Chapter 113 - Excitement at the Lyceum

- Chirp, chirp

A small green bird chirped while entering the room and flying around Nerun's head merrily before finally landing on his shoulder.

"Little Green. I wondered if you had gotten lost after we got separated in Syracuse. That damn Raven launched me without consideration towards Eonia. I could barely see you at the beginning, but after I landed I didn't know where you were. Did you have any trouble finding me after? Where have you been?"

This small and pretty looking bird was precisely Little Green, the rank 2 magical beast, that was a companion to Evelin. It was supposed to accompany Nerun after he left for Eonia, so she could serve as a way of communication between Evelin and Nerun, however, they were quickly pulled apart right from the start. Nerun assumed that the little bird couldn't reach him on time, and went back to the forest with Evelin, Raven and Whitey. Nerun couldn't help but remember his old pal, and started missing him from the bottom of his heart. After all, he had grown together with the Direwolf and was quite saddened after seeing him go.

- Chirp, chirp

Answered the small bird.

Nerun could understand the small bird, albeit with some difficulty. It wasn't as easy as when he was with Whitey, however, he could still make due. Little Green told him that she had travelled after him for several hours and days before losing him. Fortunately, he had been marked by the Raven with a special sign that only the members of the Grand Forest were privy to, so Little Green could more or less feel where he was. So she followed his general route for days before finally traversing the Argent River and arriving near Eonia, a little more than a week ago. As a rank 2 magical beast, she didn't have many issues defending herself and even getting enough food every day.

However, it didn't dare enter Eonia casually. Little Green was very sensitive and could feel the vast amount of powerful people inside, and knew that as a Magical Beast, she could easily be trapped by people much stronger than her. So she stayed outside Eonia, watching the city with care. After a while, she took advantage of a band of wild birds that flew towards Eonia and entered the city hidden among them. It quickly found Nerun, however, she didn't approach him while the latter was staying in the Martial Temple. Finally, when Nerun and Elijah moved to their new home, Little Green found the chance to contact Nerun.

The young teen was quite happy after watching the bird and told her that it could stay in their house whenever it wanted. Nerun would make sure to accompany her whenever he was free and to make sure that she was well-fed and taken care of while she stayed with him. One of the advantages of Little Green was that the latter was quite small and could easily be confused with a normal bird, albeit an exotic one. Nerun could have easily made her look like a pet, however, he did not dare take him to the school. Although he had seen some other students with Magical Beasts as pets and slaves, Little Green was his friend, and he did not want to put her in any danger of being caught. Besides, he was sure Little Green would not stay for long, since it would probably want to go back to Evelin.

Little Green accepted the arrangements, and even let Nerun know that while she was around, he could feel tranquil about anything going on around the house. She also promised to help him if he ever needed her while she was with him. Nerun thanked her profusely and then left his room to have a quick breakfast and go towards the Lyceum.

In the living room, Serena had already arrived and was talking to Elijah when both of them saw Nerun descend the stairs towards them. Both of them got a bit mesmerized when seeing Nerun in his new clothes.

Nerun had always been a good-looking teen, with manly yet delicate facial features. He was very handsome, and although thin, he did not look skinny, but quite aesthetically pleasing. Most of said handsomeness was covered by his usually old-looking clothes and overall lack of care in his outer image. Now, in his new uniform, he looked quite sharp. Those who weren't familiar with him would think him the heir to a proper Noble Family and the goal for many young maidens' hearts.

The boy could not help but smile at his brother and say with a cheeky smile on his face: "You know what brother? I make this look good."

Elijah could not help but laugh merrily and started messing with Nerun's hair. "Cocky little runt. See if I don't kick your ass for being a smartass."

Serena couldn't really understand the relationship between the two brothers, but she smiled nonetheless, at their banter. It was quite obvious they were really close.

"By the way Sister Serena, I forgot to ask yesterday, did you ever manage to catch that guy Sombra or whatever?" asked Nerun after getting serious.

"Unfortunately no. We never managed to find his whereabouts after the whole thing ended. It was fortunate that there were no more casualties, all things considered. What worries me is that no one truly knows just from under what rock that man came out from. Looking back at it, it's quite odd, the knowledge about the fake gods of old is quite bizarre and lost to the general populace, so we still haven't been able to figure out where they could find out about it. My family has been living in Syracuse for centuries now, and even then we did not really know about the existence of Dagan before all of this happened. It's quite frightening when you think about it. Not even the local branch of the Temple managed to find much. All that we know is that the Cortana family was apparently first contacted by this man, and he was the one that tempted them into committing heresy and treason.

What scares me the most, is that it's obvious that that man named Sombra was clearly a member of some kind of shady organization. His training, knowledge and skills were clearly trained. I'm afraid this will not be the last time we'll hear from them." said Serena with a frown on her beautiful face.

"Are you talking about the fight at the ruins near Syracuse? I could only read the information Lord Rafal submitted to the Council of Generals recently. A fake God's attempt to descend has not happened in decades. I think since the annihilation of the Shadow Masters. I still think that you were extremely reckless to have even tried to meddle in that affair Nerun. Thank EON, the Legendary Raven was there, otherwise, you might have died." said Elijah sternly.

"Brother, I was left with no choice. I'm sure that if you were in my shoes, you would have done the same," answered Nerun resolutely. Elijah could only sigh at Nerun's stubbornness, however, he understood where his brother was coming from.

In the time prior to Nerun's entry into the Lyceum, he had already told Elijah everything that had happened to him while getting to Eonia, especially his adventure in Syracuse. Except for his relation to Ego Sum, everything else he had shared with his brother. When Elijah then read Rafal's report, he fully understood the grave danger that his little brother had faced, and he could not help but fear for Nerun's safety. However, it wasn't worth crying over spilt milk, after all, Nerun had done something quite heroic and helped the Kingdom a great deal, although that help went completely under the radar and few people actually knew of it, something that Elijah fully agreed with. This was another reason that cemented the choice of Serena as his close attendant.

Still, there was something left unsaid. Nerun still did not know much about the circumstances surrounding his parents' death. But Elijah did, and he could not help but speculate and wonder. A shady organization looking for the remnants of fake Gods and with knowledge about their whereabouts. Armand, who was chased for apparently having killed the Vicar of the Temple with a mysterious enemy behind it all. Were these facts truly unrelated?

What about the Dark Brotherhood that suddenly appeared and started creating turmoil in the continent? It was as if several problems and problematic organizations kept appearing one after the other. Was this a sign of the troubles to come? Elijah could only ponder and let it be for now. He would face the problems as they came.

....

Nerun left the manor and quickly went towards the Lyceum entry. When people saw him walking towards the school with his new uniform, many people couldn't help but turn to look at him better. Such was the change brought to Nerun. Just the fact that he was a Lyceum student implied his status as a bonafide genius. That and Nerun handsomeness even led many female classmates to blush when he looked at them and saluted. Many could not recognize him and wondered just who the boy could be. But those that did identify him could not believe their eyes at first, before looking at him once again with disdain, although a clear pang of jealousy could be identified.

"Nerun, is that you?" asked Reina while checking Nerun from top to bottom. His eyes had a type of gleam that actually caused shivers in Nerun, and for a second he even wanted to go behind Karles, for Reina's eyes looked a bit dangerous. "You know what Nerun, my offer still stands. I could take care of you," said Reina.

"Stop teasing Nerun, Reina," said Karles while rolling his eyes.

The three of them then laughed a bit, and after getting teased for a bit, they entered the Lyceum.

Nerun's change did cause a small stir, however, it was quite small, since most students, especially those from the first, second and third years were gathered together in small groups and were discussing something with very serious faces. The three friends watching this scene quickly realised that something important had occurred, so they walked rapidly towards the notification board in the Lyceum lobby.

Tens of students were at the atrium looking at a notice that had appeared right at the top of all the notifications. The notice read as follows:

"To all students from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of the Inner and Outer Class. The Inner and Outer Class Ranking has been moved forward by order of the Headmaster and the Faculty.

In exactly a month from now, the battles for the Class Ranking will take place. Since the timing of the tests has been brought forward, the Demotion Test will happen three weeks from now, a week before the proper ranking.

The specific rules about the combat will be announced after the Demotion Test is over.

Signed:

Samuel Dai Manota - Inner Class Manager

Allan Kalpa - Inner Class Deputy Manager"

The three friends looked at each other with clear surprise on their faces. What had happened? This was too sudden of a change, and clear turmoil had appeared in the face of several of the students. " weeks of difference for the testing might sound negligible, but for these students could very well mean the difference between increasing their Qi level, mastering a new technique, or even getting enough Contribution Points for a long waited resource.

Some were elated, but others were clearly concerned. If anything this change seemed to be quite detrimental to Nerun's options to stay in the Inner Class since he had not been able to acclimatize properly to the academy, which brought many a surreptitious look towards him. Several of them were filled with schadenfreude.

Nerun however, was tranquil, and after knowing about Nerun's strength, both Reina and Karles weren't worried either. In fact, they were sure that those waiting for Nerun to fail were the ones that were in for a nasty surprise.

No, what was truly concerning for them were the reasons behind this abrupt change, that had never occurred before. The answer wasn't left unknown for very long. The news soon spread like wildfire that this decision was taken because of the All-Young Grand Continental Tournament that would start 6 months from now. The academy was adamant to get an excellent result this time around, so the whole Faculty would choose a small group of candidates to nurture and among them eventually select the contestants that would represent the Lyceum at the Tournament. All of the students younger than 15 years old were eligible, so they would all have the chance to showcase their talent. If they showed enough promise, even if they were not strong enough to participate in the Tournament they could still be chosen to be especially raised.

The chosen candidates would be treated as Core Students, and there were rumours that they would even receive pointers from the mysterious and all-elusive Headmaster. All of the students became overexcited after hearing this news as if they had been injected with chicken blood. The older students even regretted not being able to participate.

When Nerun heard about this, he clenched his fists tightly. This was it. This was the chance he was waiting for. Nerun had clearly taken his decision. He would go all out. No matter the difficulties ahead, he would plunge ahead bravely. 'Father, mother, can you see me? This will be the first step for me. The true first step so that my name will be known in the continent.'