Medullan Forward Camp.
Lune hung high up in the sky, illuminating the nighttime of Pandragea.
In one of the medical tents inside the camp, two people were strapped tightly. The straps were equipped with nullification magic array formation. They were unable to circulate their mana or qi essence.
Their mouths were gagged, and faint breathing sounds could be heard at times. There was a faint light coming from a magic lamp.
Somebody entered the tent. It was a woman.
“I hope you behaved while I was away, my little children.”
The breathing started to rapidly increase. One of them even started to groan. Unfortunately, no sound came out of the tent.
“Good, you’re excited. I’m getting excited too. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I can’t wait anymore.”
Her voluptuous body swayed, and her two bosoms were bouncing every time she took her steps.
She walked into a corner and picked up a knife. She licked her lips, then approached one of them.
The groaning became louder.
“Let’s start, shall we? My adorable little children.” She laughed coquettishly.
She lifted the knife and stabbed it into one of the patients.
Zachariel woke up. He had a bad dream.
He felt as if her mother was performing a “healing session” on him. It did not feel good in any way.
Beads of sweat fell from his body. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes.
“Brother, don’t go away.” A faint female voice could be heard on his left side. He opened his eyes and turned his head.
He saw Anastasia sleeping. She was muttering gibberish, and Zachariel could not understand any of it.
`This girl. Can she stop sneaking around already? ` Zachariel did not disapprove of her sleeping in his bed. Zachariel did not, however, liked how she always sneaked around his bedroom and him waking up beside her.
After all, he was the one who mostly took care of her in her 8 years in life, and she depended on him greatly.
She would sometimes come to his room because she was scared, depressed, or wanted to play with Zachariel.
Zachariel would bring her back to her room when she fell asleep.
Their parents had spent most of their time on the borders, hunting and helping the advance forces of the Imperium.
When in the household, Gilbert Strom, his father, was busy taking care of matters of the household and the Imperial Court.
Anabella was able to spend her time with Anastasia when there was no work. Unfortunately, they were frequently being called to the borders, thus resulting in the current situation of the Strom Household.
He patted her head, and let out a smile. He deeply cared for her, even though they would fight and disagree at times.
He went out of the bed and fixed the sheets so that she could continue in her comfortable sleep.
He yawned and stretched out. He will depart today to the Imperium Capital City.
He entered another room. He unclothed himself and put his clothes into the cleaner.
The cleaner started its work while Zachariel stepped into the bathroom and took a shower. After bathing, he dried himself up using the magic heater, took his clothes from the cleaner, and went out.
Anastasia was already awake and was sitting in his bed.
“Brother, will you really leave today?”, she asked in a sad tone. She did not want her brother to go and wanted to stay by his side all the time.
“Yes, Anastasia.”, Zachariel replied.
“Will you still come back home and see me?”
“Yes, I will.”
“I see.”
Anastasia became happy. She had made up her mind. She stood up and hugged him.
“Ok, Brother, don’t forget what you have just promised now!”.
Zachariel smiled and patted her head. Anastasia was feeling happy inside.
`One day, I will participate in the school selection and join one of the six Great Schools. Wait for me, Brother! `, she said in her mind.
She then let go of Zachariel and left the room in a hurry. She skipped while clasping her hands on her back.
`Wow, what a turn of events.`. Zachariel was used to her mood shifts.
After breakfast, Zachariel, the twins, and another branch member proceeded to the Central Square of Brion City. The beastmasters were waiting there for those who had signed up for the school selection event.
Grandfather Albert, Uncle Zwein, Anastasia, and some guards and maids stood at the gate of the mansion. They said some farewell messages to the four children.
`Should I have told him about that?`, Grandfather Albert was hesitating on his mind. There was this very special matter that he really wanted to talk to with Zachariel.
However, before he could do anything, Zachariel and the group had already left.
In the end, he was unable to tell Zachariel what was on his mind. `Never mind, I’ll tell him when he has chosen his class. `
Zachariel and the group went to the Central Square together. On the way, they talked about various stuff and met many other students who were going to the central square.
Zachariel was silent. He was not interested in any of their discussion whatsoever.
They soon arrived at the Central Square. It was huge.
It had an area of 2.5km. In the middle of the square was a huge statue. The figure was a human standing. His two hands were holding the sword that was embedded on the ground. It was silver and shined in a way that was pleasing to the eyes.
Many people sat in the blocks beside the statue.
Huge flying demon beasts could also be seen. They were under the control of one beastmaster.
The demon beasts were used as transportation to the Imperium Capital City. Some of them were flying, while others were on the ground. There were at least 50 of them.
The students amounted to at least 10,000. After a few minutes of waiting, the beastmaster stood in the center of the square.
“Attention! I am Master Hans Evans. I am the beastmaster assigned to transport all of you into the Imperium Capital City. Form a line and wait for your names to be called. You will be boarding the silver eagles. Each one can carry between 75-200 students.”, the beastmaster said. He was someone of the master-level fighter.
“Only that much?”, some students started a commotion. How were they supposed to go to the event if they would have to wait and not make it in time?
“Don’t worry now. My silver eagles are very fast. It will just take a few hours of travel from here to the Imperium Capital City”. The beastmaster assured the students.
The students were relieved when they heard that. The commotion stopped.
Now that everything was in order, the beastmaster started calling the names of the students. After a few minutes, the names of the four Strom family members were called.
“…, Zachariel Strom, Hal Strom, Amelia Strom, Janne Strom, …”
The four Strom members arrived in front of a silver eagle and boarded it. The silver eagles were at least 25 meters long. This one was 50 meters long and was able to carry 200 students. Luckily, they were part of the first batch, or else they would have to wait in the second batch at night.
After boarding the silver eagle, Hal looked around.
“Oh, she’s not here?”. He was wondering where that girl from the Rossi Family was.
`Well, that’s better. At least it will be peaceful when we travel`. Hal was feeling great. That girl was just annoying and had nothing but challenge, challenge, and another challenge and he was getting sick of it.
After a few more minutes, all of the silver eagles were full.
“Attention! All of my Silver Eagles are already full and we’re good to go.” The beast boarded the biggest Silver Eagle, where Zachariel was.
“For the rest, wait here at exactly 23:00 in the afternoon. I’ll pick up any remaining students in the next batch”.
He commanded his silver eagles to fly.
The silver eagles were fast, traveling at 300 kilometers per hour. Fortunately, the students were protected by the beast master’s mana shield. Otherwise, all of the students would have been crushed by the air pressure.
On the way to the sky, they were able to see the vast land of the Imperium. The students began to chat with each other.
“Yo! This is the peak of life! Hahaha!”, Hal was feeling excited. After all, this was the first time he rode a commander-level demon beast and at a very fast speed at that.
Amelia giggled. She was excited too, especially when she was with Zachariel.
“Oh yeah, Zach.” Hal looked over to where Zachariel was. He wanted to ask something about where they should stay when they arrived at the Imperium Capital City.
Zachariel slept comfortably. He was uninterested in viewing the landscape and talking to people. Hal was speechless. He would ask Zachariel later.
Hal, Amelia, and Janne talked with each other instead. Some of their classmates would come by and join in their discussions.
They arrived at the Imperium Capital City after 6 hours of traveling. They left Brion City at 10:15 in the morning and it was noon now.
They were greeted by very tall and thick walls made of stone. The walls were 60 meters high, and 8 meters thick. It stretched for hundreds of kilometers.
They could see the big and grand Imperium Palace located on the other side.
Amelia was astonished by the sight.
“Wow! So beautiful!” She marveled over how wondrous the Imperium Capital City was.
The other students were astonished as well. Most of them were visiting the Imperium Capital City for the first time. One of their biggest wishes was to see the capital city at least once in their life.
“We’ve arrived.” The beastmaster slowed down and landed on the ground a few hundred meters away from the city wall.
After the students boarded out of the silver eagles, he ordered the demon beasts to rest.
He went into the entrance gate with the students in tow.
There was a line of merchants, fighters, and other people entering the gate.
One required a pass before they could enter.
Meanwhile, the beastmaster went straight into one of the lines and strode where the Imperium guards were and handed them his emblem.
The guard captain received his emblem. He went inside the guard room and verified his identity. The guard captain went back outside and returned the emblem.
“All right, these people are cleared. Let them in.”
The beastmaster turned around and told the students that they could go inside now.
They entered the huge entrance gate which was 12 meters long and 6 meters high. There were three different entrance sections and one exit. What they went in from now were for those people which was reserved for the students of the six Great Schools.
The beastmaster had to vouch for them since they were still not students of the six Great Schools yet.
Once they were inside, they saw the beastmaster talking to another person. He was dressed in white robes with golden outlines and the Imperium insignia could be seen on the left side of the robe.
Another insignia could be found in his arms. It was the figure of a hand opened wide, conjuring a fire at the middle of its palms.
On his right chest was another insignia with a hand holding a scroll.
He has long blonde hair, an oval face, almond-shaped eyes which were colored brown and straight eyebrows.
“These are the first batch of students from Brion City. There are at least 4,000 of them.”
“Ok, when will the next batch arrive?”
“Later this night at 29:45”.
“Alright, I’ll take care of them now. You go back and fetch the rest”.
The beastmaster left and the white-robed person took over.
“Hello students, I am Matthias Van Houten. I am an Elemental Mage and an instructor of the Great Magic School branch here in the Imperium Capital City”.
The students were astonished when the person introduced himself. A bigshot was actually their tour guide for today.
“I will be guiding you over in the Imperium Capital City. Do behave and follow me. If any of you tries to do something funny, I’ll revoke your pass in entering the school selection event tomorrow.”
He was strict and didn’t want any mishaps to happen. He wanted to display his authority as an instructor so that these students would know their place.
“Follow me.”
They toured over the Imperium Capital City and saw new things that they haven’t seen before. Fierce-looking fighters, robed alchemists, burly blacksmiths, the imperial guards patrolling, and many more.
Unlike Brion City, there were more people here and everyone was extremely busy.
“Your accommodations are already taken care of. I will lead you there now.”
The southwest and southeast of the Imperium Capital City was the location of the residence area.
The southwest was for the common people, while the southeast people of nobility. The dormitories of the students of the six Great Schools were found northeast, situated near the Great Schools.
The accommodations of the students were located south in between the two residential areas. Many apartments were located here.
“All right, we’ve arrived”.
The students were tired after a round of touring in the Imperium Capital City. It was very huge and they had only covered less than 5% of what the city could offer.
“I’ll say out your names and which apartment and room you will stay. I’ll give you a pass and you must hold to them dearly or else you’ll have to spend your time in the streets.”
He then started calling their names and handed out the passes.
“…, Zachariel Strom, Hal Strom, …” He listed out additional names then handed the pass to one of them.
“You will be staying at the Wandering Cove on the 2nd floor, Room 203.”
Hal and Zachariel followed the person who was given the pass. He was burly.
The guy handed the pass to the staff at the counter, collected the keystone then went upstairs.
The room was very big, enough to accommodate 10 of them. Zachariel and Hal picked the two beds closest to the door.
They went out to have dinner with Amelia, Janne, and their classmates. After that, they went back and slept early.
Tomorrow came.
The yearly school selection event would commence today and many of the Imperium’s Imperium Court and Golden Guardians members were present. Even the Emperor himself attended the said event. The dignitaries from the other races were present too.
They were going to watch the results of this year’s school selection event and find any good seeds that they could identify.
Both the students and the officials were excited.
Everyone gathered in the Central Square of the Imperium Capital City, where the stage was already set.
Emperor Marcus stood in front of the many students and officials, then gave his speech.
“I know that all of you are excited so I’ll keep this short. Today, the strength of the Great Human Imperium will rise again. “
“The threat of the demon beasts still exists, and you, soon-to-be students of the six Great Schools, will be the foundation of the Great Human Imperium and the Tripartite Alliance against the fight for the demon beasts and those rats of the Three Dark Underground Factions.”
“We expect great things from you, and hope that everyone’s wishes would come true today.”
“I, Emperor Marcus, hereby declare the start of the school selection event on this 50th Day of Pene in the year 1682 of the Expansion Era!”
