Draeyer Academy (Rewrite)

Chapter 22-Test

"Do you think he'll eventually let me hug him?"

"Quit it!"

Knox smiled and walked towards the lake, dragging Solana who still clung to his waist. "Sure, let's go see him. But refrain from asking for a hug."

Solana cheered then booed from behind him.

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A few feet from the lake, some students and teachers have gathered around a battleground covered by a circular dome sitting on tall pillars. Knox and Solana, with the students from the lobby behind them, looked for a spot among the bleachers to watch the test. He spotted two familiar men and went over to sit next to them.

"Professor Gael, Commander Kreis," he greeted. From behind him, Solana let go and said hello.

The two men smiled at them and nodded. "I will never get used to being addressed formally whenever I come here," Kreis shook his head.

"Then do you want us to act around you like we do back home?" Solana said.

Kreis immediately paled, his face recalling all the pranks they pulled on him when they were younger. The Ryder immediately crossed his arms in front of them and mouthed a "no."

"Stop messing with Kreis," Gael said with a laugh from the side.

"You never stop messing with Kreis though," Solana pointed out.

"As his best friend, it is my sworn duty."

Solana and Gael grinned and chuckled at each other. Kreis could only look at Knox, eyes pleading for him to make the other two people stop. Knox looked away, opting to look for Alec instead. Gael and Kreis, he can handle. Solana and Gael...the combination was a nightmare that he refused to deal with.

He soon found Alec standing in front of a pair of students. Off to the side, a man with a build and height similar to Alec served as his examiner. Knox raised a brow when he saw that the man's jacket had one empty sleeve. There was only one professor in the academy who had a missing arm. "Professor Gravis volunteered to test Alec?"

Gael stopped messing with Kreis and nodded. "The moment he heard about Alec applying for the job, he barged into my office and demanded to be the one to test Alec's qualifications. Of course, I agreed. When Alec passes the tests, no one will question the results since it's Gravis."

"Professor Gravis's methods are kind of...mean at first meetings," Knox said. He recalled their first-day last semester when they took Professor Gravis's combat class. The man managed to provoke all of them which fueled everyone to show everything they were capable of, just to gauge how he could help them improve. He apologized immediately after the first session and proceeded to work on their skills for the rest of the semester. "Did you tell Alec about that?"

Gael shook his head, a frown slowly appearing on his face. "I forgot," he said. "I'm a little worried that Alec won't take it well."

"Considering what we've seen of his personality, he refuses to take shit from anyone," Kreis said. His hand reached up to one shoulder and unconsciously rubbed it.

Gael nodded. "True. Alec did not hesitate to fight back and injure your shoulder when you first provoked him."

"For the love of Kosmos, let it go! How long are you going to keep bringing this up?"

Solana and Knox raised a brow at what they heard. From the side, the students eavesdropping on the two men's conversation had the same expressions.

Knox tried to reconcile the image of Alec fighting against Kreis and the Alec he spent the afternoon with a few days ago. Socially awkward Alec, who would grin and fondly hug every drae that wanted his attention and would blush every time Solana called him handsome. That Alec could go toe to toe with a Ryder Commander with Kreis's capabilities?