"Everyone should gather in the hall, huh?" Arin muttered, remembering what the teacher told them after they came down from the carriage. "Bro wants to give another speech..."
Though, Arin also knew that it was related to the upcoming tournament. After all, Riya mentioned that the competition to choose the four Mages who would represent the Academy would take place a day after the students arrived back.
"Well, I might as well participate... Or shouldn't I?"
For now, he decided to put that at the back of his mind.
After arranging all his things in his room, he left, going down the stairs of the dorm building.
He was met with a crowd of first-year students who were all heading toward the hall.
This time, they would gather in the normal hall for first-year students, unlike last time when they gathered in the hall of the second-year students.
It just made it obvious that whatever Orion wanted to say either didn't concern the second-year students or they were already told.
Though, Arin knew that in this case, it was the former. Second-year students had already done their own tournament when they were first-year students.
Arin arrived in the hall where the majority of the students had already gathered. Some were still walking in.
Finally, after a few minutes, Orion walked into the hall with his hands clasped behind his back.
The chatter of the students instantly stopped as they all focused their attention on him, waiting to hear what he wanted to say.
He stood on the raised platform, and as usual, he cleared his throat before he began.
"Good day, prestigious students of this prestigious Academy!"
Since the buildings were already repaired, and the shock of the Vampire attack had reduced to a slight degree, he was confident to say "good day".
The students listened attentively as he continued.
"As you have already seen, the destroyed buildings have already been repaired, and even sturdier than before."
"So, with that, I welcome you all back to Greenfield Academy!"
Instantly, the students all began clapping.
The clapping continued for a few seconds before it died down.
Orion cleared his throat again, his gaze sweeping past the students.
"With that aside, we can now focus on more important things," he said.
Curious expressions appeared on the faces of the students, but there was no chatter yet. They just decided to wait to hear what Orion meant by that.
"I believe you all know about the tournament that is held by almost all the Academies in this Kingdom," Orion said.
He didn't need to say anything else. The students already understood where he was heading to.
"Wait, the time for the tournament is already here?"
"Woah! That was quite fast, I didn't expect it at all."
"I know, right? Time flies by so quickly."
The chatter of the students had already begun, with the most talked-about point being that time moved so quickly.
Orion cleared his throat, drawing their attention and stopping the chatter.
"Good! It seems all of you know about it," he said.
"Tomorrow, only the Magic Theory class will be held," he added. "After the class, a competition will be held in one of the Academy's training centers to determine the four students who will represent this Academy in the tournament."
"Haha! We're just returning back to the Academy and we're already getting some action right off the bat? Sweet."
"I'm so excited already. I might not be able to represent the Academy, but just watching the tournament alone will be insane."
Once again, the chatter began, but as usual, Orion stopped it.
"With that being said, I want you all to rest a bit, try practicing some of your Spells and use of weapons in preparation for the competition tomorrow."
"You can also decide to not participate in the competition," he added. "The choice is up to you."
'Hmm, a good amount of students will not participate, if that's the case,' Arin thought.
Orion concluded his announcement, and all the students began walking out of the hall.
As soon as Arin exited the hall, he began walking towards the dorm building, already planning on continuing learning the Blood Armour Skill.
Someone suddenly grabbed his shirt, making him turn back.
Arin raised a brow. "Oh, Tessa."
Tessa smiled. "How was your holiday?"
Arin also smiled before replying, "It was okay. And yours?"
"It was also okay," she replied. "I couldn't help but remember that day in that carriage when we were wishing for a holiday."
Arin laughed. "Yes, I remember."
"It's almost as if someone out there answered our prayers," she said, still smiling.
"It sure felt like it," Arin said.
Before Tessa could say anything else, Arin suddenly spoke again.
"I was just about to head back to my room to practice a few Spells," he said.
"Oh," Tessa muttered. "That's true, the competition is tomorrow."
"I guess I should also do the same thing," she added.
After that, they both went their separate ways after saying goodbye.
Arin squinted his eyes as he continued walking towards the male dorm building.
'It's good that I ended the conversation.... It would be kinda suspicious if we're seen talking together like that.'
Sure, for other students, it wouldn't be suspicious. Maybe they would be shocked a little bit, but it would be nothing serious. But if it was Alex who saw them, it would definitely arouse suspicions, after all, this wouldn't be the first time he would see them together, and moreover, he had once had a slight suspicion of Arin when he couldn't sense any Energy from him.
Thankfully, he seemed to have discarded that suspicion, tagging it as a coincidence.
Arin arrived at the dorm building, climbed the stairs, and entered his room.
He dropped the bracelet on the floor, and Roxanne appeared.
She greeted him as usual before rushing towards the window.
Without wasting time, Arin sat down on the floor in a lotus position. He planned to continue the Skill process till daybreak.
Concentrating, Arin continued hardening his Blood Energy.
Yes, it was getting harder to do that, and he had only managed to cover half of his chest with the Blood Armour, but that wasn't going to discourage him or make him back down.
He would certainly accomplish it!
The subtle rays from the sun bathed Arin's face as his eyes fluttered open.
He looked around and noticed that Roxanne was seated on the bed, reading a random book that she found on his table.
Immediately he got up, she stood up and bowed slightly.
"Hmm, you seemed so invested in that book," Arin replied, noticing that it was a random book about the story of a man who went on adventures.
Roxanne nodded. "Uhm... It was quite interesting and funny."
Arin nodded his head and finally decided to pay attention to the lady who was screaming in his head.
"Arin!" Seraphine exclaimed. "I was about to tell you to let me out, so I can spend some time with Roxanne, but you had already entered a state of deep concentration before I could even say anything!"
Arin raised a brow. "Oh, sorry about that."
"Now that I think about it, I was hearing a faint voice, but I was just too deep into my concentration...."
He let Seraphine out, and before she could lash out at him, he dashed into the bathroom and shut the door.
A few minutes later, he had already worn his school uniform and was ready to leave.
Seraphine gritted her teeth as she glared at him.
Arin sighed. "Okay, I won't take Roxanne along with me. You can spend time with her."
"Think of that as my way of apologizing," he added.
A bright smile instantly formed on Seraphine's face. "Thank you!"
Roxanne also bowed in appreciation as Arin walked out of the room.
A few minutes later, he arrived in the classroom, and the Magic Theory class went on as usual, except....
"I don't understand what Miss Riya just explained about the Rank of Mana Caves....." A boy seated behind Tessa muttered.
Tessa turned to look at him with a sweet smile on her face. "Oh, I can explain it for you if you want."
The boy was taken aback as he pointed at himself. "A... Are you talking to me?"
Tessa smiled. "Yes..."
Eventually, she explained it to him.
After the class ended, she didn't go out immediately as usual. Instead, she stayed around, and surprisingly, she began chatting with some of the classmates.
'Tessa....? Talking to us?'
It felt like an illusion to some of them. Like, what made her suddenly become so friendly with them?
At first, they were hesitating to talk, but as time went by, they began adjusting, and in a few seconds, they were all talking and laughing with her.
Arin noticed this and was slightly surprised.
'Hmm, what happened?' he thought.
Well, for now, it was finally time for the competition, and all the students were already going to the training center where it would be held.
The tournament was a major event, and it also presented a lot of opportunities, so many of them were determined to participate.
Arin finally reached the training center along with a crowd of first-year students.
'This is going to be interesting.....' he thought.
But suddenly, the system screen appeared in front of him.
Arin read the notification, but immediately after he finished reading it.....
He suddenly felt his heart beating fast, and his eyes widened. He couldn't take his eyes off the system screen.
The world seemed to spin faster as his mouth opened slightly, yet he was unable to say anything.
The voices of the students drowned in the background as he could only hear the sound of his heartbeat.
He gulped as he began trembling, not knowing what to do.
When a person sees a message or is told something they never expected and does not know what to say or do, what was it called?
Confusion? Perhaps speechlessness?
Arin didn't know, but he knew one thing for sure....
'Everything is about to take a drastic turn....'
Because the notification he just received was one he never expected....
[The Author has continued the story....]
[A/N: Please, gift this book a magic castle for a mass release of 10 chapters :)]