Elias gazed out the window, carrying a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hiding isn't a plan. It's simply denying the inevitable. But revealing myself now... it feels like walking into a cage, even if it's a lucrative cage."
"So, you won't go?" Astralious asked.
"Not yet. Not like this." Elias looked back. "Going to the Dean ans answering questions I can't afford to answer."
"It is a problem indeed," Astralious nodded. "After all, it's not as if you can claim the rewards without revealing your identity.
"Receiving the rewards without revealing my identity, huh." Elias knew that Astralious was talking about the impossible, but still, the words stuck with him for so reason.
If his identity was the problem, then if he could sohow create another identity which couldn't be linked back to him, then he might be able to claim the rewards.
There was only one problem. The Academy had the record of every student. He couldn't just create an identity out of thin air, that wasn't even in the records of the Academy.
For a new identity, he needed many things. And the most important out of all the things, was an Identification Badge which had a record in the central system of the Academy.
"I need a new persona for the Academy, separate from my real self. With that, it might truly be possible..." he mumbled.
The more he thought about it, the crazier this plan sounded. But at the sa ti, it felt just as feasible as ever. There was only one problem. How could he create another persona which was official? The academy wasn't stupid after all.
He could kidnap another student, and take their identity. All he needed was to find an art to disguise himself into that person. But it was more complicated than it looked.
If he took the identity of another person, then there were risks of being exposed, since that person was definitely going to have friends and family that would know him better.
The identity also needed strength, that would make it possible for it to enter the tomb secretly, and be able to leave.
"I recognise that crazy look in your eyes." Astralious glared at Elias. "Which absurd thing are you planning now?"
"I wonder..." Elias didn't answer, since the plan was incomplete for him as well. He could think of a few possibilities, but he wasn't certain which of them were more feasible.
There was only one thing that he was certain about. It was that he couldn't claim the rewards anyti soon. Moreover, he couldn't reveal the Ice Phoenix Flas to anyone.
If the Ice Phoenix Flas were to make an appearance, then it had to do with soone who wasn't Elias Ashborn.
"I need a blank slate, sothing that doesn't co with baggage of its own. I think I know how to do it."
"How to do what? What exactly are you scheming now?"
"Earth."
"Earth what? Can you at least be more specific? At tis like this, I really regret that I can't read your mind without your permission."
"Earth is where this blank slate will be found." Elias answered vaguely. "That is the answer lies. The long erased world needs a representative. Won't you agree?"
"You will have to be more clear. Can you tell like I am a five year old?" Astralious asked, growing even more suspicious about Elias's intentions.
"Do you really want to hear?"
"I do. Why else would I ask?"
"If I tell you, then you are not allowed to complain about it. I don't want to hear that nagging every day over it. Do you promise?"
Astralious looked suspiciously, his lips twitching uncontrollably. Just what was this sche that made Elias certain that he was going to be nagged about it?
Astralious didn't want to make it promise, almost certain that it was sothing truly stupid but his curiosity got the best of him and he nodded.
"I promise that I won't complain about it."
"Alright. So I am planning that..."
In the silence of the room, Elias told his plans to Astralious. These were the plans that could allow him to claim the rewards of the Academy, without inheriting all the negativity that he had inherited as an Ashborn.
"Are you serious?!" Astralious's voice grew louder. He knew that Elias was planning sothing absurd, but even he didn't expect sothing like this.
"I am serious. Do you have any complaints?" Elias raised a brow.
"Tch, no complaints." Astralious swallowed his complaints, rembering the promise he made.
Even though he knew that Elias wanted the promise for this exact reason, a promise was a promise.
"I am just curious about sothing," he changed the thod of conveying his doubts from nagging, to sothing more logical.
"Nine days later, the deadline given by your father will be over. I don't think you are planning to return your brother to him. Will you even live long enough to reach earth, because the trip to earth is scheduled for the twelfth day from today."
Elias had also realized this problem. The schedule itself was problematic, since he only received nine days of relief from his father.
He had to deal with his father on the ninth day, and defending the way he dealt with it, his future trajectory could be cut short.
His first priority was to find a way to deal with his father that didn't involve returning Dreke to him.
"I think I have a solution for that as well," Elias said after a long period of silence.
"Don't tell you are going to fight him?" Astralious asked. "You will be obliterated."
He expected Elias to confirm that he wasn't going to fight, but the silence that he received in response, made him have second thoughts.
"You're not, right?" he asked again, but he still didn't receive an answer. In the end, he sighed and said only one sentence, "We're f*cked."
....
Nine days later, a man arrived inside the house assigned to Elias. His presence didn't trigger any security, as he was an existence that shouldn't be stopped or even detected by the systems of the Academy.
"Have you decided?" the man asked Elias, who was sitting on the sofa this ti, waiting.
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