Chapter 2019 Claim
Days passed quietly.
Sam spent most of the time resting and once in a while he visited the Hub in his original form and acted as a student training to gain experience.
The rest of the candidates who got selected for the finals of Inter Academy Freshmen Competition spent most of their time in the Hub. Some went there when it opened and stayed there until it was closed down.
Sam welcomed the business and the information that came along with it.
Soon it is the day before the departure. It is the prayer ceremony time. Sam got all the information from the small book that Dove gave him. It has all the history, rules and significance of the prayer ceremony for the academies.
As she said, it is for the students to get some enlightenment and blessing of the gods that represent their respective academies.
The prayer ceremony is held in a special place where the gods of all the academies in this particular region are placed.
On that day, along with a bunch of Grade 4 Seniors, all the Deans accompanied their respective candidates to that prayer zone.
It is an isolated area situation deep within a forest zone that is forbidden for students to enter normally. Sam watched as statues of different Olympian gods stood proudly. Each of them are carved out of various precious minerals.
In between all of them stood Gambler's statue.
His face is just as obscure as it is in Sam's memory. Unlike the remaining statues this is not made of any precious materials and it is not as huge as them. The only thing remarkable about is its craftsman ship. Other than that, it is just an ordinary statue.
There is no grandeur and there is no overwhelming pride.
Judging from Gambler's personality, Sam knew this is deliberate. This might even be a taunt to the Olympian gods. 'My statue is lowly and shabby but it still stands in between all of your egoistic statues, what the fuck are you gonna do about it?' Sam wouldn't be surprised if he actually said those words out loud to their faces.
Dove looked at Sam who was engrossed in the statues and said.
"You can admire the statues later on. But according to the rules the prayer ceremonies would be conducted in the order of the top ten rankings in Solo battles. So, the first one is the Gambler's Academy.
You should lead the team and go there."
Sam nodded and stood forward. The rest of the students from Gambler's academy followed him. Right now the whole scene is dominated by the students from Gambler's academy.
Sam might just be the only one in the top ten solo rankings. But they won the group contest.
So, there are nine more members there.
Apart from that, there is another person who ranked third in the inscription test solo contest, and the gambler's academy also happened to rank first in the group inscription contest in which this guy is also a part of. So, that is another five.
They didn't manage to do much in the formation test and the Weapon Smithing test: both solo and group. But Sam ranked in both of them as well. First in one, second in the other. He also ranked first in the Inscription test and Second in Medicine Making.
Apart from that, the Gambler's Academy ranked positions in many other solo auxiliary positions. They had some painting, music, Embroidery, and Architecture.
Sam is one, of nine more people for the group contest, five for inscription and four more for other auxiliary professions. That is a total of twenty-eight members. That is the highest that appeared today.
Under Sam's lead, all twenty-eight members appeared in front of Gambler's statue and he performed the ceremony as he was previously instructed. Sam is very familiar with this. He performed similar ceremonies throughout his journey to this realm. He couldn't help but remember all the Zeus and Hou Yi's Statues that he destroyed on the way.
Soon the sky is filled with clouds of spiritual energy.
At least that is what it looked like. Gambler's statue glowed and a bunch of light beams shouted out of these energy clouds. All twenty-eight people bathed in these light beams. Everyone had wide smiles on their faces.
'You are Doing Great.'
Sam heard a voice in his head. He didn't receive any other enlightenment. He knew who this voice belonged to.
He stepped back after that and the next team was led by Zeus Academy.
There are not many people from Zeus Academy. There are three people in the top ten, one person in the formation test and another person in the inscription test. Apart from that, there is not much progress there. They didn't focus much on their auxiliary professions.
At least the freshmen who were good at this were not up to par with the rest of the academies.
The Zeus statue didn't show a reaction for quite a while as they performed the ceremony. The Dean of Zeus Academy frowned at this. This is not a good sign. It means that Zeus is not satisfied with the student's performance.
person in the crowd.
But soon the statue glowed with purple electric light and the dark clouds rumbled with lightning and thunder.
The sky is currently occupied with Zeus' will and he is about to give blessing to the students.
Everyone is watching to see what Zeus would give to his students since he paused for long. But the deans and Dove all looked at one person in the crowd.
Sam.
As soon as the clouds started conjuring, a spear appeared in Sam's hand. Silver lightning Crackled from inside his body as he activated partial fusion. Raiju's bloodline riled up. A large amount of silver lightning energy coupled with his Divine Energy was injected into the spear forcefully.
All this happened in a second and before the lightning beam was about to touch the students of Zeus Academy, Sam threw the spear at the beam.
*BOOM*
Both lightnings collided and the Purple lightning of the dark clouds is now corrupted by Sam's silver lightning.
"HOW DARE YOU???"
Someone bellowed in rage and Sam felt a very dangerous aura coming towards him to take his life. But he didn't move, he had a smirk on his face and stood there motionless.
*BOOM*
With an explosive sound, a slap was blocked by Dove who stood beside him. Her gaze is locked, Sam.
Sam looked at the Grade 4 Student from Zeus Academy who came to kill him. He is one of the guys Sam recognized from his fight with the Titans.
All the Olympian Deans looked at Sam with utmost hatred.
"Dove, step back. He dared to disrespect Zeus, there is no saving him."
The Grade 4 Zeus academy student calmed down and he addressed Dove to step back, but Dove didn't do so.
"Even your Dean is staying Silent. The rest of the Olympian Deans are staying silent. Even your God Zeus didn't retaliate, why are you overreacting Perseus? Step back and let them talk first."
As soon as Dove spoke another person spoke.
"Perceus, step back."
Dean of Zeus Academy.
The old man stepped forward and looked at Sam.
"Do you know what you did?"
"Of course, I just followed a very old tradition. I am trying to Claim Zeus' Blessing."
All Deans' faces turned stern when he mentioned this.
"No one has done this in years. How do you even know about this?"
Sam gave a faint glance at Dove and replied.
"I came across it from an old book when I was researching Prayer Ceremony."
Dean sighed and spoke out loud.
"According to one of the old rules, a student of a different academy can challenge to claim the blessing of the god of any academy. But they have to win the challenge first and for Zeus, it is to take seven lightning strikes head on.
Without a weapon, defensive artifacts or any other formations of inscriptions. All the candidate can use is their own body's strength. If they withdraw from the test, they would be banished from the Academic realm for eternity with the cultivation they attained here taken away.
So, only Zeus' test can mark Sam as a criminal. None of us have any right to do so."
Perseus looked at Sam hatefully with shock apparent in his eyes. White who is looking at the whole farce clenched his fists.
Meanwhile, Sam floated into the air and stood under the clouds.
He had a proud smirk on his face as he looked at Zeus' statue.
"I am right here in front of you. A perfect opportunity for you to retaliate from all my antics. Do your worst and let's see who wins."
As Sam spoke, he took off his feathered Coat and the vest underneath it. He is standing there with his chest bare. The chiseled body and the scars he wore proudly were clearly visible for everyone to see.
Dean Wharton cheered and jumped as he encouraged Sam and Dove narrowed her eyes with curiosity apparent in hers.
White and Vidyut took a deep breath as they looked at those scars and so did the other students. Those scars are Sam's battle history and they couldn't even imagine what kind of battles have given him that many.
Raiju's bloodline activated as Silver lightning crackled.
Sam's leg muscles bulged and his spine hunched very slightly. His upper body and chest muscles expanded a bit with his arms growing longer.
His hair turned into a pristine silver color and the silver lightning covered every inch of his body like silver fur. Lightning condensed at his nails like claws.
Sam looked like a werewolf and he taunted Zeus to strike him down.
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