Boiboi's Graduation Day!
At the crack of dawn, two Instructors approached Boiboi's room and knocked on the door. "Come out, Boiboi!"
"Today's your graduation day!" They kept knocking for a good full minute, their actions waking up many students from the nearby rooms.
A crowd had soon gathered in the corridor, at which point one of the Instructors decided to barge in using force, "You've been warned, Boiboi!"
Bang!
Vapour gathered before his fist and churned with increasing heat and pressure. A second later, it tunnelled forth, maintaining its structural composition to cleanly bore into the door. A kick later, the door collapsed, revealing an empty room.
"It's empty," The two Instructors eyed each other, growing concerned immediately, "Did he flee?"
As the students followed behind, the Instructors rushed out of the Dorm, soon making their way to the stadium where there was a commotion.
Standing proudly in the centre of the stadium grounds was Torq, his expression serene, subtly confident. Eyes closed, he inhaled a deep breath of air containing the morning moisture. And then, he exhaled a turbid breath.
He didn't say anything. All he did was stand in place quietly. However, his demeanour expressed that he hadn't come here to die, but to rather graduate successfully.
"Seriously?" There was a surprised shout from one of the students that had gradually gathered among the stands, "He reached the peak?"
"That's impossible!"
"Even after everything we did…" Another student grumbled.
"Those seniors…" A student expressed in fear, "I heard they lost all their strength recently. He must have done something to them."
"Boiboi is the culprit!"
Slowly, as the number of students arriving at the stands increased in number, so did their clamour. As unrest settled amidst their disgruntlement, unwilling to see Boiboi graduate successfully, some were of the mind to make a move.
'My attack can reach him.' A student months away from graduation thought as he began to condense a sphere of water, intending to elongate it in the form of a sharp whip and pierce through Torq's heart. He had 99 units of Prana and was only prolonging his graduation in order to train better and score the highest possible score he could obtain.
That way, he'd receive a stronger Spirit Pool, which would elevate his future potential and raise his value to the Cooter Clan. In a matter of seconds, he had condensed enough Prana in the water sphere, ready to attack Torq.
But right as he was about to take action, Torq calmly turned his head and made eye contact. Eyes deadly calm, aware of the surroundings, and a body poised to react spontaneously in response. Torq was ready to retaliate.
Even though the Prana capacities of both were similar, the student hesitated, because it was a known fact that Boiboi was one of the most talented among their generation. He was hated only because this talent was stolen from Runthral, their Deity.
The student was confident in his abilities. However, he was unsure of the damage he might sustain from their clash. Losing a few units of Prana capacity wouldn't affect him too much, since he still had ample time to build them up.
However, if he were to lose more, then that would be no different from forfeiting his life. 'But I can't allow such disrespect to my Deity…'
He released the water sphere, causing it to weakly splash to the floor, no longer intent to attack. It was because he noticed Runthral walking towards Boiboi, and strangely, there wasn't much animosity between the two.
Gradually, Runthral arrived at a stop a few metres near Torq, standing in silence. It was his graduation day too, for he was the same age as Boiboi.
His arrival calmed the crowd, as many students among them that were silently preparing to attack Torq, ready to face due punishment later, all let go. They decided instead to watch patiently and see what their Deity had planned.
They all hoped Runthral had a plan in motion, since they had seen him taking action against Boiboi all the time.
"Silence!" The clamour died the moment Principal Khakha walked to the stage at one corner of the stadium. He eyed the two brothers standing before him, his expression foul as he eyed Torq, "Are you ready to die?"
"No," Torq smiled and gently released his presence, which seemed much heavier than usual. Many students at the scene used their Prana detection means to judge his strength based on his presence, and they all received the same answer.
"I'm ready to graduate." Boiboi had reached the peak of the Spirit Stage, now possessing a Prana capacity of 100 units.
"Be it as you claim." Even though he despised the current state of affairs, Principal Khakha had to follow the Clan rules. "You will be tested through twenty topics next, and your total score would be tallied with your performance in the past five years."
"Your final score will decide the Spirit Pool granted to you…" Veins popped across his forehead to see Torq yawn casually, behaving as if the explanation wasn't necessary.
'I know exactly which Spirit Pool you'll give me.' Torq smirked, 'With my behaviour, even if I were to score full marks, I'll still only qualify for the weakest Spirit Pools.'
'And I'm damn sure they'll happily grant me the weakest choice from those I qualify for.' He made a basic salute, "I request for my assessment to begin."
"Very well," Principal Khakha waved his hand and a team of instructors set up the testing parameters. The first test was to refine medicine, which Torq scored full marks for.
The second test was in regards to Spirit Weapon control, where he had to move a sphere of water through a series of hoops positioned at complicated turns.
The third test was related to moulding the Spirit Weapon to various shapes in real-time, which was easily accomplished too.
One after another, Torq passed through all the tests with the maximum possible score. In the meantime, Runthral merely observed in disinterest, since as an Empyrean Snapper, the final test at the Academy was merely a formality to him.
"That concludes the test!" Principal Khakha announced after a while, with a foul expression, since during the course of the 20 tests, he had confirmed that Torq had indeed reached the peak of the Spirit Stage.
An Instructor rushed towards him and whispered in his ears, "We've inspected his room. Based on the setup there, we believe Boiboi had been refining an Elixir over the years."
"As if Elixir could be refined out of nothing," Principal Khakha grumbled, "What was the ingredient he used to make it?"
"Even though they seemed to have been erased, we've been able to detect faint traces." The Instructor let out a mild sigh, "He has been using his own Spirit Containers to make the Elixir."
'I see,' Principal Khakha figured out the truth of the matter as he eyed Torq, 'Even though I detest his existence, he does have the talent to do something like this. If not for his inclination to peel facial skin all the time, he would have graduated years ago.'
Principal Khakha believed Boiboi had been shattering his Spirit Containers over the course of five years, steadily accumulating the resources to refine an Elixir. With that line of thought, he believed whenever Boiboi was getting whipped, he probably reduced his Prana capacity in advance.
And those Spirit Containers he shattered were used on the Elixir, 'Well played, Boiboi! Well played!'
He had completely misunderstood the situation, for Boiboi, despite having the talent to do so, never knew the possibility existed for using shattered Spirit Containers to make an Elixir. Things would have been different if he had that knowledge.
But at the end of the day, Torq reincarnated as Boiboi and took complete advantage of the situation. As for the traces in his room, he had purposefully planted those, 'And that's why this is a cheat!'
Primary Nature–Subtle Terrain Domination!
It allowed him to casually do whatever he wanted and make the Cooter Clan perceive the situation exactly as he intended to do, 'Now that I'm done with playing around, it's time to get serious.'
'It's time to enter the Body Stage.' Torq stood at the centre of the stadium grounds and waited for the Instructors to discuss with Principal Khakha. They had to go through a series of discussions and formalities before granting a Spirit Pool to a student, which could only be granted through a unanimous vote.
The process was no different in Boiboi's case too. And an hour later, the decision was made.
Congratulations, Boiboi!" He hiccupped as Principal Khakha announced unwillingly, "We have decided on the Spirit Pool you'll be getting next."