Chapter 195: Schedule Changes
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'This feels weird...' Cedric muttered inwardly as he stared outside of his window.
He was sitting on a comfortable chair, drinking a cup of warm tea and staring at the bright skies above. Even indoors, he could feel the warmth of the lighthouses.
The two weeks he spent at the military camp got him used to the dark and gloomy skies that this feels weird to him. And if his hunch was correct, he's not alone in this.
With but a simple thought, his perception swept throughout the entire area where the freshmen students lived and pretty much confirmed his guess. His fellow first years were also weirded out by the brightness of the skies above. They too, got used to the gloomy and depressing skies of the Eastern Army Camp.
'It would take us a few days to adjust to this again. Even then, it'll never be the same.' Cedric mused to himself. 'The veil of illusion has been lifted in front of our eyes. It's up to them how they'll choose to live their lives at this point.'
'For now. I'm just glad that we're back.' Cedric drank his tea and relaxed on his chair.
Classes will resume tomorrow. They returned here on a Saturday evening and today's Sunday. Cedric has no classes on Sundays so he's free for the rest of the day.
"Kyu~!!"
"Kyaaa!! Gosh, you are soooo cute!"
Cedric smiled as he heard Erica's voice behind him. She and Chrissy had been smothering Aurelion with cute aggression since this morning after they met him for the first time.
Since they're back in civilization and are in a safe environment, Cedric could allow Aurelion to stretch his legs in the real world. Spending two whole weeks within the Beast Space made the little murder cat feel stuffy, but he did level up a few times just by eating and sleeping consistently.
When the girls saw him, there was an instant sparkle in their eyes. They pretty much never left the little guy alone, following him around the house and watching every single move he made, constantly cooing at his cuteness.
Even when Aurelion got annoyed and revealed his true size - which was about a meter tall and 9 feet long, the girls weren't deterred. In fact, that just spurred them on even more.
'Papa! Bullies!'
Cedric chuckled as he heard Aurelion complaining in his mind. Yes, Aurelion could speak words to him now. Not vocally, but telepathically. And only Cedric could hear it. That said, his aggrieved expression was more than enough to figure out what he felt.
Aurelion jumped into his lap and hid on his shirt, curling against his stomach. Chrissy and Erica showed their faces next wearing pouts as they realized that the little guy was hiding from them.
"This is so unfair. Since when did you have a cutie like that?" Chrissy sat on the floor and rested her chin on his legs.
"Yeah. I mean, we were gone for 2 months but still." Erica complained as well.
"Forget about that. What's important is that you two are scaring him with your cute aggression." Cedric rolled his eyes as he felt Aurelion purring at his warmth. "He might be a baby lion but he's also a cat. You don't make friends with cats that way."
That said, he can't really blame them too much for acting this way. Aurelion was indeed too cute, especially in his tiny form.
**
Cedric didn't train the whole day. He just spent it resting and relaxing because he could. He could afford to do this since it's not gonna change anything anyway. His breakthroughs were very recent, so he can't expect progress right away. Thus, it's fine to miss out on a day.
He spent time with Chrissy and Erica the entire day. They too didn't train. They either watched shows online, ate something, or had sex...lots of sex. The girls missed Cedric a lot and he felt the same, they were making up for the lost time and frankly, the sex they were having was phenomenal so they couldn't get enough.
The day ended like that and Monday arrived. Today, they'll be back to the swing of things.
Being Senior Students, Chrissy and Erica's schedules were more flexible. They only have classes once a week but it takes up a whole day. Of course, they'd be required to go out now and then but that's to be expected for Seniors like them.
Cedric is still a first-year student, and thus his schedule was a little busy compared to them.
He attended his Elements 101 class, the one he shared with Isabella.
Their time at the Eastern Army Camp changed her. In addition to that, she saw just how far ahead Cedric was in terms of strength and had an idea of how he achieved it. She no longer saw him as a competitor. Instead, he's a trustworthy ally, to her and for the rest of their batchmates. He had earned his respect with his actions.
By the end of the class, the instructor of this class - Michael Gladius, the old man who's just as old as the Lord Commander, asked Cedric to stay behind for a bit.
"Am I in trouble, Sir?" Cedric asked, confused as to why he needed to stay behind.
"Why would you think of that? Silly boy." The old man gently tapped his head using his cane while laughing. "I called you here for a different reason."
"I actually saw your performance at the military camp." He said, causing Cedric to feel surprised. "Orion wasn't just there to monitor you guys, he's also there to judge your progress and bring back proof."
"He filmed parts of your batch's performance. I've seen the majestic sun that you created using your fire. It reminded me of the good old days, thanks for that by the way."
"Anyways, that's not why I called you here." Michael said, "Seeing your performance and your skills, I want to tell you that you can apply for an early graduation from class directly."
"Sir?"
"Keeping you here is just holding you back." The old man smiled fondly. "Moreover, it's wasting your precious time. I can sense the fluctuations of Fire Laws and Sword Laws in you. The fact that you're already at this stage is astonishing, but it also means that this class is no longer useful to you."
"You've learned everything you needed from here and there's nothing more I can teach you. Fire Laws commonly appear in our ranks but what we comprehend from it differs from one person to the next. From here on out, you can only rely on yourself."
"Of course, you can also apply for advanced classes about Fire Laws, but those will only be available to you once you are promoted to a Sophomore Student."
The old man then handed him an envelope and said: "This contains the proof that you've passed my class already. It's been signed by me and the Headmistress personally. Keep it secure because you will need to show that during the verification of your requirements for your promotion. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir." Cedric nodded as he graciously accepted the documents and kept them in his inventory (he missed this convenient thing, by the way).
"Alright. You can leave. Focus your time on more important things. And oh, meet your instructors for your Etiquette and Field Tactics classes today. If my hunch is correct, and most of the time they are, then they should be doing the same as me."
"With that, you could focus your attention on your Sword Path classes because you just arrived at the starting line."
He was dismissed by the teacher after that. He didn't even need to do anything at all, his early graduation was passed just like that. And this also applies to his other classes except the Sword Path.
Yes, it also included his Smithing Class. The foul-mouthed teacher practically slapped him with the documents he needed but not out of anger. The little man was very happy instead.
Well, he wasn't expecting Orion to film things. What's more surprising is that he never saw him doing that despite scanning his surroundings constantly.
Still, this works for him. Actually, he had been thinking of taking the exams himself because he wanted to focus on his Sword Path but it turns out that he wouldn't have to.
This freed up his schedule a lot. But it also cut off his Academic Points supply. He used to get them by performing really well in classes. Graduating from the classes gave him a final reward of 2000 APs each, so that's cool.
If his Aps turned out to be insufficient, he could always just use Demon Souls to buy things, and he had loads of those.
Now that he had a single class to attend for the rest of his academic year, Cedric felt more at ease. He had more freedom to freestyle his training.
After settling that, Cedric made his way to the Sword Dojo where Instructor Uruk waited for him.