Needless to say, Black Jaws backing Kiara was Ezra's doing.
He already knew that forming a faction was far tougher than it sounded.
Moreover, you couldn't move nobles with simple words, especially the women, most were ambitious yet cowardly and very selfish. Being the best at switching sides at any given time.
Having given Fredrick the orders, Ezra didn't worry much.
It's been eight days since Ezra took the number one spot.
Firstly, he picked the top brass as roommates.
Emerson and Benedict were obviously reluctant, but after a good beating, they had no choice but to comply.
Normally, the top twenty couldn't be recruited-Ezra had taken their crest, hence leaving them rank-less, which allowed him to recruit them.
Of course, they could challenge the top twenty and become unrecruitable once more-that if Ezra hasn't declared total destruction on whichever team they formed, or joined.
To contain their rage, they would be allowed to leave his group whenever they managed to defeat him.
Moreover, since Ezra had all their crests, they could challenge him all at once.
Which they did, only to end up at the healing bay with far more injuries.
They realized it in their hearts that defeating Ezra was a long-term goal.
They subsequently challenged those below the top twenty and took those crests.
Now, Ezra had seven roommates, Ashton, Johan, Theron, Umeron, Benedict, Emerson and yes, Westin.
While Westin was no doubt stupid, his abilities were no joke.
With diligent training, the boy would definitely become someone remarkable…although Ezra didn't remember him from his past life.
After five days of struggling, the top brass gave up. Of course, only temporarily.
If Ezra slipped in his training, they'd strike at first sight.
Naturally, Ezra wasn't worried. None of them was younger than sixteen, and Umeron was only at mid Expert rank.
Plus, he'd gained intel on his last fight-if you can even call it that.
His physique had hit a wall, as a twelve-year-old, it could not grow beyond the current stage, no, rather it was miraculous that he even reached this stage at his age. And that was thanks to Bard's potion.
He was irritated, but could only accept it. Trying to force growth would lead to catastrophic consequences, that which even he couldn't estimate.
He could only hope Bard perfected his newest potion soon.
Besides that, he already mastered passive cultivation, and even with that, the requirement to advance to mid-rank was a steep one.
For the next few months, he wouldn't have to worry about his physique stopping him from advancing.
With physique improvement on hold and his mana cultivation not needing his supervision. Ezra picked the next way to increase his battle power-and it was surprisingly simple.
Master mana flow and elemental control!
He'd known before, but leaving A rank elements dormant was an enormous waste of potential.
Then, he had to cultivate physique, elements and meridians while mastering multiple weapons-so there wasn't spare time for anything else.
After a few experiments, Ezra determined that his orbs had dissolved into his bloodstream somehow.
For one, the elements were no longer secluded to a side of the body, he could use a single element with both hands, or use two.
This had him overjoyed, then, with his passive cultivation, his connection to his elements had deepened.
Before, he would've not been able to create blades with blood so easily, although there were other factors involved.
Mastering elements would allow him versatile attacks.
From dark lightning, to ice spears and scorching blood just to name a few things that Ezra might be able to achieve.
Then, during the battle, he realized a bit of how much the runes on his back had increased his fighting power.
With clarity rune, Ezra senses were always at the peak, this helped him in various ways. One of which was having easier time controlling mana.
Also, having his senses at peak functioning allowed him to master sixth sense far faster than in his past life.
The sixth sense was basically an instinct to detect danger culminated from training the senses as one.
Then, thanks to the mana strengthening rune combined with that, his blood had a large mana density, meaning it had a lot of mana in it.
The impact rune augmented his already powerful attack while the swift rune augmented his movements.
And the concealment rune shielded his rank from probing eyes.
Others would turn into a husk just trying to feed the runes mana equivalent to that of Ezra.
With all this, it's easy to see why he had to seize the usage of mana within him-which in turn stopped the rune's effects-retrain his physical capabilities yet still toyed with each Expert that came at him.
That said, he realized he had a lot to learn in the manipulation of elements.
He was best at controlling Darkness, but didn't use it in the fight because he deemed it overkill.
Last but not least, he had to groom Severus, the snake which he'd been neglecting for the past few days.
But in the academy, he couldn't possibly hide him. So, Ezra thought of a convincing story to tell after revealing him.
As for Skyfall, he had zero interest in letting others know of the weapon.
From the moment the top brass became his roommates, they clashed with Theron and his brothers.
While Ezra was definitely stronger than them, there had to be a room hierarchy in place.
Ezra didn't try to stop them, instead, he acquiesced for the largest cultivation chamber.
As the royal academy they had Formation rooms, cultivation rooms, alchemy labs, and even blacksmith's forge that students could lobby for, by paying a certain token amount.
In the cultivation chamber, the siblings were free to show off their Expert level, shocking the other four.
A battle ensued, each taking turns.
Westin came seventh.
Benedict was Sixth.
Emerson was Fifth.
Ashton was Fourth
Umeron was Third.
Johan drew second, and Theron was First.
It shouldn't be surprising. The siblings were trained by master ranks for seven years.
Ashton lost to Umeron simply because of experience.
When battling the shifter Emeron, Theron had his upper half take the form of a screaming firefox, his eyes were golden and had black slits.
The animal had the affinity of fire and sound, and grew to large heights.
It was his first time testing his morphed form.
Yeah, Emerson was thrashed.
Johan had his upper half take the form of a sizzling alligator but with the skin of an iron scorpion, allowing him the alligator's scorching bite and the all-purpose skin of an iron scorpion.
Ashton took the form of a grey wolf, allowing the heightened senses of one and the ability of darkness, particularly in the stealth category.
This allowed him to deal surprise attacks, and with his strength-it wouldn't be a light injury.
By all means, they had grown from the immature children they once were into men.
Ezra took five classes, Rune studies, Beast studies, Beast Taming, Mage battling, and a specialized class for elemental mastery.
Then, he realized that while he was stronger, his techniques weren't necessarily the best.
The easiest way to improve techniques was sparring.
And since Ezra couldn't reveal his real level, he found weight unsuitable for masters.
Unsuitable because it was too much effort to move while wearing it.
This reduced his physical capabilities, allowing him to match his roommates and spar with them.
Sure, he could still anticipate their moves in advance.
Things got far harder since his body couldn't move as fast as it wanted to-because it restricted-forcing Ezra into tough positions.
But, how would one grow if not through hardships?
With every spar, all seven grew in strength.
Moreover, Roxanne and Velora trained as well, sometimes sparring with the boys.
Ezra got Valencia to teach him so he could master blood control.
Day later, he excused himself from the academy grounds, only to come back three days later with a snake around his neck.
It was Severus.
Apparently, it had been sent by Bard as a beast with good prospects-was the tale Ezra weaved for to avert gazes.
Then, Ezra's infamy grew as news of how he dominated the academy's top ranks spread far and wide.
Many sneered, saying his opponents were simply weak, or giving whatever excuse they could.
Rumours flew around and soon, some said that the academy orchestrated the whole fight. Others exaggerated the tale, saying he defeated them with a swipe of his hand.
The whole thing went out of control.
A month later, officials from the Empire arrive to investigate Ezra's claims on the alleged assassination-just as he knew they would.
Excusing the siblings who were 'traumatized' from the event, Ezra spun his narrative like a cassette on play.
The officials spent considerable time at the scene of the assassination, and also previewed the bloodied carriage, and since the evidence matched the story, they could only believe him, especially after he showed them the marks on Theron's arm and Roxanne's leg.
Of course, a few things were still unclear, but the officials couldn't do much about that.
They left soon after to report to the Emperor.
By now, the rumours of Ezra's strength had died down, another had taken the spotlight-Triton!
Rather than return to the palace after graduating, Triton immediately joined the army and began building his reputation by completing different tasks while being mentored by a general.
The Emperor applauded his actions.
It was a plan inspired by his mother after news of Ezra spread far and wide.
Niton was buzzing with activity, and in no time, another month passed.
The new month was opened with a grand occasion.
It was the opening of Niton's first Skyscraper!
