Chapter 99

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Chapter 99: Aesphyra’s [Breaking Shackles]

“Get away, get away! If you get any closer, I’ll really start to suspect you’re gay,” Winnie said, dodging further away with a look of disgust.

“Besides, the perfume I’m wearing is just some cheap stuff. You really like that? No taste at all.”

“Hehe, honestly, where else could I find such a perfect card-playing partner? There aren’t many girls who play cards, let alone those high-and-mighty noble ladies. They’d think it’s dirty just to touch a deck. If you’re willing to spend your life with me, it wouldn’t be so bad,” Fred said, his expression turning lecherous.

“Ugh! Get away from me. I’m not into men,” Winnie clicked his tongue and waved his hand.

“If you were a beautiful girl, maybe I’d consider it. But a guy? No way!”

“Tsk, tsk. Honestly, my biggest dream is to find a girl who shares my interests, whether she’s a commoner or a noble, as long as she’s decent-looking.”

“So you went through all that trouble to get into Carillian Academy just for that?” Winnie gave Fred a sidelong glance. “No ambition.”

“Then what would you call ambition? What are you here for?” Fred pouted and asked.

“Since we’re here, it’s obviously to find a way out. You’re just the second son of your family, so you’re not going to inherit anything. If you don’t prepare for your future now, what are you going to do later?” Winnie asked.

“Still, you’re the son of a viscount, so you’ll never have to worry about food or clothes. I’m different. I have to rely on myself for everything. If I didn’t get into this school, what would I do? Who would take care of me?”

“Ah, just for calling me ‘brother,’ I’ll help you out! If you ever run out of food, come to my family’s viscount estate and find me. As long as I have food, you won’t go hungry,” Fred said with conviction.

“Alright, alright, you said it. If I really have nowhere else to go, I’ll come to your place for a meal,” Winnie joked with a smile.

It was time to assign dorm rooms. A sharp-eyed female mentor with glasses broke up the new student groups, not by their nations, but by overall ranking.

The top five stood at the front, followed by the top fifty, then the top hundred.

As for those who didn’t make it into the top hundred, they naturally stood at the very back.

The academy wasn’t worried that this would make the lower-ranked students feel ashamed. In fact, this was precisely the effect they wanted.

Shame could lead to courage. If they didn’t keep the rankings in everyone’s face at all times, how else could they encourage the students to strive for improvement?

Students who were behind could catch up, and this also served as a constant reminder to those who were temporarily ahead not to slack off in their studies and efforts.

A little pressure could encourage competition.

Winnie’s overall score was decent, placing him at 23rd.

He felt that his cultural score must have dragged him down, otherwise he could have climbed a few more spots.

But it was what it was. He was just here for a diploma. His grades didn’t matter much; being in the middle was the best position. It wouldn’t cause him to fail due to low scores, nor would it attract too much attention.

Being low-key wasn’t so bad, right?

As for those times when he had to take advantage of the female leads, it was all out of necessity. Seeing their virtue points made his heart itch. Why not take it when it’s right there?

Besides, taking it would give him a huge boost, securing his future even more. What’s wrong with that?

As for Fred, his ranking was much lower. He wasn’t even in the top hundred; he might be in the bottom hundred.

Winnie glanced around but didn’t see Fred, which meant the gap between their rankings was significant.

Fred was well aware of this. Getting into Carillian Academy was already a stroke of luck for him.

Aiming any higher would be wishful thinking. His ceiling was pretty much set, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach it.

After all, magical aptitude was really all about talent.

Some students, despite being commoners, had three or even four stars in magical aptitude, making them true geniuses across the entire Terraria continent.

But then there were nobles with only one or two stars in magical aptitude. Where’s the justice in that? You could only blame your own fate.

The female mentor seemed to be in charge of all the dormitories. Under her guidance, the students entered their dormitory areas in batches.

Winnie was in the top fifty, so his dormitory area was second only to the top five’s manor villas. He could live in a small villa, but the downside was that he had to share it with one other person.

The top hundred had luxurious single rooms, which were much better than the regular single rooms.

Winnie received a set of keys to his villa. He opened the door and was delighted to see the clean, spotless, and luxurious living room inside.

This was something he had earned for himself, well, with a little help from Vanessa.

The environment here was far better than the dilapidated old courtyard back home. There was no comparison.

Soft velvet sofas with pillows, a living room with a kitchen and tea room, a second floor with a recreational card room and a study, and then the bedrooms for the two residents.

It seemed his future roommate hadn’t arrived yet.

After checking out his room and tossing his luggage inside, Winnie locked the door and left the villa.

The new students were all curious about their dorms, but the female mentor had instructed everyone to leave their luggage and come out quickly. They were to be taken to the Trial Hall for testing.

Winnie didn’t see his roommate on the way out. Maybe he had been too quick, and the other guy hadn’t even found his dorm yet.

He returned to the queue, and half an hour later, the new students regrouped and followed the female mentor to the Trial Hall.

Winnie remembered this part from the original story.

After all, this was one of Aesphyra’s show-off moments, so he had some impression of it.

In events like this, the protagonist always had to show off during the aptitude and talent tests.

How could the protagonist not stun everyone with their brilliance? Wasn’t that the protagonist’s passive ability?

With that in mind, Winnie’s gaze fell on Aesphyra, who was standing in the front row.

She had been surprisingly well-behaved the entire way, not even glancing at the pretty girls around her.

She kept her eyes forward, with a slight smile on her lips, making Winnie wonder if she had been possessed by something unclean.

Otherwise, how could she remain so indifferent amidst all these flowers?

The students arrived at the Trial Hall, adorned with gold and silver carvings.

In the center of the grand hall was a rotating magical crystal, radiating a dazzling light that illuminated theentire hall.

A group of mentors was already waiting there, seated in five rows on long benches.

In front of them were crystal orbs used to testelemental affinity: fire, water, earth, wind, thunder, ice, nature, darkness, and light, nine elements in total.

There was also a transparent, colorless crystal specifically for testing a student’s magical aptitude.

The Trial Hall was where students’ elemental affinities were tested. The mentors standing by would record each student’s data, including their magical aptitude.

When a student’s name was called, they would step forward and test each crystal orb one by one.

The spacious hall was large enough to accommodate five hundred people. The students lined up, waiting for their names to be called.

“Hey, Winnie, what’s your magical aptitude? I’ve never heard you mention it,” Fred asked curiously, standing in line with Winnie.

“What else could it be? One star,” Winnie glanced at Fred.

Everyone in the capital knew that Winnie, the young master of the Varelis family, had only one star in magical aptitude. It wasn’t a secret.

“You’re really something, managing to get into the top fifty of Carillian’s entrance exam with just a one-star aptitude. If you had a higher-star aptitude, you’d probably dominate,” Fred said, his eyebrows raised in a teasing manner, unlike the usual reactions people had when hearing about a one-star aptitude.

“I guess I should be glad your magical aptitude isn’t high, otherwise I might not have even made it past the entrance threshold.”

“Not at all, not at all. I’m just saying I passed the exam by pure luck.”

Fred chuckled at this but didn’t comment.

Life wasn’t full of such luck. If everyone could be so lucky, Carillian Academy’s prestige would have long since faded.

But since Winnie didn’t want to talk about it, Fred didn’t press further.

He wasn’t really interested in that. What he cared more about was tonight’s card game.

“Aesphyra Galactus,” Aesphyra’s name was the first to be called.

Winnie stopped talking with Fred and turned his gaze to Aesphyra’s back.

Here we go, the show’s about to start.

The annual blockbuster, “Aesphyra’s Show-off Chronicles,” is about to begin.

Give her one chance to show off, and she’ll blow up the crystal orb, shock all the mentors, and make all the students gasp in awe, causing global warming across the entire continent.

That’s right, she’s Carillian’s one and only cheat code, the last descendant of the ancient Carillian Empire, Aesphyra Carillian.

Aesphyra walked up to the first mentor, sat down, and placed her delicate hand on the colorless crystal orb.

While Aesphyra was testing her elemental affinity, the other students were also being tested, but everyone’s attention was mostly on Aesphyra.

After all, everyone wanted to see what this year’s top student was capable of.

Strands of golden light appeared, etching a golden pentagram on the crystal orb.

The dazzling golden light flashed, and when everyone’s vision cleared, they saw five stars on the crystal orb.

The entire hall fell silent. The noisy crowd quieted down, and even the mentors were astonished.

“Truly a remarkable young talent,” the mentor who tested Aesphyra stroked his beard and sighed.

“How long has it been since we’ve seen a five-star magical aptitude on the continent?”

The students whispered among themselves.

“No wonder she took the top spot. I thought it was just luck, but she actually has a five-star magical aptitude??”

“Really? Five stars?? I’ve never seen a crystal orb show five stars before??”

“That Aesphyra, she’s really just the daughter of a viscount? How come I’ve never heard of her before??”

Everyone was stunned, including the usually carefree Fred, who looked utterly shocked. Only Winnie stood with his hands in his pockets, completely calm.

These youngsters really hadn’t seen much of the world, getting scared so easily?

Don’t worry, there’s more to come.

After thanking the first mentor, Aesphyra sat down at the next table, in front of the fiery red crystal orb, and reached out her hand.

Here it comes, the main event.

Winnie silently covered his ears.

The crystal orb Aesphyra touched instantly filled with a deep red color, rapidly intensifying like the flames of a red lotus, blooming and burning in the silent night, illuminating the astonished faces of every student in the hall.

“Crack, crack, crack!…” Finally, the crystal orb couldn’t take it anymore and shattered.

The color could have deepened further, but this wasn’t Aesphyra’s limit, it was the crystal orb’s.

“This, this, this…” The mentor in front of the now completely blackened and shattered crystal orb was at a loss.

He had been in this line of work for many years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

The crystal orb broke? Impossible! These crystal orbs were the latest models, just replaced yesterday. How could they break after just one use??

The probability was too low.

Having such an incident right at the start of the semester wasn’t a good sign.

The mentor quickly replaced the crystal orb with a spare and had Aesphyra test again, but the result was the same. The crystal orb shattered in less than half the time.

This left everyone dumbfounded.

“No need to replace the crystal orb,” an elderly mentor who had been watching the entire scene waved his hand, his gaze fixed on Aesphyra, his eyes filled with awe.

“This student’s fire affinity is likely beyond what our man-made crystal orbs can measure.”

“What do you mean??”

“That’s right. Beyond the [Extraordinary] level, there’s another level of elemental affinity—[Breaking Shackles],” the elderly mentor took a deep breath.

“But, Master, that level of affinity is only mentioned in legends. No one knows if it actually exists.”

“No, it does exist! The ancient history of Carillian has records of it. The [Breaking Shackles]’s level of elemental affinity is indeed real, but it’s incredibly rare.”

“On the surface, it’s only one level above [Extraordinary], but in reality, it’s because our technology can only measure up to [Extraordinary]. Anything beyond that is simply categorized as [Breaking Shackles],” the elderly mentor added with excitement.

“In truth, no one knows exactly how much of a gap there is between [Extraordinary] and [Breaking Shackles].”

The elderly mentor looked at Aesphyra as if she were a priceless treasure, his eyes burning with fervor.

“Aesphyra, thank you for choosing our academy! You hold in your hands a treasure of limitless potential.”