The words “Demonic Faction” were heard, and memories of the words rushed through Raze’s head. It was a word that had come up a few times already. He started to think about all of the times they were mentioned, and his memories of them weren’t good at all.
The Demonic Faction was one of three major factions in the world of Pagna, along with the Light Faction and Dark Faction. Yet, every time they had been brought up in one way or another, it was never in a good light.
One would say that the hatred for the Demonic Faction was even stronger compared to the Light Faction, but that wasn’t the case at all; it was more so that they had a greater fear of them.
In the past, the Demonic Faction had come close to controlling the entire continent, and the Light and Dark Factions had no choice but to team up together to try to get rid of the threat.
It wasn’t just the Pagna warriors; even the Alter group had considered the Demonic Faction difficult, so much so that they hardly had anyone from their group in their territory. Raze had considered it a good hiding place if things went bad in the future.
‘If I have demonic energy, then does that mean that Dame person is from the Demonic Faction? He was the one who gave me the book after all. He also got into a scuffle with that woman from the Light Faction as well, so he’s clearly not a part of their group.’
Dame had no reason to tell Raze he was from the Demonic Faction because he believed Raze was from another world where they didn’t have such things, so Raze found it hard to blame him. But because of it, he was now in a rather difficult situation.
‘Now that they know I have demonic energy, does it mean that all of them will go against me? I won’t be able to survive this.’
“Don’t look so nervous,” Gunther said. “Judging from your reaction, you genuinely don’t seem like you’re from the Demonic Faction, or you’re just a good actor. Either way, only time will tell.
“But I should warn you. For me, I don’t care that you cultivate the demonic energy in your body. Some people believe the techniques you use, the energy you have, or where you are born determines whether or not you are a member of a faction.
“For me, it’s what values you believe in. Each faction believes in a certain set of values and believes that is the perfect ideal of a Pagna warrior, and for me, it’s the same. I don’t care what energy you use as long as your values are the same as ours. That is what makes you a true member of the Dark Faction. However, not everyone thinks this way. If people find out about the energy you have cultivated, then you will become an instant enemy here.
“While you are in the Dark Faction’s academy, you should use only Dark Faction skills. As long as you do this, and no one checks your energy like I did just now, then you will do fine.”
Judging from Gunther’s words, it looked like Raze was going to have nothing to worry about, especially since he only knew one Martial Arts skill at the moment and two Cultivation techniques.
Seeing how Raze was deep in thought, Gunther made his decision. “You pass!” He shouted and walked off with his back away from him.
The other students who were busy talking had been interrupted by the words, and they were quite stunned. No one understood what was taking place or what had happened.
“No way, all three of the No-names managed to pass?” A student whispered.
“How were they even able to cultivate up to the first stage?”
“Do they have connections or something?”
“Connections? Don’t be stupid, they’re no-names, so why would anyone let them in?”
Mada, watching his brother walk away, was curious about what was said between the two. Because he noticed, as Gunther walked away, he had a slight smile on his face. Something that he had never seen.
‘Who the heck are you?’ Mada clenched his fist.
Letting out a big sigh, Gunther was thinking about the troubles that were lying ahead. There was still more to go before he could act freely, but he was promised a reward for helping out at the academy, so that he would do.
‘I have no time for all this assessment stuff. I’ll let the leader worry about whether he is a spy or not. I just need to find out who this Dark Magus person is and get that reward from the Crimson Crane.’
This was his main goal in all of this.
“So, you actually managed to make it into the big leagues,” Simyon said, walking over. “I was worried for a sec that we would have to do the next part without you.”
When saying those words, Safa had stepped in a bit closer to the three; her eyes were staring over her shoulder. She felt the energy coming off those around getting to her. It was clear that they weren’t happy about them passing.
While Raze was having a conversation with Gunther, something had occurred with the disqualified students and Pincer. One student had argued so much back that they had been hit and knocked out. After that, the others no longer said anything and accepted their defeat.
They walked past the courtyard, but all of their stares were at the three No-names. Their thoughts all being quite similar.
How could they have made it through? Was the academy saying that they were worth less than No-names? They were better than them, and yet they were the ones leaving. Since they were unable to do anything against the examiners, it looked like they wanted to take out their anger on them.
However, Pincer’s deep glares stopped them from having any such thoughts. Not unless they wanted to be knocked out again.
“Alright!” Pincer clapped both of his hands together, and a loud clang went through the air. A shockwave could visibly be seen spreading through the area around him and caught the attention of everyone immediately.
His large muscular hands that were twice the size of normal seemed to not be for show.
“We will now go straight into the next part of the assessment where I will be taking watch,” Pincer stated. “I want all students to stand on one side of the courtyard; when you hear your number being called, I want you to move over to the other side, understood!”
The students nodded, and numbers started to be called one after another, and it was quite nerve-wracking for them all. They had just got past one part, but there was still more to come. 𝒩𝑂𝒱ℯ𝓛xt.𝑪𝑂𝑀
As numbers were being called out, eventually, the students realized something. For one, on one side, numbers 1 to 5 had been called. All of the top clan members and their disciples were placed on one side, but it wasn’t just them.
Names that had been spread before coming to the academy, as well as students who had come from what was considered the strongest clans, had gone to the other side.
“Hey, why is the teacher splitting us up like this?”
“It must be to make the assessment a bit fairer. Maybe we will have to go against each other in the next assessment, and if we were to do that with those monsters, we wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Safa looked at Raze; she didn’t like the sound of that. Being in the same group, they might have to go against each other. If that were to happen, then what would they do? Could they not all join the academy together?
“Alright, that should do now, there is a nice even split between the two groups,” Pincer smiled to himself proudly. “Now, to your left and right, the people beside you will be your teammates for the next assessment, and the two groups will be going up against each other!”
The two groups didn’t know what the next assessment was yet, but wasn’t this clearly unfair? Was the teacher just trying to get rid of a large number of students? Hearing this, a lot of them almost felt like the result was already decided, even though they didn’t know what the assessment was going to be.
For Simyon and Safa, the two of them were just pleased that they didn’t have to go with Raze.
“Hey, as long as we have you on our side, we’ll pass this, right?” Simyon said.
“I never planned to fail this assessment, no matter who I’m up against,” Raze declared with determination. He looked up ahead and stared right at the five main disciples of the five top clans, his opponents for the next assessment.