100 THE BELL OF APTITUDE
100 THE BELL OF APTITUDE
While the academy buzzed with praises for Petunia, Leo focused on her character's profile displayed on his system interface and smiled.
"Name: Black Pink. Favorite Color: Pink."
Leo's eyes widened. "Damn, another fucking player," he muttered to himself.
To test his suspicion, he sent a party invitation with the message, "Black Cock invites you to join a party."
"Invitation Accepted."
To his shock, Petunia—or "Black Pink"—accepted the invitation.
"Hi, who's 'Black Cock'? I don't see anyone by that name around me," Black Pink messaged him.
Leo's eyes widened again. "Shit, she fucking accepted my invitation!" he whispered in disbelief.
"I'm your dada – Black Cock."
"Black Cock left the party."
Petunia kept a watchful eye around her busily looking for the player who invited her to party- Black Cock. But she couldn't find such a person in the Academy no matter where she looked.
"Perhaps this is another random invite from the System, not from someone nearby," Petunia must have thought to herself.
Then someone else came forward.
"Why are all the geniuses only coming at the end of the test?"
"It's Knekis, the heir of the Toledo family of Sodom, one of the five major families."
"This year there are two geniuses from the major families of Sodom joining our humble academy. What waves will they bring to the academic scene?"
Knekis walked proudly toward the Bell of Aptitude, his head held high. He glanced towards Petunia and pointed at her with his finger arrogantly. "I'm here Petunia."
"Idiot." Petunia shirked and ignored him.
But Knekis wasn't deterred by the rejection. Then he approached the Bell of Aptitude.
With ease he withstood the torturous force from the magic bell's testing. Soon, he walked away.
Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg.
"Knekis rang seven times the Bell of Aptitude."
"This is the best score ever in the history of the Academy," Dean Faschae said aloud in excitement at the recruitment of a genius.
Dean Faschae clapped his hands and walked to the podium to give a speech to end the testing of the new students. Suddenly, a teacher rushed to him.
"There is still one more student not tested."
"What? Why didn't you say so. Should have tested him before these geniuses took the Bell. How anti-climactic", Dean Faschae screamed in disappointment.
Dean Faschae wanted to end the ritual testing with a climactic end where the geniuses of the academy finished the testing. Who would know a meager student would butt in and interrupt the rhythm of his show.
"Make it quick", Dean Faschae said.
Finally, it was Leo's turn.
"Lilleo from the Gullee family."
Dean Faschae's carefully orchestrated ceremony seemed to be coming to an end, with a loud bang or not, but the dean never expected what was to come when the final student stepped forward, shattering every expectation.
A murmur swept through the crowd. "Isn't that the Demon of Gullee?" someone whispered.
"I heard he almost killed a teacher in the Pharmaceutical Association. He's ruthless."
"There's a rumor he fucked a researcher right in front of the Association."
"That was my bodyguard", Leo loudly replied to the accusation. "Almost."
"And didn't he kill his own uncle?"
"Not only that—he stole his family's fortune to open a brothel."
"Unbelievable. Why would the academy accept someone like that?"
Though Leo rarely showed up in public in Sodom City, his reputation had clearly preceded him.
Now, as he strode toward the Bell of Aptitude, whispers buzzed through the crowd. But Leo didn't even slow down. He walked right past the bell, crossing the line without hesitation, leaving everyone stunned.
"Nobody walks past the Bell of Aptitude unaffected," Dean Faschae muttered, perplexed.
Leo stopped on the other side, where the bell, completely unresponsive, hadn't even rung.
"See, he's a loser! Not even a single ring," someone scoffed.
"The Demon of Gullee is overrated," another sneered.
The academy fell silent, stunned.
Leo looked up at the Bell of Aptitude, an expression of calm on his face. The teachers, too dumbfounded to respond, watched him in frozen surprise.
"This bell is seriously fucked up," Leo called out, his voice ringing across the courtyard.
Dean Faschae moved forward, ready to reprimand him, but Leo raised his voice again.
"I'm not here to be judged by this piece of junk. If a few rings are all you idiots want, let's make it fucking Sing."
With the movement of his fingers, Leo flicked his finger at the Bell of Aptitude, causing it to ring wildly.
Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg… Tannggg... Tannggg... X 100
The bell echoed relentlessly, the sound reverberating a hundred times over, drowning out all other noise.
"Someone, make it stop!" Dean Faschae yelled to his staff, panicked.
But as Leo walked away, the ringing began to fade, growing softer with every step he took. When he finally disappeared from sight, the bell fell silent at last.
"What… just happened?" one of the teachers asked.
Dean Faschae could only shake his head, still pointing in the direction Leo had gone. "What did he just do to our Bell?"
"He tested under the Bell of Aptitude," was the reply.
"Did he really make the Bell of Aptitude ring over a hundred times?" someone whispered.
"The bell must be broken," another muttered.
Petunia watched the whole display, her expression impassive but her eyes were on Leo.
Then she turned and spoke, "He was right you know. Our potential isn't defined by a Bell."
She, too, walked away after commenting leaving the ceremony.
"Wait, what about me? Aren't we supposed to be celebrating my fantastic results?" Knekis complained, feeling the attention slipping away from him.
"Nobody fucking remembers you now," Bara said, rolling her eyes as she passed him, trailing after Petunia in an attempt to catch up with the academy's most beautiful "angel."
-----
"Hey, look who I brought!" Bara called to Leo, dragging a friend along with her.
"Hi, I'm Petunia," the girl introduced herself to Leo.
Leo raised an eyebrow and turned to Bara. "Already making girlfriends here?"