When Sasha awoke, he could feel the dull ache in his left eye. He noted that the pain was left than yesterday, but it still hurt.
Sasha rose up and began his morning routine. First, he went to the kitchen and made a light breakfast. Following that, he went to take a shower to wake himself up some more. Next, he brushed his hair, brushed his teeth, and put on deodorant and cologne. Finally, he put on his school uniform, a white shirt, a black jacket with the school crest on the chest pocket, black pants, and a tie. All of this took place over the course of an hour, and Sasha still had another hour before school started at 8:00 a.m.
Sasha left his dorm room and began walking to his homeroom. He wanted to get to class earlier, so he could avoid contact with as many people as possible.
He walked into class and sat in his seat, the first person to arrive. Eventually, the other students arrived at class and began chatting with each other. The majority of the students ignored Sasha, but every now and then, one would point at him and giggle with their friends, not caring if he heard them.
After the first two class periods passed, it was time for lunch, and Sasha went to sit outside so he could eat peacefully. He was sitting at the edge of the academic courtyard when a group of three students walked up to him.
The first of these students, who was also clearly the leader, was Drake Radon, and his two followers were Tim Harman and Shak Naley.
Tim and Shak were both quite plain, having slightly above-average sigils, and their overall scores in class followed the same trend.
However, Drake was considered to be exceptional, even among the students of Duke's Magic Academy. From the last schoolwide sigil examination and physical, Sasha was able to see Drake's sigil scores. Drakes sigil was a B-ranked called "Copy." This sigil allowed Drake to copy any skill at a time from any sigil, as long as the sigil was B-rank or lower. Drake could currently copy two skills at a time, but his sigil has the ability to improve as he levels up. Drake's sigil was considered to have the potential to be A-rank if he made it strong enough. Drake was currently level 7, which was incredibly high for someone of his age.
The stronger someone's sigil was, the easier it was to level up, so due to most people having a low-rank sigil, they stay at a low level all of their lives. Not only this, but people only unlock their sigil abilities when they are 10 years old, so they can't begin leveling up until that age.
This means that Drake was able to level up once for every year he's had his sigil, which was very rare and took a lot of talent.
The problem is this talent led to Drake becoming conceited and turning into a bully, though due to his talents, the teachers and administrators at the schools never punish Drake because they don't want to ruin his future career opportunities.
"Nice eye, trash," sneered Drake.
"What do you want, Drake?" Responded Sasha
"I just came to sit down for lunch, and I found some garbage sitting in my spot. Now piss off," Drake said.
"I always sit here, so I shouldn't have to move just because you want a new hang-out spot," Said Sasha.
"Are you talking back to me?" Drake angrily questioned.
"No, I'm just stating my opinion," Sasha said.
"I don't give a shit about your opinion. Now get up, and leave!" Drake yelled.
Sasha got up and began walking past Drake and his followers when Drake grabbed him by the arm.
"Never give me attitude like that again," Said Drake as he reached out and slapped Sasha across the face.
Sashe fell to the ground as Drake's followers snickered. Sasha had never truly fought back against drake or anyone else for that matter. He knew his sigil would be useless in a fight, so he always avoided confrontation as much as possible.
But today was different. Sasha suddenly felt a rage within him as he rose to his feet. He wound his arm back a punched Drake in the jaw. Then Sasha suddenly felt dread, regretting what he did.
Drake's head jerked back. "What the fuck?!" Drake shouted. Tim gathered power to use his sigil, "Power Up," which allowed him to power up one of his limbs and release it in one strike. He used this to power up his arm and punched Sasha in his nose.
Sasha saw stars, and everything went white as he fell to the ground. Drake used his sigil to copy Tim's skill to power up his leg and kicked Sasha in the ribs. Sasha didn't even react, as he was already unconscious from the first punch.
Drake and his followers continued to beat Sasha's unconscious, limp body. Eventually, they got tired and left.
In Sasha's unconscious mind
[Sigil Unlocked!]