Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: International Exchange
[ding!]

A notification appeared on the bottom right of his desktop.

Sender: Dean.

“Ah, it must be what she was talking about when she said she would’ve sent further information to me afterward”

‘Let’s see what this is all about ‘ thought Hans while moving the mouse to open the mail.

There wasn’t anything worth noting in the email, since most of it was common knowledge, the only exception was the announcement of a meeting that would be held in a week’s time.

In the meantime, while Hans was already starting his training, a public message was sent to all the students of the association.

[dear students, we are sorry for the inconvenience, but under the request of most of the parents, the academy will be forced to shut down for the time being.

The site won’t open again until the start of the second semester, after summer vacation.

The parents have already been informed of this.

We all hope you will come back here once again when given the chance.]

They all felt bad at the thought of leaving the academy, some more than others.

Aiden and his good roommate Grant Sullivan watched their phones speechless.

‘No! Dann it, I want to stay here!

It’s fun, and being with Grant makes my days lighter.

If I were to return right now…’

The thought of returning to the boring repeating life routine he had in Chicago was already enough for him to not want to return home, and other than that, if he had to return without Hans then it would’ve been even worse.

In the meantime, Grant, just beside him, was also pretty shaken by the news.

‘No! I’ll have to return home, but since no one’s there Dad will definitely force me to accompany him on those annoying and dangerous journeys he always does.’

Tears almost dripped down his cheeks thinking about his last experience with his dad.

And then, a couple of seconds later, another notification arrived.

[for those of you who do not have the opportunity to return home at the moment, or prefer to continue your studies, you are all welcome to apply for the school exchange organized together with the Japanese Academy]

“This… the Japanese academy?”

While shocked, Aiden managed to contain his relief, contrary to the guy just beside him, who got on his knees and screamed:

“Yes!!! I won’t need to go home”

“Aiden, you’ll come to Japan with me, right?”

Begged by his friend, Aiden coincided, and promised he would go, but before doing anything else he would have asked Hans for advice.

[…all the students who would like to know more, are invited at three o’clock pm in the auditorium]

The next day…

The sun had already passed the apex of its path and had begun to lower towards the west when a big group of students could be seen gathering around the closed entrance of the auditorium.

When the arm on the clock hit the number 3, the doors unlocked, and the crowd of students invaded the place.

Most of the first rows of seats were almost instantly taken, and Aiden managed to find one of the last spots for him and Grant in the third row.

Aiden mainly attended two classes, first of all, the science class, which had been really beneficial for improving his alchemy skills during the past months, and then the physical education class, which allowed him to learn the basics of self-defense.

He didn’t excel in either of the two, but his grades in the written exams were always at the top of the leaderboards.

He recognized many of the students seated all around him, there were people from all courses, the ones from the physical class, the ones from the scientist class, and even those from his brother’s classes.

When they were all set, the dean walked on the stage.

“Good evening, the fact that so many of you are here must mean that the Japanese academy must be really appealing.

Anyway, we can not send more than sixty students because of our agreement with them, meaning that some of you must be listed out.

I would like to ask you this, If you are not sure about your choice then it would be kind for you to leave, and reserve the place for those who desire it more than you.”

After just a couple of minutes, nine students had already left.

“No one else? Alright”

She counted the students with the help of the occupied rows.

‘Four rows plus seven students for a total of…

63.

That’s still not enough, three of them will have to be cut off, I am sorry for them but the Japanese will definitely not be welcoming us rounding up the numbers’

“Three students will have to give up this chance, otherwise we will have to come up with an examination to decide which of you is not worth coming along”

Silence…

“Alright, it looks like you all have a competitive spirit, in that case…

We’ll decide who of you will be eligible to come based on your previous exams results.”

The students went mad after hearing this.

“Th-there’s no way that’s right, we haven’t even taken any exams yet”

Shouted a physical education class student.

“Yes you have” replied kindly the dean.

“Have you perhaps forgotten the exam about all the nutrients and training needed for the body?”

“That’s… That doesn’t count”

Said the students ashamed, remembering something that he was definitely not proud of:

The average score of the physical education class during that test was…

D-.

Many of his classmates had even received F’s, so if it wasn’t for some really bright students keeping up the average then it could’ve been even lower.

These results were obtained because none of them took the test seriously, thinking of how useless it was.

He had also taken an F and knew that there was nothing he could do now to raise it.

Other than the physical education students, only one other person was shocked by the news so much.

Claire… Had been petrified from the moment she heard that information, and beside her, Lila was trying her best to make her move again.

“Come on Claire, don’t be so down, there aren’t many participants to eliminate, I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you got D.”

This didn’t comfort her one bit, instead, she looked even more crazed as she started whispering to herself:

“D, D? D!!! How… am I supposed to get a D, I’m bad at math but I still know that if you make the average of all F’s the outcome won’t be different.”

‘I’m done! All my friends will go to Japan while I’ll have to stay at home with my father.

Rotting in my house while they have fun. It’s, it’s not fair!!!’

She almost started crying, covered by Lila who tried to reassure her that everything would’ve turned out fine.

In the end, the whole drama was useless, and three students who deemed their marks as not high enough to pass decided to give up, leaving the necessary space for all the other participants.

“Well now, get ready for everything and pack your things during the next eight days… because you all will be going to Japan with me.”

A round of exclamations broke out while she stepped down the stage, as the students celebrated the fact that the dean would’ve accompanied them.

“Woohoo!!”

“That’s crazy! We’re going with the dean!!!”

“Hell yes, I bet they’ll be so envious seeing how gorgeous our teachers and dean are”

“Hm hm,

I heard they have all old men and women as teachers”

“Hahaha, I bet they’ll want to change schools”

“Yeah, hahaha”

They all laughed at the jokes of their mates, but the dean was the only one who knew how things truly were.

She had been to all the Awakened Academies in the world, and she knew for a fact that the American one was still the smallest and the least famous, even if during the past weeks they had gained a lot of attention because of the attack.

The teachers in the Japanese academy were just as good as the American ones, if not better, and as for the dean… it was that monstrous man, that even she couldn’t help but look up to.

It was now time to complete the first part of her plan: setting up a seventh-tier barrier.

To do that, she would’ve had to call one of the only two experts capable of doing so.

He was extremely attached to material wealth, and his greed knew no bounds, nevertheless, he was always publicly recognized as a nice person and a righteous man.

Why was it? you ask.

It’s a very simple reply:

it’s cause he was fricking strong.

To employ someone like him, a couple of million wouldn’t have been enough, she needed something peculiar and unique, that still held extremely high value, now that the golden scales had been given away, she had to decide on something else.