In the duel room of the Ranker's Dorm, Amelia was sparring with Damian, who was just defending against her attacks.
She used a fire spell that Elsa had taught them, and Damian defended by using his aura, moving and pushing her back.
"It's my win this time," Damian said, stopping just ahead of Amelia.
"Hmph, the score is still 8-5, and I've won 8 times," Amelia retorted, looking at Damian's smug expression.
They were sparring because the defeat from Blake was still on their minds.
Although it was an expected loss, it didn't feel good for them.
After Asher left, Blake didn't hesitate to show no compassion in the spar. He showed them why he was the strongest second-year student, but doing so didn't help hide the fact that he had lost to Asher.
"But I am improving though," Damian said, putting the shield to the side.
"Why are you even choosing to become a tanker?" Amelia asked.
"Didn't Uncle David also insist you choose the other course?" Amelia asked.
Damian just looked towards the wall and dodged the question.
"Hey, are you ignoring my question?" Amelia looked at Damian.
"Come on, don't nag me like my father," Damian replied.
Seeing Damian's face, Amelia knew that their conversation wouldn't go anywhere.
'He should choose Combat Arts instead of this,' Amelia thought as she looked at Damian.
In her perspective, it was a waste of Damian's talent to become a tanker, whose main role was to act as a defensive line instead of being aggressive.
Although not comparable to Asher, Damian was amongst the top candidates if judged purely on battle instincts.
The Seymour Family was famous for its Hand-to-Hand Combat skill, and David Seymour was among the best, if not the best hand-to-hand combat hunter.
Their skills and family techniques were all molded to achieve the best possible way to attack using their bodies.
And David wanted the heir of his family to carry on with the same tradition, but unfortunately, both of his sons didn't want to do it.
Nate declared that he wanted to go more towards the academic side instead of focusing on being a strong hunter.
David Seymour's biggest headache was that he didn't want his sons to not carry on their legacy, but seeing that Damian still had the resolve to become strong, he decided to let Damian choose whatever he wanted to become, on the condition he learned all the techniques from him.
This was something that Amelia didn't know, as David had told Damian to hide this fact from others.
He didn't know why, but the day after Damian discussed that he wanted to choose something other than Hand-to-Hand Combat, David told him not to tell anyone that he was also learning combat arts.
It was a strange request, but David told Damian to hide the fact from everyone, including his own family. Even his mother and his younger brother Nate didn't know about this.
At that time, Damian came to the conclusion that his father insisted on this condition because his mother would not have liked the pressure that would fall on Damian to learn two completely different techniques at the same time.
But that was not the only reason why David chose to do so.
There were many things about the world that they saw with their eyes that they didn't know about. Most of the ugly truth about the true nature of a society where the strong were always preferred over the weak was still hidden from the eyes of the privileged students of the World Academy.
"I heard that the Mid-Terms are scheduled for the next 2 months," Damian said, picking up a bottle of water.
"They'll conduct them before the Gala, as most of the elite family children here would attend it," Amelia replied, picking up a towel to wipe her face.
"I heard from seniors that they're increasing the complexity of the exam," Damian said.
"It won't be a simple Dungeon Expedition anymore," he continued.
"Isn't our current team still the best?" Amelia asked, and Damian thought the same.
"But why do we have Alyssa Astaria on the team? Many negative rumors will flock towards us," Amelia said, remembering the list that she saw.
In Asher's team, there were five other members including him: Amelia, Damian, Alyssa, Venessa, and Sam Allister.
"Well, she is the third ranker so it's fine, nobody would say anything because we picked a strong ranker," Damian said.
"Is it because of Asher?" Damian suddenly questioned, looking at Amelia.
"Do you think they changed the complexity of the exam because we would have won just because he was on our team?" Amelia asked.
"Didn't he defeat Blake Cranston in the spar?" Damian reminded her.
"Yeah, but we will be graded individually so why would they do so?" Amelia asked.
She knew that the chances of them winning were high just because her brother was on the same team as her.
But the Mid-Term Examination was a team-based exam and all of them would have been graded individually anyway, so it didn't matter that Asher was on their team. They still would have to perform well in whatever the Mid-Term Examination was to ensure they got good scores.
"Makes sense, but Asher is good in both theory and practical tests, so what can they even do?" Damian said.
"Forget about him, why don't you worry about your own theory exams?" Amelia said.
"Hmm, I did take the courses that were fairly moderate, and you can help me anyway," Damian casually said.
"What makes you think that I would help you this time?" Amelia said, tapping her elbow.
"Oh come on, don't be mean," Damian tried to act pitiful, but it wasn't working on Amelia.
While both of them were chatting, Asher was on his floor, and Sam was present there as well.
"So, why did you want to meet me?" Asher asked, staring at Sam.
Out of nowhere, Sam wanted to meet Asher to discuss something.
Sam was a bit anxious as sitting in front of Asher wasn't at all comfortable for him. It was the first time he had initiated a conversation with Asher, so he had thought a lot before saying what was on his mind.
"Umm, I wanted to ask how you would help me?" Sam said.
"Didn't I tell you not to worry about that?" Asher said.
"Yeah, but my-I want to know when you'll be ready," Sam asked, but this time his face was full of resolve.
Previously, Sam didn't want Asher to spread news about his mother's existence, so he went ahead and did as he said, but if Asher was serious about helping him, he wanted to know when.
'I can't wait for 10 years,' Sam thought.
Thinking about the current matters in Halcyon, Sam wasn't confident that his mother would remain safe.
Asher looked at the impatience in Sam's eyes, which made it easier for him to control Sam even more.
"Remember about my group," Asher said, looking at Sam.
"Yeah, the faction you want to create outside the World Academy," Sam replied.
"I will let you meet the other members of the group and introduce what we will be focusing on," Asher said.
"After the Kalvas Gala. And then I will tell you the answer to your question," Asher said.
"Can't you tell me now-" Sam started, but stopped midway.
"Okay, I will wait till then," Sam said, standing and leaving the Tenth Floor shortly after.
At that moment, Sam didn't know that the group he was about to join would be the infamous organization Zephyr, whose existence was only known to a few people in the Upper Society.
"I wonder if you have the resolve to save your mother," Asher said, thinking about the conversation he had with Sam.
He wanted to know whether Sam would join him, knowing what he wanted to achieve.
Asher knew Sam Allister's only weakness.
To save his mother wasn't his objective but Sam's, and everything had a price. Sam needed to pay the price to Asher.
Sam, who was leaving the Ranker's Dorm, was still lost in his thoughts, and as he raised his head, he saw Lishia, who was coming towards the entrance of the Dorm.
"I greet the Royal Princess," Sam greeted Lishia with a light bow.
Lishia was from the Royal family, while Sam was from the Allister family. Despite both of them belonging to the elite families, he needed to follow the etiquettes that had been followed in Halcyon for generations.
Lishia looked at Sam and just walked past him.
"Well, at least it's better than meeting that bastard brother of mine," Sam laughed it off as he walked towards the VIP Dorms.
****
In the Student Council Room,
"What's the current state?" Raelyn asked Tyrone.
"Not much. The news about Blake Cranston losing to Asher Greville is still the most talked about topic," Tyrone replied.
"Why are the timings so bad?" Raelyn slammed the documents on the table.
Tyrone looked at Raelyn and it was obvious why she was in a bad mood.
"We can't put off the nomination of the Student Council members," Tyrone said, looking at Raelyn.
"Yeah, let's call the meeting. We can't delay it further," Raelyn said as she massaged her head.
