With the rise and fall of kingdoms, and the chaotic nature of the seasons, the only thing that one could count on for sure was the unending flow of time.

The crops came and went, people died and were born, children grew older and eventually left the nest.

*****

In a classroom, in the one school of the small town of Rus, there was a teacher who stood before her handful of teenaged students.

“Okay, class. Who here can tell me the twelve stages of being?” said the teacher.

She waited to see some hands raised, and seeing only one or two, decided that this time she’d pick on one of the students who usually tried to hide behind the others.

“Okay, you, Miss Talia. Why don’t you tell the class what the twelve stages of being are.” said teacher.

A nervous looking girl with purple skin and blue pig tails stood at her desk, her gaze fixed somewhere above the teacher’s head.

“Um, um…. So the twelve stages of being are...Ordinary, Common, Special, Elite, Chosen, Heroic, Appointed, Enlightened, Nascent, Legendary, Undying and Celestial.”

“Correct, Miss Talia. These stages are the forms and classifications under which all existence can be roughly understood to fall and these are also the ranks to which one may cultivate one’s essence. Now can anyone tell me, why it’s important for even those of us who don’t cultivate, to know these stages?” said the teacher.

She let the girl sit down and looked for another victim, deciding to choose another of the non-participating members of her class.

“Ah, how about you Mr.vis-Oddmund. Can you tell us why even ordinary people would need to know about the stages of being?”

“Mr.vis-Oddmund? Would you kindly wake up, Mr.vis-Oddmund.” said the teacher. Her expression still kindly like that of a model teacher, despite the viciousness with which she threw the piece of chalk she was holding.

Edwin awoke as the chalk disintegrated just a few millimeters away from his forehead. He yawned as he stood up.

Rubbing his eyes as His passive [scanning] ability began playing back everything that it had recorded classroom while he’d been resting.

“....The average person’s need to be aware of the twelve stages of being, lies in the appraisal of goods and trade. For instance an ordinary sausage roll is just a sausage roll, but a celestial sausage roll however would count as a legendary medicine. An ordinary shield is just a shield, but a celestial ranked shield might help save its owner from divine tribulation. While this might seem a bit exaggerated, the point is that even without the ability to cultivate those who can do trade in higher ranked goods, will have higher standing in their chosen trade. Makers and sellers of higher ranked goods are treated like living treasures.”

“Correct, Mr.vis-Oddmund. Do try to stay awake from now on, please.” said the teacher. Looking slightly stifled. The answer was flawless but considering who’d she’d asked it almost went without saying.

Seemingly disregarding her words, the boy had already fallen asleep again, but it’d had been point to get sidetracked over it.

Edwin vis-Oddmund was either very easy to handle or very troublesome. In theory he was a model student, in practice his conduct could be quietly infuriating.

The teacher, one Ms.Vanessa vis-Oddmund, who’d taken her babysitting to the next level by becoming an educator once she was old enough to chose a trade, couldn’t help sighing over it.

She could try waking the boy again, but he’d just argue that he was paying perfect attention to everything going on in the class.

If she tried to argue against his argument, he’d just give an eerily accurate recounting of everything that had happened in the last twenty-five minutes or so. Including any embarrassing gossip or bodily function that might have been passed by the people around him.

She could argue that the classroom wasn’t a democracy or simply just send the boy out into the hall, but...that didn’t really seem to change his behavior for future classes. And their parents didn’t seem to be of any help when she tried reporting the boy to them.

In the end she’d learned to just let things slide when it came to her little brother Edwin. He’d been a weirdo from since the day he was born and seventeen years later, he was still as strange as he’d always been.

Repeated exposure to the young man making her find him less unnerving, though her annoyance with his more disagreeable peculiarities had yet to fade completely.