Ascension of the Dark Seraph - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Academy Tests Chapter 39: Academy Tests Checking Lucivar’s paperwork briefly, Victor glanced over to Clara and found her completely disinterested, leaning back on her chair-without any intention of dealing with Lucivar.

Since the paperwork stated that he came from a slave city, she lost interest instantly.

Not that there were no promising candidates from slaves though.

Sighing lightly, Victor gazed at Lucivar and explained, “Lucivar, we are going to judge your potential and see whether you are fit to be a part of our academy.

There would be several simple tests, do your best to impress us,” Upon hearing this, Lucivar nodded in understanding though he wasn’t going to comply.

“First of all, put a drop of your blood on the chalice,” Victor commanded.

Lucivar glanced to the side and found a big white chalice made of marble to his left, it was as tall as a young kid, around his waist height.

He went over to the chalice, and saw a blade was placed there.

Knowing what to do, he took the blade and cut the palm of his hand with it.

He placed his hand above the chalice and squeezed it, letting a drop of his blood fall into the crystal-clear water inside the chalice.

As he did that, Victor explained, “The water will reflect your bloodline grade.

Just like the order of dungeons, the lowest is yellow, and the highest is red” Realizing what was being tested, Lucivar’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Shit, if that’s the case wouldn’t the water turn red?’ He pondered in concern.

If that happened there was no doubt he would be taken in-as a student or even a disciple, there was also a chance that his exact bloodline would be tested.

Lucivar would be in deep trouble if that was the case.

Victor and the other professors squinted their eyes, catching Lucivar’s nervousness.

All of them leaned forward a little to see the color of the water.

Shingg…!

Processing the dropped blood, the water gleamed for a brief moment before changing color.

Naturally, finding that Lucivar was acting weirdly, the professors were filled with anticipation, but when the color changed fully, they scoffed inwardly.

As opposed to purple or even red, it was only pale green which meant Lucivar’s bloodline was at a low green grade.

Each of them was left disappointed.  Similarly, Lucivar was also stunned as this was not as expected.

But seeing the slightly flickering ring of his-he smiled, ‘Loki must’ve liked me a lot,’ Lucivar shrugged, his act of taking down Darwin must’ve impressed Loki.

Gesturing for Lucivar to go back to the center once again-Victor continued, “Now we want you to channel your ether and create any object with it, make it as vivid as you possibly can-you can start when you are ready” Upon hearing this, Lucivar took a couple of seconds to steady his breath.

He then raised his hands and began channeling his ether.

A golden glow permeates through his hands, an unnatural color for a Harpy Hybrid.

Lucivar focused intently, he had never attempted to create anything with his ether before, he only used it to boost his attacks-or temporarily strengthen himself.

Now, under the watchful gaze of the academy’s professors, he needed to form something tangible.

Something that could reflect his control over his ether.

Frankly speaking, he had no idea what to make, so he allowed his ether to flow freely.

He trusted his instincts completely.

Slowly, the ether began to take shape, gleaming strings of golden light, coalesced into a bit-long object in his grasp.

As the light dimmed-a plain golden stick emerged.

The professors, unimpressed, exchanged glances and sighed.

All of them didn’t know why but today’s candidates seemed to all be meager.

It was never as bad as this.

Lucivar’s creation seemed underwhelming, the test he had done was made-to reveal both a candidate’s ether control and the nature of their bloodline.

Those with good alignments often manifest good items such as delicate flowers or crystal doves-neutral alignments tend to be on the meager side such as mirrors or balanced scales, while dark alignments bloodline most of the time crafted weapons or other sinister things.

A plain stick indicated a neutral bloodline.

But its lack of detail suggested poor ether control, Lucivar was below mediocre at best.

One professor, an elderly man draped in a heavy robe, frowned.

‘Something was off…’ He pondered inwardly.

Lucivar was adjusting the stick oddly, almost positioning it in front of himself with a sense of purpose as if he was hiding something.

Intrigued, the old professor decided to investigate- perhaps there was something worth seeing.

With a soft incantation, he cast a spell, manifesting an ether eye on the room’s ceiling.

An angle that allowed him to observe Lucivar from behind, Upon peering through the eye, his breath caught-the back of the stick, wasn’t as plain as the front side.

It was an intricately carved serpent, its scales were so vivid and lifelike they seemed to shimmer and move.

A coiling serpent that was poised as if ready to strike at any moment.

Meeting the serpent’s emerald eyes, those two gems gleamed blindingly and following that, the old professor’s heart pounded as his spell broke-shattered by his sudden loss of focus because of the serpent’s eyes.

He was so shocked that his seat was pushed back from his twitch.

It made a heavy grazing sound, attracting the attention of the other professors.

“Is there a problem, Professor Aeldric?” Victor asked.

Another professor also added in concern, “You are sweating, should we take a break?” “Ah…

no, it’s okay,” Professor Aeldric assured with a light smile, he then turned ahead again and found Lucivar was also looking at him, intently.

At the sight of this, he reached-for the robe’s collar, feeling tightness there.

‘Should I tell the other professors-about this?

He was not a neutral alignment, that serpent could only be created by those of evil alignments’ Having an evil alignment bloodline is not a problem, but they would be monitored heavily.

Bad incidents happen when the bloodline takes over forcefully.

Due to that, those who have evil alignments bloodline would be kept under the radar.

‘It was incredibly detailed too, the ether was creating the backside-of that golden stick in harmony, making the serpent look alive.

Who is this kid?’ Professor Aeldric thought further, he became slightly wary of Lucivar.

Lucivar was far from ordinary, this boy from a slave city carried a hidden depth.

As Professor Aeldric was lost in thoughts, he refocused and saw Lucivar was already starting the next test, it was the ether reserve test.

He only needs to place his hand on a magical orb, and the orb will do the rest.

Unlike the chalice earlier, this orb scanned Lucivar’s ether before a robotic voice echoed.

“Second-star Neophyte Rank.

Ether reserve: D-grade” Just like the earlier result, Lucivar’s reserve was not anything spectacular.

He was slightly below normal, the normal Hybrid would have a C-grade ether reserve.

‘One more and I’m done,’ Lucivar thought, he could feel immense relief approaching him with one more test to go.

In all the tests he had done, he pulled back a lot to gain a meager result-he should be bad enough to not gain a spot and be thrown to the academy hunter.  Even then, he felt slightly uneasy with the way the old professor was looking at him.

But he shook his head, attributing it to a hallucination from his unease.

Lucvar stepped into the machine, a tight, metallic enclosure brimming with displays and also monitors on all sides.

The entry closed behind him, bars resembling claws locking into place, trapping him inside as soon as he turned around.

He could still see the professors through the gaps, observing him intently.

But the cramped space made his breathing shallow, he couldn’t even move his arms.

Rumble…!

With a low rumble, the machine activated.

This was no ordinary machine, it was designed to specifically measure the purity of Hybrids’ bloodline, something the previous white chalice test had failed to do accurately.

Lucivar was a little worried, his bloodline should be very pure since he has a heavenly rune carved on his Supernatural Ego’s first wing.

Since everything had gone smoothly, however, he trusted that Loki would help him again.

Just like earlier, Loki definitely would help him.

Swish!

Flashing lights whirred to life, scanning Lucivar, from every angle-the holographic readings began spinning around the exterior, and he watched the purity bar climb.

Fifty percent, then sixty percent, but then it kept rising.

Sweat broke out on his forehead, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

‘Come on, Loki.

I need to be low-key, I don’t need unnecessary attention!’ Lucivar pleaded.

Even with his plea, the percentage surged past seventy, then eighty, reaching ninety percent in a blink.

Panic held him as the bar neared one hundred, and the gaze the professors-were giving him began to shift in a direction he didn’t want.

Beep!  Beep!

Suddenly, warning beeps filled the air-error messages flashed red on every screen.

Before Lucivar could react, the machine malfunctioned.

Sparks flew, and the metal structure groaned.

Boom!!

In the next instant, the machine exploded, sending sharp shards-of steel, shooting in every direction, stabbing into the walls.

Silence fell over the test aula as he stood unharmed at the center of the wreckage.

Lucivar checked the aftermath stiffly before he turned towards the professors’ direction.

Each one of them was motionless, staring in disbelief at the destruction, and also at the kid from a slave city, who was supposed to be less than mediocre.

Scratching the back-of his head, he asked wryly, “So…

did I fail?” Moments later.

Despite trying to be seen-as untalented so that he would be put to the academy hunter category-Lucivar fails miserably at the last test, he curses himself, and also Loki for not aiding him in hiding his bloodline’s purity.

High bloodline purity means the Hybrid would have a lot of innate ability.

Learned abilities through spellbooks are very useful but in terms of compatibility and power, the learned abilities would always lose to innate abilities.

Because of that, Hybrids with high bloodline purity would always be preferred.

‘Would Tobias kick me out if I failed…?’ Lucivar pondered, messing up his hair in frustration.

He had decided to follow Tobias and grow stronger for now, and this incident was not good.

Not wanting to give up-Lucivar’s eyes flickered, with determination, ‘No, even if I am highly favored by the academy, I could still negotiate to be accepted as an academy hunter.

At this point, might as well make them favor me by showing off.

Hmm…

how do I do that?’ Deciding to do the opposite, Lucivar raised his gaze.

He was now standing in front of a building, it was a dorm for potential students.

After finishing his test, he was told-to go to this building, as the announcement, whether he would be accepted or not needed a day to be finalized.

Because of that, he would be staying in this building for a day.

Just like him, the others were also sent here.

But for all potential students to be told to stay a day in the academy, it was quite odd.

Lucivar looked around warily, ‘The academy has something in store for sure,’