With eyes that flickered with interest, Jennifer's mind and focus was solely trained on Jason. The slight change in her body language was noticed by the other cadets, who couldn't help but stare at their Instructor as if they didn't know who she was anymore.
"Why does Coach Jennifer look like she will pounce at the newcomer at any moment?"
"You saw that too, right? I feel some sort of tension between the two of them…maybe they will also fight?"
"Or…maybe, there is something more between them? He arrived with her, and they seem oddly close…but maybe, it's just my imagination?"
Suddenly, the voice of a young man resounded behind the gossipers, who turned around, only to see one of the few cadets that were considered real prodigies.
It was Rex, a human of the Manyr race. Considered to be a mutation, he had awoken the Maest cultivation vein, and was thus cultivating with mana, just like Jason did!
"Why would Jennifer pounce on that young man? He cannot even be considered a prodigy, and is nothing but a show-off! He probably won't even be able to defeat Eran and Lilya…Jennifer won't look at him after he has been defeated!"
Staring at the three gossipers in anger, Rex said in a dominating voice and the others quickly retreated, leaving Rex alone as they merged with the crowd of other cadets that wanted to spectate the battle.
Averting his gaze to Jennifer, who he eyed with fervor as he licked his lips, he just noticed that her eyes were truly trained on none other than Jason.
This caused him to grit his teeth, while his fists were clenched.
Rex's nails pierced into his palm, and were digging into his skin as his thoughts were going wild.
'Why is she staring at the newcomer like that? I've been here for years, trained by her personally, but she never looked at me as she looks at this youngling?'
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Unable to understand what made Jason so special except his combat prowess that made him barely as strong as some prodigies that were considered average, Rex couldn't help but feel that the world was unfair.
While Rex was practically seething in rage, the other cadets noticed his expression, which made them increase their distance further, as an ominous aura was radiated from him.
Having reached the Ascendion stage, Rex was a strong contender, and his aura and mana fluctuations were not to be taken lightly.
Thus, even Jennifer realised that something was going on behind her back, only to ignore it like she had grown accustomed to ignoring the lustful gazes of others.
It was not a rare occasion for someone to look at her lustfully, but as long as they didn't dare do anything, she would leave them alone.
Ignoring those gazes was easier than attacking every single one of her admirers.
This was something her master had advised Jennifer too, and only when someone was starting to be too pushy, should she set an example, the crueler, the better.
Ignoring what went on behind her, Jennifer continued to stare at Jason, whose golden eyes were glowing brightly.
Knowing that he was appraising the strength, affinities, other unique characteristics, and possible combat prowess of his opponents, Jennifer couldn't help but think that Jason's special eyes were extremely useful.
Being able to determine whether he was strong enough to face someone, or not was crucial, while perceiving unique characteristics of certain opponents was similarly important.
It was exactly because of this that Jason was able to perceive that Lilya, who looked like a perfectly normal Aeus, was, in fact, a mutant who had awoken the Path of Pryr and Maest.
Jason could tell that most cadets had either double awakened cultivation paths or that one of the paths were extremely strong.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Thus, he couldn't take them lightly as he himself pursued only one cultivation path.
In the end, he didn't think that it was normal for so many double awakened individuals to be found in such a small space like the cadets training camp, but at the same time, Jason assumed the circumstances to be slightly unique.
'Tritans…just what kind of organisation is that really…Are they really as good as the City Lord and Jennifer think, or do they harbor ill intentions about the territory enveloping the Devir, Aeus, and Human race?'
Jason didn't trust strangers anymore as he had to get to know them to a certain extent to make up his mind about who they were, what their plan might be, how sincere they were in whatever they did and said, and most importantly, how they treated others.
Owing to this, he trusted Jennifer the most out of the people he got to know during the last few months as she was honest, sincere in her approach to rescue those who were likely to be executed by the Devirs and Aeus, and Jason's gut feeling told him that she was trustworthy.
Other than that, the City Lord was nice, even though she seemed to have been hurt, while Pera was a good person, just a little bit naive for her age that was likely to have reached a few hundred years.
However, that was exactly what made Pera genuine which Jason liked.
Thus, trusting these three women, for now, was more than enough for him to hope that the Tritans' organisation pursued a path that resulted in everyone's freedom, and not in being oppressed.
This was something he was genuinely hoping for.
Nevertheless, right now, he had to avert his attention from the Tritans to the two double awakened individuals in front of him as both of them were about to break into the Prismar stage with their cultivation rank.
Having two vessels within them, they were cultivating in both at the same time, using specific cultivation techniques that required an enormous amount of cultivation energies to be absorbed.
Owing to that, their progress was much slower than anyone else's, but at the same time, their prowess increased much more.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})This was exactly what Jason had undergone by being required to use three times the amount of mana to liquefy a single drop of mana.
It required more time to absorb the necessary mana and liquefy it into a single drop, but at the same time, it made him much stronger than anyone else at his cultivation base!
Jason assumed this to be one of the strong, yet hidden perks of the Celestia race!
Adjusting his stance, Jason didn't even think of holding back against the opponents in front of him.
Eran was at the peak of the Lique stage, while Lilya could already be considered to have progressed halfway into the Prismar stage with one half of the first solidified prismarine crystal having been constructed.
Thus, Jason had to be careful which was the reason for him to allow Artemis to enter his mana core without any delay.
The cooldown on the fusion lasted only moments as he and Petri had barely used any energy to manifest a five-meter-long tail in addition to fusing their eyes.
Nevertheless, Jason knew that he was unable to directly fuse with Artemis.
However, that was not even what he had planned, from the beginning.
His plan was different because his liquified mana drops were already enough to consider him as a being at the peak of the Lique stage, as each of his mana drops was comparable to three normal mana drops.
With that in mind, Jason couldn't help but smile, thinking that fighting Eran and Lilya will be extremely interesting. They were both double awakened, and strong enough to destroy him without any problems if he were to have nothing else except his cultivation base to increase his combat prowess with.
However, that wasn't the case, and with a bright smile on his face, he eagerly awaited the spar to start.
