The first year of the academy went by peacefully for the recruits. Uneventful to the point they wondered if they had joined the place of their dreams.
Unfortunately, it all ended as soon as the first year was over because they got to see the reality of this place.
Anyone in the Outer District saw that any person reaching 30 years without reaching certain cultivation levels was kicked out while the same went for the Inner District.
No one knew about any other place as they were out of their reach but knew that the official disciples could be demoted to be reserve ones if they slacked off or couldn't break through.
This disgusting reality hit them along with the safe time being over meaning their Seniors finally showed them the bitter truth of the cultivation world.
It was not to the point of killing or stealing resources but the intimidating aura and strength of the seniors made them realize that they were just frogs at the bottom of a well.
It was still better for those that had seniors from their powers to protect them while it was worse for rogue cultivators or those like Raon with complex family relations.
Elric had been itching to beat the shit out of him and he did just that but in a duel as no one is allowed to fight outside the sparring arenas.
Of course, there are blind spots where such stuff happens and it is completely ignored because no one messes up with whom they should not.
The missions that could give good rewards were monopolized by those who had connections and the rest had to take crumbs-giving missions.
For Raon, this was common, it was no big deal as time continued to pass and he got used to getting beaten by Elric or his lackeys.
No one, including his own family's main bloodline relatives, cared about it. It can be said that in this academy, one can only blame themselves for being weak enough to not even defend oneself.
There was only one person who met him hidden from others and gave him healing but also questioned him now and then.
'Why does he keep it going? It's not like he can't do better. I am not saying he can defeat them but he can definitely hold on without getting this badly injured right?' thought his personal healer.
As the two people sat in silence for the umpteenth time, Raon finally broke the damned silence.
For the two of them though, it didn't really matter if they spoke or not because there was not really much of a need to speak between them.
"Why don't you ask? You're surely curious, right?" asked Raon.
"If you want to tell, do tell. If you don't want to then don't" answered his personal healer in the same detached voice from the first time they met.
"Well, then you don't have to know. But why do you go so far for me? You know your uncle wants me dead" said Raon while smiling looking at his just-healed left arm.
"I am curious about you. You're weird" answered his healer as she moved her hand to his face and continued healing.
For the two of them, this scene was quite normal and they even got used to each other's silence and their weird heart beating whenever she heals him.
There is no doubt that even an idiot can guess that Raon is with Lia as they both feel their heart thump whenever she heals him or that is what they believe.
"Are you gonna try increasing your rank?" asked Raon looking straight into her silver frost eyes.
"Nope. I joined to reach Daiyu." answered Lia unbothered by his staring as she looked at his face to find other wounds.
"Good. You need to rest and cultivate as you have been too busy with missions and ranking up" said Raon.
After a while she left as Raon pondered about how they got into this complex situation but before we delve into that.
It is obvious that there are rankings for the recruited and the higher you are the better resources you can have.
It only opened after the first year. The first year was basically for changing the newbies' cultivation and battle techniques to better versions.
It also helped in refining, healing, stabilizing, and solidifying the foundations to prevent future problems for the cultivators.
Before Raon could remember anything, someone barged into his house and he wasn't the least bit surprised.
'At least he didn't see her...' thought Raon as no one in the entire Academy knew about Lia and Raon meeting each other.
It was obvious she had to maintain the fact she was just forced and didn't care much about him and he had to do nothing as no one believed he'd end up with her.
"Oi, young master called you, you know?" said the intruder as he directly held Raon's neck and brought his mouth close to Raon's ears.
"So, you coming by yourself or..." said the intruder in a chilly voice as Raon simply stood up, looked down, and followed.
"Tsk. Even trash is better than you..." mumbled the guy as he led Raon, unhappy that he didn't get to beat him up.
As they walked, not many people were around as it was nighttime and 2 moons were shining next to each other as the third moon was far away from them.
After 15 minutes, Raon was in front of his 'brother' Elric.
"Hahahahah So you still have healing pills to fix you up huh..." laughed Elric as he kicked Raon in the stomach.
He enjoyed beating Raon because he would always heal up and be beaten by him again.
Elric always felt humiliated as Arialyn entered the Inner District with less cultivation and his inferiority complex flared up making Raon his fixed target.
Raon knew this, that's why he didn't bother replying, making the spectators think that he had broken down as he never responded no matter what pain or insult was hurled at him.
Though Elric couldn't kill him or hurt his family jewels due to Lia being his fiancé, the rest of his body has undergone quite a physical beating.
It was a loophole as using cultivation energy to fight is punishable outside the dueling arenas but physical ones are ignored making many victims to such meaningless beatings.
No one could steal the other's resources like this but only flare their ego or superiority complex which was quite common amongst the ones who entered as they were always treated as geniuses.
Of course, there were people like Ziya and Nerlo who did not bother about such things and the reason Elric was beating him was because he heard that Ziya broke through again allowing her to join the Inner District this weekend during the promotion tests.
The promotion test from Outer to Inner District occurs every year while the reserve to Inner District occurs just before it but reserve ones weren't allowed to enter the Outer District before the recent instructions from Daiyu.
However, one can simply climb in ranks and challenge the lowest-ranked disciples in the better district and when the challenger successfully defeats the challenger, they get promoted.
The once-every-year is mainly to demote the ones who didn't meet the mark for the district they currently belong to.
"You better leave the family of your own volition soon or..." said Elric as he finished with a punch to the midrib section of Raon.
As Raon was left in the open, bleeding from his various injuries, he didn't care as he had almost died in the survival test, and acting as a punchbag was much better than getting killed by showing his strength.
As time continued to pass, events like Raon getting beat up kept occurring and finally Ziya entered the Inner District.
This time though, there was a celebration, and every disciple from the core district to the reserve was invited to a celebration as some of the Academy's Core district members had won some rights for the Academy.
Meanwhile, Raon being Raon, he naturally ignored it and lay in his bed as he remembered the parting words from Lia.
"If you keep things like this. We might have to separate" said Lia as Raon stared at her moving back and felt a little lonely for the first time in all his life.
He didn't exactly know if he liked her or loved her or just felt nothing as they were now 17 years old and if nothing goes wrong, they'll be announced as a couple after she turns 18.
Surprisingly, Raon lay on his bed and started reminiscing about the times they met and their complex relations.
The first time was obviously when they arrived at his place when they were 6 years old...
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"In my opinion, you don't deserve our Young Miss as she is the second female born in the past 1000 years in our family making her treasured by everyone and you on the other hand have below-average talent"
"It's obvious that the soul contract goes both ways so what you can't do she can't do too, meaning you both are stuck in this fate unless one dies or reaches a high enough cultivation to break the contract by oneself"
"I would love to kill you but obviously neither family can kill or even order to harm you..."
One by one many such statements were spouted at the young kid.
"...Oh if you think we'll help you from this petty bullying then dream on brat..."
"Stop" said Lia as Ashtel went quiet and she touched Raon's forehead much to his confusion as the last sight he saw before fainting was her eyes and hair flashing silver as her baby fat-containing cheeks changed as she smiled.
As Raon fell, his body showcased the wounds again but they were fake. This was a technique she created knowing he'd get beat up worse if he was healed. She still uses this technique to this day to heal him in the Academy
The next five times he met her were just like normal children without Ashtel but he was observing everything to take action at any point if Raon did anything to Lia.
Unfortunately, they didn't meet after that before joining the academy as Raon was stunned to see her blond hair had almost become silvery-blue except for the little golden hair sprouting from her scalp.
Her eyes still were golden but they too contained a shine of ice-blue while she had lost her baby fat as she looked a typical jade beauty that attracted everyone's eyes but knowing her background and her cold demeanor, no one ever dared near her.
Another reason was that her granduncle is one of the Inner Sect Elders in Daiyu Sacred Land, who is Ashtel's father.
Raon then remembered about the times she sneaked into his abode to heal him without asking too many questions and keeping the silence they both liked.
Both of them had a striking resemblance when it came to understanding without words and the silence they kept.
He also remembered the first time they conversed was 10 minutes after she finished healing and sat quietly before getting up and leaving.
He was the one who asked her "Why did you heal me?" as she answered without stopping or turning around "You're my fiancé" emotionlessly.
...
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