-Thursday Morning, 17th Of the 1st Month, Year 910-

'It's time to take the first step,' I take a deep breath and walk out of the room that I've gotten used to for the last time.

With my bag on my back and the necklace, Gramps gave me around my neck. I take my first big step toward achieving my ultimate goal.

'Mom, Dad, I did it,' Remembering my parents, I softly rub the black eye patch covering my right eye.

After going downstairs, I walk over to the register to thank the lady at the counter for taking care of us on the first day I came here. I call out to one of the waitresses when she finished serving a table, "Thank you for always serving me good food!"

"Your welcome, Kiddo!" She smiles at me and waves.

I look at the time on the clock hanging on the wall next to the lady at the register, 'It's 8: 10. If I jog there now, I should be able to make it on time.'

I wave at the two, saying "goodbye," before leaving the inn. Following the route in my head, I take my usual path to the Academy.

Clink Clink

The sword Dad gave me shakes inside of the sheath with every step I take, 'The last time I used this was when I fought the bandits with Gramps. Now that I'm in the Academy, I don't think that I'll have to use it for a while.'

For some reason, I let out a breath of relief, thinking that. Although I feel a little weird, I shake my head and continue jogging to the Academy.

●●●

"There he is! Heeyyyy! Over Here!" Johnny waves both his hands in the air signaling me over.

I smile and jog over to Johnny and Jasmine, who's standing in front of the gate, 'Were they waiting for me?'

Stopping in front of them, I greet them, "Hey."

"Uggghhh, you made us wait here for so looooong!" Johnny jumps over to me and slings his arm around my neck, pulling me into his chest, "Here's your punishment!"

"Ahh, this actually hurts!" Ignoring my pain, he keeps grinding his fist into my head.

"No way am I stopping! Not until my grudges are settled!" He starts grinding harder.

"Ahhh! Jasmine, help me!" I reach out my free arm to Jasmine.

"But Ryner, I'm a little frustrated too, I told you to be careful and not push yourself. But you still did it anyway and ended up covered in blood. I was scared that you were going to die! You're the first friend I've made since I came to this city, so I was really scared that you were going to die!" She glares at me with tears in her eyes.

"... I'm sorry," I apologize, feeling bad for making her worry.

"We wouldn't even have known you were okay if we didn't come back to the Academy the next day to check on you. Mrs. Janson said that you got treated and went home, but she wouldn't tell us where you lived, so we had no way to check on you! Ughhhhh!" Again, he put more strength into his grinding.

"I'm really sorry!" I'm starting to get dizzy, and my head hurts.

"Not only that, but you even got a really cool nickname! Mr. Bloody Swordsman! Arghhh! So annoying!" Saying that he finally stops and lets me go.

"Ugh," My head seriously hurts right now.

"Johnny, maybe you did it a little too hard," Jasmine frowns and walks over to me, "Are you okay?"

"I feel better, though!" Johnny beats his chest with a smile.

"Yeah, I just need a minute," I take a deep breath and circulate my Qi for a few seconds, starting to feel better, "I'll circulate my Qi while we walk, I should be fine by the time the Entrance Ceremony starts."

"Phew, That's good," Jasmine lets out a breath of relief and smiles.

"Mm," I nod and focus on circulating my Qi.

"Ah, we need to go, or we'll be late!" Jasmine looks at the watch on her wrist and drags me along.

'I saw one of those in a shop me and gramps visited the other day, it didn't cost as much as my necklace, but it still costs a few silvers,' Thinking to myself, I remember something Gramps told me, "...Most nobles have last names, which are passed down through their family."

"My name is Jasmine Myles," That's what she said when she introduced herself before, isn't it?

'She's probably a noble. Well, it doesn't matter all that much to me, she's nothing like that guy,' I shake my head and go back to circulating my Qi.

There's a map drawn on a sign, sticking out on the side of the path behind the gate. Above the map, there's a note saying, 'First-Year Students go to the Auditorium!' Based on the map, the auditorium is part of the Main School Building, which is the large building in the middle of the Academy.

Jasmine scans over the map and leads the way to the building. We all run, trying to get there on time. Although Johnny starts up a conversation, I don't say anything and just focus on circulating my Qi, trying to calm my headache. I glare at the cause of it, the guy running beside me with a big smile on his face.

'Why are you so happy,' I complain to myself.

As we're running, an older kid with a school uniform bumps into Johnny, making him fall.

"Weakling!" The older kid laughs and walks away with his group of friends.

"You-" I stop circulating my Qi and cut Johnny off, "We don't have time for this!"

Helping him up, I tell him, "Let's go!" and we start running again.

●●●

"Just barely made it!" Jasmine sighs in front of the Academy, "It's 8:50."

'Huh, the ceremony starts in 10 minutes, we didn't have to run,' I sigh and shake my head, '...It doesn't really matter since we made it on time.'

"Jasmine, we didn't have to run, did we? We still have 10 minutes left!" Johnny complains while scratching his head.

'I feel the same way, but it's too late now,' I shrug my shoulders, 'We're already here now.'

"Of course not! My Father taught me that you should always come 15 minutes early to any appointment! So in this case, we're late," She shakes her head.

'I have nothing to say to that,' Facing her disappointed expression, I turn away from her and take a closer look at the building in front of us.

'It's a lot bigger up close,' I feel amazed looking at it, the entire building is made out of a smooth gray stone. There are inscriptions engraved into different parts of it, and there's a giant clock at the head of it.

'I'll be studying here for the next eight years,' I feel excited just thinking about it.

"Ryner, let's go! She's leaving us!" Johnny pats my shoulder, waking me up from my daze.

"Mm," I nod, and we chase after her.

●●●

After catching up with her, we walk into the auditorium together. It's a big room with walls made of dark wood planks similar to the floor back at home. The Auditorium floor is covered with a dark red cloth-like material.

There's a big box-like platform hovering above the door and a few of the other seats. From below, I can see that the floor is made of the same material as the walls. Walking further into the auditorium, I can see the front of the platform. There are fancy symbols engraved into the wood, and there's a railing lined up like along it like a porch. I can't see past the railing, but I think there are seats up there too, 'I wonder who gets to sit up there?'

With that thought, I follow Jasmine down the middle lane and sit in some empty seats in one of the groups of chairs to our left. There are three other big groups of chairs like the one we're sitting in. A lot of other First-Year students are already here, sitting together with people they know.

I can see some people from our exam group here too, the girl with the katana, Rachel. Sitting next to her is the girl with the purple weapon Qi, Nina, and the girl who lost to both Nina and Johnny, Aimi. The weird guy, Millard, is sitting a couple of rows in front of us, leaning back in the chair. Jun is sitting across from us in the group of chairs to our right. When we walked in a couple minutes ago, he sent me a challenging smile as if we were racing to get here first, and he won. For some reason, I felt a little annoyed when I thought that.

I think there are some other people from my exam group here, but as I'm looking around, Jasmine tugs on my sleeve, "It's almost 9."

"Okay," I nod and turn my eyes to the stage in front of us.

Like the walls, it's made of wood, but the color is a little lighter. Red curtains are covering up the front of the stage.

'It should be 9 now-' Suddenly, the lights in the auditorium go out.

Woosh!

The curtain opens up, and the lights on the stage turn on, showing the Vice-Principal walking forward with a black suit on. Behind her is a row of teachers with different expressions on their faces.

"Good Morning," The Vice-Principal greets us all, speaking into the black rod with a metal ball attached to the top of it when I told Gramps about it the other day, he told me that it's called a mic and it amplifies sound.

"Good Morning, Vice-Principal!" We all return her greeting.

"I welcome all of you to Arcadia on the Principal's behalf," She looks over all of us with her sharp eyes releasing an invisible pressure just like last time, "First, I want to congratulate you all for your results on the Entrance Exam. You are all the best of the best, out of the 1,000 applicants who registered for the Exam. You've all displayed abilities above your peers in more than one way, be it your knowledge, your potential, or your strength. You can all take pride in that, but do not become arrogant. There are many people here in this room that are above you in some way. Not just in this room, but in the entire Academy there are multiple people above you. Never become satisfied with the current you. There is always room for improvement. That's why everyone chose to study here, correct? To become smarter, stronger, and to make full use of your potential?"

"Yes!" I respond to her with everyone else.

"Good," She nods, "Both myself and the Principal are expecting a lot from all of you. So do your best to improve and make use of the resources and opportunities we provide for you to grow stronger. Remember this, at the end of the day, in this world, strength speaks the loudest. No matter if you're a member of the royal family, a noble, a commoner, or an orphan. So long as you have strength, you have the right to speak and stand for yourself. Your strength is your status. But that strength doesn't just include your physical strength. Knowledge can be a strength. Your background can be a strength. Social status can be a strength. Wealth can be a strength. There are a lot of different things added together that make up your strength. While it is true that one man can defeat an army, not everyone has that type of ability or potential. It takes a lot of blood, sweat, determination, and potential to reach that point, and those that do have lived lives most of you probably can't even imagine or understand. But if that is your vision of strength, of who you want to become, then reach for it with all of your might. So long as you show results, we will support you in your journey to obtain the strength that you desire as long as you're here."

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The teachers start to clap at the end of her speech, so we copy them and clap.

"Thank you," She bows a little before standing up straight, "This is the last thing I want to say before handing it over to the teachers. At the Academy, all students start as equals regardless of social status. Your results are your status here. At the end of the year, you'll receive your report cards, which are a record of your grades in each class. You will receive at most three grades for each class. First is your overall grade for the class, which is determined by averaging out your test and assessment results. Second is your Midterm grade, Midterms will be explained by your teachers at a later date. Lastly is your Finals Grade, like your Midterms, Finals will be explained by your teachers later. Your End Of The Year Grade for the class will be determined by averaging out these grades. For the classes that you don't have Midterms or Finals in, your grade will only be your overall grade for the class. That is all, I have to say regarding your grades. Now all students are expected to follow these rules…"

She starts to list the rules of the Academy one by one:

All students are expected to report to class by 9 am, unless they have some special circumstances that stop them from reporting on time, or they have received persimmon to be excused. All students must report back to their dorm by 11 pm at the latest; this only applies to the junior years. Lights out at midnight. Only Fifth-Years and above can leave school grounds during the school year without permission. Fourth-Years can as well if they receive special permission. Any damaged school property must be paid for before graduating; no excuses. No fighting unless in a combat zone; otherwise, you'll be punished. Don't draw your weapons outside of a combat zone; you'll receive three warnings. After the third warning, you'll be punished. Upperclassmen can't challenge underclassmen. No killing allowed on Campus. If you kill a fellow member of the Academy, you'll be expelled. Don't use potions on others, unless it's approved by a teacher. Don't use disrespectful language towards teachers, or else you'll receive a punishment.

She said, depending on the situation, there may be other rules but, 'There's already a lot of rules to follow, isn't it?'