Zachariel looked over and saw the two of them walking towards him. The young man was dressed elegantly. He was wearing a white undershirt, a black tux, and a black bowtie. He smiled and waved his hands to Zachariel.
He has short spiked black hair that formed waves, and his black eyes were small with those straight eyebrows. He had the aura of a charming person. One could guess that he was the outgoing type and loved to play around.
The young woman wore a red lace dress. The length of the dress was long, that reached to her lower leg. The sleeve of her dress ended right above her elbow.
She has long blonde wavy hair with bangs curled around her forehead. It almost covered those beautiful blue eyes of hers. She wore a necklace large enough to encircle her neck. Engraved on it was a small hexagonal ruby.
They were Hal and Amelia Strom and were twins. They were born in the same year as Zachariel, and they would join him in the selection process for the next two days in the Imperial Capital City.
Their parents were both dead due to the beast tide. Gilbert Strom adopted them into the mansion. The three of them had always played with each other since then.
Zachariel was a passive person. The two of them would have to chat among themselves because he was silent all time. Hal was a chatterbox while his sister Amelia would just laugh or talk shortly.
“Uncle Zwein, you can go for now. I’ll call for you later”. Zachariel ordered his Uncle.
“Understood, Master.” Uncle Zwein bowed and left the garden.
“Zach, are you ready for the upcoming selection? Are you excited? Me? I’m very excited! I can’t wait to meet those beautiful- “
Hal was interrupted by a smack from her sister. She looked scary.
“Amelia, why did you hit me? I’m talking about meeting the beautiful sceneries in the Imperium Capital City you know?! Right, Zach?”, Hal quickly alternated what he was about to say.
Zachariel ignored him. `This guy.`, he was helpless about Hal’s shamelessness.
Amelia was very disappointed by the behavior of her brother. She was embarrassed and angry in front of Zachariel.
“Hoho, I think these ‘beautiful sceneries’ you’re talking about seems a little different, don’t you say?”, Amelia knew what her brother was thinking.
“Amelia, I’m honestly telling you what I’m thinking about.” Hal was getting nervous. Amelia just ignored him.
“Zachariel, how did your mana core formation go?”, she asked.
“It’s fine. I guess. It’s at least grade 4. What about yours?”, Zachariel responded.
“Oh, mine’s good too. It’s probably similar to yours.”
She was twiddling her fingers shyly.
She was happy inside when Zachariel asked her that question. They had just recently formed their mana core, and they had not seen each other for a few weeks. She was excited about exchanging their results with one another.
“Hey, hey! Don’t forget about me too! Am I no longer part of the party?”, Hal asked in frustration. He felt betrayed that his sister was treating Zachariel better than him.
Amelia and Zachariel ignored him. Amelia kept on smiling while she looked at Zachariel.
Zachariel was staring at the pond and observing the still water with the little critters playing around.
`Damn, I feel like I’m out of place.` Hal lamented.
His sister would definitely agree about his thoughts.
“Anyway, Zach. What school will you choose? Me and my sister decided to go to the Great Martial Arts School and the Great Magic School. What about you?”. Hal asked while he sat together with Amelia.
“Great Martial Arts School, no the Great Weaponry School”. Zachariel responded.
“Oh? I thought you were going to join the Great Martial Arts School with me.” Hal was confused.
If his memory served him right, this guy right here inherited the prowess of excellent physical combat skills from his family. Grandfather Albert and Lord Gilbert were mana force warriors, and they displayed their excellent physical combat prowess on the battlefield.
However, their display of performance was what many would call “extraordinary”.
The whole class also observed how talented Zachariel was when it came to raw physical ability. They never saw him use a sword or any other weapon.
`Just when did this guy start fancying weapons?`, he pondered about it deeply.
He recalled that there was this girl who kept on pestering Zachariel. She declared him as her rival, and she would challenge him occasionally. They were always at a draw, and nobody could determine who was stronger between the two.
That girl’s father was a sword weapon master. She inherited his skills and was also proficient in the use of swords in combat. Her mother was similar to Zachariel’s mother. There was also competition between their two families; they were like oil and water.
`Wait, don’t tell me he’s?!`, his imagination had gone off the charts.
“Hey Zach, I know that we’re approaching that age and the feelings of love would start to bloom, but to choose that girl from the Rossi family, isn’t that-?”,
He was worried about Zachariel since that girl from the Rossi family was trouble. He was interrupted by his sister again and was hit in the head.
“Sister, why are you so mad today? Look, my head is starting to swell. Please stop-“. Hal pleaded mercy to his sister. His sister was acting weird today for reasons unknown to him.
“Oh, did you say something?”. Amelia responded while grabbing his collar. Hal was scared. `Did I say something that made her mad?`.
“Hal, you’re imagining things. I’m not interested in that girl. I’m just interested in using weapons to fight.” Zachariel said.
“Ah, is that so Zach? Well then, I’ll take that as a valid reason coming from my brother.”, Hal responded with a weak smile. He was still doubtful about this brother of his. He was bound to do some investigation later. But for now, …
“Is that all the reason why you had come here?”, Zachariel asked.
“Well, if we didn’t hear this rumor lately then that would have been all.”
Zachariel perked his ears. He was rather interested in what this rumor was all about.
“Well, it goes like this. You have noticed that more and more warriors are being sent to the border, right? Even those retired veterans are being dragged as well. I don’t know about Grandfather Albert, but the Imperium may soon order him to go to the battlefield soon.”
“Nobody knows the exact reason about this, but some has guessed that it could be because the Imperium wanted to further expand the territory, while some said that the demon beasts were becoming more active.
Regardless of the reasons, it’s also bad news for us students.”
“Are you talking about the yearly battlefield exercise?”, Amelia asked.
“Yes. The yearly battlefield exercise’s purpose is to expose us to the demon beasts and war.
Even though the instructors will be with us, some students still die either because they have gone too far from the others or they were not performing properly.
Other reasons exist too but those are the common reason why they’d die.”, Hal replied to her answer.
“If the instructors come with us, why do they not save those students who are in trouble, Hal?”, Amelia asked. She was confused about them not helping the students who were about to die.
“Save them? Amelia, I know that you’re a good-hearted person and would always help others, but the reality is cruel. The people fighting on the battlefield may depend on others, and even team up while fighting but one needs to be capable of saving themselves too.”
“Let’s say, would a mage be responsible for the death of their team members when they are lacking mana to cast offensive or protective spells?”
Hal harshly inquired Amelia. He knew that her sister was kind and caring, but the battlefield would not allow people to have the time to show their compassion to others.
“Also, what about those fools who overestimated themselves and got killed in the process? The Imperium does not need them. You should know that the battlefield exercise is also used to filter out incompetent students.
Those who had performed poorly would be expelled.”
Amelia did not reply. Her face looked despondent. She knew that her brother was teaching her a lesson.
However, her personality disagreed about the instructors ignoring the call for help from their students.
Zachariel did not think too much about it. He would rather think about becoming stronger and nothing else. If it came to helping others, he would only help if he had the strength to do so.
“The instructors would only come to our rescue when severe events occur like a company-level beast tide, or when a bunch of commander-level demon beasts or higher went astray near the battlefield exercise.
Our instructors are at least platinum-level, and they could deal with lower commander-level beasts. Also, the threat of the Three Underground Factions is present as well. If members of these disgusting people were detected, the battlefield will be on hold.”
`The Three Dark Underground Factions, huh?`, Zachariel thought of them.
“Anyway, because of the sudden change in the circumstances at the border, the Great Schools had announced that the battlefield exercises will now be conducted twice over the whole school year.
Therefore, every 40th Day of Ennea and 40th Day of Treisna, we will go to the frontlines and battle with the beasts.”
There were 10 months every year in Pandragea:
Henas, Doulos, Treisna, Tesena, Pene, Exios, Epta, Okton, Ennea, Dekane.
Each month was composed of 5 weeks, and each week was composed of 10 days. Each day had 32 hours in total.
It was a requirement for every student of the Six Great Schools to participate in the battlefield exercise.
These exercises were simultaneously conducted in several parts of Pandragea over the course of 50 days or one month.
They will be sent out as part of the advanced forces that are attacking demon beast territories, and then clear them to be used for the expansion of the land.
The land occupied by the three great empires only totaled 20% of the total coverage of the continents and islands, and the remaining 80% were uninhabitable or were occupied by the terrifying demon beasts and other creatures.
Moreover, the landmasses only covered 36% of the planet’s surface.
“Lastly, some of the classes like force warriors, battlemages, elemental mages, and the like will impose stricter demands of passing remarks.
The strength and numbers of the demon beasts, and the threat of the Three Great Dark Underground Factions are increasing. The Circle is worried that the quality of students would be sub-par.”
Zachariel was not surprised. He was unperturbed.
`Hmm? Did Zach expect this would happen? Or is he just maintaining the calmness within? Or maybe Grandfather Albert told him about this already?`, Hal pondered.
“Wait Zach, your grandfather told you of this already, right?” he asked. He felt dumb telling Zachariel about this when he already has his grandfather that would talk to him about it.
“No, grandpa only said a few pointers to me when we talked earlier. I did not know that something like this is happening Zachariel replied.
“Ah is that so?”
`Then, why do you look undisturbed about this? It’s demon beasts you know! Has your calmness reached that deep already or you don’t care about it at all?`, Hal was asking many questions in his mind.
“Anyway, it seems like the world is getting dangerous by the minute. I guess we’ll have to work harder now.”, Hal sighed. “I wonder when would we be able to experience being carefree again. Growing old sucks, you know.”
“Why do you sound depressed brother? Even though we will fight on the battlefield in the future, we’ll still remember and visit each other and catch up on times, you know.” Amelia said, with a cheering smile on her face.
“Of course, we could also team up and form a party and defeat the demon beasts together, right?”.
Looking at that innocent smile from his sister, Hal was unable to say anything. His sister was optimistic and looked at the better side of life. “Uh, yeah. I guess so”.
He then wished that it would stay that way, even if they had become veterans on the battlefield. After all, war was full of blood and death, and people could die anytime. Who knows, maybe the person you’re talking to right now might end up dead later.
Some became depressed and their personalities changed. Others even gave up on life and committed suicide because they could not take the pressure on the battlefield.
“You’re right, we’ll definitely going to do that,” Hal replied.
The mood was uplifted in the pond garden.
“Do what, brother?”, Amelia asked with curiosity.
“Team up and form a party, of course! I’m going to show you two that I have the strength to protect you both!” Hal posed in a manner of showing his non-existent muscles to Amelia and Zachariel.
Amelia laughed awkwardly. Her brother was definitely stupid. Protect? How can you protect the two of us with those muscles of yours?
“What about you, Zachariel? Will you join us?”, Amelia turned to Zachariel instead and asked him the question.
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind. Killing demon beasts alone is hard enough. After all, I do not possess the power of Prospect.” Zachariel replied. `.. yet`.
The twins agreed. Unless one was a Prospect or a high leveled warrior, nobody would choose death by fighting the demon beasts one on one.
“It’s decided then!”, Hal laughed and put a thumbs up pose. He was excited about forming a party and killing demon beasts while bringing glory to the Imperium, and fame upon himself. Once he becomes famous, many beauties would line up and ask for his hand in marriage.
`Ah, I guess fighting isn’t that bad after all.`, Hal said to himself.
“Oh yeah, Zach, are you free for today? Me and Amelia together with our other classmates had planned to walk around the city and relax for the upcoming selection. Do you want to go with us?”, Hal asked.
“No, I still have other things to do.”, Zachariel replied.
Hal was already expecting this. He just sighed, and the twins bade goodbye to Zachariel.
`That guy’s too serious.`, Hal said to himself. He was envious of how serious Zachariel was.
Hal was a carefree and complacent person, opposite of Zachariel. He wanted to work hard and become strong too, but his laziness kicks in every time he thought of training.
Uncle Zwein came back and stood on guard beside his young master. There were still 4 and a half hours before lunch. Zachariel went back to the library to read another book regarding the other races in Pandragea.
There were four main races currently known in Pandragea.
They were the humans, demi-humans, void creatures, and beasts.
