Chapter 23: Hurricane Claire

  Damon entered through the front doors of the building, where he was greeted by the sight of a large and spacious hall, leading to various corridors. Only one person was currently inside the hall, a young lady with blonde hair tied up in a bun. She was the receptionist, sitting behind a desk and looking bored. At the sight of Damon, she quickly stood up with a wide smile and waved him over.

  “Hey, you! Are you an apprentice of the academy? You’re not wearing the academy’s robes… So, you must be an independent cultivator wanting to join, right? We were so busy three years ago when we opened up our doors indefinitely, but the recruitment has slowed down so much that only I have been left behind to attend the entrance hall. I haven’t seen a single other person in three days. THREE DAYS! The apprentices of the academy can enter through other gates, so they don’t usually come here. I have been bored out of my mind just sitting here, and you finally show up! Sorry for burdening you with all the rabble! Let’s get to business, then, shall we? Here is the application form for you to fill out. Remember to place a blood seal at the bottom so we can verify the authenticity of the information you filled in!”

  The young lady spiritedly yapped on as she made exaggerated hand gestures. At the end of her dialogue, she suddenly turned solemn, as though the entire previous chatter had not taken place. Damon was taken aback by the excessively exuberant lady in front of him. He was expecting a strict or serious attitude at this acclaimed institution; instead, he had found himself in the company of an interesting, perhaps a little annoying, person.

  “Yes, I am here to apply for the recruitment assessment,” Damon replied, as he filled out the forms and returned them to her.

  Returning to her vivacious self, the young lady jumped out from behind the counter and in front of the flabbergasted Damon.

  “Okay! Great! Let’s go and get this assessment done then! Come follow meeeeeee!”

  The lady pointed a finger toward one of the hallways and sprinted off in that direction. Damon remained rooted to his spot for a couple of seconds before rushing after her. She had already disappeared down the corridor and could not be seen. If he did not hurry, he might lose track of her entirely.

  After a couple of minutes of running after this girl, they entered a large hall. Looking around the hall, Damon saw many practice dummies standing around, targets hanging from the ceiling, weapons stacked on shelves, and some desks covered in parchment paper, ink, and quills. As Damon inspected his surroundings, the lady stopped in the center of the hall before spinning around to face him.

  “This is the recruitment hall! We will be conducting your assessment here! Oh, by the way, my name is Claire Dumont! I’m also just an Initiate apprentice of the Arcane Academy. I belong to the Potioneering department. Do you have any experience in potion crafting? If so, you should come join us!”

  Damon was starting to feel exhausted, as though Claire had drained his energy to become so energetic. He ignored her question and glanced around the room before looking at her.

  “Where is the proctor? Or the examiners? Are we waiting here for them to arrive?”

  “Nope! I am your examiner today! Hehehehe, you weren’t expecting that, were you? Although I may act a little silly, I am actually a late stage Initiate! The Academy believes I have enough expertise to judge the results of any Node Awakening realm assessment! It’s a pretty nice position as they reward me with a decent amount of merit points. However, the only issue is the extreme boredom. I can handle busy and grueling work, but I just can’t deal with having nothing to do!”

  Claire was growing increasingly animated, almost shouting with enthusiasm, before becoming agitated and throwing a few punches and kicks at the air. Damon stood absolutely still while staring blankly at her actions. His energy was being sapped away at an exponential rate. Deciding it was best for him to continue to ignore her behavior, he asked, “Where are the crystal orbs? Are you not measuring my affinity to the elements?”

  “No, no, no, no, no. We don’t do such things here! The towers measure for affinity as they only want to recruit the best of the best. This is because they put heavy focus on nurturing the few talented individuals and not wasting resources on the talentless. Though this is not a bad strategy, our Assembly will recruit anyone and everyone, as long as they have a trustworthy background and an awakened node. The only other limiting factor is accommodation. There is only so much space we have to house everyone! The towers supply all their apprentices with an annual stipend of essence stones, whereas we have a merit-based system. You only get as much as you give!” Claire stood tall and straight, arms crossed, and her nose held high as she spoke, as though she were a noblewoman lecturing an ignorant peasant.

  Fed up with her shenanigans, Damon’s voice grew a bit louder as he asked, “What do I need to do for the test then?”

  Seeing Damon slowly lose his composure, the enthusiasm on Claire’s face decreased drastically. Looking slightly forlorn, she replied, “For the test, you just need to display your cultivation and strength through some spells. If you have any experience or knowledge regarding any other discipline, present that too. You will be allowed to choose to major in that discipline, or you will be assigned a major randomly. Everyone will minor in combat, except those who already major in it. Now… Uh… What was your name again?”

  “Damon. Damon Fletcher.” Damon sighed. Inwardly, he was comparing the agony of enduring a dozen mind spikes against the misery inflicted by interacting with Claire over a long period. He decided he preferred the mind spikes.

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  “Right! Damon Fletcher! Now, Damon Fletcher, show me what you’ve got!”

  Without chanting, Damon began casting a fireball spell. His chest tightened in pain at even this slight usage of arcane power. A ball of vibrant flame quickly gathered in his right hand. As soon as the casting finished, he threw it and hit a target right in the center, blasting it apart.

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

  “Wow, good job! A fireball! Incredible!” Claire applauded loudly. Though her choice of words sounded incredibly sarcastic, her tone of voice and the look on her face were completely sincere. “The strength of that fireball and speed of casting definitely exceeds what is expected of an early stage Node Awakening Initiate like you. You didn’t even chant either! You seem to have talent in combat. Do you have any experience or knowledge regarding anything else?”

  Damon discreetly wiped away the little bit of blood that seeped from the corner of his mouth and said, “I have some knowledge of runes, though I have not had the opportunity to practice due to a lack of materials.”

  “Oh! You have an understanding of runes? Runeology is a very important but difficult field of study. It requires you to remember all those squiggly lines… I honestly don’t know how anyone can memorize the endless combinations of lines forming the runes. If I tried, my head would blast. Like, BOOM!” Claire suddenly screamed out loud while acting out a massive explosion erupting from her head.

  MY head feels like it’s going to explode because of YOU. Damon thought to himself. Runes came from reality itself, meaning there were an infinite number of combinations that could be made to form different meanings. For example, the runes for ‘fire’ and ‘water’ could be combined to form ‘steam’. If done without proper understanding, it could form ‘explosion’ instead. Due to this, minor mistakes often cause accidents during the inscribing or engraving process. Most average Runemasters did not have the comprehensive ability required to research new runes, only focusing on memorizing and understanding a few runes they wanted to specialize in.

  Damon approached a desk and sat down, elegantly gripping a quill. He dipped it in ink and started etching a single rune on a piece of parchment. After completion, Damon handed over the parchment to Claire. The glossy ink making up the rune sparkled as it reflected light. Claire’s eyes sparkled even more brightly at the sight. This was the first time her mouth had remained still for more than a minute since meeting Damon. Her reaction caused Damon to smile smugly in satisfaction. He was quite confident in his ability to draw runes.

  “This… Looks legitimate. I don’t know what this rune means, but the lines almost look… Aflame. Is it a fire rune? I don’t know how you managed to do that with normal ink and parchment, but I will need to have it appraised by a Runemaster. As long as it checks out, I am sure you will be immediately scouted by the Runeology department. Tch. What a shame. I thought our Potioneering department was going to welcome a cute new apprentice.”

  Claire had already returned to her antics: she had her hands placed on her hips and was clicking her tongue like a middle-aged woman watching her daughter run off with a philanderer instead of marrying the kind son-in-law she had chosen.

  “So, did I pass, Senior?” asked Damon while closing his eyes and pinching the skin between them.

  “Of course you passed! But don’t call me a senior, call me Claire! Though I may be at the late stage of the Node Awakening realm, I am only 19 years old!”

  Damon was surprised to hear her age. An average person would be at least 24 years old before reaching Claire’s current stage.

  “That’s very impressive, Miss Claire. I am truly amazed. What happens now that I have passed?”

  With a proud and slightly arrogant smile plastered on her face, Claire said, “Follow me. I will have the runes you drew appraised by the Runeology department after I take you to a guesthouse. You can stay there for the night, and someone will come find you tomorrow to give you instructions.”

  Having finished talking, Claire pointed at another corridor. A sudden, ominous feeling blanketed Damon as he realized what this gesture meant. Claire immediately set off in a sprint. Damon covered his face with both hands and let out a deep sigh before dashing off after her.

  By the time they arrived at a guesthouse within the walls of the Arcane Academy, Damon was completely winded and couldn’t help but breathe raggedly. Claire, on the other hand, was absolutely fine. Damon could not figure out how such a small and slim girl could run so well compared to him, when he had been walking and running through various terrains without much problems previously. Noticing Damon’s gaze, Claire lifted her nose high up in the air with a self-satisfied smile on her face again.

  “Are you curious how I am so good at running without losing my breath?” asked Claire. Her slightly trembling body, pouted lips and pleading eyes all conveyed intense anticipation and desperation. It was as though her entire being was screaming, ‘Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!’

  “Haa… Yes…” Damon finally gave in to her shimmering eyes.

  “I have an innate physical constitution called the Featherstride Physique! It gives me a natural attunement to the wind element, and the wind motes in the atmosphere always adhere to my body, allowing for superior movement speed and techniques! Have you trained an arcane sight ability?” Claire twirled around on the spot as if to show off her movements before suddenly posing a question.

  “No, I haven’t had the chance to practice an arcane sight ability yet.”

  “I thought so. Otherwise, you would have seen the wind elemental particles gravitate around me and discovered the abnormality immediately. Arcane sight is just as useful for combat, as you can see which elemental energy an Arcon is gathering and can counter it! It is also a requirement for any auxiliary arts, including Runeology. You need the ability to see whether the flow of arcane energy is correct or not when inscribing or engraving runes. Anyway! I must get back to my post, so let’s exchange arcane marks on our communication orbs so we can meet up again later!”

  As Damon had yet to buy a communication orb, they exchanged arcane marks as he did with Igor. Afterward, Claire hurriedly sprinted back towards the entrance hall. Damon stood there, absently watching her figure disappear before shaking his head and thinking to himself. Perhaps personality is also influenced by an innate constitution because she really was like a hurricane passing through.