………
A day and night had quietly passed. The first Zilan had spent on a comfortable bed in quite some time. Seeing how time was limited, he went to see his disciples.
He had already notified them earlier so by the time he arrived at the classroom, everyone was in attendance.
“Master!” They all bowed their heads upon seeing him.
Zilan smiled when he saw this. Little did he know that his disciples were actually extremely excited to see him. When he had just broken through into the soul-compression stage, the runes he had placed inside them, the ones that symbolised their bond as Master and disciple, aggressively reacted. This caused a few changes, good changes, to their bodies and the amount of power they could draw from the runes had shockingly increased.
After that, they heard about how their Master dealt with Senior Mo and Zest and they couldn’t help but feel a certain pride. This was especially so for Lorn whose eyes appeared to be glowing as he looked at Zilan.
“How have you all been?” laughed Zilan, satisfied by their reactions.
“We’re good.” Said Misty, answering for the rest of the class.
“I see. How goes the study?”
As soon as he asked that, he was bombarded by an endless amount of questions, remarks, doubts, confused gibberish etc…
It got to the point that he had to put off what he had come to do and first take time to slowly guide his Disciples. The one who needed the most help was surprisingly Grouch. The reason for this was that he was relying on his flame too much instead of understanding the substance contained within the scripture he had given them. Zilan stressed this fact to him, warning him to stop it now before it becomes an irreversible habit. He then went on to clear his doubts.
As for the others, the ones with the easiest to solve questions were naturally the two Harnah sisters and the ones with the most interesting and sometimes laughable questions were Misty, Lorn and Andrete. Zilan helped them for a while before advising that they take a break from research for some time lest their hypotheses get anymore outlandish.
“It’s not bad to have an active imagination however, such thoughts should be set aside until you can understand the basic scripture I gave you. Before then, I don’t want to hear concepts that are way beyond your level being mentioned.”
“Yes, Master.” The three replied.
Working with Hendrek on the other hand was without a doubt the sole time he truly felt like he was a teacher. His questions were sensible and they mostly centred around the field of Illusions, something Zilan expected. When he answered Hendrek, it looked like he was successfully comprehending the knowledge he was dishing out.
“Okay, that’s enough for now. I have something I’d like to speak to you all about.”
All seven of them perked up their ears in attention.
“The Concealed Scripture display is fast approaching. How many of you have heard anything about it?”
Misty was the first to raise her hand.
“We just have to find a good concealed scripture to pass right?”
Zilan cleared his throat after hearing her response. “That is true however, it’s not as easy as you make it sound.” He then relayed onto them the information he attained from an envious Fujo yesterday.
“The Concealed Scripture Display like you eluded to does indeed involve scriptures much like the one I bestowed upon you all, usually scattered across an area and hidden extremely well. It is then up to the participants to find them within a given time period and make them their own. Doing so, would equal passing but even if one fails no punishment will be administered. What will happen is that they will not be able to accept a Master and they will be left behind by those who did find scriptures.”
“It may sound straightforward however the method of concealing changes every year. Also, to acquire the Scriptures is actually extremely hard. One has to overcome illusions, attacks on the body as well as forcefully get rid of the restrictions placed on the Scripture in order to take it away. There may also many other things in store that will try to lead you astray during the trial which is why you all must be careful.”
Taking this all in, his disciples finally understood the graveness of the situation.
“We already have a scripture and a Master, so the display doesn’t seem to be that important.” Commented Hendrek.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Said Zilan. “What I gave you is the best scripture for building foundations in Alchemy however, the essence of Alchemy still lies in constant learning and constant research. This is a good opportunity for you to gain other scriptures and see for yourselves how the skills you’ve learnt compare to those in other scriptures and other (lesser) schools of thought. It’s also a good chance to take in new recipes and theories that you can work towards deciphering and perhaps improving.” He thought the (lesser) part. Saying it out loud would only serve to make his disciples arrogant.
“Understood.” Replied Lorn. The rest quickly followed up with a similar acknowledgement.
“Having said that, I’ve prepared a few trinkets for you all that should make dealing with illusions bearable.”
Seven gold rings floated towards them following his statement.
“Keep them on at all times during the trial and try your best. I expect every one here to come back with a scripture.”
“Yes, Master.” They replied in unison.
Zilan spent a few more hours helping his students and catching up with them before eventually taking his leave. He was quite pleased with himself when he departed from the classroom. Seeing his disciples made him happy but seeing their progress made him feel both grateful and proud.
It was at this very moment when he was so elated that he heard a voice he’d hoped he would never have the misfortune of listening to again.
“Hey kid, it’s been a while.” Little Red’s annoyingly cheery voice sounded out.
“What do…”
“I don’t have much time here so just shut up and listen to me. This years Concealed Scripture Display is going to be a little different for you. For everyone else it’ll be a little bit harder but for you it’s going to be a test set by Master. If you are who I think you are then you better pass it. Master wants to rely on fate so I won’t go completely against his wishes and cheat for you however, I can’t trust fate so you better pass the test and find the right scripture or I swear I’ll make you regret it.”
After that puzzling soliloquy, little Red’s voice vanished.
