A figure of a man slowly materialized within a basement at the Royal Academy in the Mord Empire. Upon closer observation, the most pressing of his qualities was his eagle eyes that seemed to pierce through anything they looked at. Another figure, shrouded in the shadows of the basement spoke to the man.

"Are you here on the orders of the Master? If you are, please tell me what Master says."

"Two children are now headed to the Royal Academy. Your objective is to bring them to the Master. Preferably alive."

The man in the shadows bowed, his eyes twinkling with maliciousness.

"Alright. I will accomplish this task without fail."

The eagle-eyed man wordlessly nodded and disappeared back into the darkness again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After walking for many hours, Deon and Dell arrived at the Royal Academy. In terms of size, it was on par with the Grayson Family Estate. Maybe it was even bigger. However, in terms of luxury and taste, it far surpassed that of the Grayson Family. At the entrance of the Academy was a large gate, completely constructed of orichalcum and embossed with gold. Like the Grayson Family Estate, the Academy was entirely encased with a high wall, much like that of a castle. To gain entry, one had to demonstrate proof of either enrollment in the academy, usually in the form of an issued badge, or demonstrate high status. Otherwise, even if a gold-ranked expert attacked the wall, it would be nearly impossible to gain entry.

As Anders walked up to the gate, a guard directly above the gate called down.

"Please show your proof of identity!"

Anders pulled out a badge made completely from orichalcum. It was engraved with his identity and rank. The guard lowered his head and welcomed Anders to the Royal Academy.

As they raised the gate, Anders, Deon, and Dell walked into the estate of the Royal Academy. Contrary to Deon's expectations, the Academy was bustling with activity. On the grounds outside of the classroom, there were many students selling goods. Food, clothing, medicine, and even weapons. The main hall of the Academy was even larger than the Grayson Family Main House. Anders led Deon and Dell into the main hall to see the headmaster. The headmaster's office was located at the very top of the main hall, where it is most quiet.

Anders led Deon and Dell up to a set of double doors and knocked. An aged voice spoke.

"Come in."

Dell and Deon both entered the room to see an old, but sage-like, man sitting upon a large chair. Currently, his eyes were directed toward Deon and Dell. Deon had an uneasy feeling, like these eyes could see every part of him.

"Ah. So these are the new students. To begin with, I would like to welcome you to the Royal Academy, where only the best students are accepted. I have heard that both of you possess Godly talent. I did not believe it until I saw you two myself... You two are more than welcome here."

Deon and Dell both bowed and thanked the headmaster for his warm welcome.

"From now on, you two will be assigned to the first years. Let me tell you, our graduation requirements are very strict: You must have been here for at least three years, and you must have reached at least bronze rank. If you reach bronze rank before the end of these three years, you will be assigned to the genius class and be given extra benefits and resources. Now go on, the first years are in session outside right now in practical training. Go along and join the class. Anders stay here. I need to talk to you."

Deon and Dell respectfully exited the room, leaving Anders standing there awkwardly. The headmaster fixed his eyes on Anders.

"Those two boys are the future of our Empire. With their talent, I wouldn't be surprised if they became stronger than you in ten years. Plus, from my Spiritual Sense probe, their Battle Energies are extremely compatible. Keep them under surveillance. I have a feeling their stay here won't be so peaceful."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deon and Dell walked outside and headed towards the training grounds. When they got there, they saw a group of children around their age whacking away at training dummies. Watching over them was an beautiful lady around the age of thirty. Her lush, black hair and fair skin put her right up there with Deon's mother. However, the look on her face right now was anything but pleasurable. She seemed to be extremely exasperated with the performance of her class right now. Sensing a few figures approaching from behind her, she turned around.

"Ah. The two new students. The headmaster told me that you'll be coming today. Now start whacking away at these training dummies, practicing whatever technique you've been learning. I hope you'll do better than these trash... Oh, and you can just call me Teacher Sofia. By the way, you had better not slack off. Despite my looks, I'm at the bronze level of Battle Energy."

Deon and Dell immediately shook their heads.

"Uh. Ma'am! I mean Teacher Sofia! Of course we won't slack off. We'll try our hardest."

Deon and Dell immediately ran to the training dummies and picked up some practice swords from the rack on the side of the field. The structure of the dummies was much like those in the Grayson Family Estate; they were completely made from orichalcum.

Deon picked up his sword and faced the dummy. Suddenly, he felt a rather strange energy fluctuation coming from beside him. It was Dell. Deon was curious as to what type of sword arts Dell used. From the corner of his eye, Deon closely observed Dell.

"Infinite Blade Art: Thousand Needles"

Dell swung his sword at an enormous speed. However, this speed was mainly due to his physical strength and didn't utilize Battle Energy at all. Deon thought this was quite strange. Every sword art that he looked through used some type of Battle Energy in the sword swing. Other than the strange fluctuation at the beginning of the swing, Deon hadn't detected any other Energy.

As soon as Dell's sword struck the dummy, hundreds of small scratches appeared along the orichalcum surface of the dummy. Deon was stumped. How could a sword swing do that much damage? Currently, that one attack was even more powerful than Deon's Illusion Sword Arts.

Watching Dell, Sofia's eyes widened.

"Infinite Blade Arts?! There's actually still someone who trains in that technique? And still, you managed to achieve that level of mastery? You are an absolute genius! Even though the technique requires a small amount of Battle Energy to activate, compared to other Control type sword arts, the control you need to possess over your Battle Energy is enormous. Basically, each scratch made on the orichalcum dummy is from a small amount of Battle Energy controlled by the user. Haha, I never thought I would have such a genius in my class! He can actually use a Control type sword art!"

Dell humbly lowered his head.

"Actually, Deon uses a Control type sword art as well: the Illusion Sword Arts."

Sofia thought she couldn't be shocked any further. It seems that she was wrong, as her face turned completely pale.

"Illusion Sword Arts?! Isn't that the one that requires an immense amount of energy! Almost no one is suitable for that skill due to the Energy requirements. Let me examine your Energy stores, Deon..."

As Sofia extended her Spiritual Sense into Deon's body, surprise flashed in her eyes once again.

"Ah. I've been surprised too much today. I think I just had ten years taken off my life span. You have more than enough Energy. Over ten times the normal amount. What kind of monsters are you two! In all my years teaching here, I have never encountered such geniuses!"

With the entire class staring wide-eyed at Deon and Dell, Sofia kept ranting on about how talented Deon and Dell were. Never before had they seen their strict teacher so excited.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anders watched this scene from the shadows of the main hall. He sighed.

"Weren't you two supposed to keep your talents hidden?! Dang it, now I actually have to watch these two. They're bound to be at the center of attention. Who knows whether that attention will be hostile or not."