"I'm Marc, it's my honor to serve your grace." He got on one knee.
"Get up, I'm already late." I patted his shoulder and walked past him as I dried my face.
"Of course, Master, please follow me." he led the way and we soon arrived outside the living space.
I was flabbergasted but hid it.
The space I was in was what could only be described as a small mansion and countless other mansions surrounded it from left to right.
The Ville appeared to be an enormous compound with countless mansions, paved streets, and light pillars. The nature of the buildings and everything was different from the usual style of New Pandora, one main aspect was the lack of technology.
New Pandora was at the peak of 2064, a golden age of technology, unlike anything in history.
Personal terminals, drones, floating devices, and transportation were the norm but in the Ville, there were no such things. A few floating signs and a couple of drones were around but so were horses, carriages, and other older school creations.
"Where exactly is the Ville located?" I asked Marc.
"I don't know, Young Master." There was no trace of lying in his words. It seemed they even hid information from the staff.
It's not like I was completely clueless about the Gray Family, they stood as one of the three ruling families of New Pandora. Alongside the Nerva and Sol families, they were called the peak of the world.
Powerful, wealthy, and older than any other groups, they reached myth status amongst the people.
The most powerful fighters in the physical hunters? They all belonged to the Gray. The greatest magic user hunters? They all came from the Nervas. The greatest Alchemists, Runemasters, and Barrier-Masters? The Sol family produced them.
.
.
.
Soon, we reached a dome-shaped building surrounded by statues of heroes and mythical monsters.
Marc and Lucy stopped outside after opening the door for me. I walked in and found a small auditorium with twelve students surrounding an old teacher.
"Ah, Young Master John, you've decided to finally show up." The teacher welcomed me with a slight smile.
The students had a different reaction however, looks of disdain abounded, and some refused to even look as If I wasn't worthy.
"The bastard? he even has earthling hair and eyes.."
"Not just an earthling but a cursed one, our blood is wasted on such a loser..."
Their whispers were like daggers, thankfully I was not as soft as their noble skin.
[The Heart has marked Eight Transgressors for revenge.]
I took a seat and looked around. Out of the twelve, nine had silver hair and eyes, and three had blue hair and eyes instead. I made a mental note to ask the attendants later.
"Now that, Young Master John is here, we can truly begin. I'll hand out three cards to each of you, think very carefully about your choice, and return to the path you do not wish to walk."
The teacher waved his hand and cards floated to each of the students. I examined them carefully, the first card had the words [Combat Mastery], the second card had [Stealth Mastery], and the third one had [Magical Arts Mastery].
The teacher wasn't joking, the choice determined the future path of all the students. The other students already knew what choice to make, their branches of the family had their specialties belonging to each path, so there was no hesitation.
Nine students chose one card out of the three, and the three students with blue hair chose two cards each.
As for me, I wanted it all.
The teacher was alarmed.
"Young master John, have you thought this through?"
"Yes," I replied confidently.
"I must warn, those who made a similar choice in the past have ended up less than...mediocre."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Good. Classes officially start tomorrow, please follow the instructions on the cards. You may leave now."
I couldn't stand the haughty air any longer and left immediately but just before I reached the door, I noticed an interesting interaction. A couple of the students gathered around a smaller student and seemed to be bullying him.
'I could use an ally, even a weak one. If I save him, he's sure to idolize me.'
I approached slowly.
"I saw the way you looked at me before, are you trying to start something bastard?!" The students hurled insults at the smaller guy.
"N-no! I-I swear I was just looking at the birds!"
He was short and lanky with softer features and a darker shade of silver hair. From their words, we were in a similar predicament, bastard children of the Gray family.
I walked in front of the smaller guy.
"Stop, leave him alone." I wasn't exactly a master at protecting others, it was foreign to me.
"Huh? The other bastard is here to join us?" Their leader was a burly guy with short hair and large eyes.
'Interesting.'
I knew well how to read others and from what I could tell, the other students feared me. The way they looked at me, my scars, and my hair showed wariness and aversion.
I changed the tune slightly.
"Leave or you won't walk out the way you walked in."
"Marcus, they said he was born on the streets, a killer, what if he.." Another student leaned in and whispered to the burly guy.
'Marcus, I'll remember your name.' I made a mental note.
"Shut up, Ian! I-I'll... I'll.."
Marcus stuttered as he gazed into my eyes, the darkness within them was a curse that the New Pandorians feared. The sharpness from my years on the streets struck him.
He knew I wasn't bluffing but what he didn't know was that I had just awakened and barely knew how to use my skills.
"We're leaving, let the bastards rot with each other!"
They scurried off. I laughed on the inside, I appeared to be a wolf to the soft noble sheep.
I looked back at the little guy, his expression was strange, and he was also scared of me.
"Are you okay?" I patted his shoulder and smiled the warmest way I knew how. For a second I felt like those models I saw on the internet.
He seemed to calm down a bit and fixed his clothes.
"Thank you for helping me!" He bowed slightly.
I surmised from the bow that he hadn't grown up in the Gray family, they didn't strike me as the type to bow. Ever.
"Don't mention it. What's your name?"
....