Before us, stood the majestic academy revered by many in the country as one of the finest. The academy's base was far larger up close than I had originally anticipated, bigger than most market squares, radiating an icy cold presence that seemed to run chills down my skin even through our thick coats.

It rotated upwards into the frosty clouds in a majestic spiral, its tip difficult even for me to see from up close. A light blue dome seemed to mask its exterior, covering it in a bubble of mana—a barrier. For one of the most famous academies in the country, it was necessary to maintain high levels of security for the children of royal families that would be attending. The barrier also seemed to act as a cleanser of sorts, repelling and maintaining the outer layers of icy white paint on the building.

No, at this level it seemed more like an art piece than a building. Like some sort of articulately crafted sculpture, reminding all who passed by it of its beauty.

“Make way for Zachir of house Lightheel.”

“Make way for Maria of house Steeldragon.”

…

More voices echoed onward as around us, children along with their parents were seen entering and exiting the bubble of the academy as if its shield of protection was nonexistent. Expensive, decorated carriages were lined up neatly against the paved roadside as children dressed far more luxuriously than others coming by foot, stepped out to make their way into the academy. Wearing expensive jewelry, articulately decorated jackets, and togas, several children were even carried directly into the academy.

I couldn't say the clothing my parents had bought for me was any cheaper, so I couldn't exactly be the one complaining.

Honestly, I couldn't help but feel slightly out of place. Our expensive-looking snow gear seemed to separate us from the commoner children, yet the lack of refinement or expensive dazzling carriageways or ornaments seemed to ostracise us from the nobility too.

There was a striking divide between the nobility and the commoners entering the academy. Even though they entered through the same entrance. Looks of disdain and pity seemed to emanate from most nobles as they looked down on most commoners. While looks of reverie, jealousy or sometimes even hatred were returned.

“Let's go,” My father said, as he gently held my hand, leading me with Urila and Lita in tow towards the academy's outer bubble, a transparent gateway apparent at the front.

“A simple but powerful barrier. I already applied for our entrance.” My father said, taking out a small red gemstone, engraved with the mark of a door.

Stepping through the barrier, felt like stepping through air, intangible and non-existent. However, as soon as we passed through, it was as if we were warped directly into the building, a blue mansion-like interior surrounded us. Its snow-white walls were complimented by ice-blue rugs and curtains. Ornaments made of dazzling sapphire or blue crystals lined the academy's walls, a soft white hue emanating from its surface to light up its surroundings.

We seemed to be in a lobby of sorts, as a long front desk stood at the front of the room. A door on either side. Two lines of children could be seen walking down either aisle, it was pretty simple to see in what order they were separated as one line exuded more wealth than the other.

“Tene, since I’m hiding my identity, sadly, you can't join in with the other noble children. Of course, it's just for the meantime. By the time you begin your time at the academy, everything should be sorted out.” My father said.

“It's fine father, these nobles look rather pretentious anyways,” I replied disdainfully. Arrogance was fine as long as it was earned. These children didn't look any older than me, where did they earn the right to look at the other children like that?

“I agree, even though the divide had gotten much better, it's certainly still there. I'm glad my daughter doesn't sneer at others less fortunate. Your mother raised you well while I was gone.” My father said proudly.

Well, it wasn't as if I came to such a conclusion through my mother's guidance. After all, at the end of the day ability or talent was just another factor dependent on luck, so I preferred to sneer at others for their overall character over their actual ability. Of course, such a thing was dependent on what values I liked in an individual, so at the end of the day, I wasn't really any different from the noble children who sneered at the commoner children from their lofty positions. Well, It wasn't like my father needed to know any of this. I didn't want to dash his dreams after all.

Walking with my father, we lined up behind a mother and his son. Both wore ragged torn clothing, even amongst the commoners in the area, they seemed to stand out. Generating an almost palpable aura of poverty. The commoner children in front of them seemed to keep their distance, a gap in the line forming. Well, gaps in status were prevalent in all classes, not just between the abject rich and poor.

“Hi there. You guys must also be attempting the awakening ceremony. This here is Tene, my daughter.” My father said. Being the kind gentleman he was, he completely ignored whatever status they seemed to emanate. Treating them no different than how he would treat any other passerby.

“Haaah!” The mother replied. Jumping upwards startled, she clearly was not anticipating such a man like my father walking up and talking to them casually. She had ashen grey hair, riddled with god knows what, it appeared dirty and somewhat tattered. Her face was thin and malnourished, she wasn't exactly a template for beauty.

“H-hello,” She replied feebly, turning away from my father. This was something my father never seemed to realize, The sun can be far too dazzling to someone that has never witnessed its light, blinding even.

“I can sense great potential from your son. I can see why you threw away everything for this.” My father said warmly. No, he probably already knew. He knew their situation, he knew their difficulties, but he never came at them from a high position. He always chose to meet them at their level.

Most would mistake my father for a naive man, but he wasn't blinded by the evils of this world. Instead, he chose to meet them headfirst, extinguishing them in his light. Honestly, it garnered my respect.

“Y-you couldn't even imagine, I'm staking everything on him.” She replied hesitantly. I didn't want to know what had happened in her life, but like everyone else, she had certainly been betrayed, lied to, or worse. Yet she seemed to instinctually trust in my father's light. It was the effect he had on people.

I could sense her hardship and determination in her voice. Perhaps one would say placing such responsibilities and burdens on such a young boy was wrong. I would say otherwise.

“Where do you think he'll take you?” My father asked.

“Outside of our misery.” The woman responded, I could sense the desperation in her voice.

The boy, similar to his mother moved his overgrown grey hair out of his eyes. Silver, curious eyes stared back at us. His gaze held on me for a moment before shifting to my father.

“Im going to change this world.” He replied. There was next to no shred of hesitation or uncertainty in his voice. What he had just said sounded absolutely ridiculous, yet his tone made me believe him for a moment. His gaze carried a strong piercing look, blasting away the air of peasantry that surrounded them. He almost seemed nobler than the nobles themselves in the opposite line.

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“A difficult, near impossible task.” My father replied. Yet his tone seemed to oppose his actual words.

“How would you go about doing that?” My father added.

“By eradicating all evil.” The child responded.

“Hahahaha” My bell-like laughter seemed to cut through the boy's heroic atmosphere. I couldn't help but laugh. What an idiotic dream, what an impossible dream, what a lofty dream.

Impressive.

Surprised by my laughter, he glanced at me coldly, about to respond.

“Next.” Cutting him off, however, was the lady at the front desk, indicating his turn in line.

Giving myself and my father one last formal glance they made their way towards the front desk. A cute-looking girl with light red freckles and a jubilant aura received them.

“An interesting boy.” My father spoke up, impressed.

“Watch it Tene, don't underestimate him. His eyes showed me he wasn't joking around, he could certainly accomplish his dream.” My father said.

“I know,” I replied.

Did my father think I was ridiculing him?

“I find people like that impressive,” I added.

A strong silence followed when I spoke those words. Did I say something wrong?

“Regardless, you won't be talking to any boys until far into the future.” My father said… jokingly?

“Next.” The woman at the counter spoke up again, Indicating our turn.

The boy and his mother had already walked on ahead. I don't believe we had ever gotten their names.

Walking up to the counter, The woman jubilantly bowed her head, almost smacking it into the table below her. A bit too jubilant.

“W-welcome to Snowcape Academy. F-f-final Ragistration please!” The clerk shouted, rather unnecessarily loudly as well. Her eyes were plastered on my father.

Ugh.

“It's final registration, Cynthia.” A dignified and cool voice interrupted the woman's sorry attempt at a greeting.

It looked like all the nobles had already finished up, leaving their clerk free of responsibilities. I couldn't help but pray the selection of staff wasn't based on social class as well.

The woman had well-kept blonde hair and a dignified older face, with apparent signs of aging. She reminded me of Lisette to be honest. Her stance, gaze, and speech looked rehearsed and perfected. She had been in this line of work for a long time.

“Sorry, headmistress!” Jumping up in surprise, Cynthia yelled out a response almost instinctually.

A repeat offender.

“Haah, just move.” Sighing lightly, she switched places with Cynthia.

“Apologies for that earlier display. Welcome to Snowpeak Academy. There are about thirty minutes remaining for participants of the class unlock. I assume it's this beautiful young girl here that will be participating? You must be her guardian then? Please just fill out this form here, here, and here, then sign. Thank you.” The headmistress spoke quickly, elegantly, and precisely. Honestly, it was like night and day. Pointing to some final registration forms she quickly gathered some final signatures from my father.

“Well then, I'm sure we shall meet again. Please head on through the left gate.” Bowing lightly she waited patiently as we walked on past her towards the exit of the hall. Cynthia on the other hand looked rather lost. Perhaps still reminiscing about her earlier mistakes and their consequences I presumed.

Walking past the door on the left we entered a small cubicle room with numbered symbols on the left side. One symbol already highlighted a vibrant red, began to glow even brighter as we entered. The door shutting close behind us, the cubicle room began to lift upwards, as I felt the same rising feeling in my gut I would feel when taking off with my wings.

“An elevator. Rare but used effectively in buildings like this.” My father responded, sensing my confusion.

“I see” I responded. I guess the symbols would be the numbering of the floors then. The glowing number said six, so we probably weren't going up the tower too high. Sensing the end of the rising sensation, The lift came to a soft halt. The doors then slowly opened up before us.

Flooding my field of vision was a neat and stylish lobby. Laced with red ribbons around its edges, it had a completely dissimilar look to the lobby at the entrance. With a black-painted interior, expensive-looking red leather chairs clustered at different spots in the room.

The Children that I had seen earlier downstairs were all neatly seated in separate groups in different areas with their designated guardians. They seemed to take this as an opportunity to socialize with one another as heavy chatter filled the room. Most people didn't even notice our presence.

Looking around, I found the boy and his mother that we had been talking to downstairs, seated at one cluster of seats, alone. It appeared nobody wanted to sit next to them. Well, they did kind of smell. I wasn't even being rude, they did.

At the front of the lobby, an old man who appeared to struggle even walking up to the front counter shakily put down his cane. His face was severely wrinkled, with how slow aging worked with the use of statuses, I couldn't help but wonder how old he was.

His eyes were staring us down, he probably wanted us to sit.

Taking his hint, My father and I made our way to the open seats by the young boy and his mother. The mother softly nodded at my father, while the boy looked at me with a piercing gaze, analyzing me.

“Looks like everyone is here. My name is Rushel, the general priest who will guide and help each one of you achieve a satisfactory awakening.” Rushel said. His voice was far louder and more controlled than his old age would indicate. A couple of children sitting around had surprised looks on their faces so I guessed it wasn't a particularly normal thing.

“I'll call out each one of your names in order and you'll follow me with your guardian one by one for your awakening. This will be done in private in the backroom. Any questions?” Rushel said. His tone held no traces of emotion, almost as if he had rid himself of desires entirely. Honestly speaking, I didn't like him.

“Yes, What classes are the church against, in terms of selection?” I asked. Many gazes looked my way for the first time as I spoke. Some gazes were curious, some gazes lost interest and some stared rather rudely.

“...Any class oriented with a god outside the one and true god. Though such a class shouldn't be possible since our status was granted by her alone. Also, any class outlawed to cause harmful negative effects to the user or those around them, anti-hero classes or king slayer classes for example.” Rushel said. As he uttered the words anti-hero or kingslayer, many of the guardians showed disgusted expressions on their faces, as if such names shouldn't even be uttered.

What caught my attention more though, was what he said at the beginning. Based on what the goddess had told me, there would certainly be other classes available to me from her. There was also the class I unlocked close to my birth, though I wasn't certain if the class was from the goddess or not.

I need to think of a workaround of some kind. Some way to fool this senile geezer.

“The chances of acquiring such a class should be close to impossible as well, however, since the requirements would be almost impossible for children such as yourself to acquire.” Rushel continued.

I wasn't so sure as to what such requirements would entail, but it did look to be for the better if such classes were not chosen. I did however think there was a reason why a god of justice would include such classes in the status page. Making it impossible to select, really didn't seem fair to me.

“Ok, any more questions?” Rushel asked.

“Yes, why should such classes be banned? Or else why would the goddess have included such a selection? Wouldnt that mean she allowed them?” The boy next to me spoke up vibrantly as if he didn't see the problem of asking such a question in such a situation.

Is he dense?

“Iona!!l” His mother warned, her voice rising severely. I guess even she knew he shouldn't have said that. His name was Ional huh?

“It's fine,” Rushel said, smiling warmly for the first time. I found it creepy as hell.

“Children are the bedrock of our society, removing weeds from the root before they sprout is far better than leaving them unattended, to fester,” Rushel added.

“Answering your question, let me ask you one in return.” bringing out a sheathed knife eerily out of the cabinet next to him, he threw it towards the boy.

Catching it, the boy and his mother looked at the priest confused.

“Remove the blade from the sheath,” Rushel asked his tone back to that of a lake, still. No, perhaps a hole would better describe it, empty.

Following the priest's orders Ional unsheathed the blade, A dangerous glint showed that the blade was dangerously sharp. Giving such a sharp blade to a child?

“Now stab that girl next to you,” Rushel said.

…

“Are you insane!” Ional continued, turning the blade towards the priest. Interestingly, he instantly directed the blade toward what he comprehended to be a sign of evil, his surprise instantly dissipating.

“A part of the lesson of course. But surely you must see what I mean? In the holy texts, it's clearly stated that our goddess gave us free will for all, whether to kill your neighbor or destroy a kingdom, only through her kind and benevolent heart. But does that mean that you can just do such vile acts and deeds?” Rushel said. What a manipulative man, I thought to myself. He was trying to subtly cage in our free will by linking it to the goddess’s benevolence.

“No,” Ional replied. I could tell he hadn't been grabbed by the priest's words yet. After all, others were nodding their heads or looking at the priest intently as if to gain wisdom from his words. I could tell the church had a strong influence on the common populace.

“Now, also stated in our texts are the principals and guides handed down by those entrusted to them by the goddess herself. Would you question the word of god herself? For a heart capable of will against her simply due to her kindness?” Rushel spoke. Many around nodded their head in agreement, some children put their hands in prayer with their guardians, moved by the priest's words.

I wasn't moved in the slightest. He had worded his speech in a way that made it difficult to think to question the words of those ‘entrusted’ by the goddess in the first place. Ridiculous.

I couldn't help but wonder if he himself actually truly believed in the things he was saying. I doubted it.

“...” Ional replied through silence. I myself couldn't even tell if he was sold by the priest's words or not.

“Anyways, we have gone far over schedule. Why don't you follow me in first then?” Rushel said. Hinting at the boy and his mother to start off the ceremony.