The moment Verso stepped into the headmaster's office, a chill crawled across his skin.
The room was icy cold.
The moment he breathed, the freezing air made his entire body shiver, and when he exhaled a faint mist escaped from his mouth.
Verso wasn't exactly surprised by this sudden change in atmosphere as this was not his first time in the Headmaster's office.
'I still can't get used to this.'
But despite being here multiple times before, the cold was somehow able to catch him off guard every single time.
He looked around in the large office, the walls were mostly empty except for a few shelves filled with files and books, but the lack of decoration somehow only made the place feel colder.
'She really should decorate this place, no wonder people hate to visit her office.'
Verso stepped forward slowly.
His footsteps echoed faintly across the marble floor as the sound seemed louder than usual in this hollow space.
'But her talent truly is really insane…' Verso thought to himself as he walked forward.
Upon awakening, every summoner received a talent.
Some talents increased a person's compatibility with certain type of summons. These summoners were able to increase the strength of their summon if they matched their talent type.
Other talents enhanced combat ability directly by sometimes improving the person's strength or giving them offensive abilities.
While some talents could even allow the person to borrow some of their summons strength in battles.
Although almost all of these talents were considered valuable, there were some talents that defied expectations completely. Talents that affected the environment and shaped the battlefield itself.
The headmaster's talent was one of those.
Verso walked forward slowly, his gaze settling toward the center of the room where a large desk sat near the far end and behind it sat a woman.
She sat quietly, focused on paperwork spread neatly across the table. The pen moved smoothly in her hand as she wrote something inside a thick leather book.
Verso's gaze lingered on her for a moment.
She looked very young to be the headmaster, no older than twenty year old.
Her white hair fell neatly across her shoulders, smooth and flawless. Her pale skin paired with her icy blue eyes gave her an ethereal appearance. It was as if she had been crafted from ice itself.
But Verso knew better.
'She doesn't look her age at all.'
Headmaster Alicia was more than forty years old and her youthful appearance was simply a result of her strength.
Verso stopped a few steps away from her desk as he tried to not interrupt.
Just then he heard something.
GRRR…
A deep growl echoed through the room hearing which Verso suddenly became stiffer than a rock.
The sound was not exactly loud but it sounded very dangerous, instinctively making Verso freeze at the spot.
He slowly shifted his gaze.
Something massive sat behind Headmaster Alicia. It looked like a large white wolf but it head two heads instead of one.
The creature was enormous. Its fur was pure white, almost blending into the cold atmosphere of the room making it hard to notice.
One of the wolf's head was rested lazily on the floor, while the other stared directly at Verso.
Its eyes were sharp, looking at him as if he was a prey. The wolf bared its teeth slightly as cold air escaped its mouth.
Seeing this Verso's muscles stiffened as he realized that he could not just sit there doing nothing, he slightly turned towards the Headmaster.
"…Hmm, Headmaster Alicia?" Verso spoke carefully.
Alicia's fingers paused as the pen she was hold was pulled back slightly from the book.
"Huh?"
She looked up and looking at Verso's stiff posture, she quickly understood what had happened and she turned toward the wolf.
"Fenrir, I told you if you do this one more time I won't hesitate to put you up for sale."
She had a small smile as she said those words calmly, it was almost as if she was talking to a cat.
Hearing her, the wolf's aggressive head immediately stopped growling as its expression shifted. The hostility in the air completely disappeared.
Verso was looking straight at the wolf and for a moment the wolf gave him a look that felt like a warning before it turned away.
Moments later, both heads rested on the floor as the wolf quietly pretended to sleep.
'What the fuck does that even mean?' Verso blinked confused.
Alicia turned back toward him.
"Finally! You took your sweet time getting here."
Verso straightened slightly.
'There is no way she did not notice me standing in front of her all this time.' He thought as Alicia was no normal awakened.
"Just stand there and give me a minute to finish this work up." She lowered her gaze again as scratching sound of her pen filled the room.
Verso quietly nodded and stood in front of her doing nothing.
Although Alicia looked pretty easygoing, he knew that it would take her no more than a flick of her hand to end his life.
'Snow Queen…' Verso thought silently.
People had given her a title based on her publicly known Talent.
Not only did this talent of hers granted her superior synergy with ice based summons. But it also allowed her to manipulate the element of ice.
This was exactly why she was able to become one of the few Rankers in Meridian City.
Verso silently straightened his posture as the room fell completely quiet. The only sounds present were the faint scratching of Alicia's pen and the breathing of the sleeping wolf.
After a few seconds passed Alicia placed her pen down and closed the book.
"Okay," she said casually. "Let's get your awakening done with."
Verso's attention quickly sharpened as he nodded slightly.
Right as Alicia said that Verso noticed something moving from the shelf behind her.
An orb slowly floated into the air as Verso's eyes followed it. The orb drifted slowly as if guided by invisible hands before settling gently on the desk.
'So this is the crystal orb.' Verso looked at it carefully.
Alicia leaned back slightly.
"I think it is my duty to let you know… I was very against your awakening."
'As expected…'
Verso was not surprised by this confession as he knew how calculative Alicia was. She had probably measured the pros and cons of awakening a non noble and realized that this was probably not worth it.
"But Kolden would not stop bothering me about it." Alicia continued calmly.
Learning that his theory that Kolden had stood up for him made him feel warm as after losing his parents, there weren't many people who truly looked out for him.
"He kept saying that even if you don't have any potential, you would still be a commendable summoner nonetheless."
"And looking at your school ranking, it isn't a far fetched assumption." Alicia glanced at him briefly.
'That explains why she accepted my request.' Verso smiled slightly.
He bowed his head.
"I will make sure not to disappoint, Headmaster Alicia."
She waved her hand dismissively before gesturing towards the orb.
"Okay, okay. No need to waste more time, come forward and place your hand on the crystal."