Chapter 12: Secondary Requirements

Erian didn't know how to explain what he had just witnessed; that slash came from nowhere.

Yes, even with his level of awareness, he couldn't tell where exactly that came from but he knew it didn't come from because she didn't even lift a finger.

The girl stared at the man crying in pain, her eyes not showing the slightest hint of sympathy or concern.

Letting out a deep sigh, she picked up the handbag, which was now lying on the floor, before turning to the alley behind her.

"Was it someone from the alley?" Erian muttered after following her gaze to the alley.

His curiosity grew wilder; he activated absolute view, but it turned out to be for nothing as he couldn't sense anything in there.

However, he did sense three people heading toward him from the right. He turned toward the area to find that there were three city guards dressed in red and black uniforms, the red top carefully crafted with a golden outline.

They were holding red spears that looked exactly alike.

Erian was expecting them to ignore him and head to the man still crying on the ground. Unexpectedly, he soundly found three spears pointing at him.

"Huh?"

"Speak! Are you his accomplice?!" One of them demanded.

'What gave them that idea?'

Erian was left confused and wondering if this was how things were handled in places like this.

He was going to defend himself nonetheless. However, just before he could open his mouth the girl was suddenly in front of the guards, blocking out their spears from him and forcing them to retract the weapons.

"It doesn't have anything to do with him."

That sentence contained a lot of words, but it was like she didn't say anything at all; her voice lacked energy, loud enough to be heard by everyone there but still softer than a whisper.

"Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with him?" One of the guards asked, shooting Erian a hostile gaze.

"Yes, I'm the one who caught him." She said, pointing at the man on the floor.

"Instead of trying to apprehend someone without evidence, I think you guys should be focusing on him; whether he has an accomplice or not, you'll find out from him," Erian suggested.

"You can also return this to the owner." The girl said before handing the handbag over to them.

The guards were a bit reluctant but they had no choice but to let go of Erian as they went to pick up the real culprit.

Picking up the man from the ground, they used a piece of cloth to properly wrap his hand and prevent his bleeding, they didn't want him to die before receiving his verdict.

With the guards now gone, Erian turned to the girl standing in front of him, she also shot him a quick glance at that moment before turning to leave.

"Umm..than…."

He wasn't able to finish that statement as her body suddenly got enveloped by the purple aura shadow the moment she took a step away from him.

The shadow disappeared along with her the next moment, and with that, her presence completely vanished.

"With that type of ability, she has to be of the assassin class," Erian muttered to himself. "She also feels somewhat familiar." He added as he walked out of the area.

_________ ________

It was a long walk from the center of Sion City to Namon Academy which was located in the outskirts of the city.

The Academy was protected by a big black gate and very high walls. However, the walls weren't high enough to stop anyone from seeing the two very tall buildings inside the area.

Namon's Academy's new students' admission process was something that was always carried out outside the Academy gate.

That was the reason why there was a line of about ten people in front of a big blue-mounted umbrella.

Under the umbrella was a lady who seemed to be in her early thirties.

Her hair was long and dark with a bit of blue tint to it, and her blue eyes looked a bit distant like she didn't want to be there.

She was wearing a white suit-like outfit with a black jacket hanging off her shoulders. Her legs were crossed, and she didn't seem to be looking at any of the students she was reviewing, as none of them seemed to catch her attention.

There was a white table in front of her, and on top of it was a big blue crystal-like ball being held up by a special stand.

Erian joined the line as soon as he got to the area, and soon there were just four people left including him.

The person in front of the staff now was a girl; for some reason, her whole body seemed to be trembling, but she was trying to look tough and bold as she gripped her registration form.

"Read out everything on your registration form." The teacher ordered not even bothering to look at her.

"Okay." She nodded. "Naomi Mill, Age; twelve, level; ten."

"Level ten?" The teacher asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"I see."

For a moment, it looked like she bought it, and she was just about to pass when she grabbed her by her wrist and slapped her hard onto the blue crystal ball.

The crystal ball lit up for a quick moment before the number eight appeared.

"Hey!" The girl yelled, pulling her hand away. "Is this how you do things here? You didn't get my consent before doing that."

"Did you get anyone's consent before trying to cheat your way into the Academy?" She retorted, the sarcasm in her voice quite evident.

"You!" The young girl was quite infuriated as she folded both of her hands into fists. "I'm going to tell my father about this, you won't get away with it."

"Then hurry up."

Tapping her right foot on the ground, a long thread made of water suddenly burst out from the ground and latched onto the girl's left leg.

"If he can convince me with his strength then I might consider letting you in."

With a single swipe motion to the right, she was sent flying far away from the area.

"Troublesome." She ticked before bringing her gaze down.

'She's strict.' Erian thought.

Witnessing what just happened, none of the ones behind the girl dared to think about lying, but it's not like they needed to.

Both of them met the basic requirements for joining the Academy, and with their matter out of the way, it was finally time to settle the last person, which was Erian.

Stopping in front of her, the first thing Erian did was glance at the name tag on her uniform which had the name 'Claire' written on it.

"I don't think I need to tell you to read out what's on your registration form."

"No." Erian shook his head before reaching for his bag to retrieve his registration form. "Name; Erian Slade."

"Slade?" Claire uttered, shooting him a glance at that moment.

"Yes." He nodded in affirmation.

For a moment there, her eyes looked like they had picked an interest in something. However, it didn't take long for them to revert to indifference as she turned away from him.

"Continue."

"Age; twelve, level; nine."

Listening to all of that, Claire couldn't help but sigh.

"You know you're a level nine, then what are you doing here?" She didn't bother trying to hide the fact that she was irritated.

"That's because I want to make up for that with one of the secondary requirements," Erian responded.

"Huh?" Claire muttered, shifting her glance to him once again.

'It's rare to meet a potential new intake who knows about the secondary requirements. This is only the second one today.' She thought.

"You want to complete a secondary requirement?"

"Yes."

"I see. Then tell me, which one do you think you can handle?"

For the duration she had sat there accepting and rejecting students, she had never fully turned to anyone, only shooting them quick glances but now she was looking directly at Erian, both of her hands intertwined.

"The beast hunt requirement," Erian stated firmly.

"Beast hunt, huh?"

"Yes."

"Before we get back to that, I have another question for you." She said, bringing down her hands on the table.

"Okay." Erian uttered, a bit reluctant as he felt something was off.

"Who told you about the secondary requirements? If I'm not mistaken that's not information everyone knows about."

"My mother, she read about it in a book." He answered.

"Your mother read about it in a book?"

"Mm." He nodded.

"You said your last name was Slade, right?"

"Yes."

"And that's your father's last name?"

"Yes."

'Why is she asking me all these questions?'

"Hmm, I read your parents' consent form, your mother's name is Luna, right?"

"Yes, but I don't see how that is important now," Erian said as he was starting to get a bit confused.

'The last name Slade and a mother named Luna, it can't just be a coincidence, right?'