Unnecessary Conflict

Out of all the freshmen in Gryphon Academy, Adrian was by far the most well-known individual even though he spent most of his time meditating in his room rather than going out to mix around with people. This was mainly due to his status as a Captain in the military, bestowed upon him by Sir Raymond Nyx.

Obtaining a Captain rank at the age of 10 was an unprecedented incident that drew attention from not just the students of all levels, but even the professors of the academy, as well as other famous individuals outside of the academy.

At the moment, most of them were taking a wait and see attitude, wanting to see what Adrian was capable of before deciding on what stand to take regarding this incident. Only a few individuals who were already against Sir Raymond Nyx used this incident to apply pressure on him, questioning his decision making capabilities.

However, even though Adrian was the most well-known freshman, if one wanted to look at the pure combat capability of the freshmen, the one who stood out the most was a guy named Kyle.

Kyle was the 15 year old son of Duke Maltia, the cousin of the current king of Noc Empire. Groomed with the intention for him to take on the role of a General in the future, he had been nurtured from young, already beginning mild training from the age of 5, with the training intensity increasing further as he grew older.

By the time he joined Gryphon Academy at the age of 15, his physical prowess was already unprecedented among his peers, taking the position of the unofficial leader among the freshmen.

When it was made known that Adrian was made a Captain in the military, everyone had looked in Kyle's direction to see how he would react. However, these spectators were all disappointed that nothing really happened. Kyle simply ignored the whole matter altogether, not bothering to comment on it at all.

But while he didn't outwardly show any reaction, that did not mean he was completely unaffected by it. It made him realise that this 10 year old peer of his might be more than met the eye. From then on, he had always paid extra attention to Adrian's progress.

This day as well, the moment he heard the words of the professor, he immediately turned to look at Adrian to see his reaction.

Adrian was definitely excited as well. While his mind was no longer the same as that of the easily influenced youths surrounding him, he was still relatively new to this magic world. Thus he inevitably felt hyped up by the prospect of being named the strongest.

It would also be especially rewarding after all the hard work he put in over the past months, and the best recognition of his efforts.

Still, he took care to control his expressions, giving off a poker face as he looked completely unfazed. Hearing the professor's words immediately reminded him of the events from the day before.

That crazy bastard from before was concerned about the ranking tournament as well, wanting Adrian to struggle with all his life in order to grab the win. But even without him saying it, Adrian would have wanted to win anyway!

He too was after the glory that came along with being named the number one freshman in the top academy, not to mention in the top two academies.

"Kyle!" the professor called out, breaking everyone out of the fantasies of being crowned champion that was running through the minds. "Currently, you have the highest chance of winning the tournament. Do not ease up on your practice and keep training hard!"

"I won't let you down, professor!" Kyle loudly answered in response.

"Good! I like your attitude!" the professor nodded in satisfaction. "As for the rest of you, there is still time! Anything can happen in the next few months, so practice hard and do Gryphon Academy proud!"

"Yes, professor!" the freshmen answered in zest.

"Good! Those who have questions for me about anything you are confused about, I will stay here and answer them right now. For the rest of you, go back and train hard!"

The burning spirit among the freshmen had been lit, and many enthusiastically returned to either spar with their friends or practise their spell casting. They starting to clear out of the courtyard quickly, but to everyone's surprise, Adrian actually stayed behind.

He was the model student, the one who always had the answers to the professors' questions. But today he actually stayed behind to ask questions instead of going back to the meditation that he almost seemed to be obsessed with?

This drew everyone's curiosity, and those who were leaving stopped in their tracks, hesitant to miss out on what Adrian was about to ask.

"Oh? Isn't it little Adrian? What a surprise to see that even you have something to ask! Do tell me what you are wondering and I will try to answer to my best ability," the professor smiled warmly as he saw the youngest freshman approach.

"Yes, professor. But my question might sound a little weird…" Adrian hesitated a little when he noticed every other freshman turn their attention towards them.

He wanted to ask the professor privately, but since the professor already offered up this time for questions, he might feel irritated if Adrian still decided to ask some other time.

"Don't worry about your peers' opinions. No question is a stupid question," the professor was especially encouraging towards Adrian, one of the few apprentices who had always paid attention during classes.

"What I would like to ask is…how do you form Spiritual Aura?" Adrian hesitated once again before finally asking.

"Spiritual Aura? Are you already thinking of forming your own Spiritual Aura?" the professor's eyebrows lifted in surprise.

And it was no wonder that he was surprised. The formation of Spiritual Aura was by no means an elementary skill suited for freshmen in the academy. Many of the senior apprentices with Gryphon Academy had not even been able to form their own Spiritual Aura even after a few years of study.

The fact that Adrian was aiming to form his own Spiritual Aura at this juncture seemed to be nothing but a foolish dream!

"Yes, I am hoping to do so if possible," Adrian nodded, a little embarrassed.

Gasps of astonishment clearly sounded from behind him as his peers couldn't believe what they were hearing. Adrian felt his face going red as he cursed in his heart. This was exactly why he didn't want to ask this question in front of everyone else!

What would the others feel when they realised that he was trying to form his own Spiritual Aura? And how would they treat him if he actually failed to do successfully do so?

It wasn't like he didn't have confidence in himself, but nothing was for certain after all. And the difficult level this time was really high!

"Don't waste your time on such a senseless thing now! Leave that kind of thing till after the ranking tournament. Then your professors will definitely teach you patiently," the professor's mood took a sharp dive immediately. "You might be the youngest among the freshman, but you have actually managed to cultivate the largest mana reserve. So if you work hard on your basics and play to your strengths, you will still be able to do fairly well during the ranking tournament!"

Adrian didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. It seemed like the professor actually thought that Adrian gave up on the ranking tournament and was looking to the future. Couldn't he just answer the question?

Now, Adrian felt a little conflicted.

If he kept asking, the professor might feel that Adrian was ignoring his advice. But if he didn't ask, then he would miss out on a possible source of guidance.

He hesitated for a bit, but eventually decided to not ask further. While he really wanted some guidance, his pride was too strong and he no longer wanted to be judged by the professor in front of all his peers.

Adrian couldn't help but give a polite nod before disappointedly leaving the courtyard. He considered approaching the other professors after this, but decided against it after some contemplation.

These professors were all prideful creatures, and if this professor realised that Adrian approached another professor even after his advice, Adrian might be blacklisted. Reputation was important to Adrian, and he did not want to risk offending any professors, at least not now while he was still relatively weak.

If he couldn't get any help from the professors, then he would just have to work hard on it himself!

For the coming days, outside of lessons, Adrian spent all his time in meditation trying to replicate the feeling of Spiritual Aura that he personally experienced previously.

The mandatory rule for freshmen to attend lessons also relaxed. By now, they had already attended the introductory lessons for all magic classes, so they were left to decide which path on the journey of magic they wanted to pursue.

Every individual had a different understanding and interpretation of magic after all, resulting in different paths of pursuit. Thus the academy introduced flexibility in attendance of lessons so that magic apprentices did not have to waste time on matters that they were completely uninterested in.

The ranking tournament to be held at the end of the year was designed to be a stage for the freshmen to showcase all their understandings accumulated over the year, doubling as a platform for the students to ascertain if they chose the right path to pursue.

A week before the ranking tournament, a large group of visitors arrived at Gryphon Academy. These visitors were dressed similarly in magician and apprentice robes, albeit designed a little differently from that of Gryphon Academy.

"Welcome, our friends from Sand Academy!" the headmaster of Gryphon Academy exclaimed as he personally greeted the group in the main hall of the academy. "You must be tired from the long journey here so let's just keep the greetings short. Please have a good rest for now, and feel free to treat this as your own academy for the coming week. I look forward to everyone's wonderful performances one week from now at the ranking tournament!"

"I thank Headmaster Quinn for your kind words. I will definitely make sure that my kids stay out of trouble during this week so as to not cause any inconvenience," the accompanying professor from Sand Academy was certainly courteous towards the esteemed headmaster.

"Don't worry about inconveniencing us! Professor Kastor will be leading you to the dormitories that were specially set aside for you. He will also be attached to you for the coming week. If you have anything you need, do approach him and he will settle the matter for you," the Headmaster continued with his hospitable promise as he got one of the professors to see the group out.

As the visitors walked through the academy, heads were turned and curious apprentices stopped to check out the group. It was not the first time that they had visitors, but it was definitely the first time that they had this many counterparts from another academy come over to compete with them in a tournament.

Even the senior apprentices who weren't involved in the freshmen's ranking tournament were feeling excited, hoping that the week could fly past immediately so that the ranking tournament could hurry up and start.

Sam was among the first to rush out and check out his potential opponents in the upcoming ranking tournament. That wasn't the sole reason for him though, but it was more because of his sociable self wanting to get to know more people.

It was easy to find the visitors too. After they left their stuff in their assigned dormitories, they naturally headed to the canteen to try out the food.

"Look at how they are gorging themselves, the food at Sand Academy must be really inferior compared to ours!" a freshman snickered as he whispered to his friend.

"Shh! Lower your voice! It would be bad if they heard us," the friend quickly hushed after letting out a snicker of his own.

As magic users with spiritual sense, the magic apprentices from Sand Academy naturally heard the comment, but were able to exercise excellent self-restraint and simply ignored it. They had been repeatedly warned by their professors not to cause any unnecessary trouble while at Gryphon Academy, and weren't about to make a big fuss over such a thoughtless comment.

What came next, however, really pushed that self-restraint of theirs to the limit.

"Why are you two so worried that they will hear you?" a Gryphon Academy senior apprentice in his second year actually walked up to the duo from before and spoke haughtily, deliberately wanting everyone at the canteen to hear him.

All eyes immediately turned towards him, waiting to see the drama unfold. Some with greater awareness first turned their attention towards the area where professors usually sat, only to see that the area was empty at the moment.

No professors to stop the show then.

Many of the Gryphon Academy apprentices knew that the senior apprentice who just spoke was a known troublemaker named Krill. Since he took the initiative to speak up here, this situation probably would not end on a good note.

"Senior, we were just joking. We didn't mean it at all," the duo was definitely flustered by this senior apprentice of theirs. It was fine if he wanted trouble, but he just had to pull them in as well!

"Joking? What's there to joke about when it's nothing but the truth?" Krill laughed when he saw his juniors' nervous look, but continued nevertheless. "We are the best magic academy in the entire Noc Empire! Of course they can only look and stare in envy at everything we have here at the Gryphon Academy! The professors are trying to be nice when they invited them over to join the ranking tournament. But in reality, does anyone really think that we will lose? I doubt even they themselves have any confidence to win!"