Now looking like a tortoise, Aris fell to his back with tears in his eyes as he rubbed his belly. He’d never been this full his whole life, and even with this, mozrael had still eaten more than him.
How does she still look so slim?
"I owe you my life, boos. Even if I get reincarnated," he said.
He forced himself to sit up, his rotund belly making such movents difficult.
"Please let wash the bowls as—" He blinked twice. "Where are the bowls?"
The place was empty. None of the bowls they’d eaten in were present. It was like they disappeared.
"Don’t worry about that. We wanted to thank you, so you don’t have to worry yourself anymore," Aramith said.
"But boss, I—"
Aramith shook his head. "And I prefer if you stopped calling boss," Aramith added.
Aris looked at him like a maiden whose fiancé had just rejected her. "But why? Did I eat too much? Forgive if I have wronged you," he bowed to the ground.
This was making Aramith’s skin itch. This is no ordinary teenager. Who taught him such things?
Aramith looked at Mozrael for help, but she just shrugged.
"The reason I’m saying this is because we’re around the sa age, so it feels uncomfortable when you address as such."
But Aris shook his head on the ground. "Never! I have no right to call you anything other than boss when you deserve my respect. If my parents have taught anything, it’s respect. Even if I pass on to the afterlife, my ghost will still call you boss."
Aramith glanced around quickly and saw the attention this scene was bringing.
Many were looking at them with disdain, others with anger, so with confusion, and a few with curiosity. He could only guess what they were thinking.
This is going badly.
He easily saw the smirks on the people. This was the kind of smirk that promised trouble later on. In a place like this, rumours spread faster than fire.
"Get up, do whatever you want, but for now, leave us alone."
Aris raised his head. He noticed the shift in Aramith’s tone. He sounded cold and distant, sohow dangerous.
And Aris realized that he’d pushed too hard. As a weak person, he needed help, and he wasn’t dumb. After people had seen him with them, if he was to separate from Aramith and Mozrael, he could get bullied. But now, he understood he was forcing Aramith’s hand.
But I still can’t call him normally. This would make it difficult to establish him as my superior. I need a way of addressing him that would make him accept as his underling and help when I need.
This wasn’t cunning alone. It was desperation and a need for assistance in a cruel world. He understood better than most how difficult life would be if one didn’t find a group. In all this, his biggest fear was Sylas and the others. If they found out that he made it to the academy in one piece but was still alone, they could do terrible things to him, so he stays silent.
But if they found him with soone strong, they’d think twice before causing any trouble for him.
His fingers dug into the dirt. He was far from stupid. Alone, he’d be chewed up by the crowd. he needed soone strong to cling to, soone to stand behind. Without it...Sylas and the others would tear him apart when they saw him again. That thought alone terrified him more than death.
Watching Aramith leave him was sothing he couldn’t just allow. He got up to apologize, but—
"If you value your life, you would stay away. You’ve already made things difficult for us," Mozrael appeared beside him and spoke coldly.y
Aris’s blood went cold, and his breath caught. Looking at her face right before his, he never would have guessed that the sweet, shy-looking girl who was with Aramith could appear so calmly frightening.
Mozrael turned around and left to go sit beside Aramith. She looked at him with those glacial eyes, and Aris couldn’t help but gulp.
He quickly turned around and went back to his tent, sweating.
The audience slowly dispersed, each person having their own thoughts and understanding of the scene. Most didn’t hear anything, and those who heard only heard a few words that transpired.
So understood it as Aramith and Mozrael bullying poor Aris, and others saw it as Aris begging them for help, but they rejected him. Whatever their thought, no one could understand what was going on.
"What did you tell him?" Aramith asked Mozrael as she ca to sit.
"I just didn’t like the way he was forcing himself on you, so I told him to leave us alone," she spoke calmly, though the coldness in her eyes had disappeared.
"I wonder what kind of life he lived to beco like this," Aramith mused.
"But still, anyone would know forcing soone to be your boss is strange. Even if the person saved your life."
Aramith gave a wry smile. "I understand, but I still wonder." He glanced at the tattered excuse of a tent Aris was in. "I don’t trust him, but I could see he was asking for help. I wonder what he needed help with."
They sat in silence for the next few hours, adding wood to the fire and observing their surroundings. This was a new place, they knew nothing about what was going to happen, and from the knowledge they had, one thing was sure.
Entrance exams to any academy were usually unpredictable.
Because of this, they weren’t going to sleep. When almost everyone had gone off to sleep, they nodded to each other and sat on opposite sides of the fire.
Sitting cross-legged, they began to cultivate.
This would have been a very risky thing to do a few weeks ago, for Mozrael’s marks glowed every ti she cultivated. But with ti, she’d been able to control them so they didn’t glow. And though she couldn’t make them disappear, she could keep them from appearing all over her body.
Aramith was still having difficulty cultivating like normal. At the mont, he could only take in small streams of energy, which was very tiring.
While they cultivated, most slept. And while most slept, others stayed awake. They saw them cultivating and imdiately hated them.
"Show-off"
"Tch! You think you’re special?"
"Ha, look at them...think a few sparks of energy would make them special?"
"They think they’re better than us."
"They’ll regret burning themselves out this early."
"Ignore them. Resting is better than the attention they’re crying for."
They heard almost every comnt, but didn’t care one bit. Lynnor could say worse things.
And just like that, more people had co to hate them.
By dawn, everyone else was still sleeping.
Aramitha and Mozrael opened their eyes at the exact sa ti, locked eyes, then nodded.
When they were observing the place, they saw an area where no one could be located. It was large, and empty like a field.
They stood up, dusted themselves, and carefully made their way there. It was several kiloters wide, and that would be their first training.
Without wasting a second, they shot off, running. In a very short ti, they’d reached the end.
Without wasting a second, they looped back to the starting point and repeated the process several tis. This was one of the exercises Lynnor had forced them to do.
Without structures or trees, the other exercises they did would have to wait.
For three hours, they kept going on. All without breaking a sweat.
When they finished, they moved back to the camp.
A few people were awake then. Aramith glanced at Aris’ tent. Still asleep.
The mont they sat back down on the log, a scream pierced the air.
It screeched like a bird, shaking their bones and waking every soul up. Everyone was on high alert.
The screech ca again, and again, it was difficult to identify which direction it ca from.
For the third ti, the screech rang through the grounds, putting everyone on alert.
The place beca silent for a mont, then a loud voice bood.
"All participants of the Forsaken Peak Academy’s Entrance Exam, move to the field to the east!"
Everyone was silent, unmoving.
Aramith and Mozrael exchanged looks.
Forsaken Peak Academy?
This was the first ti they’d heard the na of the academy. And the field they heard ntioned was definitely the place where they trained this morning.
"Move now or regret!" The voice bood again.
This ti, everyone was thrown into a frenzy, rushing to reach the field. Most of them couldn’t pack all their belongings, and looking at the way others rushed, they decided to leave their belongings behind and rushed to the field.
Aramith and Mozrael were the first to arrive, waiting a whole minute before the stampede of confused people rushed to the field.
To avoid trouble, they moved aside to one of the ends of the field while everyone else filled the grounds.
"Are you all idiots? Arrange yourselves in twenty lines now!"
The voice bood once again.
Everyone rushed to form the lines, but there was confusion.
"I got here first!"
"Hey, you’re supposed to be behind !"
"If you don’t want trouble, go stand there!"
"Do you want trouble?!"
"Don’t shove !"
This was the chaos that ensued.
Most of them didn’t want to be left behind, and others wanted to force themselves in front so they appeared as the first to arrive.
"I give you ten seconds, or else everyone would be dismissed!" The voice shook them and now they ignored their differences, everyone rushing just to be a part of the line.
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
Aramith looked around for where the voice ca from.
"Five!" The ground seed to shake.
"Four!"
Mozrael tapped him and pointed upwards. "Look there," she said.
Above the confused bunch were four figures. He couldn’t see them clearly, but it was clear that the voice was coming from them.
"Two!" People shoved and cursed, panic rising like a tide.
With a second to spare, Aramith and Mozrael quickly joined the group, standing at the very last position.
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