An hour has passed since Wesley passed the second test. The hall was almost entirely filled with only a few seats remaining. The atmosphere was jubilant inside the hall, after all these guys all passed the extremely hard tests, so the room was buzzing with introductions. But while everyone was busy socializing, a few people didn’t bother mingling.

One was a White robed youth who gave people a feeling of superiority so no one approached him; another was a tall, burly youth with a mean face who just glared at anyone who approached him; there was also a blue robed girl who was sleeping on her chair, and even though she looked really cute sleeping, no one was heartless enough to wake such a beauty; and finally, there was a black robed youth who looked like a beggar who just kept looking forward as if he was seeing a play.

After a short while, a short hunched back old man with a blue robe walked into the room. The moment Wesley saw this old man, he almost spit out his heart. This was the second elder who conducted Wesley's first test.

After walking to the front of the room, the old man cleared his throat to get everyone's attention then spoke in a loud crisp voice that almost seemed to echo:

"Congratulations on passing the entrance examination of the Four Moons Royal Academy. Now you are all officially students of the Academy."

The old man paused as if to give the students a chance to cheer and jump around in excitement. After the shouting and cheering has passed, he then continued with his speech:

"Now that you are official students of the Academy, there are a few things you should be aware of. First, this school is not subordinate to any of the four Kingdoms, so your titles and backgrounds hold no meaning here."

There were small murmurs here and there, but no one complained since this was common knowledge. The elder then continued:

"Second, Killing or otherwise permanently cribiling other students is forbidden. Failure to comply will lead to severe consequences."

This time the elder didn’t even pause for a moment showing that there was no room to argue this rule.

"Third, harming people who are not students is forbidden and will lead to expulsion"

Expulsion from the most powerful and prestigious Academy in the world is no simple matter. Everyone present simply nodded inwardly.

"Good, now are there any questions?" Don’t be shy and ask away."

The hall was quiet for a moment then someone raised their hand.

"Elder, What are our living arrangements." This was one of the students' biggest concerns, since they were mostly nobles, they wanted to make sure they would be living as comfortable as possible.

"There are two living arrangements open to the students, first are the dorms, and if that is not satisfactory, they could arrange for their own lodgings in the city."

The questions continued for around thirty minutes, most of them rather dump such as if the school will provide maids, or how the quality of the food is, and the elder answered them all without a complaint. Then as the room was running out of questions, the elder spoke once again:

"Anymore questions?"

It seemed like no one was going to raise their hand, but then suddenly the burly youth with the mean face raised his hand:

"Elder, how do we graduate?" His voice was almost like a growl as he spoke with his jaws clenched.

Although this seems like a simple question, there is a reason no one asked it, that was because these students just arrived, who in the world was already thinking about graduating. The elder just smiled sincerely and spoke:

"The graduation requirements are simple. Spend a minimum of five years at the Academy and pass the Graduation examination. Anymore questions?"

Another hand shot up, this time it was the sleeping blue robed girl:

"How many classes do we have to take." Her voice was melodious to the ear

"There are nine classes available. Each student is required to take a minimum of five classes and no more than seven classes."

"And what are those available classes?"

This time it was the white robed youth who spoke. He didn’t even wait for the elder to ask for questions, but the elder didn’t seem to mind and answered with a smile still on his face:

"The classes are studies of five elementals, that is Water magic, fire magic, earth magic, wind magic and light magic. There are also strategy and tactics class, swordsmanship class, history class, and geography class."

The students all listened carefully to the elders words, but everyone already knew what they were going to learn so no one was that surprised. No one except Wesley who was surprised that dark magic was not included in the curriculum. He was about to raise his hand to ask why it was so but he restrained himself. Fortunately, another student already raised his hand:

"Why isn't dark magic included. I heard that there are people who have affinities for it."

The elder seemed amused at the question and spoke with that amusement evident in his voice:

"It is true that there are people who have affinities for darkness, but they are very rare. In fact almost one out of million people would have a dark affinity, and even then it would most likely be an average affinity which is not enough to become a mage. However, occasionally, there are people who have a high dark affinity, but if those people are not trained from and early age, the darkness will affect their minds and they would go insane. This means that dark mages are too rare an existence to waste resources on."

Wesley was listening closely to the elder's words, but he was very surprised. He didn’t expect dark mages to be this rare, in fact, he was hoping to meet some other dark mages and compare records with them but now it seems that won't be happening anytime soon.

The elder finally spoke again:

"Now, we should get going to have you register your classes. Are there anymore question?"

Wesley who was thinking about something, raised his hand:

"How often are we required to attend the classes."

His question caused the people near him to shoot him looks of disdain, after all, they thought that he who looked like a beggar now also had the work ethic of one, but Wesley didn’t pay them any attention and just looked at the elder, albeit somewhat fearfully.

"You are expected to attend classes once a month. Anything more than that is voluntary, but keep in mind that you are expected to take the end year assessment and pass more than half of your classes."

Wesley only nodded his head and didn’t say anything back. The elder seeing that there were no more questions, smiled brightly and spoke:

"Good, it seems there are no more questions. Please proceed to the door on your left and start registering for your classes and receive your uniforms and identification tablets. And once more, Congratulation on being admitted to the Four Moons Royal Academy."

..................................................................................................................

Wesley was currently walking in the Central District of Blackreach City. He has opted to arrange for his own lodgings since he definitely didn’t want to live in that Academy. First, he wouldn’t be able refine if he was in a dorm with roommates, and second, that academy has those annoying elders, especially that old monster from the first test, and Wesley really didn’t feel comfortable being around them.

As for which classes he chose, they could only be described as a waste. He strategy and tactics, swordsmanship, history, geography and finally Light magic studies. Swordsmanship was an obvious choice since he needed to improve his Sword techniques so that he wouldn’t be forced to use dark magic, as for light magic, since there was no dark magic studies his second best option is to learn about the opposite of darkness and strengthen his weaknesses. As for the remaining three classes, they were simply chosen to fill his required number of classes.

Now all he had to do was find a proper place to live. After a short period of thinking, he concluded that he only had three options. First he could live in an Inn for five years, second he could rent a house, and third he could buy a house. Wesley was told he would only receive around five thousand gold for living expenses each year so he had to be mindful of his spending. Five thousand gold is more than enough for a small family to live off for a year, but in a metropolitan city like this, it was a rather measly amount.

The first thing Wesley needed to do was go to the housing department located in the Central District. Anyone who wanted to live in Blackreach City for an extended period of time had to visit the housing department to search for a place to live as well as register.

After reaching the housing department, Wesley was glad there wasn’t a long line, he was rather tired of lines for the day. Wesley simply walked in and was greeted by a small reception desk with a pretty dark haired lady sitting behind it. Seeing Wesley walk in,the lady smiled and spoke to him before he even reached the desk:

"Are you here with your parents."

Wesley only smiled and didn’t answer. He wasn’t angry that she assumed he was here with a parent since he was just ten, and he didn’t want to shout across the room so he kept walking towards the desk. The moment he was within two feet of the desk, Wesley spoke:

"I am here to search for housing options. Mind helping me please."

Wesley showed her the identification tablet from the Academy, and smiled at her sincerely, she was rather pretty after all. Looking at the tablet in his hand, the receptionist lady was shocked, she recognized that the academy was attended by nobles meaning Wesley was also a noble. She immediately straightened herself and smiled at Wesley while speaking in a respectful manner:

"Yes sir. Please go on ino that the room on your right. Inside you shall meet a representative that will show all available options."

"Thank you"

Wesley walked towards the door, and walking in, he noticed that it was a small office with a small desk in it. Behind the desk sat an elderly man who seemed to be sleeping. Seeing the sleeping old man, Wesley coughed to douse him and then sat across from him. The old man instantly awoke, and seeing Wesley had a clear frown on his face. He immediately spoke in an annoyed voice:

"How can I be of service?"

Wesley noticed that the old man was annoyed but he understood since he just woke him up so he didn't mind, he then spoke while showing his identification tablet to him.

"Please show me all available listing for houses that are for renting and buying in the city."

Seeing the tablet the old man was startled and regretted his tone earlier, but he still kept his professionalism and pulled out two long sheets of paper and handed them to Wesley. Looking at the renting sheet first, Wesley was startled. The cheapest house for renting was five hundred gold a month. He could never afford. So he put the renting listings down and looked at the buying one. This one was even more so startling the most expensive house cost two hundred thousand gold.

But one thing caught Wesley's attention. At the bottom of the houses for sale listings, there was a house that was priced at three thousand gold. This was the cheapest house by far since the next cheapest house was fifteen thousand gold. Wesley immediately turned to the old man and asked while pointing at the listing for the house:

"Tell me about this house."

The man seeing what Wesley was pointing at nodded then rummaged through some paperwork and pulled out a file. Looking at the file in his hand, the man's face changed slightly and then he spoke with a shaky voice:

"Uhm....This house's old owner died recently without kin so the city took ownership. Only sir........This house is located in the seventh district, I don’t think it is suitable for you."

Wesley has heard about the seventh district from the bartender at the Inn he first stayed in. It was the outer most residential district and was occupied by the poorest people in Blackreach City. It was also the most lawless since the people who live there are not even considered by the ruler's of the city so no effort was expended to keep the law.

Hearing this, Wesley was pleasantly surprised, am affordable house in a place far enough from the stench of nobles. Wesley spoke without a hint of hesitation:

"I'll take it. What do I need to do now."

The old man was startled, he wasn’t expecting this young child from the noble academy to pick such a shabby place. But he still had a job to do so he simply nodded and spoke:

"I see. Well you first need to pay the price, then I'll transfer the deed of the house to you."

Wesley immediately paid the price for the house, received the deed as well as direction to the house. Since the house was in the Seventh District he was accompanied by a guard.

After almost half an hour later, Wesley reached the seventh district. Wesley, however, was extremely disheartened at the scene in front of him. This was exactly the same as all those towns before he came here. Sad looking people sitting all over the roads with empty looks on their faces. Even in the most prosperous city in the world, to see such poverty and pain was extremely depressing.

Only, unlike those towns before, the majority of these people were men, so Wesley was not as depressed as before, but he still felt the anger in his heart burn even more. What is the point of all this wealth that Blackreach City boasts of if there are still people like these right next to them.

Wesley really hated the unfairness that is so ingrained into the fabric of this world. What is the point of Kingdoms, communities and governments if there are so many people living as if they were animals. Who gives the nobility the right to govern, where does this right come from, who decides that one person should be a noble while the other a beggar.

Wesley was engrossed in his thoughts, which seemed to be happening far too often lately. It seems that as a noble, he was shielded from the realities of the world, and just like him from a month ago, all the nobles must live in a false world full of happiness. But that is a false world, and the true world is this which he sees with his own eyes. The true world is filled with pain, suffery and perpetual agony and every aspect of it reinforces and increases these realities.

Wesley came upon a thought. If one was to end this cycle of pain and agony, the there is only one way. Break the systems of this world and forge a new world.

.............................................................................................................................................

Wesley while engrossed in his ponderings about the reality of this world, he was suddenly taped on the shoulder by the guard who was escorting him.

"This the house Sir."

Wesley jerked at the guards words and was awakened from his daze. He then looked up to see that they were standing in front of giant two story house with a seven feet tall wall. Wesley was extremely surprised, seeing the price of the listings and where it was located, he really expected a shack, but in front of him stood a house that was not one bit inferior to the houses of nobles.

Wesley immediately walked towards the gate, and pushed it in. He was really interested in this house. The moment Wesley walked in, he saw five children sleeping on the grass of the courtyard. They were young children, around five or six years old, and each of them wore rags and looked malnourished and on the verge of dying.

The guard who was with Wesley seeing these kids, reached for his sword and was about to chase them off the property, but Wesley frowned and then raised his hand to stop him. The guard stopped and looked at Wesley questioningly, then Wesley spoke:

"I've got it from here. Leave."

The guard was startled, then he simply bowed his head and left while staring at those sleeping kids with a scorn.

Wesley walked behind the guard then he shut the gate. As soon as he was finished closing the gate, Wesley turned around towards the sleeping children, and then from the top of his lungs, he shouted:

"Wake Up"