“Grrr…..” The bear recovered and lifted its enormous body up confusedly. Groaning in pain and blinking disorientedly, it panned its gaze all around it and realized that it was enclosed in a glass-like box.

RAAAAHH!!!! RAHHHHH!!!

The bear charged forward against the clear wall once again, clawing it with all its might. Yet, the wall was sturdy, and didn’t show any signs of weakening. The more the bear clawed, the more panicked it became. It seemed to sense that it had messed with something beyond its level.

“A mere saber-toothed bear… Don’t struggle,” the voice rang out again. A tall old man stepped out from the foliage, dressed in a fancy purple cloak and wearing a calm smile. Within his hand he held a tiny, sunstone-sized sphere, which was shimmering with a blue light.

Emmet and Yorick gawked. Who was this old man? Had he summoned that clear box around the bear? Something as fragile-looking like that managed to contain it? They had spent all of their cumulative effort and just barely managed to hold back the massive bear… yet this man only had to say one word and it was over?

“I said, don’t struggle,” the man said calmly once again. The sphere he held flashed brightly with the blue light, and the walls surrounding the bear moved inward, enclosing the bear further. Panickedly seeing the walls shift inward, the bear momentarily fought back once more, but feeling the sturdiness of the walls, recognized its predicament and obediently stopped struggling.

The man turned toward the two boys and wolf, his indifferent gaze turning toward Emmet and the contraptions in his hands. “Those array formations… made by you?”

“...hm? Ah...” Emmet was disturbed from his stupor. He glanced down at his contraptions. “Oh, these? Umm… yeah.”

The man walked forward and approached Emmet to inspect the contraptions up close, gesturing toward them. “May I?”

“Ah… yeah,” Emmet held his contraptions out in offering. “Thanks… thanks for saving us, by the way.”

The man picked up the sun/healing beam and inspected it up close. “Remarkable. Triple layered Dijorbian-switch design, quartz-threaded with cordonian balance, network flow reduction, endowment origin sunstone. Quite good for a basic dual sun origin and Torique-style vitality array. Although the materials are cheap… the design and execution aren’t bad.” He met eyes with Emmet. “You, which family do you come from?”

Emmet gulped. Dijorbian-switch… cordonian balance… what? Emmet didn’t even recognize half the words the man had just uttered. What was he talking about?

“Um… the… the Laghaz… family?” He stuttered out. What was he supposed to say? No one had ever asked him for his family name before.

“Laghaz…?” The man furrowed his brows for a few moments. “Hmm… Laghaz… never heard of it. Are you boys from around here?”

“We’re… we’re farmers, sir,” Yorick meekly said. “We live a few miles back.”

“Farmers?” For the first time, there was surprise on the man’s face. His gaze transferred to Yorick, and saw the shovel in his hands. His gaze went back to the ‘array’ in his own hand.

“Where did you learn formations from?” The man met Emmet’s eyes again, his eyes deeply curious.

“...huh?” Emmet gulped, unconsciously averting eye contact. This guy was intimidating! And that word, formations… this man kept on saying that word. Were those contraptions he made considered ‘formations’? He had never heard that word before.

“Uh… sorry sir, but I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Remarkable, remarkable!” The man’s eyes lit up. His gaze shifted to behind the two boys. “Faurak, you wuss, come out and look at this.”

“Ehh…” A purple-cloaked boy stepped out from the thick forest, nervously scratching the back of his neck. “Alright…”

Seeing the boy, Emmet and Yorick’s eyes lit up. That was the boy who had originally been running from the bear! He had disappeared as soon as the boys had arrived, but it seemed that he had actually been watching from the back the entire time.

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“Look at this,” the man beckoned the purple-cloaked boy forward to look at the sun/healing beam in his hand. “Look at this design. Good, huh? You could learn a thing or two.”

The boy nodded. Although he didn’t quite understand the design from first glance, it looked pretty intricate.

“Even a farmer boy who’s never even heard of the word ‘formations’ can make this, but you still can’t construct a simple double layer Dijorbian-switch design singular array?” The man’s words turned stern. “Not to mention, as soon as you saw that bear, you forgot everything I ever told you and began running for your life. Those two boys, they stood their ground.”

The boy could only look down in shame. “Sorry, father.”

“Ahh… I guess my expectations are too high,” the man shook his head slightly. His gaze landed on Emmet again. “You there, kiddo, are you sure you’ve never been taught this stuff before?”

“Uh…” Emmet quickly nodded his head. “This stuff…? Um… no, I’ve never had a teacher.” He paused. “Well actually, I do have this one book…”

“Book?” The man’s interest was piqued.

“Um, well, not really a real book. I actually don’t quite know how to read…” Emmet embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. After hearing the man utter so many nonsensical fancy words, he couldn’t help but become embarrassed of his illiteracy. “But it doesn’t have many words in it, just a lot of puzzles. I kind of used that as a basis for those… arrays.”

“Gemini’s All-Encompassing Formations Manual!” The man’s face changed. “You were able to learn from that?”

“Uh… yeah,” Emmet nodded. “It was hard at first… and I’m not sure my solutions are completely correct, but yeah…”

“What a find!” The man exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in excitement. “A true diamond in the rough! What talent!”

Emmet could only blink a few times. Was he talking about him?

“Kiddo, what was your name?” The man’s expression turned friendly. “You said you were a farmer?”

“...ah yes,” Emmet managed to stutter out. “My name is… Emmet.”

“You know what, Emmet? How would you like to attend a school for formations?” The man asked. “A talent like you, you could probably even go to the Gemini Academy.”

“Wha…!” The purple-cloaked boy’s mouth gaped open and he stared at his father with astonishment. It seemed that this was a shocking statement.

“School… school for formations?” Emmet eyes dazzled. “There exists… such a thing?”

“Of course!” The man chortled out, reaching out his arm to pat Emmet on the shoulder. “The study of formations is a deep art. Of course there would be schools to cultivate the genius of the children. And for the geniuses of the geniuses… there is the Gemini Institute!”

Emmet gawked. School… that in of itself was a foreign term to him. For a farmer, that would be useless, so he had never attended. It was never even an option. Now, he was given a chance to attend a school specifically for ‘formations’?

“What about it, huh? I can tell that your brain has been itching for something more than just farming,” the man laughed. “Even if there’s a learning curve, I think you’ll adjust brilliantly. Such a talent, able to construct that triple layered Dijorbian-switch design dual array with such a shallow background, you’ll catch up quickly!”

Emmet’s entire face was jittering with excitement. Formations school…? He couldn’t help but have a strong longing. All these years doing farmwork, he had always felt something missing, like he was meant to do something more. Was this his calling?

However, as he thought back to farming, he thought back to mother and father, and his face fell. “But then… I would have to go away, right?”

“Yes, you would have to leave town for at least a few years…” The man detected Emmet’s falling spirits and became curious. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Mother says this is the most important time for a budding farmer,” Emmet explained. “I have to help till and seed the fields. If I leave, then…”

“Farming…?!” The man seemed stunned, and then lifted his head back and heaved in laughter. “You’re worried about missing out on your farming duties?!”

“Um… yeah,” Emmet meekly said. He didn’t understand why that was so humorous.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have a talk with your parents,” the man assured. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime! You don’t want to miss out.”

Emmet slightly nodded, glancing sideways toward Yorick, who was still standing there wide-eyed. “You said there were… schools for formations… Are there also schools for warriors?”

“Of course!” The man smiled widely. “In fact, just a few dozen miles from here is a pretty famous warrior academy. Why?”

“Well, if I go a formations school… can, um, my brother Yorick here go to a warrior school?” Emmet asked. “He’s always wanted to be a warrior. Also, he’s awakened mana, so he must be talented!”

“Hm?” The man glanced toward Yorick, who upon receiving the scanning gaze immediately stood up straighter. “I see, yes… that’s pretty good. I see, you’ve naturally awakened mana? You want to become a warrior?”

“Yes sir!” Yorick saluted. “My dream is to become a warrior, sir!”

“Haha, you’ve got spunk!” The man chortled. “I like it! I’m not an expert on warrior matters… but looking at how you fought that bear, as far as I can tell, you seem to have talent. Alright, that’s a deal then! I’ll talk with your family and make sure each of you go to the schools of your choice.”

“Thank you sir!”

Emmet and Yorick’s eyes lit up excitedly. Everything had happened so suddenly. This was really happening? From the side, Wolfie seemed to sense the good mood too and began barking happily.

From the side, the boy Fauruk just gawked.