"Oh, I reached the final summit." Arthur blurted out without thinking, concluding that there was no need to lie or act like he had lost his memory for any part of this question.
"Or at least I think I did? The eight summit is the fi-" Arthur abruptly cut himself off, raising his head to take in the expressions around him.
He could at least understand the shock on his siblings' faces, but the Principal had completely frozen, staying entirely motionless.
"Uh.... Is there a problem?" Arthur asked carefully, simultaneously searching his memories for any detail he could find about awakening.
The next voice belonged to the designated bully, Terria. Her cold tone made Arthur shiver, having unconsciously avoided her stare.
"Arthur?"
"Yes, Lady Terria!" Arthur stiffened, responding a bit too loudly, which only frustrated him. "Dammit, I'm a grown man; how can I be this afraid?"
"You better not be messing around; this isn't the time for one of your jokes," Terria said seriously as her stare stayed on Arthur's lowered head.
"Who would joke in this situation? If I'm missing something... you tell me." His response was quite different from his thoughts:
"I'm not joking; I'm sure it was the eighth summit."
"Arthur? Can you summon your authority information and tell me what you see?" This time it was the Principal's voice.
"Authority information?" Arthur asked, confused. Such a concept wasn't common knowledge for non-transcendents with no connection to the mysterious Tower of Authority, and as a newly awakened transcendent, he was still lacking the necessary foundation.
"Yes, Kiddo. Just focus on visualizing your authority within your mind and tell us what you see." Telmear spoke in his gruff voice; among the Transcendents before him, he was the only one wearing a smile on his face.
Probably as a way to calm Arthur's tense nerves, but with his seven-foot-five-inch hulking giant body towering over him with a wide smile, it was more intimidating than calming.
Scoff.
The Principal waved Telmear away before turning back to Arthur with a softer explanation. "Child, close your eyes. I'll walk you through the process.
Arthur followed the Principal's words without question, pushing out every stray thought he had in mind as the Principal's voice followed like a gentle grandpa.
"First, there are a lot of changes in your body after awakening, and you can slowly learn about them, but this time focus on your core"
"Sounds like the puberty talk.." Arthur felt it: the pulses of violet aura bleeding slowly from his tiny core, which seemed a lot more mysterious than the last time he saw it. Following the Principal's words, he pushed his senses closer to his core.
As he drew near, the sight of the glyphs densely covering his core became obvious, intricately engraved as if they were a single, seamless whole.
"Do you see it?" The Principal's voice came, snapping his focus back in place. "-Do you see the glyphs around your core?"
"Yes, Principal, I can..."
"So they're called glyphs," Arthur replied with his eyes still closed, carefully keeping his distance to ensure his awareness didn't brush against the markings. Read the latest chapters at novelping dot com.
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The memory of his last brain-splitting migraine was not an experience he cared to repeat.
"Okay now, all you need to do is extend your senses onto your core and open your eyes."
"Huh..." Arthur blurted out involuntarily as soon as he heard the Principal's next words.
"All you nee-" The principal assumed that Arthur didn't get him and was about to repeat his words.
"Um... no, sir. I mean, is it safe to do that?" Arthur asked uncertainly, without opening his eyes.
The experience was still fresh in his memory, as it was just a few hours ago. Just a few seconds of diving into the world behind those glyphs left his mind reeling from the sheer drain, and as much as he felt like it was fine to listen to the more knowledgeable Principal.
He was sure that there wasn't much that had changed in the last few hours to make him confident in approaching that world again.
"Why not? It's okay. All you just need to do is reach for your authority glyph, and the details of your authority will be reflected in your eyes." The caution Arthur just displayed was unusual, but the Principal brushed it off as nothing; his mind was still focused on the fact that Arthur claimed to have reached the Eighth summit.
"Don't tell me they know nothing about the world within the Glyphs.... I hope this Smokey isn't acting ignorant intentionally and hoping I turn brain dead." Arthur clenched his teeth, hoping to make it through this without the pain, but if he was hit with the same pain, he was prepared to withdraw his senses immediately.
Arthur asked one more time to get the facts right. "All I need to do is reach into the glyphs, right?"
"After I do, I can open my eyes?"
The Principal nodded, following with a hum of approval. Arthur was decisive and quick. He quickly dived closer, extending his senses into the glyphs on his pea-sized core.
With the closer view, it was impossible to imagine the precision it took to engrave detailed three-dimensional glyphs onto a cramped surface like his aura core.
Boom!
The instant his senses connected to his glyphs, it was like an explosion of information within his mind, but this time there was no pulling into the space where those glyphs existed.
The information about his authority, unlike the last time he tried, when brushing against the glyphs, gave him insights into details that existed within the crevices of his authority.
The knowledge was generalized, almost like it was compressed into a few details in his mind.
Opening his eyes slowly, he caught sight of a few lines of information in his vision.
[Divine authority: Genesis resonance]
[Soul authority: Soul Furnace]
[Authority Path: Divine]
"Do you see it?" The principal's curiosity could be felt from his tone. "-Go on.... You can read it out."
The moment he saw Arthur's unfocused expression, he understood that he was successful in summoning his authority information.
"Um... It says Divine auth-"
"Okay... okay, kiddo, that's enough." Telmear suddenly spoke after hearing Arthur's first words. There was no longer any doubt about it.
The youngest cross did the impossible; forget about passing the mission he was given, he went above and beyond.
Telmear could feel the Principal's angry gaze turn in his direction the instant he cut off Arthur's words, but still he didn't react; instead kept smiling at his sibling while roughing up his white hair, which had several dirt stains from his time getting his ass handed to him.
"Kid, you-" The Principal was gonna ask a few more questions, but seeing the look that both Telmear and Terria were giving him, he had to take a step back.
If they were from a low-ranked Transcendent Family, he would have been able to exercise Rank to gain more information about the summits beyond the Sixth summit.
But he had to consider the entirety of the Cross estate before acting against any of them.
Overpowering Telmear and Terria in exchange for gaining valuable knowledge like this was gonna be a piece of cake as long as he came with his main body, but if this news found its way to the head of the Cross estate.
He would need to escape to another plane for a few decades, and even then, there was no telling if he would be able to escape the wrath of the Cross Estate.
"Principal, I'm sorry, but the youngest has just been summoned back to the estate," Telmear spoke carefully, trying to avoid provoking the Principal when his True body was so close.
Hmph
"You selfish Cross goons.,,,,, Do you know how beneficial the information you're trying to conceal would be to the entire Transcendent world?" For the first time since Telmear came to the academy, he heard a trace of anger within the Principal's tone.
Of course, he knew how beneficial it was. Taking a glance at the clueless Arthur, he decided to bring up the only person who could make the Principal hesitate.
"Sir, you know my situation. This decision isn't mine to make. The family head-" Telmear couldn't complete his words as he heard the Principal click his tongue in annoyance.
"Tsk, tsk... You know, if I wanted to act, your mother wouldn't stop me."
"Of course, Principal." Telmear immediately agreed to avoid provoking the Principal with a faint smile that still exuded some degree of vigilance.
Suddenly remembering something, Terria, who had been silent, asked a question of the already fuming Principal. "Principal? You said that you sent what you discovered in my Tower to your True body... Have there been any findings?