"Ok, that was the last one," Jack muttered to himself. Then he waved his hand at the crystal pillar, and a black light shone over it.
And the pillar was gone.
In reality, it had just been stored in Jack's space ring.
After all, the crystal pillar was an expensive item. The government took a full 6% tax for every child born in a family until he or she turned 14.
For orphans, there were special schemes—like deducting a certain amount of money from every item purchased or sold after their awakening.
Of course, there were also certain "good" orphanages that paid the tax, mostly the ones backed by great families.
Alex and Kael didn't belong to either of those. They were special students—their portion of money had already been paid by the school.
Everwind School was a government-associated institution. It was the only government school in the whole city, and also one of the best.
Almost every low- and middle-class family wanted their child to get a seat here. But it wasn't easy. If anything, it was brutally difficult to get in. The theory test alone cut half the children, and then 45% more were eliminated because of the insane practical test that measured their physical fitness and combat.
Alex and Kael were only able to get in because of their talent. It wasn't as if they received any benefit for being orphans. If anything, it was tougher for them, since they had to compete with people who had been trained from childhood for this.
The difficulty could be seen from the fact that, in the entire third year—with over 300 students—there were only five orphans. And each one of them was in Section A, which taught the best students in the whole school.
---
Below the platform, the students were no longer quiet.
They were now buzzing with newfound energy.
"What happened to you, bro?" Alex asked Kael. He was trying to figure out where everything had gone wrong—even though he could probably find out easily if he wanted.
But just look at his laziness.
"Th-that… well, I was busy with some important work," Kael said with a dark expression. He couldn't possibly admit that he'd been in the toilet the whole time—especially not to Alex.
His ass still hurt.
"Huh? Tha—" Alex frowned. He was about to ask again but was interrupted by Kael.
"Anyway, I haven't seen Aedric anywhere. Where is he?" Kael said, looking around and completely ignoring Alex.
Aedric Nocthar—one of the five orphans in the school, and also their roommate.
In fact, he was Alex's childhood friend and his best friend, along with Kael.
Well, Robert could be considered one too, but Alex would never say that directly. His friend circle wasn't very big, and he cared for each one of them.
It was just that Aedric and Kael were the dearest to him.
"He should be around," Alex replied. After all, he had seen him getting on the platform.
"HAHAH, so the potty king is out." Robert walked toward them with two other people and spoke in a loud, sarcastic voice.
"R-O-B-E-R-T, bastard! Just you wait, I will get my revenge!" Kael called Robert's name through gritted teeth.
"HAAHA, why are you angry at me? If anything, you should blame Alex. After all, it was him who put that weird thing in the water." Robert grinned.
Kael stiffened. He slowly turned to look at Alex with deep eyes.
"HEY! Don't blame me for what you did," Alex snapped sharply. But in the back of his mind, he was wondering how Robert knew he had done something.
"Mnn, you think I'm an idiot? I saw everything from the keyhole," Robert said.
Alex blinked. He finally understood a little about what had happened—but still, he couldn't figure out how Robert had gotten that fire talent.
Just as Alex was about to say something, from the two people who had come with Robert one stepped forward—a girl. The girl punched Robert hard in the gut, making him vomit a mouthful of saliva.
"Don't bully Alex just because he's simple and c-cute." She spoke in a harsh tone, though the last part was barely audible.
She was Alina Crest, with brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. She wore light makeup on her face and two earrings. Her school sweater was baggy, giving her a bit of a gyaru vibe.
"WAAHHA, Alina, what are you doing?! Robert! Robert, are you alive? Dude, answer me!" Corin shouted as he kneeled down, shaking Robert hard in panic.
He was the other person who had come with Robert—Corin Hallow, with spiky black hair and cat-like black eyes.
"C'mon, don't be sooo dramatic, dude." Alina shrugged, speaking as if she wasn't the one who had just punched Robert so hard.
At the side, both Alex and Kael felt cold chills seeing how cruelly Robert had been hit.
"Stop shaking me, idiot—you'll kill me before she does." Corin immediately released him, making Robert hit the ground.
"What the he—~cough~—heck? Why does it feel like your punch got a whole lot stronger?" Then Robert groaned, curled on the ground while pressing at his stomach.
"Oh! It must be because of my talent, 'Strong Arms'. Pretty cool, right, Alex?" At Robert's question, she cutely tapped her head and then turned to Alex with expectation in her eyes.
"Huh? Yaaa, cool." Alex looked at Robert with beads of sweat on his forehead and spoke in as neutral a tone as he could manage.
"What are you guys doing?" Suddenly, a low but cold voice came from behind them.
Turning around, they saw a beautiful girl with natural white hair and crystal-clear blue eyes, her flawless white skin glowing. Even without any makeup, she was breathtaking.
The surrounding noise also died down. The boys nearby blankly stared at her.
"Liliane Vaeremont, tch." Alina clicked her tongue the moment she saw her. She hated her.
Robert, who had been wailing in pain, immediately went quiet and quietly stood up straight—like Mount Tai.
"~Cough~ Miss Liliane, do you need my help?" he asked in a gentle and sweet tone.
Corin blankly stared at Robert. And he wasn't alone—Alina and Kael also looked at him as if they were seeing a rare creature.
Alex almost vomited; Robert speaking in a gentle, sweet voice sounded far too gay to him.