The interior of the airship looked rather pleasing to the eye the moment the division successfully boarded it.
A classic style that almost every member was familiar with, making it much easier to adjust than they had originally anticipated. The overall space gave the area more breathing room for the division; some of them could even run around if they ever needed to.
"Overall, this is quite nice," Leo commented. "I would've thought this place would be as cramped as those trains."
"I guess not all semi-pures have many privileges after all," scoffed Ena. "Don't you guys have your own private airship?"
"We do. It was larger than an average one," Leo said smugly.
"Technically, it belongs to the Andreev household," Tatiana said, dulling his smug expression almost instantly.
"At least take my side for once," Leo mumbled, pouting.
Seeing his reaction, Tatiana couldn't help but feel exasperated. However, ignoring all their endless chatter, Theodor, who had stayed silent for the past hour or so, quietly made his way to slide open one of the compartment doors.
What presented itself was a basic lounge with a clean rectangular table and two comfortable seats that spanned from one wall to the other—filled with wine-red cushions. At the far end of the wall, there was a single window that gave the passengers a view of their trip.
He yawned before his eyes slowly twitched from exhaustion. In the end, he dragged himself to the far end of one seat and rested his head between his two arms.
Speaking of compartments, there were three in total within the area they had entered, each one next to the others on one side of the wall. For privacy, they installed walls to divide the compartments. It would be quite a hassle if there weren't.
Across from the compartments were four separate circular tables—each having four chairs surrounding it.
With nothing much to do, they all decided to take a seat within the compartment where Theodor rested. Fortunately, the compartment had enough room to fit all six members without issue. That was because the two seats had enough space to accommodate three people.
So, with that in mind, the division split into two groups once again—Leo was seated next to the siblings, while Haruo and the rest sat parallel to them.
Amidst their seating, a loud static noise echoed throughout the entire airship. The members who were about to converse quickly redirected their focus to that noise, and soon after, a familiar voice came out.
"Test… Test… One more time, test. Just a reminder, the airship will depart from the port in three minutes. Prepare until then."
After the static voice disappeared from their presence, their eyes darted back to one another.
"Anyway, now that we're here, how about we properly introduce ourselves?" Leo said in an enthusiastic tone.
Haruo slightly furrowed his brow. "You guys haven't introduced yourselves yet?"
"It would be boring if we left you out, so we decided not to do it yet. So, to pass the time, we fought," replied Leo.
Haruo didn't say a word; rather, he stared at the snake with an exasperated expression. For the first time, his hand wavered between scratching the back of his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.
What met his expression was an irritating smile that almost resembled Kilian's, causing both Ena and Haruo to frown slightly.
"Well, if you're just going to stay silent, then how about I go first?" Leo chuckled.
"My name's Leo Novikov, and my ability—I named it 'Lies within a Mist'—might be a little extra, but there's a reason for it. And as some of you already know, it contains four abilities: water, fire, enhancement, and my favorite, personally, illusions."
Isaac raised a hand before asking, "What's the reason?"
"Well, Isaac, it happened long ago—I was six years old—I happened to find this beautiful rock. And ever since that miracle encounter, I visited it every single day. However, on one peculiar, very misty day, I was about to visit the rock again when a giant snake-like dragon hatched from it. That same dragon granted me this ability, and there you have it!"
The entire division gave the snake a weird look as they took in his unbelievable story.
"Uhm… is that true?" Isaac asked.
His sudden explanation rather surprised them all; of course, a giant snake hatching from a rock wasn't impossible, but what shocked them the most was HOW he received his ability.
One always obtained all abilities from within oneself. However, being granted one was a near-impossible statement—if not impossible! That was the part that made every word he said unbelievable. That was surprising.
"No… he never told us this. Are you lying?"
In all their years together, from childhood to now—not once had he mentioned this story. Although he always had a strange attachment to serpents and dragons, going so far as to name each of his abilities after one was already obsessive enough. But now, his delusions seemed to reach a new peak.
"You believe me?"
Tatiana's eyes twitched slightly at his response; it wasn't long before her expression slowly fell as she stared at her seatmate. "Of course. What did I expect?" She mumbled.
Seeing as his seatmate slowly lost her glint, Leo coughed and placed his hand on her. Introducing her personally.
It was the least he could do.
"This is Tatiana. As you can guess, she's a semi-pure. She and I have known each other since childhood…" Before Leo could continue, a hand abruptly cut him off.
"I'm not mad. I can introduce myself," Tatiana said, glaring sharply at Leo, while the snake only chuckled. "For my ability, I can teleport within a certain radius, but it consumes a large amount of my stamina each time."
"Is it safe for you three to reveal your abilities to strangers you only met today?" Haruo asked.
"Don't worry, this is a mutual agreement. We'll be in this division for much longer than we anticipated, so it's better if we clear all the trivial information now," Tatiana said.
Leo coughed. "For Theodor, he's the same case as Tatiana. They're siblings… for his ability, I'm sure he'll explain himself soon." He said, staring at his peaceful face as he slept.
Isaac raised his hand steadily. "Then I guess it's my turn. I'm Isaac Lysander. Unlike you all, I'm a mixed-blood. And my ability lets me hasten an object's motion by two to five times, depending on how much stamina I'm ready to expend."
After his introduction, Haruo coughed twice, preparing himself to speak.
Witnessing his gesture, Leo hastily spoke. "Oh no, not you."
"…?"
Haruo wanted to ask why, but it seemed like he didn't need to after hearing Leo's next words.
"All of us already know you."
Despite hearing those words, he tried to introduce himself, but ultimately decided to only nod in acknowledgement. So with his gesture, all eyes slowly darted to the last semi-pure at the table, who was minding her own business, watching the scenery through the glass window.
The piercing stares of the division members drilled into her head like a knife.
With a few irritated breaths, she spoke, "Ena, blood manipulation, 19. Is this really necessary? We already know each other."
"Is there ever a day when you don't complain?" Tatiana sighed.
"That's it? No cheesy ability name?" Leo remarked. "Well, if I think about it, you don't seem like the person to care about that anyway."
Ena rolled her eyes at their negative comments before finally setting her attention straight. A quiet smirk slowly appeared on her irritated face.
"I don't care about that. What I want to know is everyone's ability rank?"
Without missing a beat, everyone slowly became tense at the question. It wasn't an insensitive topic, but an awkward one. Unlike before, when they were in a test, the officials censored their ability rank and details as soon as they left the testing space.
It was very private information—especially for semi-pures.
"Oh, come on, what's the problem? You guys already spoiled your ability details anyway." Ena added.
The division stared at one another as reluctance slowly built within them, unable to let go of their sense of security. However, among them was one who was completely thrilled—and appeared excited at her suggestion.
That same person laughed, his smile nearly reaching his eyes.
"Let's do it!" Leo exclaimed. "It's not like she's wrong."
"Fine, I'll go first," Leo pouted. However, before he could say the words, a painful nudge met his side. It belonged to Tatiana, who had an expression of skepticism painted all over.
She leaned closer to the snake, then whispered something under her breath. "Are you crazy?! We just met them! Isn't explaining what our abilities are enough?"
"Relax, it's not like we're the only ones who'll reveal their rank." Leo hurriedly dismissed her, paying no mind to her warning.
"B class," Theodor said, with his head still facing the table.
Theodor had beaten Leo to it. Likewise, his sudden initiation instantly dissolved the whispering banter of the two semi-pure beside him with only two words. Finished with what he needed to say, he yawned in front of the division before returning his head to its rightful spot—under his folded arms.
Taking advantage of the pause, Leo's eyes showed a glint that Tatiana had yet to notice.
"Mine's SS class," Leo chuckled.
"…!"
"…!"
This was an unexpected outcome.
There was another semi-pure who wielded an SS-rank ability aside from Ena. Not just wielding it, but within the same circle as both of them.
Not only were Haruo and Ena surprised, but Isaac was as well. Then again, who wouldn't be surprised by this sudden surprise? SS-rank as an initial awakening was a miracle that could only be seen in fables and novels, and now, there were two of them seated at the same table.
Ena and Leo.
"So what? You're not the only one," Ena replied.
"Hayst… You shouldn't lie just because someone outdid you, Ena. Spite is an unhealthy thing." Leo shook his head with each word.
Leo kept his head down as he shook his head. It seemed the snake was rather reluctant to believe what Ena had spoken. Ena wanted to rebuke, but other than Haruo, the rest of the division's expressions resembled Leo's.
No one believed the troublemaker.
"It's true."
Ena was about to say, but someone had beaten her to it. The only person who knew the truth—Haruo.
"I worked for her once. I've seen her documents—and currently have them on my mana storage—so what she said is true."
The whole table went silent as they stared at Ena.
Had it been any other mouth to say those words, then none of the Division would have believed her. After all, the one who proclaimed she had an initial ability of that caliber was the division's main troublemaker.
"Seriously? Isn't that way too good for someone like you?" Leo asked, flabbergasted.
"You shouldn't be the one talking," Tatiana said.
"Ahem… I guess I'll tell mine." Isaac raised his hand. "Mine is S-rank."
Haruo instinctively placed his hand on his forehead as he soon realized his situation. Silently, he cursed Kilian internally.
'Does he want to kill us all? The given value of these four semi-pures already surpassed an average division, but if we account for these two, wouldn't we already be in danger? But now, there's also Isaac.'
It was a death flag in Haruo's terms.
While Haruo internalizes potential threats to the current line-up, Tatiana sighed and gave in to their request. "A-class."
Now, only Haruo was left.
Sensing their gazes, Haruo didn't bother to look up and continued his contemplation before saying.
"F-class."
"WHAT?!" the division exclaimed in unison.
Even Theodor, who had his head lowered since they entered the compartment, couldn't help but spring up and stare at Haruo in disbelief.
"You have to be joking; there's no way you're F-class!" Leo exclaimed.
Leo swiftly drifted his gaze toward Ena for confirmation, but even she was flabbergasted. He tried to analyze his words, but he sensed no lie whatsoever. Whatever Haruo had said turned out to be true…
***
Back in the Marion Kingdom, a figure sat in the middle of a study, carefully drinking tea. The room was barely lit, with only the light filtering through the covered curtains throughout the entire study.
As he was about to take a sip, his eyes smoothly glided towards the door at the edge of the room.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The creaking sound of the door opening made Kilian smile as he saw the person who entered.
"Is it really necessary for you to knock these days?" Kilian smirked.
The dim atmosphere of the study welcomed Kim Su-nae, with Kilian's silhouette smiling at her. Unable to stand the sight, she snapped her fingers, and simultaneously, the curtains sprang open, letting light into the room.
"Are you nocturnal? Didn't I say I hate these types of rooms?"
"Haha, I just like it," Kilian replied. "It's quite comfortable. I'm surprised you haven't gotten used to it yet."
Su-nae sighed. She carefully traced her steps and guided herself to sit on the couch. Almost immediately, a floating kettle appeared and prepared a cup of tea for the guest.
"The Junalia flower, really? That's the best excuse you have?" Su-nae asked. "It's a common product everyone had access to. You know, manifestation failure is a common disease, right?"
Kilian laughed before taking a sip. "I'm not dumb; that sloppy excuse is only to entice the other members."
"You seem to be in a good mood."
"Of course, not only did Seiji's disciple come to me, but we also made a contract. A good deal always brings a smile to my face." Kilian swirled his tea.
Su-nae stared at the man as he sipped his tea one more time before turning her head forward to see that same silhouette across from her. "It's worth celebrating just that."
Clink!
He placed his tea on the table before crossing his legs.
"There's no need for them to do this. It's better to start now than to send them away. Multiple echelons are participating this time." Su-nae reminded.
"Hey, hey, you shouldn't take a kid's growth," Kilian said.
"This is absolutely necessary…"