The Exalted Prince Lives Again-Chapter 42: Conclusion

The wind stopped.

The entire surrounding vanished, replaced by a never-ending snow all around him, with a dense snowfall.

It was cold.

Lucien was frozen on his spot, his ears in disbelief at hearing that name.

The voice he heard felt stinging, as if it somehow bypassed his ears and entered his brain.

As if hearing a nonexistent call, he turned around, only to come face-to-face with a massive tree.

The trunk alone was tens of meters wide, and the canopy was not even visible in this snowfall.

Lucien instinctively reached for his sword, but he found nothing.

His sword was gone.

But he was calm.

Too calm for his own good.

"They really succeeded in resurrecting you, Remiel." The ancient, heavy voice echoed in his mind.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly.

If he were his normal self right now, he would have barraged the tree with questions, but he didn’t.

It was as if he had all the patience and serenity of the world.

His heart felt at peace, which was scary.

"But ’they’ took way too long." The tree’s voice was sombre, completely ignoring what Lucien had just asked. "It’s way too late now."

"Who are you?" Lucien asked again, calmly.

"You are way too weak." The tree added, ignoring him again. "You are not ready."

Lucien was still patient and changed his question, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I didn’t bring you here, Remiel." The tone got flat, "You did."

"Huh?" For the first time since he arrived here, Lucien felt anxious.

Even with such extreme calmness in his heart, Lucien couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.

How did he bring himself here?

He had no recollection of doing anything strange.

"What do you mea-"

"We have no time for explanations, Remiel. I cannot maintain this any longer." The tree slowly started to sound desperate, as if something was gnawing at it.

"Come find me in the Cinder, Remiel." The voice had already started to fade, and so did the artificial calmness.

"Who are ’they’ you talk about? Who brought me here?" Lucien shouted, the scenery getting more and more distant.

"Lux Mortis." The tree’s barely audible voice echoed in his mind, "Be careful of them–"

The world started spinning.

The tree’s voice cut off mid-sentence, leaving Lucien shouting and deprived of answers.

What was Lux mortis?

What did he mean by he brought himself there?

What was Cinder?

He thought he would finally have his answers.

But he only ended up with more.

But at least he knew something now.

Previously, he had literally no lead.

But now he had.

And suddenly, he was back.

Back on the tree he teleported to, to chase down the brunette.

"The Exam has been concluded." The announcement rang throughout the forest, waking him up from his stupor.

"Please stop fighting immediately."

Just as he was about to look around, a loud voice sounded, "What the hell was that, Lucien?"

William shouted, making him look down.

He stood in front of unconscious candidates, shouting up the tree.

Lucien raised his brows, confused about this sudden yelling. "What?"

"You froze, and that girl escaped." He shouted, making Lucien remember what he was doing.

Even though he was gone for seconds, it felt such a long time for him.

"I ran out of all my energy." He made up another lie on the spot: "Just pick up your spoils and we’ll leave afterwards."

William shrugged, picking up his shares of bells and tossing the last one towards him.

Since there was no need to be wary of the bell chimes now, Lucien climbed down the trees quickly and joined William.

"Such bad luck," William clicked his tongue, "That brunette probably had a lot of points. You could easily be the top candidate here."

"How do you even know the criteria of the top student or anything?" Lucien, in his paranoid tone, spoke, "For all we know, we might not even pass this."

William chuckled, then replied, "Nice joke, Lucien, but this is simply not possible. You saw the others, right?"

Lucien nodded.

The competition was tough, sure.

But it was only tough by the standards of average newbies, not someone like him, who was already leading a second life.

Also, if they really were on the losing side right now, they would’ve met at least one candidate that could easily defeat them, but they didn’t.

They might not be the top scorers. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

But he was positive that they would pass.

And that’s all he needed.

"I want to take a shower so bad." William groaned, walking relaxed like he owned the place.

On the other hand, though, Lucien’s eyes were heavy and his eyelids were droopy.

He needed rest so that he could regain his strength and spirit energy.

"Why are you so relaxed?" Lucien asked curiously.

"Huh? What do you mean?" William was confused, his brows furrowed.

"We know that the exam is over," Lucien pointed his fingers towards an amorphous being trying to ambush them from the canopy. "The spirit beasts don’t."

William looked over, his hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

He assumed his fighting stance quickly, but then he felt a pat on his shoulders. "I was just kidding. You can relax."

"Huh? What do you mean–" Before William finished his sentence, he felt the temperature lowering around him.

He looked back, only to notice that the spirit beast was completely frozen.

Frozen in ice.

Lucien chuckled, pointing towards the sky.

William looked up, "There’s nothing."

"There is," Lucien said, "Focus."

William focused as instructed and saw a tiny dot way high in the sky.

Gasp!

The vice dean.

"Since when?" William’s mouth hung open.

"Since the very beginning."

...

"Submit your pouches, and state your names." A few guards were sitting on chairs with tables on the outskirts of the forest.

They were in charge of collecting points under the supervision of the vice dean and the ginger-haired man from the interview.

"William Wilson." Stated William, handing out his rather bulky pouch to the guard, who used some artifact to seal and label it, to prevent any form of mishap.

He slid it under the table and shouted, "Next."

William got out of the line, giving space to Lucien.

William stared at his pouch, which was nearly twice, if not bigger, than his own.

"Wow!"

He was waiting for him to be done with it, so that they could go home.

In his head, they were already close friends who had gone through a tough battle.

His ears perked up, curious to know about his full name.

"Lucien Callastre."

"..."

"What did you just say?"