"What... what happened?" murmured the geniuses who had last heard a cawing sound and then found themselves staring at the clear sky, with all the explosions and hordes of crows having mysteriously disappeared into thin air.
"The danger has been resolved. You all can now return back to your dorms..." The order rang out as the door to the small white mini-room opened up, revealing the outside. The geniuses began pouring out.
They had no idea what was going on, but at least they were all happy the problem had been resolved. All was okay, so far as they were still alive. Ryuk, too, returned back to his room.
Yet, he couldn’t help but ask upon entering,
"Hey System, what happened back there?"
After the ear-defeating cawing sounds, a few sets of notifications had appeared before Ryuk’s gaze:
[A mass-area ability is being used!]
[Host has been caught within the range of the ability.]
[Scanning for ability type...]
[Ability type scanned: Domain Expansion!]
[Calculating lethality: 100%!]
[Warning: A power capable of ending the host’s life has been identified!]
[System will begin fighting back...]
[Error! Power too great and cannot be stopped!]
[Host, brace yourself!]
The red, blaring notification had covered all of Ryuk’s vision. Yet, in the next instant, everything returned back to normal, making him wonder if all he saw previously was solely an illusion.
[It seems the host has been placed under a type of time-stopping domain, based on how the System has accessed the displayed scenarios and calculated all possibilities.]
[Such a time-stop power is enough to bring an end to the host’s life, hence the reasons for the warnings,] the System explained as Ryuk’s eyebrows furrowed.
"A time-stop ability, huh?"
"Now that makes more sense. While we were all stuck in time, the battle must have continued. Since the calamitous cawing horde disappeared and only Sir Kieran was standing, he must have somehow managed to defeat it," Ryuk mused to himself.
He prepared to get back to what he was doing previously but stopped when he received another notification from the System.
[The System advises the host to pause cultivating the Primordial Frost Technique for now.]
[The host is in a dangerous zone, and it would be better to remain fully conscious and ready to detect any danger to life at any time.]
The System’s advice made Ryuk’s gaze furrow for a long while before he eventually chose not to summon the grimoire.
Truly, the System had a point. They might have been able to defeat the beast horde for now, but who knows when another one would appear. If it caught him while he was in deep meditation, in a state of half-unconsciousness, that might very well be fatal.
"Guess I’ll just have to make do with my 110 points of mana until we arrive at the school itself and I can feel at peace once more," Ryuk thought as he lay on his bed.
Since there was nothing else for him to do and he wasn’t feeling sleepy, he could only turn to look at the ceiling blankly.
Hours passed by quickly, and luckily there was no other beast horde attack whatsoever, with the rest of the flight being as smooth as ever.
Soon, the notification rang through the plane.
"We have arrived at the destination!"
"Please prepare for disembarkation!"
The voice echoed through the room as Ryuk jumped from his bed, his hands grabbing his traveling bag.
Immediately, he headed outside, where the other geniuses were also already moving out.
The pilot room soon opened, and the one who came out was none other than Sir Kieran.
"Listen, you all!" Instructor Kieran said seriously as they all directed their attention to him.
"We have yet to arrive at the gate of the Ascension Academy, but the academy has sent an order for us to get down at a particular region."
"If my guess is right, then that means you all will be facing one test from the Ascension Academy before you’re allowed in."
"With you all carrying travel bags that hold the majority of your belongings, I feel like that can disturb you when you need to fight."
"So, I’ll be giving everyone one of these..." Instructor Kieran said, lifting a ring. He passed one to each of them, and Ryuk soon grabbed his.
"Most of you might already know, this is a spatial ring where you can store any miscellaneous, non-living object you have. Just fuse your consciousness with it, and your bag can appear in there."
"I wish you all good luck in your endeavors..." Instructor Kieran said as the hatch of the small plane immediately opened to them.
All of the geniuses kept their travel bags in their rings before they got down.
Sir Kieran stood at the door of the plane, his dark eyes lingering on their backs until they all got down into the small grass field, where circles of other-race geniuses could already be seen sitting, with some of the planes getting ready to lift into the air.
In an instant, the hatch of the Fallen family jet also closed up. All of the Fallen geniuses watched it rise into the air before, instantly, it soared into the sky with speed, disappearing into a beam of light.
Now, it was safe to say each of the geniuses was now on their own. They were no longer in the Fallen family city where they had always known, nor were their instructors with them.
All they had was their own by their side, along with a couple of new alien faces.
"We’re all truly gathered here, huh?" Darius’s loud voice echoed through the grassy field, where the geniuses from the other top ten families were currently seated, eyeing the Fallen family geniuses one by one.
Some had amused smirks, some had awe flashing in their eyes, and some had deadpan expressions, choosing to simply ignore the Fallen geniuses.
The Fallen family was unofficially one of the top three most powerful of the top ten families, so most of the geniuses knew better than to antagonize them.
In the end, the Fallen geniuses all moved to the side and sat down on the grassy field, joining in with the wait.
This few second of waiting allowed Ryuk to look over at the remaining family geniuses and observe the differences in races.