Resurgence

Aether stood deep in thought on the arena. He, just like the others, was shocked. His shock was probably even greater than them. Unlike the others who witnessed this and thought he had an Awakening, he could clearly feel how this Sword Intent came to be.

To the others looked it like an Awakening, a phenomenon where someone discovers completely on accident that they have an affinity to a certain Intent while touching something that is known to use said Intent. But Aether could feel that this was something else, and that something is called Resurgence.

From time to time and whatever reason, people can forget certain Intents they had already comprehended. Resurgence is the phenomenon where a previously forgotten Intent unexpectedly, and suddenly, returns.

But this meant you needed to have comprehended it in the first place. Aether had no idea how this was possible. How could this happen? Where did he ever comprehend something like Sword Intent?

He had lived in a forest village until the age of ten. The six years afterwards were all spend learning the knowledge in Old Herb's library.

The more time passed, the more confused he became. Nothing about him made any sense whatsoever.

His blood is ridiculously powerful, he has Resurgence with Sword Intent the first time he touches one, he gained a blessing for his soul. The more he learned and discovered about himself, the more confused and conflicted he became.

Up until this point, Aether had always put up a happy front.

His parents killed and village destroyed?

At least he survived and had Old Herb take care of him, so smile and keep going.

Completely crippled and unable to cultivate even though he originally had the highest talent Old Herb had ever seen?

Don't worry about it, he has a blessing for his soul that will help him find a way to restore it.

But this, this was the final drop. Even with his strong willpower, Aether was still only sixteen years old.

'I've really had enough of this shit. Resurgence triggering means I had comprehended it in the past. From this I can conclude that the memories from my first ten years of life have been tempered with, they aren't to be believed at face value. Is this also done by my parents?'

Aether was starting to have a breakdown. He knew absolutely nothing about this world, nothing about his parents, and worst of all, nothing about himself.

He had always clamped himself to the love he felt for and from his parents and the warmth they had given him the first ten years of his life. Even when Old Herb had told him his talent had most likely been destroyed by his parents, he hadn't blamed them since he knew it was in order to save his life. No parents want to see their children die, his probably weren't any different.

But tempering with his memories didn't sit right with him one bit. He already lacks enough control over his own life as it is. Now it seemed his parents had also taken control away from him about some rather important things. What more had they done to him? What more had they taken away from him?

Aether's love for his parents was slowly making way for loathing and condemnation.

While Aether was breaking down inside, Antaura seemed to realize something was wrong. He had been standing still and thinking for quite a few seconds now, and the expression on his face was turning uglier by the second.

Even though they had met only a couple minutes before, Antaura didn't need to know Aether all that well to realize something was terribly wrong. She was getting concerned and wanted to help.

"Aether, what's wrong?" she couldn't help but ask.

When Aether heard her, his head cleared up and he was able to control his expression. He put up a small smile and acted like nothing was the matter.

"Nothing, was just surprised about my Awakening." Aether lied.

Of course, there was no way Antaura didn't realize Aether wasn't telling the truth, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

'There is no way I can tell this to anyone. And the matter of my so called parents, I'll figure that out over time. I know too little to make sense of anything.'

Aether came down from the arena and asked the teacher what they were supposed to do now that their cultivation talent tests were completed.

"You can choose to stand on the side and watch the other examinees take their tests, or you can go to that big hall over there to wait until this evening when the results will be announced." The teacher said while pointing at a big building a couple hundred meters away from them.

Aether thought for a moment and decided to wait and watch some other examinees take their tests. Even though he doubted it, maybe he could learn something by observing them.

Antaura walked to Aether's side and asked, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, Antaura, I am completely fine. There is no need to worry." Aether answered with a smile.

Antaura noticed something Aether himself hadn't realized yet. Aether's gentle warmth had diminished. He felt a little bit colder now.

...…

Time passed, and soon the last few examinees were taking their talent tests. Aether had observed all of them, but didn't really find anything interesting. Well, there was something he found interest in, but it wasn't really cultivation related.

Around halfway through the day, during the talent tests, there was actually a couple. Yes, a boy and girl that were dating came to the academy together in order to try and enter. From what Aether guessed, the boy is the same age as him, sixteen, while the girl is fifteen, the same as Antaura.

He had really wanted to go talk to him to get some tips on how to get a girlfriend, but decided against it when he saw their clothes. The boy's clothes were more luxurious than eighty percent of the other examinees, which indicated he was of noble birth. The girl seemed to be around the same social standing as her boyfriend. Aether concluded that it would be best if he didn't go talk to them, he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

Well, he had failed to realize that standing next to Antaura was going to draw attention and cause problems anyway.

A girl who seemed to be around seventeen years old and was clearly of high standing approached Aether and Antaura and said, "High Antaura, who is this 'beautiful' girl?"

Antaura frowned a bit and answered, "First of all, this is Aether, and he is a boy. And second, what is it you want, Otrava?"

Otrava was a beautiful girl with red hair and clear eyes with a mischievous light in them. Her dress was rather revealing and had a long split on the left side and her cleavage almost caused her breasts to be fully revealed. Her face was more mature than Antaura's and she showed a lot of confidence, which attracted a lot of attention from the guys in the crowd of examinees.

Aether immediately realized Antaura didn't like this girl. He didn't know anything about their history or who this Otrava was, but he could make some guesses about her personality based on her words. Also, her 'beautiful' was clearly said with the intent to mock him, so he already didn't like this girl.

Aether sneaked a glance at Antaura and thought to himself that she was much better.

"Oh, he is a boy? A pity his face has a 'small' scar, otherwise he could have visited me some time." Otrava said with a coquettish grin.

Antaura's eyes became cold and she was about to say something when Otrava turned around and continued talking, "It seems you don't appreciate my presence, Antaura. I'll leave you alone with your 'boyfriend'."

Otrava pronounced the word 'boyfriend' a bit louder, causing the male examinees in the crowd to direct unfriendly gazes in Aether's direction. Aether could only shrug his shoulders and accept the situation right now as he was powerless to change anything.

"Watch out for that girl. I know she is beautiful, but don't get close to her or you'll get hurt." Antaura said to Aether.

"Who is that girl anyway?" Aether asked.

"Her name is Otrava Sarpe, granddaughter of the head of the Sarpe clan. They are a powerful clan and only follow commands issued by the crown, my father. It is best you stay as far away from that clan as you can. Their clan is filled with snakes, and this particular one is venomous."

"Hmm, although her words are rather unpleasant, her personality is interesting."

"Her personality? I am pretty sure you mean her body."

Aether coughed a little and tried to keep a straight face when he said, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Even though Aether doesn't have any social skills, he could still feel shame. And right now his face became bright red.

Antaura smiled a little at this sight. Aether had been in a bad mood ever since his Awakening and it seemed like she finally succeeded in making him feel a little better.

She laughed a bit and said, "I never said you can't look at her. It is true she is beautiful and she also likes to show off her body. Just heed my warning and don't develop any feelings for her."

At this point Aether seemed to have an idea and just said what he was thinking, "What if I develop feelings for you, Antaura?"

I was an understatement to say she was shocked. Had this guy really just asked a princess what would happen if he developed feeling for her? He didn't seem to have any common sense at all.

Antaura looked at Aether for a few seconds with an apologetic smile.

"I am flattered, Aether, I really am, but I am a princess. My marriage has been decided from the moment I was born. Developing feelings for me would probably be worse than developing feelings for Otrava."

Aether had mostly said this as a joke in order to get revenge for her earlier teasing, but he couldn't help but notice the sad expression on Antaura's face when she answered. He decided to simply be her friend for now. If he and Antaura truly did develop feelings for each other in the future… His gaze sharpened at the thoughts he was having.

Aether shook his head in order to clear his thoughts and looked at the last few examinees who were taking their talent tests. It would only take half an hour at most for all of them to finish so Antaura and Aether decided to head to the big hall to go take a rest until the results are announced.

...…

Minutes ticked by and soon one and a half hour had passed. The last few examinees had completed their talent tests around an hour ago, but it seemed the central array needed some time to process everything correctly. Or maybe there were other reasons for the delay of the announcement.

The teachers who had been observing in the classrooms had also joined the examinees in the big hall, same as the teacher who had been present at the talent tests.

At this moment an old man wearing an indigo robe appeared on the battle arena outside and spoke, "Examinees, gather around. I am the deputy headmaster and will show you the results."

Everyone quickly ran outside and looked at the middle aged man on the arena with anticipation. Aether was no exception, as he was aware it would probably be difficult to get accepted even with his soul and blood cultivation talent. His body and energy cultivation talent was none existent so he would always be weaker in the same major cultivation realm.

The middle aged man who claimed to be the deputy headmaster didn't delay anything and threw a formation disc on the ground. Immediately after, a projection with the names and scores of everyone who passed came into vision.

Aether searched for his name and quickly became dejected, because his name wasn't anywhere on the list.