12 Zeneda

I let out a sneeze.

Fuck, someone must be talking about me.

My alter ego let out a laugh.

(EA) Hahaha, like anyone would want to talk about you.

Shut up book lover.

(EA) I ALREADY SAID THAT I'M NOT A BIBLIOPHILE

I'm sorry, I meant children's book lover.

(EA) …

Pedophilic Bibliophile.

(EA) FUCK YOU! YOU'RE THE BIBLIOPHILE!

Hahaha, I am a bibliophile but I'm not a pedo bibliophile.

I grinned as screaming exploded in my mind.

"Why are you grinning?"

"Nothing."

I glanced at the city before me.

"Damn, this is one hell of a city."

The buildings were tall and majestic, looming over us like titans of the old. There were intricate sky bridges and masses of hovering vehicles in the air. All of these added to the image of a high tech science fiction story. Best way to describe it would be New York three hundred years into the future.

Suddenly a big gust of wind blew threatening to sweep me off my feet. I quickly glanced around and barely caught a glimpse of a flying humanoid. I glared at Zilon.

"People can fly?"

Zilon rolled his eyes.

"Well he probably mastered the wind element, which allows him to fly."

"So people can fly."

Zilon gave me an exasperated look.

"Yes."

I tilted my head towards the hover cars.

"Then why the hell do you need flying vehicles?"

Zilon narrowed his eyes in frustration.

"I keep on forgetting how clueless this group is. Ok let me start from the beginning. I mentioned awakening before, right?"

We nodded our heads.

"Ok, so what I think you guys don't understand is that about half of the population never awaken and Even when they do, they get useless abilities or no affinities. They don't have the ability to get stronger thus they improve technology, hence the flying cars. Also flying costs mana, so unless you have a big enough mana capacity, you still chose the hover cars."

I tilted my head to the side.

"So you are saying that some people are born with no talent."

"Yes."

"I have one more question."

"What."

"How strong is the person who just passed us compared to you."

Zilon pondered for a bit before answering.

"If I'm not mistaken, the person who just passed us was an early rank 4 wind mage so theoretically he should be weaker than me."

I sighed seeing the idiotic lady killer never learning his lesson.

"Zilon, how many times do we have to ask you before you remember that we don't know a thing about this place."

Zilon looked like he had an epiphany.

"Oh right, if you didn't know what an awakening was, then of course you don't know ranks! How careless of me. Let me explain it from the beginning."

Dude, if I hear "from the beginning" one more time, I will actually kill myself.

How can you endure it? I'm already beginning to wither inside.

Zilon puffed out his chest.

"Ranks are what we use to determine how powerful an individual is. For an instance-"

Zilon lit a tiny flame. "This would be rank 1 power.

The flame danced on his palms playfully.

"Next is rank 2, rank 2's are about twice as strong."

The flame morphed from a playful flame into a scorching blaze. While it was the same size, it looked a lot hotter.

"Rank 3 is, once again, twice as strong."

The blaze transformed into a raging wildfire.

"And at rank 4, the power difference is two times that of rank 3."

The wildfire condensed into a miniature inferno in his hands. By know most of us were struggling to keep still.

"And this is my level, Rank 5."

A miniature model of the burning sun above us started to wobble in his hands. Although I couldn't feel heat coming from the ball, my instinct screamed danger.

At the same time, I felt a desire.

Something inside of me seemed to break as I started to see fuzzy particles once more. But this time it was different. What I saw, wasn't soft red colored snowflakes as before, but an intense molten glare.

The more I stared at it, the clearer it got. Right before I felt the desire to be uncontainable, I saw, no felt a different color of particles blasting my way.

The two colors clashed, sending off an explosion of red and blue. I felt a snap and a sense of dissatisfaction, as if I had lost a grip to something important. With the feelings came the pain, piercing through my eye. I closed my eyes and gritted in pain, staggering to the ground while clenching my left eye in pain. Fortunately, everyone else was too focused on the mini explosion of steam to notice my pain.

As quick as it was to arrive, it quickly disappeared. I tenderly massaged my left eye covered by the bandana, only to discover it to be covered in a wet substance. I figured that it was me just me crying from the pain and focused back on the scene in front of me.

When I looked back, instead of seeing particles clashing like a few minutes ago, I saw Zilon covered in steam. Covered head to toe in burning steam, Zilon raised an eyebrow.

"What is the meaning to this?"

A deep majestic voice chuckled.

"Lil bro, you seem to forget that the use of magic is strictly prohibited. Seeing you burning with so much energy to the point of idiocy, thought I'd cool you down."

Zilon sighed.

"I was trying to look cool, why can't you let me do that in peace. And plus, instead of cooling me down, I think you just gave me a high temperature steam sauna."

The voice laughed.

"Hahaha, my mistake."

The voice suddenly changed and became serious.

"However if grandmother knew you used a legend rank spell in the city…"

Seeing that an op ass Zilon start to sweat bullets, I could infer this grandma was a scary being.

(EA) Thus let us refer to what we said in the beginning. Old women are scary as shit.

Agreed.

An almost identical Zilon appeared. The only difference was that his hair looked like the ocean.

Zilon groaned.

"Oh shit, how could I be so careless."

Zilon's brother smirked.

"It's a good thing that I found you first, or else we both would be suffering together."

"Second bro, do you think she noticed?"

Second brother laughed.

"Of course not, I got here to fast that there was literally no time for her to notice the mana disruption your spell cost."

Zilon sighed in relief.

"So we're safe."

Second brother smiled.

"Yep, that old hag can't hit us for something she doesn't know about."

Suddenly a feminine voice rang out with a dangerous tone.

"What if I do know about it? What are you going to do?"

The two brothers froze and slowly turned around to face the woman.

As my sight fell on the "grandma" I could hear gasps from my fellow classmates.

The supposed "grandma" looked like she was in her early thirties. Her flowing blue hair resembled the waves of the ocean.

She is a total bombshell.

(EA) Dude, this is someone's grandma we are talking about.

The brothers started to stutter.

"G-grandmother, w-what do you know?"

"G-grandmother, what would we h-hide from you."

The lady snorted.

"You think I was born yesterday? Did you think I wouldn't notice that someone fired off a rank 5 spell in the middle of the city?"

Zilon paled.

"G-grandmother-"

"Shut the hell up you useless grandson. Not another word."

Zilon deflated like a balloon.

The grandmother turned her gaze to the second brother.

"And you are also going to suffer."

The second brother went white as he complained.

"B-but it was Zilon who fired off a rank 5 spell.

"You forget that you had countered Zilon's spell with one of your own."

"But that doesn't mean…"

"It means that you also used a rank 5 spell," she stared at the brother's soul, "except that you used it to lie to me. And you called me a old hag, that alone shall let you suffer."

The brother collapsed and glared at Zilon.

"It's all your fault idiotic brother."

"Ohohoho, still talking I see. I'll add another few hours to your punishment."

"WHAT ABOUT ZILON, HE STARTED IT!"

The grandmother cast her eyes on us. I felt an involuntary shiver at her analyzing gaze.

"It seems that Zilon has brought home some guests. He will be exempted from punishment this time only."

Zilon's pale face immediately regained his color and stared right at me with a face so happy that I almost thought he was gay.

(EA) That's not the important point. The important point is how much terror his grandmother instills for him to look like this.

...You're right.

The brother's face became even whiter.

"HOW IS THIS EVEN FAIR?!"

"It is because I said so."

"YOU FUCKING DICTATOR! YOU FUCKING TYRANT! YOU OLD HAG! YOU-"

The grandmother's voice dropped below freezing point.

"It seems that you haven't learned proper etiquette in front of guests. How embarrassing. A month shall be added your punishment."

"NOOOOOOO-"

"Oh silence yourself and disappear for a bit until I am ready to address you."

With a wave of her hand, the brother was dragged into a swirling vortex of blue.

She turned her gaze at us.

"Hello my name is Zeneda Agna, nice to meet you. Zilon, I give you three minutes to explain why they are here. And if it isn't clear enough. You will be joining your brother. Time starts now."