CHAPTER 115: FORSAKEN PEAK ACADEMY.

Now looking like a tortoise, Aris fell to his back with tears in his eyes as he rubbed his belly. He’d never been this full his whole life, and even with this, mozrael had still eaten more than him.

How does she still look so slim?

"I owe you my life, boos. Even if I get reincarnated," he said.

He forced himself to sit up, his rotund belly making such movements difficult.

"Please let me wash the bowls as—" He blinked twice. "Where are the bowls?"

The place was empty. None of the bowls they’d eaten in were present. It was like they disappeared.

"Don’t worry about that. We wanted to thank you, so you don’t have to worry yourself anymore," Aramith said.

"But boss, I—"

Aramith shook his head. "And I prefer if you stopped calling me boss," Aramith added.

Aris looked at him like a maiden whose fiancé had just rejected her. "But why? Did I eat too much? Forgive me if I have wronged you," he bowed to the ground.

This was making Aramith’s skin itch. This is no ordinary teenager. Who taught him such things?

Aramith looked at Mozrael for help, but she just shrugged.

"The reason I’m saying this is because we’re around the same age, so it feels uncomfortable when you address me as such."

But Aris shook his head on the ground. "Never! I have no right to call you anything other than boss when you deserve my respect. If my parents have taught me anything, it’s respect. Even if I pass on to the afterlife, my ghost will still call you boss."

Aramith glanced around quickly and saw the attention this scene was bringing.

Many were looking at them with disdain, others with anger, some with confusion, and a few with curiosity. He could only guess what they were thinking.

This is going badly.

He easily saw the smirks on the people. This was the kind of smirk that promised trouble later on. In a place like this, rumours spread faster than fire.

"Get up, do whatever you want, but for now, leave us alone."

Aris raised his head. He noticed the shift in Aramith’s tone. He sounded cold and distant, somehow dangerous.

And Aris realized that he’d pushed too hard. As a weak person, he needed help, and he wasn’t dumb. After people had seen him with them, if he was to separate from Aramith and Mozrael, he could get bullied. But now, he understood he was forcing Aramith’s hand.

But I still can’t call him normally. This would make it difficult to establish him as my superior. I need a way of addressing him that would make him accept me as his underling and help me when I need.

This wasn’t cunning alone. It was desperation and a need for assistance in a cruel world. He understood better than most how difficult life would be if one didn’t find a group. In all this, his biggest fear was Sylas and the others. If they found out that he made it to the academy in one piece but was still alone, they could do terrible things to him, so he stays silent.

But if they found him with someone strong, they’d think twice before causing any trouble for him.

His fingers dug into the dirt. He was far from stupid. Alone, he’d be chewed up by the crowd. he needed someone strong to cling to, someone to stand behind. Without it...Sylas and the others would tear him apart when they saw him again. That thought alone terrified him more than death.

Watching Aramith leave him was something he couldn’t just allow. He got up to apologize, but—

"If you value your life, you would stay away. You’ve already made things difficult for us," Mozrael appeared beside him and spoke coldly.y

Aris’s blood went cold, and his breath caught. Looking at her face right before his, he never would have guessed that the sweet, shy-looking girl who was with Aramith could appear so calmly frightening.

Mozrael turned around and left to go sit beside Aramith. She looked at him with those glacial eyes, and Aris couldn’t help but gulp.

He quickly turned around and went back to his tent, sweating.

The audience slowly dispersed, each person having their own thoughts and understanding of the scene. Most didn’t hear anything, and those who heard only heard a few words that transpired.

Some understood it as Aramith and Mozrael bullying poor Aris, and others saw it as Aris begging them for help, but they rejected him. Whatever their thought, no one could understand what was going on.

"What did you tell him?" Aramith asked Mozrael as she came to sit.

"I just didn’t like the way he was forcing himself on you, so I told him to leave us alone," she spoke calmly, though the coldness in her eyes had disappeared.

"I wonder what kind of life he lived to become like this," Aramith mused.

"But still, anyone would know forcing someone to be your boss is strange. Even if the person saved your life."

Aramith gave a wry smile. "I understand, but I still wonder." He glanced at the tattered excuse of a tent Aris was in. "I don’t trust him, but I could see he was asking for help. I wonder what he needed help with."

They sat in silence for the next few hours, adding wood to the fire and observing their surroundings. This was a new place, they knew nothing about what was going to happen, and from the knowledge they had, one thing was sure.

Entrance exams to any academy were usually unpredictable.

Because of this, they weren’t going to sleep. When almost everyone had gone off to sleep, they nodded to each other and sat on opposite sides of the fire.

Sitting cross-legged, they began to cultivate.

This would have been a very risky thing to do a few weeks ago, for Mozrael’s marks glowed every time she cultivated. But with time, she’d been able to control them so they didn’t glow. And though she couldn’t make them disappear, she could keep them from appearing all over her body.

Aramith was still having difficulty cultivating like normal. At the moment, he could only take in small streams of energy, which was very tiring.

While they cultivated, most slept. And while most slept, others stayed awake. They saw them cultivating and immediately hated them.

"Show-off"

"Tch! You think you’re special?"

"Ha, look at them...think a few sparks of energy would make them special?"

"They think they’re better than us."

"They’ll regret burning themselves out this early."

"Ignore them. Resting is better than the attention they’re crying for."

They heard almost every comment, but didn’t care one bit. Lynnor could say worse things.

And just like that, more people had come to hate them.

By dawn, everyone else was still sleeping.

Aramitha and Mozrael opened their eyes at the exact same time, locked eyes, then nodded.

When they were observing the place, they saw an area where no one could be located. It was large, and empty like a field.

They stood up, dusted themselves, and carefully made their way there. It was several kilometers wide, and that would be their first training.

Without wasting a second, they shot off, running. In a very short time, they’d reached the end.

Without wasting a second, they looped back to the starting point and repeated the process several times. This was one of the exercises Lynnor had forced them to do.

Without structures or trees, the other exercises they did would have to wait.

For three hours, they kept going on. All without breaking a sweat.

When they finished, they moved back to the camp.

A few people were awake then. Aramith glanced at Aris’ tent. Still asleep.

The moment they sat back down on the log, a scream pierced the air.

It screeched like a bird, shaking their bones and waking every soul up. Everyone was on high alert.

The screech came again, and again, it was difficult to identify which direction it came from.

For the third time, the screech rang through the grounds, putting everyone on alert.

The place became silent for a moment, then a loud voice boomed.

"All participants of the Forsaken Peak Academy’s Entrance Exam, move to the field to the east!"

Everyone was silent, unmoving.

Aramith and Mozrael exchanged looks.

Forsaken Peak Academy?

This was the first time they’d heard the name of the academy. And the field they heard mentioned was definitely the place where they trained this morning.

"Move now or regret!" The voice boomed again.

This time, everyone was thrown into a frenzy, rushing to reach the field. Most of them couldn’t pack all their belongings, and looking at the way others rushed, they decided to leave their belongings behind and rushed to the field.

Aramith and Mozrael were the first to arrive, waiting a whole minute before the stampede of confused people rushed to the field.

To avoid trouble, they moved aside to one of the ends of the field while everyone else filled the grounds.

"Are you all idiots? Arrange yourselves in twenty lines now!"

The voice boomed once again.

Everyone rushed to form the lines, but there was confusion.

"I got here first!"

"Hey, you’re supposed to be behind me!"

"If you don’t want trouble, go stand there!"

"Do you want trouble?!"

"Don’t shove me!"

This was the chaos that ensued.

Most of them didn’t want to be left behind, and others wanted to force themselves in front so they appeared as the first to arrive.

"I give you ten seconds, or else everyone would be dismissed!" The voice shook them and now they ignored their differences, everyone rushing just to be a part of the line.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

Aramith looked around for where the voice came from.

"Five!" The ground seemed to shake.

"Four!"

Mozrael tapped him and pointed upwards. "Look there," she said.

Above the confused bunch were four figures. He couldn’t see them clearly, but it was clear that the voice was coming from them.

"Two!" People shoved and cursed, panic rising like a tide.

With a second to spare, Aramith and Mozrael quickly joined the group, standing at the very last position.