45 Inifa Haniki

For someone who was over three centuries old, Inifa Haniki looked barely a day over thirty. At the age of three hundred and twenty-three years, he was the oldest person in the academy. He was also the Combat School Master and highly revered by everyone in the academy and beyond. Even the Principal of Royal Dream Higher Academy never dared to offend this powerful man.

Master Haniki, as he was usually called by everyone, was seated behind a large table in his even larger study. The room was befitting of his status as the head of the Combat School. Master Haniki's calm brown eyes slowly scanned through the list of names on the flat device in his palm.

As though he was finally satisfied with looking through the names, Master Haniki lifted his head so he could look at the towering man that stood in front of his table.

"We have a lot applicants this year." Master Haniki said. His face was smooth and hairless, and the fact that he was completely bald made him look very young. But anyone who knew what Inifa Haniki was capable of would never dare to underestimate him just because he looked young and innocent.

Koo Minchii, the Vice Head of the Combat School, nodded his head curtly. "We had a total of two thousand, five hundred and eighty-two applicants this year in the Combat School."

A small smile grew on Master Haniki's supple face. "The highest since I came here eight years ago. Say, Koo, how many of them do you think will pass the trials?"

"Less than fifty." Koo said without any change in his facial expression. He said it so casually, like it was a fact he had known all his life.

Master Haniki laughed heartily. It was just like his Vice Head to be so straightforward.

"Less than fifty? You think more than two thousand of the applicants are trash?"

"Indeed."

Inifa Haniki stared closely at the older looking man then broke into a mischievous grin.

Koo Minchii was about seven decades younger than Master Haniki, however, the former looked a lot older. Where Haniki was bald, Koo had head of thick black hair with strands of beautiful silver hair at the sides of his head. Moreover, though Haniki's face was hairless and smooth like a baby's bottom, Koo had a face full of thick black hair. The hair on his face, however, was neatly groomed, and gave him the appearance of a some kind of a noble man.

But perhaps, the most striking thing about Koo Minchii, apart from the powerful aura surrounding him, was his deeply analytical mind. It was one of the reasons why Master Haniki had appointed him as his Vice Head. Koo had a way of observing events and predicting their outcome. Thus, he was an indispensable help to Master Haniki when it came to making decisions for the Combat School and the entire Academy as a whole. In fact, Koo Minchii's responsible nature was the main reason why Inifa Haniki agreed to take over as the Master of Combat School eight years ago. Thus, the fact that Koo thought so few applicants will pass the trials was of great interest to Master Haniki. After all, Koo had made such predictions in the past before.

"Why do you think that? Have you gone through the list?" Once Master Haniki asked this question, he immediately regretted it since he already knew the answer. Koo Minchii was the type of person that would never ignore even the smallest of details. The three-day registration only ended about a few hours ago, and yet Koo already knew the total number of applicants to the school. Though Inifa Haniki was the Head of the Combat School, he never paid attention to these things. That was what he had his vice for.

"I have been observing all the applicants for a while. They did not look like anything special. I don't think many of them could possibly survive Naa Vah." Koo said. From the moment the applicants set foot in the Administration Block for the registration, he had been observing every single one of them.

Observation of prospective students was not something strange in the academy. It was a way of scouting for gifted students, and sometimes, various Masters selected these extremely gifted students as their direct disciples. Even seniors practiced this as a way of getting someone they could eventually mentor. The only difference was that while most of the Academy Masters and seniors observed the applicants during the trials, Koo did his observation from the very first day of the registration.

Inifa Haniki on the other hand could not possibly care less about any of that.

"There are about two dozen green users this year and one of them is an evolved green user. Maybe, they might stand a chance. But the majority of them are red and orange users. Most of them are simply not going to survive Naa Vah. Unless of course, you want me to go easy on them." Koo explained.

Master Haniki chuckled. "Of course not. The Combat School is not for the fainthearted."

Koo Minchii nodded. Suddenly, there was a slight wave of uncertainty in his rather intense eyes. He lightly touched his forehead for the umpteenth time. "There was something rather unusual with the registration. I think it was a recording mistake."

"What is it?"

"There was one applicant whose essence and soul armos were not recorded. I asked Kakami about it and she said one of the applicants had indeed recorded a null essence. She insisted it was no mistake since the boy who recorded it had verified it himself."

Master Haniki closed his eyes for a few moment, lost in his thoughts. No essence and soul armos? In his over three centuries of being alive, he had never heard of anyone in the Second Dimension not having an essence or a soul armos. Wait… he had indeed heard about this from someone.

"Luwei." Master Haniki muttered to himself, completely oblivious to Koo's presence. Slowly, Master Haniki opened his eyes, certainty washing over him like cold rain.

"What?" Koo asked. Whatever Master Haniki had said had not been too clear to him.

"This person who has neither essence nor soul armos, is her name perhaps Savyrran Thark?"

Koo quickly glanced through his own screen then nodded in the affirmative. "That's right, Master Haniki… Wait, Master, how do you know this?"

Of course, Master Haniki had gone through the list, but Koo Minchii knew better than anyone that the old master was not really paying attention to anything on that list. For a person who turned down the position of Principal of Royal Dream Higher Academy, acting as the Head of the Combat School was more of an obligation, and had quickly become a chore to him. Thus, though Inifa Haniki was the head of the school, it was Koo Minchii, the Vice Head, and Kakami Rendo, the Captain of Combat School, who were running the affairs of the school. It was actually a mystery to everyone why Inifa Haniki had suddenly returned to the kingdom eight years ago, after staying away for more than a century since he had no interest in the affairs of the school and the kingdom as a whole.

Thus, it came as an extreme shock to Koo that Master Haniki knew about the person he was talking about.

"A few months ago I received a letter from Luwei about this girl." Master Haniki confirmed.

"Luwei? You mean Yidai Bufan's son?"

"Yes." Inifa said, nodding his head. "He told me he had been training a girl in the last ten years. According to him, this girl had no soul armos and no essence, yet she was the strongest person he had had ever trained in his entire life."

"Luwei Bufan really said that?" Koo asked and Master Haniki nodded thoughtfully.

Koo Minchii had met Luwei Bufan a few times because of Master Haniki. Luwei's father, Yidai Bufan, was Master Haniki's closest and oldest friend. Thus, Inifa Haniki viewed Luwei as his own son.

Luwei may only be a yellow user, however, he was incredibly famous and widely respected in Dream Kingdom. It was not just because of his father's status as a Vanquisher. Rather, it was also because Luwei was born a red user before advancing to his current level of power. After several decades of enduring the harshest training ever, he was able to advance from red to orange then to yellow. It took him another few decades to evolve his soul armos. Due to how quickly he advanced, which was very rare, many people believed that he could advance to the blue essence before he even turned two hundred years old. Only a handful of red users in history dared to train so hard to advance their power. Thus, Luwei Bufan was highly regarded with respect for his unwavering discipline even by people more powerful than him.

Inifa Haniki himself was born a blue user, and it had taken him about two centuries to advance from blue to his current indigo essence. Thus, he knew first hand how hard Luwei had trained to get to where he was. Moreover, since Inifa knew what kind of a monster Luwei was when it came to training, he knew that Luwei had trained some of the most powerful people in the kingdom before finally settling down in the small peaceful town in the south.

Thus, for Luwei to say that this Savyrran was the strongest person he had trained in his entire life was indeed a great claim. How was a person without an essence the strongest person Luwei Bufan had trained? Even more importantly, how was there a person in the Second Dimension without an essence?

When Haniki first received Luwei Bufan's letter about his disciple who had no essence, Haniki had thought that perhaps, Luwei was writing in metaphors. Never once did it cross his mind that it was literal.

A huge grin grew on Master Haniki's face, and with just one look, Koo could tell what the mischievous master was thinking.

"Well, I don't doubt Luwei's words. But I would need to verify this myself. I guess I have no choice than to pay attention to this year's trials then. Send me Savyrran's profile, will you?"

"Yes, Master Haniki." Koo Minchii released a sigh he did not know he had been holding for so long. He had not expected Master Haniki to suddenly take interest in the trials. Usually, he left everything to him and the Captain of the Combat School.

"Do you think the girl will make it through the trials?" Haniki asked.

"Since Luwei trained her, and he thinks she is strong enough to enter Combat School, then I'm willing to take his word for it. But still, it is too hard to believe that someone without an essence and a soul armos could pass the trials."

"I agree. The Combat School Trials begin in three days so I guess time will tell."

"Do people like that even exist here?"

"Koo, the world is a big place."