322 Power
In the Faculty Building of World Academy, Xander was looking at the reports he had received.
Because Farnus was absent, Xander assumed the responsibility of overseeing World Academy. However, Farnus had not granted him the complete authority.
Before departing, Farnus made certain to communicate his plans and the tasks that were to be executed. At the moment, Xander was addressing one of them.
Suddenly, his phone rang. On the other end was his younger brother, the current head of the Demarcus Family.
"Did you get the information?" Xander inquired as a holographic image of the Demarcus head appeared.
"Not much. There's no explanation for why that man's body was found there," the Demarcus head replied.
"What is the World Association saying?" Xander asked, glancing at the report.
"The investigation was conducted, but there's no data following his disappearance shortly after he was expelled from World Academy," said the Demarcus head.
"Why are you involved in this?" He asked but Xander remained silent.
"Don't overthink it," Xander remarked, steering the conversation elsewhere.
Without tangible evidence and personal verification, Xander wasn't going to make any decisions.
There were many things Xander found suspicious but the appearance of Zephyr, messed most of his conclusions.
Even now, the Demarcus head could sense that Xander was deep in thought, yet he respected his elder brother's discretion.
"By the way, is Venessa doing well?" he asked.
"She's doing more than well," Xander affirmed.
"That's good to hear," the Demarcus head responded with a smile.
The call disconnected, as Xander put the report aside and leaned back into his chair, as his eyes looked at the ceiling.
"Something doesn't make sense," Xander muttered.
"Well, there is more than one thing to worry about," Xander said as he looked at the particular thing he was handling personally.
And the prize that on there, was something that would cause waves in both inside and outside the World Academy.
It was already announced that there would be some changes in the End Year Tournament, for the first three years, and it also included the match between the Student Council and the Blood Faction.
But there was no further elaboration, as the End Year Tournament was a very big thing that many people looked forward to.
Elite Families, the three Associations and the major guilds that would come to see and scout the talents.And due to the fact that this tournament was broadcasted to the whole world created a few problems for Xander.
Not only, he needed to maintain the image of World Academy by controlling the students so that they behaved appropriately in the tournament, but there was one big issue about this tournament.
It was none other than Alyssa, and also the fact that her ranking would also create trouble that Xander didn't wanted.
End Year Tournament, was a very important event for all students because of the fact that this was the chance to take big leap in rankings, and among the Top Rankers, the prize was also very big.
The access to the Trail's Ground for the Top 5, was an very alluring reward and End Year Tournament was the only way Top Rankers could change there ranking.
Rankers were not allowed to fight for their ranks unless a majority vote was done by all the Rankers.
This particular rule was introduced because of the amount of Elite Family students that were present in the First Year.
Although World Academy, promoted competitiveness but they didn't ignite hatred among students that could very well sit in the High Council in the future.
But this also made the rank in the First Year stagnant, as Elena and Eva couldn't challenge anyone due to the fact that there was no majority among the Rankers.
At the Rankers Dorm,
Damian was waiting for Amelia and Asher to arrive so he was just spending his time in the lobby when he saw Kevin enter the Lobby as well.
'Seems like he is coming from training,' Damian thought as he noticed the equipment he was wearing.
It wasn't hard to guess that Kevin was most likely duelling with Senior Year Students to gain more experience, and Raelyn was helping him in that.
Kevin noticed Damian who was sitting on one of the sofas casually, and their eyes met for a moment.
It was very obvious that both of them disliked each other.
Kevin turned his face as he didn't wanted to start anything but a smirk on Damian's face made him irritated.
Despite knowing each other for some years, Damian and Kevin didn't get together at all.
At first, Kevin didn't mind Damian's presence as he always considered himself stronger but due to Asher, Damian's presence became bigger.
And the feeling of dislike was mutual, and the reason was pretty obvious.
At first, Kevin wanted to become friends with Amelia, but Damian was the biggest issue.
There was not a single time, he would found two of them separated and even while Amelia was in their group, Damian would be still together with Amelia.
For Kevin, Damian was nothing but a thorn that he didn't like around him.
But the situation now had completely changed.
At first, Amelia wanted to maintain neutral attitude towards Elena, Eva and Kevin due to the fact they belonged to three different elite families.
She didn't like the idea of creating unnecessary animosity with other Elite Families, but all this changed when Damian had an argument with Kevin and Kevin mocked the Greville Family.It was at that moment that the remaining friendship that they had build over the previous year broke completely.
When she heard the friends she had spend time while studying mocking her family, she completely changed her opinion about them.
'Looking back, everything went wrong because of this bastard and that guy,' Kevin thought as he frowned.
But despite his irritations, he avoided any confrontations with Damian and went straight to his room.
There was a rule that prohibited students to use mana or fight with each other when the time of End Year Tournament was near.
And it also included the Student Council.
It was to make sure that fairness of the Tournament could be maintained, and anyone who broke this rule was removed from the Tournament.
And not participating in the Tournament meant that despite your efforts in the whole year, you will be placed last.
And it was the last thing any student wanted, and none of them wanted to create a situation that could potentially lead to a fight.
And this was the reason that Kevin ignored Damian's smirk.
"He didn't take the bait," Damian smiled as he looked back.
"That's too bad," Damian said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmm, how much time would it take for them to come back?" Damian thought as he noticed the time.
He had received the message from Amelia that they had left already from the Mage Association, so he was waiting for them to come back as he was free.
At distant place in the deserts of Fashia,
"Are you sure that the tracker is pointing there?" Kai asked as he looked at the endless desert in front of him.
"Ask Tom if you think I am wrong," Dane replied as he wiped the sweat from his face.
Both of them were travelling in the extreme heat of the most hottest region of Fashia.
<Maintain the current speed, the tracking rune on those Mana Crystals won't work from a long distance>
Both of them heard Tom's instruction and they were doing well for now but the occasional monsters in the Desert didn't made their life easier.
Also the fact that the Signal would only appear for a split second and would take minutes before it appeared, made the journey even longer.
"I still don't see anything, where the hell are they taking those Mana Crystals?" Dane said as he looked ahead.
But all he could see was the endless desert.
If not for the fact that they would get the signal in every few minutes, it was almost impossible for someone to track something in these conditions.
"Probably a hidden facility," Kai replied.
"Well, we just need to confirm the location, so let's finish this mission fast," Dane replied as he remembered the content of the mission that Asher gave them.
And Asher only told them to confirm the location and do nothing about it.
At first Dane and Kai were confused but they agreed to it pretty quickly.
After all, they were being paid well for a simple tracking mission, and the risk they had to take was not even close to what they faced during their previous mission.