Elias was nervous, absolutely and horrendously nervous. The sheer scale of whatever was right in front of him was too overwhelming, so overwhelming that for a moment, he could feel his weight in the grand scheme of things.
And it was pitifully small.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the doors of the hover car, taking his first steps into a place that had been a myth all his life but was now real.
Absurdly, ridiculously real.
The ground beneath his boots was slick, shining like glossy marble. He took in the sights around him, watching the rush of hover cars above and the titanic, voluminous structures that loomed ahead of him, then mouthed a word that left him nearly breathless.
"Fuck."
A giggle resounded from someone behind him. Mildly annoyed, he turned his head to look at the person who was most definitely not minding their damn business.
It was a girl a little older than him, wearing clothes that reflected light like stainless steel. The material clung to her skin like scales. Her green hair fell in waves down her shoulders, making her seem unrestrained and wild. She sat leisurely on a hoverboard that floated above the pavement, looking at him so intensely that he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
He knew he was a handsome and irresistible guy, but this was a little too much.
"Hey," he called, unable to hide the annoyance in his voice. "If you're going to stare, then you have to pay up. This face is a premium package that comes with its own costs."
Since she was staring so much, he might as well try to get some benefits out of it. She looked so smitten by his face that she might just be willing to pay up.
After all, not everyone was blessed with his level of handsomeness.
Her left eye twitched, then her face brightened into a disarming smile. For some reason, Elias couldn't help but have a foreboding feeling about this.
Still on her hoverboard, she floated toward him. Then she began to circle him midair like she was giving him some kind of personal assessment.
Then she began to clap her hands excitedly while giggling, as though whatever she saw ticked off all the personal and questionable boxes in her head.
"Finally, a junior brother who doesn't look like a bore. This is great, this is all that I was ever asking for! We will do many, many exciting things together. Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait at all!"
Her voice resounded from behind him, making him even more irritated. Junior what now? Was this girl right in the head?
Then an idea struck him. Depending on how he played this, he could probably get some cash from this person. After all, it was far easier to scam crazy people than those who were right in the head.
He coughed.
"That's right, I am your long-lost—"
Right then, the front doors of the hover car opened, and the man who had driven him stepped outside. He got flustered when his eyes caught sight of the amused girl on the hoverboard, slightly bowing while speaking with respect, nothing like the way he had addressed Elias.
"I have driven the boy here just as your Master requested, Lady Valarie. Please let me know if you have any more requests, and I will try to fulfill them to the best of my capabilities."
She waved him off without turning to look at him, her eyes still fixed on Elias.
"Don't worry, Ragnar. I will take things from here. You can be on your way now."
He bowed again. Elias felt his eyes brush over him in acknowledgment before he got back into the hover car, which immediately zoomed off into the air.
Having pieced together enough information, Elias turned to the green-haired girl, his voice now tinged with curiosity.
"You are Mr. Ferborn's student?"
Sitting on her hoverboard, she floated right up to his face, brushing her hair back with her fingers.
"That's right, so that makes me your senior sister! Junior brother, you seem like a very cunning person. Did you actually think I was referring to us as blood siblings, huh?!"
Elias furrowed his brows with a sigh, his plans of scamming a lot of money from her burning up in flames.
"I am no student of Ferborn. I have made that clear so many times already, so we have no such relationship between us."
She pouted.
"You keep saying that, but how exactly do you plan on making it into the Academy otherwise? You have defective—"
She stopped with a sigh, her face apologetic.
"Point is, that won't be enough to qualify you for the entry trials."
Elias raised an eyebrow, golden motes of light falling over him from a hover car that flew past. At first, he felt a little weird about how quickly Mr. Ferborn had learned about his Strings, but that wasn't particularly strange when considering the person in question and his connections.
Now he was left with something else to think about.
It seemed entering the Resonance Academy wasn't exactly as straightforward as he thought it would be.
"And how will being a student of Mr. Ferborn help me?" he asked, his mind racing with thoughts.
If having the tag of a defective was going to affect him this much, then he might just have to reveal a bit of his abilities somehow. But that would shift a little attention onto him, and he would love to avoid that if he could.
So he was ready to hear this second option, even if the thought of it left a particularly sour taste in his mouth.
The green-haired girl seemed to become confused herself, hitting her palm against her forehead.
Then, without warning, she grabbed him aboard her hoverboard, gripping him tightly by wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Urgh! It's all boring adult stuff. It would be way better if Master explained it himself!"
Elias felt his eyes widen, his face flushing slightly when he felt the weight of her bountiful chest behind him.
This was too embarrassing.
"Hey, don't you dare move this thing—"
Elias barely finished speaking before the hoverboard shot into the skies, joining the rest of the figures above as it sped toward the outline of majestic buildings that lined the expanse from one horizon to the other.
Elias felt the blood drain from his face as he went pale, feeling the violent wind currents as they shot between towering structures. For a moment, he was humiliatingly close to peeing himself.
Her voice, half-filled with laughter, resounded behind him.
"What now, junior brother? If you're so scared, just close your eyes and let senior sister cuddle you the whole way."
Those words felt like a challenge.
Gritting his teeth, Elias tried to forget the fact that his life was literally in the hands of the cynical girl behind him. Choosing not to aggravate her by spouting rude words, he said the only thing on his mind that kind of mattered right now.
"Take me to Lizzy first, okay?! Mr. Ferborn can come later!"
"Uhhh… we're already halfway to Master's lab. I always finish what I've started, so I can't!"
The wind hit his face in waves, Elias feeling his heart palpitate at the ludicrous sensation of flying on a hoverboard for the first time.
And it wasn't a great feeling.
It wasn't a great feeling at all!