A few minutes pass as August follows the receptionist through winding hallways and never-ending stairs that twirl toward the sky. They eventually arrive at a great double door with gold accents.
"Sir. It's Lucinda. I've brought the newly enrolled student you wanted to see." The receptionist says.
"Enter." says a loud and authoritative voice.
The receptionist promptly pushes the door open and they both enter. Upon entering the room, the first thing August sees is that the entire wall opposite the door is made of glass. A man sitting behind a large desk in front of the glass wall with ginger and gray hair beckons the receptionist to his desk. She hands him a document and hastily makes her exit.
He looks at the document intently with a slight change in his expression. He puts away the document and then says, "So you're the homeless person, apart from your attire you seem like a good fit for this institution. I'm the principal of this institution my name is Fredrick Ashfrey and I see you've even managed to beat my son."
"Your son? You're his father?" August asks.
"Yes and don't worry, I'm a very fair-minded person."
'Ashfrey? As in the dragon slayer Rachel Ashfrey? So they're her descendants. How disappointing.'
"Now, seeing as how you enrolled late and have no academic background to speak of, you aren't qualified to take the regular classes. The class I'll be placing you in has only 4 students including you. They're all males so I do hope you get along. Oh, and you'll be sharing a room with them for the remainder of the school year."
While August and the principal get to talking, elsewhere in a small classroom three students gossip amongst themselves.
"Hey, did you guys hear how a new student beat the shit out of Leo?" The shorter of the trio says.
"Leo? Beaten by a new student? That's impossible." The tallest says.
"No, no. It happened for real. Do you remember the homeless guy we saw? He's the new student!"
"But that doesn't make sense, and if he were a new student then why would he be fighting Leo?"
"I don't know, and I honestly don't care. But what kind of element do you think he has? And if he beat Leo, that means he's strong, right? I can't wait to fight him!" The short one says overly excited.
Suddenly the door to the small classroom opens, and a man who appears to be in his late twenties enters the room. And following in behind the man is no other than August.
"Settle down, settle down. Today I'd like to introduce a new student who'll be joining our class. Would you like to introduce yourself or should I?" The man says.
"No worries teach, I'll introduce myself. My name's August Stride and I'm 17 years old. And I'm an aura type." He says proudly.
The tall and short duo who were talking earlier are shocked to the core. The third student however is still asleep at his desk.
'An aura type huh? This is my first time seeing one.' The teacher thinks with an unchanged expression.
"Since you arrived on short notice we couldn't prepare a seat for You in advance so you can sit at my desk for now."
August struts over to the teacher's desk and makes himself comfortable.
"Before we officially start the class why don't we introduce ourselves to August? I'm Void Starr and I'm the teacher of the 'Unspecified' class." He says.
Void is a fairly tall man (190cm) with an athletic build. He has a slightly darker complexion than August, with silver eyes and shoulder-length dreads that are red and black. Even though he appears to have a simple personality, he can be pretty menacing at times.
As soon as the teacher stops talking, the short one jumps up from his seat and begins introducing himself.
"Hey. My name's Jasper Carlyle, and don't let my appearance deceive you I'm 18 years old. I control ice and I love a good fight." He says overly excited.
Jasper is short for his age standing at 172cm tall with a slender build. He has a rather pale complexion and knee-length sky-blue hair styled in a single braid at the back with the same colored eyes. He has a very outgoing and carefree personality, he's also very competitive.
"You don't simply love fighting, you're addicted to it." The taller, bespectacled one says, "Nice to meet you August, I'm Zachariah Runeguard but you can just call me Zachry. I'm currently 17 years of age and I'm a spatial type."
Zachry is a beast of a man, standing at 208cm with an average build. Compared to Jasper he has a much more lively complexion. He has purple eyes and wild swept-back hair. He's a straight-laced and intellectual person, he tries his best to have respect for everyone despite their race and heritage.
After Zachry finished with his introduction, all eyes now turn to the third student. He finally begins to move but just to adjust his sleeping position.
"Well, I guess he can introduce himself another time. How about we start today's class?" Void begins to say as he turns to the blackboard, "Last class we were talking about the unique traits that come with the various elements." he finishes as he begins to write on the board.
"How dare you try to wiggle your way out of our arrangement? You promised us that the next time The Grand Training Hall was free we could use it. And today's that day so let's get going." Jasper demands.
"Huh? I don't remember any such promise." He says while scratching his head.
"You bastard." Jasper curses.
"I'm kidding. Let's go."
They all exit the classroom, leaving the sleeping student behind. After a few minutes have passed, the sleeping student wakes up. He gets up from his seat and yawns as he begins to stretch.
'August Stride, huh?' He thinks.
They arrive at a stairwell that descends into the area beneath the school. Once they reach the bottom of the stairwell they enter a huge hall that's well-lit with a large steel golem on the other side.
"Welcome to the Grand Training Hall."
The Grand Training Hall is one of the reasons why this academy is the top martial arts institution. This training hall enables one to gain experience in fighting monsters without actually fighting one. With the help of state-of-the-art technology, a golem was created to simulate what it felt like to fight monsters in the real world.
"I'm up first. I've been waiting for this moment from the day I was conceived." Jasper says as he pounds his fist into his palm.
"Now hold on a second. Why don't we make the new student go first? Void says.
"What?!" Jasper yells.
Calm down, don't you want to see what he's capable of? What do you say August? Are you up for the challenge?" Void says.
"Well that's a good idea but are you sure he can handle it?"
"He did defeat one of the heirs. I think he's going to be okay. I hope he's going to be okay." Zachry chimes in.
"Now, now let's leave him to it." Void says as the other students make their way to the spectators' section.
Void walks over to a pedestal near the wall with what appears to be the control panel for the golem on it.
"I'm going to set the difficulty to adaptive so we can determine your rank." He says while fiddling with the control panel, "There are three ranks in total: Page, Squire, and Knight. Normally first-year students are ranked Page, so don't be discouraged if you get that rank."
"Don't worry, I won't."
"Anyways, there's a wall over there with some weapons on it. You can pick whichever one you're comfortable with. Once you've picked a weapon the match will begin. Good luck." Void says as he leaves.
August walks over to the wall and looks at the multitude of weapons.
'I guess anything will do.' He thinks as he takes a glaive off the wall.
He swings it around a few times as he gets back to his original position.
"Let the match begin!" Void declares.
As soon as he finishes talking, the golem fires a concentrated blast of aether at August. He cloaks the blade of the glaive in a brilliant red aura and slashes it down. A wave of aura shoots out and collides with the blast. The resulting smoke from the explosion blocks August's sight as small aether blasts pierce through.
August skillfully evades them while moving closer to the golem. He manages to get within proximity of the golem and hits it with the glaive. The glaive slams into its torso area and gets stuck. The golem wastes no time and bashes him in the face using its giant fist.
"Is he alive?" Zachry asks genuinely concerned.
"Alive? He's fucking dead!" Jasper answers.
"Quite down you two, and keep watching." Void says.
Because the golem is almost twice August's height and extremely bulky with immense strength, one would only assume that he should be gravely injured. But it's the complete opposite, he took the full force of the attack without budging a single inch.
The golem lowers its fist and sees August with a bit of blood running down his chin. He licks some of the blood and smiles mischievously. The golem tries to hit him again but he moves backward and dodges it.
"I guess it's my turn now."
He wraps his leg in his red aura and kicks the golem in the head. The force of the attack causes the golem to topple over. It tries to return to its feet but August doesn't give it a chance. He brings down his fist wrapped in his aura on the golem's head. The golem's head breaks in two
as it stops moving.
"Over already? Was this thing the cause of all that worrying?" August says while he pulls the glaive free.
"RECONSTRUCTING." A robotic voice coming from the golem says.
"Wha-" August tries to say something but gets cut off.
"ANALYZING TARGET, PROFICIENCY INCREASED TO HIGH PAGE RANK."
The damaged golem rebuilds its head and fixes all damaged areas. August quickly puts some distance between him and the golem to assess its new strength. The golem fires a high-speed beam of concentrated aether at him. With little to no time to dodge it, he uses his ambient aether manipulation.
"Lex #1 Murus!"
He erects a translucent wall of solidified aether in front of him and blocks the attack.
"That's ambient aether manipulation!" Jasper yells in utter disbelief.
"To think he's capable of something we're only learning about now." Zachry says, "I can see how he managed to beat one of the heirs."
The second attack that the golem was charging dissipated. The golem's body liquefies and the voice begins talking again.
"REDISTRIBUTION OF ATTRIBUTES REQUIRED. STRENGTH, DEXTERITY, AND INTELLIGENCE RAISED TO MAXIMUM. ALL OTHER ATTRIBUTES SET TO MINIMUM."
'Attributes?' August thinks.
"BODY RECONSTRUCTION NEEDED FOR OPTIMAL ABILITY USAGE."
The golem's body starts to reform but this time it isn't large and bulky. The body is slender and a bit shorter with longer limbs. With the completion of the golem's body reconstruction, a wave of etheric pressure washes over the entire hall.