He didn't think much again and simply followed behind her, still keeping his guard and focus up.
The registration process wouldn't take long, only five minutes at most.
*
A slight smile appeared on Harry's face as the incidents of the last few minutes replayed in his mind.
He had already completed the registration and he and Susan had gone their different ways.
A low sigh left his lips as he stared at the different students chattering around him.
During the whole registration process, Susan had tried to draw as little attention as possible so no one actually knew about it.
Harry was quite surprised actually.
It seemed like Susan had already contacted the instructor responsible for the registration even before meeting him.
Usually a normal student would never be able to pull of something like this, but since it was Susan, the rank one academy student, it was only natural that she shared some kind of fondness with a few—if not most—of the instructors.
The edges of Harry's lips curved up in a slight smirk.
He could still remember how surprised the instructor was when he told him about his intention to join the ranking event.
His surprise was natural since Harry was only a new Elementalist who joined barely two months ago.
But Harry wasn't worried about being too weak or 'unqualified' for the competition.
He was sure with his current strength, he could be said to be on par with most of the elite students.
So he had a high chance of winning if he actually unleashed himself fully.
Unfortunately, he would have to hold back during this event as well… or else, he might attract more attention—and maybe, suspicions.
'I really hate this…' Harry mumbled inwardly.
Suddenly a strange glint flashed through his eyes. 'Bet the principal thinks of me as some kind of golden goose huh…? Meant to bring honour to the academy…' He mumbled inwardly.
His eyes squinted slightly and his brows furrowed as he clenched his fists tightly.
No matter how nice the principal and the instructors of this academy treated him, he would never forget how they ignored his sufferings back when he didn't have the system, or rather, a 'mana core'.
It was safe to say that if he had never shown his talent and affinities to the academy, they wouldn't have treated him any better.
While they could justify their actions that Harry was useless to the academy, it didn't change the fact that he was ignored… and simply treated as trash by both the students—Elementalists and regular—and the instructors.
Harry could still remember vividly; how he reported to the instructors numerous times about what he was going through in the academy and yet, nothing was done—nothing changed.
Things only changed for the better after he became a victim of a mana beast attack and that was mainly because of the AMO intervention.
Harry's breath became slightly bated when he remembered the incident with the peak stage four mana beast.
Even though it happened more than two months ago, he still felt shivers whenever he remembered how close he was to death.
The towering figure of the beast and the amount of pain that coursed through his body was definitely something that he couldn't just forget.
'That's in the past… I would make sure I never get into such situation. Never again…' Harry thought with a strong look of conviction and determination in his eyes.
Everything was different now, he had the system, and he would make sure to utilise it to its full 'capacity'.
'As for being the "golden goose" of this academy… let's see about that.' Harry mumbled inwardly as a twisted smile appeared on his face.
What he had in mind wasn't exactly the sanest of plans, but he didn't care and would implement it anyway.
'At least now… I should be able to gain access to the beast forest.' Harry thought.
Just as the name "Beast forest" implied, it was basically a place, or rather, forest, filled with mana beasts.
Though most of the mana beasts on the planet had been eradicated, they were still quite abundant on the face of the earth.
Since Mana beasts were simply normal animals that 'forcefully' evolved and mutated due to the sudden invasion of mana into their bodies, complete extinction was more or less impossible.
Though the reproductive rate of mana beasts wasn't that high as most of the ones in the lower stages focused more on eating and staying away from danger, they still flourished in placed filled with erratic mana.
New mana beasts came into existence quite frequently since mana still very much invaded the bodies and 'mind' of normal animals, causing them to mutate and evolve.
The only difference was that the mana beasts 'created' during these present times weren't as aggressive as the ones that existed during the "apocalypse ages".
They were still aggressive, however, some of them retained a bit of their sanity and weren't completely mindless.
Even though mana had been on earth for about two centuries, the density and 'stability' of the mana in the air wasn't the same everywhere.
Some parts of the planet had denser mana than others and the mana in some were wilder and more "unstable" and "uncoordinated" compared to others.
A Beast forest were one of the "places" where the mana in the air was wild and erratic.
There were lots of "beast forest" around the world where mana beasts flourished.
The AMO couldn't just wipe them out since the beasts in some of these forests were actually very powerful.
Some forests had mana beasts up to stage five, however, that was the highest. Anything more powerful than that would unsurprisingly draw the attention of the top powers of the world.
These beasts forests were guarded by powerful Elementalists in order to prevent any of them from leaving the forest and attacking normal citizens.
There was also a beast forest owned and managed by the academy.
It wasn't actually "owned" by the academy itself but rather, the AMO.
This particular beast forest was located at the east part of Vernil.
It wasn't too big and was rather small with the strongest mana beast in the forest being at the second stage.
Due to the high death risk surrounding beasts forests, not just anyone was allowed into them.
To get into a beast forest a beast forest, one either had to be an adventurer, or in Harry's case, get "approval" from the academy by going on missions.
Usually, Students went on their first mission—or rather, beast forest adventure—in the third year.
However, due to Harry's 'unique case', he wasn't able to go into a beast forest. Since he was a normal person during his year three days, he was unsurprisingly prohibited.
'Hopefully… the principal gives his approval.' He thought.
***
Meanwhile.
In a wide and well-furnished room, a figure with curly light brown hair was seated down on a bright yellow mat.
He was putting on a black and gold uniform.
His eyes were closed and his brows twitched rapidly.
It didn't take a genius to get that he was meditating in utmost focus and concentration.
"Huu…" The brown haired boy exhaled as he opened his eyes, revealing a set of beautiful light brown eyes.
'I'm getting closer to balancing my mana and elemental mana between my mana core and affinity orbs.' He thought with a slight smile on his handsome face.