"Everyone listen up. This here is Arran. From this point onwards, he will be studying here with you all." Commander Margo said to the waiting cadets who were looking at Arran and herself.
When they heard that, they were all shocked. That was because they were able to tell that Arran was still a mortal that had not trained his vital energy.
The woman who looked like an instructor had a meaningful look on her face as she looked at Arran. Unlike her students who were usually only focused on training, she was aware of who Arran was, and naturally, since he would be in her class, she also knew that he would be arriving here today.
As much as the cadets had their doubts and it was very obvious on their faces, they knew better than to question Margo at this moment since everything seemed to be set in stone and they could do nothing about it.
Margo on the other hand turned her attention to the teacher who was in front of her.
"Fel, I'll be handing him over to you for a while. All the necessary arrangements have already been settled and all that remains are for you to show him the ropes."
Fel nodded to her and replied, "You don't have to worry Margo, you can just leave him to me and I'll take care of everything. I know that you are busy, so I'll not keep you any longer. We can catch up another time."
The instructor Fel said to Commander Margo.
Both of them were close friends and to them, there was no need for any formalities. They just behaved as casually as they normally did.
Arran was watching all this silently by the side. He did not say anything when commander Margo turned to leave as everything that needed to be said had already been said.
When Margo was gone, that was when the atmosphere eased up and the cadets started murmuring to themselves.
Arran did not pay any mind to them and instead searched through the crowd to look for a pair of eyes that he was very familiar with. To him, this was just like starting in a new school and there was nothing to be bothered about.
While he was searching, a voice could be heard asking a question.
"Instructor Fel, who is this handsome piece of fresh meat?"
When this voice was heard, everybody immediately turned towards the source of it, Arran included. He was very curious to know who was the one that could use such a frivolous tone of voice when speaking to the instructor.
When Arran caught sight of her, he was immediately short of breath.
His first look allowed him to see a voluptuous and sexy body.
From her legs that were straight and clad in form-fitting combat pants to her chests that were almost too big to be contained in her uniform and her face that held hints of open seduction that told tales of erotic and wild nights and a promise of what was to come, the girl before his eyes was the embodiment of desire and sexual fantasies.
For a moment there, Arran felt his blood race again and an intense heat flowed through his entire body.
Arran was quick to rein in his emotions and ended up panting slightly hard.
You could not blame Arran though as while he led a life that was different from other boys his age, it was still a fact that he was a teenage boy with raging hormones that were even as strong as if not stronger than others his age.
When Arran was in control of himself again, he looked up only to meet the gaze of the girl from before as she smiled at him as if she had seen his reaction and was very happy about it. For some reason, Arran had a feeling that this girl had a hold over him that was not just because of her physical charm but something on a deeper level.
Arran was very puzzled by this feeling.
This may have seemed like a long time to Arran but in fact, it was just a moment and by the time Arran was able to pay attention again, instructor Fel was already replying to the girl.
"Like what the commander said previously, this will be your new comrade and you will be training together from this point onwards."
After saying this, instructor Fel turned to Arran and motioned to him while saying, "Arran, come over and introduce yourself to the rest of them. You'll be training together for the next few years and I hope you will all get along well."
Hearing this, Arran immediately went up to stand before her, and facing the cadets, he started introducing himself.
"Hello everyone, I'm Arran Galen and I come from Earth."
Everyone was confused as they had never heard of Earth before and so without giving Arran any time to continue with his introduction, one of them asked, "Which place is known as Earth? We have never heard of it before."
Arran turned to the person who had interrupted him and answered, "Earth is in a place you people call the lower realms."
When everybody heard this, realization showed across their eyes, as if they had just gotten an answer to a question that they had wanted to know.
To them, if what Arran said was true, then it would explain to them why there was not even a hint of vital energy that was coming off of Arran's body.
It is common knowledge that the people from the lower realms do not have the resources nor the necessary inheritance to be able to train their vital energies. If there were any, then it would be from those that pioneered the path themselves, which would be crude at best compared to the more developed races in the upper realms, or they would have managed to retain some faint connections to the upper realms.
Nodding to themselves, they were already feeling smug like how rich kids would feel when they see someone who they consider to be a country bumpkin. It was not until the girl from before spoke that they came to their senses.
"Eh! That's not right. If you are from the lower realms, then why are you here and why will you be studying with us?"
Like a lightning bolt flashing through their thoughts, the cadets were stunned.
Hmm! That seemed to be true. Why was he here?
The confusion was apparent on their faces and they looked toward instructor Fel for answers.
To them, there was nothing special about the people from the lower realms, so what qualifications did this one possess to be able to study in a prestigious academy like theirs, much less require an officer of Commander Margo's caliber to bring him here personally.
Instructor Fel did not respond to their obvious query, instead, she looked at Arran, and opting to let him explain himself.
Arran looked at their faces and knew what they were thinking. But he did not care. He took a look at the girl who had brought up this topic only to see her smiling. At this moment, Arran knew that she most likely knew the reason why he was here and she was just playing with him.
He wondered how she knew this until he saw who was standing by her side and that was when he finally had a suspicion.
Amused, Arran opened his mouth to answer the cadets who were looking at him and waiting for an answer.
He said, "that's because I'm a Kingsman."
There was silence for a few seconds before there was an uproar so loud it shook the entire coliseum.
WHAT!!!
WHAT!!!Their shout was like a chorus echoing throughout the whole arena. To the cadets, the words that came out of Arran's mouth were like a thunderclap, shocking them senseless. It was too absurd to believe.Who was a Kingsman?They were a group of people who possessed the number one bloodline in the whole Aeth race, and who would later go on to command pinnacle levels of strength and power in the universe.For people who possessed this powerful bloodline, they would surely be known to the entire race and would have already received training from a very young age. People who have the Kingsman bloodline commanded a lot of prestige with the Aeth, this was very true considering the fact that the bloodline was difficult to pass on and that the Kingsmen were very little in population. Now a mortal who had not even trained his vital energy was here before them telling them that he possessed this top bloodline.In one word, it was hilarious!Sudd
Understood!!This word spread through the arena like a storm as the cadets responded to instructor Fel's query. Instructor Fel nodded as she saw this, she then turned to Arran to say."That's all for today. You'll be briefed on what to expect at another time, but for today, you'll have to stand by on the side and watch how we conduct lessons here. Do you understand?"As Arran was about to respond, suddenly, there came a low and creepy sound of laughter.Arran, instructor Fel, and the rest of the other cadets turned towards the source of the sound only to see that at the very edge of their formation, there was a young man who was standing there still in the midst of laughing. He made no attempt to hold himself back.Seeing him, the faces of some of the cadets there changed as they recognized who that young man was. At the back, Charmy cursed under her breath and her playful expression from before changed. What replaced it was a deep disdain and loat
"He just has to prove himself."When Kellogg said these words, everybody had weird expressions on their faces. In their minds, they were puzzled.'How exactly do you expect a mortal to prove himself to you?'Take for instance, if it's a battle you want, then are you not ashamed to suggest fighting a mortal? In terms of power… you are stronger than he is, in terms of technique… you have received training from the best of the best, what then is there to prove… is it who is more handsome?Let's compare again, you have a more impressive background than your opponent and everybody knows this, so how do want him to prove himself?Do you say to him… 'look, my daddy owns a planet, what does yours have?'That's just absurd!Currently, thoughts like these were running through everybody's minds now and even Kellogg's lackeys did not know how to respond to this.Arran had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.
The arena was silent.Right now the situation was at an impasse, and Charmy had no way to resolve it. If she continued to rebuke Kellogg, then it would seem that she was not confident in Arran's chances of winning, but if she did not, then it would basically be sending Arran into Kellogg's trap to suffer.Actually, the situation itself was not too tricky, it was the choice of Arran's opponent that was very tricky.Omar may not be the most powerful cadet in this batch, but he had a very troublesome trait, or talent if it could be called that.Omar's presence was very weak and was almost nonexistent. If you put him in a crowd, by the time you blink he would already have vanished from your senses. He may be right by your side, but because of how weak his presence was, you would find it almost impossible to notice him.On a normal day, this trait was not a problem for other people, but in combat, this trait was a nightmare. Because of how it is difficu
The technique that Omar used in his strike was a very simple one.In principle, it was very similar to what Arran used when he sparred with Brendell in the outpost.At that time, during the final decisive moment of the fight, Arran performed a feint with his leg by reducing the amount of force used in his kick. By doing so he did not fully extend himself which left him with enough strength to pull back his attack in time and deliver the winning strike.In this sense, when Omar stabbed at the dummy, he did not immediately use his full strength but instead delivered it in short, rapid bursts which enabled him to stab three times in a single moment.A technique like this was too simple to perform by anybody who had received professional training. There was nothing about this technique that would spur the amazement of the cadets.Why were they amazed all the same? You would ask.That was because of the simple fact that Omar was even able to hide
Instructor Fel was slightly worried, but after thinking for some time, she decided not to interfere. She decided to watch how the situation would further develop. If she saw that things were going too far to be reasonable, then she would have to step in then.Omar who had been silent and expressionless all this time finally showed some emotion. Deep in his eyes there was a sharp gleam that showed his resolution to finish this with his next move.Even if he was not concerned initially when he was facing Arran's challenge, but seeing how Arran was able to overcome all the tests that he had put forward, Omar was finally resolved to do his best. After all, it would be in bad taste if he were to lose to a mortal.Omar raised his dagger and got into a proper stance. Suddenly, the air around him changed. If before Omar was casual in the way he conducted himself, then at this moment, Omar was like an unsheathed weapon of mass destruction. The deterrence effect that he e
“How is it possible!!”When everybody heard Kellogg screaming that question hysterically, they were immediately reminded of a very serious issue.That’s right, how exactly was Arran able to accurately track Omar’s movement?It had to be known that Omar’s strongest point was his very weak presence. Even among the current batch of cadets, there was no one who had greater stealth techniques than Omar. So it was safe to say that if Omar wanted his movement to stay hidden, then nobody would be able to track him, so when was it the turn of a mere mortal to do so?To be honest, even Arran himself was not sure how he was able to follow Omar’s movements.If Arran had to be honest with himself, he would have to admit that under normal circumstances, he would have had a very hard time figuring out Omar’s movements and that it would be impossible to see through that last move of Omar’s, but somehow, he was able t
Somewhere in the prime origin world, the Etherium!This was a small room that was devoid of light and which was only enveloped by darkness. Everywhere within this enclosed space, there was thick grey mist that filled the room, flowing endlessly and giving off an ancient and desolate vibe.Suddenly, from the mist came bright specks of twinkling lights, like stars that chased away the darkness. As more specks of light appeared, they filled all the available space and lit up the room, transforming it into a miniature galaxy.This galaxy contained in it small depictions of a system of stars, nebulas, and other planetary and heavenly bodies, and at the top of this galaxy of stars were seven bright and massive stars that eclipsed all other stars in this galaxy.Each star had its own color and gave off different types of energies each with its own characteristic.One was fiery like a powerful gas giant, endlessly churning with heat. Another was smooth and