Chapter 696: Prelude To The Festival
Northern cleaned up the hammer and later that day delivered it to Eleina. He had seen her eyes glitter with stars of admiration. No doubt about it, she was beyond amazed at what he was
able to accomplish with it.
However, just after that, Northern had broken the news to her that he wished to transfer to the Artificer Course. Eleina had acted like it was none of her business and she did not care, but written behind her facade of nonchalance was a lady that was heartbroken.
Since Northern was resolute about his decision and had nothing to offer as consolation to her emotions, he felt it was useless trying to state the obvious.
All that he had to do now was prepare for the Milhwa festival-which led him to begin training heavily.
Amidst his training, he spent time in the forge, checking if he could build himself a weapon with the Rithium. Other times, he was always digging through books in the library to garner knowledge.
He loved reading too much; sometimes he lost awareness of time, and he'd have to retreat to his dormitory in the thick of the night.
Other times, he usually just stayed back in the office.
In all of that time, he had only encountered Annette twice, and both times they did not share any familiar greeting. It would be suspicious, after all, to find the Head Librarian, whom many knew was from the incident of the dark continent, talking to a random student.
There was rational thought that everyone from the dark continent conversed with Annette and her assistant. They were quite a few of them around, and the Combative school was more than happy to have them.
They were sure that this year's Milhwa festival would be theirs to dominate no matter what. The other event Northern had to deal with was the Starchasers. There were seven of them, and Northern had to somehow make their talents better by copying, evolving, and returning them. That cost him a lot of fragments, but he was able to gain their trust and seven new talents- although they were currently indispensable to him.
Unlike the case of Aster, he did not tether the talent to his own soul. Since they had no issues with soul essence, he tethered it to each of their souls.
But he still maintained control over the ethereal threads. Should he decide to cut it, their talent class would fall, and they would suddenly find themselves back as those weak individuals they once were.
All of this, though, cost him an annoying amount of fragments, most of which his subordinates were constantly harvesting in the dungeon.
Recently it had been getting difficult for them to proceed deeper into the lower floors of the dungeon. They had even spent two days on a particular floor without proceeding downward, and Northern had lost a clone.
Those fragments were precious, most especially because there was an ability he was hoping to copy before the festival began.
Northern, with squinted eyes, watched crimson sparks fly violently each time he brought the hammer down on the boiling metal. His focus was razor sharp, even though several thoughts revolved in his mind.
His squinted eyes suddenly twitched as he was about to bring the hammer down again, prompting him to stop the motion mid-air.
He dropped the hammer, sighed, and turned around. Barely three seconds later, Aster could be seen running towards him.
Aster slowed down as he approached the forge. He glanced at the hot steel on the anvil and at Northern's face-with a puzzled expression.
"What? Were you expecting me?"
Aster found it so strange that Northern left what he was doing and focused right on him. His demeanor was as though he halted to quickly receive a visitor he was expecting.
The only deal was, he had not informed Northern that he was coming. In fact, there was only one thing that brought him here; if it wasn't for that, he wouldn't be here.
As the new disciplinary committee leader, he had so much to do and experienced so much rebellion from other members.
He had only spent a day in the office, and it already felt like hell. But there were more important, pressing matters that made things escalate out of hand, so he had to report to Northern.
He shrugged off the weird feeling and spoke.
"Anyway... something has happened, something serious!"
Northern's brows creased into a tight frown.
"What is it?"
"The Starchasers attacked the members of the disciplinary committee that had ambushed them the other time. The students of the Combative school were terribly wounded!"
Northern's eyes widened for a second, then narrowed back to a furious grimace.
As if things couldn't get any worse.
'...Those fools.'
The faint glow in his eyes disappeared completely. His hands rested beneath his jaw for a moment, then he lifted his head slightly to meet Aster's gaze.
"It's fine... let them be."
Northern breathed and turned back around to the still-boiling metal he was beating to shape. Aster's almost noisy voice-although low-disturbed his almost sharpened focus.
"What am I going to do? This will cause the disciplinary committee to be even more rebellious with me. I might have to leave the office before I even get to do anything meaningful with it."
Northern leaned on the anvil, his eyes unfocused. Then he exhaled and said:
"It's fine, everything will pan out after the festival. Find me two people from the Starchasers who are the weakest. Along with you, let's meet tonight on the training ground around 9 PM."
Aster frowned a little.
"Uh? 9 PM? Why? Isn't that too late?"
"It's the best time. We have just three days until the festival starts; we need to use every time
we have judiciously."
Aster tilted his head.
"I'm sorry, what would we be doing?"
"A team of four students is needed to participate in the festival, is that not it?"
Aster nodded.
"You are correct."
"We will be gathering our team of four from now, and I will be teaching them several things
for three nights, until the festival begins. That includes you..."
A broad smile spread across Aster's lips, decorating his eyes with a beautiful radiance.
"So, I will be part of your team?"
"Did I just speak Spanish?"
Aster raised a brow.
"Spanish? What's Spanish?"
Northern, having enough of the chatterbox, sighed and waved him away.
"You'll never know, just get your shit out of my face and relay my message."
Aster beamed once more and bowed.
"Yes, master!"
He shouted and walked away with a cheerful demeanor.
Northern, still resting on the anvil, sighed once again. He hesitated for a beat but eventually
spoke.
"You can come out now. It's no use hiding. I can sense you..."
A couple of silent seconds passed.
Then from behind the garden, a slender leg stretched out. Slowly, the entire body revealed
itself.
The girl in disheveled, flowing red hair lowered her head, one of her fingers curling a strand of
her hair.
She managed to lift her green eyes up a little bit and raise a wave with a forced grin on her
face.
"Hi... hehee."