VRMMORPG: HEAVEN'S DESCENT

Knights Academy

Liam looked up into the sky and frowned slightly. Although the weather was beautifully clear, he couldn't shake off the feeling that had been bothering him all day.

'A transcended player..'

"Focus Mr Hardwood!" A stern voice yelled at the silver haired boy. Recollecting himself, Liam fell into line just like the rest of the students.

After the announcement about the transcended player, Liam's first task had been to join the Royal knight Academy. He hadn't expected training to start the very same day he registered, but in Diontra things were taken very seriously.

The knight Academy trained young men and women in the art of combat, chivalry, and leadership. Students are trained in the use of weapons such as swords, lances, and bows, as well as in horseback riding and other physical skills. They are also taught the virtues of honor, loyalty, and courage, and are expected to uphold a strict code of conduct.

After the knight Academy, the top students are recruited into the palace to serve as royal knights, while the rest are given specific privileges which would allow them to live a better life than the average masses.

As beginners, they were ranked E in the ranking system of knights. With time, the talented ones will climb the rank until they reach the pinnacle which was S. Only rank S, and a few rank A knights were allowed to work under the royal family. The other knights either worked as security guards for the Kingdom, or became licensed monster Hunters.

Liam took a quick glance around to get acquainted with the entire training ground, and his potential teammates. He was tempted to use his eyes, but decided against it. Using such an ability in public would only cause troubles for him, and he so desperately wanted to stay away from trouble. Besides these people weren't worth it, he was waiting to use it against one person, and that was the transcended player, mastermind.

It was obvious he wasn't here, surely his presence should be widely noticeable. Such a powerful person wouldn't need Knight training, he was already strong enough.

"Hey…" The voice brought Liam back to his immediate environment, and he turned around to meet an unfamiliar face staring at him.

"Hey?" He returned with a confused look on his face. He wasn't exactly the social type, and socializing wasn't his forte.

"Name's Noah, Noah Alaric." The boy introduced while putting an arm forward for a handshake.

He hesitated for a moment, before putting out his hand to honor the handshake. "Liam Hardwood." He hadn't seen this face before, perhaps he was part of the game's simulation. If so, then he shouldn't take him seriously.

"You're strong." Noah commented.

"Excuse me?" His voice rose in shock, while his brows arched up in curiosity. Just who on earth was this boy anyways.

"There's no need to pretend, we possess the same ability, the eagle eyes." Noah provided.

'Eagle eyes?' Liam thought inwardly. His was named the Scarlet eyes, this was the first time he was hearing about the Eagle's eyes. It was already obvious that just like his Scarlet eyes, it allowed its user to gauge the strength of those around him, but what else could it do?

"I see. You've got me completely figured out already, don't you?" Liam asked in pretense. It was best to act how this stranger wanted him to act, that way he would avoid a lot of questions, and learn more about Noah Alaric.

"I wouldn't say completely, the abilities of these eyes are limited to only physical capabilities. You're strong, let's be teammates."

"That's not exactly how this works, you know? Only the instructors can choose who are our teammates." Liam reminded. He also didn't want to be teammates with this boy, since they possessed similar abilities it would be a boring team. His life was centered on meeting new people, new things, and getting to learn more about things he wasn't aware of yet. Also, this Noah seemed like a proud guy, and someone who loved attention. They were polar opposites, Liam was extremely introverted, associating with someone like Noah wouldn't do him any good.

"That's not an issue, my father is an A ranked Knight. I'm sure he'll put me on any team I desire." Noah spoke with confidence.

"Good for you.." Liam muttered under his breath.

"Silence, young soldiers!"

Everyone ceased all activities the moment they heard the yell from the possible instructor. He was dressed in the casual knight attire, a suit of armor made of the finest metal.

From the raised visor of his helmet, the knight stared at the youngsters condescendingly. He had a tabard over the armor that displayed the emblem of the royal family.

Now that his dominance was established, the instructor went ahead to introduce himself.

"I'll be your instructor for this first activity. The name's Stewart Alaric…" Liam's eyes narrowed towards Noah who suddenly had a bright smirk on his face. Letting out a sigh of exasperation inwardly, he returned his attention to the instructor.

".....today we'll be testing out your physical strength, as well as your ability levels." He announced. Just then another knight walked in and whispered something into the instructor's ear. And after the second knight was gone, the instructor went ahead to introduce a new addition to the crowd.

This new figure Liam recognised. He was one of the people who were transported in with him. He had already checked this player out with his scarlet eyes before. He was good, but not good enough to be the transcended player.

"Let's start with the new student, Mastermind?" The instructor beckoned, and soon the boy in question was walking up to the stage.

"Mastermind?!" Liam gasped subconsciously. He wasn't the only one, everyone else was basically staring in awe as the said boy ascended the stage. "It can't possibly be…" It was impossible! According to his eyes, he was the most talented back at Primal.

He calmed himself, and relieved himself of the doubts in his head. If this was really the transcended player then his performance on this test should be exceptional.

"There's a total score of fifty for both tests. The physical test has a total score of twenty five, and the ability test a total score of twenty five. Students will be grouped according to their performance on the tests." Stewart educated before the first student was allowed to start his test.

Before Cyrus hung a punching bag with calibrations that read from one to twenty five. For the settings of the game and all, this technology seemed a little bit advanced. He was supposed to punch this bag, and the calibrations will lit up to show his punching strength. It was best to go all out and impress the guards, that way he'd receive more privileges, after all they all knew him as the 'child of prophecy!'

Taking in a deep breath, Cyrus took a step backwards before lurching forward at the punching bag. He did well not to go overboard for fear of tearing down the machine.

The hit connected, and in the same instant the calibrations came to live and read from one only to end at seventeen.

"Impressive, impressive!" Stewart praised with a loud applause. "Now for the ability test. You're free to go all out, don't worry it won't break."

Reaching deep into his energy pool, Cyrus enhanced his flames with as much Chi as he could before releasing a flaming spear at the board before him. Just like the punching bag, the calibrations immediately came to life. But unlike the physical readings, this one ended at eight.

'What?' Cyrus was stunned by his own performance. He had poured his life into that attack, and that was all it could do. His total score was half of the full score, should he be disappointed? He didn't know, he'd have to wait until the others began to take their own tests.

"Hmph…" Liam commented from his spot. He wasn't exactly impressed, but he couldn't judge. He already knew these tests were difficult, but he expected much more from someone who was supposed to be the most powerful player. Or maybe this was a fake, programmed by the game to deceive the masses.

'That must be it.' Liam concluded mentally. Someone this weak couldn't possibly best him, right?

The students that followed after mastermind performed significantly weaker than the player, and it had Liam reconsidering his thoughts. Most of them didn't even make it past ten as their total score. Only one student has been able to score a little higher than the rest, and that was Noah, who had a total score of nineteen, alongside four other players that he wasn't able to identify yet.

"Liam Hardwood?" The instructor called out, and the said boy proceeded towards the stage.

"That's him!" Cyrus exclaimed mentally. The silver haired boy back at Primal. He had been curious about this player ever since he saw him. Despite having an astonishing feature that would make him stand out, this boy was almost invisible unless he decided otherwise. Aside from that, Cyrus could also tell he was strong, possibly stronger than he was too.

Cyrus watched aptly as the boy made his attempt at the punching bag.

"Seventeen??!!!" The crowd of students gasped in shock. When judged by appearance, Liam didn't appear to be any stronger than a normal human. His build wasn't bulky, but it wasn't lean either. However such a structure shouldn't be able to produce such monstrous strength.

As the silver haired boy walked towards the ability board, the entire atmosphere fell silent in wait for his ability revelation. Majority had pyrokinesis just like Cyrus, while the minority like Noah possessed telekinetic abilities, Cryokinesis, and others.

Liam distanced himself a little bit from the board before making a stance. He had an affinity for two elemental abilities being wind and fire. Before entering the Knight academy, he had taken his time to level his abilities up individually. With their combined strength, he should be able to dish out attacks on par with someone of at least level three.

Using his wind abilities to augment his flames, Liam released a conflagration towards the testing board, threatening to burn it down. The hit connected, and like before the calibrations lit up and fell on twelve.

"A total of twenty nine!" Instructor Stewart announced. "We have promising students this session!" He added with a broad smile on his face.

"Liam Hardwood." Cyrus memorized. He was strong just like he expected. 'Does he have the system too?' he wondered. It would be a wise idea to partner up with someone strong. However that was not his choice to make, it was the instructors.

While he descended from the stage, Liam's focus remained on the player, mastermind. Maybe this was the transcended player after all. Perhaps he was holding back? That was definitely a possibility. If this person truly was the real deal, then he needed to get closer to him at all cost. Together they might just be able to finish the game.

"We're grouping you into threes, after that you'll be sent to your dorm rooms, and that will be all for now. Classes will officially begin tomorrow." Another instructor announced. Stewart Alaric was off the stage, and was nowhere to be found at the moment.

"Team one! Noah Alaric, Liam Hardwood, and Mastermind!" It was just as Liam expected. They were probably grouped based on performance. He also felt like Noah had something to do with the grouping too, because the rest of the teams were selected randomly. It didn't matter, he really didn't care. What mattered right now was that he was grouped together with his target, it made things a lot easier for him.

"We should go meet up with our new teammate." Noah suggested, and Liam nodded in agreement.

"Aren't the knights supposed to be impartial?" Liam heard a boy inquire.

"So what if they're strong?" Another boy spoke up. "They're still students just like the rest of us. And every student is supposed to be treated equally. The knights a—"

"You shouldn't say that." Noah interjected, stopping the boy from completing his sentence. His words were met with a disgusted scoff before the two boys disappeared into the leaving crowd. 'Surely they didn't expect the top dogs to be mixed randomly with their kind.' Noah thought.

"The transcended player right." Noah called out to a distracted Cyrus.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at the declaration and in reply, he threw his arms up in denial. He had been expecting them, and as expected they were here. With how things played out, chances were that they were roommates. He could tell that Noah Alaric was the son of the instructor, and has probably influenced the grouping. It was a guess, but Stewart's absence might be tied to their dorm assigning. He was probably back there pulling strings to get his son into his preferred dorm.

Noah tilted his head to the side curiously, wearing a look of confusion that would have sent Cyrus crawling away..

"So you're not the transcended player?"

"Never said I wasn't." Cyrus pointed out. His eyes narrowed towards those of the silver haired boy, and he caught a red glow in his eyes, but they had suddenly subsided almost immediately. It was clear, this boy had other abilities aside from wind and fire manipulation.

"You're from back then, right?" Cyrus inquired.

"Liam Hardwood, nice to meet you." Liam introduced with a handshake. Something was wrong with his eyes, were they malfunctioning? He could see the power level of this transcended player, and they were almost the same with those of Noah's. His ability level had increased, but aside from that he was basically a normie. His chi color was green, unlike him and Noah who had yellow chi's. Was this really the boy who beat Primal?

"Now that introductions are settled, let's better get to the forms." Noah said and turned to where the silver haired boy beside him. "Let's not get carried away."

An uncertain smile grew on Liam's face, one that only enhanced his facial appearance.

"You're right, we shouldn't waste anymore time." Noah must have seen the same thing he just saw, something was off about this mastermind, and he so desperately wanted to find out what it was.

The trio walked in silence towards the dorm. It was a huge building just meters from the palace. The knight Academy was funded by the Royal family, and enrollment was free. The only reason why there weren't many enrollments was probably because of the mortality rate recorded when the students went on monster hunting.

Reaching the dorm, the trio walked towards the office of the dorm master, where they would be assigned a room. As expected, the three of them were roommates.

Before coming to the academy, the queen had already promised that his enrollment, and everything concerning his well being in the academy has been covered. She was definitely a strange woman, and also a powerful one too. With her influence, Cyrus was almost certain things would go smoothly for him here.

All that was left was for him to get stronger, and become the strongest knight in Diontra. Only then will his main quest begin.