—Asher Frostblade Viewpoint.
4:00 AM.
Doing my business as I had the day before in my room, I took a bath for about twenty minutes.
4:21 AM.
I put on my academy uniform, noting the black color with gold trim and the academy logo printed right next to the chest where the heart is. It took me only five minutes to get ready.
4:26 AM.
Then I combed my hair and styled it in my favorite style from my past life. It took me only five minutes.
4:31 AM.
I finally finished everything and, looking in the mirror, I simply said the same words I always say: "perfect". Then I sat in the circle in the middle of the room and began to meditate and absorb the mana that was circulating around. It took me half an hour.
5:00 AM.
Asher came out of his room and headed to classroom one, where the group was already assembled.
Although the first subject would be at six o'clock, cadets usually arrived earlier than usual, and Asher did as well. After all, getting up early is no bother for him.
Sitting right next to Grey, with Julian on the other side, Asher looked up at the podium.
"Today will be the same," Julian said.
"No, we have six days of the week where we will be in this room from six o'clock until nine o'clock at night. Every day there are different subjects, with the exception of alchemy, which is every day," Grey explained to Julian.
That's more than obvious. In one day there are less than five subjects they can offer, so they have to teach only one subject once a week. After all, each subject usually lasts between two and three hours, with explanations, theories, questions, demonstrations and tests. It's easy to see, but the opposite is true.
Of course, that routine where the cadets are just sitting around is only for a month. After the first month at the academy passes, things will be different.
"Hey, why aren't they turning in credit points yet?"
That was a question a cadet asked a professor. The professor replied that the points would be handed out to the first-year cadets any day now, so it is unknown how many points and at what time they will be handed out.
Upon hearing Julian's question, Asher and Grey looked at him.
"You're right, but we've had that clarified."
"That's right."
"Still, don't you find it confusing that we haven't been handed the points yet? Beyond that, lately I feel like something is fishy at the academy regarding senior cadets and credit points. It's all about the points."
"..."
"..."
Asher and Grey looked at each other at the same time.
Julian's words were absolutely right. For one thing, Asher had also noticed something strange, as had Grey, but when a cadet asked a professor the day before, Grey and Asher let it go as if it was some problem of professors not being sure how many points to give out.
After all, it's like some calculations they have to do to figure out how many points will be handed out to a thousand first-year cadets.
"I think it will take a little time," Asher said.
"You're right about that," Grey replied.
"Clank."
After a few minutes of waiting, it was almost six o'clock, but Professor...no, Professor Bridget came in and glanced around at all the cadets who were seated just as they had been the day before. Then, she turned her gaze to Asher and the others.
"Again."
Undeterred by Professor Bridget's stare, Asher simply stared at her unblinkingly, maintaining a cool gaze, but not so much as to be threatening. At that, the teacher's lips parted and her words came out.
"All ten writing test cadets, go to the teacher's section," was all she said, then looked at Asher, frowned immediately and walked out of the room, leaving everyone silent.
At that, Grey spoke up.
"Are we in trouble or what was that?"
"I have no idea," Asher said.
***
—Scene change.
—Professor Aria Bell's point of view.
She sat in one of the seats while the teachers in front of her looked at her with surprised faces, some in disbelief, and others could not believe what they were seeing.
Aria looked at the information on a blank piece of paper with some letters written on it, and her eyes widened.
She never thought those questions would be answered so easily.
"Not only can she learn anything just by looking at it once, even her intelligence is unmatched," were her thoughts as she looked at each question, but more than anything else, Professor Aria looked and read those three questions over and over again.
"The written test..." Turning her head, Professor Aria looked at one of the new teachers, silver-haired and red-eyed, someone very familiar.
"Professor Oriana, you who believe so much in this cadet, it seems you were not wrong."
"Heh, just like you, I too am surprised by this," Oriana replied.
Professor Aria's eyes widened.
"So, do you know this cadet, do you know where he comes from or who he is?"
Oriana looked at Professor Aria and then her lips parted.
"I don't know anything about him. I did as much research as I could, but I didn't find anything."
"I guess it's a mystery," Aria sighed and looked at the paper. "But how does he know so much?" was her question, and then the teachers looked in Aria's direction.
"I wonder too," Oriana replied.
No, in fact, the one who wants to know the most about that cadet is Oriana, except for Aria, who hardly knows the cadet, but now, seeing everything that happened in just three days, Professor Aria paid more attention to her and her curiosity grew stronger.
Seeing every question answered perfectly, not only that, but even the answers were much more accurate, as if she knew the original answers were wrong.
Simply put, this was unbelievable to teachers.
"Clank."
Then the door opened, and Professor Bridget walked in with a smile on her face as she sat down right next to Aria.
"Did you call them yet?"
"Yes," Aria asked and then Bridget answered.
The teachers waited a few more seconds until the door again opened, and ten cadets walked in. All the teachers immediately looked at a single cadet.
"You're Asher Frostblade, aren't you?" a professor spoke up.
It was the professor in charge of teaching physics, with red hair and equally red eyes. Professor Lucas Wells asked Asher as he looked at him curiously.
"That's right," Asher quickly replied with nothing more to say.
Professor Lucas then stood up and grabbed a small stack of white papers with letters on them. He then proceeded to hand the sheets of paper to the ten cadets.
"As you can see, there is a score of 0/100. This is to let you know how much you scored on the written test," Professor Lucas continued. "Each of you scored over 60, especially Grey, Luna, Freddy and Gloriana, who had the highest score, exceeding 80, but there is one in particular who scored in the 100s."
It was then that every cadet, including the professors present, looked at Asher.
Asher's face showed confusion at the situation. Seeing this, Professor Aria spoke up.
"Asher, to be honest, the three questions that none of the others could answer were, in fact, questions that only Principal Wilbek knew. We put them in because we didn't know if at some point anyone would answer them, but you did."
Asher's lips parted as he realized the situation.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No, you're not. We'll just reward you."
Nodding, Asher looked at the other teachers, but when he saw a familiar figure, his body froze. Sure enough, Asher looked at Oriana, who was watching him with a smile.
Aria followed Asher's gaze and then looked at Oriana.
"They seem to know each other very well," she thought.
"You're free to go. I just brought them here to turn in their tests," Professor Lucas said.
Nodding, all the cadets left the room, but Asher was called over.
"Wait, Asher. Before you leave, grab the keys to the disciplinary committee room."
Grabbing the keys that Professor Lucas extended to him, Asher quickly took them and then left the room.
A silence flooded everything until Oriana spoke up.
"It's nice, isn't it?"
"..."
"..."
No, in fact, when Asher looked at Oriana and Oriana looked at him with a smile, all the teachers noticed something between the two of them.
Meanwhile, Bridget remained silent with a frown on her face, unseen by anyone.
***
-Scene change.
-Asher Frostblade's point of view.
As Asher walked through the halls, he stared at the key that Professor Lucas had handed him. The key was normal, but golden, as if it was made of pure gold. It also had a key ring with the academy's logo and small letters that said "president" in the center of the logo.
After returning to the hall, a few hours had passed and finally Asher had free time to go to the disciplinary committee room and see what was there, of course.
Asher quickly left the hall and made his way to the disciplinary committee room, sneaked out without his friends seeing him, and after a few minutes walking, he finally came to some doors that were different from the others at the end of the hallway.
"Clak."
Then he inserted the key into the keyhole and the doors opened.
"It's big enough," were his first words as he saw the place, which was mostly a wide and cozy enough space.
The marble floor gleamed, the ceiling was adorned with a chandelier that illuminated the entire room. There was an L-shaped sofa, bookshelves, two large windows with red curtains. Further on, there was a long table with more than seven chairs on both sides and a different black colored chair, resembling an office chair, at the end of the long table. Behind the table, just to the back, was a large desk with a lamp, cabinets and a very comfortable modern chair, just like the chair at the table.
Looking all around him, Asher took in the entire room. At a glance, it was a large space with everything a committee should have, and of course, the table where meetings between committee members are held and the typical desk at the end of the room, with a window behind it.
"It's very nice," he admitted.
Recognizing that the place was even nicer than his own room, Asher walked over to the desk and sat down.
Then, he placed the written test sheet in the center of the desk. On his right side was the lamp, and on the other side were some pencils and pens.
"Let's see, maybe I can move that couch, move the bookshelf out of the way of the desk, and also..." he kept thinking as he looked at each piece of furniture in the room.
First of all, the place was spacious, but the furniture was too close together. Of course, Asher is not the type of person who doesn't care about perfect positioning and cleanliness, so he was looking at every part of the room.
It was dirty and there were cobwebs. The furniture was in the way, and it was all misplaced.
"Who the hell put the shelf there?" he muttered.
Seeing that the shelf was near the door and in the way of one of the chairs at the table, Asher thought about where he would move it.
"Yes, I think that's the way it will be. I've got it well thought out, but how will it look after I'm done?" he pondered.
Not only did he have to clean up, he also had to rearrange things and move furniture.
"I guess I won't be able to finish alone, I need the other members too."
They had already chosen three of them, but would the others agree just because they were friends? After all, in a committee the members are important so that each one is assigned a particular task, and so the chairman doesn't have to do all the work by himself.
"I guess I'll ask them later. I hope they agree," Asher thought.
With those thoughts, Asher first cleaned out his desk and tidied up some things that were there. He finished in a few minutes, and before he left the room, he looked around the place one more time and frowned.
"I really need to move this stuff, it looks awful."
Then he left the room and went to find the others....