Lyren was left dumbfounded as he was suddenly left alone. He had expected that there was something wrong with his method but to think that it would cause such a reaction… he looked around and when the teacher this, she smiled because she might have learnt something about Lyren.
He was not all knowing. If anything, he just had a high adaptability. If anything, adaptability could be said to be the best ability one could have. It had started looking as though Lyren was going to breeze though the first year but there was no mistaking that he was maybe the least informed of all the first years. Just those two words of saying how he produced flames was enough to humble him.
The students looked at Lyren and in no time, everyone knew how he activated his flames and the distance between them all increased forming a radius around him. Lyren was like that one person with leprosy that no one wanted to get close to. They avoided eye contact with him and they murmured inaudibly.
Lyren's eyes said it all. He needed answers.
"What is wrong with you all? I make fire just like you all do!" Lyren exclaimed and for he first time, it was not reverie in the students' eyes but mocking. Their eyes said it all.
"You don't make fire like us!"
Lyren lit up a fireball to test the extent of their reaction and well, it was worse than he had expected as all students scrambled away from that side of the amphitheater to the other side leaving him alone. Lyren was probably out of reactions now as he looked at madam Sarah for help. He did not understand anything!
She smiled at Lyren and then at the students, she chuckled.
"I totally understand what it is with your reaction and let me tell you that if you did not run away, I would realize that you do not follow your elders. Burning Elyria is probably the last thing you would want to light flames with. It is oftentimes a taboo and you are not wrong.
"All those who have tried to burn their Elyria to produce flames have all succumbed to the same pitfall. Those who are lucky are able to maintain their lives but not without consequences. Some have lost entire organs or limbs while the luckier ones managed to burn their channels ending their cultivation journey," the students had a stern look and horror was written all over their faces.
"There are those who are unlucky and they end up exploding and destroying everything in the vicinity. If you did not escape, it would mean that you do not care for your lives. But that is not all, you all realize that burning Elyria is the ultimate fire element user flex. Many people spend the rest of their lives trying to learn how to burn Elyria.
"It is because many have failed that we have come to consider it to be impossible, but the truth stands before you all, it is possible to burn your Elyria and still survive. Ask your class rep," she said and all eyes turned to Lyren who was once again in the spotlight.
Lyren recalled the first time he had produced flame, he had burnt up his only channel and the sect mistress was the one that had saved him. He realized just how much of a risk he had been carrying around. He did not think that his method was wrong though. The sect mistress could not have let him continue burning his flames if it was a danger to him.
He looked at their class teacher and for a moment, he thought he had seen a sparkle in her eyes.
"You all should not be skeptical because even I in my prime tried to burn Elyria and as you can see…" she said and her words hung in the air as she lit up a fireball by burning Elyria. The students watched with sparkling eyes and the flame that was produce was solid. It was like an actual ball and its curvature was perfect.
"How can we be sure that he will not explode on all of us?" A girl who had a B talent sitting at the front seat said and everyone nodded.
"Well, do you think that I could have let him walk out of the stage if his flames were not safe?" Madam Sarah asked and they all had rounded lips as they heard this.
Lyren's fireballs were miles away from even dreaming of reaching that level. He looked at the ball intently and he realized just how much distance lay in front of him. His flames followed the wind and the only that supported them was the amount of Elyria that he kept burning every time.
Also, he realized that this was probably not a test for the other students but a test for him. This left him so many unanswered questions. What was the meaning of this?
"It is a shock to me too that someone young like your class rep is able to do something this extreme so easily. When I was your age, I was probably scrambling away when someone tried to burn Elyria. So, I think that y'all should give credit where it is due," she said and the students revere returned slowly every time they looked at Lyren.
Lyren was asked to go to the other side and there was no longer any doubt in the student's eyes. Julian tried to put on an innocent face but his eyes were as guilty as charged. He had overreacted. How long had he interacted with Lyren? If he was a bomb, then they would have been dead when he fought the seniors.
"Survival first," Julian said adjusting his round glasses not looking Lyren in the eye. "I have a long life ahead of me. You know…"
"Shut your beak you two-faced clown," Lyren mumbled and Julian rubbed his nose.
"I am a yapper but don't insult me. It's a mouth. Not a beak!" Julian protest and Lyren could not help but smile a little bit as he focused forward. The teacher had already called another person on the stage.
"Do not try to burn your flames," she said and the students laughed when they heard that. Who was foolish enough to try burning their flames? Well, they looked at Lyren and then to the stage.
"I have been meaning to ask…" Julian started and Lyren just gave him a look telling him to continue if he wanted to. "Are you ignorant, arrogant or just foolish?"
The next second, Julian was on his heels and running away as Lyren missed him by a needle's width. Julian's heart was pumping fast as he finally escaped the clutches of the tyrant Lyren. He felt a cold sensation on his spine and it was at this moment that he realized that they were on a class activity and there was a Madam Sarah supervising them.
All eyes were on them and madam Sarah realized that it might have been a mistake having the two as the leaders of her class. The act they had just done was proof that they were not just deputies and class rep. They were a nuisance!
"I would like to have a word with the two of you after this," she said as the event continued. There was not much of a change as the biggest flame was later produced by Julian who had a slightly larger flame than the fireplace one. The students clapped as he went to take his seat and they wanted to see if he could go back to his superior but he maintained his distance.
This was a really interesting duo…