First Elemental (Part Three)

Lucas left his room in a hurry when he felt a powerful aura intruding the academy. This place should have been safe. Even if world rankers wanted to intrude in this place, the barrier could hold them off. However, this world ranker level aura suddenly appeared in the academy for a moment before disappearing. There were only two explanations for this.

"First, someone hides their power level. Second, someone from inside activates the ancient power of space and summons a world ranker."

Lucas didn't know which was the correct answer, so he hurried to the source of the aura. He needed to know whether this world ranker was hostile or not.

After a while, Lucas arrived in front of the gym. It was already evening. The moon started to show up in the sky. At this time, students were usually busy doing other activities instead of training, so this place would usually be empty. However, he could sense three people's presence inside.

Lucas didn't immediately barge into the building. First, he needed to see the situation. He placed his back in front of the door and slightly opened it. He peeked inside the building and widened his eyes when he saw Hazel.

"Hazel?"

Lucas barely knew the white-haired boy inside the building, but for some reason, he thought of him dearly as if he was his own blood-related grandson. He especially liked his straightforward attitude. The boy had a mix of a scary yet handsome face. His gaze was sharp, and the scar at the right side of his lips made him look scary, but he was still handsome. Lucas felt Hazel was a suitable person for his sole granddaughter, Celina.

As he thought of that, Lucas suddenly had an idea to engage them. Of course, he would do it if both of them consented to it. In this age, forced engagement wasn't viewed favorably after all. However, he still wanted him to be Celina's fiance.

"If he is engaged to her, I can call him my grandson."

Lucas imagined that boy calling him grandpa, and he unknowingly put on a happy expression.

"No! Their consent comes first! But still... That boy is really suitable for her. I have a feeling he is the only one who can tone her childish side down and change her into a proper adult. Hm, I should really ask if he wants to be engaged with my granddaughter."

After deciding that, Lucas was about to enter the building, but he suddenly remembered his original reason for coming here. He needed to find the intruder first.

Lucas immediately spied on them again. There were two other people aside from that boy. The first one was a very beautiful woman. Her long hair had the mixture of pink and blue colors, and those two colors blended in perfectly into a beautiful pattern.

"Who is that? His girlfriend? No way." Lucas looked dejected. His hope of having him called him grandpa shattered. However, he immediately realized the woman wasn't a student here because she didn't wear a uniform. "Now that I look at her again, she is not a student. Or rather, how dare she wear a thin outfit that reveals her curves here? This is a place where students focus on studying!"

Lucas wanted to go in and scold her, but he held himself because the third person was the real deal. He immediately recognized the brown-skinned, yet ugly elf. That man was the leader of another world orthodox faction called the World Tree Alliance. It was a very large organization, and it had a good reputation in this world. That organization was ranked in the top ten among the Solar Worm System, a space loop system that connected several worlds throughout different galaxies.

If the leader of that organization wanted to destroy this academy, he could have brought his army and did it, but he came alone and had a conversation with Hazel. That meant the old man was acquainted with him.

"What is his relationship with my grandson?" Lucas muttered. He decided to hear their conversation. Then, he found out many things.

"That woman is the legendary Mircalla the Devastator?"

"My lord, that ring is a priceless artifact!"

"Killing someone of that status, that's so dangerous! How dare he order my grandson to do that?"

Of course, he only muttered all his voices in his head. Otherwise, they would find him out.

"Why am I acting like a stalker in my own home again?" Lucas pondered, realizing how ridiculous this situation was, but he still hid because those people didn't have bad intentions.

Lucas listened to the conversation to the end. Finally, he witnessed as Paradicus left, and a green orb entered Hazel's body. After that, Mircalla disappeared too, and Hazel continued training.

Lucas confirmed the academy wasn't in danger, but he still watched Hazel's training. One hour. Two hours.

After several hours, he sneaked into the building and observed him from the second floor. He truly admired Hazel's concentration and determination, so he kind of wanted to see the result of the training.

"Come on, my grandson. You can do it! Grandpa will reward you if you can truly awaken your aura!" Lucas cheered in his mind.

Then he continued to watch until the end of 8 hours. Lucas was on the edge of the seat when Hazel still continued swinging his ax. He couldn't bear to see his grandson hurting like that.

"You need to stop!" Lucas shouted as tears flowed down his face, but Hazel didn't hear him.

And then, what he feared happened. Hazel's ax slipped from his hands, and the boy was falling.

"Noo!!" Lucas shouted as he jumped down the second floor. He immediately ran toward his grandson. On the way to his grandson, a miraculous thing happened. Hazel's body emitted a green aura.

Lucas then lunged forward and caught him before he fell. He could see Hazel had lost consciousness, but someone had to celebrate his success, so he did it in his grandson's place. He carried Hazel in his arms and jumped in excitement several times.

"Yes! Yes! You did it my grandson! You awakened your aura before level ten! You are such a genius! Grandpa is proud of you!" Lucas shouted excitedly, as if he was an avid football fan who just witnessed a goal from the football team he liked.

But then, he toned down his excitement when he realized Hazel was unconscious. "Ah, no. You are experiencing mana fatigue. I need to treat you immediately."

Lucas carried Hazel and left the training field. When he came out of the building, the sky was still dark, and the wind was cool. He was still amazed that his grandson could endure a hellish training like that. He really wanted him to become his family member. Even if Celina didn't want to be engaged with him, he would just adopt Hazel as his own grandson.

---

Hazel opened his eyes and realized he was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The ceiling was too high and clean, unlike his dorm room that was dusty.

He brought himself to sit and realized he was even wearing a smooth pajama. The bed was soft and large. The room was too big, and the interior was better than his own room.

"Where am I?"

Hearing his voice, Mircalla came out of the ring and floated around him. "Hazel, you are awake. You are so cool!"

"I am cool, but why the sudden praise?"

"You don't remember? You have awakened an aura in 8 hours!"

Hazel suddenly remembered he had fallen unconscious after training, and he suddenly felt happy because his hard work paid off. He immediately checked his status screen to see the result of his training.

[Name: Hazel Larson

Species: Human

Level: 5

Talent: Grandpa System (Lv. 3)

Strength: 31 (B) || Endurance: 23 (C)

Agility: 22 (C) || Perception: 21 (C)

Intelligent: 17 (C) || Wisdom: 17 (C)]

[Abilities: Axemanship (Lv. 5), Power Slash (Lv. 1), Grandpa System (Lv. 3), Celestial Gardens of Nine Stars (Lv. 2), Aura Ignition: Nature (Lv. 1)]

"Eh, I gained a level?" Hazel muttered in surprise.

"Of course. Training a breathing technique can  increase your level."

"I see...." No wonder he gained level. This was a good thing, so he didn't fuss over it. In fact, he welcomed it with open arms. He especially felt good when he saw his stats increase. Thanks to his remodeled body, he gained quite a lot of intelligence and wisdom. His body was really suitable to learn magic.

"I will learn a few magic spells later."

Hazel moved on from his stats and checked his abilities. He gained two new abilities. The first was [Celestial Gardens of Nine Stars (Lv. 2)]. Not only did he gain this in less than a day, he had increased the level to two. That was a prideful achievement.

Aside from that ability, the second ability made him curious the most. Hazel clicked it and read the details.

[Name: Aura Ignition: Nature

Level: 1

Description: An aura with a special property. This aura has a special nature element property. The special nature property in this aura increases the user's affinity with living creatures passively. It also gives the user an ability to reconstruct their body.]