“The library? Why do you wanna head there?” Nilger asked.

“Well formations sound really interesting so I am gonna read up on formations.” Aiden smiled as he upped his walking speed.

“Wha…..that’s quite sudden. But what about visiting the other departments? Are you sure you want to join the formations department?” He spoke with concern when he heard Aiden’s intentions.

“Join? Do we have to join to take the ranking exams?”

“Well, not really. You can take the exam in any field without joining their department. Just joining a department entitles you to better privileges and help from the department seniors and makes your journey through the study of that field much easier……….actually wait…did you just say ranking exams? Are you seriously thinking of taking the ranking exam for formations? Didn’t you say you knew nothing about formations when we entered the department building?” Nilger was perplexed.

“I’ll just try extra hard,” Aiden spoke and entered the library as Nilger stopped outside. 

“Try extra hard?” he stood there blinking a few times and then shook his head. ‘If it was so easy to earn a rank in an occupation,’ Nilger thought, ‘ then everyone in the world would be getting ranks left and right. Sigh, I should just let him be. Hopefully, he’ll realise the difficulty of what he is attempting and give up soon.’ so he walked away to the student dorms to take a bit of rest and meditate until the next class started.

Classes ended in the evening and Nilger returned to the dorms again to find his room empty. ‘He is still at the library?’ he thought, ‘I should go and call him for dinner.’

After a few minutes of walking, he arrived at the library, and with a deep sigh, entered it.

Barely taking the first step in, he heard the sound of paper rustling and pages flipping a few rows away. It was evening and almost dinner time. Nilger knew that very few people would still be inside the library at the moment.

Following the noise, he saw Aiden so engrossed in reading that he couldn’t even sense Nilger’s arrival near him.

“Aide…..” he was halfway through calling out to him when a sudden pressure made him choke on his words. The air felt extremely heavy around him and his knees felt weak and his muscles twitched and spasmed.

A person with a single lock of white hair on his entirely black-haired head walked out from behind a bookshelf. He was wearing glasses and knelt down as he looked at Nilger intently. “Let’s not disturb him, shall we?” Nilger was petrified on the spot. He couldn’t gauge the other person’s cultivation at all. Suddenly the pressure was relieved when the man disappeared in the blink of an eye. Nilger couldn’t even sense anything out of ordinary anymore. It was as if he was stupidly kneeling on the floor with no reason as to why.

He slowly got up and walked out of the library. Nilger knew that the person who had just told him to leave Aiden undisturbed wasn’t someone he could mess with. Otherwise, he won’t even get time to think about how he died.

“But who could it have been? Judging from the previous encounter he must have been a senior teacher at the very least.” Nilger sighed. He couldn’t fathom the depths of people just a few cultivation levels high than him, let alone a senior teacher.

Meanwhile, in the library, two men watched Aiden closely as they sat a distance apart.

“He sure loves books.” The person with the white lock of hair, who was also the person who had intercepted Aiden, thought after a while.

A while later, the second man whispered curiously, “Is he really reading? He seems to be picking up the books, flipping through them and then keeping them back after a few minutes.”

This happened to be Professor Balmer who had followed the headmaster in ‘paying Aiden a visit’. However, all they had been doing was just observing him without any form of contact.

Morgan smiled, “Whether he’s actually reading the books or not, I cannot say for sure. His actions are indeed quite queer. However, he is definitely invested, mind body and soul, in whatever he’s doing right now. And I’m sure he isn’t wasting time.”

Balmer simply nodded his head.

After 10 minutes, Aiden was still flipping through books and Morgan spoke again, “Appoint a teacher to ensure that he isn’t disturbed when he is …….doing what he is doing right now. I’m very interested in seeing how he handles his grudge against the F-Rank formation masters. Also, make sure to clarify that he must not be made aware of the surveillance or security he’s being put under.”

“Yes Headmaster, as you say..”, Balmer bowed and walked out.

Morgan’s gaze lingered on Aiden as his words came out slowly, “Let’s see what surprises you can bring me, child.”, and with that, he vanished in a flash.

An entire month went by and finally, Aiden came out of the library. His hair looked dishevelled but there was a small spark in his eyes. His face didn’t radiate even the tiniest bit of tiredness and he felt invigorated. Although his body hadn’t done any major exercise at all, his mind had been running at full throttle. He had been flipping through books while Denzel observed and filtered out the good from the bad, the right from the wrong and also helped him understand a lot of things. The problem with learning from books had always been that many times, there was usually no way to verify if what the book said was right or wrong, other than either trying it out oneself or asking a senior in the same field who had more experience about it.

Why would one have to verify things in a book? Because no one knew whether the person who wrote the book had really been right about his observations or not. Of course, one had to trust what he read, but oh boy wouldn’t it help if one could confirm the writings to ensure that he/she didn’t make any mistakes as the writers of the books might have?

All in all, reading too many books could confuse a person since many of the books had contradictive statements and opinions in them and thus verification of facts was necessary. This made reading books, a straightforward but slow method of learning a subject.

But this wasn’t the case at all for Aiden who had Denzel to help him. Since Denzel himself could clear out Aiden’s doubts and confusions and even explain formations and every concept in it, in an extremely simple but profound manner, Aiden’s learning speed had been boosted exponentially. He had covered 10 years' worth of concepts in just one month. 

“You are awfully smug for someone who could only last a single month in seclusion. Given another few months, I’d have drilled seals, alchemy and so much more into that tiny brain of yours.”, Denzel said lazily.

The teacher who had been placed in charge of observing Aiden and making sure no one approached him during his study, saw this and rushed over to report to Balmer.

Balmer immediately took the news to the headmaster.

“Hmm so he’s finally making a move.” he spoke, “Let’s go.”

Before reaching the Department of Formations, both of them put on a disguise such that they won’t be recognised by familiar faces around.

Meanwhile, Aiden had arrived and was currently talking to the receptionist outside the examination hall. 

“But I really can’t allow you to take the exam here kid. You don’t have the school identity badge yet. But you can choose to take the exam at the nearest Formation Masters Association branch outside the school.”, Morgan heard the receptionist speak.

“But I’m telling you. I am a student here. I joined a month ago but I just haven’t had the time to receive my batch yet.”, Aiden pleaded.

“Hmph as if we’d believe those lies. Not having received a badge after an entire month of joining? And what important work would a kid like you have which would leave you with no time to get your identity badge?”, an older man who happened to be passing by, exclaimed.

He had a big ‘E’, pinned to his chest and a big frown on his face. It was apparent he didn’t like Aiden.

“Why does this fat oaf have an annoyingly big mouth?.”, Denzel said almost giving a yawn which Aiden graciously ignored.

The E-ranked Formation Master continued as Aiden looked at him indignantly, “Just admit it, kid. You are merely a visitor who wants to draw attention to himself at this grand Academy. You don’t even have our uniform!”

“But……”, Aiden started to speak but couldn’t find the right words to do so. He had refused the academy uniforms when he had been offered to receive them and he had no idea what the identity badge was, until the receptionist had shown him his own. Apparently, every student got a blue-coloured identity badge about 3 days after joining. It contained basic information about the student and which classes he was supposed to be attending. Further, it was proof of a person being a student in the academy.

But let alone 3 days, Aiden had holed himself up in the library the very next day after he became a student.

Just when he was wondering if he should walk back to the dorms and ask Nilger about the badge, Darnet spotted him and came running.

“Phew found you at last. Your friend Nilger had left this with me a few days ago. He said he had some work and had to go out of the Academy for a while but he was sure you’d come here first thing after coming out of the library or something. I thought you’d come the same day, but with how many days had passed, I was starting to think I got pranked. Anyways, here you go.”, he handed over a small box that was just a bit bigger than a ring box.

Opening it, Aiden looked at the contents.

Inside was a shiny new blue badge with the words ‘Trimshire Academy Identity Badge’ printed on the top and Aiden’s name written below it.