In Reedling village, it is the appearance of the spring season during the second month of the year, Februs. Paths adorned with scarlet tulips which blooms with such straightness that it appears to kiss the sky. The early morning sunlight which is soft and diffuse, giving way to strong rays of the day which brings true warmth. Water evaporates in slow waves that eddy in the gentle breeze, flowing upward to white puffy clouds. Trees that lost their leaves in their winter reborn as new buds to form new flowers.
Streets filled with people both rich and poor alike, young and old similar in number. Among them there is a young boy with an ash gray hair and pitch black eyes who is enjoying each of these views as a reward for some sort. He is Zeno, our protagonist who had left his home for school only to end up wandering here and there sightseeing.
You could see many things happening looking around. People performing arts to earn a copper coin from their onlookers, stalls selling sweets of various kinds trying to tempt the students going for their first day in class, farmers trying to sell their produce from the fields, salesmen trying to sell their school products to potential customers, hunters trying to sell their kill and gather new mates, so and so on.
"Buy this wood lead to obtain free and smooth writing just for 5 copper. Order it now before the stock runs out..."
"10 kilo crabgrass for just 1 bronze coin. Limited sale for only 2 hours..."
"Do you wish to know how long you will get to live? Do you wish to know what sort of future you will have? Do you wish to conquer the heavens and dominate the lands? Do you wish to win the heart of a pure maiden? Come join me to find whether you possess the heaven defying luck with my astrology chart for just 10 coppers...."
"Party of four looking for a fifth member to hunt down a Metallic Bone Bison. Applicants above 5th cosmic grade are welcome...."
Since the market was close and was only 20 or 30 metres away from the Academy, most of the shops try to sell school necessities such as pencils, paper like sheets, etc..
"These people sure are having their fun."
Zeno comments while observing each one of them. He notices children younger than him salivating in front of the sweet shops and youngsters older than his current biological age wandering here and there like monkeys.
But all of them left for their destination noticing the time for classes drawing near. Zeno too hurries on his step noticing that most of them have left for the school.
On his way, he notices many of his old classmates in the torrent of people marching in the way. He tries to recollect their names from his memories. Nick, Veena, Joanna, Noel, Bezaj, Dom, Leonel, Lemel.. that's all the names he could remember for now.
No there is one more he could remember. Syra, a girl who meant something to his predecessor Zeno. No matter how he looked around, he couldn't find her. She was the only person his predecessor felt who didn't consider him a waste and made him feel special. It seems she isn't here yet.
'Why does it feel like I am more and more becoming like my predecessor Zeno instead of behaving like Noir used to do? Is it the effect of memories or the hormones in the body making me act and think like a child or is it something else?'
Zeno asks to Profile in his mind since he was not thinking like his usual self. He was a cold person who kept a distance with others which even he knew. But now, he is thinking of finding a girl who he had never even met.
[The answer isn't that simple.]
[Of course, the memories and hormones are making you behave like a child to a small degree, however that isn't the main reason why you are doing so.]
[The real cause to why your personality is changing is because you are trying to escape from yourself. You don't want to be your realself anymore. Somewhere in your mind, you detest yourself and that is making you try to become someone else.]
Profile's words hit a sore spot and makes Zeno stop in his tracks for a moment. At the same time he is struck from behind because someone clashed into his back. Looking back, he finds a small kid fallen on his buttocks massaging the back of his head.
Brown eyes shining brightly under the sun paired with a set of short black hair wearing a tucked in white shirt and a pair of black pants, a boy smaller than Zeno's stature and looks younger than him whose attention was still somewhere else. Zeno followed the kid's direction of gaze to see a lass of green hair walking away merrily.
"Where the hell you looking at, brat?"
Profile's earlier remark had irked Zeno somehow but it was aggravated when the kid who struck him didn't respond and was still wooing a lass.
Seeing the towering Zeno above him, the kid came back to his senses and apologizes.
"Sorry brother, sorry. I.. didn't see you there. I was just nervous since this is my first time here, you see." He says it apologetically with a bit of smile to his face.
"It's alright. Here.."
Somehow seeing the kid's smile calms down his temper and lifts up his mood. He gives his hand out to the kid lifting him up.
"My name is Paul, what's yours, big bro?" He asks with a big smile as radiant as the sun. Even though he looked small, his grip was strong and firm.
"Name's Zeno. What's her's?"
Zeno asks pointing towards the long green haired lass.
"I.. don't know. I .. was just... you see.. looking.. nothing else." Even while denying, Paul's face reddens so much that it becomes like a tomato.
'View'
Zeno decides to check his skill upon Paul.
🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲
Name: Paul
Age: 6
Cosmic Grade: 1 {35/200}
Energy Points: 100
Gift:
1. Construct Gift: Slingshot
Inbuilt skills:
1. Construct Slingshot
2. Marble shot
3. Curve shot 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲
"Anyway, let's go. It isn't that good to be late the first day itself."
Zeno nudges him forward while taking large strides himself. It seems Paul hasn't noticed the skill used upon him. It would be better if it occurs in everyone else' case.
Both of them reach their destination within minutes, a 5 storey building with such an air of dominance that no other structure near to it can compare. To Zeno, it felt familiar due to the memories, but to the young Paul, he felt amazed and a bit intimidated by its vastness.
Paul knew he was supposed to go to one of the primary classes and therefore checks the notice board to find himself in C section of primary classes. He doesn't check for other names, if he did he would have noticed Zeno's name at the bottom of the section.
"Big bro Zeno, I will meet you after class, then" Saying so, he walks forward only to find that Zeno was also walking along with him.
'Maybe his class is also on the same way.' Paul thought as he continued to walk.
However as he continues to walk more, he notices that with every turn he was taking, Zeno was also taking the same turn. When it continued to happen for some time, he couldn't help but ask the big guy straight out.
"Why are you following me, big bro?"
He asks since he couldn't hold it any longer.
"I am just going to my class, brat." Zeno answers being irritated. To him, he just wanted to get to the class sooner than being interrupted.
"Which class?"
"Primary class, C section"
"Ehhhh??!! Big bro, you are kidding right? You are still studying in Primary classes? How did you fail such a class?"
Well, nobody could blame Paul since there is never a chance of failing the primary classes for an average person.
Even if you fail in all subjects, if you happen to possess a Cosmic Grade of One, you would be promoted to the next class. On the awakening of Soul Gifts, the torrent of energy flowing into a person at the ceremony would be easy for him or her to achieve a Cosmic Grade of One. Since all residents of the Kingdom are awakened before 6, everyone walking on their feet, at the minimum would possess a Cosmic Grade of One. Hence a straight pass to the secondary classes.
"Don't ask unnecessary questions and don't look at me like that, brat. Or I will kick your ass."
Zeno admonishes Paul who was looking at him like he was seeing a new variant species of an exotic animal. Zeno didn't want to embarass himself answering such questions.
Both of them soon found their class and enters it only to find everyone sitting in their desks quietly looking around. They were nervously glancing each other since this was their first day in the school and they didn't know what was going to happen to them. Zeno too finds a desk for himself near the window when Paul pulls along a desk to his side and sits upon it.
'It seems this guy is hellbent on annoying me.' Zeno was getting bored, waiting for the class teacher to arrive. It seems he or she will only arrive after the bell rings.
Normally, primary classes, secondary classes, intermediate classes, higher secondary classes and senior classes take 2 years to complete for each one of them. Basically if anyone have to pass out from this academy, they would have to spend about 10 years here. Usually people take longer than that to pass out from here since except for the primary classes all the other classes are harder to get promoted from. The most simplest way to pass out from here would be to achieve a Cosmic Grade of 5 and boom, you have passed out from the Basic Academy. Now you are ready to challenge the Higher Academy.
One of the important thing, each kingdom in the Dominus Continent focuses on is education. Similar to modern earth, they also have their own set of science and technology which is both crude and advanced in its own way. But the most important thing everyone accepts ultimately is a person's strength.
Strength of a person is what determines his future in this world. The number of powerhouses and its quality is considered the military strength of the nation. Hence each person who have passed a certain standard will be recruited by many of the noble families hoping to increase its strength.
The teacher came in after a few minutes. She is a woman with a slim figure and a high stature, wearing a rectangular spectacles and a long brown tunic with no special embroidery. Her name is Sherlyn and she was also his former class teacher 2 years ago. It seems their allocation doesn't change that much. She looks at him on entering and ignores him after making sure it is in fact him.
"Hello everyone, my name is Sherlyn. I will be your classroom teacher for the coming 2 years. For now, everyone form a line according to your height and assemble in the ground. We will be having our assembly shortly."
She instructs to the nervous and excited group of children who do so as told within few minutes. Since he was the tallest, Zeno ends upon the last of the line sticking out like a sore thumb. However he is accompanied by Paul who is also a bit longer than his other peers.
"Big bro, aren't you excited?"
"No, just stop talking. Will you?"
Zeno was concentrating on the students of the higher classes, especially the secondary classes. When they reached the school ground, every student belonging to the higher classes had already reached there and was waiting for their new batch of juniors. Zeno saw his former classmates shortly on reaching there. Likewise they also saw him marching at the back of the line being the odd one out.
Many of them were genuinely surprised to see him there. Some of them were laughing and some of them were angry on seeing him.
"Ehh?? why is he here?...."
"Is it him really? Wasn't he thrown out?.."
"Damn that sh*tty bast*rd!! Because of him, we were embarrassed. If I ever get my hands on him, I'm gonna make him suffer...."
"Ha. ha.. ha... ho hu, I can't hold this. Man, its funny seeing him a junior....."
Truth be told, he hadn't expected such a reaction from them. He expected them to not even care about him but it isn't the case as he thought. Still one among them was missing. Syra should have been present today. Anyway Zeno decides to just go along with the flow and Paul also decides not to gain his big bro's ire.
The group of students gathered were getting rowdier as time went on. There were students from the age group of 6 to 20 assembled there. Hence there was bound to be some sort of talking going on between them. All these youngsters were gathered from both Reedling village and similar villages nearby.
"*COUGH*COUGH*"
A coughing sound emerges from the stage as if a thunder had fallen from the sky ringing out in everyone's ears. The people who have all assembled there falls silent as if an air of dominance was applied on them. When everyone looks upto the stage, they notice an old man standing in front of some people viewing them like an eagle looks at its prey. In his deep rough voice, he tells to the mass of youngsters gathered there,
"Get in your lines, the assembly is starting."