The next day, Calux and Seraphiel enjoyed a nice date, touring the city, eating in different stalls and restaurants, and Calux even bought some things that Seraphiel seemed to like but didn't say she wanted, he knew this was because of the price tags, but heck he was fairly rich.
Little by little, Seraphiel started feeling that perhaps it wasn't so bad to put her feelings on the table if she was going to be pampered like this, Calux was genuinely attentive, most of the time she hadn't even mentioned wanting something but somehow he knew.
Nothing grand happened, Seraphiel was bold enough by the second part of the date and actually grabbed his hand and interlocked fingers and didn't let go until the end of the date, but apart from that they didn't go any further.
Calux wanted to genuinely cultivate their feelings before taking it any further.
...
At the manor that night, it was finally time for a rank up.
After the events of the rift, Calux decided that even if he topped the best students of the academy, if he had the means he should get stronger just incase harder rifts started to appear.
There was a nagging feeling in his heart that what they experienced was just the start.
Because of that, for the past two weeks, albeit on a smaller timeframe, he had been training on the Void Palace for a few hours every day, and today marked the saturation of his mana core and body enhancements to rank C.
While he finished training against the constructs, Nyraxis watched attentively.
After the rift, father has been adamant about not staying low key... He knows that he needs to get stronger and not play around because of that weird beast.
I'm sure to rank up to A rank in the coming weeks if I keep it up, unfortunately I can't be let out to hunt in the academy, ugh.
After finally ranking up in both core and body, Calux left the Void Palace and as expected it was already night.
He took a bath and went to sleep because tomorrow...
Calux Voidbane would be shown to the world in the academy test.
...
After eating breakfast with Seraphiel, they walked through the streets of Xilaris towards the Royal Academy which was a few minutes away from the manor.
Arriving at the gates, Calux and Seraphiel couldn't help but marvel at the architecture.
Beautiful archways with intricate designs woven into the material formed a gate that was thirty feet tall, golden hues highlighted the pearl white material, inviting the new students into the academy.
At a glance, there were over a thousand people pouring into the academy at this moment, this highlighted how many awakeners wanted to join.
Unfortunately, only two hundred and fifty awakeners can join the academy yearly, thankfully there's a three year buffer for students that couldn't get in the previous years, that is also why the influx of people is so high.
Arriving at registration, which was compulsory even if you were royalty, Calux and Seraphiel definitely turned eyes, they were like a heaven sent duo in front of mortals arriving at the front desk.
The person at the desk, an older man from the registration department looked at both of them with uninterested looks.
"Names and ranks?"
"Calux Voidbane, C rank."
"Seraphiel Orithis, C- rank."
A deafening silence took over the area.
Some people sneered, others were shocked.
The person at the desk however was shocked, two other C ranks?
The Voidbane family wouldn't retort to lying right?
"Mr. Voidbane, forgive me if this sounds rude, but since you awakened a few months ago... Well we can't take your words at face value because of this.."
While he said these words, he took out an Apex Network mana reader, these were artifacts created by humans and eventually tied to the Apex Network in some way that only crafters knew, that showed three things, mana core rank, mana body rank, and the name of the person.
"No problem."
Calux went first.
--
Apex Network
Name: Calux Voidbane
Core: C
Body: C
--
When these results were shown on the small digital screen the man at the desk almost stumbled back.
How could this be?!
Before anyone could actually process this information, Seraphiel put her hand over the artifact.
--
Apex Network
Name: Seraphiel Orithis
Core: C-
Body: C-
--
At this point, people had congregated around them to confirm what everyone was saying in hush tones.
Calux and Seraphiel weren't just at the C- rank level, they were at that rank for both body and core in barely a few months since awakening.
What kind of talent was this?
Wasn't Calux a trash who just awakened?
Who the hell is Seraphiel that is on par with the Princess?
All these questions echoed on the heads of everyone present.
Then, sensing the tension, Calux decided to break the ice.
"So, can we proceed to wait for the test to start or do we need to prove anything else?"
Like a bucket of cold water being thrown at the receptionist, he snapped out of it.
"Of course not! I apologize if I disrespected you Mr. Voidbane, but it was very shock news and so I wouldn't get scolded later on I had to confirm, I ask you do not take it to heart."
Calux smiled gently, he knew the fact that Sera and him went above the C- rank was something impossible for the masses, but who were they?
Sovereigns, they weren't tied to normal rules.
"It's fine, thank you for your hard work."
He looked at Seraphiel, grabbed her hand and walked towards the congregation of people waiting for the test to start.
Everyone around looked at the scene and couldn't help but gasp.
The heir to the Voidbane family was holding hands with a woman no one knew.
Wasn't he engaged to the Princess?
Some people had heard about the broken engagement, others had not.
But through all the murmurs, eventually someone at the front of the masses heard what was being said.
The air around the person grew heavy, and you could see the angry expression in her face.
Who else but the Princess would be in this state after listening to the rumors of Calux holding hands with Seraphiel.
On the other hand, Seraphiel was beaming with happiness, although nervousness and shyness wanted to take over, the fact that Calux grabbed her hand in this public display of affection showed that he cared not for the nobles or the Princess, and this made her feel warm inside, the happiness she felt was something she hadn't felt before, all she could do was look at Calux with eyes full of affection, eventually resting her head on his shoulder while they waited.