Phoebe being a very curious child had found many questions she wanted answered but she knew that she had to limit them to the most important ones. Some of the other children also looked eager to have their questions answered and not wanting to be disliked straight from the beginning she conceded to only asking two quick questions, first impressions were important after all.
"Grandmaster, you mentioned that we would receive more 'special' education from the top teachers but what does that mean, also relating to this question how strong are the teachers in the schools."
"Hahaha, so you see this special education is actually too special for me to tell you before you are actually properly initiated into the academy. What I can tell you, however, is that it is designed to make you all elites, far better than all the other students in the academy. Now the teacher's strength can vary, the majority of which will belong to the Archioterios. The Novaium has been given strict guidelines that only allow transcendent to become teachers at the school." Grandmaster Sonic replied before quickly adding, "Transcendents are an open secret you can ask your parents for more information" after seeing Pheobe open her mouth the speak.
Pheobe was disappointed, she had not expected to fail to receive any concrete information. Her questions had been deflected and the only meaningful information was the word "transcendents". this word had many connotations, mainly ascending to Godhood but it was far too broad to offer any immediate value. She would have to ask her parents about its meaning when she went home.
There were children in the room who clearly understood the meaning of the word 'transcendent', the Heartcrest children who hailed from a more prestigious family didn't inhibit any confusion about this word. They realised after Pheobes questioning that they would have to be more selective in their questions lest they return empty-handed. Seeing how they possessed a lot of advanced knowledge attributed to their heritage, they were left with a smaller pool of suitable questions.
During this time, Glen Olpe had asked whether they were allowed to test their aptitudes right now. This brought a lot of intrigue from the other kids as they had never used their aptitudes before. They had spent their lives learning how to manipulate soul power and know they would be using that soul power to charge and manipulate their abilities. However, both Grandmaster and Sir Ottar shook their heads in disapproval.
This was because the after the aptitude test they would only begin to inhibit signs of their abilities. and it would not be until the next day when they would see the signs. Aptitudes took a toll on the body and an artificial turned natural way to prevent aptitudes from killing their users instantly was by slowly showing releasing the aptitude over the course of a week until they would be able to fully use their aptitudes.
This was discovered many thousands of years ago when the natural age for aptitudes emerging was slightly older. At that time, aptitudes were an overnight change and some, more fragile people would die due to being unable to handle it. Out of inspiration, they tried many different solutions to find a more safe transition.
They soon realised that touching a resonant known as Pheronsas a year before the natural aptitude test would lower make the aptitudes emerge early and more slowly. Over the years, humans actually evolved to the point where it would lengthen the process by a week and when the Novaium was founded they made it a worldwide process so that way all the children could 'awaken' at the same time and it wouldn't be a logistical nightmare any longer. It also went nicely with the academy's timetable.
This question immediately ate up the time that the grandmaster had left, it was a missed opportunity for them, however, Glen's question was one they had never thought about they had lived their whole lives without aptitudes and now they possess them since they had their aptitudes hours before.
The answer that they had received was unexpectedly a blessing in disguise, the grandmaster explained, "Using your abilities the instant you see any sign of them will actually do more harm than good. Most people do not know this as they cannot fight the urge to use their abilities but it will bring you a false and biased view of how to use your aptitudes. Your aptitudes show in limited forms until they are complete. Those limited forms will present small parts of your aptitudes and by not waiting you are making it harder to see the full scope of your abilities. In later ranks, this will be very important so I would recommend you to keep it in the back of your mind.".
After finishing his explanting he looked at the watch on his wrist and concluded that it was time for him to leave. Since he was the assistant head at the South Forkland Academy, he was very busy getting ready to initiate the new students into the academy smoothly and he also had to focus on the older students. He bid farewell to the students and left.
Sir Ottar was a high-ranking member of the Novaium and a low-ranked Archioterios. He was qualified enough to answer some of the questions the students had but seeing how they were no longer as interested seeing that the grandmaster had left, He proposed to let them go home which they agreed.
He started to fiddle with a soul device he took out from his pocket entering some details. Asking the students to follow him he moved to head to an outdoor plaza that had a road.
The students began some light conversations with each other, only Anka, Glen and Bartholomew did not partake. It was not long before they reached their destination and at the same time, shuttles began to appear.
There were enough shuttles for each of the kids so they could head home, Isiah, Jibril and Penelope shared a shuttle since they would end up at the same destination, the others went on separate shuttles.
Anka knew that the slums were not well explored and did not have proper infrastructure such as roads and railways because no one wanted to pass through the heart of it. He asked to be dropped off at a location near enough to the slums and he would walk the rest of the way home.
Upon reaching where he'd asked to be dropped off and thanking the driver he also gave him a letter addressed to Sir Ottar that he'd written during the journey and headed towards his house. He had many things to think about but his number one priority was leaving the slums.
He always made sure that there no one was following him when he would head home, he would use a skill he called scan in conjunction with moving stealthily. This was a skill that took him some time to master and he did it by spreading his soul power in small dust-like particles that could detect what entered the range. It wasn't very detailed but I served its purpose well enough to grant him some insurance that he was safe.
The house was as empty as always, he didn't possess a lot due to not having a lot of money or space, and he also didn't like to possess a lot. In fact, any money he would manage to collect, he would mostly never spend it. Anything that he needed, he would steal and since he always planned ahead and was never too hasty he was never caught, there were some close calls, however.
He went down to his knees so he could reach underneath his bed. There was a small box which he grabbed and opened up. It contained 7300 S credits. It was very hard to find a safe way to make money in the slums.
Orphans his age would be split into 2 groups. Those who were fortunate enough to end up in one of the orphanages and those left to survive on their own. The orphanages were created by the Syvernisi and Temple of Ilios, they did not want criminal organisations to have access to the orphans so they created the orphanages that were located on the outer rim of the slums and had guards surrounding them. This was a successful deterrent however, not everyone was so lucky.
So to get the money Anka would have to resort to the most popular method in the slums- by stealing from others. Anka wouldn't steal from just anyone though, only steal from those who bothered him. In his eyes they had it coming and so he could sleep with no difficulty. He would also steal from restaurants as they would usually have plenty of food in the back.
He had a backpack which he stuffed with some clothes. He had a pair small of silver apparent ear pierces which he never wore for obvious reasons, it was the only keepsake he had from his mother's and he stuffed it into his bag to ensure he did not lose it. It was around 4 in the afternoon and he would wait until the night he could move with max stealth.
Today would be his last in the slums and he would find a hotel to stay for the following week. The letter he had written was addressed to The Novaium Centre. It detailed where he would stay and where the Purple Band sanctum guards could meet him in 7 days' time.
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⊛ hi Triax here, I've come to realise that I will sometimes mix up the word's aptitudes and abilities, they're kind of similar in English. If that does happen, then I am most likely referring to aptitudes so please don't mind it if it happens. Thanks