TF Chapter 47 The Stars Aligned

***Bora***

It was shocking how our own tutor, with such a powerful background, lacked the information related to the next level. I had been observing many things this past week, wondering why we hadn't been tasked with extracting atoms from solid rock, a lesson that was supposed to be conducted during the second year.

I wasn't exactly the chatty type so I hadn't been the one to procure such information. Instead it had been Danny, the only one among us who had a sociable personality.

That event had really changed the way the forgers looked at things. It wasn't just our teacher who had changed. Even the other teachers whom I had glimpsed upon had signs of change. There had been a leisurely attitude before the incident, with most of the forgers seemingly contented with their lives...

But right now, everything had changed! Many were either gloomy, or appeared to be adopting serious expressions with imperceptible gleams in their eyes. The fire of ambition and serious goals had been lit within many, while some had devolved into useless dregs, with all the latter being dragged off this continent, never to be seen again.

Even now, many months later, the details pertaining to the event hadn't been disclosed entirely, only piecing together rumors here and there to create a complete picture of what had transpired.

Apparently, the entire forger population had faced a formidable foe, a being far above the level of even the strongest among them, the council members, with many, having failed to return alive.

That was mostly my conjecture, which I had shared with Danny and Nathaniel. We had even tried to trick Celeste into divulging something, yet her lips had failed to let loose. We had gotten so persistent that she had even threatened to expel us from this continent if we kept pestering her...

After that day, we stopped asking questions.

-----

"Nathaniel! Are you okay?" Danny asked after Celeste had decided to leave, not before asking whether her sparring partner needed to use the recovery room. He had refused and that's why Danny's tone contained some worry.

"For some reason that woman pushes you harder than us. Does she hate you or something?"

I had an urge to laugh at the guy. Sometimes he appeared to be too clever, yet at other times he could be dumb too. Nathaniel was someone who had a special connection with this place. In order for him not to be killed, it was better that he was strengthened to the point that a forger didn't need to intervene if he found himself in a dire situation.

Now that I think about it, that guy must have received my message. I wonder what his reaction will be.

"Why are you smirking, Bora! This is a very serious situation!"

Cough!

I felt my face heat up at being found out.

"Danny! Those aren't serious wounds!" I shouted at the guy.

"He might have some internal injuries that are serious! You do know that the woman has the strength of a gorilla."

I shook my head at the guy's stupidity. If Celeste had heard his words, there is absolutely no doubt about the bad situation he might have landed himself within.

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"I am okay Danny. They have already edited my genes so my healing factor is off the charts. These injuries aren't that serious."

I pitied Nathaniel. With all that the guy had gone through, it was a miracle that he was still even capable of maintaining his sanity. Even I who had gone through some grueling training didn't think that my experiences were even close to the things he had gone through ever since he had set foot upon this continent.

***Danny***

"No one can prevent the alignment of the stars!"

My grandfather had always spoken that line when I had told him that I didn't believe in superstitions...

Yet our family clan had relied on such vague things like divination future visions, instincts...and what-not to rise to its current position.

As a child, I was always enraged when someone, out of earshot from the adults in my family derided us that we were only better at sucking up to the powerful before they rose.

Looking at the person I wholeheartedly wanted to follow, I couldn't help but feel the irony.

I was born with a gift...a gift far better than that of others. I don't know whether my genes had somehow mutated because of my mother being a forger, but I could see tiny stars flickering on people, non existent to everyone else.

At first I hadn't known what it meant until one day my parents managed to extrapolate a theory...the greater the number of shining sparks around a person, the greater their providence. The clan had been overjoyed...even now, they were still carrying that joy.

Everything in this universe has a probability of happening, no matter how minute. If someone one day just up and had their entire particles lose the bonds linking them together causing them to fizz out of existence abruptly, then everyone had that same chance for that to happen to them, no matter how minute.

I didn't believe in providence, divinity and whatnot, so I studied quantum science extensively as that was a branch where events that can't happen normally can be triggered to occur and manifest, yet I still couldn't believe what I was looking at...

If one year ago someone had told me that I would find a person with this kind of providence or luck, I would have definitely treated that person as a liar.

Senior Nat had such dense specks of light drifting around him that it was like staring at a galaxy. Honestly, it was beautiful, so beautiful that I could never get tired of looking at him.

Too bad he had had to stare death in the face two times. He had been cheerful, yet now, he was more withdrawn, focusing more on becoming stronger. If I had been strong enough, I would have most definitely murdered that woman!

And now there was this person, Kim Bora! There was nothing essentially wrong with her, but I had only added her to our team because Senior Nat had wanted another teammate. Though the star specks surrounding her were many, I had seen many with that same volume, so, she wasn't someone particularly impressive.

Hmpf! Instead of directing her entire energy into helping Nat senior, she was caught up in trying to fulfill her own goals, probably revenge. With her background, she probably wanted to get back at someone by becoming a forger. These were the kinds of people not fit to stay within this profession.

Making friends wasn't what had made me come here...though, an exception had appeared, and that was senior Nat. He was too valuable to be left to his own devices!

"Senior Nat, will you be okay in the long run?"

I had to ask as I didn't trust that he wouldn't get any side effects from that healing chamber or whatever. I didn't trust technology not created by human hands after all. There could be something deeper with the way this continent had revealed itself from the depths of the sun.

Though I couldn't discount the fact that a majority of the luminous specks around Nat senior were related to this continent, I didn't like it one bit.

But I wonder what good things he's going to get from here...could it be that he will eventually become the master of this entire continent? Hmmmm...that was plausible, considering the visions, provided that whatever existed here wasn't simply in search of a body to possess.

I helped him stand up. His face was a little pale, but otherwise fine. He had changed, though outwardly milder than Celeste's change, I instinctively knew that underneath all the fake, he had had a massive upheaval.

Those eyes of his bled out some of those changes, with one being ambition...the ambition to get strong, probably become the strongest. A good mentality. If previously Nat senior simply wanted to become a forger in a pure innocent way, this time he was violently charging forward, wanting to possess strength on top of that.

I had been worried about his pureness previously, but now, I think it was good that he had changed...yet, I still clenched my jaw at the circumstances that had led to his change.

Celeste! I hated the woman, but for now it was better that I didn't give myself away. It would be troublesome if the woman managed to pick up on my killing intent.

(ALL APPRENTICES ARE TO MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE ACADEMY HALL IMMEDIATELY!)

My thoughts were interrupted when those words caused the very air to vibrate, the sheer power within them almost causing me to become dizzy.