Zachariel was frightened about the blinding flash of light. He opened his eyes and abruptly raised his body. His widened eyes had a tinge of fear behind it.
`What the hell was that? Why do I feel like I would die if I didn’t wake up in that last part of my dream?`
He was drenched in a cold sweat.
`Also, the voice said that I must survive? Does somebody wanted me dead?`
He gasped for air as he tried to compose himself.
`Damn it, something inside is messing with my mind.`
He breathed lightly and massaged his temples while sorting out his memories.
`If somebody wanted me dead, I wouldn’t be here today if that was the case. I don’t think it’s mother. When I was a kid, I thought mother did really hate me but I didn’t hear the last part because I already became detached from the world that time.`
He leaned back and faced the ceiling, supporting his body using his arms. The warm red light of Solus shone through the window on his right. It highlighted his pale and smooth skin.
His black and white hair hanged as his red eyes emptily stared at the brown ceiling above.
`Senior Cody was right. I should’ve lent an ear on what they would’ve said and not immediately jump to conclusions.`
However, he realized something.
`But I don’t think my past self is capable of that, though. I felt traumatized when my mother said I should die somewhere. After hearing her thoughts that time, I don’t think knowing how apologetic she was would have changed things. How cruel.`
He sighed.
`Let’s take a bath instead of thinking such things.`
He got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. He put his uniform into the cleaner and took a shower bath.
He turned the valve on.
There were two switches beside the valve that were colored blue and red.
He flipped the red switch and felt a refreshing sensation when the warm water splashed on his naked muscular body.
He thought about the weird dream that he had when he was in a prison.
`That Prince Nerval and King Naredar, who are they? They aren’t Eldens for sure because their physical characteristics mostly resemble humans from the Great Human Imperium.`
`I’ll search the library later. If I can’t find them there, it might be confidential information. Or probably a long-lost one.`
`It’s impossible for them to not exist. After all, that scenario did not happen in my entire life and it would be weird for me to start dreaming and imagining non-existing people. As for the reason why I was able to dream of that, I’ll think about it later.`
He took a deep breath and rubbed his body with the soap he took from a rack that was attached to the wall.
He reminisced what he had heard from the recording.
`Hal died, and for some reason, it’s my fault which is weird.`
Zachariel felt that something didn’t add up about Hal’s incident and the way how his behavior changed after Amelia and senior Cody explained things to him.
`Even if I turn back time and act like the person I am right now in the past, I don’t think I could ever prevent Hal from dying.`
Hal will still die without him knowing.
He washed off the soap from his body and continued with his analysis.
`The seniors said that it was Prince Kane’s fault. But I don’t think a prince who would soon be crowned as an Emperor would do such a thing impatiently.`
That, and the fact that he was raised as part of the royal family, surely their tutors wouldn’t raise a prince like that.
`Also, I don’t think he is capable of collaborating with those instructors, guards, or staff from the Great School to set up a plan like that. Only the Emperor has that kind of power.`
For Zachariel, anyone who holds a higher power wouldn’t let others freeload on their authority, even if it was their own kin. Emperor Marcus wouldn’t let his child blindly abuse the power he had or the public will take notice of it.
`If his hatred was that deep, he would have taken his time in making Hal’s life a mess, and probably even Amelia’s. He would then use it to infuriate me, and-`
While he was thinking deeply about the matter, the cleaner rang outside, snapping him out of his rumination.
`I should get going.`
He finished his shower bath, turned on the heater, and dried himself. He took out his uniform from the cleaner.
`Oh, this thing already cleans itself. How forgetful of me.`
He folded his uniform and put it into the cabinet beside his bed. He took out the newly bought clothes from yesterday and wore them.
He stretched and tried out the new clothing.
`It feels nice to wear this thing. Fits exactly in my body.`
He also took his student emblem from his uniform and put it in his pockets.
`I wonder if my identity as a Prospect candidate could be verified using my student emblem.`
He looked at the time on the clock above the wall.
`It’s almost 11:00 now. I wonder if Lia would still wait for me outside after being an hour late.`
He took a glance at the room.
`Oh, I almost forgot about my money.`
He remembered that Grandfather Albert had sent him some silver coins last week for his expenditures in the Imperium Capital City.
`Now where did I put it.`
He searched his cabinet for any money. He reached out on one corner and felt a smooth fabric and pressed on it.
`Okay, here they are.`
He grabbed the heavy pouch and looked inside.
`50 silver coins, huh. I guess I’ll take 10.`
He took the money he required and put it in his pockets.
He returned the pouch to the cabinet and then exited the dormitory.
The bustling scene from yesterday was still present. Students would walk in and out and the staff would clean the floors or trim the bushes and plants.
Imperium guards patrolled the area, and some demon beasts and carriages would pass by from time to time.
He had arrived on the large pathway where he met Lia yesterday.
`Oh, she’s still here waiting for me.`
“Zachariel!” Lia waved her hand and ran to him while giggling.
The way how Lia’s brown hair would bounce every time she took a step would enchant any other man, but not Zachariel.
His emotions were still locked due to him being unattached to the world for a very long time.
“Oh, you look beautiful in those clothes, Zachariel! See, I told you that my fashion instincts are good!” Lia complimented herself.
He smiled back at her and patted her head.
Lia was happy when he did that.
“You did take your time today. Did something happen?” Lia asked.
“Yes, I woke up late today. I was having a bad dream.” Zachariel replied.
“A bad dream?” Lia was curious. What kind of bad dream would this kind of guy experience?
`Was it because of his memories?` Lia guessed in her mind.
Zachariel nodded.
“Enough about that. Why did you wait an hour for me here though? Wouldn’t we be both late and left out on the training?”
He didn’t want Lia to be left out on that.
“It’s not a problem! We’ll just say we were lost while on our way!” Lia excitedly raised her fists high.
`Lost on the way?` Zachariel was confused.
The two of them already know the way to the public training area. However, seeing the excitement, Zachariel chose to ignore it.
“Alright, let’s go, shall we?” Zachariel led the way.
As the two of them walked away, two figures appeared near where Lia and Zachariel were earlier.
“Amelia, please stop it. Don’t make an issue out of this. They’re just classmates.” A pink-haired girl tried to pacify her acquaintance who was emanating an aura of oppression and jealousy.
“Shut up, Sabrina. How dare that b*tch steal Zachariel from me. He belongs to me, and only I am the one allowed to be with him!”
Amelia’s body was trembling in rage.
She wanted Zachariel to be with her all the time, guard her all the time, and talk with her all the time.
“Amelia…”
Sabrina was worried about Amelia and Zachariel.
Amelia started to act like this when Zachariel didn’t come up yesterday after being severely humiliated by Priscilla. She became obsessive and possessive of Zachariel, wanting him to be with her all the time.
The two of them followed behind the trail of Lia and Zachariel.
…
An hour later, Zachariel and Lia have arrived at the public training area and went to the same meeting spot yesterday.
“Hey, Zachariel! You’ve finally arrived!” Luiz waved at them.
“You guys are still here?” Zachariel thought that they were already on the second floor and training.
“No, we waited for you. I told them that you would come today.” Luiz pointed his thumb behind while pumping his chest with his small but firm fists.
“Oh, where’s your polearm? You forgot to bring it today, didn’t you?” Luiz noticed that Zachariel wasn’t carrying his polearm today.
“No, I actually lost it.” Zachariel corrected Luiz.
“You lost it? Come on Zachariel, that was an excellent weapon! I don’t know if you know it but the material used to craft them was from the colondrum metal! It’s the third-best metal in the entire Pandragea!”
Luiz felt that his heart was broken when he heard what Zachariel had said.
“Colondrum?” Zachariel was confused. `It was that strong? And how come he knows of this, by the way?`
“Look here, Zachariel. The three best metals are polyqepril, skurdian, and colondrum!” Luiz lectured Zachariel.
“Polyqepril glows in a scarlet color and it’s easily distinguishable! It has strength, lightness, flexibility, and durability! It’s almost the perfect metal you could ask for!” Luiz excitedly explained.
He leaned closer to Zachariel as if he was telling a very dark secret and said.
“Rumors say that only those students in the Supreme Academy have the chance to be crafted a weapon or an armor using this metal!”
`Students of the Supreme Academy?` Zachariel remembered that senior Rainald once discussed to him that only Prospects have the chance to enter the Supreme Academy.
`I wonder if I could make it there someday.`
“Skurdian, on the other hand, is the most flexible and durable metal out of all of them. It is mainly used in pieces of machinery and some buildings.”
“Lastly, the colondrum metal has the strength and durability, making it perfect for crafting weapons! It’s five times better than steel, and it rarely rusts similar to a bronze metal! It would look very similar to steel, however, there are small markings engraved on the colondrum metal, making it distinguishable from its counterpart.”
Luiz felt proud when he was able to lecture a Prospect candidate like Zachariel.
`How’s that, you must be regretting that you lost it, right?` He secretly opened one of his eyes to pry onto Zachariel’s reaction.
`He-, he!` He pointed his fingers at Zachariel as his face twitched.
Zachariel remained indifferent when he heard Luiz’s explanation.
“Okay, thank you for telling me, Luiz. I will make sure to be careful next time.”
Luiz choked his throat when he heard Zachariel acting grateful to him instead of being frustrated. `This guy!`
Zachariel looked at Iria. “Anyway, let’s go now?”
Iria nodded. “Let’s go, everyone!” She led the way.
…
Luiz was thrown away and landed face-first.
`F*ck! How come he’s still this powerful even without a good weapon like yesterday?!` He complained in his mind.
He struggled to stand back up. His face was full of dirt and sweat.
“Luiz, you’re being impatient right now, calm down!” Iria reprimanded him. The two of them were currently sparring with Zachariel.
“Tch!” Luiz felt irritated about it. “Don’t tell me what to do!” He charged out again.
“Luiz, wait!” Iria tried to stop him but she was too late. `That idiot! He’s way too careless! Doesn’t he know that Zachariel had layered his weapon with dark mana essence?`
Zachariel was holding a wooden spear and sparred against Luiz. Dark mana essence was layered on his spear in which only the likes of Iria, Lia, and Luka could see it.
`My quarterstaff attacks should have long broken that spear shaft of his, but how come I can’t see any damage on it?!`
Luiz had always targeted Zachariel’s spear shaft, intending to break it into two. However, something seems to have absorbed the force from his attacks and that infuriated him.
“Aaarrrggghhh!” He attacked once again but Zachariel simply dodged his attack this time.
`Why won’t you break!` Luiz’s eyes kept on staring at the shaft and Zachariel saw it as clear as day.
`He’s way too oblivious of the fact that his opponent could obviously understand the intent behind his attacks. Luiz…`
Zachariel wanted to say it out loud but he hesitated because he didn’t know if it would be a good thing or not.
Luiz thrusted his quarterstaff to Zachariel but the latter deflected it with his spear. Zachariel grabbed Luiz by the neck and sent him flying back again.
“Luiz, calm down! Damn it!” Iria could no longer take it. Luiz was totally acting like an idiot today.
“Iria, if you have any plans, tell me right now!” Luiz shouted at her.
“You-!”
`Did he just said that?`
Iria snapped out of her dumbfounded expression and continued.
“Fine, just keep Zachariel occupied. Don’t be too deep or too far in his range or else he’ll counter you. Maintain a good distance while I attack him on the sides. Also, don’t try to focus too much on his spear shaft! He already knows what you intend to do!”
Iria told him while staring at Zachariel. She analyzed the situation carefully.
`What a difficult matchup. Against a Prospect candidate like him, it’s almost impossible to outrun him, outmaneuver him, outlast him, and even overpower him. I don’t think that even outnumbering him would even work.`
“Maintain a good distance? What do you mean by a good distance? And how did he know I was going for his spear shaft?” Luiz could not understand what Iria said.
“Figure that out on your own, now go! Don’t charge at him, remember that!” Iria did not bother to explain it to an idiot like Luiz.
She sent out multiple slashing waves while flexibly moving to the sides.
Luiz had no choice but to get back on his feet and carefully approached Zachariel.
The sparring continued until a few hours later.
All of them except Zachariel slumped on the floor, tired and battered from the training that they had recently undergone.
“Whew, how tiring!” Luiz was kneeling and his clothes were soaked wet in sweat.
He looked up and saw Zachariel still training.
“Zachariel, aren’t you tired?” Luiz asked.
“No.” Zachariel continued. He would thrust or swing his spear while moving around the platform. His eyes were focused in front of him as if he was facing a formidable enemy.
Wind and dark mana essences could be seen on his two legs.
His figure was blurry.
The rest were dumbstruck when they saw Zachariel fully displaying his abilities.
“Can I even catch up to him when he’s that fast?” Luiz pondered.
Teddy narrowed his eyes.
“Teddy, what’s wrong?” Luka saw Teddy’s tense expression.
“Zachariel… He’s not even using any of those skills when we spar with him.” Teddy replied.
He was one of the fastest students in their class, but he was certain that he will never be as fast as Zachariel was right now.
Iria’s lips twitched because she knew what Teddy was trying to say.
“Should we increase the difficulty next time?” Iria asked them.
“I have no problem with it. Let’s increase our duration to 10 minutes too.”
Teddy wanted to test himself on how he would fare against a fully armed Zachariel Strom.
He clenched his fists and swore in his mind.
`I want to be a representative, and I want to win my matches on the skirmish event. I’ll let them know that I’m not some second-rate heir they have seen in the past.`
He looked at Zachariel who was still busy training at the platform.
`If I don’t use this opportunity in front of me right now, I will regret this decision for the rest of my life.`
He wanted to prove himself in front of his family, that he has the capability to lead the household into prosperity.
Iria noticed the resolve in Teddy’s eyes.
“Fine, let’s do it that way next time. Are there any objections?” She looked around.
The rest nodded. Each of them has a goal as well, and they wouldn’t let Teddy take all of it.
“Okay, everyone, pack up. Let’s go!” Iria directed them.
They left the room and went back to the first floor.
