Chapter 66: Chapter 64 Deja Vu

“Sigh, do you think Tai’s ok?” Raul wondered aloud. Four days passed since the Pillar Realm exam started, and Raul was still stuck at home. He hadn’t gone out in six days now.

“Of course he’s fine! Now shut up and finish your work!” Ellen snapped in irritation. This was the tenth time Raul asked that question today, and it wasn’t even noon yet. He already knew the answer, this bastard just wanted to find any excuse to avoid thinking about his work. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, she’s supposed to be on vacation, if anyone should be slacking it should be her!

“Rude. I’ll have you know I’m all finished. I think you’ll be surprised by the results.” He pushed forward his completed test papers forward with a shit-eating grin.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Marina grabbed the papers for grading.

“Wipe that smug grin off your face, you totally did that on purpose.” Ellen called him out.

“I have no idea what you’re on about.”

“You baited me, and you know it!”

“Don’t blame me for your bad mood, it’s unbecoming.” He said righteously.

“Oh I’ll show you unbecoming you little– ”

“I know you two are worried about Ephemeral Mask, but can you tone it down?” Marina rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly.

“Who’s worried about him!?” They both snapped.

“Like hell I’d waste time worrying about that guy, he’s practically invincible. I’m just curious is all.” Raul huffed.

“Exactly! I have complete confidence in him, I’m not worried a bit.” Ellen insisted.

“This is a tough year.” Marina said bluntly while going through the papers. “A lot of monikered Pillar Realms are enrolling, and the fight for elite status will undoubtedly be intense. There’s nothing wrong with admitting it, conversely blind confidence is nothing to brag about.”

“Guh.” Raul couldn’t help being shaken. He’d experienced the benefits of Marina’s methods firsthand and was beginning to understand what a difference background could make. Tai always seemed omnipotent to him, but he didn’t know how much of that held up.

“Hmph, it doesn’t matter how many of them there are, Tai will send them packing.” Ellen snorted disdainfully.

A sigh escaped Marina’s lips. “Your unfounded confidence aside, I still don’t get why you all are so obsessed with the elite classification. Even I’ll admit that the chances of him failing the exam itself is practically zero, and with his talent it won’t be hard to claim elite status after enrollment, yet your elders are pushing hard for him to do it in one go. Why?” She titled her head inquisitively.

This had puzzled her for a while. Elite status upon enrollment was certainly exceptional and coveted, but it’s not like the classification was that hard to get later. It simply wasn’t worth the importance the Vault Family attached to it.

“It’s not that simple.” Raul said with gripped hands. He wasn’t sure how much he could say, so he looked to Ellen who also had a bitter expression.

“Truth is, our house hasn’t received much results from the Academy lately. We haven’t had a member reach elite classification in two hundred years.” She admitted through gritted teeth.

Marina’s eyes widened in shock. “How’s that possible?” Usually only the scion’s of Earl and Marquess houses could achieve elite status on enrollment, but later on it wasn’t uncommon for baron households and even loose cultivators to achieve it with some effort.

In Marina’s unbiased opinion, while the Vault members were individually weaker in battle than most, their focus in seals gave them a lot of enviable traits that were even more valuable. It was hard to believe none of them could achieve elite in two hundred years.

“We don’t know.” Ellen shook her head bitterly. “People have fulfilled the requirements in the past, but it always gets delayed until some problem comes up that voids it.”

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“That’s bad.” Marina put down the papers and started massaging her head for a different reason. If this is true then it’s quite possible the Vault Family has an enemy in the Academy, and one of high status at that. This could very well interfere with her plans.

She understood now why this exam was so important to the Vault Family. If she could suspect foul play, then obviously they did too. They probably hoped that it’d be too late for the other party to interfere if Tai got elite classification on enrollment. A naive thought, but she could understand the desperate logic behind it.

‘I guess we’ll find out after the exams. If even that monster can’t gain elite status with those notes, then it proves someone very high up is targeting them.’ Her eyes grew dark, and a malevolent aura threatened to spill out of her at the thought.

She needed elite status for her plans eventually. Many privileges and classes were locked behind that classification, it could even affect job opportunity after graduation. It was particularly integral for her plans to get reinstated in the Norn family and regain access to her inherited wealth and library.

‘Calm down.’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘There’s no guarantee there’s truly someone aiming for them, and even if there is it’s a problem for the future. This exam is what’s important, take everything one step at a time.’ She repeated taking breathes until the malevolent aura sunk down and her nerves settled down.

She looked up at Ellen and said, “This just shows how hard gaining elite status truly is. Ephemeral Mask is very talented, but that might not be enough. You should sign up for enrollment just in case Ellen.”

Ellen’s eyes widened in surprise. Marina hadn’t mentioned this since they’d left Twin Peaks. However, she was only surprised, not convinced.  

“I just don’t think you’ve fully thought about this.” Marina said to her before she could respond. “Think about it, if he doesn’t gain elite then he’ll still be going to the academy, meanwhile you’ll be going home. I don’t know what you guys planned for that scenario, but you should know that long distance basically never works.” Ellen’s obstinate expression faltered upon Marina’s words.

Meanwhile Raul looked at Marina with wide eyes. This sounded familiar…

“I mean, just think about it. You guys will be separated for four years, FOUR years. Even if he doesn’t plan to do anything, picture it. He’ll be meeting all sorts of new people who are just as talented as him, making all sorts of new friends and associates. The nights gets lonely, friends come over, good friends and good drink flowing, everyone leaves, but, one stays to help clean up, one thing leads to another, a single misstep and–“

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Ellen yelled out to banish the images. She didn’t stop there however, immediately activating Shadow Tag to escape the wretched words.

“Damn, she ran.” Marina frowned in disappointment. She wanted to settle it in one fell swoop, but even in her prime she’d have no way to catch up to a running Ellen. Still, this blow definitely struck hard. At the very least she was likely to think about it now.

She looked over to see Raul still staring at her wide eyed and jaw dropped. “What?” She asked defensively as her cheeks colored a little. Her eyes dared him to say something.

‘You are so hot right now.’ He thought. “Nothing, just wondering what grade I got.” He actually said.

“Give me a minute.” She picked back up the papers to grade. After a while she nodded in approval. “It’s barely passible, but it’s markedly better than when we started.”

Raul whooped as his brain crossed out the ‘barely’ and went into full celebration mode. “So that means I can go, right?” He couldn’t bear spending another day inside.

Marina closed her eyes in thought while Raul watched her nervously. Raul’s current understanding of House politics could only be described as the bare minimum. While he probably wouldn’t do anything as reckless as before, she’d feel safer if he learned more before going out again.

However, Jonny already contacted her with confirmation he’d gotten everything she asked for. She could finally fix her broken body, and the sooner she did, the sooner she could finish Raul’s Dao Weapon, and run that test. But fixing herself would take time and focus. She couldn’t realistically have Raul wait days for her to finish.

“Yes, you can traverse the city.” She reluctantly gave permission.

“Yes!’ Raul cheered loudly. It was only a few days, but it felt much longer to him. All they did was study day in and day out. The only other thing he could do was practice with his Qi, and even that he had to do in moderation as he couldn’t push Marina to fill it up for him in her condition. He’d never imagined it was possible to feel such despair keeping two beautiful women company.

“Remember your lessons, and keep your mirror out!” She shouted as he dashed out the room. Watching his haste already had her regretting this a little.

A tired sigh escaped her lips as her head plopped on the table for a short rest. She honestly didn’t expect things like this to be part of the lessons she’d have to teach her tool of revenge.

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