Have you ever felt sometimes that the entire world might be conspiring together to shatter your expectations and prove your deductions wrong?

That can easily summarise how Professor Balmer felt about seeing Aiden at the podium. It took him a few good minutes to process what he was seeing. If Aiden was the mystery examinee who had caused trouble in the last two exams, would it mean he had been lying about his cultivation stage all along?

If so, then what was his actual cultivation level? Balmer knew it couldn’t be above his own since he had been able to successfully exert pressure on Aiden before.

Just when he was having such thoughts, a few words from Aiden’s lecture hit his ears.

“.....the flow of mana within the body to the respective muscles must not be like a raging river of force, for that goes against the very principles of the skill. Instead, it should be like a narrow flexible stream that can change its course at your will, thus allowing smoother transitions into the different transformations of the techniques…..”

As Balmer listened more and more closely, he took a seat and realised something was off. Nilger, not wanting to disturb the professor’s thoughts, took a seat behind him and listened closely. If this was something that could grab even the professor’s attention, then it was definitely worth listening to.

As Balmer listened more intently he remarked, “The technique he is teaching about, sounds like the Shadow Blade Martial Skill. But why do so many parts of it sound edited or changed? Further, the improvement is not just on the levels of a mere tier or two. This is an entirely different battle skill in itself, with the way I’m hearing it. The shadow blade technique sounds like a cheap imitation in front of this. But why have I never heard of such a profound skill?”

Just then, Aiden’s lecture ended and as he looked up, he suddenly noticed the presence of Professor Balmer and Nilger in the room. He had been extremely engrossed in explaining the skill to the examiner and more so because by lecturing on it, he was further polishing his own understanding of the skill.

Just when he was about to call out to Nilger, Mr Williamson walked forward and blocked his view with a smile. “My dear child, would you be interested in joining the Physical Arts Department in the Academy? I assure you that with your talent, you’ll be able to soar to great heights in no time.”

“Um…” Aiden was unsure what to say to this. While he could refuse or agree as he wished, he still didn’t understand the power structure and benefits within the academy that one could get when joining a department. To sum it up, he knew way too little to accept or reject any proposal right now.

“Williamson” Balmer called out from behind.

“Oh hello there Balmer.” Williamson turned around with a smile. Although Williamson wasn’t a vice-head, he still had a high seniority so he didn’t have to use honorifics with Balmer.

“Poaching a talent when he hasn’t even learnt of his overall result in the exam, isn’t a very fair thing to do is it?” Balmer reasoned.

“Why, of course. But I was just looking out for the kid. With the talent he shows in the Martial way, it would be a shame for him not to join the Physical Arts department. He can realise and develop his true potential there.”

“Well, you’ll have to wait for a bit. I introduced him to the Academy first so I should get the first rights to guide him where to join I believe.” Balmer smiled back.

Although they were smiling, it would be more apt to describe it as smiling daggers at each other. Their way of talking was polite but had a subtle trace of hostility that others could easily miss.

“Humph”, Denzel sneered, “These old geezers have got quite the rivalry to be fighting over you.  Don’t get too excited. Talents like you are a dime a dozen in the market.”

Aiden had gotten used to Denzel’s personality by now and smiled, “Yes yes, I understand.”

While the professors were engrossed in their polite conversation, Nilger grabbed Aiden and headed out.

“Let’s get the final evaluation of your exam results shall we?” he said with a bitter smile.

When Nilger brought Aiden here, he had only one intention in mind, to ensure that the mission wasn’t hindered because of Aiden. Introducing him to the professor had been a mere passing thought since he had felt that Aiden had decent talent.

But thinking about it now, decent didn’t even come close to describing the monstrosity he had brought back.

Walking up to a small counter on the left after coming out of the exam hall, Nilger asked Aiden to hand over his test token. A numbered token was issued to each examinee for identification for the exams. Handing over the token numbered ‘369’ to the man at the counter, Aiden waited patiently. He wanted to know how he compared to the other examinees too.

Nilger spoke in hushed words to the man behind the counter who gave Aiden a queer look and handed over a report sheet. There were three sections on the paper giving the breakdowns of his exam, with a small ‘Overall Evaluation Result: ’ field at the bottom. Filled out in that field was a neatly handwritten ‘690’

Looking up from the result sheet, Aiden saw Nilger staring at the paper.

"Is something wrong?" Aiden asked.

"..... Well….. Let's just keep your result to ourselves shall we." Niger said.

'Is it so bad?!!!" Aiden thought, 'I think I did pretty well back there. Sigh'

Looking at Aiden's confused expression, Nilger was about to speak when Professor Balmer came out.

"So how much did you score kid?" He asked as he took a peek at Aiden's paper.

His eyes widened but he wasn't as surprised as Nilger. The way the exams had proceeded was enough to deduce such an outcome.

"My boy, make sure no one else knows of your score." Balmer said as he thought 'If others know of his insane talent at this age they'll definitely try to nip the bud before it can bloom. No one wants extra competition. But if he can survive the beginning stages without trouble, he'll be a powerful pillar of the academy in no time.'

Meanwhile, Aiden was having an existential crisis. 'So my talent really is too low. Even the professor thinks it's too embarrassing to even mention to others. And I thought I was good at cultivating or something.', he sighed.

As all this happened, Denzel simply observed and chuckled at this mesh of misunderstandings.

The average score of good students was around 100 while geniuses could get a score of up to 200. The number of people who could exceed 200 in the history of the academy could be counted on one's fingers.

"Come, let's get you the academy uniform.", Nilger said.

'Oh, so I've at least passed. Phew. There's a lot of books in the library I still wanna read and I'll get to earn money through the commissions too', Aiden was elated.

"Um, is it compulsory to wear the academy uniform?"Aiden asked.

"Well," Balmer spoke "it's less of a necessity and more of an advantage. By wearing the uniform, people outside the academy can recognise you as a student of Trimshire and you'll have an easier time dealing with a lot of things."

"It's just that the clothes I wear, hold a lot of significance for me. I would prefer not to wear anything else.", Aiden said sheepishly.

The professor laughed, "Oh well if you say so. Nilger, find him lodging in the student dorms. Actually, I think he'll be fine moving in with you. You don't have a roommate as of now right?"

"Yes sir. As you say.", He replied, "I'll take my leave then." After which, he walked away with Aiden.

Looking at the disappearing backs of the two, Balmer sighed. 'I should report all this to the headmaster.'

The replacement puppet had arrived and the examinees were back in a proper queue when Balmer left the premises. He walked towards the middle tower, stood in front of its walls silently, and sent a pulse of mana towards it.

After waiting for a while, a blue vortex appeared on the wall which slowly materialised into a portal. Walking in, Balmer reached a long hallway with a massive door at the end.

Walking through the long hallway, he snuck a quick glance at the portraits adorning either side of the walls. Under each portrait were neatly arranged golden letters that were floating an inch above the wall. These were the portraits of the previous headmasters of the Academy.

Knocking at the door, he heard a short ‘come in’, after which he pushed open the doors and stepped inside a huge room.

A neat table faced the door, with a chair on its other side positioned such that the seated person had a direct view of the door. On the 200-square-foot table, which was made of purely mana crystals, an extravagance that only the highest echelons of Trimshire could afford, were stacked decks of paper, scrolls, seal inscriptions and artifacts.

But all these things were observed later; for sitting on the chair behind the humongous table, looking through papers was a man who had glistening black hair and a sharp chin. His pupils were hued blue and looking into them reminded one of the deep boundless ocean. A small scar decorates his left cheek and one could see that a lock of hair starting from the right of his forehead was dazzling white. He exuded an aura that was suffocating even when it wasn’t directed at you. A domineering air surrounded him and yet it felt like his entire body was in perfect harmony with nature, almost melding in with the room such that one wouldn’t be able to know he was there or sense his presence unless they saw him with their naked eyes.

All in all, this frightening man was someone who had absolute control over whatever happened in the room, and even a fool would know better than to provoke him.

Looking up from his papers, his sharp eyes landed on Balmer as he reeled in his aura and the air of suffocation vanished.

Balmer gave a courteous low bow, “Headmaster Morgan.”