Chapter 4
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Pon stood in front of a three-storey wooden building. People came in and out of its wide doors.

He paid the inn attendant and made his way to a room in the second floor.

Right after he opened the door, a young girl walked out of the room next to him.

Her hair tied into a ponytail was as bloody red as her night gown.

“What?” she raised an eyebrow.

Pon shook his head then entered the room.

He sat on the creaking bed. Laying the wok shield on top of it. He put his palm over its curved surface and turned it back into a round ball.

He looked upon the stars through the sole window and murmured to himself. “Mom, I saw him. It must be fate that we met right when I escaped the Wildlands. He even saved me. He isn’t that bad of a brother. He must have his reasons for leaving us.”

A cold breeze wafted through the window. He fell on his back overhearing the mumbles of the young girl just behind one wall of his room. Some unknown time passed, he dozed into a slumber.

Overseeing on the roof of a nearby shop was a white dove looking at the inn. “So it’s really you. I never thought you would have the guts to come here.” it then flew away inside the Animacra Academy.

***

A scream close to a shrill woke up Pon from his sleep. It came from the other room.

He grabbed the round stone and was about to transform it when...

“I’m going to be late! I’m already late.” screamed the girl.

He heard a loud bang of a closed door right after. He could even hear her heavy stomps going down.

He peered outside. The sun has fully revealed itself behind the mountainous horizon. Its warm light bathed the whole city.

Breathing in the fresh morning air, Pon came out of the inn. He saw a nearby stall selling a mushroom soup and bought one.

After eating two bowls he thanked the vendor.

He entered a tailoring shop and bought himself new sets of clothing. He changed into a cotton set right away.

He strolled his way towards the Animacra Academy.

At the gates he saw the red haired girl arguing with the female.

“Come on. This is my only chance.” she pleaded.

The female guard noticed Pon. “Ah sir! You’re late.”

Pon gave an embarrassed look. “I bought something along the way. Ah, I also bought you some lunch.” he took out a box wrapped in blue silk.

She scratched her head. “Young sir is too generous.” taking the still warm box.

He coughed.

“I almost forgot. You may enter for the entrance exam.”

“Hey!” the spectating girl blocked Pon.

“Excuse me?” he said.

She then glared at the guard. “You didn’t let me in. He came and you let him go.Why is that?”

“This young sir is a special case.”

“What!? You’re taking in bribes now?”

“It’s not that. How do I explain this…”

Just then, Jin and Bing showed up.

“What’s going on?” Jin asked. “Oh. Hey Pon, why are you still waiting there? The exam will start soon.”

Bing took notice of the red haired girl. “Hi, who are you dear? are you hear for the exam?”

The girl stiffly nodded. Seeing the top two refiners in the city left her in a state of shock. She was too dumbstruck to utter a word.

***

The exam was relatively simple.

Refining.

The basic requirements are a furnace, a soul, and chosen weapon. The academy follows a standardized process of verfying the level of a refiner. Their level corresponds to the highest rank of weapon they can refine. The ranks are further divided with three stars; one being the initial.

copper

silver

gold

On his station, he wracked his brains only to come up with nothing. The academy provided the tools and materials.

The problem is, Pon didn’t know how to use a furnace. His mother taught an unorthodox method. He never knew that a proper refining would require equipments.

Sitting on laddered benches were the spectating seniors, Bing asked in worry. “What is Pon doing?” he nudged the sleeping Jin. “Hey, you’re beloved ‘brother’ is doing nothing. And now he is hugging the body of the furnace.”

He cracked open his eyes a little. “Oh. Don’t worry. He got it all good.”

“What the… that is not even the right method.” she looked at Jin who slept back.

Back at Pon embracing the cold metal furnace.

“My body is my furnace.” he kept mumbling these words.

He ran out of ideas and just threw the wooden sword and the spirit crystal containing a chicken soul.

He wanted to avoid too much attention and suspicion. His identity must be kept hidden.

Directing his internal energy through the whole furnace, he caused a reaction inside. When the soirit crystal melted, the chicken soul tried to fly out of the furnace. Pon released more internal energy that intensified the strength of heat. The beast soul lost its remaining energy and was finally integrated with the wooden sword.

Pon let go of the furnace. He now only noticed the weird gazes from the other examinees and seniors.

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