The meeting eventually ended with the final agreement that if Emery managed to take the 9th ranking from Arcana, the leaders would be him and Julian. Naturally, if he couldn't do so, they would then follow the previous arrangements of Roran and Julian instead.
Many people actually understood Roran's point of view, while Emery also didn't want to be involved in the politics if he happened to fail. Thus, the meeting quickly came to a consensus.
After the meeting, those who had attended were served some exquisite delicacies and beverages prepared by the Harlight faction. All this in the hope they would get to know each other better.
After the rather serious discussion, the meeting quickly turned into a gathering of class 77 and elite 7, with them congratulating the new rising star, the 20th ranking privileged acolyte hailing from the lower realm.
"You have achieved some amazing things, Emery! I can't help but to admire and envy you at the same time!"
"I always talk about how I used to be in the same class as the famous Savage Acolyte!"
"You are so inspiring, Emery!"
"You have obtained the prestige, the riches, and the girls! Argghhh, you really make me jealous!"
"That's right! I'm so envious!"
Emery received equal amounts of praise and envy from his former classmates. It was quite a heartwarming gathering, to say the least.
After hours of fun, the gathering gradually turned chaotic as Thrax and Gerri began their antics. One of them was chaotic enough when drunk, let alone two. Emery watched as they set up weird challenges that somehow involved burning their clothes.
Seeing this, Emery decided to quietly take his leave, since he still needed to prepare for tomorrow's fight.
As Emery turned and was about to leave the venue, he noticed Julian's figure approaching. This of course made him stop in his tracks.
"What's the matter, Julian?"
"Yeah, about what happened earlier." Julian replied with a smile of his own. "I came to you just to let you know I don't actually mind who the leader is, as long as we can pass the midterms safely."
"Apart from that, good luck with your match tomorrow. I can't come tomorrow to watch, because I have scheduled a body tempering session just before the mid-test. You won't be able to see me for the next five days."
Julian's words made Emery remember he still owed the dwarf master a promise to help out in the facility.
"Good luck and also please tell Master Dulin I will keep my promise after the mid-test."
As soon as Emery finished talking to Julian, just as he was about to leave again, he suddenly felt a figure crash into his body from behind, before continuing to hug him tightly. Turning his head, he saw Klea, whose face was buried deep into his back.
Smiling affectionately, Emery stroked the girl's hair and said, "I'm sorry I'm always busy with something."
"Glad you realized!" Klea snorted, then she sighed. "I really wish I was in the privileged class like you, that way we could hang out more."
Hearing the downcast tone in the girl's words, Emery was about to console her when her voice was heard again. "But it's okay! We still have thousands of years ahead of us, right?" As she spoke those words, Klea lifted her face and locked gaze with Emery.
Emery fell in a daze when he heard that, as he couldn't begin to imagine what a thousand years would be like.
Since he was only 20 years old, Emery actually did not really care about things in the next millennium. He preferred the present and wished he could spend even more time with the people he cared about today.
Thinking of this, Emery quickly grabbed Klea's hand and fled from all the hustle and bustle of the venue. The two of them ran through a spatial gate with their arms intertwined with each other and appeared on top of one of the tallest rocks, standing under a dazzling starry night sky.
The two of them laid on the rock, gazing at the glittering stars and the purple-green aurora that flowed like a blanket covering them, as they embraced each other. Silence fell between them for a while, before Emery finally opened his mouth.
"I hope you like this."
"I do." Klea's body snuggled closer and her soft whisper was heard again. "I really do..."
The two lovebirds just laid there, feeling the night breeze caressing their skin, enjoying the serene atmosphere between them.
Klea was happy. In fact, she secretly wished for time to stop forever at this moment.
But then, she was soon reminded of the match Emery would be having tomorrow.
"Don't you want to go, Emery? Are you sure you don't need to prepare for tomorrow? What if that rank 9 guy is really strong"
There was no answer. So the girl turned her face to the side and finally saw the reason.
The young wolf had fallen asleep.
Emery had not slept for quite a long time. In fact, he hadn't slept a wink since he made his breakthrough and fought with Armand's gang. Of course, he wanted to prepare something for the upcoming match, but being so comfortable with the girl, he preferred to have a comfortable rest instead.
Klea didn't wake Emery. The two slept together that night in each other's arms until morning came a few hours later when they finally had to part.
"Bring me great news!" Klea said, before Emery entered the portal back to Hyperion.
After walking out of the portal, Emery headed straight for the Privilege Center Arena.
This time, he came a little early for his match, but just in time to watch the first fight of the 90-ish rank.
As he sat down on one of the seats, Emery once again checked his privilege bracelets.
[Rank 9 - Arcana (13)]
[Rank 10 - Zetto (8)]
[Rank 16 - Sigurd(12)]
[Rank 19 - Jinkan Nephilim(15)]
[Rank 20 - Emery Ambrose (9)]
Just like before, the rules of the duel during Arena was he needed to fight all those who came scheduled for today's duel.
Apparently, Jinkan Nephilim - the second strongest Nephilm was here to challenge Sigurd, while the rank 10 Zetto came with the same intention as him, to gain the commander position for the upcoming mid-test.
As the duel progressed from the rank 90-ish to the 70-ish, the Arena began to fill with more people. It was at this time the people Emery knew began to arrive.
"Did you have fun last night?" said a familiar female voice near Emery's ear. "Certainly it couldn't be better than what we had, right?"
Turning his head, Emery was greeted by Annara's face with her trademark teasing smile.