Spirit Soul

Kyle couldn't help but feel a little bit astonished to hear the Head Council of the Academy giving him weird names.

"Masked Man…and Overlord of the Brawl?! What kind of glorified names are these?!"

Shaking his head, Kyle couldn't help but smile faintly.

He took a look at the young Lohar, and seeing that he was fine, Kyle once again averted his attention back to Merl Lion.

"So you've heard about me… I guess. Does that mean you would not dare to offend me and my team, because you can tell that the Queen will be furious if something were to happen to me?

Or is there a different reason for your non-discriminatory behavior, even though we knocked out this trash behind us?"

While ending his questions, Kyle pointed toward the unconscious nobles.

He didn't care what anyone thought about the way he had treated the nobility of the Lahin kingdom.

However, only those who respected others received his respect in return.

That being said, the six garbage bags aka nobles Kyle pointed at were not supposed to be respected by anyone.

Merl Lion noticed this quite quickly as the young man acted decently in front of him, while being a bit rash and blunt in front of the nobles.

He observed Kyle's behavior and body language intently, after which he averted his gaze to the women next to him.

Their feet pointed toward Kyle, while their body leaned toward him as well.

It might look like they were vigilant in the face of the Glory Knight academy's student council, but that was not actually the case.

This was something that interested Merl quite a bit.

However, instead of simply observing the group of three, he figured that it was time for him to say something.

"First of all, I do know who you are. That means I was also informed of what the Queen will receive from you. But that is not the reason for me to act like this.

I know the nobles behind you. They participated in the entrance exam even though that is not a prerequisite for them.

Our talent as owners of two activated cultivation veins is higher than the vast majority of Lohars that awaken only their Pryr cultivation vein.

Hence, even the least talented meet the requirement of the Glory Knight academy!

Unfortunately, it seems like the knowledge exam that was held not too long ago was not to the expectations of the nobles.

If I remember correctly we have only one participant, who aced the knowledge exam. This hasn't happened in ages.

So, I guess you can conclude what must have happened, right?"

It was quite obvious what Merl wanted to say, and Kyle simply nodded his head, while sighing deeply.

Yet, instead of showing any pity to the young Commoner, whose complexion was slowly getting better, Kyle glanced at Merl.

'He is avoiding answering my question, isn't he? Quite a smartass to speak about something he concluded just to show-off and make me interested in his comprehending ability.'

In the end, the answers to his question didn't really matter if Kyle were, to be honest.

It was more important that the tricky situation in this rather isolated place was solved.

As such, Kyle decided to change the topic as he knew that it would be pointless to demand punishment for the nobles.

Nothing good would come out of it, either way.

"I now know what had happened. Thanks for clearing my misunderstanding." Kyle thus said first before adding,

"By the way, we still need our Uniforms. The student at the front gate told us that we should come looking for you to find out more."

Upon hearing him, a few students behind Merl Lion looked at him slightly astonished, unaware of the fact that Kyle and the others had already enrolled at the Glory Knight academy.

'I thought that the members of the Special class were supposed to join the exams to assess their knowledge, strength, and so on to come up with a proper training plan.

Being too weak would mean their expulsion, but it's not like the royalty of the Anadra kingdom is untalented, to begin with…'

Confused about Kyle's statement, all of them turned their heads to look at Merl in unison as a subtle smile appeared on his face.

"The academy informed me about Alice's special order, so your uniforms are ready and waiting for the three of you. I hope the sizes are correct."

Throwing a glance towards Yasmine, he added,

"If you find issues with the fitting, or the uniform hinders you from opening your wings easily, you can tell any of the staff or the academy's council. We will help you at any time!

Ahh…but if possible leave out most of the academy's Instructors, even more so if they're nobles…"

Turning back his head to Kyle, he gave him a dry smile.

It was only obvious that the instructors had nothing to do with the Uniforms of their students.

But even then there was something wrong about the way Merl spoke about the instructors.

'He means we should not ask the Instructors who also happen to be nobles about anything, right? Is there something wrong with them?"

Kyle was not sure what Merl wanted to tell him, but he could tell that there was more to it than what meets the eye.

As such, he was confused, only to see that the young and injured Lohar flinched.

He was still unconscious, but Kyle had clearly perceived his movement out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing the young Lohar, who would soon regain his consciousness, Kyle recalled something that made him curious.

"I guess, the academy will allow him to continue with his exams once he regains his consciousness, right?!"

This seemingly simple question that Kyle asked caused many of the present Lohars to frown.

The grimace they revealed, clearly showed that something was wrong as even Merl had to think about what to do next.

Owing to this the surrounding turned awkwardly silent for a few seconds, in which a few students looked to their left in a nearly inconspicuous manner.

It was almost as if they were searching for someone, but didn't find them which made them  sigh deeply followed by Merl Lion who did the same before answering in a resolute voice,

"If he wakes up before his next exam is scheduled, he can sit for the exam. Otherwise, if he does not, he will be marked to have failed his next exam. There is no special exemption to anyone!"

The resolve in Merl's voice caused Kyle to lift his right eyebrow.

It felt weird to him, but without understanding the reason behind the behavior of the other students as well as Merl's, he could only take the spoken words at face value.

And this made him angry because it was simply not fair to fail someone, who was beaten up by nobles, just because he scored well in one of his exams!

"Ok, in that case, if I cut the garbage bags in half, and throw it in the trash can, I am abiding the laws of keeping the kingdom clean, right?" Kyle asked as his eyes turned ice-cold.

"Ah, and by saying 'no special exemption to anyone' you obviously speak about the nobility and so on, right?

After all, the six garbage bags, aka my comrades, and I don't have to sit for the tests either!!"

Kyle's sudden change in attitude took Merl Lion slightly off-guard.

Nevertheless, he was able to keep his calm as he smiled lightly.

"You are correct, but I am the one who oversees the tests, and that the rules are followed.

That means you can do everything you want with the nobles, even kill them. That is, if you can cope with the aftermath of unarmed, and unconscious nobles!"

Merl was simply smiling, but that was already enough for Kyle to feel like punching his face.

His opinion of the Head of the student council had decreased drastically, making him feel as if he was talking to a sociopath.

As such, his reason to ask about the youth's future exams slowly lost its meaning as Kyle had to figure out more about the mindset of the students that led the student council.

"So you are willing to throw away a genius for the sake of some rules? You do know that you aren't doing any big favor to your kingdom like this?"

Kyle felt that the reasoning of the student council's head was weird to put it simply.

If someone aced any kind of exam for the first time in ages, it should be an obvious task to nurture an individual like this.

After all, cultivation talent is not everything that accounts for the strength of a kingdom.

The advancement of the kingdom's technical knowledge, the improvement of the overall living conditions of his subjects, and so on are, at least, equally important, if not more important!

Of course, protecting it from the outside invaders while keeping the interiors of the kingdom safe was crucial, but so were other things.

Staring straight into the eyes of the Head of the student council, Kyle couldn't believe that he had thought so highly of the Lohar just a few moments earlier.

'I thought he was intelligent and could differentiate between the necessity of specific rules with what's the best for his entire race…'

He would have been lying if he were to say that he was not disappointed.

After all, the Head of the student council was the person with the most power over the other students, whether it was political or physical.

Thus, Kyle had hoped for the best, only to shake his head.

'Earlier he had concluded everything so easily. How can he be so different right now?' He thought in confusion.

But when he peered at Merl intently to find out if there was something he might have misinterpreted, Kyle noticed something.

Merl understood why Kyle felt so frustrated right now.

After all, he felt exactly the same.

Sighing deeply, Merl couldn't help but throw a slightly worried glance towards the back on his left without moving his head a lot.

This nearly inconspicuous movement was something that Kyle noticed as he subconsciously turned his head towards the direction Merl had glanced for a short moment.

There, Kyle could suddenly perceive the powerful hues of another noble, who had concealed himself from the sight of everyone.

However, this time, it was not a student, let alone a youth, whom Kyle spotted.

Instead, it was a powerhouse, an instructor of the Glory Knight academy, with a high cultivation talent.

His gaze was drawn towards him for a few seconds, only to return his attention back to Merl afterward.

There, he saw a faint, apologetic smile on Merl's face before he added,

"Even if he could possibly be a genius, we have to abide by the academy's rules!!"

While saying this with faked determination in his voice, he winked at Kyle.

This was the final clue he required to figure out that Merl had to behave like this in front of the instructor.

'Does that mean that the older generation is more traditional, rigid and tries to separate nobles from commoners, which is somewhat different for some Lohars of the younger generation?

Is that it?'

Kyle could clearly tell that the situation was becoming more and more confusing.

But even then, he was pretty sure that Merl's mindset was similar to his own, which was great to know.

'So I didn't misunderstand him before, alright…'

Letting out a relieved sigh, Kyle indirectly showed Merl that he had gotten a grasp of the situation at hand.

It was only obvious that he didn't know anything, but with time, Kyle was bound to understand what was going on within the academy!

While Merl understood that the young man got his unspoken message, Kyle was thinking about a way to help the young Lohar.

Even if the Lahin kingdom was not his race's land, it was still a waste to take away a young and intelligent youth's potential.

However, he couldn't think of a quick solution to the problem, as he heard a voice echoing through his ears that caused him to freeze in place.

"How about you join the Combat prowess exam. You can kill a few beasts, and help this little helpless youth a bit.

It looks like helping the helpless is something you really love to do, don't you, Kyle?"