Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Shin was never good at listening to others, even if the person he was listening to was his mother. The tournament will start in an hour, and his mother finally found time to talk about how he will be wasting his potential if he went to the trial this time around. 

"I can't take it anymore," Shin shouted at his mother. "Mom, I appreciate you have managed to find some time in your busy schedule to watch me in the tournament, but I would appreciate it if you only do the watching part, rather than making my decision for me."

"Shin, why don't you listen to me?" his mother said. "All am I doing is for your best."

"I know," Shin said, gritting his teeth, turning around. 'But I don't want best.'

Shin ran away after that, leaving his mother, who held her hand in high, calling him, with a thick frown on her brows.

Shin did not look back or even answer her call and rushed towards the outwards of the dormitory. The tournament still had about an hour to start, but Shin already could not endure the talks his mother was giving him. He knew she thinks the best for him, but perhaps the best was not what he wanted. No, he never wanted what was best for him. He just wanted enough, like any other boys and girls of his age.

From childhood, he had everything in his hand's distance. He had everything a child would want. Everything but one thing. And to get that thing, he had done a lot of mischievous things. pulled pranks and behaved like total shit in public, but . . . Perhaps his way was ineffective. Perhaps someone in his place could have done better.

He moved out of the dormitory, eyes drifting everywhere to find Elior, or even anyone else he recognised. The tournament was supposed to be held in the ground, but he reckoned Elior or others won't be there this early. Knowing Elior, he was probably training or doing something productive.

Sometimes Shin even wondered how could a boy of his same age do all those things and still walk straight. 'Perhaps because he was the chosen one,' he thought, though he fully did not understand the meaning of it. Chosen by who? The gods? The deities? And to do what? Through all the conversation Shin had with Elior, he got the thing his brother was doing was top secret, and he was doing it for some reason. It was like someone of the higher up was commending him, and perhaps his brother did not know the whole truth, either.

Either way, Shin was happy to know, it was not something reprehensible—though Elior had thought otherwise. From Elior's perspective, what he was doing was no less than sinful, but he was doing what's necessary.

He knew none know about it that the two of them. Not even Elior's parents knew about it, and from him, Shin had even heard Elior's parents were not even happy about him being a Guardian. Both of their cages were different, but a little similar in some sense. 

Shin first moved toward the cafeteria to find someone. There are usually more crowds in the cafeteria than on other days. Perhaps because of the tournament. Not all the students were participating. Well, to be exact, barely a couple dozen of the freshmen were taking part, though only a few of them were in the attempt to get the chance to join the trial.

His argument with his mom was because of the trial, too. She thinks he was wasting his potential on marching so early to the trial when he barely knew anything about the combat and other things. Shin knew she was thinking about him, but she never even seeks to understand how much hard work he had put in for this.

"Oi, Shin," a gentle female voice called from one of the tables where a young woman sitting alone, with two full plates before him, filled with healthy food. Shin felt a sudden hunger as the aroma of the food entered his nose, but he brought it down. He was in no mood for stuffing his mouth now.

"Enna," Shin called, trying to distract himself with her beauty. Sadly, it failed. He was not in the mood for that either. "Have you seen Elior?"

"No," Enna answered. "But I heard Ileana talking about giving him a visit to the artificers' department. That was a quarter of an hour ago."

Shin's face brightened, and he shot outwards again, yelling, "Thank you, Enna."

"Hey, good luck with your match," Enna yelled too, but by the time Shin already left the cafeteria. "I wondered why he looked so pressed." Perhaps because of the tournament, thinking that she focused back on her eating.

Shin ran straight towards the artificers' department on the second floor. He had been here once, and finding the familiar room did not turn out to be a difficult job. The building was as vacant as he had remembered. The making of these rooms was far bigger and taller than the other rooms in the institute, as they had to install large instruments, and he had heard this building was supplying the power source of many things in the entire academy.

Supposedly, Professor Neldor, who had built and planned most of the things here, left the heart of all the things right here in this building, though very few knew where exactly it was.

Shin went to the exact room he came to with Elior once and found it was locked from the inside. Most likely, Elior was creating something. He did say he would prepare the things for the trial, as if the tournament held no interest in his regards. That was probably true.

Shin knocked on the door a couple of times, hoping Ileana or someone else was there, or he was not bothering Elior with his production. As he had thought, a short chest-nut haired girl opened the door and let him in. Ileana was sweating, though considering the temperature of the room, he would not be in a better state in a couple of minutes.

Shin got the answer for the temperature instantly. The large burner burns nonstop in a red glow, raising the temperature of the room by a couple of dozen degrees. Now two blacksmiths were working on the metal, purifying them. Shin knew both of them. One was none other than Elior, while the other was Aanya, both of them were currently in the thick apron, with Aanya's hair tied in a bun behind her head.

Both of their clothes were wet with sweat, and it was still dripping from their faces, back and front everywhere. If it weren't the fault of the burner, it should be the huge sledgehammers both of them were holding.

"They have been at it since I came here," Ileana said from beside him. "I tried to dissolve him telling about the tournament, he would need his strength to win, but do you know what he said?"

"Is the tournament irrelevant?" Shin said, trying to mimic Elior's voice.

"Something similar," Ileana said, shaking her head, though it looked like it was for her childhood friend. "He said preparing the alloy is far more important."

Shin nodded and saw bricks of metal decorated in the sides. He knew what these metals were. They were recovered from the metal beast, and now they held nothing of the taint. The ones he owned were in them as well. He had asked Elior to build him a sword out of it, though the answer he got was it would take time.

Like Shin had thought, he would not be able to use that in the tournament, but he could not blame Elior either. Since he had heard how hard it was to purify the damn tainted metal. And now even senior Aanya was helping him.

"I didn't know senior Aanya knew to smite," Shin muttered.

"She knows artifacting too, though she said it was barely good." Ileana laughed. "She is the daughter of a Smith and magic engineer after all."

Shin watched the two hammering the metal. Contrary to what he had believed, it appeared Aanya was really the crude one. Yes, her stammer had more power than Elior, but her rhythm was not so refined as Elior. Though Shin could be mistaken, after all, he knew nothing about metal or blacksmithing.

But seeing such and feeling the mana undulation in the metal, he could feel Elior was doing the part of refining the metal more, while Aanya was supplying her strength to him, making it easier for him. Those two work in such good sync—already knowing what they would be better at.

"I wondered if they talk about metals on their dates," Ileana said from the sides.

"I smell something burning," Shin laughed and suddenly found his mood was better than when he ran off, too. "And it's not the burner or the metal."

Ileana snorted, but she still had to admit.. "They look good together."