Chapter 209: Love At Second Glance??

"Well, I can not guarantee that. Once you stop making use of your Omniversal Passage, it will unmerge with River of Time, and remember I told you that it’s a one in infinity chance that it ever happens again." Aaaninja said flatly, he was not at all disappointed by the fact that Jacob turned down his invitation. "You can always visit the Celestial Planet on your own."

The strange man said nothing more. He understood Jacob’s reason for not wanting to come at this time, so he didn’t push further.

"See you then Aaaninja..." Jacob’s words faded away before they were even complete, he had made up his mind; he was going to find this man again, even if it meant scouring the entire galaxy. Aaaninja’s name and appearance were etched into Jacob’s mind now.

His consciousness was dragged back into his own world, and he found himself settled on his bed, one of his clones seated beside him like a robot on clockwork.

With a single thought, the clone vanished, and he was left alone. All the dragon riding and moving through time and space had left him quite sweaty, so he decided to take a shower before appearing on the assembly grounds.

He got in the restroom, and in less than 10 minutes he was done and ready to leave. He contemplated jumping directly out of the window for just a second, but it would be unnecessary as someone might see him, and it might also be against school rules.

He followed the normal path.

When he stepped out of his room, he heard chattering, feet shuffling, and laughter fill the entire space. More disciples had resumed and were now on their way to the assembly grounds.

As he towered over most of them rather easily, he moved through them like a pirate trying to navigate through extreme wave pressures. A lot of them paused to look at him with complex emotions such as desire, or pure hatred, or even jealousy.

He remembered instantly that he was still seen as attractive in this world, causing his lips to curl into a faint smirk as he waded through the crowd.

He paid no attention to the people staring at him with silent expressions, judging from what the plaque which was pasted above the hall door said, these were all first year disciples. That explained the level of excitement and thrill that Jacob could see in their faces and actions. So many of them wore very bright smiles on their faces, some were brimming with energy and hope in their eyes, others were just chatting away.

Jacob had not been paying attention much to his surrounding while he was trying his best to escape the crowd, he therefore flinched a little when something grabbed his left hand immediately.

He swiveled his head to the left and his words were instantly caught in his throat. It was as though the entire crowd turned completely invisible in that exact moment as he fought hard to keep his jaws from dropping.

Standing before him was someone he had longed to see for so long. Her purple hair glistened, flowing all the way down to her waistline like a waterfall, she wore a pair of loose tunics paired with wide-leg pants, and even in those, the clothes still clung to her very accentuated curves, she had increased in all the right places in only two and a half years, and her smile was ever bright.

It was as though a ray of sunshine had smiled upon Jacob in that moment, and even with his <Total Recall> he forgot everything. That was the first time she ever touched him.

"Violet." He said in his calmest voice, he didn’t want to give her the impression that he was absolutely stupefied by her appearance.

"Jacob." She responded, but with a very wide smile on her face, showing off her pearly whites in a very abandoned manner. "Isn’t this amazing?"

"What’s amazing?" He asked, looking around as the room came into full view again, the dozens of students around them had returned, their looks felt like knifes stabbing into Jacob, but neither he, nor Violet cared at all.

"This school silly! I had read about it all the time but seeing it in person, up close! All I can say is ’amazing.’" She shined, brightly, it was evident enough in the way she spoke. Jacob realized in that moment that she was from this world, and as such had not had the privilege of sightseeing in different worlds such as he had, and as such this school architecture would be extreme impressive to her.

"It sure is. How have you been, last I sa—"

"Come on! It’s time for the assembly, you don’t want to miss it. Or so they say." She giggled as she pulled him through the crowd, cutting off his words but in a way that said ’let’s save it for later.’ Her entire demeanor was filled with excitement. He had no choice but to follow, as her grip was rather tight.

***

The hall cleared out pretty quickly and they reached the assembly grounds in no time. The large, spacious arena was surrounded by rows of neatly arranged seats, with enough room to accommodate the academy’s numerous students. At the front stood a large elevated stage made of polished stone, with the emblem of the Mountain Elite Academy engraved at its center. Thousands of students gradually filled the seats, their voices blending into a low murmur as they waited for the assembly to begin.

Violet dragged Jacob into a row not too far from the podium and sat down, patting the chair beside her with a smile on her face. Jacob could understand why she was this happy. It was written all in her expressions.

"I can’t wait for classes to begin." Violet whispered to Jacob as a tall, burly man with graying sideburns walked onto the single microphone on the stage and cleared his throat rather publicly. A dozen other people—some of who appeared to be significantly older than the speaker himself—stood in a careful row behind him. Every last one of them had a serious look on their faces.

Principal Tommen took a very deep breath, and opened his mouth...