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Part Seven

In the academy, there were a wide variety of clubs a student could join. You did not have to join a club, but it was highly recommended to join one. There you could meet people from different years and learn something from them.

Clubs were also a way to grow your skills, as most clubs were combat oriented. Since it was the start of a new year and there were many freshmen ripe for the picking, many clubs started recruiting new students.

The school allowed them five days to advertise and show off their club activities. Letting the new students visit as many clubs as they could before finally deciding to join one.

But during this time there would always be some troublemakers that wanted to show off in front of the new students.

Power is what ruled most of the time, and as long as you had it, you were allowed the right away. That rule meant nothing in this academy. The academy had a set of rules that every student must follow. One of the most serious rules was that students must not fight outside of the school arena or outside of club activities if the club allowed it. If this rule was broken, you were subjected to punishment. The people who controlled such punishment was the student disciplinary committee.

At first, the student council did it, but they didn’t have enough time to handle such cases as they were busy with other things. So they decided to implement a group to handle such cases.

“With that sword by your side, i’m guessing you plan on joining the swordsman club?”

“Not necessarily. Although I have this sword that does not mean I'm interested in swordsmanship at all.”

“Then why wear it?”

“It reminds me of my goal.”

“I see, as I said before the best way for me to learn is through experience. So I'm probably going to join one of the combat clubs.”

“There are so many of those; I hope you have something in mind. Not all support users can do close combat, so I hope you are admitted into one.”

“How’d you know I do close combat?”

“The calluses on your hand, although most people wouldn’t notice them I did. Also, the flow of essence inside of you is slightly violent. Everyone has a different type of flow inside them, some calm like the ocean, others unstable, and a couple like a raging storm. I’m able to see it all, over time I was able to match the type of flow with combat.”

“Wow, given what you said you’d be a valuable asset to any team. If you can identify your target with it as well, it would match well with covert operations. If you train for distance and you can distinguish between friend and foe, you’d make a great sniper. Or even a scout! What’s the upper rank for your EXO?”

“Somewhere between B or A. My mom has the same EXO, and hers is A-.”

“Oh, it’s a genetic EXO. From my knowledge only very dominant EXO’s can carry over from the parents into their children. That is why there are some cases of incest. Because their family only wants that ability in their clan.”

That was indeed the case when an EXO was superior and had the dominant trait. Cousins married each other, and sometimes even brother and sisters married. If it meant that the clan could grow stronger, they would do it.

As the two of them walked over campus, they saw many students shouting out for the newer students to visit their club. Nick and Freya ignored most of them because they were not combat related. The combat clubs had their own small section on the campus compared to the other noncombat oriented clubs which were scattered all over.

When Freya asked him if he was interested in the swordsman club, he did have a slight interest, but it wasn’t much. He mostly kept this sword to remind him of his goal to help his mother recover, but if he found that he enjoyed the swordsman club, he would join them.

The combat club section was packed with students. There was a constant flow of people going in and out of club buildings.

Freya tugged on Nick's sleeve.

“Look, see those two. If I'm not mistaken, they should be apart of the disciplinary committee.”

Nick took notice of the two who she was talking about. One was a tall well built young man with two side arms hanging from his waist. He had smooth black hair and black eyes.The other was a young woman with a sword dangling from her side. Her long wavy black hair flowed in the wind as it brushed past. She had beautiful legs, but Nick found her amber colored eyes to be much more appealing. On their collar was a red badge and an orange colored badge.

Other than badges being able to identify the year you were in, there were a few exclusive clubs that had their own badges. One of these was the disciplinary committee which had a red badge.

“It seems that they are looking for something.”

Nick commented as he watched those two look through the crowd of students as they walked.

“Hehe, we might get to see a show. Let’s stick around, something good is bound to happen.”

They watched them, but nothing seemed to happen as they only looked over the crowd but didn’t act. Those two were also coming closer to Nick and Freya.

The well built young man seemed to notice their gaze as he glared in their direction. He made eye contact with Nick and his walking pace increased.

“Strange, they seem to be making there way over here. Do you know them, Nick?”

“No. Never saw them a day in my life.”

Nick replied to her as he shook his head.

He didn’t know why they were coming this way when him and Freya did nothing. He also didn’t know these two, could it be that one of them knew him?

The two disciplinary committee members stopped in front of Nick and Freya. The male glared coldly at Nick. He seemed to have a grudge against him, but Nick didn't understand what he did.

“You’re that kid who talked to Iliana earlier; it is best you watch yourself.”

He told Nick in a cruel tone. He saw what happened earlier and frankly he was jealous. The Queen talking to a first-year student? Even exchanging handshakes? He couldn’t believe such a thing!

Freya looked at Nick with her mouth wide.

“Nick! You talked to the queen? And you didn’t tell me!?”