Einar was just strolling through the academy grounds, admiring everything he saw. It felt like he was walking in a fantasy world. The hallways were beautifully decorated, and endless. There were doors everywhere, and Einar had no idea of what any of these doors led to, he did not feel like finding out about that.
There were also students everywhere, walking in different directions. Some were in a hurry, some were having lots of time, some were laughing and talking, others were just quiet.
Einar had never gone to school, so this was a new sight for him. He loved the atmosphere here. He would not mind going to school here.
At some point, people had started to notice Einar. He had plain-looking clothes on, with a few holes in them. He looked like a poor man, considering everyone around wore luxurious attires.
People started to get out of the way of Einar, they did not want to get close to someone that was so poor. He did not just look it, Einar knew he was poor.
All he could do was smile wryly, while he kept walking. He did not like the feeling of attention he got right now, everyone staring at him, giving him disgusted looks.
At some point, his pace started to pick up, he was almost running at this point. As he got to the crossway between two hallways, he ran to the right, to escape from all the people.
"Ouch!"
He bumped into someone, as he heard a feminine voice in front of him. Einar was still standing, but the person he had bumped into, had slid back four steps before she fell.
"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" Einar hurried over to the girl, as he stretched out his hand to help her up.
She grabbed his hand, as she said "Don't worry, I am fine!"
As Einar saw her face, he was quite surprised. She was was beautiful, yes, but he did not mind that too much. He was more focused on her ears, she was an elf. A race Einar had only heard of before but never seen.
"You're an elf?" Einar could not help but blurt out.
"Yes, I am!" She said slowly.
As an elf, she was a beauty without equal in the human world. They were all born with extreme beauty compared to humans, and they were very focused on everything around them being beautiful too. They were a race known for beauty and archery.
She was now half-expecting Einar to react as any other man had ever reacted in front of her. With lustful eyes. Every man that had ever stood in front of her, had always called her beautiful and tried to court her shortly after. She had of course always rejected these kinds of men and women.
"Amazing, I have never seen an elf before!" Einar said with sparkling eyes. Einar had always had some interest in other races. In his country, any other race than humans as slaves. Einar had never liked this, as he had always liked the different races.
"I-I don't know what to say to that ..." She was caught off guard, as Einar had said something she did not expect.
"It really is true that elves are born quite beautiful!" Einar could not help but comment.
"Y-You think so?" The girl had no idea of why she got flustered.
She had been called beautiful many times. Something was different this time though, Einar's eyes were pure, he was not interested in her in the same way other men were. Einar did not lust for her, he was only interested in her race.
"Well, yeah! Your long silky white hair, your jade-like skin, those small rosy red lips, and lastly those intelligent eyes of yours, I would say you are a beauty of world-class!" Einar said with a serious expression. He was not trying to flirt, but he was saying his honest opinion.
"W-Well ... Thank you!" Her face had started to become red, she was quite embarrassed by Einar's words.
Einar did not comment on her last words, as he was studying her closely now. He wanted to know all he could about the different races.
"U-Uhm, can I get your name?" The girl looked at Einar. She was very embarrassed by him right now, but she did not know what to do about it.
"Sure, my name is Einar!" Einar answered with a small smile. This made the girl's heart thump an extra beat, but she had no idea why.
"I am called Ada!" The girls said as she introduced herself.
"Hello Ada, it's nice meeting you!" Einar gave her a warm smile, she was very easy to talk to.
"Nice to meet you too Einar!" She returned the warm smile to Einar.
Einar looked outside the window, as he saw that it had started to get dark. He did not realize he had been strolling around for this long.
"Well, I gotta go now, see you around!" Einar had to go now, as he had to go see the principal and hear about this heart demon thing.
As he finished his words, he started sprinting towards the office of Zarug. He felt like he was in a hurry, so he left without hearing Ada's reply.
"At least tell me who you ... are?" Ada said the first words quickly, but as she noticed he was already gone, the last word was barely a whisper.
"Who was that Ada?" A girl walked up from behind Ada, and she asked her.
"I ... don't know!" She gave a simple answer, as she looked in the direction he disappeared in.
***
"Hey, Zarug!" Einar entered the office of zarug, without even knocking.
"At least knock before you come in!" Zarug saw this and replied with a small smile.
"Oh, yeah ... sorry!" Einar apologized.
Einar was too focused on this heart demon thing, that he did not care about any of these normal etiquettes.
"Is it already time for me to teach you about the heart demon?" Zarug looked at Einar, he already knew why he came, but to be honest, he did not feel like teaching him right now.
Einar nodded at his question, he was ready to know what it was, and hopefully get a clue on how to see his father once again.
"Okay, it is honestly quite simple!" He started out slowly. "A heart demon is something that happened in the past, which you regret dearly! It is something you wish you could have done differently!" He explained slowly.
Einar was paying close attention, but it did not seem there was anything about going back.
"This makes it seem like heart demons are purely bad, but they are not!" He continued. "If you get to confront this heart demon of yours, and find a way to beat it! You will get a tremendous amount of power! That is what happened to you, and also why you made an outburst of 'Aura'!"
"Some people even have the ability to get a unique skill out of it!" Zarug said slowly. He was hoping something like that might have happened for Einar.
"So, I got stronger from that experience? How come I don't feel it?" Einar was surprised to hear that he had actually gotten stronger.
"Because it has become part of you, to you it feels normal, but if you fought an opponent before and after the event, you could easily see improvements!" Zarug explained.
"I see, that makes sense!" Einar felt like his question was answered. "Another thing, you talked about getting a unique skill?" Einar looked at Zarug with curious eyes.
"Yes?!" Zarug was happy to hear something like this, this meant that he might have gotten something good.
"Something special happened, and when I was fighting a demonic beast in that world, I felt I broke through my limit twice! My body became more and more painful, but my power increased!" Einar explained his experience "Is this some kind of skill?" Einar asked.
"It is a skill, and it is not too bad! It is a skill variant of 'Limit breaker', I do not know if the one you got is better or worse, but in any case, it is good for you!" Zarug explained, he was happy for Einar.
"I get it!" Einar once again got an answer to his question.
"Enough of this, let me show you where you will sleep!" Zarug did not feel like answering more questions, so he would lead Einar to his room, so he would get rid of him.
"O-Okay!" Einar was caught off guard, but he could not do anything about it.
Zarug appeared right before Einar, and Einar knew exactly what would happen now. Zarug grabbed Einar, and they flew out to the dorm room that was prepared for Einar.
"This is where you will stay!" Zarug said as he pointed to a room, with the number 77 on it. "And this is where the test will happen tomorrow!" Zarug handed Einar a paper slip, with the room number of the testing room.
"Well then see you tomorrow!" Zarug said as he disappeared.
Einar grabbed the handle to his room and wanted to enter.