Avon and Aveline couldn't believe what they were hearing.
Avon started to think,
'My grandma is in her 70's right now and my greatgrandma if she was still alive would be somewhere near 100. Also considering how marriages happened at a younger age at that time, so my grandma's grandma would be around 120...'
"You said you're like an older sister but you're like a great-great-great-great grandma..."
"Don't put it like that...." she retorted back.
An awkward silence followed. Both still processing what they just found out. Aveline was the first to break the silence.
"Just to be clear...you are talking about the number of times you have witnessed your planet make revolutions of the star which holds your planet right?"
Avon smiled a little because he found this funny, he answered her nonetheless
"Yeah"
She sighed and continued.
"Sorry for asking such an obvious question. I just can't believe you are that young... now all the things you've done so far have become even more impressive."
Avon just gave a weak smile.
"But didn't you see my memories already?"
She explained,
"I just looked at your recent memories until when Ms.Reveria asked you leave for Steela."
"Oh....by the way, how do you know master? What's your relation with her?"
Aveline made a difficult expression and said,
"It wouldn't right for me to say anything about that.....how about you ask your master when you return."
Then he remembered something else and asked her, "In the academy, what's the age of the students? Based on your reaction it doesn't seem like they are my age.."
"Yes, all of them are at least 4 decades oldor more. Here the primary education is looked after by the family of the child and after that they are sent to the academy."
This was another shock to Avon because this meant that Sylvia and Thamo were the age of his parents.....
Aveline spoke again,"They are, at most just more emotionally mature than you are."
"What do you mean?"
"The people on your planet know that they have lived through half of their life span and will have a mature mindset by the time they are 4 decades or 5 decades old but here it is different. Even at that age, a person simply behaves more free. This is because here, with the long lifespan in hand, many do not have responsibilities or the mental limitations that people on your planet do. Since the lifespan is shorter, the people on your planet have kids at a very early age of 20 or something right?"
"Roughly...these days it is like late twenties."
"So, they have responsibility of raising a good child from that age. By the time the child grows, they will have lived half their lifespan and ofcourse will have many other responsibilities. On the other hand, such responsibilities do not exist for us. Ofcourse there are a few people who fall in love early and have kids at an early age of 20 or 30....but that is rare these days and even if they do have the kids, their lifespans are very long, so it doesn't take too much of their lifetime."
Avon understood what she meant. "I see"
Aveline then looked at the time and said," I need to go, I have a little bit of work left at the academy."
"Well, what kind of work do you do? Your timings are so irregular.."
He finally asked the question he intended to ask first.
She smiled and said,
"You will know soon"
Again she refused to answer
Looking at the time, Avon realised that he could barely make it to the language class if he rushed now.
He reached the class ten minutes late and after it was done he checked whether dates for the raid had come out or not.
They had. The raid was 4 days from the present day. This made Avon even more disappointed as he knew there was no way the mind cultivation test would conducted again in this short time.
The date for language test was two days from present.
"Avon!" He heard someone call out his name. He turned back and saw Sylvia.
Avon suddenly remembered his conversation with Aveline and he thought while looking at Sylvia,
'Could she actually be more 40 years old...as old as my mom ...back on Earth I would have addressed her as an aunt or something....it feels wierd knowing this. How will she begin treating me when she learns that I'm half her age..'
Noticing him staring at her, she asked him,"What's the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Oh..nothing....nothing, Just thinking about something."
She was confused,"hmm?"
"Well then Sylvia, I'll get going. I need to prepare for language test."
"Wai-" Sylvia wanted to tell him to wait but he ran off already.
'That look in his eyes, was he...judging me...? What was he thinking?'
She thought looking at his back.
At this point, Avon knew it was impossible to become an honor student through the raid. There was simply no way that the theory test would be conducted again within such a short span of time.
He was again disappointed in himself.
The next day, he still continued his studies just because Aveline was forcing him to.
Avon and Aveline were sitting on the floor, it was just 2 days left for the raid.
"Even if I had somehow managed to get into the raid, would I really have become an honor student?..after all aren't extraordinary achivements required? Haaah....I was just being delusional anyways. No proper training and hoping to get the honor."
Aveline thought for a while before replying,
"This would have been true if you had come a few years earlier. Ever since the knight has changed the system, honor has just become a basic step for every cadet. It has become easier to achieve, or rather the academy has made it easier to become one. It was true that one required extraordinary achivements to become an honor cadet, but now it is not that difficult."
"Why?"
He asked intrigued.
"Because the academy understands that some people have come here with the knight being their only hope. How many times has the knight not saved entire planets all on their strength alone? They always keep their doors open except recently, what happened to sir Knight is something no one understands. Academy just did it's part by awarding honors more liniently. For the real extraordinary achivements, newer titles are being introduced. "
Hearing all this Avon's eyes lit up. So he had more options!
"Can I get it in any other way?"
"You can but...."
Aveline smiled mid sentence
"...why would you search for other ways when you have the raid?"
Avon knew there was some meaning more to that sentence,
"What do you mean"
Aveline spoke with a smirk on her face,
"You haven't checked announcements page have you, if had checked, you would've known that tomorrow is the theory test. It is being conducted again, just a day before the raid."
Avon's eyes widened, he immediately checked the announcement page and was left dumbfounded by the announcement....he looked at Aveline in surpris. His eyes had a wild, positive look , as though a hunter found their prey.
Aveline smiled even more, thinking, this is how he should always be, with the sweet smile on his face.
'eye candy'
Aveline's eyes fixed upon his face as she thought this.
Had Avon known her thoughts, he would've been afraid of her.
The rest was smooth sailing. He gave the theory test and language tests on the same day, passed them easily and went to immediately register for the raid.
Avon dashed off towards the registration venue. Once he reached there, he saw a person sitting near a big screen. He approached that person and asked about the registration.
"please fill out the details in the form on the website"
Avon filled the details and then went to the man again.
"The details will be verified and if you're eligible I will be able to print the raid participant ID"
Then the man's gaze fell on Avon's ID card and he saw Avon's joining date on that.
"Your ID says you joined almost a month back. Just so you know the minimum requirement is level 2 in all subjects for admission to the raid."
Avon sighed inwardly as it seemed that this person had assumed that he was a level 1 because of his joining date. He said politely with a smile to the person, "Once check my status please. I meet the requirements."
Upon looking Avon's status his eyes widened. What shocked Avon was that his iris covered the entire white part of his eyes. It seemed that this person was not a human. Avon thought,
'If his eyes are that expressive, it must be difficult for him conceal his emotions or not be rude at times..'
The verification had come through so that meant Avon was eligible.
That man then spoke in a shaky voice,
"I am sorry for making assumptions. Since you recently advanced to level 2, you probably do not have an armour, I will guide you so that you get an armour and further instructions."