Rima and others shuddered when Aria suddenly gazed at them so intently.
Old man Raku looked deeply at Max. When Aria glanced at him, even though she concealed it immediately, he had noticed her surprise.
So, although he didn't know what exactly was going on, he knew her sudden interest in Rima and the others was because of something she noticed about Max.
'It seems my instincts were right. This kid sure is not someone ordinary.' He thought.
Previously, in the dark mages' lair, when he witnessed Max killing the leader of dark mages in a single blow, he was both happy and sad.
Happy because they had survived and sad because he could see that Max, who wasn't a three-star mage, had done some irreversible damage to himself to cast that overbearing fire spell to kill the leader.
He had thought that even if Max didn't die, he would be crippled. When he saw his condition after he passed out, he was even more sure of his conjecture and although he wanted to save him because he and his team had saved them; he didn't have means to. So, he could only feel pity for him.
However, to his utter shock, the severe injuries that should've killed him, after Rima fed him a few healing pills and potions, healed to the level where his condition stabilized.
He was shocked because the medicine Rima gave him was only two-star and three-star medicine and shouldn't have the capability to stabilize his condition, but no matter how he saw it; it was true.
At that time, he guessed that Max should possess a special constitution or a bloodline. If not, he couldn't think of anything should could help him. But because he didn't have any way to confirm his theory, he was a bit skeptical. However, one thing he was sure of which was; Max was a special person.
After his wife, little Arya's cousin, and he recovered from their injuries, his wife and little Arya urged him to stay and wait for a few days for Max and Rima to wake up and thank them.
Although he agreed to their request, he didn't think either of them would wake up anytime soon, especially Max.
But he was again proved wrong when Max woke up, and his shock continued to intensify when he recovered completely after a few days.
At that time, Max was no longer a kind hearted and loyal human, who risked his life to save his companion. He became a mystery to him and he decided to make friends with him. This was also why he offered Rima to become Aria's disciple.
When they returned to Ninam city, he had asked Ryan, little Arya's father and his daughter Elena, who were five-star mages, to scan Max with their 'divine' senses, but they refused him, saying that it would be disrespectful.
He didn't argue because what they said was true. Scanning a mage without his or her approval was taboo among mages because everyone had some secrets and no one would like it if anyone casually unearthed them.
Old man Raku was discouraged, however, because he still had Aria and given her bias toward humans, she will scan them without caring about anything and he could ask her if his hunch about Max was true or not.
Of course, old man Raku didn't have any ill motive behind this and was just curious. If Max was just as extraordinary as he guessed, then he would try his best to forge a friendship with him and if he was not, then there was no need to.
So, now seeing Aria become surprised after taking a glance at Max, his belief that Max wasn't an ordinary human cemented. As for what exactly was special about him, he would have to ask Aria.
After scanning Rima, Belen and Leticia, Aria shook her head in disappointment and smiled wryly, 'I was too hopeful.'
She then glanced at Max again and asked, "You didn't awaken sonic element?"
Max looked at her weirdly and shook his head, "No."
"That's too bad." Aria muttered softly before completely ignoring him.
She then turned to ladies and asked, "So, which one of you has sonic element?"
It saddened Rima slightly because she could tell that this future master of hers didn't seem to value her much, but it was understandable since she wasn't much of a genius and was already 21 years old.
She took a deep breath and took a step forward and bowed respectfully toward Aria, "It's I, milady."
"Hm?" Aria narrowed her eyes and scanned her again. Not finding anything particularly great about her, she gave old man Raku a confused glance and thought why her foster faster advocated her so much.
Shaking her head, she stopped thinking about it and asked Rima to rise. Looking at her deeply, she said, "I don't know if my foster faster mentioned this to you, but I don't have any good feelings toward humans and don't want to take any human as my disciple."
Rima trembled slightly after hearing this. Max's expression darkened, and he shot old Man Raku a glance. However, before he could say anything, Aria continued, "However, I'll make an exception for you because you saved my foster parents and little Arya and because my foster father seemed to think highly of you."
"Since you are also a sonic elemental mage, I'll pay a little more attention to you than what a normal core disciple in your human academies gets. However, don't expect me to go out of my way to guide you. But if you prove yourself to be worthy, then it's a completely different thing. I'll do my utmost to nurture you." Aria spoke candidly.
After a pause, she asked, "So, take a moment and decide if you still want to become my disciple."
Rima didn't take long to decide. She bowed again and sincerely said, "Please accept my as your disciple."
Although she was a bit concerned because Aria said she didn't like humans, this was nothing compared to the potential benefits of learning under a sonic elemental king mage.
Aria nodded, "Good. Then you shall be my disciple from now onwards." Saying this, she took out a square token the same as the one old man Raku used to enter her house and gave it to Rima, "With this, you can come here whenever you want."
Seeing this, old man Raku sighed in relief while little Arya started jumping up and down in excitement because now her big sister Rima would stay in the city and she could play with her whenever she wanted.
Belen and Leticia congratulated Rima.
Max also congratulated her before he walked up to Aria, who frowned but didn't stop him.
