Andrew walked across Blackvale Academy’s campus, his view occupied by two AR windows that his glasses were transmitting into his optical nerves. One window held a map of the school campus including his current position on the campus. The other window held his schedule.

“Alright, so I’m supposed to be heading to Wolfram hall for my Introduction to Mechanized Combat class. Now...Where the fuck is Wolfram Hall?” said Andrew. Furrowing his brow as he scrutinized the window with the map.

“Oi, new kid!” said a course voice.

Andrew didn’t let the voice interrupt his thoughts because honestly speaking there were probably hundreds if not thousands of youths entering the school at this point in time. This was the half year mark after all. Just a few days into beginning of the Spring Semester.

“Oi, I’m fucking talking to you!” said the voice. Sounding much closer.

Andrew still ignored it. Much more interested in trying to figure out why Wolfram hall had to be on the opposite end of the Academy’s ten mile long campus.

“Are fucking ignoring me, you little twat?!” said the voice. This time accompanied by a blow to the ears that knocked Andrew’s glasses off.

Andrew spun around managing to catch his glasses before they hit the ground. As he spun in place, he found himself facing two tall, broad shouldered, thick-browed, students who looked like they’d just walked off a movie addition for bit roles as thug one and thug two.

“Uh...What the hell? Do I know you?” said Andrew. Struggling to keep a tight lid on the surge of bloodlust that nearly escaped during that first blow.

“Nope, but our boss knows you.” said Thug One. Sneering.

“And do I know your boss?” said Andrew. Frowning. Wondering why no one seemed to be concerned about the fact he was being accosted in broad daylight.

“Maybe, maybe not. In any case, we’re supposed to have a little bit of a chat with you.” said Thug One.

“About…?”

“About how you’ve been getting buddy-buddy with Miss Luce. Our school’s white rose ain’t for the likes of you to be meddling with…”

Andrew felt his stomach churn. He felt himself growing warm behind the ears as he understood what the two thugs were getting at.

“And… you’ve been sent to put me in my place.” said Andrew. His voice flat and glum. His orange eyes growing dim.

“Ah, well I guess you aren’t that stupid after all.” said Thug One.

“So, grit your teeth, friend. It’ll only hurt for a bit.” said Thug Two. Finally speaking. His voice surprising light and borderline musical.

Thug Two swung a fist that was almost as big as Andrew’s head. Andrew considered letting it land because it wasn’t like the blow would actually hurt him and he “was” trying to keep his head.

While he was busy thinking about these things, Andrew heard a scream of pain followed by a roar of outrage.

He emerged from his thoughts and realized that while he’d been musing at the possibility of letting the thugs think they’d gotten one over on him, his body had reacted. Grabbing the larger man’s arm and using a single smooth movement to pop the man’s wrist, elbow, and shoulder out of joint.

At first Andrew was shocked and faintly mortified and then he wasn’t. The original Andrew was a peaceful child. He kept to himself and when others came to make trouble for him he’d simply accepted it because even if he could beat them once he couldn’t beat them forever. Especially when “they” were the members of his family and had the rest of the Quirks on their side.

Andrew side-stepped Thug One’s charge and drove his fist into the youth’s face, holding back so that all he broke was the other boy’s nose and jaw, instead of shattering the young man’s entire skull.

Looking at the result, Andrew realized that current self was apparently not as forgiving or patient as he’d formerly been.

It seemed like from now on, his response to small slights and large slights was appropriate retaliation. Andrew realized that after everything he’d gone through in the nightmare-realm of Abwickeln, he just simply couldn’t see himself putting up with people’s nonsense like he used to. He was done being people’s punching bag. He was done being looked down on.

He didn’t want to go out and try to dominate the world. He wasn’t planning to turn into some chest beating brute and he still didn’t want to make any big splashes but Andrew now realized if the waves were going to come on their own his response wouldn’t be as peaceful or as easy going as he’d expected.

Andrew walked away from the huddled bodies of the youths he’d just demolished. He was a little worried that he might get called in by school staff or the police for what he’d done but those fears went away as he realized that very few people were looking in his direction and their thoughts were mostly curious or appreciative, with just a few hints of worry or wariness mixed in.

Which was the point where Andrew remembered exactly what kind of world he was from. He realized that he might have been remembering his home with rosy-tinted glasses. Yes, the Blackrose Galaxy wasn’t as deranged or violent as Abwickeln had been, but it was far from peaceful.

The entire galaxy was at war. The Novem Empire and its rivals, the Stygian Collective and the Empire of Eternal Darklight, spent every hour, of every day, fighting each other. Planets were won and lost every day, with many of those contested worlds simply being destroyed by all the fighting.

If that wasn’t enough, the Novem Empire was also at war with itself. As if its enemies weren’t tearing large enough chunks out of the territory there were numerous factions leads by the smaller nations that had eventually allowed themselves to be absorbed into the empire for the sake of their survival.

This atmosphere of constant warfare lead to an extreme emphasis being placed on strength and power. Discipline was high in certain areas but much less so in others. While murder was still technically illegal, things like fighting in the street and personal duels were still allowed. If things went too far, the punishments could be surprisingly lenient, dependant on the who, when, where, why, and how.

People were often expected to “sort” things out amongst themselves because that kind of brutality was viewed as promoting the growth of a strong and competent fighting force while suppressing “weak” tendencies such as the aversion to causing harm.

Society was very hierarchical based on the empire’s focus on winning the many wars it was involved in. The upper-crust of society were those whose families held the most influence on the war effort. The elite clans were made up of ace pilots, mechanized knights, supersoldiers, military scientists, and the merchants who supplied those people with the equipment and materials they needed.

Andrew could remember being beaten and having people threaten to do the most awful things to him in public and having no one around blink an eye. He could also remember witnessing the same thing happen to others.

He could remember turning on the news and watching some bubbly reporter tell a story about the “mysterious” disappearance of some prominent person, or the “inexplicable” explosion of some family’s compound.

He remembered hearing those stories and instantly knowing that those were just thin covers used to explain away the deaths of people who'd either lost, or gotten caught up in, one of the Novem empire’s countless conflicts.

Laws were still a thing, but they were a thing for regular unaffiliated civilians to worry about and rely upon. For the rest of the empire the only thing that could be relied upon was strength. Strength of arms, strength of influence, and economic strength. That was the exact kind of place that the Empire was.

Andrew wiped his glasses with a handkerchief. Then he put them back on his face. He looked around and realized he probably should have understood his world’s nature sooner. After all, he was standing in an Academy. That should have been a big enough of a reminder that his idyllic thinking was flawed.

The constant wars and endless conflicts had led to an increase in the requirement of trained soldiers and military personnel. A need that couldn’t be simply remedied by a draft or a required term of military service.

The powers-that-be decided to go big, by tilting the entire structure of Novem society towards the war effort. They promoted the development of the sciences and automation. With a big emphasis being placed on the development of AIs and the use of summoned spirits.

Since machines and magic could be used to make up for a lack of civilian manpower in the non-military industries, and in some areas said machines and magics, actually made civilian labor obsolete, most people ended up being pulled or drawn into the war effort.

This resulted in an abandonment of traditional school systems. While there were still a few daycares, kindergartens, and elementary schools around, the middle school, high schools, and colleges had all been done away with.

The educational facilities that were most prominent were the “Academies”. An entire industry made up of public and private training-and-indoctrination focused institutes that were generally considered as being part of a given world’s army and navy.

In essence, from as young as twelve years old onwards, most citizens of Novem were trained to serve as part of the war-effort.

Unless one was expelled, enrollment in the academy lasted until one found employment, or one formerly enlisted into the army. In some planets, it was actually illegal to try and just drop out of school, and considered a crime akin to desertion because academy students were considered military personnel. However transferring to another academy was generally still accepted and choice of academy was considered a fundamental right for all citizens of the empire. A right, associated with the right to education, and the right to serve one’s nation.

This meant Andrew could end up having to deal with this highschool nonsense even when he was in his forties

Andrew groaned as he realized that his plans for simply living his life had just gotten a lot more complicated. This wasn’t a world where he could just keep his head down and hope everything would be fine. That might have worked in a more peaceful universe, but here being too humble could be seen as broadcasting weakness.

“....Ugh, so I’m really gonna have to go down ‘that’ route, huh?”

Andrew sighed and then adjusted a few of his plans. As he walked his body trembled seeming to grow in height and breadth as he allowed a little more of his actual mass to express itself physically. He allowed a little more of his aura to leak out.

Andrew didn’t want to overdo it, he still wanted to avoid drawing too much attention if he could, so he tried not to make the change too dramatic. He’d keep making gradual changes as time passed so he could pass it off as the results of puberty and training.

Even at the end of the months long process, he wouldn’t be too overt in the changes he made. He wasn’t trying to look like a monster. Andrew was just trying to avoid looking like someone who could be easily tread upon.