Chapter 214

The morning came sooner than Cynrik had expected. In contrast to what you would expect from someone starting classes at a new academy, Cynrik had spent the entire night sparring with himself using his newly upgraded Dark Affinity skill, [Shadow Clone].

The Tier-0 skill [Shadow’s Image], which had basically been useless and taking up space in Cynrik’s Affinity Skill list since the day he got it, had finally Evolved into its Tier-2 form and become useful.

-Tier-2 Dark Affinity Skill: Shadow Clone-

– The twice evolved form of the basic Dark Affinity Skill, Shadow’s Image. The user can take control of their own shadow and change its shape into one desired. Once the shadow becomes the desired clone, it will move and act under the complete control of the one who summoned it.-

-The clone will not be able to think or act without commands explicitly given by the one who created it.-

-The Clone will automatically have 50% of the user’s Stats except for HP and has unlimited Stamina.

-Activation cost: Scaling: 100 MP to as much MP as the user has in their Mana Pool.-

-The Clone will turn the Mana points used to generate it into its own Health Points. When the clone receives enough damage to drop its HP to Zero, it ceases to be under the user’s control and will go back to being the user’s shadow.-

Although it was taxing on both his mind and Mana pool, as well as it basically was only half as strong as Cynrik, the Shadow clone made a decent sparring partner and allowed him to move his body to get a workout for both his brain and his muscles.

That is, if he didn’t end up doing exactly what happened around 3 am. After several hours of summoning and killing his Shadow, Cynrik succumbed to mental exhaustion and Mana sickness, passing out in the training room, where he spent the remaining hours sprawled out on the padded floor until Brance found him after making his morning rounds.

When Brance didn’t find Cynrik in his bed, he quickly concluded that Cynrik may have woken up first and headed to the training room for his morning workout, only to find his brother caked in sweat and grime, unconscious in the center of the room.

At first, Brance almost turned around and left Cynrik there, but being the good brother he was, he fetched Benny and had him drop a chilly [Water Sphere] directly on the sleeping party leader, giving him a rude awakening.

SPLASH

“HUH, WAH, HUH? THE FIRE NATION IS ATTACKING! GATHER THE ELDERS AND SUMMON THE WATER BENDERS QUICKLY; THEY ARE ALREADY MELTING ALL THE SNOW!” Jumping to his feet, half-awake, Cynrik carried over his dream into the waking world and started yelling incoherently while waving his hands.

Unfortunately, once the hazy dream world faded, and he saw the concerned look on Benny’s face and the contorted laughter expression of his little brother, Cynrik narrowed his eyes and realized what had happened.

“*Snicker*Wakey, wakey, Avatar Cyn, pfftt, it’s *snicker* time to get ready for our first day of classes.” Unable to contain his laughter at the drenched Cynrik, who looked about ready to blow his top, Brance harassed and picked at his older brother, who was VERY much awake now and glaring daggers at him.

“Björn made me do it.” Benny, realizing it was better to fess up and make a break for it, immediately threw Brance under the bus upon seeing how pissed Cynrik was and sprinted out of the room as fast as his legs would take him, abandoning two brothers to fight it out.

“RAHHH,” Benny could hear Cynrik yelling in anger, followed by a loud smack.

Leaving the two to do their thing, Benny bolted for the kitchen and put on a fresh pot of coffee just as the rumbles from the brotherly…bonding began to shake the house. Since this wasn’t the first time the two had gone toe to toe since moving into the dorms, Benny was used to it and knew the only way to get them to knock off the roughhousing was the smell of freshly made coffee.

So in an attempt to save time and get everyone to class in one piece, he ruthlessly threw Brance to the angry wolf known as Cynrik.

BOOOM BOOOM RUMBLE BOOOM

Although the training room was soundproof and vibration-proof for all intents and purposes, Benny had accidentally left the door open, allowing the sounds of battle to buzz through the dorm.

Fortunately, just as Benny knew it would, the moment the scent of freshly made coffee drifted through the kitchen, down the hall, and into the training room, Cynrik, who had a still laughing Brance pinned on the ground belly first with his knee resting on the small of Brance’s back, in an armlock, froze and sniffed the air.

“You get off this time, you asshole, pull that shit again, and im breaking both your fucking kneecaps, the first day of school or not.” Cynrik venomously spat and released Brance.

“Hahaha, sure, sure, whatever you say, Avatar Cyn HAHAHAHHA, the fucking Fire nation. IMA PEE HAHAHAHHA!” Once free from the arm lock, Brance continued rolling around on the ground, holding his stomach and laughing loudly.

“Tsk, our mother never loved you, and you were adopted.” Then, clicking his tongue in disgust at Brance, Cynrik said and left the room to silence the annoying laughter of his asinine brother.

That was how the morning began for the boy’s dorm.

Across the mountain, in the girl’s dorm, a tired and bedhead-ridden Gabby trudged to Selene’s door in her newly purchased bunny pj’s. Raising her little fist, she banged on the door several times until an equally untidy Selene answered by grumbling about needing to rub Cynrik’s abs to wake up fully.

The two ate breakfast together, with the only sound other than munching being some instrumental music playing on Gabby’s Watcet, a habit that she had gotten from Brance. It all began back when they did training camps. Every morning, Brance would play a particular playlist tailored specially to wake her and her brother up. The music was calming and soft, perfect for sleepy children.

After breakfast, the two tired girls made their way back to their rooms, showered, and got dressed, before meeting back up in the living room, so that Selene could do their make-up.

Although both of them were natural beauties in their own right, Selene had carried over the habit from Earth, and after Gabby saw her doing it, she became fascinated and begged the older girl to do her make-up when they started classes.

Like two sisters who had grown up together, Selene first did Gabby’s make-up, simple eyeliner, shadow, and a little touch up here and there, before moving on to her own borderline Emo version, with heavy eyeliner.

Next came hair and accessories. On the opposite side of their Watcets, the two wore a single pocket ring and matching bracelets before putting on their faction badges, cufflinks, and buttons.

Unlike the boy’s uniforms, which had trousers and dressy yet functional shoes, the girls had pleated skirts that went to just above their knees and could wear their choice of thigh-high black socks or black stocking/tights. For the shoes, they both had standard-issue flats.

DING!

Gabby’s Watcet was the first to go off, but she ignored it and continued fussing with her hair, placing a small pink rabbit hairpin, bought by Brance, into place over her right ear.

DING, DING!

Selene’s Watcet went off this time, signaling her that someone was texting her, yet she, like Gabby, ignored it. However, unlike Gabby, who went with the thigh-highs, Selene went with tights. Once she got them in place and pulled down her skirt to cover them, she began messing with the collar of her blazer, turning it into an AC-style hood, just like Cynrik.

DING-DING DING-DING DING DING DING!

Both the girl’s Watcets were screaming at them as Cynrik and Brance spammed texts to each, saying the same thing, “HURRY THE FUCK UP!” Brance’s texts, of course, were, in contrast, very polite and asked if Gabby had eaten, while Cynrik’s demanded the wench hurry up and get herself done up faster.

Finally, after another 15 minutes of ignoring their Watcets, Selene and Gabby replied with a casual “Coming” in unison. Stepping out the door, Gabby equipped her bow on her back and an empty quiver on her left hip. Selene chose her daggers on her back and the other under her right sleeve.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the party was reunited at the entrance to the Cavern of Dorms.

Their dolled-up and drop-dead gorgeous appearances sent Brance into an embarrassing studdering mess of words when the girls showed up. It was the first time he had seen Gabby in make-up, and after her growth spurt, she looked almost like an Idol; her small nose, chestnut hair, and delicate facial features were brought out by the Artist known as Selene, and seeing Brance’s reaction made it all worth it.

Gabby, the one in question, was over the moon with Brance’s reaction and raced to give him a hug and hold his hand so they could walk together. Although she wasn’t the age she appeared, her intellect was far above any Earth girl, and in fact, on Vinestra, she was at the age most girls would start getting their first boyfriends.

For reference, Cinyah and Rikard began dating when they were her age, so it was pretty typical; although nothing physical was allowed by law, simple hugging, hand-holding, and a peck on the cheek were free game.

Cynrik had a very different reaction; today, for some reason, he felt both bold and slightly possessive after seeing the girl looking her best. Placing his hands behind his back, he walked around the visibly nervous Selene, inspecting her head to toe, noting how perky her chest and ass looked. Then, after a few nods of approval and some sharp-tongued compliments, Cynrik raised his left arm into the air and gave a sharp smack right on her perky ass, causing Selene to yelp loudly and cover her butt with both hands.

Although her mouth said otherwise, Selene’s eyes seemed to have a strange hunger in them as she glared at Cynrik with tears forming, confusing the hell out of Benny, who by now was used to being the third wheel.

For his life, he could not understand Selene and Cynrik, no matter how hard he tried. Looking back and forth between the two couples, the opposing examples of BrancexGabby’s wholesome and innocent relationship and the unexplainable CynrikxSelene had him scratching his head in confusion.

The one thing he took away from looking at the pairings was that he would much rather find a relationship like Brance and his sister; whatever the hell was going on with the other two honestly freaked him out a little.

“COUGH! Let’s head out, guys, enough fooling around, we have a lot of ground to cover to make it to our homeroom, and the clock is ticking.” As Benny crossed his arms over his chest and heaved a sigh, he looked like Cynrik. He coughed loud enough to get everyone’s attention and herded the couples to their first class, Basic and Practical Affinity Arts, with Professor Tessa Morningdale.

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