Sitri was a young lady who had light brown skin and long dark hair. She looked a little younger than the rest of them at about thirteen to fourteen years old. She had no visible horns to speak of, but Amari could see the little stumps that had already started growing on her forehead.
'My bet is on that being the cause of her special admittance,'
But apart from those initial impressions, Something felt vaguely familiar about Sitri, and he couldn't quite place a finger on it. So he pushed the thought away and stretched out a hand to greet.
"Hello, nice to meet you! Like I told the others, my name is Raion. You can come to meet me if you need anything at all!"
This reaction was a moderate exaggeration. He wasn't half as happy but more confused and curious.
Sitri was just so young and innocent, though, that he couldn't even bring himself to be suspicious of her. Moreover, her warm and shy demeanour made him feel an instinctive urge to protect her.
Fuller slapped both hands together to form loud clapping sounds.
"Okay, we'll come to meet back with you guys when it's time for dinner. Right now, I still have to show him around."
Amari nodded in response. He wanted to get to know them more but the academy took priority, especially since it held the key to him becoming stronger in a little amount of time. He had so many questions on his mind.
'Will I finally be able to learn Shadow Skills like Belat? Will I be able to learn skills related to the other elements I've learned? Arghhh, there are so many things to learn!'
However, he calmly hid the turbulence going on within his mind and exited the nice-smelling room with Fuller.
Amari was glad to meet new people, but a certain part of him honestly couldn't care less about them. He just wanted to learn new stuff and consume all the knowledge there was to know about this new world.
"I'm going to read so many books," he muttered, clenching his teeth excitedly for the first time in a while.
The Ifrit gave him a strange look but continued walking anyways.
"That's the toilet, that's the other toilet, that's the first training ground, those are the other training grounds…"
Fuller just droned on and on, until eventually, Amari began to see a pattern in the way everything was working.
The school's philosophy was basically just 'ten of everything'.
It got quite boring and it was less interesting than he'd expected. Just the same generic fantasy academy format.
"What is it with these special admissions?" he cut Fuller off mid-sentence and asked the first question that had been on his mind.
No response came immediately, and they continued walking through the wide pristine halls at the same steady rate that they usually had.
"Well, it depends really," Fuller finally started talking, "Some special admissions are like yours for completing the Death Battle Exam. Others are entirely different."
Amari frowned at the vague explanation and continued persistently "What about Sitri's admission? How was she specially admitted?"
Another significant bout of silence followed.
Fuller stopped walking and looked around the area suspiciously. "Do you remember what I told you about gods?"
"Yeah?"
The answer didn't come immediately, causing Amari to lose a huge chunk of his patience. But he said nothing.
"The thing is that a lot of people have to work hard to gain a god's attention, only then are they blessed to be among the god's chosen. But some people… some people just have it easier. I don't think I'm supposed to be telling you this, but Sitri… she's one of those few."
Amari kept quiet and they wordlessly continued their tour around the school.
"Don't get complacent," a voice said after a while. It was the Ifrit this time. He stared forward, each step hitting the ground confidently.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean don't get complacent because of that exam. Things may seem easy right now, but the moment you step into the school I guarantee you everything becomes ten times harder. You're presently at the Apprentice rank in the second class. The weakest is at Acolyte rank, and while you might be able to beat them, the rest will be sure to give you a bit of struggle."
"At the Acolyte rank, it is no longer a simple spell-throwing battle or fist fight. Larger beings get involved; the gods. You might be strong but you've picked up too many bad habits from self-study. And before you have any significant impact, you'll have to unlearn these bad habits.
Amari said nothing. He knew full well the Ifrit was right. If a High-Rank Demon was talking like that about the students, who the hell was he to even argue?
"And one more thing" Fuller continued, pausing for a brief moment in front of a door.
"Forget talent. These people are already a few dozen steps ahead of you. It will take more than a little bit of talent to get to their level in such a short time. Not to mention there are people who put in extra time,"
"I offer this as a final warning because you pretty much won't see me around here very much anymore."
It took Amari a while to fully digest the words, but Fuller waited for him.
"Where are you going? He asked, staring at the door in front of them and then at Fuller.
The rough and grainy wooden exterior of the door blended perfectly with the engravings coming up from the bottom. He let his mind slip for a second as he admired, but he came back not long after.
"Don't worry, it isn't anything related to that. But I'm telling you these things just for precaution. I should be back roughly by the time you are about to undergo the bout with a professor."
'Right, that…'
"Ok. Make sure you are safe." He gave out an absent-minded warning as he thought about the wager he'd made.
"This is our last stop. It's the place you'll be getting clothes tailor-made for you. Tell them any special requirements you have and try not to piss them off, alright?" said Fuller, grinning for the first time since they'd stepped into the school's vicinity.
Amari smiled back and waved at his retreating figure.
"Take care of yourself, Raion'shalang!"
"Yeah, you too!"