Walking out of the mansion, Lyon was reminded once again of the intrinsic differences between the ordinary people and those with powerful cultivation. Being that he was in the Capital of the continent spanning Empire it was understandable for the city to be structured, but Lyon was slightly disgusted with the measures that the Imperial family had taken. The Capital spanned a staggering 5,000 sq. miles with a towering wall that wound around the circumference of the capital lined with Kei cannons that could easily blow apart the average mountain placed at every ten-mile interval.
This was done to protect the capital from possible beast attacks and more importantly to protect against enemy sneak attacks that other less friendly continents might attempt. Apparently, finding these defenses alone to be insufficient due to two successful Assassinations that happened to members of the Imperial family centuries before, the Emperor decided to lay down further defenses using a somewhat cruel method.
Directly behind the Giant wall were pressurized kei bombs placed strategically underground to prevent a quick infiltration into the deeper parts of the capital. Thankfully these bombs are normally not active and require express confirmation from a member of the direct line of the Imperial family before they can be armed which was considered necessary due to the bombs packing enough power to flatten everything in a hundred-mile radius.
This doesn't seem that bad, but to prevent possible enemies from being wary of the area the Emperor brought in 10 million people to fill in 3,000 sq, miles leaving 1,000 sq. miles as land for the current and future Kei Master nobility families to occupy as the inner city and another 1,000 sq. miles for the Imperial district made up of the Emperor and their extended families. As royal families every Kei Master family knows about the bombs placed in the outer city but are expressly forbidden from informing any of the commoners with the title of traitor and the extermination of the entire family being the only outcomes for those who tried.
Any time a new family rises from the outer city they are informed of the situation and made to follow the same rules or face immediate death, which has naturally led to a growing dislike from many of the new royal families. Understanding this, a few of the most powerful families were recruited by the crown to act as the aboveboard eyes and ears of the crown putting a firm foot down on any suspicious activity found. Rumors also circulated that there were more families controlled secretly by the crown that watched from the dark to prevent any issues that the families out in the open couldn't handle.
All these checks and balances came together to form the current capital Lyon saw today. There right in front of me, placed ostentatiously along the right and left sides of the magnificent, reinforced cobblestone roads that were inlaid with water, fire and light kei runes that kept the streets cleaned without the need of others and provided a soft light that looked quite gorgeous at night were lined rows of mansions. The inner city, more commonly known as the royal district was granted a lot more freedom in how they built upon their land compared to the outer city also called the commoner's district.
While the commoner district allowed people to open their own stores if they could afford to, no family was allowed to alter the living areas of the outer city regardless of how much money they had. This led to those more affluent among the commoners buying whole neighborhoods to show off their monetary status.
This also meant that many families had no choice but to work for these wealthy families to secure a house or be forced to live in the tent city located along the outskirts of the commoner's district where the Imperial family had no desire to oversee directly leading to crimes being much more likely there. In sharp contrast, each of the royal Kei Master families were given a one sq. mile area to build whatever structures they wanted so long as they utilized a Kei barrier that would only show the families mansion to the normal eye. The amount of land could be increased or taken away depending on the performance of the royal families which provided another layer of protection for the Imperial family.
After all, how could the families start a rebellion if they were too busy fighting each other for resources and land? Looking at the extravagant mansions of the other famous households, Lyon had a slightly bitter smile adorning his face. Since you must become a distinguished Kei Master to become a royal family, there aren't too many mansions in the area at first glance. Still, as the Capital of the continent there are well over 100 mansions currently within sight of the normal person and that is not considering the sheer quantity of Kei Masters that have emerged from these families over the centuries.
This by extension also shows a small part of the true power of the ruler of the Central Continent around him. With these mansions that probably did just as much to deter would be enemies as the very fact the empire was so bold as to put such a gaudy display of power up only made those in the know shiver at how much more strength must be hidden by the empire to swoop in on unsuspecting fools who would make an enemy out of them.
Turning towards the Imperial district Lyon started to make his way towards the Academy not wanting to be one of those fools he saw on KV and read about that missed the time for important events and ended up in huge messes because of it. With these and other random thoughts flying around my mind Lyon continued to walk with Azera allowing her back into her most comfortable position outside of laying on his bed, which of course ended with her being twined around Lyon's torso and shoulders again.
Glancing at the glittering stone tablets that flamboyantly glowed with the different defining colors of each new royal household we passed he again shook his head at the sheer stupidity of all these petty plays for power the royal houses continued to use. As Lyon walked down the streets people who saw him stopped startled for a moment by his appearance in front of the world, and soon started whispering with varying emotions playing on their faces. Ignoring them, Lyon continued only pausing long enough to ensure Azera didn't jump out and start a fight with all the pedestrians.
Feeling his intentions, Azera snorted and blew a crackling smoke from her black snout that had a more intense sound and color as a "subtle" warning to all the prying eyes. Thankfully she listened to his order and decided to simply close her eyes to avoid looking at the nuisances that dared to gawk at her and her human. After about thirty minutes of walking, Lyon finally made it to the gates of the imperial district.
Looking up he could see his new place of residency for the next few years. There in front of him stood a towering gate with what appeared to be a large group of buildings grouped together to form a grand scene but seemed more modest than what the capital's Academy for the best and brightest of the continent should be.
"Here goes nothing," Lyon said as he walked up to the reception area at the side of the large gates. He could see the obsidian stone building, marked along the sides with engravings of kei masters and their monsters, poised for a heroic charge. Looking towards the front, inlaid with gold and bold print a plaque shined "Welcome To The Aserx Royal Academy''.
Nodding to himself, he entered the building and sized up the people inside. Around him to one side was a room full of satin dresses and shiny silk robes worn by those trying to show off their good upbringing and on the other mostly coarse or common looking clothes that pointed out most of the common born and left them feeling and looking embarrassed.
Shaking his head, Lyon made his way through the throngs of people, most of them servants. Noticing a registration table set up around 10 feet away from him Lyon turned that way. Making that his destination, he started towards it. Noticing the black silk long sleeve shirt, he wore alongside his black pants with a golden stripe running down them ending with a purple gold lightning bolt pattern and simple black shoes, all the servant class people around him stepped back to make space as he moved closer to the registration table.
After a couple minutes of moving around countless bodies of other nobles and commoners who seemed to eye each other and him warily Lyon finally made it to the checkpoint. Seated there was a teen around 16 or 17 years old wearing the Academy's iconic black uniform with red cuffs and stripes running down them denoting him as a second year student with black hair and a lean but fit looking body wearing glasses and seeming frustrated at having to register students.
"Hello sir, here is my acceptance letter and information" Lyon said. "Let me see what we have here," the teen says, looking through his information to find out where Lyon was supposed to go. "Oh, that's quite a surprise" he mumbles to himself upon seeing his innate spirit info. "Well kid, looks like you are going to end up in the freshman's first Heaven Class" he says after reading the information.
Not knowing what that means, Lyon just shook his head. Appearing to realize that he was an even more clueless freshman than most nobles, the teen explains. "Well kid, you might not know this, but our academy has classes that are divided by your talent rank among other things. You will learn more about this later at the welcome ceremony". Wanting to know more about the classifications and how they were decided Lyon started to open his mouth to ask but the senior student gave me a gaze of amusement before pointing behind me where another ten people had lined up in the brief period while he was thinking.
Leaving the table after getting his identity token from the man, Lyon made his way towards the dormitory he had been pointed towards. As he walked towards the main campus Lyon found himself taking in the surroundings in awe. All around him the ground was paved with magical tiles that boosted the natural kei energy in the campus and provided a spiritual lifting to all who walked them.
The entrance to the actual campus had another check in desk for the students at which a guard was currently sitting. Upon showing the guard his token, Lyon was led to a shining portal that he had somehow failed to notice up to that point. Upon crossing over, the first thing Lyon noticed was the sheer size of the main campus. Looking around, there were three enormous signs embedded with calligraphy that glowed with the obvious amount of kei energy concentrated into them.
Practice Range, Dormitory, and Class Hall were shown with arrows leading to the left, straight ahead, and to the right respectively. Finally on the campus, Lyon noticed that the places appeared further away than what should have been possible. Moving forwards as the sign pointed, he walked for five minutes and began to see some shops around him that offered different services, games, foods, and even techniques.
In the surroundings he could occasionally see students and teachers of different years walking around the streets and shops. Suppressing his curiosity, he moved past the area and after another 10 minutes of walking found the dormitories and entered the building that would be his home for the next 5 years. After entering, Lyon slowed down and looked around to try and better understand the place.
To the left of the entrance, the building had a lobby that was furnished with couches and chairs that appeared to have been made with the fur of rare demonic beasts and hundred-year-old spiritual wood. Further into the room there was a collection of large kei boxes that were attached to the three walls inside and portrayed the various news and entertainment networks of the capital.
To the right there was a two-person desk that currently only had a single female student sitting there who appeared to have been meditating while a two tailed, red and blue bird sat on her shoulder. Walking up to the desk it appeared the girl's keibeast felt his presence and told its human companion who proceeded to open her eyes to regard the foreign face that appeared in front of her.
"Hello," the girl began speaking warmly. "My name is Thea, a third-year student here. Judging from the look of you I'll assume you must be one of the freshmen, in which case there are a few things I need to tell you about the dorms. First off, this here is the lobby as you might have guessed, and here is where most of the First thru Third years hang out when they're not in class or their dorms. The lobby is always open to all the students and teachers except after midnight, during which time the lobby is closed till six the next morning.
There are a total of six floors in the dorms and each floor is separated into two wings for the males and females, however as a male you will only be able to access the left wing of the first floor. Each wing has its own commons area that is for the exclusive use of your wing. On that note, unless you are given express permission by the residents of another wing or floor you are not allowed on any other floor or room, and even then, you are only allowed to go to the specific room of the person who gave you that permission,"
Thea paused here to make sure that Lyon was still paying attention. "I know that sounds like a lot of information, but I promise it isn't as complicated as it seems. Anyway, for now let me see your identification token and I will give you your room key" she finished. Passing her his token, Lyon briefly wondered what would happen if he were unlucky enough to lose the token.
Focusing her kei energy into the token, she read the information that was projected into her eyes. Thea's eyes shot open after reading the information inside. Looking at the first year in front of her, Thea was hardly able to believe that he had a Duke grade innate spirit. Taking a breath to compose herself, she reached below the desk and found the card that belonged to him before passing it on while explaining how the cards were to be used.
"This is your room card with the room number on the back, all you must do is insert your kei energy and place it against the door to your room. Also, you can use the card to prove your student identity if you ever happen to not have your token on you," Thea explained. Thanking her, Lyon moved to head up the stairs that he saw in the back of the lobby area when first entering.
Pausing he turned back towards her, "If you don't mind me asking, when is orientation, and how am I supposed to get there?" he questioned. "There will be a message sent out to all the first year's tokens when the orientation is scheduled to start. All you will have to do is stand on the transportation circle that is in your rooms, and you will be sent to the location," Thea replied. "Thank you," Lyon said and continued on to his new room.