17

Ye Ran easily slipped through the crowds of people at the entrance and as he made his way through the door his number was read out by the same monotonous voice.

He was greeted by the same female instructor as Ruo Chen and he was soon in the testing room. He took a quick glance around the room before standing in the centre.

The instructors all looked at Ye Ran with an expecting look, it seems that they all felt that he was special and promising.

"Ye Ran, 14." Ye Ran introduced himself. If you could even call that introducing.

There was an awkward silence as the instructors waited and waited but yet no continuation came. 

"How about your core?" A burly instructor asked with impatience as he glared at the indifferent Ye Ran.

Ye Ran only scoffed before he unleashed his aura.

The atmosphere immediately seemed to feel heavier as his overbearing presence loomed over everyone in the room. But as instructors, they were able to hold their ground and did not bend under the pressure.

Ye Ran always believed actions spoke louder than words as he found speaking to be a waste of time and with this little show of power, he was able to get all the instructors to understand the power of his core in mere seconds.

He then waited for his next instruction.

"Well, no need to test your energy power." The middle aged instructor said as he grounded himself.

"Please show off your best skills." 

All the instructors watched with bated breaths as they wondered what this prodigy of a youth would have in his arsenal. Such aura from a youth was almost unheard of except from a certain person, Xiao Yuwei. They felt that they could see the shadow of Xiao Yuwei in Ye Ran but something felt off, this child gave an air of indifference much unlike that of Xiao Yuwei who was warm and considerate.

But skill was skill, and the strong recognised the strong.

Ye Ran stood there unmoving for a moment before his eyes landed on the pierced wheat dummy that was destroyed by Ruo Chen. He had an idea and asked for more wheat dummies in a not so polite way.

One of the instructors was annoyed by Ye Ran's attitude but since Ye Ran was still a child, he did not say anything and placed the dummies down.

Ye Ran wanted to perform one of his best moves from his previous life, eternal flower rain but it definitely had to be immensely powered down if not with his current strength, this building would turn to ashes. The energy would also have to change from fire to dark and thus the effect would naturally change.

He did some calculations in his mind before finally making his move. He took out a small white carnation flower and placed it in his palm.

Ye Ran the slowly channelled dark energy into the flower before it slowly turned from white to black before slowly withering away. At the same instance, the room seemed to darken and small black carnations appeared on the ground with ruffled petals falling from the top of the room.

The room was silent with anticipation and many of the instructors were already planning to accept Ye Ran as a student without even needing the final trial.

The ruffled petals stuck onto the wheat dummies, covering them until they were nothing but a black mess of petals. Small crunching sounds could then be heard as the black petals slowly crushed the dummies from the outside and in a few seconds, all the dummies turned to dust like they never existed in the first place.

And like as if a show of power, the carnations on the ground all violently exploded, destroying everything else that weren't covered with the ruffled petals.

Ye Ran stood in the middle with a calm face, this move would not harm its user and before the second of the infinite amount of waves were to begin again, before the flower would appear again, Ye Ran abruptly stopped his move at his own command and the room brightened up again.

The instructors took a few seconds to register what had just happened before immediately standing up to give Ye Ran a standing ovation. The move just now showed incredible skills and understanding over the concepts of creating a move as well the fine control over energy.

This was such an incredible achievement to them and they felt that even Xiao Yuwei was not at this level at this age. The Xiao Yuwei who was the world's favourite and best prodigy.

"You are an incredibly talented young man, we are proud to tell you that you are immediately accepted into the Ink River school!" The instructors congratulated Ye Ran with smiles as they welcomed this new prodigy with open arms.

So what if he was cocky and rude? Strength still determined it all.

Ye Ran only nodded his head before turning to leave but he stopped when he remembered something.

"I want to participate in the final trial." 

"But you have already been accepted, why go through the trial?" The middle aged instructor asked with a raised brow at this weird behaviour.

Ye Ran only silently stared back and a silence fell over them again.

"You can go to the trial but we just want to know your reason."

Ye Ran heard the green light that he could participate and did not bother with any more questions and took his leave swiftly, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"This kid!" One of the instructors shouted at this display of ignorance.

The other instructors were also pissed off but they were able to calm themselves down with the fact that Ye Ran was a prodigy like Xiao Yuwei.

***

Ye Ran saw Ruo Chen sitting down on the bench in the same position he was in before and let a scoff. Whenever, he looked at Ruo Chen, he found himself confused and at an utter loss. Ye Ran did not understand why he was sometimes rude to Ruo Chen who was his friend, but there were many things he did not understand in this lifetime.

How did his path change to this extend? Why was Ruo Chen in this life so different?

Ruo Chen seemed to have sensed someone looking at him and he quickly turned to the direction of the stare. He saw Ye Ran staring at him with a contemplating gaze and quickly walked up to him.

"In deep thought again?" Ruo Chen asked cheekily as he poked Ye Ran's still chubby cheeks.

Ye Ran wanted to scowl and say something mean but he found himself just nodding along and smiling.

Why do I always switch between hot and cold?

He desperately wanted to know why, was his soul split into two or was there another soul into him, a kind and loving soul who was the complete opposite of him?

All he knew was that ever since he was reborn, he felt himself becoming kinder and doing the opposite of what he wanted to do like earlier. Ye Ran thought that this change was not unwelcomed but still was hesitant to accept his actions.

This confusing bundle of thoughts made Ye Ran's head hurt, he could not help but think of the times when he would see Ruo Chen holding his head in pain. Was he always thinking about complicated things?

Ye Ran felt that being kind was not so bad, he got to see Ruo Chen smile and it made him happy as well. Around Ruo Chen, he felt that he could relax. Was it because of how Ruo Chen treated him as a friend?

This small change to being kind would only last for a short moment before Ye Ran went back to his usual cold demeanour with him forgetting about all his thoughts about accepting this change.

Fortunately as the days go by, the time that he feels himself change personality also last longer and he is able to recognise his own thoughts and feeling better. 

This would surely take a long time for a complete change but progress is progress.

"Come on quit thinking, lets go to the dorms!" Ruo Chen beckoned as he grabbed Ye Ran's hand.

Ye Ran let himself get dragged and kept silent. How confusing, he thought as he stared at Ruo Chen's pale hand that held his own.