After many days of finalising classes, testing students and just trying to stabilise this huge influx of attendees, the Larsille academy finally released the scheduled classes.
The top class held a total of twenty people. Being in the range of perfection for talent made their importance easy to be understood.
The class itself held one prince and princess of the royal family, the twin sisters of the Drenswick family, as well as one son of the Drenswick family. The daughter of the duke of the North. Isla and Sila, as well as a mix of lesser nobles and commoners to make up twenty.
Twenty people out of the many thousands selected showed how absurd their talents were. The jealousy of those students below them was palpable.
Even senior students dared not say they were better than this group, because although many had just started, but born with that talent, they were destined to be greater than most.
As a student of Larsille academy, the graduation requirement was at least to reach the rank of purple gold before the age of forty.
Yet some of this group who have yet to reach twenty, have already surpassed the requirements to graduate. How can they not be envious?
Naturally the stronger the rank, the harder it is to reach, but with their talents; as long as they are given the safety and training to grow, they'll at least reach the diamond rank.
Although the peak at this moment is the Obsidian rank, it wasn't always. In the past, during the time of chaos, many powerful people appeared that surpassed the Obsidian rank, stepping foot into a realm so powerful that a single swipe of their hand could erase entire countries. It was the war between those very beings that reduced humans to the point where monsters were able to populate faster, bringing them to the dominant position in the world.
Beneath the forest of Rind are the countless ruins left by those long dead civilisations. Only rumours of that time can be found in the history books, some more concrete evidence is kept deeply locked away in the depths of the aristocratic vaults.
So to say that the Drenswicks and the royal family are the oldest families isn't wrong. But the history of humanity went back much further than these two families. The Obsidian ranks of the two families are the greatest powers of today, but if they were placed in the time of chaos, against one of those quasi gods. They'd be dead in less than a second.
That's why the two families are still willing to check and balance each other, there isn't a big enough sway in strength to favour either side, so they continue to bide their time and wait for an opportunity. But the moment one side can reach that tipping point, a battle to the death will come.
This is well known to all the nobles and officials in the empire. But with great risk comes great reward, so like flies to faeces, they rush to join into the inevitable war. Betting that their side will overcome the other, and they will achieve glory and interests for themselves and their descendants.
An extraordinarily simple minded and greedy way of thinking, but twisted and convoluted to such a degree that others believe these people are somehow geniuses.
The winners were in some way not just extremely lucky gamblers, but they instead; somehow comprehended the outcome from the very beginning. Possessing an intellect far above the fools on the losing side.
The academy is a neutral faction that hasn't sided with either side. Choosing to accept whomever is talented enough to join the academy. The headmaster had thoughts about strengthening the academy by relying on the common people. After all, the nobles were all falling to the sides of the two most noble families, at least the commoners could become the much needed backbone of the academy, so as to better stabilise their neutrality.
The forces of the nobles weren't all there were in the empire though. An added reason why the Drenswicks and the royals hadn't torn their faces was that there were other powers in the empire that had considerable sway.
Like any empire, it requires methods to subdue its masses willingly. This can be done with management by officials, or 'Imperial Power'. But it can also include religion. The Holy church was founded long after the two noble families took power, but they didn't try to take power from the beginning. In fact they were quite commendable at the start. Going around the empire, doing charity and helping the common people. Their reputation grew exponentially, and the previous emperors seeing how well they were doing, naturally gave them benefits.
Perhaps the Royals and the Drenswicks thought of taking the church as their own power, so the two of them pumped power into the church, but as is the truth for all humanity, corruption even in the most incorruptible places; is inevitable.
The church with the help of the two sides began its rise, monopolising the power of faith, using it to manipulate the masses into following their own doctrine, hiding the secret methods of training healers, so as to be the only place where people with the talent for healing could go to learn was the Holy church.
The Royals and Drenswicks weren't stupid, they knew the mistake they had made, so when they worked together to destroy the church, the masses rose up in rebellion many times.
These rebellions were quelled with great loss to both sides, the church, understanding that it would fall before the noble families did, finally released some of its power, but not all. And the loss to the nobles was too great, so the church was allowed to survive. But like any disease, if you don't treat it at the root, it will grow back over time. Which is exactly what has happened. Although the church doesn't have as much say as it once did, it still holds the monopoly on healers. Sending their priests and holy knights to test for talented healers from a young age, then taking the back to the church, to train them from childhood.
Now the Holy church can stand proudly in any city, accepting worshippers and pilgrims everyday. The churches are usually as busy as the business district, which shows how much importance it has in the daily lives of the common people.