The meeting was finally held at Zeverius Academy after Baston and the others had been waiting for 2 days. The reason why it took quite long time was because there were some preparations for the venue. Baston didn't know the exact number of groups here, but according to Alicia, it should reach
100 academies. If it was really true, then supposedly, there would be 300 students flocked in the meeting room.
He thought the venue would be fully packed, but once he got there, he realized he still didn't know how the prestigious academy worked. The building looked grander and huge from his point of view. Even many people came here, he believed the venue would leave many spaces to operate. Truly, the scale of nobles was very amazing. Baston thought this was the case because noble students would unlikely get fond of narrow area where each of them could bump.
The venue was huge, but the allocation matched with the position of the academy. Baston came from average one, so he and the others sat at the back of rows. The fat boy pondered that it wasn't too different from the class where he studied before. At Prius Academy, he usually take a back seat and now, he also took the same one at other academy. Was it just his fate to always get back position?
The procession was running for a while until everyone already took a seat. Baston finally could see there was still many spaces
around although everyone had already gathered. His seat position was smaller than the front one, making him to judge it based on the academy prestige. The better one took the middle area while the best one located at the front. Many students already discussed beforehand about this meeting, but still, everyone couldn't catch if there was hidden meaning on it.
"Everyone, thank you for your precious time for attending this meeting. We are very pleased to be able to welcome you at our humble academy…"
The opening speech was kind of boring, but every student here was mostly nobles, so they gave their own face to the spokesperson as not to make the awkward atmosphere. The man might say some good sentences. There was a trace of cooperation between academies where everyone had participation in it. Even though so, Baston knew the meaning of participation here depended on how much their own strength. Zeverius Academy would have a big involvement in this meeting, but Prius Academy might be just a spectator.
"There are many things to discuss, but first, I would like to hear what you think about the recent incident at several academies. Many of you might already hear the news before. I believe some of you here also experience the terrible explosion because several representatives here are involved directly…"
Some students nodded, agreeing with the statement. The academy where they belonged coincidentally experienced such an incident. Not only an average academy like Prius, but also several prestigious one also happened to get blown up too. The noble faction worried something worse would happen soon, so they gathered many experts just to protect their safety. One by
one, several students gave their consent regarding this incident.
"Yes, sir. I believe this was a threat from a certain group out there…"
"It might be a terrorist. They did this to instill fear on us…"
"It was horrible back then. There were some casualties happened which made everyone became terrified…"
"I wonder what the royalty thinks about it…"
"I don't know much, but I happen to hear they had been already investigating it for a few days…"
The man who threw such a recent incident only smiled when students started to discuss about the impact or measure to take after the explosion happened. Most of them were nobles so they wouldn't let the perpetrator go easily. They regarded themselves the best from the best, making
sure their voices at least would be listened here. At this time, one loud voice reverberated among others.
"Everyone, I think we should also hear an opinion from other class. Most of us come from noble class while only a handful students come from merchant class. There are only 2 of this class right now, yet there's actually one student comes from poor class here."
"What? A poor class?"
"Are you kidding? Which academy dare to send such a poor student?"
"The requirement to join the meeting here is only for the strongest one. If poor student really comes here, it means the academy looks down on this event."
Almost all students suddenly complained about such a shady action. They didn't believe the academy would send poor person to represent them in this meeting. Surely, it had less importance than the academy tournament, but still, no one would dare to play around in the occasion. Baston
glanced at the direction, finding it was Clark who suddenly commented about him. Although he didn't tell the name, everyone frantically searched this person at the surrounding. There was a commotion until the man in the front calmed down everyone.
"Please, be mindful everyone. I hope we can keep our manners here since this place opens for discussion only," he stated, then started to look around, "May I know who is the one meant about here? Please stand up so we can see you…"
Baston then stood up by himself. Alicia and Anderson wanted to stand up too, but Baston held them back. This matter was brought by Clark, so it was clear who he would target this time. The man nodded when Baston stood up, confirming what Clark said was the truth. He didn't know what the academy behind this fat boy was thinking about, but clearly, he felt that academy
didn't give them a respect.
"Then please, leave this place because Zeverius Academy already stated that only the strongest from the academy could come here. For the weak one, I'm afraid there will be no place for you."
"Sir, I object your decision here…" Alicia suddenly stood up, "The reason why the academy sends him here is because he's indeed the strongest one. If you don't believe it, you can try to measure his magic."
"I also agree with her, sir…" Anderson joined, "Don't look down on him because he's a fat boy. Even though his body look like this, he's
indeed the strongest among our group."
"Why you need to implicate so much about my fat body?" Baston thought, "Did you still have a grudge over our conversation?"
While Baston was questioning Anderson's words, the man began hesitated. It was true that the meeting indicated that only the strongest one could join. If there were 2 or more students with the exact same power, then just picked the one who had higher nobility. The fact that Baston was the chosen one meant there was no other like him.
"I think there might be a fault when measuring the magic power. In order to make sure he wasn't lying, how about we hold a simple testing here?"
Clark still didn't give up to make a trouble for the fat boy. He thought Baston would be kicked out from the room, but Alicia and
Anderson defended him which making the man hesitated. Alicia really felt disgusted of this cheap trick. Rather than going out with the arrogant and possessive boy, it was better to be with Baston. At least, the fat boy didn't disturb her. Baston on the other hand felt it was such a great chance to show his stand here. The one boy named Clark always picked fault on him, so it was just
a matter of time until he got his revenge.
"I agree…" Baston simply nodded, turning his head to Clark, "By the way, the one who propose the idea should be measured too."
Clark frowned when he heard it, "Excuse me, but I found there's no purpose for me to get measured too. It's you who need to clear many doubts from people here, not me."
"The fact that only you who knows me from poor class indicates that you already investigate me enough. I'm pretty sure you also know about my strength, yet still question me proves that you might be just
jealous."
Baston challenged Clark in his statement, making the boy felt uncomfortable. It was even more so when the fat boy told him of being jealous. The man in the front might not know what it meant, but some noble students here knew one or two rumors about Clark. The boy was easily jealous if his dream girl got together with other boys, although he didn't have any relationship with her. People could link this cause, yet they were eager to watch the show. Since this meeting was quite boring, it was good if there was an entertainment to enjoy.
Clark had no way out, so he didn't mind to also got measured. For fair result, the test would be done by the staffs from Zeverius
Academy. When the boy went ahead, he confidently operated his own mana in the instrument. One by one, the score went up, increasing for many numbers until it began
slowing down. When the staff already stabilized the score, everyone could see
what Clark's magic level was.
"It's 450! He's quite promising if he can reach that level while still in junior class."
"No wonder he can become a leader in his group."
"Such an amazing feat! I myself only could reach 300 in my magic score."
"300 is already quite good. At least, way much higher than any ordinary student."
The students began clamoring one after another, making Clark smiled proudly. The boy then got back to his seat while showing a provocative gaze to Baston. The fat boy might be nervous if his score was compared to Clark before because there was just a small difference. But now, as soon as he
finished the quest and got the flare element, Baston didn't have any worry. He believed his strength should be better than what he measured back then at the academy.
Alicia only scoffed at Clark's score. Even though he was higher than her, but Baston was stronger than him. With the final score of 500, she believed everyone couldn't deny him anymore when the instrument displayed
the result. The only thing Clark might do perhaps only tampered with the result, but she believed he wouldn't dare do it.
"It's your turn now…" Clark sneered.
"Of course…"
Baston confidently walked down and put his hand on the magic instrument. Everyone thought his score would be worse, but they just didn't know the fat boy would give them a surprise later. The instrument once again
started to work, measuring the new user. The staff thought this one had worse score than Clark, so he didn't take him seriously. Yet when the score began fluctuating into higher numbers, he was surprised and quickly checked the control panel.
At first, the staff thought there was a fault on the instrument since he didn't believe Baston had such an amazing score as a boy
from poor class. To make sure, he also checked 2 times before he finally could
accept the fact. In front of him, he didn't see an ordinary boy, but a monster. If Baston could develop into later stage, he believed he would reach an unattainable strength.
"Why it takes so long?" one of students grumbled.
"Perhaps, his score is actually at the bottom. That's why the staff frowned before."
"There's possibility. Then, the fat boy is just a scammer."
"A big scammer I tell you…"
The staff heard the conversation and felt dizzy. They just didn't know the truth in front of them. No one could get this high score, even at Zeverius Academy, he believed no one could match Baston in junior class. He inhaled first before stated the result for everyone to see.
"What? Impossible!"
"The score… The score is too high…"
"I can't believe it. It's such a high score of 1000. Are you sure the instrument is not in fault condition?"
"Unbelievable… The score is on par with a handful of senior students…"