"AHAHAHA" A voice rang out from the crowd "Who would have thought a weakling like you would have a rank one familiar"
"ACE! that's the future king how dare you to talk to him like that?"
"Well I have a Rank two Void type Familiar, The Astral Hellspawn which is extremely powerful and by the way, Hajime, so glad to see you again, I don't give a fuck if you're the future king, you'll always be a weakling I crush under my boots" He had a sinister smile on his face
"Ace, after all these years, I've grown strong but you're still alone"
"So what? I'm strong enough by myself, I don't need friends, everyone else is just jealous at my power"
"I feel sorry for your conscience, maybe over time, you'll find something to ACTUALLY love about yourself. I hope no one does to you, what you did to me, I wouldn't wish it on you or anybody else but only I could have dealt with what you did to me, glad it happened to me and not you"
Everyone looked at Hajime with shock and then at Ace, in a few short sentences, Hajime had already established his rank, his character, and his power, He showed that he was above Ace by refusing to give into his taunting, proved he was the better person by being nothing but kind to Ace and showed his power by completely ignoring Ace's arrogant boast
"I notice you didn't deny being a weakling nor deny my being stronger, are you admitting to your uselessness?" Ace asked with a smirk
"I did not respond to your words because they are nothing but words, if you are stronger, then you are stronger, there will always be someone stronger than one's self and if you are weaker than all your words were spoken in vain." Hajime calmly replied
When the professor heard this she remarked in her heart at his prowess with words, all those words and not a single one wasted
"Master" Carmilla looked toward Hajime "can I teach him a lesson?"
"stay your hand Carmilla, it does us no good to fight Ace"
"Actually Hajime, it does some good, we're having a ranking competition today to determine who among you has the most talent" the Professor explained "as I'm sure you are all aware our magic powers increase in strength through meditation or cultivation or both, Today I'll give you a refresher course to test your knowledge"
The entire class then sat through a lecture explaining how the Mage system worked
there were multiple different categories, Those who chose to strengthen their magic were Known as the Mages and had different realms of power, these were called realms due to their difference in power, for example, the starting realm known as the magical initiate realm had nine stages, a ninth stage magical initiate was far stronger than that of a fourth stage initiate and a 1st stage of the second realm, the Daoist realm was far stronger than someone of the 8th stage initiate realm and as the realms progressed this gap got much larger, eventually someone who was at the 1st stage of realm only one higher than their opponent would be able to kill their opponent in a few breaths. this was the unfair reality of the world and with each stage, the ability to progress became far harder
The known realms of the mage pathway within the kingdom which resided on the eastern continent were; The Magical Initiate Realm, Mana Realm, Astral Realm, Light Realm, and Soul Realm.
Those of the Martial cultivator pathway were; The True Marital Realm, Innate PowerRealm, Constitution realm, Dark Realm, and Body Condensation Realm.
For those that chose to do the Harmony Pathway, their respective realms were; The Daoist Realm, Magical Martial Realm, Comprehension realm, Shadow Realm, and Killjoy realm.
Whereas all the realms complimented each other as opposites or the mixture of both, The Killjoy realm was named as such due to the power they contained, very few people were able to do down the Harmony pathway but those that would found that the Killjoy realm amplified their power by at least ten, these people were by far the most powerful in the eastern continent.
"As Dragonborn students, you all have high levels already, May you please introduce your names and levels to the class"
"Ash Jettison Rank nine Constitution realm"
"Ace Asoka, Rank two Dark realm"
"Rin Haski, Rank nine Astral realm"
"Gwen Williams, Rank three light realm"
"Kalista Kasami, Rank five Light realm"
"Kajikari Kyoto, Rank 4 Dark Realm"
"Hajime Night--"
"Hajime, let me stop you, your family has said that due to the higher status your birth parents possessed over the royal family that your status as an orphan should be overlooked and have asked you to go be your birth name in hopes to form good ties with your birth clan in the future, So from now on you're Hajime Valentine" The professor added
"Very well, Hajime Valentine, rank 9 shadow realm"
a loud gasp erupted from the crowd, not only was Hajime a Harmony Pathway cultivator but he was so close to the killjoy realm
Hearing Kajikari's stage made Ace frown, this person was actually two ranks higher, no wonder she was recruited to the Dragonborn division and he wondered who she decided to bring along with her or who she came with, he decided he might try to get in good with her so he interrupted the introductions, it also helped that Kajikari was the topmost beauty in the school, maybe even the region, no one could compare. Kajikari was stunningly beautiful with an amazing figure and beautiful face, he thought it would be easy given her low status compared to him, he didn't know her but everyone knew OF her, she far exceeded everyone's expectations and had made her mark on the school
"Hey, Kajikari since we both cultivate Martial Pathway, how about I take you on a date and we can trade some tips over dinner"
"Never in a million years," She said coldly holding nothing but resentment in her heart for the bastard who dared ask her out
Ace's face contorted "Now, what's with the cold shoulder, surely you can appreciate someone of a far more superior status expressing romantic interest to you"
"someone of superior status? with your behaviour, you can not even say you are superior to a rat let alone me" she retorted
"Dude, not cool" Ash's voice rang out.
"You think calling yourself superior would win a girls heart?" Gwen snapped at him"
"what is wrong with you?" Rin added "It's like you're missing a brain"
"You are really bad with women" Kalista responded
Throughout this entire ordeal, Hajime stood silent, when everyone had quiet down their attention fixated, not on Kajikari but on Hajime, they noticed that he had stayed silent but felt the harsh killing intent radiate off of him, No that was wrong, not killing intent, what they felt was more subtle, more provocative, like he wanted to humiliate Ace Completely
"Ace," Hajime said the single word calmly and coldly gaining everyone's attention
"It's clear to me that you lack a decent bone in your body, it's also clear to me that you're horrible with women, so instead of trying to ask MY woman out, how about you try to find love somewhere else, that is, if anyone is capable of loving you, seeing as how you only love yourself, As my Kajikari would ever date the likes of someone as self-absorbed as you, you would never make a good partner" after he said this, he put his index finger under Kajikari's chin, his thumb above it, tilting her head up he slowly kissed her as his left hand pulled her closer by her hip "and as for you, Kajikari, your temper, and strength standing up to him when he insulted you, reminded me of one of the many reasons I adore you"
Seeing this display moved the hearts of everyone in the room while putting Ace to shame, he scurried away back to his corner
"Damn, that Hajime is so charming, where can I find a man like that" Kalista said in her mind
"Kajikari is a lucky woman," Gwen said to Ash "Indeed she is, I think I like Hajime now, seeing how good he treats Kajikari, he's a good person"
"Kalista" Rin said, "What do you think of Hajime?"
"He's strong, handsome, kind and brave as well as a gentleman. So all around, he's made a wonderful first impression on me"
Ace had planned to one-up Hajime and make him look like a fool, however, in the end, his pathetic attempt at showing his dominance just established him as scum and made Hajime look ten times as good"