Initiation

"Greeting, instructor!" Everyone in the class stood up, Adrian included.

"Sit down, everyone. Hopefully, everyone successfully chose and studied their essences." She said while scanning the room.

"Seeing your weary and sleepless faces, I am assured that everything will go well today." She giggled.

"Anyone have any questions?"

"Instructor, I think you forgot to talk about tier 5 affinity yesterday." A student stood up.

"I forgot? No, my dear student. I just did not want to dispirit you on your first class." She shook her head.

"Tier 5 talents, unless they themselves don't want to, WILL reach level 9. Additional resources will just hasten the process."

Everyone, including the ones who already knew this, consciously or subconsciously looked at Isabella.

"I… I… am sure, young master is better." She blushed. Even though she had once become the centre of attraction before- during the entrance examinations, that was short lived as Adrian stole the spotlight. Now that she was once again the centre of attraction, she tried to apply what she learnt- surrendering the spotlight to someone else.

But this time, it failed.

"Miss Isabella Hunt, would you give me the honour to be your husband?" A young noble did not waste a moment before proposing a marriage.

"Hmph. You are just the son of a viscount. I, Andros Chrysler, the first son of a count family, propose milady Isabella Hunt to be my wife." Another young noble chimed in and bowed towards her.

"Are you even worthy of her? I am the heir to a dukedom from the tier 2 Aurgoth and I promise the future position of duchess to you." Another one joined the fray.

Meanwhile, the young ladies and commoners were spectating the scenes. Most of the young ladies were jealous of Isabella while most of the commoner men were jealous of their noble counterparts.

'I am sorry everyone. I am just a maid of young master. I am not worthy.' She would normally say this. She wanted to say this.

But the words that came out were something else altogether.

"You are not worthy."

Last night, her young master had warned that this whole proposal thing could happen today. Furthermore, he told her what to say when this happens. She tried to reject, but like always, her efforts were futile. As a result, she was bound to act out of her naive and innocent girl character. But due to her being a poor actress, the statement which should have sounded haughty- sounded emotionless.

And this emotionless tone made the statement countless times harsher than it should have been. And the fact that everyone was expecting something sweet and gullible from the 'innocent' and 'naive' commoner girl made it even worse.

The harsh statement broke the three nobles' hearts like a piece of stone shattering a glass door.

One could feel the pain and sorrow their twisted and sullen faces conveyed.

But Isabella, the one behind this, was smiling.

This beautiful smile, born out from the suffering of others, sent chills down the spine of everyone present, including the instructor.

Everyone was surprised at the behaviour of the girl who can be called the incarnation of 'innocence' itself. How could the difference between expectation and reality be this vast?

But the one who was the most surprised was not one of the three heartbroken nobles, nor was it the instructor- Abegail Bell who checked every one of her student's backgrounds. But it was none other than Isabella herself.

She could not believe that the joys, the rights of every children, which were snatched by that cursed fruit would be returned to her once again. She could not believe that happiness could be harvested from others' pain and sufferings. But most of all, she could not believe that she actually hurt others and… smiled.

It was not an exaggeration when people thought of her as the incarnation of innocence. Since her childhood, even after taking that fruit, she never even thought of hurting others, let alone actually hurting them. The most she was capable of doing was to scold her siblings; even those scoldings were not enough to cause her siblings actual pain or sorrow. So, she never got to know the joy that could be obtained from the suffering of others.

But that was not the case anymore as she got a taste of this 'joy'.

'But, is this right?' She asked herself.

Adrian, who was reading every one of her thoughts, knew that she only needs one last push.

"They say that making a woman smile is a taking step closer to her heart. You did your job well, making MY maid smile." Adrian spoke as if he were mocking them.

The three heartbroken nobles, though angry, could not retort because they were the ones who were trying to steal another's maid- which was looked down upon in the aristocratic society. They just could not let go of the opportunity of strengthening their family by adding a level 9 circler.

But Isabella knew that the message was meant for her.

'Yes, I am not a human anymore; I am a demon. And it is a human's JOB to make me happy. And for this, they have to suffer!' She clenched her fists.

'Smart girl.' He praised.

"Ahem… Now, we will leave for the initiation ceremony. Everyone, follow me." The class today did not go as she was expecting. So, she tried to calm everything through the all- important initiation ceremony.

The most central room of the ground floor of the massive academy building was the 'Hall of Beginning'. It was the room where the ceremony took place. This room was a sort of legacy as the ceremony could be done anywhere. It was completely quiet with only one hunchbacked instructor looking after the thirty or so apparatuses filled with sanguine red liquid.

The large doors of the hall opened, attracting the attention of the instructor.

"Greetings, Miss Bell." He greeted with a shushed voice.

"Greetings, Professor Midsley."

The instructors who were more focused on research were called Professors. Most of the professors of the Academy either belong to the Circle Research Department or the Potioneering Department. Professor Midsley belonged to the latter.

"Are they from the 'Griffin' class? Why do they look so weak? Are they deserving of my potions?" He asked in the same shushed voice.

"I assure you, they are undoubtedly better than last year's Griffin class."

"If you are the one saying this, I can only but believe it."

"It's an honour." She curtsied. The one in front of her was one of the oldest instructors in the Academy. He was offered the position of dean many times but all of those times, he rejected. He would rather tinker with potion recipes than seeing all those youngster brewing potions while he 'manages' the department.

"So, who's going first?"

"Adrian Darkheart was the first to apply."

"That lass's son? This brat better cause a phenomenon equal to that of his mother. Or I might use him for my next experiment as a test subject."

Everyone felt chills when they heard his ghostly voice, except the one in question- Adrian.

"Come here and sit down." Professor Midsley pointed at a circular cushion placed a bit away from the table brimmed with potions.

Adrian sat cross legged on the designated area.

"Drink this and immediately start to contemplate on the essence you chose. You don't have to worry about accumulating magical energy or anything as my special initiation potion will do all the extra work." Professor Midsley gave him one of the sanguine red potions.

The students who were spectating gasped in surprise. Instructor Abegail Bell smiled.

"Yes, the initiation potions concocted by professor Midsley are special. These potions not only provide overwhelming magical energy and clots them, they also have the additional function of automatically absorb magical energy from the environment. As a result, the subject can allocate the entirety of his or her focus on contemplating the essence."

She continued, "But these potions need more ingredients including some rare ones. And only professor Midsley can create it using his unique property. So, only a very small amount could be concocted each year. So, they are provided only to the best of the best- the Griffin class."

The students became even more excited hearing the speech. But they did not move their gaze away from Adrian even once.

Adrian had already drank all of the potion in one gulp. His eyes were closed and his whole body radiated an aura of calmness.

A few moments later, he opened his eyes. Everything was the same, nothing changed.

He got up and went back to his former position, which was with the students.

The students were confused and the instructors surprised.

The instructors looked at each other.

"Strange. I can sense his energy signature. That means he succeeded. But how come it did not cause any phenomenon." Abegail remarked.

But the professor only smiled and shook his head.

'It did not cause phenomenon? So, even you could not see it.' He then looked at Adrian.

'What a monster! Not only did he cause such a overwhelming phenomenon, he used his essence to conceal all of it, even from a level 6 circler. Is it really the <Conceal > essence?'

Adrian looked back at him and smiled.

The professor smiled back knowing that Adrian knew he knew about the phenomenon.

"Next, Dolf Ironcross." The class teacher declared.

Dolf followed the same process and he caused a phenomenon which caused everyone to hear metals clanking. He successfully comprehended the <Magnet > essence of 'Metal' attribute.

The other students followed one by one. Every one of the attributes have one essence. So, the all the students more or less caused the same phenomenon depending on their attribute. Only the magnitude differed depending on the comprehension of the subjects.

<Heat >, <Flow >, <Swift >, <Hard > and <Growth > caused raging fire, overwhelming tides, endless storms, devastating earthquakes and growing forests respectively. All of these were just illusions which have no effect on the physical world.

Only the professor, along with Adrian of course, knew of the darkness that covered the whole world- something he wholeheartedly felt was more than just an illusion.

"Finally, Isabella Hunt." Abegail declared.