It was the day after the opening ceremony, and many students were wearing their uniforms. The uniform was compulsory only during theory classes, and students were allowed to wear whatever they wanted outside those classes.
The schedule was already distributed among all 1,000 selected students for this year. Some students were unhappy to learn that they were not in the same class as their friends. Each class was made so that no class had too many or too few talented individuals.
World Academy actively encouraged its students to compete with each other and instilled the idea that they should always try to become better than others. Although there were many students who would reach the limit of their potential while at World Academy and eventually accept that they could not progress any further.
If two individuals put the same amount of hard work into something, the person with more talent will always win. If your potential was low, no amount of hard work could place you on a similar pedestal as a genius who put a similar amount of work into their skills.
World Academy was a place for elites to grow and understand the nature of the society they lived in. Despite the fact that individuals with so much power roamed the world, every country was mostly peaceful and free from criminal activities on a public level.
But where there was light, darkness would also be present. In a world where your strength determined your social standing, there would be people who would misuse their powers for the worse.
“Well, it’s a shame that Asher is in Class 1,” Damian told Amelia as they went towards their classroom.
There were five blocks that were separated for classes 1 to 5.
Currently, Damian and Amelia were walking through Block 1 to Block 2 for their class.
“What’s fun with being in the same class as my brother?” Amelia spoke with a frown on her face.
“Oh, come on, you know he wasn’t speaking about us in that speech,” Damian spoke, barely stopping himself from laughing.
Amelia looked at Damian’s face as her face turned red.
“Remove that memory from your mind,” Amelia said as she grabbed Damian’s collar.
Both of them were wearing a white-colored uniform with a grey-colored bracelet on their wrists.
“Don’t get angry, but pffgh,” Damian could not handle it and started laughing loudly in the hallway.
Amelia tightened her grip as her face grew even redder.
“Huff, huff, okay, okay, I will not tease you anymore,” Damian tried to calm her down before she got even more angry at him.
He was laughing, remembering yesterday evening when they met Asher to chat a bit. They had arrived early, and Amelia was still annoyed by Asher’s speech, which even targeted her as she had also lost in the tournament.
She was ranting about Asher with Damian as they were sitting in a fairly empty area, which was the park of the VIP Dormitories where they were living with other fairly influential kids.
Unfortunately for her, Damian had not told her that he had invited Asher as well.
“I am here just for the trial ground,” Amelia imitated Asher’s voice, making Damian laugh, but he stopped and closed his mouth immediately.
“And did you see him when he said, ‘Don’t get in my way’?” Amelia laughed, making fun of Asher.
“Oh, really?” Asher spoke as she touched Amelia’s shoulder.
“Kyaaaaaa~” Amelia jumped, and her face got pale, like Damian’s, as she saw Asher.
“Having fun?” Asher questioned with his indifferent look.
“No-no… It was him who started it by laughing at you,” Amelia pointed at Damian, selling him out.
“Wait, what?” Damian hesitated, seeing Amelia’s pleading face.
“Whatever did you guys call me here for?” Asher changed the topic, seeing that they were doing something stupid again.
“Yeah, what class are you in? We are in Class 2!!” Damian spoke.
“I am in Class 1,” Asher told him.
Listening to him, Amelia sighed in relief knowing that they were not in the same class as Asher.
“Any issues?” Asher frowned at Amelia.
“N-No, nothing,” Amelia spoke. “I remember I needed to sort my room a bit so I need to leave. Bye~.” Amelia hurriedly left Asher and Damian alone.
“So what did you really call me here for?” Asher sat down beside Damian.
Coming back to the present, this was the reason Damian was still teasing Amelia. She would rarely show any emotions, so it was pretty embarrassing for Amelia.
“Oh, why is there so much commotion here?” Damian looked over Amelia and saw many students standing outside the classroom.
Amelia turned abruptly, releasing her grip on Damian’s collar.
“What’s happening?” She spoke as some students turned towards both of them.
“Oh, it’s Amelia Greville,” One of the girls spoke, gathering the attention of other students.
“Maybe she can help,” she said.
Amelia and Damian walked up to them and asked for the reason behind them gathering at the door.
“A fight is happening!” A girl replied nervously as she pointed inside the classroom.
“What?” Damian said and he went to the door and saw a boy kneeling down in front of a pink-haired girl.
Amelia came closer to see what was happening and she saw the same scene.
“Now what were you saying?” Alyssa spoke.
“Argh,” the boy couldn’t speak due to the pressure of gravity on him.
“Release him,” Amelia said, causing Alyssa to look at her.
Alyssa stopped her spell, and the boy finally relaxed and crawled a bit away from her.
“What are you doing?” Amelia asked.
“He challenged my authority as the first-year representative,” Alyssa replied as she put the metallic mask that was on the table on her face.
The half-mask covered half of her face below her eyes. It didn’t completely cover her scars, but its main purpose was to maintain a constant supply of oxygen for Alyssa. She had received it for signing the deal with Asher. At first, she wanted to refuse, but seeing that it would also help her panic attacks, she easily agreed to use it.
The rest of the students also left, seeing that the fight was resolved.
“But using mana outside of duels is not allowed,” Amelia said to her.
“I am part of the Student Council and I did not break any of the rules,” Alyssa replied calmly.
“Yeah, why are you speaking so much when he was the one who wanted to fight first?” Venessa said.
“He was the one who was shouting and saying that she did not deserve to win the tournament or whatnot,” Venessa explained, annoyed.
Amelia was confused why a nobody was talking so rudely towards her, fully knowing her background.
“Okay, let’s calm down. There’s no need to fight over this,” Damian interjected so that another fight didn’t begin.
“Amelia, let’s leave them alone. We will be late for class like this,” Damian reminded Amelia.
“Haa, never mind, let’s go,” Amelia said, leaving the class with Damian.
Alyssa did not act rudely towards Amelia, knowing that she was Asher’s sister. From her perspective, she wanted to avoid any complications with Amelia. She didn’t want to let go of her only chance of taking revenge by offending Asher.
“Should I apologize?” Alyssa thought as she sat down, but her inner hatred did not allow her to bow down to anyone, especially people from Elite Families.
Five minutes ago, the boy had challenged Alyssa, cursing her about her blood.
“Do you not know that she won the tournament?” Venessa said from her seat.
“Won? It was just a fluke,” the boy laughed, making other students talk with each other.
“Where did you get this mask from? A mask will not hide your ugly blood,” he said with disgust on his face.
“Go back to your seat,” Alyssa turned her head and spoke.
“What an ugly bitch like you can even do? You are just like that filthy mother of yours,” the boy spoke, but he immediately felt the pressure increase upon him.
Venessa, who was about to throw a punch, stopped upon seeing Alyssa use her mana.
Alyssa removed her mask, and her eyes looked down at the boy.
“I wonder what I can do?” Alyssa spoke as she gradually increased the pressure on the boy.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Another student stood up from his seat and tried to stop her
But as he spoke he saw an ice lance started forming above Alyssa.
“Any issues?” Alyssa glared at him.
“Ah, nothing!” He immediately got back to his seat without causing anymore ruckus.
Other students who had just arrived also stopped at the doorway. They were afraid that a crazy girl like Alyssa might hurt them, so they did not want to get involved.
The boy coughed as he struggled to breathe properly, but Alyssa heard Amelia’s voice and stopped what she was doing.
Going back to the present, the boy was sitting in the back, and some students were even laughing at him for making a joke out of himself. But the boy did not care much about it.
“I completed your task,” he typed a message on his phone while coughing a bit on his seat.
“That bastard, I will make his life hell in the duel class,” Venessa muttered as she cracked her knuckles.
Alyssa looked at her left and found it weird that Venessa was not avoiding her despite knowing her identity. It was the first time that something like that had happened to her.
“Don’t mind them much. They are just jealous of your strength,” Venessa said as she put her head down on the desk.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
Asher, who had just gotten out of the lobby in his building, looked at the message on his phone and put it back in his pockets as he transferred 100 GP to the sender of that message.