Chapter 49: Awakening

"She's awake!" an eerie voice was heard over my head, followed by some hurried footsteps.

I tried to open my eyes slowly, which worked out effortlessly.

"Stand aside." A masculine spoke, causing my heart to race. It was all too familiar. It was from the last person I saw before I lost consciousness. I quickly raised my eyes to behold the white-robed man.

"Teacher Haggz!"

His cold eyes stared at me for a moment before he nodded. Then his brows suddenly furrowed as though he was in thoughts.

"Stephanie!" the eerie voice came once more. It was none other than Lingxi, and following closely behind her was, on both sides, Jessica and Xueyi. Then there was Blackie, Jaded, Zhangkong, Mingming, Xuan'er, Ruby, Xianxian, Zhaohu, Toby, Tang and, lastly, Chang. My whole classmates!

"You guys..." I was startled. Casting my eyes about, I realised I was back in Dormitory A's Room 1. There was also one more person in the room, and he was dressed in a Physician robe with a 4-star emblem pinned on his chest.

Teacher Haggz made a hand gesture to the physician, and the man quickly stepped forward and approached me. He took my right arm, stared at my Arerat symbol awkwardly before quickly averting his eyes to feel my pulse.

He looked at me, once more, then asked, "Do you feel pain anywhere?"

I stared at him like he was a fool. Just what is happening here? I can't remember be being struck by a running train or something. What was all this about? You wanna make fun of me or what? Okay... let's see who's better in acting.

"Yeah," I nodded, hiding a sinister smile that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"Where?" he asked.

"Around my thighs."

"Okay, let's see— wait what?!" Halfway through his words, the physician quickly realised something was off. "What did you say?"

By then, I could see my classmates snickering, as they tried to hold themselves from laughing out loud. Ruby was not really doing well, as her huge shoulders bobbed as she restrained her mouth with both hands.

Teacher Haggz seemed to have gotten the drill, so he coldly stated, "Physician Wu, that's enough."

Physician Wu had an angered and embarrassed look on his face, before turning around, bowing once to Teacher Haggz, and taking his leave.

"Stephanie, that was cool!" someone snickered.

"Hey guys, what happened to me?" I asked.

Teacher Haggz stepped forward. "You've been unconscious for three days, after absorbing the soul of the beasts in the Ethereal Hall."

I sat up, feeling true essence flow up in my body. It was a warm feeling, instead of headaches or some other thing one could have expected to experience at that crucial moment. Teacher Haggz sensed it and nodded to me.

"Move your true essence round two cycles."

I was about to use the Eccentric Heavens technique when I recalled the technique my Old Ancestor taught me. It was called the United Heavens method, he'd explained, and it was a cultivation technique method of the pinnacle stage! What was worse? It was something he'd created himself, few years after attaining divinity.

Normally, moving two cycles and opening acupoints would normally take an hour, at most, when one used the Eccentric Heavens method, and about two hours when one used the other easy-to-find cultivation methods in the market. However, when I used the United Heavens method which Old Ancestor had sent into my mind with a flick of his hand, back then, this two cycles true essence flow took just thirty minutes! Even the usually indifferent Teacher Haggz opened his mouth involuntarily. He wanted to say something, but held himself back, after a quick afterthought.

"Phee-yoo!"

A turbid gas escaped my lips as I opened my eyes and mouth after cultivating. I felt more energised than how I was when I'd awaken.

Teacher Haggz's aura suddenly raised, drawing the attention of the students of Class 192 present.

"Ever since the test, I've said nothing about your results. Now that the final member of the class is present, I'll get on with it. But before then, I have to say a few things.

"Like I mentioned earlier, I was initially from the Intermediate Academy of the Gifted. Now, what you did not know was that, the test I'd set for your class was no ordinary test. It is, in fact, one of the toughest exam in the Intermediate Academy of the Gifted. It is called, the Test of the Heart and Comradeship. Although you were divided into genders, the truth was, the test was supposed to test, firstly, your emotional quotient to see if you could actually bare to turn against your classmates whom you've barely known. Millennia ago, when the Ethereal Hall, alias the Grand Hall of All Illusions, was created, it was to discipline students to be strong enough to battle with the Demon tribe, without inflicting any real life injury on them, thus, laying a firm battle foundation for these.

"You all not only succeeded in working completely as a team, you succeeded also in your adaptability. I'll not mention instances, I'm sure you've all, save for Stephanie, pondered carefully on every move and combat style you'd approached in other to overcome your opponents. Stephanie... your performance was the most thrilling. You even unintentionally took the position of leader in your team of females, without even realising it. The fact that you all were able to stay alive in the Ethereal Hall has finally made me resolute on my recent decision. You shall all become my direct disciples!

"There are three types of students; direct disciples, side students and listening-in students. If you're willing to accept this, then voice out."

I pondered for a moment, before standing up. It seemed side students referred to the regular type of classroom students, while listening-in students were those who weren't part of a class, but decides to listen-in once in a while to add to their external knowledge.

Teacher Kira, for instance, was just a normal teacher to me, making me a side student to her. However, direct disciples were like an added possession to a teacher. Wherever he went, the disciples went along. It was quite tempting to irrationally decide to continue learning with a teacher for many years, so one definitely had to think things out.

"Teacher Haggz, could you give us a day to think about it?"

He looked at me, not with cold eyes, but an impressed pair of eyes.

"That's rational. You have a day's duration to make your decision. If you chose to be a team under me, of course it also means that your school curriculum would take a change. We wouldn't be learning in the orthodox way, but in my own personal training mannerism. I'd teach you all you need to know to be an unrivaled Gifted cultivator. I'm sure some of you know how expensive the Ethereal Token is. You'll be able to keep them for your personal use under my discipleship."

After those words, Teacher Haggz turned around to leave. He suddenly halted by the front door, before saying, "You also have tomorrow, off, classes are to resume the day after that. Your test results are 500 points each, and that's a perfect result. They've already been transferred to your Student Tokens, you can exchange them for P.D coins in the Hall of Apprehension for your personal utilisation."

Our mouths fell open as Teacher Haggz's figure blurred and disappeared as though he'd never been standing there a few seconds ago. Then there was silence, but only for a moment.

"Yeah!" Class 192 roared in jubilation. Everyone hugged just anyone. Even Jessica had me squashed in her braces.

"This calls for celebration, Class 192! Let's go out and get some good food. For Stephanie! For Class 192!" Zhangkong cried out in all happiness, then added, "Don't worry, meal's on me."

There was still about four hours before all students were to return to their dormitories, so we still definitely had all the time for a meal. For the first time, I realised that all my classmates had storage rings... down to Jessica and Xueyi! It seemed they'd just gotten theirs, or they'd just not worn it on themselves.

Zhangkong seemed to be a native of the Arerat city, so we followed after him in pairs. Peculiarly, our pairs were in males and females. Zhangkong and I walked side-by-side, Jaded with Xueyi, Jessica with Blackie, Mingming with Tang, Ruby with Chang, Toby with Lingxi, Xianxian walked alongside Xuan'er, then Zhaohu walking beside Xianxian's left side, oddly.

We soon reached the academy's gate and was granted pass due to our Tokens.

Stepping out of the walls of the academy was like stepping into another world entirely. It had already been six days (plus the three days when I was unconscious, learning the Way of Disguise from my Old Ancestor) since I'd stepped into the Arerat city. This was one of the most powerful city within the federation. It was said that the three empire-like kingdoms of the Phantom Dynasty all had Arerat cities, each! It was also in these cities that the Gifted Academies were founded.

The spiritual energy in the air was not as tangible as it was within the academy's walls.

We could normally have gotten food within the academy, but no one interjected because most of us actually wanted to get a feel away from the JAG's. The Junior Academy of the Gifted most definitely didn't lack anything, but it still felt nice to be away from the learning environment.

Soon, a nice fragrance streamed into our nostrils.