Chapter 42: Coincidence

The sun slowly rose from the east horizon, the surrounding cold atmosphere was slowly being warmed by the merging rays of the sun.

As Teo arrived at the usual meeting spot 10 minutes earlier than the appointed time, he was felt that he found something a little more interesting than books and couldn't help but be a little excited.

He waited patiently for Windle and Lia to arrive.

Teo saw many of the students who passed by. Unlike last year, there seemed to be more first years to have enrolled.

After waiting for 10 minutes, Lia arrived first. She had a big smile on her face and was showing off to many of the new students who passed her the number on her sleeves.

"You seem happy today", Teo asked

"because we are now second year students! I also don't have to take Dina's classes this year", Lia responded with a humming tune

"I still have to", Teo responded

Teo still was in the gathering stage and still had to attend Dina's elementalist classes.

While Teo and Lia chatted for a bit, Windle arrived.

The trio headed to a building next to the building where they held their general class last year. This was the building where the second year classes were held.

Although it was a different building, it looked very similar to the old one.

This year Lia led them to a specific auditorium. She had done much research on the instructors that was available so that she would not repeat the same mistake from last year. Lia picked an instructor that was laid back, did not give tests often and even if tests were given, it would be easy to solve.

They even arrived early to make sure that they could register for the class.

Teo did not mind as he always studied the material on his own without problems. Windle, who studied hard secretly, clearly did not mind as well.

....

After the first class was over, Lia separated from Windle and Teo

"I'll see you guys after your elementalist class"

Lia skipped along and headed to her smithing class.

Although she already took a smithing class last year, it was the basic class. The class she was taking this year was the intermediate class.

Teo and Windle arrived at the designated location for their elementalist class. The room was very similar to last year's room, but had large stage similar to that to the arena was placed within it.

Not many students bothered showing up. Although there were some elementalists like Windle, who had  already reached the manipulation stage still attended, only Teo and Grifford were the ones required to attend class. Windle and the others attended the class to ask for guidance on their manipulation control

Desipite most manipulation control were kept secret, there were many that were commonly known to other elementalists. The stage within the room would be used to practice their techniques in class, but the problem was; everyone in class could see their techniques and may attempt to understand and copy them.

This was not a major problem for younger students but if they practiced a special technique that was passed down to them in secret, showcasing it while not fully mastering it yet could leak the process of manipulation.

The location of the class changed, but the teacher did not. The instructors assigned to a group of elementalist students did not change even in the second year. This was so that the instructors would not need to familiarize themselves again to the students. They would already know the needs and concerns for specific students as they have already taught them for a year previously.

The class went on without any lectures but concentrated on more practice. Dina personally coached and advised students who were at the manipulation stage with their control. As for Teo and Grifford, they meditated throughout the whole class.

....

After their elementalist class, Teo and Windle waited for Lia to arrive at a different designated meeting spot.

"Sorry for the wait", Lia arrived panting

"You know, we should just meet you there. It would've been faster", Windle said

"Leave the guiding to me", Lia ignored Windle's reasoning and pulled out a map and led the way.

The location of their next class was in between the central district and the south eastern side of the academy. The area as filled with different production facilities.

Several small farmlands and herb gardens, animal ranches, and even a deep mine within the nearby mountain.

The deeper they went, the more wooden buildings appeared. Most of them were only one floor high; at the most, two floors.

Lia started guiding the two to the area. Although she had spent a year going to the area, she didn't really know what the other buildings were for, hence she got a map to help her. As for Windle and Teo, they knew this area but was not familiar with it that closely. Whenever they had to go to a different district, they would choose a different and more familiar path to get there.

"This is where my smithing class is", Lia said as she pointed at a building

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The building was a single floor building and there were several chimneys on top of the building.

As they passed the building, Lia explained the different areas of the building to both Teo and Windle.

They walked through the area and finally arrived at a single floor building. It was quite small compared to other buildings and were not as noisy. The small building was separated from the other buildings, and had a large courtyard relative to the building.

There were two people guarding at the nearby entrance, one of which was William.

When William saw Teo arriving, his face turned ugly. He held a grudge against him and whats worst is that they coincidentally met in front of the same building.

'This stalker kid' William thought as he ignored Teo

Emily finally did not require to attend the elementalist class but for some reason that annoying brat picked the same electives as her. William was annoyed.

Teo on the other hand did not think too much about it. He felt no ill will towards William as he never interacted that much with him. Although he could sense that William did not like him, he did not bother to care of such things.

When they trio arrived, there were ten other students already there.

Teo and Windle recognized the two among them. One was Grifford, sitting by himself in one of the front desks in class, the other was Emily. She also sat alone, but on the second row of desks.

This time Emily no longer wore her hood and hid her face. She freely showed her beautiful appearance. Her blonde golden hair curled like large bouncy springs. Her complexion was fair, and her eyes were dazzling blue.

Several other boys in the class tried to talk to her, but she ignored them all like she ignored Teo before.

She looked like she matured quite a bit. Before when Teo attempted to talk to her, she would look troubled as if wanting to reply back but now she did not react at all and just plainly ignored everyone who approached her.

The change in was due to the special visitor from the Imperial city. She was told to show herself proudly but do not interact with such commoners. The visitor also left a few Imperial guards to protect her in secret.

"You two! what are you doing here?!"

After waiting a while a loud voice sounded outside

"We are here to guard the area" one guard spoke

Some students who were waiting inside could not help but peek outside.

A lean, black haired man with a scruffy beard was arguing with the two guards. The man wore a purple and black robe which indicated that he was an instructor of the academy.

"You can't be here, leave!"

"But sir, the headmaster had given us permission to guard the area", William retorted

"Hmph! the headmaster?! He is not allowed to interfere with my work!", the black haired man spoke

"But.." the other guard tried to speak but before he could he was interrupted by the man again.

"Look, if you want to guard the area, you can do so 10 meters away from the building. I will not permit you get any close. Only people who I authorized are allowed near this building"

Before they could reply the black haired man already headed into the building.

William and another guard had no choice but to follow the black haired man's orders. He knew the position of this black haired man in the academy was as important and possibly more important in the future than the headmaster.

The black haired man closed the door behind him and the room was completely isolated from the outside.

He looked at the 13 students in the room as he walked in the front of the class.

"I am Deacon, your instructor for this inscription class"

Decon's eyes widen. As he was looking at each student, something caught his eyes. His gaze did not move for a long time and he also stopped speaking.

Teo noticed the strangeness with their instructor's behavior and tried to find out what he was looking at. Many students also followed suit as it was very strange.

Their attention all stopped towards Emily.

Emily's indifferent attitude broke. She looked behind her to see if it was something from behind but everyone was looking back at her. She found out that the everyone was looking towards her.

The instructor's gaze was piercing. Adding the other students' gazes, it was too much for her to handle and she became like a scared rabbit.

Other students thought that the instructor was also charmed by Emily's beauty but Teo thought differently.

His eyes descended down from Emily's face and saw something more attractive.

He knew that the instructor Deacon was staring at the same thing.

It was a jewel that hang from Emily's neck.

With Teo's eyes, he could see the strings of invisible inscriptions that laid into the necklace.

Deacon also noticed the necklace. He instantly knew what this necklace was.

'A void necklace!', He gasped inside