Chapter 215 – A Palatine Skipping Class
The day finally ended after being loaded with unprecedented emotions, giving way to another morning, the very first morning for the first years inside the Elysia Academy.
The sun was already peeking through the dense, heavy white clouds by 7 a.m., bathing the horizon in a yellowish glow.
However, a keen eye could spot a hint of white within the sun. A white so intense it made one’s eyes feel as though they were being burned just by looking at it.
This was a common phenomenon in the Academy, and by now, people treated it as normal.
The students of all years were already awake, having had breakfast wherever they wished within the Outer Ring, then headed straight to the Inner Ring — either by carriage or by their own means with their powers.
Inside the Inner Ring, at the entrance, many buildings stood lined up. The students of the first three years, wearing their white and blue uniforms with ties for the men and ribbons for the women, could enter any of them depending on the classes they had.
In one of those buildings, the First Years sat in a wide, high-ceilinged classroom, filled with seats coloured white and blue, the walls painted in the same colours.
The students were already in their seats, each one sitting wherever and with whomever they wanted.
Class began at 9 a.m., and with only three minutes left, all twenty-two of them were seated.
All of them except the Palatine, Cassius Desdemona.
Anesthesia, wearing her uniform while completely discarding the ribbon, cast her eyes around the classroom, searching for Cassius.
She was sitting to Raven’s right, while Sarah was on his left.
She was doing her best to ignore the maid.
Most were looking around, wondering where he was, with Omar Ibn Omar quite relieved that he didn’t have to see that monster.
Theophane’s eyes were smiling softly while she talked to Tiger Woods, whose mouth hung open in disbelief at the Seer’s beauty; forgetting, for the first time since his elimination, the humiliation he had suffered at Cassius’s hands.
Klaus, his tie not properly adjusted, was smiling at Love, asking if her jaw was doing okay after the extensive work last night.
Emrys frowned at his words, but Love reassured him, sparing Klaus a hateful glance full of scorn.
The classroom was indeed filled with whispers and subtle laughter.
Jurkil Julaibib was especially loud.
However, the words died in their mouths the moment the classroom door creaked open and a man stepped inside, wearing a gentle, welcoming smile.
Anesthesia snapped her eyes onto him, appraising him.
The man wore a black suit with insufferably red gloves, his black hair neatly groomed, red-rimmed glasses framing his grey eyes.
He looked around thirty or so. But Anesthesia knew better than to trust the appearance of anyone walking the Path of Evolution.
After climbing the small steps and standing behind his desk, he lifted his eyes and swept his gaze across all of them.
His eyes twinkled, sensing the omnipresent, subtle tension throughout the classroom, and the incredible power radiating from each of them.
’Now this is what I call a bunch of monsters.’
He continued his appraisal, though his gaze couldn’t help but pause subtly when it met the smiling eyes of Theophane, the bored eyes of Meadow sitting beside Omm, the angry eyes of Love who seemed ready to kill anyone while sitting beside Emrys, and the indifferent ones of Anesthesia.
His smile seemed to widen ever so slightly, then his voice boomed across the room.
"Good morning to you all, and congratulations on making it into this classroom." His voice was gentle, even inviting. "I am Roy Jade, and I will be your main teacher for your first year."
Tap—!
A notebook was summoned and slammed onto the table.
"I will be responsible for teaching you about the Fractured Lands, the classification of Monsters, and the history of the world as far as the records shared with us allow. There are two more teachers besides me. One of them is still under evaluation, and you’ll meet her or him on Thursday. As for the second, Teacher Mustang, he will be responsible for the evaluation of your battle skills, battle knowledge... simply anything related to fighting."
Roy Jade paused, letting his words settle in the minds of all the students before continuing.
"Today, this first class will be nothing more than an introduction to the Academy, its rules, and how you will be evaluated in order to pass." He snapped his fingers, causing a projection to appear behind him, showing the image of the sky city as a whole and the various things that needed to be known.
"But before we start, I must remind you that even though we expect nothing but excellent results from you," he gestured to the projection, now showing the Outer Ring in greater detail, "this is ultimately an Academy, and you are allowed to enjoy yourselves, so long as the results are excellent. So don’t forget to try out the numerous activities you can take part in across the Outer Ring. As the Dean loves to say..."
He flashed them a smile.
"...a being without a hobby will find itself weary of this life. And we do not need weary souls."
They muttered an acknowledgement, already excited and eager to explore the Outer Ring.
Roy Jade clapped his hands and continued.
"Now, coming back to the subject, we’ll begin by discussing the additional courses you can choose, such as Alchemy, Runesmithing, Blacksmithing, and even Research. Afterward, information about how the mission system works, and the different structures you should be aware of, like the House of Chains, the House of Resources, the Assembly of Teachers, the House of Sanctions, and the Honorary Students List."
Some of them began to scribble notes, trying to remember all the information. But most didn’t bother.
In any case, they knew they would learn more once they started roaming the Academy.
Roy Jade continued to talk, not minding at all the lack of focus from many of them.
Finally, someone couldn’t stop himself from asking a question.
And it was none other than Klaus, sitting lazily beside Keisha and Natalia.
"Excuse me, sir." He said, raising his hand.
"Yes, Klaus?" Jade answered, hiding the twitch of his lips at being interrupted.
"Where is Cassius?"
They all focused, themselves curious to know where the Palatine was.
As the first ranker, he was supposed to be the standard-bearer for all of them.
Jade took a moment to look across the class, recalling the information he had received earlier that morning.
"Palatine Cassius will be absent today." Jade said. "The Dean informed me that he is in the process of healing his arms and right eye. That’s why we’re moving the little welcoming event I had initially prepared for today to the next class, hopefully Palatine Cassius will be healed and bless us with his presence by then."
They all made a sound of understanding, nodding.
Then a few of them looked at Emrys, and saw that he was present even though his right arm was still missing.
People instinctively began to compare the two of them.
Jade slowly continued his class, yet even with all his professionalism, his eyes truly couldn’t leave the young women in the room.
’This year will be interesting.’
...
Meanwhile, inside his own room, Cassius had just woken up. Alone.
Isolde was no longer there, having left behind a message saying she would come to see him later and show him more of the Academy.
She had kept her promise, though: on the shelf beside him was a cup of honey tea.
The scent alone was pleasant, and motivating.
’She’s so cute. Don’t you think, Queen?’
[She certainly is.]
He smiled faintly, looked at the time, and knew damn well he was not going to class.
’I always hated class, and you want me to attend even in this world? No bloody way.’ He shook his head, thinking how ridiculous the idea was.
Of course, he would go sometimes.
But only sometimes.
He would rather do what he needed to do after his promise to his master. And for that, he would need all the time he could spare.
’For now, though,’ he looked at his arms, his eye narrowing, ’I need to get back to my peak condition.’
It was getting harder and harder to navigate the world in such a state.
His vision was severely limited, and lacking the feeling of texture and all the other receptors his normal arms once had, it was insufferably difficult to do anything correctly.
[Do you have any idea how?] Ananke spoke, her voice gentle as a breeze.
’I’ve been thinking about it, and based on my knowledge of the Game, I have many ideas about how I could regain them with improvements. However,’ Cassius smiled, ’I think it’d be better to use the Token of Questions for that.’
At that, he summoned the Token he had received as a reward yesterday. The Token was pure white, with numerous small eyes shining an even whiter colour all across it.
[Are you sure?] she asked. [You could ask a far more important question, Cassius. This is a very rare gift you might not get again so easily. Even rarer than the Blessing Token.]
’Queen, you always said that knowing more than I should would be more a curse than a blessing. And you were right. I feel that more deeply now that I’m aware the gods wish to end my family while I remain only Imbued rank.’ He shook his head. ’So right now, I don’t need to fill my head with more than I can handle. My body and mind need to be ready and steady before I claw for more knowledge.’
Ananke smiled instantly, completely pleased with her Blessed. ’He’s maturing, I see.’ She thought, her smile widening.
[I never thought you’d learn and accept this truth so fast. Focus on what you need to do in the immediate future, because failing it would mean failing when the bigger threats come. And the first things are surely your arms and eye.]
’Indeed.’ He replied, leaning his back against the bedframe. ’That’s what I’m going to ask. But I only have the right to one question. I must phrase it correctly to get the most benefit.’
The goddess nodded in agreement.
Cassius then began to think, trying to come up with a question.
What he wanted was the answer to how he could regrow his arms and eye in the best possible way for him.
After almost a minute of thinking, his eye brightened.
’I know what to ask!’
He acted instantly, activating the Token of Questions with his essence. It glowed, then burst, transforming into one big silver eye with a wide mouth just beneath it.
{You have the right to only one question.}
The mouth spoke, its voice staggering, heavy in his mind like a flat mountain pressing down on him.
{What is your question?}
The eye blinked at the same time.
Cassius’s mouth curled into an excited but tense smile as he asked, hoping for the best of results:
"How can I reforge my arms and right eye in a way that would benefit me the most, even when I reach a level I cannot yet fathom?"
—End of Chapter 215—