*Vip area*
As the monarchs and prominent figures observed the battle royal, they couldn't help but be astounded by Grimrose's display.
"What in the world? He combined lightning and fire?"
"Is such a feat even possible?"
"Nathaniel, your son is truly a prodigy!"
"A dragon incarnate!"
Nathaniel, brimming with pride, declared, "There is more to witness, so temper your astonishment for what is yet to come," then teasingly added, "and regarding arranged marriages, I must decline."
The suitors were crestfallen upon hearing his final pronouncement, but suddenly, the headmistress interjected,
"I desire him as my disciple."
All the people in the room were shocked by the headmistress, as she had never accepted a disciple.
"Why?" Nathaniel asked.
"Just because," the headmistress retorted, and her face flushed with a sudden heat.
She gazed intently into the screen, focusing on a boy who had striking features.
His hair was as white as snow, and his eyes possessed the same pale, ethereal quality.
His entire visage seemed to radiate a divine aura, captivating all who beheld him.
"Susan, don't you dare," Nathaniel said as he looked at her blushing face.
"What do you mean?" said Susan, acting clueless.
Nathaniel was speechless by her shameless behavior, so he sighed.
~~~
*Susan's pov*
Susan watched him, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Hmm, that guy is really my type," she murmured, her gaze locked on Grimrose's striking eyes.
A thrill, both possessive and joyful, surged through her. "After the test," she declared, a determined glint in her eyes, "I'll directly say it to the entire world. Let everyone know he's mine, so that no one will dare touch him when I'm here."
He was everything she'd ever desired. A talent that seemed to mock the very heavens, and looks that could only be described as divine. His white hair and piercing eyes gave him an ethereal quality, as if he'd stepped straight out of a myth.
~~~
Grimrose eliminated about 50 people, but he mumbled, "This is too slow."
He wondered how he could go faster, and then he had an idea.
"What if I combined lighting, space, and time?" he thought.
Grimrose was enthusiastic, so he stopped to try his idea.
"Okay, first I use space," he said as he pulled space into his arm.
"And then lighting," he continued, creating lighting and placing it into his arm.
It revolved around the compressed space.
"Lastly, time," he added, putting time into it.
The lighting moved faster and then disappeared, while the compressed space crackled blue.
"Will it work?" he wondered before he tried it and heard a noise.
- Skill awakened: instant teleportation
Grimrose was shocked because a blue portal was in front of him.
It crackled with the sound of lighting.
~~~
*Vip area*
Silence slammed into the room, a wave of shock washing over every face.
Eyes wide, jaws slack, they were paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of what was happening.
"He created teleportation?" The words hung in the air, laced with disbelief.
"But how? Even the most powerful space mages never achieved teleportation!" Urgency crackled in the question.
Susan's voice cut through the stunned silence, her gaze locked on him. "He's fused time, space, and lightning. It's not pure teleportation, but instant transfer. Space is the foundation, lightning the engine, and time compresses the movement into a instant teleportation."
"My disciple is really talented," Susan thought, then mentally added, like a crazed parrot, "He's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!"
As she was, shall we say, *admiring* his talent...
"Sis, you're drooling," her sister pointed out, bless her heart, from right beside her. Apparently, Susan's inner monologue had manifested physically.
"Ah, thank God no one saw that!" she exclaimed, frantically glancing around. Turns out, everyone was glued to the screen. So much for stealthy drool-admiration.