnosc said. This time, he left the old granny dejected, as if nothing mattered anymore. With a shake of her head, she looked up and moved her nose before speaking. “Sniffle- what a good weather it is today.”

Heian Ciemnosc: “...”

Without daring to look up at the ceiling, Heian Ciemnosc kept looking at the old granny as the Headmaster was all tranquil and quiet to the side, looking at the two of them to chat it out. After a slight while, Heian Ciemnosc asked Dean Lorena. “Old granny, since you’re from the Mortal Close-Combat Department, which one does Dean Bo Pakal dictate?”

“Oh~, that hot spot?” The old granny waved her hand in dismissal, throwing her head backwards with attitude before telling him, “He’s from the Comprehensio Department. When Alyona was here, she and her little sister Mei Mei were her favorite students. He was mad at the Heraxles Clan and even killed a few of their clanspeople in response. If it wasn’t his old pal over here interjecting back then, we would’ve been flattened to death in order to avenge his death. Quite a successive chain reaction of events, don’t you think?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“...” Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes naturally widened. He didn’t expect there to be such events happening under the table. He looked at the Headmaster and didn’t see a wry or dejected expression on the owl’s face. Instead, the Headmaster looked back down at Heian Ciemnosc and continued looking at him with fully open eyes and usually. Shaking his head slightly, Heian Ciemnosc turned to face the old granny again.

“Old granny, thank you for your words. I won’t take more of your time until I return to study next year, and I don’t want to delay this night any further. Farewell,” Heian Ciemnosc bowed, and the Headmaster nodded at the old granny. She didn’t seem to be called this by Heian Ciemnosc and even lightly smiled every time he did. She waved at Heian Ciemnosc and watched their backs as they went to another upper echelon.

On their way there, Heian Ciemnosc asked the Headmaster, “Headmaster, how old is old granny?”

“Cough, if it wasn’t because she likes you so much, you would’ve been slapped to become part of the ground just now. Don’t you know everyone here can hear you if we don’t place barriers around you? You might not have noticed, but she placed an extra barrier above mine. Even the God guest in our main hall can’t hear us unless he wants to give us a reason to expel him from the conference before it even starts.” The Headmaster elaborated awkwardly and proudly simultaneously.

“Oh…” Heian Ciemnosc understood a little more but still looked up at the Headmaster, waiting for an answer. The Headmaster probably put a barrier around them as Heian Ciemnosc felt the old granny’s eyes on the Headmaster’s back as the latter said, “Cough, she’s 10 million years old, alright? Shut it now, and let’s continue.”

“...” With a grin from the left corners of his mouth, Heian Ciemnosc kept quiet and continued walking. The following year was bound to be full of activities. Without the war, many things could return to normal, and many more might even come to be if certain things happened…

“Student Heian Ciemnosc. These are Dean Martyn, Supervisor Si Nana, and my disciple, Leading Student Biston. He’s with his little sweetheart, Leading Student Sahnyr. Those two over there are Teacher Conde and Vice headmaster Sonora. We’ll go to them later. Let them have some flirty moments first, eh.” The Headmaster said as he presented everyone to Heian Ciemnosc.

Dean Martyn was an obscure, navy blue Perkanai with a naive expression. And from the looks he got from other upper echelons nearby, he seemed to be the one everyone adored, the seriously adorkable figure among them. Supervisor Si Nana was a fatty Sun Elf with the warmest and best grandma qualities Heian Ciemnosc had ever found in his life and the Blackotia Kingdom.

She had short, curly, dark gray hair and looked at Heian Ciemnosc as if she couldn’t wait to stuff him with cookies and pancakes already by now. Heian Ciemnosc grinned in good nature to her, and she nodded back. On the other hand, the Leading Students, Biston and Sahnyr, looked at him curiously without the intention to challenge or test him. Boston had coffee-colored hair, bright obscure brown eyes, was 1.78 m tall, and was already at the Second Step but seemed barely in his 20s, if not lower.

The young girl, Sahnyr, about 16 years old, emitted the same powerful energy fluctuations as she stood still. In Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes, the ashiness from her cultivation progress was as bright and dense as Biston’s. She has orange, smooth hair, slightly similar to Milyy’s, bangs, eye color, and her excellent proportions could be seen with the naked eye even as she wore a brown, black, and obscure red balloon type of dress.

Hell, in fact, Sahnyr was looking at Heian Ciemnosc’s body up and down, shyly peeking at his clothes with her mighty Spirit Sense, almost breaking through it but, in the end, not daring to do so here. Biston smiled as he looked at Heian Ciemnosc, who now knew the boyfriend was aware. With a glint in Biston’s eyes, Heian Ciemnosc had seen a couple times already, helped him understand, and didn’t feel awkward anymore. Instead, glaring all over Sahnyr’s body without inhibitions, careful not to interrupt the adults’ talk.

“It’s an honor, Dean Martyn, Supervisor Si Nana. My name’s Heian Ciemnosc, and I simply did what was best for my people in the war, nothing much than that.” Heian Ciemnosc bowed to the upper echelons and shook hands with the Leading Students. Biston smiled politely and nodded, but Sahnyr sweetly smiled at him and flashed him her foxy ears before hiding them in a cutesy demeanor. Heian Ciemnosc blinked several times before he was saved by the Supervisor.

“Hohoho, this kid is so full of vigor. I thought he was injured, and his cultivation stagnated. But look at him. He’s already recuperated most of his cultivation, not even with no injuries left within you! Too bad I brought thousands of pills here that nobody will…” The Supervisor said, turning dejected and pitiful by the end of her words. Biston and Sahnyr’s eyes widened, but those pills weren’t helpful to them. They could only lament Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t in the same cultivation base they were at.

“Ah, granny, I can take those anyway.” Heian Ciemnosc stepped up but didn’t raise his hands. He continued speaking. “I have a team full of battle-crazed fellows. We are 90 in total. Maybe those thousands of pills might not be enough for a decade if I gave them all to my Concealed Ornament Team.”

“Really? Well then, good! Take them! If you’re short of pills, you can send them to my garden for missions. There are a couple Second Step Fauna, but they also take care of the garden, so your team will only have to deal with a ‘few’ Spirit Formation realm and Spirit Rebirth realm Fauna for more pills, hehehe!” The granny said, her chubby cheeks shaking as she put those pills on Heian Ciemnosc’s hands without hesitation.

Noticing their medicinal effect and aroma, Heian Ciemnosc was flabbergasted… they were so good!

“Thank you, granny,” Heian Ciemnosc thanked her properly and bowed again. The granny shook her head and waved her hands, “No, no. Don’t. We are no emperors or goddesses here. Only this foolish child might be a strange variable, but whoever dares to belittle others with their status is ganged upon until they’re bruised all over. Remember that when you have to do menial missions in the future, alright?”

“Mn, I will, granny.” Heian Ciemnosc nodded at her, his words honest as he kept all his pills without looking elsewhere. Supervisor Si Nana smiled and softly nodded slightly, letting Dean Martyn step up and present Heian Ciemnosc a transparent cube.

“I, nor anyone, can compare to Miss Nana in terms of pill concoction other than Her Excellency and the Headmaster, so I can only give some of my array formations’ trinkets as a gift to you,” Dean Martyn’s stoic voice sounded deep and dull, somewhat silly, too. “But I don’t wish to pressure you. I think you’ve been pressured enough. Here, this is said to have one of the enigmas of the world that have lasted since time immemorial. It is also said you can make the little thing living inside this come to reality… if there really is a way to do it.”

“!!” Heian Ciemnosc looked down at the Relic in his hands. It was a transparent cube, like an array formation field without inscriptions, and had a rusty, bronze color. It was spread to the center of his palm, but it was as tall as the length of his hand without fingers. There was a little tadpole inside. It was illusory and shapeless, not really a tadpole. Heian Ciemnosc looked at it, and it seemed to look at him.

Click.

“?!” Just like that, Heian Ciemnosc felt this item connect to him, and he immediately deduced it to be a Relic item, one without any properties nor capabilities unlike what even a simple tool would be capable of.

As he looked at it, Dean Martyn spoke with more spirit as he noticed Heian Ciemnosc liked this useless Relic. “It has no name. You can put it in one. However, I think you should be capable of finding a way to give this little thing a home… Make it a true Relic someday, soon. That is if you can find what could be useful and fuse well with.”

“Thank you, Senior, I will do my best.” Heian Ciemnosc stopped analyzing, hiding the flashes traversing his darkest eyes, and looked up to clasp his hands. Dean Martyn nodded and stepped back, content with helping a junior feel cherished, but he remained stoic.

“Alright, since you’ve met everyone, let’s go see Teacher Conde and the Vice headmaster,” the Headmaster placed his talons on Heian Ciemnosc’s right shoulder again and turned him around to face the last 2 upper echelons left to know deeper. Heian Ciemnosc nodded and exchanged glances with Sahnyr as Bistont turned around with his right arm on his girl’s shoulders. Sahnyr’s eyes were totally flirtatious as she narrowed them and waved Heian Ciemnosc bye bye.

“Phew…” Heian Ciemnosc let out a breath of relief, the Headmaster ignored it, and they quickly walked to stand before Elena’s master and the hot stuff Vice headmaster Heian Ciemnosc knew nothing about.

‘Wow, I really shouldn’t look down on any kind of information.’ Heian Ciemnosc thought as he looked at the man kindly smiling at him, receiving him, and looking respectfully at the Headmaster. And at the Vice headmaster, who didn’t show any care for the Headmaster, there was a retrospective, indeed. She looked similar to Martyn, adorkable as hell, but she carried wisdom where he hid it. The Vice headmaster looked like the elder sister everyone wanted to rely on when growing up and when sad, tragic, or challenging times arrived.

“Well, aren’t you might handsome?” The Vice headmaster said, almost laughing out loud after saying so. Teacher Conde flushed a little but held it quick. The Headmaster shook his head and began introducing them to Heian Ciemnosc…

“Student Heian Ciemnosc, you already met with this Academy’s pride, its greatest warrior, Teacher Conde. The Vice headmaster, Miss Sonora, is only a couple million years old. Hooh, but look, she already has the Academy’s pride in her claws and slowly faltering to her adv-”

“Enough!” The Vice headmaster suddenly barked in a low shout to the Headmaster, causing the latter’s feathers to stiffen under his clothes. The Headmaster thereafter dejectedly said, “Alright, I got it…”

…