The other recruit who woke up looked around nervously for a bit but eventually calmed down and followed suit with the two other conscious people and waited.
They were seated near Leo and had dark brown hair; they wore nice clothes as well. They pulled out a little puzzle and started solving it slowly. This was because the students all had their devices temporarily confiscated.
Eventually, the rest of the class started waking up. Most slowly woke up unlike Leo and the other student, but there were exceptions here and there. As people woke up, they started talking to each other to rid themselves of their boredom.
Leo sat quietly reading to himself, for the time being, he thought about talking but the teacher seemed to be reaching a boiling point. The reason why was simple, the chattering had kept growing in volume until it was difficult to hear even one's thoughts.
As the final students woke up, Ethan stood and spoke for the first time since the earlier mumbles.
"Everyone shut your goddamn mouths." It wasn't loud, but it had an indescribable presence that sent chills down the backs of everyone in the class. The proceeding silence was palpable.
He walked over to the chalkboard in the center of the class and stood at it, fixing his glasses. He picked up a fresh piece of chalk and wrote, creaking clacks in the previously silent room.
On the board it read:
Ethan Burns
General Studies, Homeroom
Ethan turned and looked at all the students.
"Today was just supposed to be some introductions and explanations, especially about the humans here and why you're referred to as blank slates. As well as the process to make the humans here into demons. But now I'm a little pissed. Have some consideration for your classmates and be quieter when you're having a conversation. I don't mind talking in this class, it's good for building comradery, but at least be quiet about it.
"So instead, we'll be doing your pretest. I need to see what you all know. Humans, none of you are exempt, I don't expect any of you to do well, but, then again, I don't expect anyone in here to do well except demon royals or demons in military families. Afterwards, I'll explain all that stuff from before."
He spoke into a mic on his desk and a few moments later a few assistants walked out from a door and started to hand out papers. Eventually, Leo got his paper and he looked at it.
Question 1.
You find yourself on a sinking boat along with multiple other passengers. You all make it to a small spare boat for emergencies. It is the only boat available. Taking the boat to the water, you find another passenger in the water, but the boat you currently sit on is filled to the brim. There is absolutely no way the swimming passenger can fit, and they won't be able to survive for much longer. What do you do?
A. Let the passenger drown and escape on the boat, searching for land or any other boats that can help.
B. Sacrifice your spot and let them onto the boat.
C. Force another passenger to give up their spot on the boat.
D. Kill the drowning passenger to put them out of their misery.
Leo's eyes widened after reading the question and unbeknownst to him, his eyebrows raised on their own as well. He quickly read through the other questions, and they were the same. Hypothetical questions placing the test taker in horrible situations and asking them to fix them. But all the answers were the same, they were bad choices.
Some of course were better than others, but Leo still considered them wrong answers, even though they might seem right. Taking question one, for example, D was just a bad answer. C has some merit, but it's the worst out of A, B, and C. A seems like a practical answer and B seems like a selfless answer. But Leo thought they were both very wrong.
It was simple why he thought this way, it was because there was a correct answer for all of the situations, it just wasn't listed on the test. Leo wrote his name at the top of the paper and started scribbling away, answering the questions instead of circling the various choices presented to him. After around an hour, he got up and handed in his paper. Most students handed it in before him, instead just choosing to circle answers.
But there were a few like Leo who were instead writing. The reason it took him so long was due to him trying to find the best answers given the situation and it also took him some time to write it all out.
Ethan took the paper and upon seeing all the written answers, he slightly smirked. He placed it to the side on the pile of tests and continued grading the test he had in front of him.
Eventually, all the tests were handed in and he kept grading. He spoke into the same mic from before and an assistant walked into the room. She went over to him, and he spoke quietly to her, she nodded and walked to the front of the class.
"Hello class, my name is Olivia. I'm one of the teaching assistants that you'll be seeing throughout the year." She bowed slightly and continued, "Mr. Burns has requested that while he grades your tests, I explain to you what he was supposed to, in his stead.
"As many of you are aware, most of the students in this class are humans. You all have applied to join the ranks of the demons and have been accepted. This next lesson is for the humans, but it's best for all of you to listen up.
"All of the humans, as well as any half-bloods, in this room are something we refer to as a blank slate. These are people who can be swayed by angelic or demonic blood." She looked around the room as she spoke. Her eyes darted to various faces before moving along, never outstaying their welcome.
"Since you are here to become demons and join our ranks," she was speaking specifically to the humans, "you all must be injected by demonic blood. Once injected you'll go dormant for about a week, sleeping. This is something that happens to demons and half-bloods when they are born. When they are born, their bodies aren't accustomed to their soul realm, which will be explained later. So, they have to go dormant while their body adapts, we've dubbed this the adaptation period, although it is also called the dormancy period sometimes. Most newborns have to do it for six months, the longer it takes, the stronger the soul realm. Don't worry though, the one week for blank slates is only so short because your bodies are all grown up. It's easier and less strenuous on your bodies to adapt to your soul realm since you're grown up."
She looked at Leo for a moment and said, "And for the half-bloods, it's very important to never, ever, inject angelic blood or demonic blood into your bodies. You all are automatically blank slates, but it is more a curse for you all."
She looked at the entire classroom for a moment and said, "Unlike humans, demons, or angels, the balance of a half-blood is very fragile. If this balance is ever thrown off, severe consequences will happen, resulting in death."
A human student raised their hand. Seeing this, the assistant nodded at them, they then spoke up, "Miss, what's a half-blood?"
"Oh, silly me, sorry, I forgot to mention." The assistant shook her head and laughed. "A half-blood is specifically a child of a demon and an angel. If a human has a child with a demon or angel, the child will become a demon or angel, depending on whichever the human, um, sleeps with. So, half-bloods are exclusively those born between demons and angels. I hope that answers you're question."
The student nodded.
Ethan stood up, "There are only two half-bloods in this class. I've finished grading the tests, you can stop now Olivia, thank you, just wait here. There are also 35 demons and 62 humans. Our class consists of a hundred students."
A quick-witted student tilted their head in confusion and put their hand up.
"Yes?"
"That's only 99."
"I know. And that brings us up to our next lesson! Mathias!" Ethan pointed to Leo in the middle of the classroom, "What was the last thing I asked you before you sat back down?"
"Uh, can I smell them?"
"Bingo! Our next lesson is on the roles of demons!" He seemed very enthusiastic in contrast to his previous tired self, "There are many quirks that demons have, as well as angels as we're very similar, one such quirk is something I have. I have a good nose and am something we call a seeker."
He started walking through the classroom, "What can seekers do, you may be asking, well, we can tell the difference between angels and demons. Not that crazy I know. But it's very useful for a couple of things."
He stood before a handful of students, "For instance, I can't smell any of you, meaning you're either a human or a half-blood. But since none of you would know a seeker can't smell a half-blood, and that you would die as a half-blood if you received angelic or demonic blood, I can confidently say that you all are humans!"
He walked a couple of desks away, "I can smell you all, apparently it's different to all seekers, but to me you all smell very faintly like coffee, meaning you're all demons. It's a distinct smell like coffee, but not exactly, meaning if someone smells like coffee, I can still distinguish between them!"
He again walked a couple of desks away, now arriving before Leo, "I can just barely smell a sugary smell from you, but you're the only exception among all half-bloods for this! Due to your special situation of course." He turned to the class, "Your classmate here is a half-blood. You would assume seekers would be able to notice a half-blood, but for some reason, it's like the blood of an angel and demon combined messes with our senses. It's theorized that whatever allows seekers to seek, gets canceled out by their blood mixing. Instead, we just smell them like any other human, which is the absence of a special smell.
"As I mentioned earlier, I can smell Mathias here, but that's because he's unique to all half-bloods, but not in a good way. In fact, he should be very dead… but I digress! What's important about Leo is that his body's balance is out of whack, leaning slightly towards angelic." He whispered loudly to the class, "Which is why he should be dead!"
Leo looked slightly annoyed that he was telling everyone about his situation, but he didn't stop Ethan. Not that he could anyway.
"But the smell… He smells slightly sugary. Like a candy from my childhood, which is sadly no longer in production."
He walked away and towards the brown-haired student near Leo. The second student to have woken up. He placed his hand on the student's shoulder firmly, but the student's face seemed rather pale.
"Hello Mr. One Hundred…" A sadistic grin appeared on Ethan's face. His hand moved from his shoulder and went to his neck, forcibly placing the student's head on the desk.
His face leaned near the student, and he whispered, "Hmmm, I wonder, should I call the Inquisitors? Actually, I know an Adjudicator who owes me a favor…"
The student's eyes looked dead, but their body was extremely trembling. They were on the verge of tears, but they held them in.
"Hmmm… Nah. Not worth it." Ethan let go of the student and stood up straight, slightly stretching. "Your real name is Luke Sharpe, of the Sharpe family. Your family really fed you to the wolves, eh? It's honestly pretty sad, you're just a kid after all. Royals will be royals I guess whether they be demons or angels. There was zero shot of you succeeding here with whatever they told you to do, by the way. For the past hundred years there have been multiple seekers at these training grounds. I'm sorry kid, your family definitely knew you'd get caught."
The entire class was silent for nearly an entire minute as the angel just laid their head on their desk. Ethan couldn't take it anymore and spoke up.
"You know… there is something we could do…"
Luke's eyes slightly moved towards Ethan, trembling the entire way.
"Since we're discussing blood and all of that… Well… There is a process to turn an angel into a… sort of demon." Ethan looked at Luke and put his hand on his shoulder again, this time tenderly. He did genuinely feel bad for him, earlier was just a show to make him more accepting of the request. But Ethan did honestly think this alternative was better, even if he looked at the situation from a neutral viewpoint. Oh course, he might've been slightly biased.
"I'm sure you're aware of a blood angel. If we very, very slowly give you demonic blood, you'll kind of blend into a demon. Because of how we work and how we're different, you can never fully be a demon, but it's irreversible and will get you banished from the angels. It's a way to ensure you've switched sides and won't betray us. If you don't want to, I honestly understand, but I'll have to get an inquisitor. I'll give you some time to think about it. Olivia, give him an empty room, I don't want any demons to attack him." He glanced at a few demons who sat near the back who all wore excellent clothes despite being at a military academy.
"Now I know all of that was heavy. So, let's talk about something I know you all love! Tests!"
Collectively around half of the students groaned. Inadvertently of course. Ethan was just messing with them, trying to lighten the mood, so he chuckled upon hearing their reaction.
"Anyway, I'm proud to announce a new record! I've still got to check, but this should've beaten the previous one. Beating the previous best, a total of thirteen students passed! The last record was ten!" Ethan went back to his desk and sat on it.
He took the stack of thirteen papers and placed them on his lap. He lifted one and showed it to the class.
"Here's what all of you were supposed to do. All of the multiple-choice answers were just there to confuse you. We need you all to think outside of the box, all of the answers here should've been just short of satisfactory or completely batshit insane. If you answered even one of these by circling an answer, you failed. Of course, if just writing something was enough the passing rate would've been much higher. No, instead, you had to write good answers. Crazy concept, I know." He said with a voice oozing with sarcasm.
"Take this answer from question one. As a refresher, 'You find yourself on a sinking boat along with multiple other passengers. You all make it to a small spare boat for emergencies. It is the only boat available. Taking the boat to the water, you find another passenger in the water, but the boat you currently sit on is filled to the brim. There is absolutely no way the swimming passenger can fit, and they won't be able to survive for much longer. What do you do?'
"This student said, 'I'd take one person out of the boat and replace the person in the water. The person now in the water will stay there until they can't stay any longer. Then we'll swap this person out for someone else, we'll repeat this process until another boat arrives or we'll move slowly enough where they can hang on to the side of the boat.' They continued talking about alternatives depending on if the water is cold and they also explained how they'd navigate.
"The point is, we're making the best of the best here. We need you to think outside of the box regardless of the situation. Just because an answer is presented to you doesn't mean it's the right one. Anyway, the class has gone on for long enough and you have more classes to attend. You've got a few minutes to kill before you go to your next class so go find your sleeping quarters."
With a wave of his arm, he dismissed the class. Almost none of the class moved though. Seeing this Ethan tilted his head slightly before gasping, "Oh! Yeah! Sorry! Olivia! Can you give them their papers? Thank you."
Olivia and a few other people handed them some forms and a map of the compound they were staying at. The forms were their schedules and where they were staying, as well as course syllabuses.
Getting his papers, Leo stood up with a complex expression due to thinking about the angel, Luke. But he just shook his head and left the classroom.