Yawning, Anon barely opened his eye whilst rising to his feet in an unhurried manner.
This class's teacher had arrived, so naturally, the students needed to take to their feet to welcome him.
"You can have your seats." His soft voice entered their ears. It was akin to a whisper.
When he taught, the class usually remained extra silent, because he really didn't have a deep or loud voice.
Though the instructor was in his thirties, he looked like a young adult, no older than twenty.
He wasn't the tallest, and with long brown hair and gentle features, he didn't appear imposing.
"I hope everyone did their homework and researched the twelve dog emperors."
He smiled whilst taking his seat.
The final exams were only difficult due to the variety of changes to occur thanks to stellar cosmic energy.
Examinations these days tested one's knowledge of stellar cosmic energy, beasts, the great rebirth, along with some topics relating to the old world.
The topics covering beasts had the most variety whilst topics consisting of stellar cosmic energy were the most confusing.
If one desired to enter the top universities, they needed to be knowledgeable in these two subjects.
The beast final exams covered many species of beasts, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
It seemed simple enough, but there were simply too many kinds of monsters.
Whilst topics relating to stellar cosmic energy may be confusing, topics related to the beasts were simply overwhelming due to the sheer quantity.
Beasts, or monsters, were animals that had undergone mutations thanks to stellar cosmic energy, but a random pig of the old could've mutated into over a dozen different types of pig monsters.
And as time passed, more kinds of pig mutations had occurred, a pig man, a pig with the head of an ox, or maybe it was an ox with the body of a pig?
Anyways, elephant pig, not so much as a mixture of the two species, but just the size of this pig, gave it such a name.
Winged pig, sun pig hound, fire breathing pig, spitting river pig…
You get the point.
"Anon, why don't you tell us the weakness of the mountain crushing dog emperor?"
The teacher smiled and looked at Anon dozing off in the back row, near the window.
"Ugh,"
Anon's black hair was disheveled and had grown past his neck, though not by much.
The students turned their gaze to him, silently awaiting his answer.
As they expected, the voice that reverberated throughout the class wasn't amused in the slightest.
"The weakness of that mountain crushing dog emperor. Well, if we come across it, we'll be in deep shit nonetheless."
"Language!"
He sighed and continued, "But this dog emperor is greatly affected when battling atop loose earth. Going further, if one could get it into the air, it almost guarantees victory."
"Though there're other weaknesses, just this one along with an explanation will suffice for this question, so as to acquire full marks."
Smiling, the teacher rose from his seat and thanked Anon before heading to the drawing board.
He went on to give an explanation, dissecting Anon's answer before continuing to ask questions to different students.
After the topic for homework was completed, the class officially began.
But those who were asked questions in the beginning weren't forced to answer during this section of the class.
It was also for this reason why Anon was asked first.
After answering, basically for the rest of the class, the teacher allowed him to sleep through it, which had become quite common now.
Not just him, but all those having already answered a question in the beginning of class could do the same, but not paying attention to class would usually lead to detrimental consequences in the following classes.
Anon was an exception.
But all good things came at a cost, so even if the other students felt reverence, appreciation, or even envied his knowledge, he was indifferent and inwardly questioned if they understood the rules of the world.
At the mid-point of the class, Anon, lost in the desk, asleep, was forcefully awakened by a sudden commotion.
Raising his head, in the front of the class was a sight that earned a slight chuckle out of him.
He saw a black-haired boy with vermillion-colored eyes staring intently at him whilst introducing himself.
"I'm sure you are already knowing of my name, but I am Seth Constantin, you can just call me Seth."
Smiling, Anon dozed off once more.
Unexpectedly, soon after taking his seat, Seth was asked a question which exposed how clueless he was about the topic of this class.
'Beasts? Why would I know of such useless things?' Seth pondered internally.
'Ah, for fuck's sake, to properly influence the boy, I'll need to stick with him until he's acknowledged by his father.'
Lost in thought, Seth wondered inwardly,
'I wonder, what is it that needs to be done. Only after the human leader acknowledges his son, does the timer on his life begin.'
Thinking this, Seth ignored the rest of class.
...
"Father promised me, once I achieve just one goal, he'll acknowledge me as his son." Anon sat next to Seth, atop the stairwell enclosure on the rooftop, mumbling this under his breath.
Besides the first class which he ditched, two more had come to an end.
In the break between classes, as the new student, Seth was surrounded by overly enthusiastic classmates.
But when his cold and indifferent personality was revealed, it earned the disfavor of many, even with his good looks.
Some of the students even voiced their doubts on how he even entered class "A" only to be silenced by his knowledge of that confusing subject, stellar cosmic energy.
"A single goal, and that is to become an Otherworldly Knight."
Anon's amused tone followed his sentence as he asked, "But why are you so interested in a father's acknowledgement of his son?"
Seth grinned, jumping off the stairwell enclosure and landing on the school's rooftop.
Staring into the skies, he laughed, "Because when Anon officially becomes Anon Xerxes, Aegon Xerxes, by acknowledging his son, would automatically be one step into his grave."
Turning to Anon, Seth's eyes flashed with vicious intent, completely contradictory to the broad smile on his face.
"It would be best if your father comes running to you. Yes, his son being titled as an Otherworldly Knight, no wonder he'll acknowledge you then."
An Otherworldly Knight?
They have followed the six heroes into the outside, on the planets beyond earth's world space, and even further, into the vast expanse of the universe.
They've met foreign civilizations and saw a great many things, incomprehensible to the mortal mind.
To acquire this title is to ascend from the human world into a higher plane.
"Haha, to become an Otherworldly Knight?"
Anon seemed dazed as he said this, catching himself and focusing on Seth, he laughed, "Let's focus on the Military Academy first."
"Since the new world order sent you, I hope you don't miss the minimum requirement to enter the camp of ten thousand, just because of one beast topic in the final exams."
Anon mocked and gloated with pure glee.
Tsk.
"You need not worry, by tomorrow I'd have memorized everything in the textbooks that cover the beast curriculum."
Seth seemed offended as his eyelid twitched.
After saying that, he glanced at the door of the stairwell enclosure.
Click!
It opened, revealing Felix, Cassius, and Catharina.
Automatically, they glanced above where Anon usually sat, and as expected, Anon's indifferent gaze landed on them.
"I really tried stopping this damnable brother of mines, but then Felix came and fanned the flames, so I…"
Catharina voice trailed as her gaze fell on Seth.
"The new student?!" All three spoke simultaneously.
There was an awkward silence that descended.
Breaking this silence, Felix chuckled, fixing the glasses on his nose bridge as his eyes shone with mischief.
"Indeed, the greatest slacker has drawn the legendary one."
"Two strong foes face off. We were rude to interrupt."
"Go on and battle, if you need our help, we'll be right across there." Felix cackled with amusement as he brought the twins away from Anon and Seth, to one of the benches further away near the rooftop's railing.
"What's with him?"
Seth was naturally confused.
"Someone decided to ditch the first class on their first day of a new school, painting a very vivid image."
Anon sighed.
"Apparently, I too have a similar image. I guess, he believes we'll confront each other to find out which image is the better one, or more so, which slacker is slackest?"
Anon uttered this whilst indifferently glancing at Catharina, catching her glancing at him.
Seth saw this and smiled strangely.