The Welcome Ceremony was nothing like he expected. It was Grand and big with fireworks and drums, presentations and food. It reminded him of the celebration that he once had in his empire every time he would conquer another kingdom.
"Young Master Chen died last night," Yumi said in a low voice. "It's unfortunate." Despite her words, she didn't look sad at all.
"How did you know this?" Kai asked, his eyes were on the tall stage decorated with flowers and different colored papers.
"My father worked with the knights who were guarding the Chen Family after the incident, he is an enforcer."
"How did he die?"
"I don't know. They said it was brutal and it should be a demon."
He arched an eyebrow. The weapon that he used was just a normal dagger. He didn't summon any elemental entity and just used his martial skills to get in and out of the estate. Kai nodded.
"Why did you think a demon would attack young master Chen?" he inquired. A demon is not someone that could roam in the streets of kingdoms undetected. Kai heard that there are detectors around the kingdom, aimed to detect any demons nearby. This was because of the sudden increase of people whose souls had been devoured by their summoned entities.
"My father… he said it was too bloody. No human could do something like that." Yumi leaned towards him just as the tolling bell echoed. "They cut him into pieces."
Now that is something Kai didn't do. "Interesting." His eyes were glued to the people wearing long white clothes walking towards the stage in front of everyone. A man with a long white beard caught his attention. The man's eyes were blue—too blue it reminded him of the depths of the sea. "Who is that?"
"That is the representative of the Federation, Deacon Circinus. He is a Dark Blue A Class Beast Summoner."
"Oh."
"His intelligence is off the charts! Rumor has it he memorized the entire book of mantras in six months. Meaning, he could summon all types of beast entities as long as his core was big enough to handle it."
"He can summon dragons too?"
Yumi gave him a look of amusement. "What are you talking about? Dragons don't exist, silly."
Kai sized up Deacon Circinus as he thought about Dragons, Cursed objects, and higher entities with their own consciousness. Even his mushroom had its own consciousness. How come people in this Era didn't know anything about it?
Ten thousand years…
Was that enough time for the mortals to forget?
"Dragon's only existed in legends. During the Era of the Gods." Yumi continued talking. "Legend has it that all of them died with a huge catastrophe almost destroyed the planet."
Kai nodded. History was wrong. Everything inside the book that he once read was wrong.
But why changed it?
"Another year… another batch of future soldiers that would serve the Federation to fight off demons." Deacon Circinus' voice boomed as he started speaking to the new and old Students of Hua Academy. "Today, it is my honor to welcome everyone to Hua Academy, one of the best academies in the Kingdom. As a token of appreciation for enrolling in this school, I would like to make an announcement."
Almost immediately, the faces of the people standing behind the Deacon changed. "From today onwards, we will start accepting seventeen-year-old Summoners as apprentices. We will open our doors to youths who wanted to experience the life of fighting demons as long as they are C- Class and above. Salaries can be arranged. On top of this, once they successfully graduate from the academy at the age of twenty, we will automatically accept them as the direct disciples of the Federation. We will then nurture them to become full-fledge priests that can lead demon fighters!"
Chaos ensued.
Almost all the students started talking, whispering amongst themselves. Previously, the Federation does not accept people who were not yet eighteen. They also did not accept people below the B Class. This rule had been going on for tens of years now. What's with the sudden change?
"Hey! Why do you think is that?" Ambro who sat next to Kai asked.
Kai shrugged in response. "No idea." The Federation was known not only because they are the largest organization in the world. It was also because they were mainly composed of powerful summoners with Divine core and even people who had an S Class Ranks.
"They needed more people," Idya said. She was languidly playing with her hair. "The Demons are increasing, and they have become more and more ferocious. We are lucky, we are inside the gates, they can't touch us here."
"But seventeen-year-olds can only summon the smaller entities. I don't think they could control something powerful." Yumi chimed in. "At most, a seventeen-year-old's core could summon a wolf, if you are a beast summoner. Maybe something as big as a horse, but that was it. Weapons summoner could summon a sword that could easily kill demons. But unless they are geniuses, they could only summon one of those weapons. So… what was the point?"
The group turned silent. It was pretty obvious. They wanted sacrificial lambs.
Kai eyed the headmaster of the academy, the balding man standing at the back of the Deacon. A smile was on the man's face, yet Kai didn't miss the anger in his eyes. Kai had heard a lot of things about this balding man and his closeness to the king. It turns out, this was real.
With the Federation trying to poach younger summoners, it would be hard for the empire to get the talented ones without sounding like they were trying to compete with the federation. It seems that the rivalry between the two had become more dangerous in the past few years.
"Are you going to join?" Idya asked, and almost immediately, everyone shook their heads. Except for Yumi.
After a few more minutes, the welcome ceremony ended. In the afternoon everyone was instructed to go back to their own buildings to start with their lessons.
When Kai and the others arrived in the building, Lek told them to go to the potion room to start their lecture.
"Everyone I am Zoe the teacher assistant, call me Miss Zoe. Professor Hackert is currently not available to I would be giving you materials and a prescription. You can follow it. If you fail, you have to buy your own materials as we don't have—"
"Miss Zoe, we have first years!" Ambro called her out.
"Huh?" Zoe hid the disbelief in her eyes as she looked at the two unfamiliar faces sitting next to Ambro. "Right… I remember. Professor Hackert asked me about them the last time I saw him." She gave an awkward smile. A small dimple appeared in both of her cheeks, making her younger than her actual age. She used a hand to tuck a loose strand of her long brown hair and looked at Kai and Yumi. "I am Zoe La Roche, I will teach you about the materials and show you the Mantra that contains all the plants that you could summon. If your psyche is strong enough to summon two of them, then it's better. Most of the materials that we need, can be summoned. So… as long as you are strong enough, then summoned them."
"Miss Zoe! They are first years!"
"I heard you the first time, Mr. Ambro Seymour. Now close your mouth and just get the materials and prescription so you can start brewing!"
Ambro's face reddened, the mention of his last name made him frowned. Standing up, Ambro grabbed the box with the materials and prescription before storming off.
"He is Luc Seymour's younger brother," Yumi immediately told Kai. "I think that's the reason why he is in this school. But I heard he hated his older brother."
Kai nodded. This… has nothing to do with him. Ignoring Yumi's words, he raised his hand, eyes glued to Miss Zoe.
Miss Zoe gestured him to stand up. "Tell me your name and Rank."
"I am Kai Iggo, and I am an A-Class Summoner."
"A Class?"
Yumi, Lek, and Idya looked at him.
"A Class Plant summoner?" Even Zoe was showing a surprised look on her face too. "Then… why are you in Hua Academy?"
....
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