Seated around a large oval-shaped table, several imposing men and women had pensive looks on their faces.
All of them were staring seriously at the dozens of holographic screens, which had appeared above the oval-shaped table.
Various statistics, personal assessments, rankings, and videos were displayed on holographic screens.
"The supercomputer finished computing the aptitude assessments. Layla generated the ranking according to the given instructions. It's done," A young man with a long white coat and blue jeans reported. He stared intently at the holographic screen in front of him and made a few adjustments.
"Are you sure that is the correct ranking, Harry? Are you sure that you didn't give Layla faulty commands? Maybe she broke down from all the information we've provided in such a short period!" A young-looking, but serious woman asked.
She had long crimson hair and ruby-colored eyes that highlighted her unusual combat uniform even more.
"A supercomputer breaking down from some measly pieces of information? Please don't take Layla lightly. She is amongst the best 10 supercomputers of mankind. Her artificial intelligence is on par with us humans, and her computing skills are a thousandfold advanced, if not more!" Harry Baren retorted with a deep frown on his face.
He was the same young man, who had tested Michael's Soultrait and Soul Power level, and the only one who voiced his concerns aloud. The atmosphere around him changed drastically the moment he spoke but Harry Baren was unfazed by the immense pressure filling the room. Almost everyone in the room other than him was a powerful Lord or Adventurer, but Harry didn't care.
The crimson-haired woman scoffed at Harry's comment, but she diverted her focus back to the final ranking of the applicants from all over Elyra.
Out of millions, only ten thousand made it to the ranking, and only the best 1500 would be given a spot in the Saphirelake Military Academy.
The Saphirelake Military Academy might be humongous, and almost the size of a city, but they wanted to only take in the cream of the crop. Their growth was the most important for the future of the Tritan Alliance and mankind's future.
Furthermore, every planet in the solar system was given a quota, and certain families purchased a spot to make sure that their children could attend the Saphirelake Military Academy without prior testing. Giving Elyra 1500 slots was already a lot.
"It looks like the child you recommended didn't make it into the top 1500, or am I wrong, Ophelia Blaze?" A young man with blond hair and vibrant green eyes asked mockingly.
He was sitting in the chair not too far from the crimson-haired woman and smiled provokingly in her direction. Ophelia Blaze's head flicked to the young man wearing casual clothes and she showed him the middle finger.
"The child I recommended made it into the top 1500, so keep your mouth shut, will you, Oliver? Nobody asked for your opinion. Just mind your own business and stay far away from me if possible!" Ophelia Blaze cursed quietly but in a voice loud enough for Oliver Zeus to hear.
Everyone else seated around the sizeable oval-shaped table sighed deeply upon hearing the bickering between Oliver Zeus and Ophelia Blaze. The Blaze family and the Zeus family were known for their hostile relationship, and their feud had been going on for more than 100 years already.
Nobody really knows how it started but something created blazing sparks between the two families, turning them into enemies.
"Dear Professors, how about we move back to the main topic? We still have to determine if the top 1500 are suited for the Saphirelake Military Academy, or if there are a few bad seedlings that are not suitable for the Military Academy and our teachings!" A middle-aged man with a well-trained body, an imposing aura, and a scarred face said calmly.
Ophelia and Oliver turned silent the moment the scar-faced man began to talk.
Their expression turned sour, and they looked like puppies who had been scolded for eating their poo.
The other men and women seated around the long table had to suppress a burst of laughter when they saw the reaction of the two bickering Professors, but nobody said anything.
The awkward silence was broken when the large arched gate leading to the room opened, and a familiar figure walked inside. The men and women inside the room nodded their heads in respect, while Oliver Zeus and Ophelia Blaze shot up with a smile on their faces.
"Alice, you're back!"
"Professor Zenovia, we were waiting for you. Glad to see that you finished your business so quickly!"
While Oliver Zeus remained more formal and polite, Ophelia rushed to Alice Zenovia and embraced her arm – or she was trying to.
Alice flicked Ophelia's forehead and walked past her to sit down in the empty seat next to the scar-faced man.
"How far are we, Silverian?" Alice Zenovia asked the scar-faced man, Silverian Schild.
"We have far more applicants compared to the previous years. The overall competence of the youngest generation seems much better than before as well. That's mostly related to the Great Clans, Supreme Families, and the High Nobles. Only some of their descendants were sent to the Big Five Universities and the Great Three Academies before. That changed now that more news of a possible upcoming war reached the Lord Network.
As expected, every family wants to ensure that their children and disciples will have a higher rank in the military once war erupts and the draft call reaches them," Silverian Schield explained calmly while showing Alice the ranking of more than a hundred applicants.
These 100+ students were all ranked in the top 200 and hailed from the Great Clans, Supreme Families, and High Nobles.
"Most applicants who came with a recommendation made it into the top 1500 as well. However, we have yet to finish looking through every applicant's score and performance in the top 1500. It shouldn't take too long until we're done, Professor!" He explained calmly while studying Alice's reaction.
"Is that so?" Alice murmured absent-mindedly before she started to take a look at a few assessment forms from applicants within the top 1500.
Silverian Schild kept looking at Alice and trying to make note of the forms of which students she was studying, but he didn't receive the response he'd hoped for.
"Didn't you say that you recommended someone? Is he in the top 1500, Professor Zenovia?" Oliver Zeus asked after a while.
He was curious about what kind of powerful child Alice Zenovia had laid her eyes upon.
Most Professors could recommend a few students for the aptitude assessment of the Saphirelake Military Academy.
Nobody expected Alice to have recommended someone because she was not the type of person to be around other people if she didn't have to. Where was she supposed to find someone to recommend, in the first place, if the only things she did was take care of her troublemaker brother, and work?
Hence it was a surprise that against all odds, Alice Zenovia not only recommended one person to the Saphirelake Military Academy, but she had also kept his identity secret so far. That way, nobody could tell whom she had recommended, or that the person had entered the aptitude assessment through the recommendation system.
"Don't worry, he made the cut. You should be more focused on your little nephew. It looks like he and his fiancé were quite the troublemakers during the Real Combat assessment," Alice Zenovia pointed out as her eyes stopped on one of the video footage of the Real Combat assessment.
Oliver Zeus didn't expect the topic to change to his nephew so suddenly. He didn't even know that his nephew had applied to the Saphirelake Military Academy.
However, upon searching up his nephew's name and looking at the video of him openly humiliating other applicants during the Real Combat assessment, Oliver's expression changed drastically.
"Frederik, you fool!! What the hell did my sister do to raise you to become such a spoiled brat??" Oliver cursed after watching the second Real Combat fight of Frederik Kolbenheim, his nephew.
"Oh? Look. Your nephew was beaten into a pulp and thrashed to the ground in his last fight. What a funny fella!" Ophelia Blaze mocked after her attention moved to Oliver's nephew as well. She watched the final fight in the Real Combat assessment and kept exclaiming about Frederick so as to further anger Oliver.
"This fella is not bad. Which family is he from? He is already Tier-1, and his Artifacts are exceptional. Isn't he using two Soultraits simultaneously? Just who is he?"
The more Ophelia squealed in excitement the more Instructors and Professors switched their attention to Frederik Kolbenheim and his opponent in his last fight.
"Who is that young man?" Another Instructor asked, only for Alice Zenovia and Silverian Schild to answer simultaneously.
"That's Michael Fang," Alice murmured.
"Michael Fang. He is an applicant from the Golden Sun province. I watched his fight!" Silverian declared loudly with a trace of excitement in his voice.
This attracted even more interest. After all, everyone knew what it meant if the Devilish Saint showed interest in someone.
Everyone's eyes flicked to see the rank of the young man, curiosity getting the better of them.
[Michael Fang #146, No Affiliation, Ordinary Background, Double Soultrait. Exceptional Talent]
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