"The boy's name is Agnus Whitestar, mine is Zackary Genzale," Jason spoke firmly, his eyes growing a shade colder as her expression faltered for nearly half a second, but far too long to escape his gaze.
She quickly put on her smile and typed away at the keyboard before reaching under the desk to pull out a key with a mana gem embedded into the middle. "Here's your room key, sir. Have a nice stay!"
Jason nodded with a smile and walked off with Agnus. As soon as they reached the elevator, Agnus spoke out, "As soon as you said my name, her expression changed for a quick second. Something came to her mind at the moment. Either my reputation or the other possibility." He did not need to say the other option, as Jason already knew, his freshly dyed blonde hair caressing his eyebrow. "They probably informed every hotel in the area to report to someone as soon as your name was brought up. They're going to want us under constant surveillance."
They were able to speak freely, as their words could easily be interpreted as him being watched due to his father's actions, not because of the truth. To them, they understood precisely each word they said. They both knew that, as if in this exact moment, they were being watched.
Jason underwent shapeshifting to completely alter his face and body stature to conceal his presence, as their enemies would be far too afraid to make a move with him accompanying Agnus. He was to disguise himself as a combat professor who was meant to begin his career, but was discreetly bought out by Ryan to let Jason take his place.
His plan was nearly perfect; As he let Zackary, the real professor, stay on a lavish island by himself, a couple of guards loyal to Ryan set watch. Civilization was simple; If you were good at something, you made a career of it. Not because you liked it, but because you needed to.
If someone offered you money to do nothing, anyone would take it. That's exactly what he did.
Ryan eliminated the possibility of anyone recognizing him in public when a perfect replica of himself was in the academy, teaching.
DING!
The elevator chimed as they reached their floor, and they hastily made way to their room.
Upon entering, Jason immediately noticed two minuscule cameras discreetly hidden in the corners of the room.
One in the bathroom, one in the main room itself. A small amount, but it perfectly covered the entirety of the place they'd be staying in until the Academy Preparatory Examinations, APE.
It covered two segments: Written and Physical.
The writing covered the intelligence segment. Their knowledge, and so on.
Physical was what mattered most; Their potential, combat IQ, and other things.
The Heretics didn't want geniuses; They wanted killing machines destined for blood.
There would be two tests, Physicality and Combat. Simple yet a perfect way to gauge someone's prowess.
The last one would be where everything changed; As it wasn't solely just an individual that mattered, but an entire dozen belonging to one team.
Leadership, cooperativeness, and smarts were needed as the last test wasn't the idea of killing the most beasts; it was about completing their objectives. War wasn't won with pure destruction; it was won through strategically claiming territory, killing high-importance figures, and among hundreds of other things.
Power wasn't to be held back in the academy; Ryan and Jason fully allowed Agnus to start climbing the ladder. Their idea was to draw the hidden forces out, and making Agnus stay stagnant was not a smart idea.
As of now, his combat prowess was not nearly strong enough to match up to the forces they'd have to fight, and he only did it as a preliminary measure to stop any attacks occurring before they were fully prepared.
But that phase was gone.
They were ready.
—
Night arrived, its calming dusk entrancing the planet of Marba to slumber.
The streets emptied, replaced by the silent whispers of wind that brushed past buildings. Jason and Agnus sat inside on their separate beds. Jason calmly lay down, his eyes staring at the ceiling as his mind was in a state of deep thought.
Agnus sat with his legs criss-crossed, eyes closed as he slowly worked on channeling his mana throughout his body with quicker speed.
His mastery over his mana skyrocketed in recent weeks as his body grew quickly, the prime of his puberty arriving. Agnus's birthday long passed, and he was now thirteen. The minimum age to partake in APE for the official Academy of the Heretics.
The max age you can apply was 16, and your official time at school ended the year you turned 18.
He would be competing against children with years of experience compared to him, and students who were already enrolled and received the training. Yet, it didn't make him waver.
Agnus knew he was stronger.
'None of them fought as I did.
They don't train as I do.'
His thoughts didn't even consider the fact that he would be weak, only the cold logic that he was accustomed to.
Ryan informed him of the examinations he would have to partake in, and the only one that he saw as an outside variable was the joint-examination, where he'd be placed in a team with his peers.
Losing didn't necessarily mean you were denied entrance into the Academy, only the possibility of it. That's why he planned to show a complete show of force in the physical exams to heighten his chances of being accepted.
Fighting other students was permitted in the last trial, and that would be his brief opportunity to shine in the case his team was weak.
He could lead a team, but not motivate them.
To himself, he was not fit to be a leader.
His lack of human emotion made him not fit some roles, and he knew that.
He didn't know how to fake courage, or any emotion for that matter.
The only things he was taught to do for his own sake were smile and change his tone of voice to seem interested. Just so he can make friends.
On the other hand, Agnus couldn't feel pain again, leaving him a physical shell.
'Do I want to feel that pain?
No.
I can't want.'
Only his intelligence decided what he wanted and needed. Emotion couldn't play a factor.
Liking was a form of expression of emotion, as much as it wasn't.
Liking a boardgame was a form of joy, as they had positive emotions to it.
For him, liking a weapon was only out of its usefulness. If something could help him survive a battle, he would get it.
'My only expressions of want and need are out of survival. I wonder what it's like to feel happy.'
Thoughts like this paraded on his mind every day, knotting his head in the mystery of emotion.
A concept so normal for humans, but so inexplicable for himself.