Silence ………..

Aiden looked at the man who was now standing up and brushing the dust off of his clothes.

“Oh you’re back, kid. Did you find the young fidialatus in Whittens?”, he said looking at Nilger.

“Yes professor. He was there just as you had predicted.”, Nilger said with an ever so subtle bow.

“Good; were there any problems along the way?” He asked as he turned to Aiden and observed him from head to toe.

“No sir, there weren’t any problems bu…..”, just as he was about to speak about Aiden, the Professor Balmer cut him off midway.

“What’s your name child?”, he asked Aiden.

“Um, I’m Aiden sir. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry for calling you weird.”

The professor waved off the pleasantries. “How long have you been cultivating?”

Aiden started to speak, “Oh. It’s been 2…..”, suddenly Denzel interrupted him. 

“Don’t tell him the truth. Your rate of cultivation is too fast and abnormal. It’d spell trouble for you if word of this were to get out. Remember, the nail that sticks out, ends up being hammered.”

“.....2 years”, Aiden said after a short pause.

“Hmmmmmm”, the elder looked at him scrutinizingly.

“I can feel you are pretty strong for your age, but I can’t gauge how much exactly. What’s your cultivation level?”, he asked.

“Um, I’m in the intermediate stage of the Acupoint unsealing realm.”, Aiden said giving it a bit of thought. He couldn’t say he had reached consummation because according to what he knew, he needed 300 acupoints unsealed to be considered consummation.

“That’s not as high as the top inner sector students but that’s still unnaturally high, considering your age.”

“So what was your score on the entrance exam?”, he asked.

“Sorry, I couldn’t understand. What exam?”, Aiden asked.

“Haven’t you given the entrance exam for joining the academy yet?”, Professor Balmer was confused now.

“Uh professor, Aiden isn’t here to join the academy.”, said Nilger.

“Wait, what is this child doing here then?”, he frowned.

Following which Nilger explained how he had met Aiden, and whatever had happened during the mission. He subtly hinted to the professor why he had brought Aiden to the academy which Aiden missed but the professor clearly understood.

“Oh so you were worried about the fidialatus so you came all the way here? Is it special to you in someway?”, he asked Aiden.

“He isn’t special, and I hadn’t even seen a fidialatus till today. But it is just a baby. I couldn’t just leave it as it was, if it was gonna get hurt.”, Aiden said.

In all honesty, Aiden really had no bond with the fidialatus. But seeing the young little creature had reminded him of how he had been left abandoned. He had first-hand experience, how it felt to be alone in a new environment from the time one was a baby and didn’t want to see another creature go through the same pain.

Thus he had wanted to help the little fidialatus. It wasn’t a well planned decision, but more of an innate urge to not let another suffer the same fate as he did.

“And just what could you possibly do right now if we do mean the fidialatus harm?”, the professor said with a glint in his eyes.

Suddenly Aiden felt a huge amount of pressure forcing itself down on his body. His breathing got harder and his senses felt unclear. He could clearly sense that this pressure came from the professor. He was strong, much stronger than Aiden. If the pressure increased even a bit, Aiden knew it’d be hard for him to even move a muscle.

Just then Denzel’s calm voice rang out, “Circulate your mana. It will help alleviate the pressure. Calm your nerves and don’t panic. And don’t make any sudden moves. This man isn’t in the fifth dan like I had expected. Instead he is in the seventh dan already. So be careful and don’t make any hasty moves.”

As Aiden’s mana made it’s way from the core, and flowed throughout his entire body, he felt the pressure slowly decrease until it was almost negligible. 

He looked up at the professor and answered with fierce determination in his eyes, “If you mean it harm, there’s little I can do.”

The professor was starting to say something when Aiden continued again,

“But I’d rather do that little, than overlook it like it doesn’t matter to me.”

Their eyes were locked. Aiden felt that Professor Balmer’s eyes were staring right into his soul, as if searching for signs of a threat.

Suddenly his frown turned into a smile and he laughed out loud.

“OH ho ho ho That’s a good look you have in your eyes kid. Don’t forget it.”

Aiden felt the pressure null out and he relaxed his body. However, he still had a guarded look against the man in front of him.

He pulled out a handkerchief from his half torn pant pockets  and wiped the soot off his face.

“Well, we don’t mean it any harm. Honestly the cause of this whole operation is the Adult fidialatus as you must have guessed so far.

It’s rare to see it around these parts for these beasts usually reside in the Pernicus woods which are located a few thousand miles to the West of the academy. They have a nest and rarely leave unless it is to hunt for food.

However this particular one,  for a month or two now, had been occupying the mouth of a Dopilite mine, located east of here and this had been hampering mining activities of the surrounding towns. Our goal was to capture it’s child and keep it at the academy. Once the beast was here, I could subdue it and release it back in the Pernicus woods, where it belongs.”

He sighed slowly, “I can’t leave the academy due to urgent matters and events coming up soon, otherwise I’d have gone and captured it myself. Wouldn’t have had to commission a group of students to lure the young one here.”

“Oh, I see.”, Aiden said, embarrassed now for having suspected them wrongly.

“Not a problem at all”, the professor laughed it off.

“While you didn’t come to enroll in  the academy, I really wish you would. A genius like you would be a great addition to the Academy.”

Aiden looked a bit conflicted at this. He had just gained his freedom two days ago, he didn’t wanna be restricted by Academic duties and other obligations again. Moreover, he still had to gather the ten thousand gold coins by the end of the year and he wasn’t sure if he could do that while staying within the academy.

“You don’t have to think of an answer immediately”, the professor noticed the concern on his face and clarified, “How about this? Nilger can show you around the library, the dueling arenas and a few lectures and lessons. You can take a day to decide. I must tell you however that Trimshire is a very reputable place where thousands of students wish to enroll everyday. We teach cultivation only to the select few among the crowd who happen to have the potential for it. This opportunity doesn’t come often so cherish it.”

After thinking it through, Aiden asked, “If I wish to leave at any moment, would I be allowed to?”

“The academy doesn’t generally restrict the mobility of students to external lands. So you’ll still be free to go wherever you want. But it’d be advised not to do so since you’d be missing out on a lot of lessons and might fall behind. But if you can prove to be exceptional enough in mana arts, then you won’t have to worry about these things much.”

“I see”, Aiden finally said, “I’d like to take you up on your offer and explore the academy a bit.”

“Nilger, arrange for a room in the freshman residence for Aiden to stay for a while. Show him around the academy and if anyone questions, tell them he is here under my orders.”

“Ok sir”, said Nilger and motioned to Aiden with a smile, “Well, let’s get going shall we?”