Chương 98: The Meeting

The meeting room of the Eternal Academy was silent and well-lit. A long dark wooden table occupied the center, surrounded by high-backed chairs. At the head of the table, the Director sat with her hands clasped over the surface. Around her were five main evaluators and two invited professors. In front of each of them was a folder containing the candidates' reports. The Director opened her own folder and spoke in a calm but firm voice: — Let's get to the point.

We need to finalize the list of approved candidates today. Tomorrow the results will be announced. The evaluators began going through the names one by one. Most of the discussions were quick. Some candidates were praised. Others were discarded without much conversation. There were the average cases, which generated a bit more debate. Until they reached a specific point on the list. One of the evaluators, a middle-aged man named Master Harlan, raised an eyebrow and lightly tapped the paper with his finger.

— Santa Lunalie Orphanage. Eight candidates. The room became a little more attentive. — Eight? — asked one of the professors. — All from the same place? — Yes — Harlan replied. — And all of them were evaluated in the same group during the tests. Their performance… stands out. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The Director gestured for him to continue. Harlan opened the report more carefully. — Starting with the more straightforward ones.

Astrid: absurd physical strength for her age. Control still developing, but the raw potential is high. Marina: excellent affinity with vapor and water. Creative. Rina: speed and reflexes above average. Sylvara: plant control and accelerated growth, quite promising. Lirien: voice with healing properties and… signs of future perception. Still needs to be studied more carefully. He paused. — And then we have the three more… particular cases. The Director tilted her head slightly. — Go ahead.

Harlan exchanged a quick glance with another evaluator, a short-haired woman named Aria. Aria was the one who continued: — Kuroe. Extremely quiet. Barely interacts verbally during the tests, but observes everything. She has two distinct marks — one of them with runes we still haven't been able to fully identify. She also showed mild signs of future perception, similar to Lirien's. She's not the type of candidate who stands out by shouting. She stands out… by existing. Another evaluator muttered: — And the last two?

Harlan closed the folder for a second before reopening it. — Joker and Harley. The names alone changed the atmosphere at the table. — The two of them act as if they were a single unit — Aria explained. — Absurd coordination. Dangerous creativity. During the tests, several times it seemed like they were holding back. Not in an amateur way… in a conscious way. As if they were deliberately limiting something. The Director furrowed her brow slightly. — Limiting? — Yes.

Their performance was already more than enough for approval with room to spare. But the feeling most of the evaluators got was the same: if they had used everything they have, the results of the tests would have been… different. And not necessarily in a comfortable way. A short silence settled in. — And even so — Harlan continued —, the entire group functions in a strangely cohesive way. It doesn't look like a group formed on the spot. It looks like a unit that has already existed for a long time.

Including the adult women who accompany them. The Director remained silent for a few seconds, looking at the list. — Any formal objection to the approval of any of them? No one spoke immediately. Aria was the first to break the silence: — No. Technically, all of them passed with merit. Some with distinction. The problem isn't ability. It's what they might become inside the academy. The Director closed the folder with a soft snap. — Then it's decided. The eight from the Santa Lunalie Orphanage are approved.

She looked at the evaluators one by one. — Tomorrow we announce it. And from then on… we observe. No one disagreed. The meeting continued with other names, but the conversation about the orphanage group still lingered in the air of the room like something that hadn't been completely resolved. Only postponed. End of Chapter 98