26 Aftermath
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[Number #127, Symphony High School, Medea Dormer. 234 points.]
*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*
When the most anticipated number was finally called out, a large and merry applause resounded from many of the participants both the ones still on the center field and the ones on the front line.
The claps given out were not simply because the expected high school prodigy had finally risen and taken her title. But also because in this very exam today, the Zeta City had unexpectedly birthed 2 out of the 5 Starseeds of the year!
As she heard her total score being announced, even Medea's eyes started glowing with glee and surprise.
A total score of 234 points!
It meant that the Practical Exam had netted her a total of 82 points all by itself! Which was 3 points higher than Irvine's Practical result!
'I've finally won one!' She shouted in her head while subconsciously pumping the fist by her side.
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The closing ceremony went on for a little while longer, going past Medea's turn and climbing up to the higher number participants.
[Number #272...]
[Number #274...]
As it got higher, so too the interval between the passing numbers got smaller and smaller.
[...]
[Number #317, Eastern Zeta University, Tracy Higgins. 252 points.]
Nearing the end of the list, a man with an afrohead casually walked forward to the front line as his name was being called.
Irvine heard the familiar name and turned his head slightly towards the back.
'That should be the last of the future pros here today...'
He lightly took note of the arriving player while giving a sidelong glance towards this newest addition to the row.
The man named Tracy Higgins was the last person he could remember from this month's exam participants who'd go further into the pro scenes in the near future.
After him, the rest of the names in the passing roster were no longer familiar to Irvine, even if their scores were still in the higher-end of the final rankings of the exam.
And eventually,
As the sun set and night approached, the continuous announcement made by Sandy had come to an end.
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The final number of examinees on the front line was 112 people.
Following the eliminations from Day 1, almost half of the people attending the Practical Exam here today had stayed on the center of the field, failing to achieve the required total score.
Tears were shed and the gloomy atmosphere emitted by almost half the population on the field created an awkward contrast to the held-back happiness of the people on the front.
But nonetheless, the results were final.
After another words of encouragement to both parties delivered by the stoic-looking Reginald, the curtains slowly drew to a close for the first of the mid-year exams between April and June.
The local sports news reporters who had begun attending the event starting from today morning freely took their appropriate closing pictures of this eventful exam before retreating back to their respective offices.
For them especially, today's materials had been nothing short of a goldmine!
With mid-year License Exams being what they were, it was not really an unusual thing for multiple Starseeds to appear one after another between these two months.
But for 2 of them to appear together in the same exam location, and in their local city no less!
It had become more than just a simple blessing for them.
It meant that the few of them who're here at this day were holding on to the only photos and footages that would be very desirable to the many famous sports media in the Station in just a couple of days!
Even the most mainstream of sports magazines spared a few of their pages and columns for college Arena news.
And this fact became especially true during the OPL's off-season, specifically in the time when no transfer or buyout news had been finalized yet within the pro scene.
This period of drought for the fans was the peak time for college Arena to receive more exposures than usual in the mainstream sports media. Becoming the other main reason for players to pick the mid-year exams to get their Arena Athlete License.
And when these media heard that 2 Starseeds had come out from the same place at the same time. All of them would go all over Olympus to find any existing clips or footages of the exam available!
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Evening, In the vicinity of Z Stadium.
Seemingly unbothered by what's to come, Irvine and Medea had rendezvoused with Althea after the final closing statement of the event.
The three of them had long decided to meet up for dinner together when the exam's finished, ever since the morning before they had even begun their Practicals.
One could say that it was their way of showing the confidence they had in each other for being able to pass the coming tests.
Right now, all three of them were sitting in a nearby cafe waiting for their last order before going their separate ways.
"So, where is the license?" Althea started asking curiously.
"They said they'll input the license data on our stat chip to the Olympus database tonight. As for the physical documentations, I think it'll be within a week from today." Irvine answered her as he sipped his last drop of coffee.
"So you need to wait a week for your Gene Modification?"
"Of course not, the Olympus database is foolproof. And with the stat chip being connected to our biometrics, I can even get it tomorrow if I want to."
"I see."
"--And speaking of Gene Mod."
As the casual discussions were slowly turning into the plans for their next steps, Medea steered the subject to one she was rather interested in,
"Which 'Ability' are you thinking of getting Lang?" She asked.
"It's a secret."
"Stop speaking nonsense." Medea retorted quickly to his answer.
How could an Arena player's Gene Mod Ability be a secret?
There're only a short list of them allowed for Arena competition as sanctioned by the government and OPL, and all of them had already been well-analyzed by everyone.
Every couple of years, there would be some new additions to that list, but even then it was only a few at a time.
Even if Irvine planned to hide it from the public at first, in the end he would need to show it in his chosen college's official Arena team website.
The players roster on the site was required to show some information of all the players if they were to be eligible for competitions.
And with Irvine being a Starseed, there's no way his school wouldn't want to advertise him on their official website anyway.
"Haha, I'm kidding... Unlike you, I'm still deciding between two different Abilities right now."
"And how do you know which one I'll be getting?"
"Rangers only had a few compatible ones to begin with." Irvine simply shrugged, "And with your style..."
"It will be [Overload]... Right?"
"...Hum!" Medea just gave a small snort at Irvine's guess.
'As always, his thought process was clear and on point.'
"So which two?" She asked again without beating around the bush.
"Well, one of them's [Overload] as well. After all, I'm still trying to play a Solver and that's one of the options for it just like Rangers..." Irvine's words trailed off a bit at the end.
'The other one is, of course, the one I'm most proficient in. My future's Ability...'
"--Oh, by the way." But before he could finish his thought, Althea suddenly cut into the conversation to ask another thing she was curious about,
"Many scouts told me that the June exam will have more participants than this one. Is it because the failed examinees of today will try again in June?"
"Not quite." This time, it was Medea who answered the younger girl's question.
"If you failed a License Exam, you'll be prohibited from applying for the next one. Which basically means you get a 4 months ban from applying."
"Yep, the reason June's larger is because it was the final one before a new academic year begins. People who didn't apply for April can get another 2 months of training time to finish their preparations." Irvine also added.
"So then, why did you two apply for the April one?"
"Hm?"
"Well of course it's--"
""To have more time to train the Gene Mod Ability before college.""
Both Medea and Irvine had answered it at the same time.
"...Wow, prodigies really do think differently." Althea slurped her drinks with a teasing tone while looking at the both of them.
"..."
"...Anyway, do you think more Starseeds will turn up in June?" Medea quickly brushed off the earlier coincidence and asked another follow-up question.
"Yeah, 2 more."
"Hm? And how are you so sure?"
'Oops...!'
Only after noticing that he had answered it nonchalantly did Irvine widened his eyes in a slight panic,
"...I've followed high school Arena news and found two other remarkable players I think will pass is all."
"Uh-huh, Sure..."
Just like this, the three spent their evening after the exam talking about various Arena-related topics until they went their separate ways to their respective home.
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Inside the head coach's office of a certain university.
"So 2 more Starseeds this month, both from the Northern Sector... The next season of college Arena might just turn out to be interesting still."
Inside a classic-styled office with windows overlooking a green campus ground, an old bearded man wearing a formal double-breasted vest over his shirt was reading a report on his desk with an assistant by his side.
"And their names?"
"Medea Dormer and Irvine Lang." The assistant replied.
"Medea Dormer is that last year's high school champion... Who's this Irvine Lang guy?"
"No report on him prior to the License Exam. I'm sorry." The assistant bowed his head apologetically.
"...Well it doesn't matter. Just like the previous three, all these geniuses are coming out of their holes one after another in time for the next academic year. There're always cases like this."
"Are we sending our invitation letters to them as well then?"
"Of course! why should we miss out on getting good players? What're the responses from the 2 Starseeds of our very own Central Sector?"
"One of them had agreed to enroll into our university. The other's still undecided."
"Good! Our prestige as last year's Silver Crown Champion should be proof enough of our strength."
"Also sir, regarding Medea Dormer and Irvine Lang, it's not just that the two of them are from the same Sector. But both of them also attended the same License Exam in Zeta City."
"Hm?" The bearded old man looked on to his assistant with more intensity than before, "Interesting... So they know each other?"
"There are reports that suggested such conclusions, yes. And from what we've heard of Medea Dormer, she's already decided to go to the college there, so..."
"Hrrmm..." He growled for a bit before continuing, "...You're saying one college in Zeta City might get 2 of this year's new super rookies is that it?"
"Yes. That is so."
*cough* "Hah! Lucky bastards."
"No matter... these kids are still freshmen in the end! It'll take some years for them to become actual monsters, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
The old man stood up from his leather chair and looked through the main window of his office towards the garden outside.
"In the end, Arena is a team sport. And in that sense, we of Valhalla University had proven our superiority time and again to the world! What's there to fear?"
"Yes, sir!"
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For the next couple of days, Conversations similar to the one in Valhalla University were occurring all over Tier-1 colleges and universities in Olympus,
In multiple places across the 3 Sectors, the gears also began to turn with the news of 2 new Starseeds appearing at the same time and place. Blowing new winds to the next 4 years of college Battle Arena and even the Pro League.
