In a spacious classroom with high ceilings and large windows that let in natural light, wooden desks and chairs were neatly arranged in rows, facing a central blackboard where the teacher wrote notes and diagrams.
The walls were adorned with posters of various diagrams of aether flows, and in one corner stood a large wooden podium where the teacher delivered lessons. The air was filled with the faint scent of chalk and old books.
"Teacher, what's the difference between a rank 0 and an unranked talent?" a young man asked, raising his hand.
"Mmh? Oh, good question! Can anyone answer it?" the teacher responded, scanning the room.
A girl near the front eagerly raised her hand.
"Yes," the teacher said, pointing at her.
The girl, no more than eight years old, answered bluntly, "A rank 0 potential means a person has an aperture that barely works; they're essentially normal people with a barely functional aperture. They are almost useless. On the other hand, someone with an unranked potential doesn't have an aperture at all but still tries to absorb aether and eventually dies. They are considered mistakes of Heaven and Earth."
"Correct," the teacher affirmed.
The classroom fell silent as the weight of the girl's words settled in.
"That's right. They are mistakes. The lowest of the low, the trash of the trash," another student added, pointing at Elias. "Just like him or his brother!"
Elias sat at his desk, staring blankly at the surface, his face expressionless. He didn't bother to look up and continued focusing on his desk.
This was the clan's academy, where most children were sent after awakening. After gathering some information, Elias had expected this level of bullying from this place. Those with exceptional talent usually had private tutors and received more resources for growth, while those with more average talents were sent here.
Despite the numerous rank 1 talents in the last ceremony, Elias was one of the only few rank 1 gray potentials who showed up for class. Most children with rank 1 potential avoided the academy, ashamed of their barely adequate talent. They would often prefer private instruction from their parents rather than being sent here.
Thus, the class was mostly composed of rank 2 brown potential children, which wasn't significantly different from rank 1 gray potential. However, Elias was still looked down upon. It was just his bad luck that he had become their target.
"He's probably still shocked by his terrible talent. The awakening ceremony was just yesterday, and he just learned he has Rank 1 gray potential," one student laughed.
"Yeah, he's probably going to cry," another mocked.
"I heard my dad say he's a bastard and that his dad isn't really his dad," said a second student.
"Really? My mom said his mom is a whore," the first student replied.
"You're right, his mom is a whore... whatever that means," another student agreed.
"He's so ugly," someone else added.
Despite the taunts, Elias remained unfazed, yawning as he continued to ignore them. Reacting to the insults seemed pointless. While a proud clan member might normally defend their family's honor, Elias genuinely didn't care.
The teacher, observing with a faint smile, finally spoke up. "Okay, that's enough. Elias, stop disturbing my class. Everyone, let's focus on the lesson."
"Yes, teacher," the students chorused.
"Now, let's continue..."
...
After the class ended, the students and the teacher left for lunch, heading to the cafeteria before resuming their afternoon practice.
Elias remained at his desk, his eyes closed as he contemplated. He knew he didn't really need these classes. For him, learning about cultivation at the clan academy was as pointless as teaching a fish how to swim.
The academy mainly taught the basics of cultivation, manifestations, some hand to hand combat and perhaps a formula or two for the best student, all which he didn't need.
Even though this was only his first class, he had already noticed how often the teacher spoke nonsense. But he didn't bother to correct him—it wasn't worth the effort. What would be the point of trying to correct the teacher? The satisfaction of being right?
"What a waste of time," Elias muttered, finally opening his eyes.
He had little interest in attending these classes, but attending was a way to earn resources through the clan since some activities could be rewarded. So, despite Yui warning him, he decided to endure it.
As he glanced around the empty classroom, he wondered, "If I told Mother about the bullying, would she give me something to cheer me up?" He sighed, running a hand through his hair, and continued staring at the vacant desks.
He then refocused on the tiny dot of light in the middle of his rune, his aperture. Elias had spent the previous night experimenting with his newfound aperture and discovered something astonishing.
Although Elias still couldn't use aether or merge manifestations with his aperture like a normal cultivator, he discovered a new ability: his body could now absorb the surrounding aether.
This was an extraordinary breakthrough for him, as players with the Rune of the End couldn't typically use aether.
His aperture attempted to draw in aether from the atmosphere, but the Rune of the End was in the way. As a result, the aether had to pass through the rune first. However, the void around his aperture had some very... aether destructive properties. So before it could reach his aperture, all aether would eventually get destroyed.
The remarkable part was that this destruction was actually benefiting him. Since his rune would convert any destroyed aether into lifespan, Elias has been gaining lifespan from the process!
In short, he was gaining lifespan without needing to do anything.
Although the aether was being pulled very slowly, he was still gaining more lifespan than he was losing. This meant that he could theoretically isolate himself somewhere and gather lifespan.
However, this idea was quickly dismissed. It would be foolish to accumulate too much lifespan without potent and fitting manifestations.
"Talking about ranking up, I should rank up very soon... Before accumulating too much lifespan." he realized bittersweetly.
In Forgotten Games, the worst mistake one could make in the very early game was to bank up too much lifespan or have too many manifestations.
It may seem an excellent idea for rookies since having more manifestation means being more versatile and having more lifespan means more "ammo" for manifestation, but such a mindset would only lead to an early GAME OVER.
As he was lost in thought, a voice suddenly called out.
"Hey, what are you still doing here?"
Elias looked up to see a young boy from his class standing over him.
"The teacher is upset because you didn't attend the hand-to-hand combat class and instead stayed there. He asked me to come get you. You better hurry up, or you'll get in trouble," the boy said mockingly.
"My apologies." Elias replied, standing up and walking out of the classroom.