After following a middle-aged woman who seemed to be a secretary, Lothur soon found himself in front of an office similar to those used by professors in his past life.
The difference was that the decorations there seemed much more rustic, some even detracting from the kind of academic environment he expected, without the presence of items dependent on electricity.
But Lothur did not pay much attention to these points. That was because he already knew this society he was in was different from the one on Earth.
He had particular difficulty in defining the technological level of this world. He had little information at his disposal at the time. Also, he did not truly understand the use of spiritual energy.
As far as he knew, there was no concept of electricity, or rather, the use of applications related to this nature of the matter in this world. However, he knew that lamps and other similar items in this cultivation world delivered desired forms of energy, as in the case of light or thermal energy, wished for some operations.
Yet, he did not know how the energy conversion was done for these devices to function, nor the primary source of these energy forms.
Was it spiritual energy itself?
He did not know.
As such, he found it very difficult to compare this world to Earth.
But in general, if one looked from afar, the level of this society seemed similar to that found in middle-aged Europe.
But on closer observation, there was the variable of spiritual energy, which complicated everything. Lamps illuminated the cities at night. Thermal items could easily change the temperature of closed environments, making this society pretty strange to him.
Knowing this, Lothur felt that socially this world, or perhaps Peters City, was far behind the Earth of his time. But as far as technology was concerned, he had no idea.
This cultivation world could be below the technological level of the third industrial revolution, or it could be far above that. But, of course, everything depended on the cultivation level, and he was too weak and limited to try to guess that.
Anyway, ignoring the ordinary surroundings, he soon sat down in front of the person who wanted to meet him, a middle-aged man with a long beard and gray hair.
"So, you are young Lothur, huh?" That figure said in a grave tone, looking at the young man sitting on the other side of his desk while he had a cigar at the corner of his mouth.
Lothur nodded to that man and asked. "And you must be the director, right? Is there something you need from me?"
"You are truly bold..." That man laughed, feeling that this little fellow did not know the difference between heaven and Earth.
However, he had dealt with good-for-nothings like Lothur in the past, so that fellow's casual and cheeky manner was not enough to provoke this man's ire.
"I'll get straight to the point, Lothur."
"You entered the Morning Star Academy through the back doors. If it weren't for the fact that Mrs. Frost charged us with a favor regarding an old debt, we would not have accepted you into our institution."
"To make matters worse, you can't cultivate, and you have a terrible history of trouble..." He looked in the direction of a document that was on his desk.
"Gambling, public disturbance, immoral behavior..."
"Wow!"
"There are so many things here. I must tell you that I'm impressed that you managed all of this being only 19."
"Looks like you've kept yourself busy the last few years." He said sarcastically, interested in Lothur's figure but also feeling a little contempt.
But Lothur did not even blink at hearing those words. He already knew about the achievements of his predecessor and was prepared to deal with situations like the current one.
So, he stood there in silence, calmly waiting to hear everything the director of this sector wanted to speak to him.
"Because of all these special features of your entry into our institution, I'm afraid we will be more rigorous with you than with other students."
"Thus, I must make it clear to you that any non-compliance with our rules on your part will result in your immediate expulsion."
"We will also not give you cultivation resources unless, of course, you can complete quests that have rewards. Also, since you cannot cultivate, your credential will not give you access to the areas of our complex regarding cultivation and spiritual training."
"Is that all?" Lothur asked, looking into that man's eyes reassuringly.
"Tsk!"
"That's all, young man. Don't you have a problem with that? Do you understand your situation clearly?"
"I have a question."
"Tell me."
"If I won't have access to the cultivation-related part, how will I advance from sector to sector? How will I graduate?"
That man then leaned his back against the support of his armchair and used two of his fingers to pick up his cigar. "You will naturally follow a different path from the other students. As long as you master the basic knowledge, we will give you access to the more advanced sectors."
"Once you reach Sector-4, you will graduate as after that all the required content is related to spiritual cultivation."
"I see..." Lothur murmured, satisfied.
The director's eyes then narrowed, and he asked. "Are you satisfied with that? Doesn't it bother you that we treat you differently from others?"
Lothur then stood up from where he was standing, smiling. "What's wrong with that? Isn't it natural for the highlights individuals to be treated differently from the masses?"
"I'll just treat that as you guys opening the way for me to reach the top faster."
Upon hearing those words, that middle-aged man stood there with his mouth open, shocked at the arrogance of such a weak lad.
'It seems that all this information is true!'
'He's a loser!'
But before Lothur left that place, he suddenly found something strange and asked. "By the way, principal, don't I have to take any aptitude tests? I've never entered an academy like this before, but I know that tests like this are common to happen."
"About that, don't worry. The Frost family sent us all your results, so there's no need for you to repeat them." The principal said unceremoniously.
Usually, academies like this did tests on their new students since one could not trust families who might have hidden interests. But Lothur's case was unique. After all, this was a young man with no talent or cultivation.
Who in their right mind would charge a significant favor to allow this young man to enter this institution and leave him in an unfavorable position because of a lie concerning his talent?
It made no sense!
Mabel had worked hard to get this position for Lothur, so if he had any talent, she definitely would not have done that.
And precisely because of this, this director did not think it was necessary to check Lothur's talent a second time.
"I see..."
"Well, is that all, director? Do you still need my presence here?"
The director shook his head negatively and made a hand gesture to Lothur. "Go away!"
...
After saying goodbye to that man, Lothur quickly made his way toward his first class, something he was eager to begin.
Not because he wanted to relive his times in school or college. But because he could finally get some critical information to know how to locate himself in this world.
On this first day of class, he had two different subjects: geopolitics and economics. The latter he wanted to attend just to confirm if his theories about these subjects were correct.
If this were the case, for someone who had learned all the basics of economics and mathematics during elementary school in his home country, he would not waste his time with this.
No, his priorities were geopolitics, anatomy, languages, and so on, subjects that might be quite different from the knowledge he had in his previous life.
With this, he went on to his first class in a small amphitheater in a building a few hundred meters from the local administration.
There, he soon came face to face with the row of seats, where more than 200 young people could be seen sitting at different points.
There were people of different ages, with some of them being the same age as Lothur but many others younger.
But this was to be expected. After all, Lothur was rearward in the education of the nobility of this world!
Take Annaliese as an example, who was the same age as him and was already in sector-4. As such, it was impossible for him not to have to study with 12, 13, and 14-year-olds kids.
"Sigh..."
'At least those brats won't be standing in my path while I learn the basics...' He thought about it, reminding himself that he needs to piss people off, but that might not be good now.
That would be his first contact with the information he so desperately sought. Also, many of those youths would not feel angry at him for the same reasons as people of Lothur's age.
And even if he managed to make them angry, what would he gain by fighting with a bunch of kids?
As such, he could only resign himself to the fact that this was some kind of temporary benefit so that he could study in peace.
With this in mind, he looked in the direction of the women there who should be closer in age to his own and who were pretty. Then he walked toward a place surrounded by them.
"You, what do you think you are doing?"
...