Seraph Yiny was watching the sieving stage of the first years with a couple of senior academy members. This was the first time they were holding something like this as the previous years went directly into the main competition.
However, previous records have shown that students with lower levels were always left behind without the ability to shine. To provide a platform where the outstanding ones would be noticed, this sieving stage was proposed.
This stage served as a way to notice those who fell under the light of their most outstanding students as well as select those who despite their level, would give any higher-level student a run for their money.
Unfortunately for a particular student, who despite being in the highest class, fell short of the required level to participate in the main competition. This resulted in him being included in this stage of the competition.
Of course, there was a petition from his homeroom instructor to exclude him due to his extremely abnormally high physical strength in spite of his level. However, that petition failed to hold as they couldn't show favouritism, even if it was for the miracle boy. Additionally, some of the stakeholders wished to see what the boy was capable of; given the things that transpired around him.
Now, they were starting to think they made a mistake in including him when he unleashed the full force of his physical strength, devastating the area where he found himself. However, some still advocated that it was too early to jump to conclusions as strength wasn't everything. Not an hour had passed when that remark was proven correct.
Alexander Gray had nearly been eliminated due to underestimating his opponent. Seraph Yiny watched all of this in silence, keeping any comments she had about him to herself. The only reason she was even watching this stage of the competition was due to the presence of Alex as a certain someone wanted to keep an eye on his activities.
'There is no doubt about it, he is different.' She slightly narrowed her eyes in thought, watching the various feats of Alex. No matter how she looked at it, Alex was using a completely different set of cultivation rules.
His level had barely increased over the academic year, but his speed of learning, physical strength, reflexes, and speed of movement were far superior to his peers. Even among the geniuses in the empire, no one came close.
The strength he awakened was already in the ranks of a Class E hunter, and from what she was seeing, that strength had increased since then.
'It's like prepping a body to contain a powerful force.' This was the conclusion she came to after thinking about Alex's situation for a while. Of course, that conclusion was one of many, but it was the one that stood out to her. Even she had no idea how she came to that conclusion, she just felt it was the right one.
Seraph did not doubt that his level would increase in the future and whatever his body was preparing to hold was going to be different from what they knew. It was something to look forward to.
'This is all interesting…' Her thoughts brought a small imperceptible smile to her beautiful face. A small commotion arose while she was lost in thought and watching Alex run around. She turned to see what it was about when she noticed the domineering figure of Zol Knight.
'When did he get here?!'
She exclaimed inwardly as she did not sense his presence at all. In fact, if not for one of the senior members noticing his presence in the back, they might have completely stayed oblivious to his presence.
"L-Lord Zol. We're pleased to have you here." The members quickly stood up to greet. Zol simply nodded and told them to continue as they were. Of course, none of them would be doing that as they would keep quiet now that he was here. No one wanted to get on his bad side.
And while he did not have such a reputation, his strength and authority afforded him this much, even if he didn't mind. Zol approached the sitting place of Seraph and sat on the chair next to hers.
'Something's wrong with him.'
Seraph noticed once Zol was close enough to her. She made no attempt to ask as it was none of her business. Zol looked much paler than usual and the way he walked towards her was like he was not used to his legs.
"Tell me what happened so far." He said, gesturing to the display that was currently focused on a running Alex.
"Of course…" Seraph replied and went ahead to explain the reason for this sieving stage, the actions of Alex so far and how he got to the situation he was in now. She even prepared a replay of Alex's power display which Zol watched in a split second, fast-forwarding it to the current feed.
"Mm… What have you learnt about Alexander Gray so far?" Zol asked once he finished watching the replay. His thoughts went back to what Mason muttered after their fight with the void creature. Since he hadn't been paying much attention before, he needed to hear what Seraph had learned of Alex.
Seraph turned back to the screen, her thoughts gathering the words to describe what she understood of Alex after months of watching him.
"Well, Alexander is different from everyone else, and I don't mean the strength he has shown so far."
Zol nodded, agreeing with this aspect and waiting for her to continue.
"Mana doesn't work on him the same way it does for others. While mana increases the level of an awakened the more they absorb, for Alex, it seems to increase only his physical stats. His learning curve is just as absurd.
"Alex himself hasn't reported having any issue with his cultivation."
"Why not?"
"I can't answer that, he may have his own reasons for not disclosing it. And…" She paused briefly, not sure if she should tell him what she had just concluded.
"Go on…" Zol urged her to continue. He sensed that whatever she was about to tell him might be her own input. Even if it turned out to be wrong, there was no harm done.
"It's like his body is building a foundation to contain something more than just mana…"
"…"
Zol was subtly surprised she could come up with something like that with little to no premise. And the reason he felt that way was what he had seen not long ago!
His attention returned to the large display, 'More than just mana, huh? It wouldn't be that surprising once it happened.'
"Keep this observation to yourself," Zol finally said once a few seconds elapsed, his tone taking a serious turn.
"Of course, Lord Zol."