Genius Seventh Prince

Tristian and Bromwood"s battle had paused because of Greyson"s last spell that had affected the entire stadium. Restarting, the two started up again. No matter how exciting their battle was, though, most of the audience was still stuck thinking back to the earlier battle and Greyson"s final spell. Both Tristian and Bromwood could feel that even the judge was barely paying attention and felt extremely aggrieved. Couldn"t that kid leave s.p.a.ce for others to show off a little? They suddenly felt like jokes trying to follow up an epic battle like earlier. Looking at each other, they both came to an understanding and decided to just attack with their best moves. Obviously, there was no point in holding back and building up suspense. Bromwood ended up winning by just a little with the Fulmen family"s Lightning Burst. However, both walked off the stage looking dejected as if neither of them had won. Both their eyes fixed onto the deceivingly cute looking young elf who was calmly meditating. Gritting their teeth in hate, they could only helplessly look on as all of them became the background characters to Greyson.

Ezra glanced to her side after noticing the glares. Realizing that the little boy beside her was paying them no mind, she couldn"t help but giggle. A playful thought popped up into her mind before she smiled mischievously. Leaning her chest into the armrest that she shared with Greyson"s seat, she brought her lips right next to his ear.

"Acting all cool like this is really seducing big sister~" Whispering seductively, her eyes made sure to catch his reaction. Just as she had predicted, Greyson"s back and shoulders became stiff while the sharp tips of his ears blushed red. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Ezra in surprise, but seeing her leaning over he could not place his sight anywhere. Awkwardly looking straight ahead, he scratched his nose. Honestly, he had no idea how to react to Ezra and it was extremely hard to have any conversation with this naturally flirtatious woman. One had to remember that he was only 13-years-old while Ezra was already 20-years-old now. Taking all her advances with a grain of salt, he could only feign complete ignorance.

"Big sister, what does seducing mean?" Looking over with his best, "I"m-child-and-know-nothing" innocent look, Greyson really came off as an oblivious kid. Ezra who was happily giggling earlier suddenly could no longer smile. Receiving those big, blue eyes of innocence made her feel like she was leading this young boy astray.

"Pfffftttt... Looks like your wiles do not work on everyone, Ezra. Does "Big" Sister want to hit on little children now? Grey Grey, don"t listen to this prost.i.tute, good boys like you should not interact with woman like this. 20-years-old and doesn"t know how to conduct herself." Like a waiting predator finding its opportunity to catch its prey, Natalia did not let this opportunity pa.s.s her by. Overhearing the conversation, she quickly cut in with her own scathing remarks. Feeling a headache coming on, Greyson did not know why he had to be in between these two she-devils. If only Leopold would quickly come back. Plus, hearing someone other than Teacher Leilena calling him "Grey Grey" made him grimace. Since when were they on nickname terms with each other?

Ezra"s hand suddenly crushed the part of the armrest her hand was resting on and the mana surrounding started to flare up. Glaring dangerously at Natalia, she did not want to lose out.

"Oh? Well if it isn"t Little Natty. However, I can"t help but notice that you b.u.t.t in whenever I"m talking to Grey here. It couldn"t be you really have a crush, right? Big Sister can do you a favor and back off then." Ezra taunted while dragging Greyson into the verbal spar. Disgruntled by being pulled into their fight, Greyson sent a displeased look towards Ezra. While his attention was elsewhere, he didn"t realize that Natalia had already flared up at the comment and her red hair literally began to light on fire. Feeling the heat behind him and looking over at Natalia who was bristling in anger. Thinking the situation was getting out of control, Greyson wondered if he should just leave and give them some s.p.a.ce. Right as the fight was about to start, a saving voice spoke up.

"Alright, that"s enough the both of you. You all have to fight soon so just save your energy for the stage." Leopold who was done healing, had come back to his seat and helped break apart the two girls. Almost right on cue, after Leo spoke, Morninghand came and asked Greyson and Natalia to declare an opponent to challenge. Natalia spoke up first and challenged Ignis. Surprisingly, though, he had rejected her challenge without even a thought. His eyes looking at Natalia seemed to hold great trauma as if something terrible had happened to him before fighting her. Confused, Greyson questioned Leopold with his eyes.

"Pretty much, one year ago Ignis took Ezra"s side when Natalia and Ezra were fighting. Natalia took it personally and held a grudge, so when they fought last time, she beat him until he was unrecognizable." Leopold whispered over. Slightly choking, Greyson looked over to the gentle-seeming young girl. Actually, his master had told him about the match between Leopold and Natalia last time, so he was already aware that she had a real violent and evil side to her. Hearing Ignis" rejection, everyone turned to Greyson for his challenge. To everyone"s surprise, he locked his gaze unto Natalia.

"I want to challenge Natalia." He clearly stated. At this point, all heads turn to Natalia waiting for her response.

"Too bad, I don"t want to fight you. I forfeit." Enunciating each word clearly, Natalia turned his challenge down immediately. At first, he did not compute her response so he stayed silent.

"Wait, why? Why don"t you fight me? Do you think I"m not worth it?" Slightly annoyed by her rejection, Greyson continued asking her for the reason.

"Honestly? I can"t combine all my elements yet, so that last spell of yours is something I cannot defend against." She answered seriously. Seeing her change from her original willful att.i.tude to seriousness made Greyson rather surprised. However, understanding her rejection made it better. Although she would not lose for sure, it seemed she did not have the confidence yet. He felt good knowing that he had jumped through the last hoop. Now all that was on his mind was quickly going home and traveling to the Beast Empire as soon as possible.

His wish was quickly granted, because afterwards everyone had forfeited against him. He ended at first place, Natalia at second, and Leopold at third. The rest of the rankings did not stray a lot from the expectations of everyone. The most surprising change had to be that Luca Argentum ended in fourth place beating out Bromwood. After Bromwood was Tristian. Ezra was seventh place and Ignis was eighth. Caedis was ninth while Bella was tenth. During the awards at the end, Greyson couldn"t help but glance at this golden-eyed young man. He came off as the most una.s.suming. His element was water, so even his element was not very rare in the Snow Country. Suddenly, Greyson regretted not paying attention to any of the other matches because he was now curious about what was so different about Luca that he beat out the rest. The brief curiosity did not last, however, once they were all dismissed to go back home. It was at this moment, Greyson remembered that he would be leaving. Eagerness to leave filled his mind as he almost ran back to Sweetbow"s manor.

"Master, I want to leave right away!" He shouted as he swung open the gate.

"Alright, alright, calm down. No need to shout, you"ll make this wonderful teacher of yours deaf." Sweetbow placed down the tea he was drinking and complained. Rolling his eyes, Greyson thought of all the times he spoke to his teacher about shouting. The hypocrisy of it all. "You should just sleep for tonight and head out with the Argentum"s merchant caravan which is leaving tomorrow afternoon. It seems they are also heading towards the Beast Empire so you are in luck. I already got a spot for you." Sweetbow continued. Argentum? Greyson felt a little surprised, but he was happy that his teacher already got something ready for him. He was leaving tomorrow afternoon! Ecstatic, Greyson quickly thanked his teacher and ran to his room, failing to notice the sad expression on Sweetbow"s face.

"Look at him, so eager to leave. Was my house such a prison? He really knows how to make people feel bad." Sweetbow was originally a recluse and extremely unhappy living in a human kingdom. Greyson was his first disciple and friend after many years. These past five years were filled with so much more life and happiness than before that he really was reluctant to let his precious disciple leave to such a faraway and dangerous place. However, he knew that, as a real teacher, he should hope for Greyson to grow in strength and achieve his goals instead of holding him back.

...

The moment the sunlight hit the windows, Greyson"s eyes shot open and he threw off his covers in excitement. Unknowingly the force behind throwing his blankets had sent poor Lucius into the wall.

"Hey!" Violently awoken, Lucius let out a shout of complaint. Not hearing Lucius at all, Greyson was already changed into comfortable travel clothes and was double checking his sack for all his necessities. Once he looked through everything once more, he grabbed the sack and threw it over his shoulder before slipping his boots on. Seeing Greyson walking out the door without him, Lucius quickly ran after and hopped onto his favorite shoulder. Although the caravan was leaving in the afternoon, Greyson wanted to stop by the painting a.s.sociation to say goodbye to Ronan before leaving. Running towards the gate, he spotted a familiar body.

Waiting at the front gate was Sweetbow. Hearing the footsteps approaching, Sweetbow looks up and sees his apprentice. Looking at his apprentice closely, Sweetbow remembered the first time his apprentice walked through the doors. Five years had already gone by in what felt like an instant and his apprentice had grown a lot. Preventing himself from getting to sentimental, he stopped his reminiscing and flung something at his apprentice. Reacting quickly, Greyson caught what was thrown at him and looked down at his hand. It was a rather beautiful silver dragon ring with two small purple gems as the dragon"s eyes. Putting it on his right-hand middle finger, Greyson cast an owners.h.i.+p spell. Once he felt the connection, he tested out the ring"s function only to realize that it was actually a spatial ring! Shock covered his features as he looked up at his teacher.

"Don"t look at me like that, it was not too expensive. Grandmaster Allen gave me a discount on it because he wanted to make you something as well. I just couldn"t have you carrying around that spatial bag anymore like country b.u.mpkin lest everyone thinks I can"t even afford to buy my disciple a spatial ring." Turning his head away, Sweetbow spoke nonchalantly as if it wasn"t a big deal. But how could it not be? Spatial rings were very expensive! The big families like Natalia"s could afford to give her a spatial necklace because they owned a lot of businesses and made money that way. His teacher was powerful; however, his academy elder salary was not as big as one would think. Sweetbow had not even bought himself a spatial ring. Stroking the ring slightly, Greyson could not help but feel extremely thankful for having met such a great master. Looking at his master who was still turning his head to the side, Greyson couldn"t help but chuckle at his master"s obsession with acting cool. Quickly running up to Sweetbow, Greyson gave him a big hug.

Surprised at first that his normally cold apprentice hugged him, Sweetbow soon smiled warmly and patted his head.

"Alright, enough, it"s not like this is forever anyways." Feeling slightly embarra.s.sed, Sweetbow quickly coughed out.

"Hahaha, okay, master, you"re right. Master, this disciple will travel and come back safely!" Waving goodbye, Greyson left those words before quickly running out.

Making his way to the painting a.s.sociation, Greyson had quickly found Ronan"s workshop and said his goodbyes to his dear friend. Ronan was already prepared for this and so he handed Greyson a traveling present. It was a large bound book of pages for him to sketch and paint on so that he could continue practicing his painting even on the road. Thanking Ronan happily, Greyson had given Ronan a present of his own. It was a beautifully crafted paint brush that was also a magic tool. It had light element and wind element functions. The light element refreshes the body and mind while the wind element boosts brush stroke speed. Excited, Ronan tried it out right away soon getting absorbed in painting as he entered this wonderful state. Smiling at his friend"s distraction, Greyson soon sneaked out the door.

Swiftly reaching the Imperial City"s gate, Greyson waited for the merchant caravan to arrive so he could quickly leave...