The line stretched from the registration desks at the far end of the hall all the way back to the entrance doors, easily containing two or three hundred people waiting patiently for their turn.
Vogue was ntally preparing himself for a long wait when Sean suddenly grabbed his hand and started pulling him in a completely different direction, away from the line.
"There’s absolutely no need for us to line up with everyone else like that," Sean said with a knowing smile. "Co with . I know a much easier way to handle this registration business quickly."
Vogue raised an eyebrow in mild surprise but didn’t resist. It seed this young man Sean was very well connected within the city’s power structure, which made sense given his expensive clothing and confident deanor. People with connections didn’t wait in lines like common citizens.
Vogue followed Sean as they walked past all the waiting students and headed directly toward a side corridor that branched off from the main hall. They walked down this hallway until they reached a door marked "Private Office - By Appointnt Only."
Sean knocked twice on the door in a specific pattern, then opened it without waiting for a response. He walked right in with the confidence of soone who belonged there, and Vogue followed close behind.
Inside the private office sat a middle-aged man behind a large wooden desk. The man looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, with graying hair at his temples and the slightly tired expression of soone who dealt with bureaucracy all day long.
The mont the middle-aged man looked up and saw who had entered his office, his entire deanor changed dramatically. His eyes went wide, and he actually scrambled up from his chair so quickly that he nearly knocked it over backward.
"Oh! Young Master Sean! What an unexpected surprise!" the man exclaid, his voice carrying genuine shock mixed with eager politeness. "I wasn’t inford you would be visiting today!"
"Good afternoon, Mr. Malcolm," Sean responded with easy familiarity, completely at ease. "I do hope I’m not disturbing you during sothing important?"
"No, no, no! Young Master Sean, you are always most welco here at any ti!" Mr. Malcolm insisted emphatically, shaking his head. Then his eyes shifted to notice Vogue standing beside Sean. "And this person with you is...?"
"I’m Vogue Morningster," Vogue introduced himself simply.
"Please, please sit down, both of you!" Mr. Malcolm gestured eagerly toward two comfortable-looking chairs positioned in front of his desk.
Sean and Vogue sat down in the offered seats, settling into positions across from Mr. Malcolm.
"Mr. Malcolm," Sean began in a polite but direct tone, "my friend Vogue and I are both here today to register ourselves as official Stellar Knights. We noticed there’s quite a long queue of people waiting outside in the main hall. It would take several hours before we reached the front of that line, I imagine. I was hoping Mr. Malcolm might be able to help us with this ti issue?"
"No problem at all, no problem whatsoever!" Mr. Malcolm responded imdiately, already standing up from his chair with enthusiasm. "Please co with right away, Young Master Sean. I’ll handle this personally!"
Mr. Malcolm stood up and walked toward a side door in his office. He opened it and gestured for both Sean and Vogue to follow him through.
They walked down another short hallway and entered what was clearly a specialized training room. The space was large and open, with various asurent devices and testing equipnt positioned around the periter. Crystal arrays covered the walls, probably for asuring energy output. Combat dummies stood ready for strength testing. A raised platform in the center likely served for demonstrating techniques.
There was also a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, sitting behind a computer terminal in one corner of the room. She looked up when they entered and nodded professionally at Mr. Malcolm.
"We have two new Stellar Knights here for registration and evaluation," Mr. Malcolm explained to the young woman. "Please prepare the standard assessnt protocols."
The woman’s fingers imdiately began typing rapidly across her keyboard, bringing up whatever programs were needed.
Theresa’s a chanical sound as the machine popped out from the center of the floor.
"What is your awakened talent?" she asked, her fingers poised over the keyboard ready to record information. "Please demonstrate it for the asurent system."
She pointed with one hand toward a large steel machine positioned in the center of the testing room. The machine was roughly three ters tall and two ters wide, made of thick reinforced tal that could clearly withstand significant punishnt. Holographic images, numbers, and text floated above it in glowing blue letters, displaying various readouts and asurent scales.
Vogue paused for a mont to think carefully about how he should respond.
During the trial, other players had definitely seen him using his frost and ice abilities in combat. Additionally, the fact that he had donated an Evolution Fruit to the academy ant that observant people would assu he had also consud one or more fruits himself before donating the extras.
So theoretically, people would expect him to demonstrate one more talent beyond what he’d shown during the trial. Having two talents would be surprising but believable given the Evolution Fruit consumption.
Vogue glanced briefly at Sean standing beside him but chose not to say anything about his internal deliberations.
He raised one hand casually in front of his body and focused his will on manifesting ice energy. A massive sword made entirely of solid ice suddenly materialized in the air before him. The blade was approximately two ters long, gleaming and sharp, with frost vapor rising from its surface.
Vogue flicked his finger in a casual gesture, and the ice sword shot forward like an arrow fired from a bow. It flew across the room and collided hard into the steel testing machine with trendous force.
"CLANG!"
The impact created a loud tallic sound that echoed through the training room. Ice spread across the machine’s surface from the point of contact, and the holographic display flickered for a mont before stabilizing.
Then text appeared in the floating hologram for everyone to see:
[Talent Detected: Frost Elent Manipulation]
[Grade: C-Rank]
"C-Rank? That’s actually really impressive for a first awakening!" Sean said enthusiastically, raising his thumb up in an approving gesture. His smile was genuine and encouraging.
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