Maximus continued laughing hysterically for half a minute and then stopped and stared at everyone in turn.

'Except for Anastasia who wasn't here, the rest of you met them at least once.'

Albus also laughed and the others kept thinking while Anastasia was like an intruder on the group and understood nothing.

'No, no, unbelievable... Wait, one two... Seven, they are your students. I don't know what else could be the answer.'

Emily first answered because she knew they were his students who had come with him a few days ago to her lab, while Mark and Ederson remembered that Dante had told them they were Maximus' students but they had forgotten.

'Which students are you talking about? Do you have students?'

Ederson rubbing his brown beard, thinking aloud, and assuming they are Maximus students, Ederson has many advantages but a good memory is not one of them, especially because he is always drowning in work.

'I thought the same thing too.'

'Yes, it's clearly the same thing.'

Maximus applauded them for their small conclusion but the atmosphere changed completely after he finished speaking.

'We have a serious problem and I didn't know about it till hours ago.'

'What happened? Hold on a second. Didn't you tell me that you would question these people having visionaries...? Don't tell me it's what I'm thinking.'

'The catastrophe will not come after thirteen years as in the past. It will be appearing in less than three years. By simple calculation, it will be the day of the next eclipse that only happens every leap year.'

'It's really a problem, it's so difficult. Do you have any plans for the future?'

Albus asked his friend if he had any plans concerning the changed future.

Maximus sighed, clasped his fingers and rested his head on them.

'That's where your turn comes, at the auction meeting; I want you to help me convince them to cooperate. If it works, the plan will work with a few minor changes.'

Albus was alerted to the presence of three people approaching the room. And alerted everyone to that.

'Enough talk, the food has arrived. We got enough answers, let's enjoy our meal first.'

.........

Each enjoyed the food they ordered, chatted away from the previous topic and the evening went well.

'Anna, how about staying at the academy until the Minas meeting?'

'There are some fun games between students tomorrow if you want.'

Maximus asked her to stay and Albus tried to convince her too, she could not refuse, as she had nothing to do these days. Maximus paid the costs and brought everyone back to the academy and each spent the rest of the evening to complete their endless work to save some time to attend the competitions tomorrow.

-----------------------

A new day arrived and the students of the Heavenly Magician woke up early after they were used to it during the past month. Since they woke up anyway, each of them decided to do their training, laziness is not a solution to move forward and face the inevitable disaster.

'Fiooh, I think we finished ten minutes faster than usual.'

'Really? Good then. Let us finish training quickly too, I would like we go and watch the midterm finals which should start at nine.'

'Good then, it is just seven o'clock.'

The team was chatting until they noticed someone coming from afar.

'Good morning, Master.'

'A lovely morning for training. You did not laze on your morning training. Do you have plans for today?'

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

'We were going to watch the midterm competitions and analyze the participants' fighting styles.'

'I was thinking the same thing, complete the mana training here no one will come to train anyway at this time. Most students are busy reserving seats in the stands.'

'As you require.'

All of them sat side-by-side and trained mana absorption to increase their magic capacity and efficiency of multiple storage centers. This method was characterized by the effectiveness of its results, the speed of growth, and safely without many risks if someone succeeded at learning it in the first place.

An hour and a quarter passed and they finished training faster than usual to arrive earlier and reserve seats for themselves. As the saying goes, the bird that wakes up early is the one who gets the worm.

'Why are you in a hurry? Your seats are pre-booked; I had planned for this since yesterday.'

'Thank you for your interest in us so far.'

They were not the only ones who thought of such a thing, as the teacher had taken a step ahead of them.

'Would you like to visit the director's office, I have someone else to introduce you to?'

Now that they got to know the principal and three acquaintances of the teacher, it is time to get to know someone else. Although it is annoying, it is necessary for the future, communication in the midst of crises is fundamental for finding solutions.

'When will we move, Master?'

'Now.'

Maximus snapped the fingers of his right hand and the whole group is now in the director's office.

'I'm starting to get dizzy from this frequent teleportation these days.'

'Only the weak get dizzy. Just admit that you are weak.'

'I withdraw my words.'

Mira regretted saying this in light of the mockery of others (Orion), withdrew her words, and began chasing the opportunity to make fun of him in the nearest situation.

.........

Two people were in the office before they came, the manager and his guest Anastasia. The two were surprised by the situation that had just happened in front of them.

'Does this usually happen?'

Albus covered his face in annoyance and embarrassment at the same time.

'Since he came back and he is like this, he always bothers me in the same way.'

Albus complained about the usual 'sudden' entry of Maximus who did not care what was happening and introduced Anna to his students.

'This is Anastasia the sword of the Sun, an expert sword lady at the pinnacle of the seventh star. We call her Anna, an honest person but temperamental at the same time.'

The edges of her hair caught fire as she began to boil inside and a fiery aura leaked.

'And here she is giving an example of her temperament. It's not the right time, Anna.'

The two did not find a proper response for the celestial magician, who had a razor-sharp tongue; Albus changed the subject after he had hardly suppressed his laughter.

'Hmmm, let's go to the ring where the rest are awaiting for us. Mark will be involved as a referee in the finals to prevent any injuries.'

'Speaking of competition, how about inviting friends to watch, boss? That would be more fun.'

'Are your disciples really strong? Their form is good but not impressive.'

'The lute you despise may break your back. Appearances may deceive, Anna.'

Maximus told her that they were not ordinary but she did not believe and examined the students and gave appreciation for their strength. Albus patted her on the shoulder.

'Dear Anna, your standards are sky-high but remember this; most of them were ordinary people until a month ago.'

She stared at them several times and her eyes alternated between the principal and the students of her former colleague in bewilderment.

'You're kidding, right? That's impossible.'

'Have you forgotten what he told us yesterday?'

She did not find an adequate response to the manager's statement, changed the subject and asked the manager to hurry to go.

'This is a predictable reaction, frankly, if I had not seen them develop over the days, I would not have believed it either.'

'Let's go now; time is barely ahead of us.'

Albus transported them instantaneously this time and it took longer for the preparation time than Maximus. The matches did not even start but the noise from the stands was high, the boys approached the balcony, a circular arena tiled with magic insulating marble and surrounded by a pale blue mana dome to protect the audience. The stands were no less magnificent than the arena and contained three entrances, a section for students, another for professors and members of the academy and the last one for VIPs where the director and their teacher accompanied the kids.

'Oh, this place is really cool. All the academy's facilities are amazing.'

'You are right; I pay tribute to the skills of the builders responsible for creating it.'

No matter how much they see this kind of scenery they are not yet accustomed to, the habit is predominant, they are accustomed to the wonders of Maximus but not yet to the wonders of engineering and urbanism.

'Have your seats there.'

Maximus pointed to the seats behind him and his students could not refuse his orders. He then turned to Albus and with a gesture; he understood what he had to do.

It is a tradition of the Academy that when the director or special guests attend, the senior official should give a short speech for the event.

Albus stepped towards a meter-long marble column surmounted by a blue magic ball connected to a grid of other stones acting as speakers all around the ring, adjusted his stance and then turned on the device to deliver the speech...