Cloud Warrior Harga found a secluded spot near the station and sent down a simple mana construct in the shape of a ball.

It wasn’t long before Rudrean and Aelira sensed it and started making their way up from there.

[Isalyn: Don’t emerge right away. I want to see the state of the city first to see if they have implemented anything that can detect you two.]

’Alright.’

[Isalyn: Stay 500 meters below and create a mana eye. It’s one of the basic mana techniques for long-distance scouting. Our mana is already attuned to our senses, so we can use it as an extension of our senses. Send the mana eye outside and observe, so I will be able to observe it through you.]

Rudrean did as told and started looking around the city.

But just two seconds later, Isalyn immediately told him to deactivate the eye.

[Isalyn: It seems we’ll have to change the plan a bit. I knew they would do this.]

’What?’ Aelira asked.

[Isalyn: You two were injured, so your blood was on the ground, and since you were missing from your location, and you were the closest people to where I landed, they’d naturally assume I took you both and plan to use you to escape.]

’So we can’t deactivate Astral Veil after coming out, right?’

[Isalyn: Yes. But no worries. I’ll provide you with my mana when you are about to run out. Anyway, instead of sitting inside the ship, you’ll have to hang outside it.]

Rudrean and Aelira understood the shift in the plan.

Since it wasn’t possible to openly show themselves and officially get into the spaceship, they could only stay in Astral Veil and secretly get off the planet.

’Senior Harga, when is the next flight to this star system’s space station?’

[Harga: It’s in twenty-three minutes.]

’That’s good. We emerged out of the hole just now, but we can’t show ourselves just yet. We have to secretly get off the planet, so you get on the spaceship. We’ll get on it secretly as well.’

Cloud Warrior Harga was startled.

He didn’t sense anything or anyone, but they were already out?!

[Harga: How are you hidden so well?]

[Rudrean: It’s thanks to a spell.]

[Harga: I see. Alright, I’m departing.]

After five minutes, Harga sat down inside the ship while Rudrean and Aelira used Heavenfall Wind and sat on top of the ship.

The devices and powerhouses were scanning everything, but alas, they were completely hidden from their radars.

...

The ride back home felt long, but after half a day, they were finally back on Earth!

Cloud Warrior Harga came out of the ship and was about to contact Rudrean again when he suddenly saw two people appearing in front of him out of nowhere, startling him.

"You..." Cloud Warrior Harga wryly smiled. "What kind of spell is that? Making you hide so well."

"Well, it’s a five-star spell." Aelira grinned.

"F-five star?!" Cloud Warrior Harga was dumbfounded. "How did you even learn that kind of spell?"

"That..." Aelira turned to Rudrean.

"That’s a family secret." Rudrean smiled.

Cloud Warrior Harga’s eyes shone before he laughed. "Well, it doesn’t matter. All is good since you both are well. Today is the last day anyway, so we have to hurry. The pickup from Rainstar Institute of Adventurers will be here after fourteen hours."

[Isalyn: Oh?] 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Rainstar Institute?" Rudrean blinked.

Cloud Warrior Harga smiled. "Our academy is not good enough since we don’t even have resources to help students break through past the Foundation Stage. So, we all will be going to Rainstar Institute of Adventurers. Our headmaster worked hard for this deal."

"Twenty people from our academy can go there, and that includes seven branch heads, ten graduates, and three students from here."

"So who is the third person?" Aelira asked.

"Let’s go and find out. The selections are ongoing right now."

Soon, the three of them arrived at the arena ground of the academy.

Students were gathered, seniors who were called from other planets were also there, and the branch heads were acting as judges.

In the middle was a big fighting ring where students who had passed the earlier rounds were fighting.

Now, among the ten students, only one could get the spot.

"Aek... that bastard is here." Aelira made a disgusted face as she looked at a brown-haired guy.

"Renok?" Cloud Warrior Harga asked.

"Yeah, that’s his name." Aelira clenched her fists. "If that bastard dares to offend me or my darling with his antics, he’s going to get a solid beating."

Cloud Warrior Harga wryly smiled.

"Naturally." Rudrean nodded.

"You both haven’t shown yourselves to most of the students, and we’ve already notified everyone that two spots are already yours, so you’ll have to do a little performance to justify your spots."

"Well, that sounds fun." Aelira grinned. "And I have an idea for that. Two of us versus these ten strongest students of the academy. If they can make us move even half a step from our positions, it’s our loss. Sounds fair, right, darling?"

Cloud Warrior Harga: "..."

"I think it’s still unfair to them, but it will work." Rudrean nodded.

"Are you two serious?" Cloud Warrior Harga asked.

"Absolutely serious." Aelira smiled. "Don’t worry."

She was about to say they could even defeat all seven branch heads, but held herself back.

They had also trained a lot during the past five days with the personal guidance of a top Soul Tree expert.

Nobody here even had a 1-star spell or arcane martial art, while they had a bunch of 1-star and 2-star spells.

"But you two haven’t incorporated an Arcane Path yet, right? Those students all have their Arcane Paths already since we arranged for them to visit the nearest Exceed Shrine. None of them acquired a complete Arcane Path, so they are practicing one of the three Arcane Paths we have. You two can also choose one."

"Arcane Paths..." Rudrean muttered. Isalyn had told them all about it.

[Isalyn: No need to do that. You two must visit an Exceed Shrine and acquire a complete Arcane Path yourselves. You two can do it. If you pick one now, then it will be annoying to remove it and replace it with a new one.]

"Yes, but we will visit an Exceed Shrine and acquire our own Arcane Paths, Senior," Aelira replied with a grin. "Although Arcane Path gives quite a boost in parameters, they’ve just got it, so it’s not even that much, and we are simply way stronger than the students even without an Arcane Path, so they can’t gain an advantage over us."

"Well then, I am very eager to see that." Cloud Warrior Harga smiled. "The headmaster and other heads as well, since they’ve heard everything we are speaking here."

Rudrean and Aelira looked at the branch heads and the headmaster, and all of them timely looked at the duo with smiles.

Rudrean and Aelira awkwardly smiled.

’Glad I didn’t say we could beat them as well. We would actually lose against them since their Arcane Paths are more developed.’

[Isalyn: Duh, of course. These seven folks are at the peak of the Foundation Stage, though they don’t know the golden bones method, so you should tell them about it. Unfortunately, that old headmaster missed his chance, so he won’t be able to acquire a Golden Core in the Core Genesis Stage.]

’Alright. We’ll tell them about it.’ Rudrean nodded.

As the duels continued, the winner was finally decided.

It was a guy with a 6’4" height, a muscular body, and short, silky black hair. His name was Max.

Max was the most popular and most liked student because he was always training and lived a simple life away from the usual drama of students, helping everyone whenever possible, and spending not most, but all of his time either training, meditating, or helping others.

With the winner announced, one of the branch heads made an announcement about Rudrean and Aelira, officially introducing them to everyone.

"Now then, many of you were not convinced and complained, so we are going to have a team battle," Cloud Warrior Harga said. "It will be Rudrean and Aelira versus the ten finalists."

The students burst into an uproar.

Two versus ten?!

"Aelira!" Renok shouted, eyes furious as he saw Aelira and Rudrean standing with their hands held.

"You know your family married you to me?!"

Aelira’s eyes ignited with fury as Phoenix Flame burst out all over, rising hundreds of meters high like a pillar of flame, while her voice, laced with mana, boomed and drowned every other sound.

"You fucking moron! You dumb fucking asshole! I already TOLD YOU TO FUCK OFF WHEN WE MET LAST TIME! YOU BRAIN-DAMAGED AMOEBA!"

"SPEAK MY NAME AGAIN, AND I SWEAR ON MY DARLING’S LIFE I’LL BURN YOU TO DEATH RIGHT NOW AND GIVE JUSTICE TO ALL THE GIRLS YOU’VE RUINED!"

Pin-drop silence blanketed the venue.

Renok’s face turned red like a tomato, his ego burning with rage, before his heart began heaving as the humiliation properly settled in.

"HA... HOW DARE YOU, Y-YOU BITCH!" Renok screamed with bloodshot eyes!

And that was it.

Someone moved and appeared right in front of Renok.

It wasn’t Aelira.

"Apologize to her." Rudrean’s voice was low and so cold it doused Aelira’s fire pillar and softened her eyes.

"Apologize?" Renok sneered. "Why should I do that?"

Rudrean looked at him and felt like killing him.

"And who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?" Renok snorted, eyes malevolent. "As for her, I’ll take her no matter the means because I’ve already considered her mine."

Hearing those words, Rudrean felt his mind go blank.

His blood started rushing at a thousand miles per hour in an instant, his heart pumping with anger and irritation that assaulted every single cell in response to the words he heard.

The words that threatened to taint his love.

It was a snap in his mind, and his eyes flickered with flames briefly.

Before Rudrean even knew what happened and what he did, everyone saw a short-lived burst of flame in the place where Renok’s head was, turning it into ashes.

A moment later, the headless body of Renok fell to the ground with a thud.