Soon enough, the big screen lit up to display names of students and their rankings. Topping the list was the Guardian kid, who was less noticeable, causing many parents and guardians to be surprised. "Shouldn't the beautiful-looking boy be topping the list?" someone immediately said after they saw the display. "I think he should, judging by his performance so far," another said. "He should practically be the strongest among this year's teenagers," another added, as murmuring immediately rose in the big hall.
"I think I know the reason why he is not topping," the sixty-plus-looking woman said. People called her Madame Esther, and she was quite influential. "Why?" someone immediately asked. "He should have won if the third stage went as planned since it would have been two-to-one. But with the exam ending in the second stage, the Guardians and the others who top him have reasonable reason to Madame Esther said.
"What are those reasons?" another person quickly asked.
"The Guardian kid topped the first exam and didn't do bad on the second exam, same with the Religious bigots kid and the academy kid. A teacher won't rate a student that performed exceptionally in one subject over students that were great in all-round. If the third round had been judged, he would have knocked them out with it," Madame Esther said.
"But the first tests are just basic things that help no one anymore. Abilities and lots of other factors have rendered those subjects out of use," someone said.
"It is called the academy kid; academy should just be an advanced form of school. And between, I don't think that knowledge is bad. What if we all wake up one day and notice the powers have been stripped from us, just the same way we woke up one day and saw powers were given to us?" Madame Esther said. With the way people listen to her every time she talks, you can easily confirm she is respected because of how impactful her words could be. Hearing her, nobody could refute her reasoning, no matter how they thought of it, it sounded just right.
"Humanity will really need to have something to fall back on. The vision from the script said about the next disaster; it is funny how we all still compete with each other," the priest said before making the sign of the cross.
"I don't think a lot of factions and competition is bad. I just think you all took it too seriously. If the competitive spirit dies off, the future ones will see no need to grow, and humanity will die off totally with the next disaster. Also, if the factions don't exist to keep each other in check, we might all be living under oppressive rule by now," Biles said.
"No matter how you paint it, we are still dirty," Roberto said. He was always straightforward with words.
"Maybe you're talking about the Obsidian alone," Roberto said with a straight face.
"Common, we all know the big secret. If any faction is said to be a bit more neutral, then it shouldn't be you Guardians but the academy. We all should not have been here, but thanks to you, we are," Roberto said, laughing wide. "
You Obsidian are really good with your mouths," Biles said.
"We will take that as a compliment," Roberto said, still laughing wide.
Soon enough, the academy representatives who were sitting among the crowd stood up and walked to the podium. "So far, everything has been set. Now I will read the academy's ways of dealing with students and rules. The academy, being an institution that supports friendly competition, grades the students separately to push them towards growth. Those ranking in the three hundred to four hundred range will be assigned white shirts. They will totally lose out on every academy resource and would only be free to access academy resources if they show potential in the future. Now, I know hearing this, you will ask what value they get being at the academy, but then I can really tell you there is a lot. They will have tailored training made for them, though it might not be up to that of those in upper colors, but it won't lack what most of you all factions would have personally given them. So, don't withdraw them and give them a chance to learn more. Having a thousand ways of survival should never be enough," the academy representatives said, suppressing the rising murmurs that rose with their treatment of the white shirt class, before continuing to say more.
"From two hundred to three hundred will be green shirts. They will naturally have more opportunities than the white shirts. From one hundred to two hundred will be Blue shirts. Their access and opportunities will be better. From fifty to one hundred will be red shirts, which we call semi-elites. Even you will know that these people will naturally have more chances. From one to fifty, all are black; they are deemed elites. They have free access to resources, including the most confidential information and many more privileges than you can even think of. The academy is a faction on its own, but we won't mind going a little bit extra to protect those elites, even if they are not from our faction. They will be given the same treatment as the academy's young ones," the academy representatives said, causing some murmuring.
"Even though I paint the academy as somewhat neutral, they still have a shameless way of trying to paint themselves good and poach the young ones," Roberto said, laughing.
"You are really annoying, but I can't argue with you on this one," Biles said. The academy and the Guardians have a long hist ory.
"Now that I have clarified the rankings to all of you, I would like you all to officially part with the teenagers now so that we can hasten their settling into the academy. Please note that you only have one hour to do so," the academy representatives said before stepping down from the podium.
"How do you think my stay in the academy will be?" Belle asked. He had been attentively listening all this time, absorbing knowledge. Seriously, he had just found out about the rift between the factions and the competition among humans. Coming from his little county, Ethereal City, had exposed him to fewer things. Now, with the subtle hint from Elizabeth and the words of Biles, Roberto, Madame Esther, and the others, he realized that naivety might make him a mere chess piece.
"You will do great," Elizabeth said, giving him reassurance.
Hearing her words, Belle made up his mind. He decided to seek more knowledge and hide his naivety. He also made a mental note of the people he wanted to approach once he was in the academy.
In one corner of the room, the priest and Adam were having a conversation. "You should keep close to the boy with the beast transformation. I sensed a dimensional monster aura around him," the priest said.
"Do you mean he is a spatial zone representative?" Adam's elder brother, the priest's follower, asked.
"I'm not sure. Something just doesn't feel right about him. I separated from the group to discuss this with you because I believe only we currently have this information," the priest explained.
"If he is indeed a spatial zone representative, then we should really go after him. The Guardians already have a lot of representatives, which gives them an advantage over the other factions," the priest's follower suggested.
"Don't always think on the bright side, think of the dark side too. He might be a straight-up monster with a human form and human-level intelligence," the priest cautioned, turning to Adam. "Keep a very close and watchful eye on him."
"I understand," Adam replied, bowing respectfully.