Chapter 67: Rigged

Ciaran woke up coughing up water. Verdania had just pulled him out and pumped the water out of his lungs. Eleftherios was standing next to her frowning. He knew what she was going to do, but it still felt wrong.

"How was it? The first time is always special. For me, it was exhilarating, euphoric even. The water was all around me, and once the panic passed, I felt nothing but joy." She said, reminiscing about a distant memory.

Eleftherios looked disgusted, but when he saw the boy nod in understanding his mood soured even more.

"For me, it wasn't so exciting. I just felt calm, at peace even. For the first time since I got back from the mountain, my head was truly cleared. Maybe I can talk to Mom to include the exercise in our sessions. It works way better than meditation." He said, with an expression that screamed 'eureka'.

Eleftherios couldn't handle it and left without so much as uttering a single word to them. Water users were notorious for their madness, but hearing about it and seeing one be born in front of him were two different things.

The dryad much more preferred to just ignore the boy's peculiarity, just as he has with his sister's.

The boy and Verdania were left in the swamp alone. He wasn't wet as the woman had simply told the Water to leave his clothes and go back.

"So, are you any closer to Rank One? I don't expect you to make it in one try, but did you at least make the first step?"

The boy pondered her question. Unlike Rank Zero, where he just had to learn his body and how to fight, here, he had to feel an Element. He had done it with Wind, but that happened naturally, and he didn't have time to think about it back then.

Now that he was consciously trying to establish a connection, it felt weird. He knew the water was there, he tried talking to and commanding it as he did with his Wind, but it failed. Only when he gave up and allowed it to flow into him did he feel a sliver of resonance.

"Kind of, I guess. It's a very stubborn element. The Wind was much easier to talk to." He said, not sure how to explain it himself.

Verdania just nodded with a smile on her face.

"As long as you made progress. Don't worry you will get the hang of it, just remember Water is, how did you put it, moody. Keep that in mind in our future training, now you better hurry along, your friends are waiting for you." She said as she teleported him into a tunnel leading to the exit.

The boy had not realized so much time had passed, but then again, he did pass out due to drowning.

Ariadne was still protesting about the method used, but Ciaran told her that it wasn't that bad in the end.

They were connected, and she knew he meant it, and that in the end he even quite liked the feeling of suffocation via water. But even when she could read his mind and his emotions, she did not understand how feeling pain and hopelessness could be pleasurable. And for now, the boy could not understand, much less explain it either.

They bantered a little before the boy stepped out of the Maze. Three pairs of eyes were on him.

"What took you so long, we waited ten whole minutes for you?" Clara asked.

It wasn't that she was impatient, it was just that, no matter what people always came out of the Maze in thirty minutes. Sometimes there were some delays, but it was at most a minute or two, never so long.

He looked fine physically, but she could tell that something had changed. He looked withdrawn as if he was retreating inward. She knew him and knew he got like that when something interesting happened and he wanted to research it.

She had spent years teaching the boy to share his thoughts with her, and after this summer, he had seemed to forget. Her hands were itching, and she was tempted to give him a reminder, but first, she wanted to make sure he was alright.

"I fell in a swamp and passed out drowning. It took me a while to wake up. Sorry for the wait." He said apologetically.

Clara frowned because she knew he was honest, Rayon thought his brother was joking, and Sunny found his explanation reasonable, and didn't really care to question him further.

Clara wanted to question him further, but she gave up on it.

'He wouldn't say anything here, not in the open, and not within hearing distance of other people.'

Ever since they were young Ciaran had kept his thoughts to himself. He even kept Rayon and Clara at an arm's distance. He might act like a fool, but deep down he was a very curious individual. Plus, most of his thoughts would get him in trouble.

'You will talk one way or the other Rony, I just hope I don't have to beat it out of you.' Clara taught dishonestly. She was discontent she didn't get to get a go at Ciaran on the first day.

They got to the Library and went to the doors leading to the second floor. As a rule, they had to go one by one.

"We go in order, the weakest goes last," Ciaran said, as he stepped back a little. He wanted to give the spotlight to the girls and his brother for once. He had already passed through and been to the second floor, so he wanted to make it all the more special to his friends.

Sunny just shrugged and touched the doors. Next, they opened up and she passed through them. Clara followed after, but she was actually excited to go. She was no less curious than Ciaran, and this would be her first time obtaining new, higher-level knowledge.

Rayon was second to last. He wasn't as excited as Clara, but the boy loved adventure, and this was his chance to experience new things with his friends.

"See you there Boss." He said as he passed through.

Ciaran sighted, time had passed but he was finally going to go back where it all started. He took a deep breath and put his hand on the doors. And then, nothing happened. The doors stayed closed.

The boy was confused, and so were the two guards that were stationed there. They were given the results, and they knew Ciaran was among the people who should have access to the higher floor.

They were wondering what was going on when one of the clerks, working there saw their confusion, and came to investigate.

When Ciaran told him of his predicament, the man nodded in understanding.

"There were special rules this time around. Since there were a lot of victories by default, the teachers demanded the quotas be limited. Now only the top five can go up to the second floor. The other five have the same privilege, but they have to pass the first semester of Year Three first."

Ciaran stood there and just blinked, then he was furious. He was robbed. Those old bastards had stolen his opportunities just because he didn't play their little games how they wanted.

Just a second ago he didn't really want to go up to the second floor for anything else other than nostalgia. Now that he wasn't allowed, however, he felt wronged.

He stormed off, heading straight to the Academy. He marched right to the headmaster's office and very politely knocked on the door, with full force.

For once Alaric Greyhound was in his office and told him to come in.

"Who screwed me. I want names." Ciaran demanded.

"My boy, what is this about? I can assure you, nobody in this institution wants anything but the best for our students and-"

He was interrupted, Wind blew inside his office. The boy's eyes glowed in a faint light blue light.

"Listen old man. I know you know me and my situation, so no need to pretend. I was also told you are an Archmage, so let's skip to the part where you give me the names, and I entertain you by getting back at them." Ciaran said.

Alaric was taken aback. He never thought the kid that would once try to hide his every action, would just plainly come out with his intentions in the open like this.

"Do you believe me so fickle that I would throw my colleagues under the bus like that, and for what, just to entertain myself? Do you really believe I am so bored that I would scheme with a child like you? "He asked, his eyes glowing in a similar light to Ciaran's.

The boy just came closer to the man and nodded.

The headmaster stood up and gave the boy a lecture on how he should be more respectful to his elders. Fifteen minutes later the boy was chased out. A piece of paper, with the headmaster's very bad writing was comfortably sitting inside his pocket.