It was official, Bryn had made it to the end of his first week at the academy.

Of course, this was not for his enemies lack of trying, The people from the night before that were trying to break into his room did not give up easily, they had attempted to get into his room for several minutes until they realised that it was of no use and gave up, however that did not put Bryn at ease.

He knew that a student could get through the barrier protecting a dorm room, and that there were people in the academy that wanted to do as such to him as he had to Trey and Gilbert.

He could easily imagine what they would do to him if they ever got through so sleep did not come easily to him.

It was the morning of the next day and life was somewhat back to normal, or at least as normal as what his life had come to in the past week.

It had been a few days since he had been to most of his classes so Bryn knew that he would be behind in whatever they were supposed to learn, but he was determined to not only catch up but pass the rest of the students in his class.

Each and every one of them were a potential enemy and the longer they stay ahead of him, the more danger he was in.

Bryn arrived at the clifftop keep with little to no bother on his journey, some had given him them stink eye, either because they recognised who he was or knew what he had done in the past two days, but nothing progressed further than that.

They were too busy heading to their own classes.

Bryn walked into the classroom that was filled with casual conversation, professor Kane had clocked him and gave him a welcoming nod but it was Armarni that was giving him a relieved smile.

“God damn it man, I thought you were dead, Why weren't you in classes yesterday, was it something to do with?” Armarni asked and gestured to his face, referencing the new mask that had appeared the last time he was in class.

Bryn sat down with a slump, almost sinking into the chair as the weight on his shoulders seemed to slink off of him.

He was relieved to be back there.

“Yeah, a couple of problems arose but I'm not in the mood to talk about it at the moment?” Bryn said as he tried to change the subject but Armarni jumped on him like a fat person on cake.

“Oi oi oi, this mood of yours best not affect my plans tonight, I've got something great lined up for us” Armarni said defencelessly whilst also trying to both lure and hype Bryn up in questioning him.

“What are you on about?” Bryn asked as he shot Armarni a confused stare.

Armarni slapped the table before dramatically looking around the room in surprise, “What? Don't tell me you've forgot what tonight is?” he asked as he grasped a hold of his shoulders.

Bryn flicked Armani's hands off him and gave him a shrug to which Armani just shook his head.

“Brother, it’s the 'Hells Banquet', We gonna party!!!!” Armarni said with a smile and little dance.

“Ah” Bryn remembered hearing about the 'Hells Banquet' in passing, it was a party that happened at the beginning of every term, it was to celebrate not only the reunion of friends and lovers, but it was a chance for the first years to blow off all the steam that had built up through 'Hell Week'.

It was a night that was guaranteed to be both epic, but also messy.

It was also a night in Bryn's opinion, that he could never celebrate as he had too many people after the target on his back.

“You know the amount of people after me, ain't no way I can let my guard down for a night, I'll end up dead, sorry mate but I ain't partying, I'm doing what I do every night, I'm going back to my room, placing my fat ass against the wall and keeping an eye on the door until it's time for class again” Bryn said half-jokingly.

“No, you can't do that, wait, is that actually what you do?” Armarni responded with a laugh before he realised that Bryn wasn't being overly dramatic.

“It's a new hobby I developed after people tried to break into my room but it’s my problem, I'll deal with it” Bryn said as a bit of guilt over what he had done reared its head.

Armarni let it go but he wasn't planning of letting Bryn miss the banquet.

“Fine” he said holding his hands up in surrender, “I'll leave you to deal with that bullshit, but there ain't no way that I'm letting you miss out on the party tonight” He said without an ounce of humour in his voice.

“Mate, I wanna be there but it isn't safe, I'm not trading my life for a drink, it isn't worth it” Bryn said impatiently as he knew that this past week had been one of the most stressful in his life, and nothing would have been better than a party to dance it all away.

“Now that is where you are wrong” Armani said cockily.

“We're not going to any random party tonight; we're going to a party that my faction is throwing and you are my 'guest'” Armarni said with a focus on the last word.

“Guest?” Bryn questioned.

“Yes, 'Guest', it means that you are there under my, and my peoples protections, essentially it means that if anybody comes up to you trying to start something, it gives you the right to tell them to 'Get the fuck out' and call the guards over to make it a reality” Armarni said with bit of pride in his voice.

Bryn was taken back for a second, a small smile was fighting to take its place on his face but he was doing his best to restrain it and keep his hope for a good night out at bay.

“You're sure” Bryn asked with one last bit of hesitancy to which Armarni cocked his head and gave him a smile, “I Guarantee it” he said whilst holding his hand out.

Bryn sighed before giving a toothy smile, He slapped Armarni hand before turning it in to a shake, “I'm trusting you here, don't let me down” he said to which Armarni put his arm around his shoulder and dreamt about what the two of them were going to get up to tonight.

“Don't worry about a thing, leave everything to me and I guarantee you, tonight will be one of the best nights of your life” he said before shaking the both of them in excitement.

“Alright, that enough!” Professor Kane said as he made his way to the centre of the courtyard, “I know you are all excited about tonight but you have got an entire day of classes before then so do me a favour and put all that extra energy into practising” he said to which the class laughed but calming down so he could start.

“Now, we'll start off by continuing on from yesterday, I know that at least one of you missed that class” He said whilst giving Bryn the eye alongside a number of other students in the class” and the one before that, So I'll give a quick summary of the two skills that I want you to learn”

“The first technique is [Aura], this is a technique that is one step beyond [Reinforcement] in terms of defence, but this technique does so much more than simply increase your ability to not die, [Aura] is a Mana technique that is as versatile as they come, it has the ability to [Buff] your physical body so that it is stronger, faster and agile than anything you could achieve without it, it can be used to slow down attacks if not outright stopping them, it can be used to create a domain where you are its lord and most importantly, it is a technique that you need to learn if you are to ever to use Mana outside of your body” Professor Kane explained to a class that was mostly indifferent to as they had heard it all before.

Bryn however, certainly wasn't.

This was the technique that Trey had used against him, Bryn remembered to back when he was in the forest fighting against Trey, before Gilbert had attacked him he was struggling against Trey because of this very technique.

It was only because of the sword hidden in the ring on his left hand that he was able to fight as well as he had.

“Now, I know that a few of you have already succeeded in using this technique “the professor said to which a few in the class had their faced turn a bright shade of red, “But there are still a few of you that have yet to unlock this ability...don't you think a bit of punishment is in order for them” He asked with a grin to which to a large number of students 'Hollard' and 'hooted' in glee., Even Armarni could not keep himself from getting involved.

“Ha-ha, I thought so, Well, What do you say to having those few come to the front of the class to demonstrate their progress in the technique” He asked and the students became a wall of noise much to the confusion of Bryn who had no Idea what had got them so worked up.

“I'm glad you agree Ha-Ha, but we'll get to that in a second, the second technique that I have shown you is one that can only be practice after you've unlocked the ability to use Mana externally, it is also one the techniques I first showed you when you joined this class” the professor said before holding his hand up to which a glowing ball of energy materialised.

“[Mana Bolt], This is the last technique that I will be teaching whilst you are in my class, from next week onwards you will be practising what I have taught you alongside any [Skills] that you may buy from you're visit to the temple on Monday”

Professor Kane could see the anticipation in their eyes when he mentioned the temple, he knew what they felt as he had felt it when he had first gone to the temple to obtain powers and [Skills] that no ordinary human could hope to obtain.

The [Mana Bolt] in his hand dissipate before he moved off to the side and gave a sweeping motion for the students to come and join him at the front of the class, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, will those of you that have still failed to establish their [Aura] come on up” He asked to which several students reluctantly got up.

Bryn wasn't sure if it meant him or not, but Kane took the opportunity to point at him directly and motion for him to get up as well.

“Now I've shown most of you this before but I will demonstrate it for you again” the professor said and he was suddenly coated in glowing mana, there was no sound or effort, one moment there was nothing and then it was there the next.

“Now it is your turn” he said before joining the rest of the class who were watching from the side.

Bryn gave the group still sat down a puzzled look as he didn't why they were taking so much joy in this but then it happened.

“AHHHHHHH!!!” The students beside him suddenly started to shout and roar whilst trebling as if they were trying to force out a stubborn crap.

“What the hell?” Bryn shouted in surprise as he stumbled over to the now laughing students that were struggling to stay on their seat.

“What the hell is going on?” Bryn asked Armani as he walked over to him and away from the weirdos in the middle of the room.

“Ha-ha, this is how you unlock your [Aura]” Armarni said as he laughed, “I Believe Professor Kane described it as trying to go 'Super Saiyan', Basically all you have to do is gather you're mana in your skin just like [Reinforcement] except this time you want to keep filling it and expanding it until it pops like a bubble, the professor said grunting and all of that...” Armarni indicated the students trying to unlock their [Aura], “...Helps with it”.

Bryn looked at the students 'building up their power' and understood why they were so embarrassed before.

“Did it work for you...that?” Bryn asked Armani as he continued to watch the students as if he was a deer in headlights, unable to look away.

“It did, and now it’s going to help you as well” Armarni said before giving Bryn a push to go be with the rest of his people. His anticipation for what came next as clear as day.

Bryn wearily walked over to the rest of the students before taking his place amongst them, unsure of how to begin he was luckily saved by professor Kane as he called out to him.

“Bryn, focus on gathering as much mana as you can and then once you hit that limit, use your emotions to overcome that limit” he said with a reassuring laugh, but Bryn could see the signs of him holding back on laughing in anticipation.

Bryn gave his onlookers and queer look before closing his eyes before the embarrassment became too much for him, he needed to focus if he was going to succeed and that was going to be difficult enough with the buffoons next to him, never-mind the others taking amusement from his idiocy.

The world began to fade as he focused, the random shouting silenced and the feeling of being watched lessened, there was only him and his mana.

Mana immediately started to flow languidly around his body before it filled in all the gaps within his skin the same as it would with [reinforcement], only once he had reached that level he forced it to go a step further, the mana flowing around him began to rapidly speed up as he forced it to continue filling the space.

Even when for all intents and purposed it was full, Bryn kept the flow constant, forcing his mana to small into the mana that was already in there in an attempt to condense it further but as the seconds passed by, the effectiveness of this began to wan and he knew that he had reached his limit.

Bryn was unwilling, but he knew he had no choice.

Bryn's eyes opened and he saw the entire class had their eyes focus on him, even the others on stage that were still trying to create their own [Aura] had stopped to watch him, or more appropriately, laugh at him.

“Tch” Bryn angrily spat but instead of letting it go, he used it.

He used the anger of being pissed off to attempt to break through the limit but it was not enough, so he dug down deeper, he thought on everything that had happened this week

The revelation of who he was.

The worldwide hunt

The attack during the second test

The bullying

The duel

The constant threat of death

Jen.

“AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Bryn called out in an ungodly roar to which his mana raged in reflection,

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Bryn called out again as he mind thought back to what he had lost and what he would face in the future.

“AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” Bryn roared as he thought about why he had to go through all of this, why he had to suffer so, and the reason for why everything that had happened, happened as it did,.

His Father.

Ryuto Asakura

Everything was his fault.

He had massacred Hong Kong

He had killed his mother

He had turned the world against him

He was the reason he had grown up without any parents

He was the reason so many people wanted to kill him

He was the reason why he could not trust even those he would like to call his friends.

IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT!

*POP*

Bryn was shocked to his senses as his mana burst from within his body and surrounded him In a protective fire.

It raged as the power of it blew several of the closest desk away from him before it began to lessen and calm as he withdrew from his anger.

Bryn looked over his hands and saw the raw power surrounding them, it felt amazing, powerful, it felt.

Bryn dropped down to his knee as a sudden bout of weakness came over him.

He looked up to see professor Kane standing over him, he was saying something but Bryn couldn't make out what.

“..”

“..g....”

“...Stop”

“Drop …. Aura”

“Mana .... Low....Die...Don't”

Bryn stopped the flow of mana to his aura when he finally pieced together what the professor wanting to get across to him and as soon as he did, he felt a lot better.

“Good, you heard me” Professor Kane said as he let out a relieved breathe from the side before helping Bryn back to his seat.

“What happened?” Bryn asked once he had finally caught his breathe.

“it’s quite simple, [Aura] is a very mana intensive technique and quick frankly, you ran out of it, it appears that you are quite unlucky in having a small [Mana Pool] to draw from within your soul realm” The professor said before leaving to deal with the other students that were trying to establish their aura.

Bryn checked his soul realm to see if what the professor had said was right or not and which he could see that the purple nebula like mana in his soul realm had gone down a visible amount, he could safely say that the professor was wrong in stating that he didn't have enough mana to keep using his aura.

Stopping and thinking about it for a moment, Bryn turned towards the seal limiting his mana from accessing his body and guessed that it was the problem.

His [Aura] needed a certain amount of mana to be maintained but his body could not use that amount thanks to the seal, if it wasn't there then he would be fine but as for how things were at the moment, that was going to be a problem.

It had just made a powerful, lifesaving technique essentially unusable for him.

Armarni came over and took a seat next to him to which Bryn let out a languished sigh, “Have you come over to laugh at me, Was it as funny as you hoped” Bryn joked self depreciatingly as he figured that the jokes were going to come either way so he may as well give up, but Armani didn't laugh or make a joke.

“No....it was too...emotional” Armarni said before motioning for Bryn to wipe his eyes, to which Bryn was surprised to find tears running down his face.

Professor Kane had told them from the very beginning, mana reacts to strong emotions, And what Bryn had been through and had drawn on to establish his aura was emotionally potent, for both the person who went through it, and those that felt is through Bryn's mana.

Bryn wiped away his tears before looking around to make sure no one was looking at him, “...Don't tell anyone, please” Bryn asked.

“No problem”

Class ended after several failed attempts from Bryn to perform [Mana Bolt], a few in class were ahead of him thanks to him missing so many classes that they were now shooting target dummies at the side of the classroom, but if Bryn was being truthful then he would admit that he knew that he would not be able to perform the technique today as he was not in the mood after what happened with establishing his [Aura].

His mood however was not going to get any better by going to the next class because if he felt guilty about anything, then it would be the guilt he felt over the amount of times he had actually attended what was one of his favourite classes, tactics.

Due to everything that had happened Bryn had only attended one class so far, even Bryn felt this was not good enough and as if to prove this point, the class they attended was no different from before.

It was enjoyable, informative and most of all, profitable.

The Teacher had changed her lessen up as she had an announcement to make which made the entire class cheer in joy.

On Monday, during techniques, they would all be visiting the temple and whilst they were there, they would finally be able to start buying [Skills] and [Techniques] from the [Temple Shop}, this meant they could start to truly work on their Heroic Builds and become true Heroes.

Only unlike the rest of the week where the teach had advised them on what Sort of [Skills] and [Techniques] worked in conjunction with each other, She focused on what it meant to be a Hero and how the [Channel System] affected that.

Bryn and the rest of the student in class had grown up watching their favourite heroes face off against the forces of evil at the far end of the galaxy, they had watched magnificent battles and heroic rescues, see a real-life princess rescued from a tower and watches as a little girl who in the majority's opinion should be as weak as a kitten topple a dragon.

They had seen it all and imagined themselves as a Hero performing those very acts a million times, but had they ever thought why they did what they did beyond their 'Heroic duty'.

Did they ever ask why as Hero dresses up as they do?

Did they ever ask why a Hero picks one skill over another?

Professor Constance advised them of the answer to this.

She explained that whilst they may now be Heroes that did not mean that on Monday they could just walk into to the temple and buy a tier 9 skill, fully deck themselves out in the best armour and become the world greatest hero.

The system did not work that way, it was restricted.

Every skill and every piece of knowledge or Item beyond tier 1 was restricted.

Even the missions available to Heroes were restricted.

To access [Skills] a Hero required the relevant [Token].

To access Items and information a Hero required an [Emblem] of sufficient Tier.

To access a certain mission, A Hero would need to have the corresponding [Heroic Rank].

An [Heroic Rank] could only be obtained through a combat test within the temple, but as for [Tokens] and [Emblems], they could be obtained from rewards given after completing a mission.

However, there was another way to obtain [Tokens] and [Emblems], and that was through the [Channel] System.

Nobody knew for certain why a Heroes exploits were televised across the world but they were and they granted a Hero rewards if they reached a certain viewership amount, this came in the form of [Titles] and [Perks]. It was by this system that most of the celebrity level heroes came about their Heroic Identities, such as 'Star slinger', 'Crimson march' and most notably, 'The Fallen Hero'.

Only, it was not the [Titles] that most Heroes were interest in, fame and glory were alright but it was power that they truly wanted, and it was [Perks] that accompanied these [Titles] that gave them it.

[Titles] and [Perks] were usually rewarded together but not always, it was either one or both, and the one was always a [Title], a perk had never been received by itself, but when a Hero was able to obtain a [Perk}, you heard about it.

'Tokens can now be purchased from the shop up to tier 2 via Hero Points'

“Emblems are no longer needed to buy Items and knowledge below Tier 3”

“25% Discount available on all Items bought with Hero Point”

The teacher gave an example of the types of [Perks} she had heard about, and whilst none of the perks directly affects a Heroes battle power and only affected how they interacted with [Aegis] and the [Guardian] System, she assured the class that it was these techniques that made the most powerful Heroes of the world who they were today, it reminded Bryn of how professor Blackwell had advised that once Bryn became a true wizard and obtained the [Wizard] [Title], he would slowly become more attuned to being a wizard thanks to the [Perks] that the title granted.

There may not be true classes, but there were titles that had similar affects, but these titles were hard to get and usually required obtaining some type of secret knowledge or performing some type of heroic deed, whilst the [Titles] associated with the [Channel] system were a lot easier to get, as everything was possible as long as your views constantly grew.

It was for this reason why so many Heroes were willing to create a Heroic Persona that catered to a certain theme, or why certain female heroes suffered from the occasional nip-slip or one particular Hero spoke like a cowboy.

It was the lengths they were willing to go to in order to obtain more power either in an attempt to grow stronger or become that much safer when going out on a mission.

It was something that she advised them to think of before them buy any [Skills] on Monday.

Armarni and Bryn split up after that as the two of them had different Speciality classes, Bryn had [Beast Taming] whilst Armarni had [Alchemy].

The class was similar to tactics except for the fact that Bryn had Leena sleeping in his lap.

Vice-principle Solomon had also informed them on the planned field trip to the temple but instead of advising them on what to expect as a hero, he reiterated what was required of them to become a tamer and the skills that they would need to obtain if they wanted to progress along this path.

The first thing he reminded them to obtain from the [Temple shop] was a [Grimoire], if they ever wanted to take them partners out of the 'farm' then it was something they would absolutely need.

Secondly, he advised them on certain techniques that he would advise them to get as a tamer but he did not advise them that they were techniques that they needed to get on this visit.

Solomon advised them that being a [Beast Tamer] is for the most part, about playing the long game.

It is about taking a creature with potential and making it your ally to which you can face future dangers together, but this does not mean that they will start off with strength or be willing to use that strength for your benefit from the get go.

As such, a tamer first needs to ensure they have enough strength to protect themselves before they focus on abilities that will make them powerful in the long term.

With that warning said, Solomon advised them on the techniques that they should obtain, when at all possible.

[Taming]

[Training]

[Enhancement]

[Capture]

Solomon advised the class that these were not individual techniques but were in face a broad category that contained tens of thousands of skills that went about different methods to obtain the same result.

Solomon advised that there was no perfect technique, only the most suitable.

There were techniques that would strip away a beasts ego and essentially make them a puppet, whilst others would make the tamer a god in the eyes of their partner.

It was up to them to choose the type of tamer they wished to be.

The class ended after Solomon advised them on the other categories of techniques before shepherding them out of the class and onto the next class of the day, only to shout at them from the distance to warn them against drinking too much that night.

It was a warning that fell on death ears.

It was finally time for the last class of the day.

Bryn knew that he had another class after this but as far as he was concerned after he had gone through the both of the them, what he had learnt in both classes were so similar that the two classes had turned into an extra-long lesson on the same subject.

It was in Training, when half the class were moaning over the oncoming beating they were about to endure thanks to the gauntlet, and the other half were excitability chatting about which 'Hells Banquet' Party they were going to attend that night when lionheart came and threw all their preconceived ideas about what they were going to do in class out of the window.

He was not going to make them attempt the gauntlet

He was not going to make them run around the track whilst enhancing their bodies

He was not even going to make them fight

He was going to teach them what in most of the people’s opinions who were there watching, was a dance, only lionheart called it a Kata.

Lionheart had them line up whilst he stood in front of them and performed a set of moves which in Bryn's humble opinion were very similar to the moves he had seen Heroes that had been built around 'Tai Chi' used.

As More and more of the students were began to follow his movement with their, Lionheart began to instruct them on how what they were currently learning was a practice technique used to train beginners in their [Mana Manipulation] technique.

Lionheart explained how it was all about having their internal mana follow the movement of the bodies so it was always ready to be used at any given moment.

Bryn could whole heartedly say that at the beginning of the lesson he thought that Lionheart speaking out of his ass and the Kata wasn't worth its salt, but as he listened to what lionheart wanted them to do, and what he was actually able to do, he realised that his [mana manipulation] wasn't as good as he thought.

It was very obvious that the mana flow inside of him did not listen to him but followed what came naturally to it, something that was both good and bad, as it refusing to follow his will may once day cost him his life.

This was only reconfirmed in the next class as once Professor Blackwell knew that Bryn had established his aura, she began teaching him how to wield it was as a wizard.

She advised him to manipulate his mana in a way that was very similar to [Mana Bolt], He gathered his mana within his palm before forcing it leave the confines of his body, an act that was exceeding difficult but very possible now that his [Aura] had broken the seal that had prevented him from doing so in the past.

Wisps of mana started to float from all over his hand to gather within his palm in this same way as a [Mana Bolt] but as he tried to form it into a sphere of power, an act he had yet to achieve as it only loosely resembled a blob at the moment, the professor stopped him.

What she advised him was that what they wanted was not a bomb but a pen. The professor instructed him to condense the power within his palm until it was but a glowing purple spark held aloft in his hand.

It was only when he asked what he was supposed to do with it that he realised how tedious his school life was about to become.

For the rest of the class, he performed the Kata from before again, only this time it was slightly different.

It had been modified by the professor.

Now with each move of the Kata, a spark would flow along his body, mirroring his internal flow.

Or at least that was the idea, Bryn had yet to get the spark to leave his palm without fizzling out.

The school day was over but the week had yet to end.

Bryn had spent many an hour pouring over the few clothes that he had brought with him on the journey to the academy.

He had worried and was anxious over what to wear and whether he should even be doing this, and yet here he still was.

Bryn Stood outside a large terraced building where coloured lights reflected upwards against the solid stone, several bouncers with a physique that could only be described as a 'Brick Shithouse' guarded the door. Two girls skimpily dressed stood off to the side with a cig in their hands, a boy was with them and whilst he was fawning all over them, they were not even giving him the time of day.

He was ready for this, he needed this, after everything that had happened this week he deserved this.

It was time to let loose!