"First, it will be Richard Wade."
A young man with casual clothing and they were of a top of the line too. He seemed to be from the well of family.
While thinking about who this was, Josh, who was coincidentally next to Xavier told, "Hmm, look at that instructor. Fawning over that guy. You know, that guy is from the Wade family. They are the premier family dealing in mechanics. They are in charge of the whole mechanics of the city and even the Vice Dean of the mechanic department is from the Wade family. Its said that the Wade family is one of the mechanic family from the capital of the sector."
"Every year, the teachers fawn over the students from the Wade family as they usually are the leaders of their respective classes. They just do it because of a small chance that they will get a few benefits."
Xavier nodded. "Its normal after all. As far as I know, other than the cream of the crop, the rest are looked down upon as their capacity are very low. So most try to hang on to any branch they get and in this city, the Wade family is as sturdy of a branch you can get."
As both Josh and Xavier were talking, Richard went towards the testing area and kept his omniband on the testing platform. Soon a scanner light scanned the omniband and after a few seconds a number flashed on the holograph projector.
10
This score means that there is an optimisation of 10 percent. That was more than 3 times of the set criteria. All the people including Xavier were shocked. While others were shocked by the fantastic results Richard got, Xavier was shocked by the reactions of the people who saw their results.
There were many exaggerated reactions, like this was an impossible feat to achieve, which was done by Richard.
Xavier thought,' Shit! I think I overdid it. If this is very good, what will they think of me! The way this guy looks, he's obviously a snobbish young master and anyone who takes his limelight away from him will be his enemy. Well let's hope he doesn't act too hostile.'
Richard who saw the reaction of the crowd Humphed with arrogance and went to take the omniband from the testing platform.
The instructor said in a praising tone," Young Master Richard is a genius as the rumors say. In fact you maybe the best genius our academy has other than you big brother in the last 100 years."
Richard heard this and said," Hmph, of course I'm a genius. Well my brother is better than me. If I want anything, I'll send for you. Make sure you serve me well."
"Yes young master. As far as its possible, I'll do my best."
Richard nodded with a self satisfied smile as he saw the servile attitude of the instructor. St the same time, he saw Xavier shaking his head seemingly not paying attention to what was happening. This pissed him off a little but he didn't pay any attention to a bumpkin who looked like a poor bloke.
After Richard, the instructor called," Next is Miss Julia Snow."
Next was a girl wearing a white sundress and had blue hair with a oval face, large watery eyes and a cold face. She went forward and placed the band on the testing platform. Soon a number flashed.
It was also 10. The instructor was a little surprised and said," A very good score miss Julia."
Xavier was a little surprised by the difference in treatment and asked Josh, " Why is the instructor so different to Julia when compared to Richard? "
"Well that's because she is a reject from the Snow family. Its a combat oriented family and Julia is not a good combat master. She is interested in mechanics and due to this, the whole family looks at her in disdain. So her standing in the whole family is very poor. Its worsened by the fact that she is am illegitimate child which occurred due to an affair that her mother, an elder of the Snow family had with another man."
Xavier understood her situation. This world was very liberal in their relationships. The high level members have many spouses. There were both matriarchal and patriarchal clans and the high level family members had many spouses. And due to males having to fight more and die more, they are lesser in number in the border cities. As such the number of matriarchal clans are more in the city.
And snow clan is one of the clans which is a matriarchal clans and they emphasize selecting talented males to mate with to raise talented descendants. Any descendant born out of an extramarital affair will be shunned upon. So it was obvious why she was so poor in standing.
The testing went on and about 20 people passed the test and the highest they got was a score of 5.
"Last is Xavier Argent."
Xavier woke from his daze and picked up the omniband to take it up to the testing platform. While doing that, he was hoping that the last minute alterations will be able to help him reduce his results.
He kept the omniband on the platform and soon it started getting scanned. After a few seconds, a number flashed.
50.
When everyone saw that number, their eyes widened so much that they were about to pop off. The best reaction was from the instructor and Richard.
He immediately shouted," That's impossible! The machine must be wrong. How can it be possible for him to be better than me?!"
The instructor snapped out of his daze and said," Please calm down young master. I'll test it again using another machine."
The instructor went out of the room and soon brought a new tester machine. It looked more high tech than the last machine. This was the 4th gen machine whereas the last one was the 2nd gen machine. Soon, the machine was brought to the crowd.
Along with the instructor, another middle aged man came with him. He wore a robe which was a little grander than the instructor.
The machine was brought and the omniband was put to the test. The scanner soon did its job and a result was shown.
52.
'This newer machine was even better than the old one. It actually scored very accurately.' Thought Xavier in relief that the number it showed was not too much.
But Richard was not happy at all. He again shouted," That's impossible! How can a bumpkin have a score higher than me! You idiot! Go back and being a good tester or else see what I'll do!"
Richard shouted at the middle ages instructor at the top of his lungs. He pointed at the instructor and ordered," Go away quickly. If you don't do what I asked you in this instant, see what I'll do."
"Uhh, young ma ma master, this..."
While the instructor was trying to explain, the man beside him snorted.
Suddenly a huge feeling of pressure washed over the whole crowd. It was so stifling that most of the class would find it hard to breathe.
The one who felt the most was Richard, who was standing right in front of the instructor.
"What will you do if he doesn't obey?! Young man, you maybe from the Wade family but this is not your house. Its the Academy. Backwards as we may be, we are still a part of the Star Academy. Remember that! If I see you ordering anyone around like that in the future, you'll se what I'll do!"
As soon as he said this, the pressure increased on Richard and he was almost forced to kneel down but the locket he was wearing shine and neutralized the pressure. Richard, who was just sweating buckets once again regained his courage, "And who are you to tell me what to do?! Aren't you just a professor of the academy. Hmph, just because you are of a higher position than that idiot there, do you think you are capable enough to order me around! Hmph, I'm the nephew of Vice Dean Reginald Wade, now you know my backing, what will you do?!"
Xavier who heard this wanted to slap his head,'This idiot didn't even know who this guy was but was shouting at this man. While he didn't know who exactly this was , just judging by the badge on his chest, he is in a higher position than a professor. This guy was most likely a vice dean.'
And it was true, the man snorted and pointed at his badge and said," Do you know what this badge represents?"
Richard, surprised by such a calm response, focused his attention to the badge. It had 3 cogs above a silver star. As soon as he saw the badge, Richard felt cold. The silver star indicated his standing in the academy and the 3 cogs showed that he was a Tier 3 mechanic. All this indicated one thing.
"You are a Vice Dean!"
"Yes. I'm Vice Dean Johnson. You better behave. I'm not like Reginald. He may be lenient towards those of the Wade family but even he has to follow the rules set by the Dean. If he doesn't then he'll be thrown out if the academy! While you may act as you want in the Wade family, this is the academy. Be careful so as to not implicate your family, especially you uncle and brother. You know very well how they are."
Richard felt cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He was verynwell aware how they were. While they may protect him from some trouble, if a student was known to disrespect a Vice Dean, he'll be expelled and banned from all the academies. And if anyone from his family tried to stop it, they'll be banned as well.
Not paying any attention to the stiff Richard, the Vide Dean Johnson turned to Xavier and told," Nice work young man. To optimise the omniband by 52 percent is a very very god result. While its not top tier, it still is the best in the last 10 years. Keep up the good work. I'd like to see you bring honor to our Department. "
"Thank you sir."
Vice Dean nodded and told something to the instructor and went away. The instructor also followed him and told the crowd to wait for 1 hour.
While everyone waited, groups formed among the students. The well of ones and some not so well off ones formed a group of their own and some of those who didn't want to join them formed a group of their own. Even the girls formed some small group. The only ones left were Xavier and Josh.
Josh surprisingly had a very good score. He scored 7 in the test and his score was the 5th highest. This earned hostility from the other boys and he was also alone. So he came to Xavier and they fromed a duo.
"Well it seems like we both made a lot if 'friends' in the first day itself huh."
"Yes, but they are snobs anyway, so its not like they go ask for consent before doing anything. Its fine anyway, if I'm in their groups, they'll just prevent me from developing at the optimum pace as they will get their prides hurt if their subordinates are better than them."
Xavier nodded. He had experienced this in his past life. He saw someone even killed by his previous 'master' just for giving a better plan than the master.
Soon, the instructor came with the score for our theory papers and announced the scores. It was out of 50 and again Xavier score 40 and the highest were Richard and Julia who both scored 48 and Josh surprisingly scored 45.
Thpse who didn't do well in the practicals and were hoping to be bailed out by the theory but many if them failed and just 30 of them out of the original 50 or so were selected to join the academy.
"The ones who are selected to the elite class are only 4. They are Richard, Julia, Josh and Xavier."
The elite class was the most luxurious class in the academy and they even got their own dorm rooms. Soon all the students got their badges.
They went to their dorms and Josh and Xavier had their rooms beside each other and Richard and Julia had their rooms in a different building.
When asked for the reason, Josh told that as they were from powerful families, they get special treatment. Xavier nodded and soon went to his home and got all his essentials to the dorms while paying up the remaining rent and clearing his house.
After he settled around in his house and sat down to relax, he heard a notification.
[Please check the Missions host.]
'Ah, I forgot!'
[MISSION - Join the Star Academy branch of South Star city as a mechanic.
COMPLETION RATE - SSS
REWARD - Sam the spy.]