The third day of examination came like a punch to the gut, and Aodhán’s stomach couldn’t help but cramp with nerves despite immersing himself deeply within {Eye of the Storm}. It wasn’t just that AAT was hard; it was bulky and overly complicated too. Too many theories and hypotheses to state. Too many laws and speculations to cram. Too many facts to understand.

  It was just too much, and to be honest, Aodhán was yet to cover even half of the entire syllabus. Strangely enough, he had no trouble remembering the classes Professor Dubois had taught, despite disliking her. It was Professor Jorendil’s classes that needed remembering.

  Glancing at the time at the edge of his status screen, [3:30], Aodhán crawled out of bed and underneath Varéc’s wings, seeking the familiar comfort of chaos and storm that Varéc innately emitted. He snuggled in between Varéc’s arms, placing himself just right to avoid stabbing himself with a claw.

  Varéc had grown too big for the bed, but there was still more than enough space on the floor for him to sleep without causing too much damage. At the rate Varéc was growing, though, it was only a matter of time before he outgrew even that. Perhaps, by then, he would have to sleep on the roof.

  The thought caused him to chuckle, unintentionally jostling Varéc and causing his soft snores to falter for a moment before resuming. Despite being fast asleep, Varéc shifted to create space for Aodhán to snuggle in tighter, and a rumble of thunder filled Aodhán’s ears as he placed his head near Varéc’s snout.

  The rumbling echoed out with each breath, and Aodhán let himself get lost in the soothing sounds of Varéc’s snores, wondering if he’d ever heard a more comforting sound before. While he lay in Varéc’s embrace, his mind drifted to a group of memories that once housed a ton of emotions but now echoed with a cold, foreign silence. Earth!

  He thought of the orphanage and a particularly nasty storm that had raged only a few weeks before his transmigration. At that time, he had watched the storm from the window of his small room, shuddering in fear as lightning flashed and thunder boomed.

  In this moment, however, Aodhán would give nearly anything for the faintest patter of rain. He could sense it, somehow—so close, just on the horizon. The dry season was nearing its end, and within a few days or weeks, the rains would finally arrive. Aodhán could hardly wait.

  More memories of Earth rose to the surface of his mind, but none of them held the nostalgia, happiness, or sadness they usually did. It felt like watching someone else’s memories, and he soon became tired of it. With a sigh, he took out the Voltaris ore the champions had given him and scrutinized it, watching it closely as it glowed dimly within the darkness of Varéc’s wings.

  For the next few minutes, Aodhán just stared at the ore, wondering what he could do with it. The main use of the Voltaris ore was in the production of storm and lightning pills as an alchemical catalyst. However, it could also be used as an ingredient in the production of various magical items, weapons, and even clothes. There were a plethora of options, but aside from the alchemical pills, none of them really interested him.

  He had no need for mundane weapons, not when he could create his own, although an epic-ranked weapon, further enhanced by runes, wouldn’t hurt to have; it wasn’t that high on his list of priorities at the moment. What he needed was an edge, something that might grant him an advantage in the upcoming tournament should he need it.

  The Epic-ranked weapon came to his mind once again, and Aodhán paused to think. An Epic-ranked weapon would be a great investment, one he didn’t even have to spend too much money on since Professor Caldwell already promised to make him one should he require it; however, the moment he stepped into the Advanced class, an Epic-ranked weapon would lose nearly all of its usefulness, as his skills would have grown strong enough for him not to need it anymore.

  Even now, an Epic-ranked weapon wasn’t really a game changer. He could perhaps injure an advanced class Awakened with an epic-ranked weapon, but Aodhán seriously doubted he could kill one.

  He contemplated the idea for a while, but without making a decision, his attention shifted again, this time to the ongoing war. It had been three weeks since Seo-yeon’s dishonorable death, and although the information ban within the academy was still in effect, Aodhán didn’t need to communicate with anyone to know that things had either gotten worse with the war or were well on their way to becoming so.

  Sunstone would not take Artemis’s actions lying down, and their retaliation was inevitable. However, he had witnessed the champions meeting, and from what he had seen, it was obvious Ragnarok wasn’t taking things lightly either. If the war hadn’t been serious before, then it was just about to enter a new dimension of bloody. The Sunstonians were big on honor in death, and he imagined the way Seo-yeon had died was both intentional and a slap to Sunstone.

  Aodhán snuggled closer to Varéc, wondering what turns the war would take this time. He had no idea what the original reasons for this war were, but at this point he didn’t really care anymore.

  The war had now become a matter of revenge and pride, at least for the lowly soldiers who, like him, had no idea what the real reason for the war was. Sighing, he let out a quiet prayer to all the gods that regardless of what happened, Synové and Unrid would be alright.

  After that, he said another prayer for Captain Tyrus and his comrades, wishing them the best in what he imagined were extremely turbulent times. His tour of the camps with Captain Tyrus had changed something within him, forcing him to see the war for what it really was rather than the distant concept he had always imagined it to be. The soldiers were no longer distant names on a sheet of paper whose deaths didn’t really affect him. Now, he had seen them, he had walked amongst them, and despite only spending a few hours among them, Aodhán cared about them.

  In the last few weeks, Aodhán had done his best to read up on Ragnarok’s history with Sunstone, and although he hadn’t been able to uncover the reasons behind this bloody war, he had found a few important details that shed some light on the matter.

  Ragnarok and Sunstone had never been on good terms with each other, even when Lutia was a collective state, and although they hadn’t launched a war against themselves during that time, they had definitely danced around the topic for years. Border skirmishes had been a common occurrence, but things had never been so bad as to warrant a full-on war. However, working with the information principal Zatya had given him about Attilan and the time of the first war, Aodhán was able to deduce a few things, one of which was the fact that the reason for the first war was both linked to Attilan and the wellsprings that housed the soul seeds at the edges of each kingdom.

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  There was no mention of the initial number of wellsprings in each kingdom, but Aodhán suspected that the war might have been a fight for soul seeds. Perhaps it was the reason why Attilan had attacked in the first place.

  The fact that an outright war between Sunstone and Ragnarok had only begun centuries after the Attilan invasion only gave credit to his assumptions. However, Aodhán was certain there was something else, something the higher-ups and even the champions knew about. The way Artemis had killed the changeling just seemed too personal. Then again, perhaps he was just fanatically patriotic.

  Another interesting tidbit he had learned was that only a few years before the first war began was coincidentally around the same time Von-Amyl Argent had risen to fame. It had been nearly a millennium since then, and in all those years, Ragnarok and Sunstone had been at loggerheads. In fact, it seemed the entire continent had been fighting at the time, but after centuries of blood and war, Calodan, Unoros, and the Central Kingdom had pulled back from the war to rebuild and focus on their own development.

  Continuous reading soon revealed that Ragnarok and Sunstone had also declared several ceasefires over the years, taking breaks to rebuild and heal before resuming their eternal fight. Some of the breaks lasted months, some years, but the longest was a decade. An entire decade of peace. Aodhán wished that time would come back.

  He had searched the entire library to find any information on what had restarted the war this time. Unsurprisingly, he hadn’t found anything concrete. He felt close to the answer, though, and was sure it was only a matter of time before he figured it out, just the way he had figured out the limit.

  He ruminated on the matter until dawn broke, painting the sky in a beautiful glow of gold and orange, before standing to his feet and making his way to the bathroom to begin his day. His thoughts distracted him from his nerves, and by the time he was dressed and ready to go, his nerves had settled a little.

  Ten minutes later, he met up with Yurin and Daruk at the cafeteria to discuss the exam. Daruk was obviously the most knowledgeable, having read the most amongst the three of them, so he naturally took up the role of an instructor while Aodhán and Yurin asked questions.

  They discussed a ton of topics, one of which was why bloodline manifestations were severe for some and almost non-existent for others despite having the same rank.

  There was no real answer to that question, just a bunch of speculations and assumptions by a host of renowned scholars whose opinions couldn’t help but make it into the textbooks. Some theorized that it was a matter of spiritual strength, with the spirit refusing to accede to the extremities of the soul seeds, while others theorized that it was a matter of compatibility.

  There were a host of different opinions, none of which rang completely true, yet they had to read and understand them all. For the next two hours, Aodhán, Yurin, and Daruk cursed and hissed as they read more and more of the syllabus. Ayisha, Ankaz, and Scarlett even joined them at some point, complaining of the same thing.

  After nearly an hour of reading, Aodhán gave up on trying to cover the syllabus and instead began revising what he had read earlier. It helped to keep his mind grounded, and before he knew it, only ten minutes were left before the examination began.

  “Fuck! My brain feels like it’s about to melt.” Yurin complained as they began making their way to the examination hall, and groans of assent echoed out from everyone else except Daruk, who laughed and said,.

  “That’s the disadvantage of cramming. I bet if I tickle you, Yurin, all you’ve read today will just evaporate.”

  “I won’t even deny it.” Yurin replied, taking a few steps away from Daruk to stand beside Aodhán. “If I can get through this examination with my mind intact, I’ll definitely light a candle in prayer.”

  Ayisha, who had stayed silent the entire walk, suddenly perked up and said,. “I never took you for the religious type.”

  “I’m not, but my grandparents are. In fact, my grandfather served as a priest at the temple of Raol in sector 6 before…

  Aodhán tuned them out, sinking his mind deeply into the calm and quiet of {Eye of the Storm}. The skill might be a passive skill, but Aodhán had realized that taking an active role in its activation usually made its effect stronger. The flutter of nerves that remained in his belly disappeared, and his mind soon became as calm as the surface of a lake.

  They reached the examination hall with five minutes to spare, and Aodhán quickly made his way to the seat that had been assigned to him. Both Professor Dubois and Professor Jorendil were present in the hall, along with three familiar agents. The first was Agent Everglade, the insight awakened; the second was Agent Crownstar, the divinity awakened, while the last was Aquila Valerion.

  She smiled at him predatorily as he rushed to his seat, her eyes twinkling as if she had something mischievous planned. Aodhán ignored her for now, focused on keeping his mental state calm before the examination began.

  He even closed his eyes, letting his mind sink further into the serenity that {Eye of the Storm} provided until Professor Dubois spoke. “Welcome, students. This exam will begin very soon, so sit back and relax while the agents help us pass the questions around.”

  Aodhán doubted the agents appreciated being used in this manner, and one look at their expressions made it obvious that they didn’t. Still, they took up the pile of documents and began distributing them, not bothering to place them facedown like the professors usually did.

  This gave Aodhán a few more minutes to go through the questions before the examination began, and he wasn’t disappointed. The questions weren’t exactly as hard as he had expected, but they were bulky, filled with words like explain, expatiate, discuss, and even theorize. A quick scan soon revealed that there was not a single multiple-choice question to be seen, just theories and hypotheses.

  Aodhán managed to suppress a curse, but not all the students succeeded in this regard, and Aodhán even thought he heard someone burst into tears behind him. The examination began shortly after, and Aodhán quickly dove into the questions, knowing that time would be his biggest constraint in this exam.

  Needless to say, the exam was tough on everyone, because even after the two hours assigned for the exam elapsed, no one was ready or willing to submit. Time had passed too quickly, and after a chorus of pleas, Professor Dubois hesitantly granted them an extra thirty minutes.

  Thankfully, the extra time was enough for Aodhán, and with only five minutes to spare, he went through his answers, scanning them to ascertain that he had answered each question correctly. When he was done, he looked up to find more than half of the student body still writing, many of whom didn’t seem to be nearing the end at all.

  Sighing, he stood up and moved to the front of the hall where Professor Jorendil stood with a pile of answer scripts in his hand. Professor Jorendil accepted his answer script with a smile and said,. “We need to talk very soon. Maybe see me in my office this evening.”

  Aodhán nodded, already having an idea what Professor Jorendil wanted to talk about. He made his way out of the hall, and despite how hard the exam had been, he couldn’t help but smile in relief that it was finally over, especially when he saw the other students celebrating the end of the exams.

  AAT had been their final paper, which meant they were now free.

  Aodhán joined their merriment, singing an off-key tune with Yurin, who seemed even more excited than he was. Students cheered and hugged each other, and while they did, someone suggested a party. Aodhán wasn’t sure who did, but he added a resounding yes to the cheer that rose in favor of the suggestion.

  They had done it. The first semester was well and truly over, and now, it was time to celebrate.