Alex saw as the girl’s expression became brighter after seeing Eric, a big warm smile spread across her face as she cuddled Eric in her arms like a little baby.

"Eric, how have you been?!" She voiced out happily while hugging her little brother.

The surrounding students all turned to look at them but some of them were too sad to even care about the scene, they were more concerned about how they were going to explain their failure to their families.

Meanwhile, Eric and his sister hugged each other for a few seconds before finally pulling away.

"Hehe, I’ve been good. The university wasn’t as hard as you said, although I’m upset you didn’t come to see me as you promised." Eric said with a cheeky smile, acting like a spoiled brat.

"Fufufu, so sorry my love. I wanted to come earlier but was busy with something else. How about I bring you along with me to hunt magic beasts as an apology? I know you always wanted to fight magic beasts." The girl said with a smile, giving off a motherly aura.

"Hehe, I’ll accept your offer," Eric replied happily.

Alex just stood back and watched their interaction. After the siblings had finished catching up, Eric came and pulled Alex over.

"Come, let me introduce you to my big sister." He said while pulling Alex by the arm.

Alex followed behind Eric and they came in front of Eric’s sister.

"Alex, this is my big sis, Elena. Sis, this is my good brother, Alex." Eric introduced them excitedly.

Alex stared at the boy before moving his gaze towards Elena.

"Hello, nice to finally meet you. Eric has told me a lot about you." Alex said with a polite smile.

"Hmm, you seem like a nice kid. Since Eric calls you his big brother, you can call me big sister too." Elena said with a smile, she was slightly captivated by Alex’s handsome look but reminded herself that he was her little brother’s friend.

Alex smiled in response and didn’t say anything else.

"I see you’re also a Core rank mage, I hope you didn’t have any issues with the practical assessment. I heard that you guys had to face a mutated rank beast in pairs." Elena stared.

Before Alex could even respond, Eric jumped in and started exposing Alex. He told his sister how Alex was stronger than normal Core rank mages and that he had never beaten Alex in any of their sparring before.

He went on to talk about Alex’s element, his performance during the formation assessment, their fight against the steel-horned snake, and Alex’s ranking.

Alex "..."

This kid really loved to talk. Elena didn’t interrupt and listened patiently with an attentive look, she only spoke after Eric was finally done.

"Eric must really admire you a lot, thank you for looking after him. Please feel free to visit the Osworth mansion anytime, I’ll make sure to welcome you properly." She said to Alex.

"Sure, I’ll keep that in mind," Alex said while recalling his last visit to the Osworth mansion.

They talked for a bit more before Elena said it was time for them to leave.

"What will you be doing during these six months, are you going to go back to Balon City?" Eric asked Alex.

"I’m still thinking about that, I do have a few things to attend to first so I’ll be busy for a while," Alex replied and asked what Eric would be doing.

"I’m going to train and enter the Expert mage rank, then accept a lot of missions from the Union. It’ll be fun," the boy said, his eyes shining with anticipation.

"That’s good, just be careful out there," Alex replied with a soft smile, thinking it was a typical response from Eric.

"Don’t worry, I won’t be going alone. Anyways, make sure to contact me if you want to accept any missions and need help, bye for now." Eric waved while leaving with Elena.

"I will, bye." Alex stood there and waved back.

He didn’t leave until Eric and Elena disappeared from view. Feeling a bit emotional, Alex knew that he wasn’t going to contact Eric until they resumed six months from now.

He didn’t think there would be a need to.

"Now, let’s go claim the rewards first before thinking of what to do next," Alex mumbled before leaving the front of the building.

He went to look for Ellie so that she would help him collect his rewards.

Alex found Ellie some time later, she seemed to have been expecting him.

"I see you kept your first place, congratulations on getting full points," Ellie said with a smile as she packed up the files on her desk.

"You don’t look surprised that I did," Alex said, looking at Ellie with a gentle gaze.

"What’s there to be surprised about? It’s you after all, and stop looking at me like that, we’re in the university." Ellie said before shyly scolding Alex.

Alex chuckled but said nothing.

"You must be here for the rewards, wait here for a bit," Ellie said before leaving the office.

Alex sat in one of the chairs to wait and Ellie returned a few minutes later with a storage ring which she handed over to Alex.

Alex checked inside and found two grade 5 mana cores, ten million zen, and two grade 5 magic items.

"Sorry but the university has refused to let you go into the vault alone after what happened last time, I had to pick the magic items myself. Don’t blame them, they’re just being cautious." Ellie sighed apologetically.

"It’s fine, I don’t mind." Alex voiced out while keeping the storage ring.

"So what do you plan on doing next? You have six months before coming back for lectures, do you have anything in mind?" Ellie asked.

"I’m thinking of going back to Balon City for now. I’m already at the peak stage of the Core mage rank, these mana cores should be able to get me into the Expert mage rank before the six-month break runs out."

Alex paused, thought for a moment before adding. "Of course I’ll come back from time to time to see you, can’t just abandon you and go play around."

Ellie froze as her face turned red slightly.

"Okay, be sure to contact me if you need any help." She whispered softly.

Alex was stunned, Ellie didn’t scold him for teasing her like that; that was new.

They chatted for a bit more before Alex finally left the place and returned to his apartment. He didn’t waste much time there and left after changing out of his uniform, he equipped his mask and robe before using Void Walk to move to the Union Core Center building.

He arrived inside Maria’s office and stepped out of the white space. He saw that the office was empty, and Maria wasn’t here.

He searched the entire building with his Mage Sense but still couldn’t find her.

"Huh, where did she go?" He thought out loud before proceeding to look for someone else.

His senses quickly locked on the familiar presence, it was William whom Alex hadn’t interacted with much since he came to Brandvel City