He Became A Monstrous Genius After Obtaining A Time Dilation Artifact

"You are seeing this too, right?"

Esimo was the person to break the stifling silence.

With a loud sigh tinged with astonishment, Everlong replied,

"Yeah. You are not hallucinating. Neither is anyone from the spectral race playing mind games on you."

Esimo looked at Everlong, chuckling, "You seem more shocked than I am. Weren't you the one who said you have a feeling he will cause an uproar in the academy very soon?"

Everlong rolled her eyes at his words. "Well, having a hunch is one thing. Turns out though, that seeing it happen is a whole different situation. Also, I did not expect it to be this incredulous. 98 percent purity level?

Those gifted alchemists making a name for themselves across the empire have almost 91 percent purity level for their alchemical products.

Yet a seventeen-year-old, who's even young enough to be my son, managed to shatter their record after just becoming an alchemist for not more than even two months?

What sort of monster is this human?"

Esimo agreed with her, layering further on her words. "Usually, alchemists spend more time focusing on alchemy, making them less combat-oriented. However, this guy even managed to beat me in the entrance exams with such a huge gap. I watched the video of the entrance exams circulating on the virtual universe network. His combat prowess is seriously frightening. That definitely requires countless life-and-death experiences and gruesome training.

How does he find the time to build himself to such a level combat-wise, at the same time focusing on alchemy, honing himself in alchemy to such a level when he just became an alchemist not long ago?"

Esimo was completely shocked. His whole orientation of the word genius had been completely shattered.

This Kailen Darkhaven was literally a monster.

Was this how others felt when he, Esimo, outshined them?

He turned to look at Everlong, staring into the distance. She seemed to be completely silent, as if she was in deep thought.

Finally, she broke the silence, not with sadness, but with a determined expression. "Father was right. He told me coming to the academy will make me realize there's always someone better than you.

He also said the academy will stimulate my potential to grow stronger because I will meet people who will make me realize I'm too comfortable at my level. At the time, the only person I could think of who could stimulate my potential to grow stronger was you. Turns out I was more narrow-minded than I thought."

Esimo stood up. The sound of his bones cracking could be heard.

His towering frame cast a large shadow over Everlong, who stared up at him with a knowing look.

"That look of yours. I know it."

Esimo grinned, feigning ignorance, replying sarcastically, "I don't know what you are talking about, Young Lady of the Atrexia family."

Everlong shook her head with a knowing expression on her face. "You are a battle maniac, Ashton. You're gonna challenge Darkhaven to a duel, aren't you? You know you're gonna lose, right?"

"We can't be certain. I didn't use all my trump cards during the entrance exams. Besides, even if I lose, it's gonna be worth it. Fighting a worthy opponent will help me improve combat-wise."

Everlong nodded. "I suppose you are right. Let's head to my place. When he's back, we can visit him and introduce ourselves to him properly. After that, you can have the duel with him. If you just walk up to him requesting a duel, he might think you are approaching him with evil intentions. That may ruin any plans we have of befriending him."

Esimo agreed with her reasoning. If anyone he did not know approached him straight away to challenge him for his rank, he'd definitely hate the person.

"Sure," he replied.

****

Two middle-aged men were currently engaged in a game of chess with a female figure.

If anyone looked closely, they'd recognize her as soon as possible.

She was the chief examiner for the entrance exams, the one who had requested for Kailen's details to be pulled up in the instructor's monitoring room during the entrance exams.

As the sound of chess pieces being moved on the board filled the room, the trio suddenly came to a halt.

They had been alerted by a surprising notification, one that made them almost question its authenticity.

However, they dropped the thought as soon as possible.

There was no way the Academy AI would experience a glitch.

"He's more terrifying than his parents. Looks like he will outshine them."

One of the men, a brown-skinned individual, was the first to comment.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Nuel," Cyco, the other man, having tree leaves for hair on his head, replied.

Realizing the sudden shift in the mood of the feminine figure, the two individuals sighed.

"You are thinking about Saul again, aren't you, Bianca? You always had a thing for him," Cyco voiced with concern.

Bianca, not wanting to dwell on the direction the conversation was headed, replied, reassuming her usual chilly demeanor, "No. Just remembered what happened that night."

On hearing Bianca, a painful memory played in Nuel's mind, one that found its way into his now pained and terrified eyes as he replied, "Are you talking about that?"

Cyco revealed a terrified expression on his face upon hearing Nuel's words and realizing what Nuel was trying to say.

"What we saw that night is something we will never speak of again. We agreed to never breathe a word of it to even ourselves again or to anyone," Cyco said.

Bianca remained silent and melancholic.

Remembering the memory of what happened that night brought her a lot of sorrow.

Yet, Cyco was right.

They could not breathe a word of it to anyone.

After all, talking about it with anyone would only do harm and no good.

It was better for them to be silent.

Yes. They could only act like they did not see anything.

They felt guilty, extremely guilty.

Yet they could only carry this burden of guilt with them for the rest of their lives.

Because to them, they didn't have any other choice but to remain quiet about what they saw that night.