"I refuse." Cole's words reverberated in the almost empty arena.
The old man squinted his eyes as he stared straight at Cole. His gaze carried an indomitable pressure.
Cole's knee buckled under the indomitable force emitted by the old man standing across from him, but his eyes remained unchanged.
The force emitted gradually increased, worsening Cole's previous wounds.
"That's not the right way to speak to your elders." The man said as he moved his gaze away.
As if following the man's eyes, the pressure totally vanished around Cole and instead landed on the senior student.
"Why are you still here? You failed." The old man said while looking at the senior.
Those words shocked Cole and the senior standing not too far away from him.
"Bb ... But I almost won." The student managed to blurt out.
"Tchh!" The old man sneered.
"This is your second strike; if you lose one more time, you will be forced to leave the academy." The old man said to the senior.
The senior student tried saying some words of refusal, but he was completely unable to speak under the immense pressure he was facing.
He could only turn his eyes towards Cole, staring at him with total disgust and annoyance—almost hate.
"Get out," the man said to the student before finally releasing the pressure.
The student rushed out of the room as fast as he could, taking a final, hateful glance at Cole.
"I will remember you," the student said just before he completely left the arena area.
Cole watched his reaction with a little bit of fear, fear of retaliation from the student.
"Did he cause this intentionally?" Cole thought while looking straight at the old man.
As if capable of reading his thoughts, the man responded with a sly smile while he stood up.
"Follow me to get registered," the man said as he headed back towards the entrance they came from.
At the entrance, the old man pointed at a stack of papers that could only be described as dust-coated, directing him to pick one and fill it out.
The form was quite similar to the previous one, the only difference being the absence of the star rank slot and other small things.
Cole soon filled up the form and handed it to the old man. The old man pointed at the corner of the room where a door that was previously unnoticed by Cole stood.
"Enter through there, pick up two uniforms and also an academy watch." The man ordered before turning to leave again.
Cole wasted no time, directly heading towards the door that was previously pointed to.
The room behind the door was different from the rest of the building; it wasn't too shabby and dusty like other places.
To his left, Cole saw royal blue uniforms that seemed to be made of really expensive silk neatly folded on racks.
The royal blue uniforms had silver edges, which further accentuated their beauty.
Cole carefully picked up one of the uniforms and kept it in a sack that was also provided in the room.
"They really prepared everything, uhhh," Cole thought while laughing.
To his right, another rack stood there, but this time a black sportswear-type of attire was hung there.
He picked one up and stored it in the bag he previously selected.
Finally, Cole laid his eyes on a glass cabinet; in it were special-looking watches that possessed an alluring black band.
"Beautiful," Cole marveled as he looked at the watches.
He opened the cabinet and gently picked up one of the watches; almost immediately he placed it on his wrist and switched it on.
The watch displayed the insignia of the Spiriters Academy before displaying a profile screen.
Cole inputted his information directly, and instantly, the watch displayed a set of information.
[Student Points]
[Ranking]
[Accommodation]
[Map]
Though nobody explicitly told Cole what he was to do, from the displayed screen he was able to grab some points.
"Really efficient." He muttered before proceeding to leave the room.
Back in the hall he once was, Cole looked around him, trying to find the old man, but he couldn't.
Having nothing else to do, Cole decided to leave the testing center with the sack that contained the most expensive things he had ever owned.
He left the testing center with light steps, having passed his 'entrance test' and finally getting the chance to acquire the strength he requires.
His short moment of happiness seems to further drive his determination to actually complete his goals.
After walking for about twenty minutes with his injured leg, Cole finally returned to a slightly buzzing region of the academy, away from the death-still of the test center.
He checked his academy watch, trying to know where his accommodation actually was.
After a bit of inexperienced fumbling, Cole finally got the information he needed.
He was allotted the "Flaming Sparrow Hostel," which was the typical hostel for most new students.
Cole was quite fascinated by the name, hurrying to check out its location on the provided map.
The map showed the hostel to be in a location called the Accommodations District.
The Academy seemed to be divided into multiple districts, each with its focus of provision. The popular districts are the Administration district, the Academical district, and the Accommodations district.
Knowing his destination, Cole headed towards his newly allotted hostel.
After about 15 more minutes of walking, Cole finally arrived at what he believed to be his destination.
It was a high-rise building like the others around it, divided into multiple floors, each with multiple rooms.
Checking his watch again, Cole got to know that his room was room 21 at the topmost floor.
After a bit of calculation, Cole realized he was actually allotted the last and furthest room in the hostel.
Without delay, Cole headed inside and began climbing a flight or stairs.
"Get away from me,"
"What are you doing?"
"Hey, hey."
Cole heard it from a distance away, moving closer to the source of the sound. He saw the number 21 written boldly on the door.
"I finally found it," Cole said happily before proceeding to open the door.
"Ohh shit," Cole cursed the moment he opened the door as a ball of flame was directly heading towards his face.