The cave that he and his grandmother used to live in was not big. It was only enough to hide two people behind the bushes that they used to block the entrance of the space.
Located five kilometers away from the gates of Wren, this cave had sheltered him since the death of his grandmother five months ago.
Kai roamed his eyes around the small cave, making sure that he had packed everything that he needed. He then examined the space storage inside his small pouch as he counted the flasks and notebooks that his grandmother left him; these are his prized possessions. After making sure that he got everything inside his pouch, he immediately went out of the cave and put the make-shift door full of bushes in front of it, hiding the cave from the eyes of hunters that frequents this part of the mountain.
A smile bloomed on Kai's face as he started walking towards the Kingdom. The classes will start tomorrow, and he was quite excited to discover more about the kingdom and its forgotten history.
After almost an hour of walking, Kai finally arrived at the gates. Eyeing the number of carriages entering the kingdom, he concluded that this was the other student arriving for the welcome ceremony the next day.
After a few minutes, Kai arrived at the enormous gates of the Hua Academy located just next to the Stadium. Both are located at the Center of the kingdom, a place where the palace that was sitting on top of the hill is highly visible. He eyed its wrought-iron gates coupled with the two huge intimidating statues of a beast and a sword. Both statues were intimidating to some people. Not to him.
"Name and ring?" a man who looks just a couple of years older than him asked when he was about to go in. The man's white ring caught his attention. B Class.
"Kai Iggo," he responded. "Dark blue A-Class, weed." The man pursed his lips in response as he examined his ring. There were three academies of summons in the Kingdom, each of them specializes in different Affinities. This Academy specializes in both Beast Tamers and Weapons Master. As this was not a school specifically for weeds, people are surprised to know that a weed would chose to come here.
"Proceed to the registration on your left. Weeds have their own registration hall. They will tell you more about your monthly stipend." The man said before he looked at another student who approached the gates. Seeing this, Kai nodded and walked inside.
The inside of the university was nothing like he expected. It was huge and colorful. Blue and red flags welcomed him as they valiantly danced against the wind. The trees that surrounded the place also gave it a sense of warmth, comfort. Of course, he did not miss the almost nonexistent flags for the weeds.
He shook his head and eyed the three pathways in front of him. They decorated the right and the center pathways with plants with a cobblestone, just like the roads inside the capital of the kingdom. On the other hand, the one to his left… well, it was a pathway full of dirt and stones.
He chuckled. People these days are really different. He walked towards the dirty pathway. Kai was originally expected to see a huge building in the middle of trees. Maybe at least a welcoming party, just like a normal academy.
Instead, what he got was a huge building that looked haunted. It was gray and dirty, a few plants grew unchecked over the buildings crumbling bricks. The building with four floors stood proud with a green flag that had the insignia of the university. Sadly, the flag had been left outside to fend for itself and was now faded, and almost in the state of ruin. He sighed. Why would the academy ignore the weeds like this?
"We are not the top Academy for potion makers. That's the reason few people come in here to study. I believe the Academy just forgot that they still have a building in this part of the school." A woman's voice reached his ears.
He turned towards the woman about a foot shorter than his five-foot-ten frame. "Call me Yumi." The woman continued. "I just arrived a couple of minutes ago. This place seemed haunted. I haven't seen anyone leave the building since I arrived here." Her eyes focused on the archway that would lead them to the entrance of the building. Just like the building, it looked dilapidated and old.
"Why would you decide to come to this school despite knowing it's not the top in the Kingdom?" She continued. Kai only shrugged in response. In choosing a school, the level of their knowledge in summoning does not concern him at all.
After that testing, he could always choose to come to either of the three academies in the Kingdom however, he specifically chose this school simply because they are located in the middle of the kingdom. The other two are located outside of the capital, and it would not be convenient for someone like him who needed to take an extra mission from the hunter's hall for money. He was poor, alright?
He eyed the woman who stood next to him. She was about his age, smooth and jade-like skin, green eyes, and brown hair with her gray expensive clothes. A noble? Probably, he thought as he stared at the entrance of the building once again.
"Hey… do you want to try and get their attention?" the woman said. "Oh! I am Yumi, by the way. Yumi Lin."
"Kai Iggo." He responded before he started walking. He was about to tell her no when someone's laughter interrupted him.
"Look! Another weed!" It was a familiar voice. He and Yumi turned only to see a group of men approached them, each wearing a white uniform with a blue cape—beast tamers. "Isn't she a little pretty?"
Now that Kai saw their faces clearly, he immediately knew that trouble was coming. These were the same people who were with that Young Master Chen in the restaurant the other day.
In fact, that Young Master Chen is one of them. He sighed inwardly before he started to walk towards the building, leaving Yumi alone.
"Oi Kai! Where are you going?" Yumi followed him, distressed as she looked back at the group of men that also hasten their steps towards them. "Those people…"
Kai just shrugged. There was no way that those people recognized him from the one that they saw in the restaurant. However, there is also no way that he would engage in a fight with anyone now. He wanted to keep a low profile and acting like a hero at this point, would not benefit him in any way.
Nope! Not when the voices inside his head was at it again.
[Malicious Human Detected. Summon Mushrooms that burns malicious mortals. Please pay 100 coins.]
[To Summon the mushrooms say: Summon!]