Teacher Yama held out a massive hand to congratulate Kira for passing the entrance exam. She ignored the hand, instead opting to bow low towards him, an action which made him feel slightly awkward. He wasn't one for formalities and was well-liked by the students due to his easy-going nature. A bow wasn't something that’d come to expect from new students, especially due to how arrogant they were in general. When Kira lifted her head he spoke once more.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Pass me your numbered tile quickly."

Kira obliged. With the number ninety-nine tile held between his thumb and forefinger, Teacher Yama focused and a golden light spread out around the tile, causing the number on it to change from black to gold before passing it back to Kira.

“I see you have a Storage Crystal. Send some of your Soul Energy through the tile as you would for the crystal.”

Kira obliged, and the tile briefly glowed blue before returning to normal. Kira stared at it in wonder. Teacher Yama nodded.

"Good. This tile is now forever bonded to you. Keep it with you at all times. It's proof that you've passed our entrance exam. With it, you can enter and leave the academy grounds as you wish and it plays a major role in how we do things here. You’ll learn all about it soon enough."

Kira received the tile gratefully.

'I made it! This is the first step on the road to achieving my goal. What better place to get stronger than here.'

Kira thought while Teacher Yama pondered for a moment. He then asked,

"If you don't mind me asking, what are your cultivation levels?"

"Senior, my Soul Energy is currently at the 5th stage of Core Rank and my Life Energy is about halfway through Muscle Tempering."

Kira replied honestly as she'd developed a good impression of this rather fat teacher.

It could be seen from her reply that her cultivation had slowed dramatically since reaching the last milestones. This wasn't necessarily her fault. Each successive rank would naturally be more difficult to attain as each rank represented a qualitative leap in strength. If she continued at her current pace, it would truly be difficult for her to become a powerhouse in any short space of time. She knew that her innate cultivation speed wasn't very high which meant she had to put in at least twice the effort.

"Haha. For someone without the backing of a large clan, that is pretty good for a twelve year-old. If your goal is to reach the peak while astounding people, you're going to need some more assistance though."

"What senior means is…"

Teacher Yama's eyes gleamed as he said a single word.

"Alchemy."

Kira's brows creased imperceptibly. While it was true that alchemists weren't nearly as rare as in centuries past, the number of truly skilled alchemists, the ones who could prepare the kind of pills and elixirs that aid in cultivation, were very scarce. She was also aware that, even if she could find a suitable alchemist, the ingredients for preparing these high-ranked medicines were also equally rare.

"I see that you doubt me. You'll see later, little girl, things you’d never dreamed of seeing, haha. Now off you go. I still have others to test."

He gestured towards the opposite end of the arena where an identical tunnel to the one she’d walked through earlier was situated. She bowed once more towards the fat elder before leaving. As she walked, a random thought drifted through her head.

'Teacher Yama wasn't the one who restrained me at the gate. I wonder who it was.'

When she reached the waiting room at the end of the other tunnel, she encountered a number of older students in red or blue uniforms standing around talking happily with one other. When they noticed her, one of them stepped forward and, after checking her now-golden entry tile, passed her a a set of neatly-folded, green clothes and escorted her out of the arena. After receiving a tour of the Initiate Academy, Kira parted with him at the entrance to the tall central buildings, which he’d explained was the student dormitories.

Compared to the rest of the buildings she’s seen so far, the dormitories followed more modern, Western architecture but, even by Western standards, the shapes of the buildings were rather strange. From above, the two dorm buildings, one for the girls and one for the boys, together looked like a ring that had been cut in half through the middle, the cut forming the entrances to a lush garden which resided in the center of the ring.

The dormitory garden itself was dominated by a large sculpted fountain depicting a muscular man and a slender woman locked in combat. The man had a very heroic figure while the woman was very beautiful. From various orifices in the sculpture, water spurted out into the fountain's basin below. The water was clear and sparkled in the late morning sun.

Each building had a total of nine floors, one for each year in the Academy, with the first-year students taking up the bottom floor and going up in ascending order. Following her senior guide’s instructions, Kira chose a room and pushed her numbered tile against the blank nameplate. The nameplate lit up with a soft glow as the characters of her name faded into existence across the right half of the nameplate. This was mainly for security as only the owners of the entry tiles could decide who was allowed into their rooms.

Outside the dormitory ring were two large rectangular pavilions which her senior had mentioned were the student bathhouses.

Kira opened the door to her room and stepped inside. It was fairly simple, with two single beds in the corners of the room, a single bedside table between the beds which had an oil lamp resting on it, two small wardrobes at the feet of the beds and a matching pair of desks with chairs for studying.

Kira waved her hand over one of the beds. From the obsidian ring on her left middle finger a black glow shone and sets of clothing materialised, neatly folded, on top of the bed. She carefully took the clothing and packed it away in the adjacent wardrobe. The academy wasn't too strict on the attire the students wore in their free time, within reason, of course.

Having finished this, she promptly sat down, cross-legged, on her bed and began to meditate, stimulating her Soul Energy to circulate through the path of the Heavenly Flame Lily route, replenishing the energy she'd used during her exam while reflecting on the test itself.

CRASH!

Her contemplative state was broken by a violent breaking sound, causing her to immediately open her eyes. The wardrobe on the other side of the room had been smashed to pieces. As it was already late afternoon, the setting sun obscured Kira's vision and only the silhouette of the one responsible was visible. Immediately on alert, Kira brought out her dragon-motif katana from her Storage Crystal while asking,

"Why did you do that?"

"None of your business."

A young voice replied sharply in a cold tone. The girl in the doorway entered and proceeded to take a relatively intact board from the broken wardrobe and prop it up on the bed against the wall before leaning back against it, arms folded. Her breathing slowed although her eyes were still open. After a few seconds, Kira decided that this wild girl wasn’t a danger to her and withdrew her katana into her crystal.

Now that the girl was illuminated by the sun, Kira could clearly see her tanned skin and was shocked at her attire...or rather, the lack of it. The girl wore scraps of leather that were sewn together and just barely managed to keep her chest and private areas covered. In string loops at her waist, there were a pair of mismatched weapons. One Kira recognised as a shortsword while the other looked like a pair of wooden batons joined at right angles.

Still, there was enough time to ask her about the weapons later. It was possible that the dark-skinned girl was simply stressed from the entrance exam and was in a bad mood. Kira didn't press the issue and instead went back into meditation, slowly building up her Soul Energy cultivation.

The next morning.

The light of the warm sun roused Kira from her meditative state. Opening her eyes, she realised that no one had bothered to close their room door the previous night. Reminding herself to be less careless, she stretched her stiff limbs and checked that her number ninety-nine tile was safely in her obsidian Storage Crystal before leaving the dorm. Looking back, she saw the tanned girl sleeping peacefully. Today was the opening ceremony and the first day of classes but there was still some time before then and Kira didn't want to disturb her.

Having changed into her green uniform and stowing away her katana in her Storage Crystal, Kira stepped outside. The morning air was fresh with a slight chill that helped her become fully alert as she splashed her face at the fountain. Surprisingly, she wasn't the only one up this early as she heard a number of voices coming from just beyond the dormitories. Leaving the dormitory ring, she made out a group of people, mostly in green uniforms, standing in a loose circle around someone who appeared to be rather tall.

Amongst the fortunate few who earned the privilege of attending the Academy, one particular first-year in his fresh green uniform was in the outer courtyard doing what he did best: capturing the hearts of people with his acrobatics.

“Hey, hey, not too close. You don’t wanna get singed by my burning hot performance. They call me Tomoe Senji! Let’s turn up the heat!”

The boy proclaimed loudly as he spun his somewhat-intricately designed, shining, metal chakrams, about his fingers, casually juggling the pair with his eyes closed. Chakrams were a weapon from the north-east and were disks with bladed edges and cross-shaped frames. The boy’s short, spiky red hair and thin frame already made him stand out from the crowd, not to mention the circular platform about a metre in diameter and thirty centimetres high that he stood on, which came from who-knows-where.

The gathered audience of other new students gasped as he appeared to fumble a catch and waited with baited breath for the impending injury. He twisted his body at an impossible angle at the last second, catching the chakram just before it cut off his “third leg”. Tossing his chakrams into the air, he jumped, tilting his body horizontally and spinning his body 360 degrees before landing on his feet as, with one last flourish, he caught the airbourne chakrams by threading his middle fingers through the circular holes in their centres. He took several bows to the cheering audience while the chakrams continued spinning on his fingers.

‘Another perfect performance. Only…’

Senji had practiced this particular routine so many times that he could do it in his sleep. When performing, his attention was no longer on what he was doing as he trusted his body to move as it was supposed to. Rather, his focus was on his audience, reading their mood and improvising as needed. One thing that never changed, however, was their complete focus on him once he started his routine, until now…

“Hey! Girlie, what’s up? Didn’t you like it?”

Today his attention wasn’t just on his immediate audience but on the other students heading towards the Initiate Academy. Each and every one had at least given him a first glance, except this girl. This was the first time something quite like this had happened. When he was still practicing and messed up the tosses and catches, people would sometimes lose interest and walk away, but he had at least held their attention for a short time. To this girl, it was as if he hadn’t even existed.

‘Why didn’t you at least acknowledge me, dammit?’

A sudden burst of anger overtook him and he threw his one chakram at her, to the shocked faces of the people who had been watching his performance. At that moment, he immediately regretted his decision but there wasn't much he could do at that point. After all, he hadn't prepared any controlling Skills to use on it.

“Look out!”

Without even turning her back, the girl leapt upwards and, with one smooth motion, summoned a sheathed katana with a twin dragon-motif. She drew the sword, threading its tip through the center of the chakram and into the ground as easily as Senji had done with his fingers earlier. The chakram remained spinning as it slid down the length of the katana with a metallic screech that caused everyone nearby to cover their ears, everyone except the girl and Senji.

The girl finally turned around, revealing a face that Senji had to admit was rather pretty, but whose green eyes held a certain steel that caused him, who was usually full of confidence, to hesitate for a second.

“Ehm, sorry sister. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It's no problem. I didn't have time for exercise this morning and your attack was really refreshing.”

Kira said earnestly, making an effort to be friendly. She wasn't sure how she offended this showy guy enough to make him attack her but she answered him honestly. Senji, on the other hand, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Sure, he wasn't seriously attacking but he wasn't sure if she was thanking him or mocking him.

With a casual smile and a flick of her sword, Kira sent the chakram back toward Senji, who caught it deftly, before sheathing her katana, giving him a short bow, turning back towards the Initiate Academy buildings, and walking away. She didn't want to be late for the opening ceremony.

“Hey! I didn’t get your name! I’m Tomoe Senji, and you are?”

She turned back around and cupped her fist.

“First year, Suzuki Kira. Pleased to meet you.”

The students were soon all gathered together in one of the larger buildings in the Initiate Academy complex; a hall which had a high roof and could easily accommodate a thousand people. However, there were, at most, only one hundred students here. This alone showed the strictness of this famous academy's entrance requirements.

The noise gradually quietened down as a group of adults took to the metre-high stage in front. In front of these youths whose talent could be said to be the best in the Moonsilver Empire, naturally only people whose strength surpassed theirs could make them become silent so quickly.

Within the row of adults, Kira recognised Teacher Yama, with his massive, round body, jovial expression and silver mane, and Teacher Hanami, Tetsuya's bright and cheerful friend, with her shock of pink hair going in at least ten different directions. The central figure was an old man but the only signs of his age were the creases on his face and his silver hair. His face was very expressive and was covered with a broad smile as he gazed at the new students, his body radiating an unmatched vigour that could only be associated with a high rank of Life Energy cultivation. No, those words weren’t enough to describe him. It was as if the will to move and never stop was literally forcing its way out of him.

'This strength is definitely at least an entire rank higher than Kazumi's!'

Kira thought, shocked, remembering the woman who was like a human meteor. The old man's smile was infectious and Kira noticed many of the youths around her unconsciously grinning stupidly.

"Greetings and welcome all! I am the Dean of the Bladeworks Initiate Academy, Dean Kaminaga. The fact that you're standing here means that you are truly the most talented of the talented young ones in our empire at this point in time. For this you should feel proud of yourselves."

Quite a number of people nodded in response, simultaneously smirking. This elder was saying things that they already knew. Kira, however, was watching the other teachers on the stage. Aside from Teachers Yama and Hanami, who stood to the Dean's right, there were two others beside the Dean who she didn’t recognise.

To the Dean’s immediate left stood a pretty, middle-aged woman with blond hair tied into a neat bun but whose eyes held a cold expression. The rest of her face was covered by the gold and red folding fan she held open in her hand. She wore a pure-white dress with gold trim that had slits down the sides for easy movement. Her piercing gaze swept across the faces of each of the students, appraising them one by one.

To her left was a similarly-aged man with a bored expression who seemed like he didn't really want to be there. He had short, green hair and was dressed in a simple shirt and suit pants, although his shirt seemed to be escaping from his pants, giving him a sloppy look. His loosened tie didn't help fix this image.

After waiting for the students to heartily congratulate themselves, Dean Kaminaga kept his smiling face as he continued.

"However, having pride and being arrogant are two very different things. Where you came from, you may have been the pride of your town or city but, here, everyone is like you. Here, you aren't 'special'. Until proven otherwise, you are simply ordinary. This Academy doesn't operate like normal ones. Here, we are more concerned with nurturing those with real talent and the will to realise that talent, rather than spending time and effort on those who won't amount to anything special. To that end, we have developed our Tile System..."

Everyone was waiting eagerly the rest of his words but he didn't continue. Instead Dean Kaminaga turned to his left to look at the stern, middle-aged woman.

"Teacher Kurokawa, is something amiss?"

A dense killing intent erupted forth from the stage causing these new students to feel as if marked with an omen of death, preventing them from breathing. In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged woman disappeared from the stage. When everyone had the bravery to look around, they found that she was in the middle of the mass of students, lightly gripping the shoulder of one particular boy. Despite speaking softly, her voice could be heard in every corner of the room, spoken with an almost tangible iciness.

"So, you think that your conversation is more important than the words of our esteemed Dean? This academy doesn't need trash like you."

The boy in question didn't dare utter a word, only just about trying to shake his head while lowering his gaze in shame. With a flick of her wrist, a flash of silver flew through the air, and Teacher Kurokawa disappeared again, returning once more to the stage. At that point, Kaminaga continued on as if nothing had happened.

"The essence of our Tile System is thus: the tiles you were given upon passing the entrance exam are the marks of you belonging to the Bladeworks Academy and you will use them all throughout your school career. Conversely, no longer having a tile means that you are no longer a student of our Academy and will have to leave the grounds immediately. If you do not leave, you will be forcefully removed."

With these words, Teacher Kurokawa raised her hand and, between her two fingers was a numbered tile, its silver number reflecting the light. The dumbfounded boy clearly understood what this meant and slowly turned and walked out, the regret clear on his face. The rest of the students were stunned.

"The rest of you need not worry. It is forbidden for students to directly take the tiles of others. Those that do will face immediate disciplinary action. Your teachers and I, however, do hold this power and will confiscate your tile if we deem your conduct unsatisfactory or for any other major reason. I know this has been said to you before, but the dormitories and bathhouses of the opposite gender are forbidden to you."

He smiled even wider, clearly thinking about his days as an impetuous youth, a smile that most of the new students found very strange. After all, none of them were even fifteen yet and didn't have these types of thoughts.

"But this still isn't the full extent of the system. What was mentioned just now are only the extreme cases. As you may have noticed, those tiles are very special in and of themselves. Their primary function is to store your 'prestige points'. These can be earned directly as rewards for completing academy-assigned missions or student-placed requests, won through staked duels, or by trading for products made by you yourselves. These points can be traded in at the Exchange Centre for conventional currency, the Profession Hall for materials or goods, or the student-run Mercantile Hall for non-profession-related items. Simply put, it is the currency we use here as there are many things available here that cannot be bought with money, if you can afford them."

At this, many of the students became excited. Although they couldn't yet fully comprehend exactly what these items may be, the thought of them was enough to make them forget the icy-cold killing intent from earlier.

"One last thing before I organise you into your classes and I urge all of you to be aware of this fact. If at any point your prestige points become zero, the number on your tile will turn black. At that point, you will be forced to leave the Academy. Understood?"

At this moment, Dean Kaminaga paused, an unsightly expression replacing the joyous one on his face.

"Although this Academy is independently run, we do still have backing from some rather important clans and individuals. It is their wish that every year's students have but a single 'noble' class. While this may seem unfair to the rest of you, trust me when I say the level of education you all will receive will still be of the highest standard with rewards for those who prove their excellence. It is to this end that the Academy itself has also created a specialised 'elite' class, reserved for those of you who stand out from your peers. I hope that you will strive towards the Elite class as there are innumerable benefits to joining it, the least of which is a specialised curriculum. Now, let the sorting commence!"