13 Chapter 13

When he looked at the high building structures, a compulsion to climb to the very top arose from the depths. Ignore it. Didn't think he could be allowed to do this. Roaming. Searching. But for what?

Nothing.

The sun soon decided to snooze, the bright rays dimmed as the night sky rolled in. His eyes had by now turned a vivid golden glow. He stood rooted to the ground looking at the sunset. By now he had settled into the hard wooden bed with no comfort. Golden clouds drifted into his eyes for some fifteen minutes or so. After cultivating the Golden Demon Eyes he breathed out black impurities.

Anyone looking at the spectacle would notice his eyes also had tinged a light black. Closing his eyes, he breezed over to sit into a lotus position. His magic power boiling over, he sat and meditated. Substituting cultivation oversleep, it was easier to get some improvement in quality. To him, sleep was a waste of time.

Blank.

Silence.

Creak.

Daniel's eyes flew open as he focused his gaze towards the creaking door hinge. A surge of fighting intent unbalanced him before he counteracted with his killing intent. Although not as fierce as the owner he displayed before. It was enough.

"Very good," The voice chittered eerily.

"Aren't we roommates? Why try to test me." Daniel replied, his voice chilly. "It's not good to be creepy as well. It ain't the hallow yet."

"Eh, I don't want a weak roommate. But I've confirmed my suspicions, you aren't simple, are you." That wasn't a question but a declaration.

The teen strode in showcasing the class 1 uniform similar to his own. Black hair striped with earthy brown-streaked the healthy glow of white skin. Eyes set far between and an average eye size colored with short eyelashes and thick eyebrows. The nose was firmly placed as if by God. A God... He didn't believe in such things. Don't get distracted.

Sharp and smooth as the nose and the lips were still thinly. A well-defined chin with some fat. Ears symmetrically placed. In short a handsome man to be. Yes, the tempestuous green eyes blazed. He felt himself in a raging hurricane. From what he knew of the other's element, it was a deep green flame that danced threatening to burn the world. No, it was a different feeling . . .

Their gazes met as each was in their calculative theories. Luckily Daniel didn't reveal his element in the fight. Luck. Fate? **** He was already thinking of such things.

Overall the black-haired male silhouette thanked the gods that his roommate was not handsome. Yes, he was a sort of narcissist. Not fully but somewhere in between. He was a confident young teen continuing his journey in the mages' world. The continent-wide school had accepted him as expected.

"I won't thank you for the other day," Daniel said defiantly.

"*Sure*, you could handle the situation. Some random gang targets you, Majority of them were rank 10+ mages and one rank 20+ mage. *Sure,*" The black-haired boy replied. Was that tone Daniel heard of mockery? Playfulness? A chuckle spilled from the youth and finally evolved into laughter.

A small blotch of red etched itself onto Daniel's face. Looking fumingly but with some laughter bubbling.

When Daniel had released his killing intent, the atmosphere's temperature significantly dropped and dull white mist diffused into the surrounding. Now that he noticed it, the walls also seemed to have been scratched by something . . . Or someone. His eyes glanced at the boy and found him doing the same. Bewilderment. Embarrassment. At least they had something in common.

Scratching the tussled hair, the black-haired boy awkwardly said," *We* better clean up this place, after all, *we* will be living for the next 3 months,"

"*Oh no*, I'm not joining you. Who started this? You! Sort yourself," Daniel motioned towards the door.

"No, wait! I'll clean half the room and you do the other half." The boy hurriedly answered his face riddled with panic. " That way it will be fair. Won't it?" Worried. Mischief.

Wait. Mischief? He felt like telling him to go to hell. But what came out was - "Alright, you'll help me clean this place but do you have any idea on what to do with the scratched walls?"

"We haven't even introduced ourselves," He chuckled. " Yet we are fighting over cleaning this dorm.

"Old chap's name is Charles Rune," Charles brought up his hand in greeting.

"*You* an *old* chap!" He laughed as he took Charles outstretched hand. "Daniel . . . Daniel Wright,"

Connection.

Bond.

After the brief greeting, they quickly had to clean up the place. Even after Daniel had entered the dorm, he never cleaned it up. Thawing the ice, he used the water to deal with the dusted floor. Charles dealt with the walls using glue he never thought he'd use and some Mana to patch up the scratched walls. After an hour, they had finished. Grime and sweat-stained their uniform. Satisfaction. Mutual contentment.

Smiles lit their faces and they dashed off to bathe and change into pajamas. They had three different pairs of clothes. First their school uniform, second the casual wear, and third the pajamas. They were at least comfortable. Thank God.

Their dorm was set up with a shower area on the left, their beds' on the right side of the room. Bare with no comfort, no blanket either the beds we're instead nuisances. Seems like he had to begin to mass-produce money. Daniel was a freak of soft materials but hid it very well. Charles soon entered meditation and Daniel kept all noises to the minimum. No distractions were needed for successfully meditative states.

A soft breeze picked up in the room. Sensing the source of the change, Daniel was surprised for a moment. His elemental was the wind? But such a different quality in wind. Indeed it was Charles' method of cultivation. Very chaotic but also very effective.

Competitiveness. Daniel also wished to do the same. Suppress it. He also joined him in a meditative state, his Mana circulating under Heaven's Pathways technique.

Stop.

Push.

Stop.

Damnit! He was now experiencing a bottleneck. He tried a couple of times but it was all futile. Now that he noticed, the Mana was abundant in the school compared to even in the Desert. Only earth and sand mages are cultivated in such an environment.

Neon blue circuits traveled throughout his body. They glowed faintly signaling that he was near. But so far. He groaned inwardly. Similarly, Jade circuits ran through Charles' body as the wind began calm but no signs of stirring. No sirree!

Entering his Mana islands, the ice island was vibrant and cold veins ran through the piece of land. Chilling mists permeated the air but he felt more at ease in this environment. Subsequently, his body began to release bone-chilling ice. Fortunately, he could see what his body was doing and forcefully reined the mist to compress and maintain a two-meter distance.

I better get better at controlling my power. Plus he had just struggled to fix the previous mess. He wasn't really in the mood to start over. Deep and exciting draconic roars sounded shaking his body as only a portion into the outside world.

Charles was in meditation thus had blocked out all the distractions from the adjacent world. Focusing on his tempestuous wind island, he could manipulate the winds and the green flames danced magnificently. Feeling the familiar breeze and vicious flames, he was at ease.

Finally, Daniel broke through the rank 28 barriers. Relief. Exhaustion. Release. Thank the heavens he made it. Even though how he broke through. The familiar rush of energy from leveling up was apparent. Checking his stats, he smiled whilst Charles broke his meditation momentarily to glance at Daniel.

"Congrats, friend. You broke through," A slight smirk lit his face. "By the way what time is it?"

"Thanks," Daniel replied smoothly. "About two hours past midnight."

He estimated after measuring the depth of darkness and the luminous moon. Time was flying. Much faster as his heart raced. He had never gone to school before. **** I'm damn twelve, I should be allowed this. Maybe? Anticipation. Anxiety.

I probably won't be able to meditate for some time. He sighed softly and shut his eyes as he leaned on the wall.

"Five hours to go, huh? You look like ants have made your life a misery. What's up?" Charles asked looking at the restless falsely sleeping silhouette.

"I . . . haven't gone to school before," Daniel replied sheepishly.

"Aren't you in one now," Charles replied enjoying his friend's discomfort?

"Ah . . . True," Daniel replied speechlessly.

"Since I'm the more mature teen here. Let me advise my junior. A school is a place where books are supposed to be your friends and classmates your rivals. Sparring will be common especially in a school like this if you know its reputation. The academy can so easily pick you to be a student as throw you out. Understood?" An arrogant and playful smirk curved his lips. Goodness, he enjoys my discomfort. Daniel felt marveled.

"Yes,"

"According to what I know, Sky academy is very strict in their selections every 3 years. Hardly more than 20 students are accepted thus you can gauge the difficulty in the assessment. If the students can pass the assessment they are then mentored for three months before another assessment is given. From what I've heard, it's even worse than the application assessment. In short, it's a shit life we will be living with test after test, battle after battle, and even life and death situations. Plus most of the time, our fellows won't help - most of them - will be busy surviving. No help, squat zilch! Only your *dear friend* here is helpful." He began very dignifiedly Daniel was very pleased until he had to add a narcissistic comment. Lord help him! Ignore that. At least he got more information on the academy.

*In short it's a shit life*

*No help, squat zilch!*