The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  The first test was rather benign and most student should be able to pass. Casting a spell required some efforts but as long as they did not slack off all week, the student should be able to at least manifest their mana.

  Alexander was looking forward to the examination. Not because he wanted to flaunt his strength but because right after the exams, every student would receive a vial of Chem-mix. With the development of technology, came the development of medicine. Nowadays, several serums have been developed to help people take care of their body. These serums were more commonly known as Chem-mix, short for 'chemical mixture'.

  A wide variety of such Chem-mix existed. The one commonly sold at the stores would simply help keep one's skin moisturized or could slow down aging to some extent. But the one provided by the academy was the same one used by the military to train their soldiers.

  A mage's body was normally extremely weak. In an attempt to remove this weakness, the mage students were given one of the special Chem-mix each month. It helped them maintain a fit body even if they did not exercise much. Naturally, if they did exercise, their body might grow some muscles.

  Alexander went to the examination venue at his allocated time. Without any surprise, he easily completed the task and returned home with a vial of Chem-mix. The students' timetable on Friday was completely empty excluding the exams. Since it was the very first week, Alexander ended up having the entire afternoon free.

  On an online group chat, many of Alexander's friends proposed to go outside of the city to explore the rest of the island. It was precisely what Alexander was planning to do. He originally wanted to go and explore the forest area but since most of his friends voted to go to the beach instead, he decided to follow along to take a look.

  The island was divided into two main areas: the Earth Academy and the military compound. However, between those two main areas, there were several wild areas that the students were free to explore. Those were typically used by the military to provide different training environments to its soldiers but the students were free to roam around as long as they did not disturb the training.

  At around 2 pm, Alexander met a group of students in front of a store. It was the appointed location where all the students of the group chat would meet before walking to the beach. Although he was part of the group chat, Alexander barely knew half of the people in the group and was immediately overwhelmed when he arrived.

  The administrator of the group chat was Raphael. He was very skilled at making connections and created a group chat for all the people he considered important. Soon, the rest of the people willing to go to the beach arrived and the group departed.

  Everyone was dressed for the occasion; Alexander wore a loose T-shirt and a brown beach short.

  Next to Alexander, Su Buqing was carrying a huge inflatable lounger with one hand and a large cooler filled with goodies with the other. He was clearly well prepared for this type of event.

  Alexander's group was not the only one that came up with the idea of going to the beach. When they arrived, Alexander saw that the beach was already covered with beach umbrellas. Several students were playing in the water while others were sunbathing or chatting under the shade of their umbrellas.

  "That's a bit annoying," said Raphael as he looked around him. He had brought a group of nearly thirty people with him. With such a crowded beach, it was impossible to keep the group as one.

  In the end, the group started to split up. Su Buqing and a few other people wanted to stick to Alexander but the latter refused and walked off on his own. He found a relatively quiet place and lay down on the warm sand.

  He closed his eyes for a moment and started to relax. The laughter and cries of the nearby students filled the air. "It's been a while since I've been to the beach. It reminds me a lot of the great desert of Bolah..."

  Alexander fell silent. His senses were slowly dulled by the repetitive crashing of the waves. Since he was able to obtain a Seed, Alexander had been trying to find the solution to revitalizing his pocket dimension.

  At the moment, his tiny space was nothing but an empty land of death. Not a single organism could live there at the moment. Why? Because there was no water!

  Water was the source of life. To bring his space back to life and possibly start using it proactively, Alexander needed to find a huge source of water. Unfortunately, the ocean was not a good solution. He needed freshwater, not seawater. He could insert some seawater in his space but too much would only cause more harm than good.

  Since that day, while showering or using any water from his room, Alexander had been transferring the freshwater inside his Seed. It was not ideal as the water was not completely fresh but it was better than nothing. It would not have been a problem if he could just leave the tap open but the room was equipped with sensors that would automatically close the water tap after a while to avoid wasting the precious water. After all, the academy was located on a small artificial island; there was no real source of water and if Alexander continued to transfer the water to his space, the volume of water on the island would decrease and it would attract the attention of the higher-ups.

  Therefore, in order to turn his dimension into a habitable place, Alexander actively needed a source of freshwater but it was easier said than done.

  Time went by and Alexander slowly sunk into the sand. He transferred a little bit of sand into the space. He did not expect that by doing so, his body would suddenly sink into the sand. From an outsider's point of view, it looked as if Alexander had been trying to make a 'snow angel' with the sand.

  He laughed to himself and was about to move to get up when suddenly, a short figure appeared in the corner of his eyes. Alexander noticed that person as the woman positioned herself to protect Alexander's face from the sun.

  He first thought that it was just a mere coincidence but soon, Alexander realized that the woman did not move at all and was actually looking at him with interest.

  Alexander turned toward the young woman and smiled. However, deep inside, Alexander went on his guard. Just by looking at the woman's features, he could already tell that she was a Lohan.

  "Hello. Are you Alexander? I have been looking forward to meeting you," said the young woman. Her voice was sweet and melodious. She took a step forward toward Alexander and smiled.

  The latter stood up. "Hello. I thought people had already forgotten about me. A whole week has passed since then," said Alexander with a dry laugh.

  "How can we forget about you? You were so impressive. Can you teach me how to become as strong as you?" coyly said the young woman. She sat next to Alexander while readjusting her summer dress.

  "What's your name?" asked Alexander, completely avoiding her question.

  "My name is Lyanabel but all my friends call me Lyana."

  'Lyana? I don't remember anyone having this name...' thought Alexander as he briefly tried to recall that name.

  "Nice to meet you Lyana. What are you doing here alone? A beautiful girl like you should not wander around like that."

  "Oh, you think I'm pretty? I came here with my friend but she is really pretty and soon the guys started hitting on her. The last time I saw her, she was bringing a guy to a quiet place. I did not want to be the third wheel, so I walked around the beach by myself," explained Lyana.

  "Your friend?" murmured Alexander. His mind immediately started to race. 'Is it Aila?'

  As if she heard Alexander's almost imperceptible murmur, Lyana continued: "Yeah, you know her. Her name is Aila."

  "Aila?" Alexander froze.

  Lyana internally chuckled; she noticed the change in Alexander's aura. But soon, her instinct told her that something was not right. She had first seen Alexander as a rather carefree individual. He did not have any outstanding feature and had it not been for him beating down two second-year students, he would have most probably ended up being a nobody.

  But now, right in front of Lyana, Alexander seemed to have turned into a completely different person. His eyes were s
harper and his aura became colder. Lyana shivered as she witnessed the change.

  Alexander had long told himself that he should keep some distance with Aila. He still loved her but for now, he was unable to satisfy her as he needed to. He was well aware that the current Aila was ambitious and was looking forward to obtaining the title of Holy Maiden. But she needed strength to seize the title and could only rely on the Yin Yang Exchange technique to not fall behind the other competitors.

  His best option would naturally be to explain the whole situation to Aila and to use the Yin Yang Exchange technique together as one. However, Alexander did not know how to announce it to Aila; his story was so unbelievable that she might just not believe him and end up silencing him instead. Furthermore, Alexander wanted Aila to treat him as her lover, not just a training partner. Genuine feelings took time to develop and Alexander did not want to force the situation.

  If he chose to remain silent, he could only sacrifice his life span to stop Aila from visiting other men but that would be equivalent to ruining his future.

  Alexander tried to bury the matter deep inside his heart. He wanted everything to occur just like in his past life. He wanted to delay his meeting with Aila until his third-year examination. It was an extremely hard decision to make as he knew very well that Aila would not remain idle during those three years.

  He barely managed to suppress it inside him but now that Lyana innocently mentioned the situation, Alexander could no longer ignore it. A dark feeling rose from his heart.

  He turned toward Lyana with a strange glint in his eyes. "Where did they go?"

  Chapter 18: Conflict at the beach

  Marcus Lombardi could not contain his excitement. Today, he asked the woman of his dream out for a date at the beach and unexpectedly, she accepted!

  It has been a whole year since he had first fallen in love with that woman. It was love at first sight. He still remembered his awakening ceremony. He was mingling around the new students when suddenly, he caught a glimpse of her perfect figure. He was instantly smitten and approached her.

  Unfortunately, he was not the only one. The competition was fierce, all the nearby men seemed to be keeping an eye on her, keeping each other in check. However, Marcus was different. He was not just a regular student. He had been carefully groomed since his tenth birthday, all for the sake of becoming a mage. His father sat on the board of directors of the Flemming Organization and provided him with the best education possible.

  However, since the special education courses started, Marcus' life slowly started to turn grey. He could no longer be carefree. His workload doubled. Every night, he was so exhausted that he would fall asleep as soon as his head would touch his pillow.

  He did not mind it as much before. He thought it was how the pinnacle experts were groomed. But then, on the day of his awakening, it all changed. He saw that woman, her name was Aila. Her carefree laughter shook his heart and overshadowed the dull background. Her smile brought colors back into Marcus' life. He was immediately attracted to her.

  A whole year passed since then. At first, Marcus thought that he was not worthy of her. They became friends, and even friends with benefits but Marcus knew that Aila was also messing around with other men. He wanted her for himself and could only work harder and harder. Only by becoming the strongest would he be able to obtain the woman he wanted. With this objective in mind, Marcus focused all his attention on his training and at the end of year examination, he became the publicly acknowledged strongest mage of his cohort!

  Unfortunately, the academic year came to an end and everyone returned home. Even if he met his objective, he did not get the opportunity to speak to Aila about it but it was just a matter of time. The next year soon started and Marcus invited Aila on a date.

  She rejected him at first but she eventually agreed to a date on Friday. Marcus was overjoyed. He immediately started to prepare everything he needed: a romantic picnic, some flowers, a gift specially imported from Loha,...

  To Marcus, it was not just a simple date. It was also the time where he would propose to Aila. She would finally be his and no one else would look at her as before. She would become his, Marcus Lombardi's girlfriend.

  On Friday, everything was perfect. Aila was waiting for him near the beach. She was sitting quietly while looking at the scenery. Marcus' heart shook when he saw her. The beautiful background became completely dull when Aila waved at him.

  They chatted for a while and the two walked to the beach. Marcus did not like it; so many eyes were taking a glance at his future girlfriend but at the same time, he was feeling proud; so many men wanted Aila but only he would be able to have her!

  They walked down the beach under the jealous stares of the students. Marcus quietly brought Aila to a more secluded area of the beach. He was going to propose to her and knowing how shy girls could get, it was better to do so privately.

  He rubbed his spatial ring gently. The ring looked old and dull. Nobody in their right mind would wear that sort of accessories but in reality, the simple-looking ring was, in fact, an ancient relic from Loha. It allowed its user to store a few items inside without feeling the weight of the items.

  Aila sat quietly on some rocks near the water. She let her silky hair loose, allowing them to dance to the wind. She was humming quietly while playing with the water.

  Marcus was excited and nervous at the same time. He suddenly stood and took a step toward Aila. He placed his hands behind his back and activated the spatial ring. A large bouquet of flowers appeared behind his back hidden from Aila's line of sight.

  He was about to present her the flowers when suddenly, a loud angry voice pierced through his ears: "Stop right here, idiot! You don't even know Aila is allergic to roses?!?"

  ***

  Alexander was furious. The painful feeling he was concealing in his heart was suddenly let loose. Lyana's actions were no different from poking a hornet nest.

  Lyana was stunned by the cold glare looking at her. She gulped down awkwardly and answered, "They went this way..."

  Alexander further narrowed his eyes. He quickly stood up and grabbed Lyana's arms. Without a care for the pretty Lohan girl, he pulled her arm and brought her with him to look for Aila.

  A few meters away, Raphael and his friends saw Alexander's action. Raphael sighed, "They say I am popular with girls and gets to enjoy myself? Look, the real center of attention of the girls is Alexander. He first got Aila at the fresher's party and now, he even got our year's Lohan beauty."

  "Are you sure it is that way?" asked Alexander.

  "Yes yes. It should be behind the rocks. Can you let go of my hand?" Lyana was struggling to keep up with Alexander. Her arm was hurting but Alexander completely ignored the last part of her answer.

  Alexander looked around him. They reached a quieter area of the beach; the rocky area. There were far fewer students here as there were no comfortable places to relax. The sea had already completely eroded the area and the academy decided to redesign it into a small walking track.

  Alexander looked around him, searching for Aila. His mind was muddled. He knew he was not in his normal state and it was all probably due to Lyana's presence. The women of the Sacred Mountain were often called 'Walking Aphrodisiacs'. Their body fragrance was usually a huge stimulus; whenever a man would be near a saintess, they would inevitably become sexually frustrated.

  Alexander followed the walking path but still did not manage to find anything. After a while, he jumped on the slippery rocks and eventually, he saw them. In the distance, there was a couple sitting on the rocks near the water. Alexander did not need to look twice; even at this distance, he could tell it was Aila.

  He jumped down the rock and rushed toward them. This time, he did not bother grabbing Lyana. Without a care in the world, he jumped from rocks to rocks. Then, he saw it. A bouquet of flowers suddenly appeared behind the man's back. Alexander's eyes shone and he shouted:

  "Stop right here, idiot! You don't even know Aila i
s allergic to roses?!?"

  His voice was loud and clear but the man did not seem to react. Alexander did not know if the man did not hear him or if he was just being ignored but the reason did not matter. As he landed on the next rock, Alexander's body adopted the position of a constellation: [Felcana, the Stormcrafter]

  As Alexander intended, a small twister appeared between Aila and the man. It was small and harmless but would easily be able to put some distance between the two. Alexander did not want Aila to come into contact with the white roses in the bouquet; he knew very well that she would feel sick and her skin would start to itch. More importantly, Alexander did not want other men to give Aila flowers!