The Imperial Rangurd Academy.

This was a place of education located within the Rangurd Empire. The Academy is located in the Roa District of the Imperial Capital, Vermilia. It was an institute that boasted of producing some of the most influential individuals throughout the history of the Rangurd Empire. Moreover, it taught various disciplines that accommodated all sorts of professions.

It was regarded to be the pinnacle of education relating to magic. Because of this, it was the most enticing choice for education. This desire applied not only to the youngsters of the Rangurd Empire but also to the promising, budding talents of the neighbouring kingdoms and empires who could become international students.

Birds chirped harmoniously, signifying the break of dawn.

Kaiel’s eyes fluttered briefly before they shot open. He glanced around and saw that it was still somewhat dark. He sat up and scratched his black bed hair for a second before leaving to wash up in preparation for the new day.

Once he finished doing so, he put on a set of training garments. Next, he looked around his dorm room. The room was large and spacious, consisting of a comfy-looking bed in the corner, a large and wide desk with an assortment of books on top of it, and a rack holding a Rangurd Empire-style sword. On the opposite end was a large glass window with a small balcony overlooking the academy grounds.

This was the standard room provided to students of the Rangurd Academy.

Despite having inhabited this room for nearly two months, it still felt somewhat foreign to him. He was unused to the luxurious and extravagant nature of the room. But then again, the Academy reeked of this quality throughout its buildings and properties. So rather than the dorm room itself, it was the Academy as a whole that he felt a sense of discomfort to.

It was initially a place exclusive to the nobles of the Empire. Because of this, their preferences and touch for furniture could be seen everywhere. Only recently were commoners and individuals who weren't nobles of the Empire allowed to enrol into the Academy.

And Kaiel was one such individual. He counted himself extremely lucky that he was able to get in. He shook his head slightly to rid himself of his distracting thoughts and then grabbed the sword on the wall before heading off to one of the training halls designated for the students to use.

Every day, his schedule began at five in the morning sharp. First, he would train for a while before heading to the classes that ran for the day. To others, this kind of early morning practice was a bit extreme, but in Kaiel’s case, it was the bare minimum he had to do if he wanted to stay at this prestigious place.

The academy could also be called the breeding ground for monsters in the making. And there was no way a person with what they call an 'average capacity' for magic could keep up with them if he didn’t try two times, no, several times harder than them.

With practised movements, he quietly opened the window to his balcony, reinforced his legs with mana and jumped out of his room to the ground several meters below. He avoided leaving through the dorm's lobby to prevent alerting the dorm mother.

While it wasn't forbidden to be up so early, the woman wasn't especially fond of young students taxing their bodies at such an early time. The last time he got caught, he had received an earful of insults.

The training facilities were located just a short distance from the dorms in consideration of students such as Kaiel who wanted to train. It was an easy-to-access and convenient location to be. As expected of a well-reputed place, the Academy spared no effort in making their training facilities cutting-edge.

Each of the numerous training halls was enormous and could fit many students training simultaneously. Moreover, the facility was made of material naturally resistant to impacts and mana. This had to be the case since it would be quite the failure if it broke down so easily.

He opened the doors to one of several training halls and saw that it was completely empty, which was to be expected. Very few in their right minds would be training so early in the morning. Most of the typical fifteen-year-old students, whether they be the most talented in the world or not, cared more about other things.

This was another reason Kaiel had his training sessions so early in the morning. He liked the peaceful surroundings.

The room was massive. But even then, Kaiel decided to situate himself in a corner to perform his training. He unsheathed his sword, academy-issued, and swung it.

Once, twice, thrice. It was a simple basic swing, but at the same time, it was the most fundamental movement. He practised it relentlessly. Once he felt satisfied with that movement, he would move on to the next, which was a stab.

After hundreds of renditions of the same sets of movements, he finally moved on to the Imperial Rangurd Style. It was a general sword style which the instructors of the Academy taught.

It was originally a military-made sword style that the Academy had adopted and taught to students who did not already have a weapon style they were already adept at.

As one of those “commoner” and “non-noble” students, it was no surprise that he did not have a style he knew prior to entering the Academy. After all, those were exclusive to powerful families with renowned masters.

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It must’ve been a while already as he noticed it was bright outside, the sun had risen at some point, and the sunlight cascaded into the training hall through the glass ceiling.

Looking around the hall, it was now filled with several other students who were also diligently practising their own respective techniques.

Having done enough, Kaiel decided it was time to leave. He left for his dorm to eliminate the sweat accumulated in his hard training. After showering, he wore his academy uniform: a white blazer, undershirt, dress shirt, black tie and white bottoms. Students in the Academy spent three years here; each year’s uniform was a distinct colour. White for first and second years, and then third years had black uniforms.

He looked one last time in a mirror to ensure he was presentable before grabbing an assortment of books from his desk and leaving, this time, through the lobby. The dorm's lobby was now bustling with activity as most of the students were awake and also, like him, preparing for the day’s classes.

The dorms were located in the western area of the Roa District, and the classrooms were in the central region, with the training halls between them. During his walk there, he overheard students talking excitedly about something.

“Today’s the day, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Our official rankings will be released today.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I almost completely forgot.”

“Do you think you’ll be ranked highly?”

“No way. While I’m confident I performed well in the practical exam, I completely flunked the theoretical side.”

"I'm curious as to who the top ranking students will be though, will it be the same as last time?"

Their talks reminded Kaiel that the Academy would release the first year’s overall student rankings today.

Apparently, these rankings were assigned to students based on several factors. The two biggest influences would be the two examinations they had last month, namely, the practical and theoretical exams.

The practical exam assessed a student’s magical capabilities and combat-related proficiencies. In contrast, the theoretical exam was knowledge-based academics on various topics. The results of these two assessments would then contribute to your overall ranking in the Academy.

These rankings would be released on a monthly basis and were refreshed after each iteration of exams. Kaiel had been living in the academy grounds for two months, but their classes had only been going on for a month.

So aside from their initial rankings which were determined from the entrance exams they completed, this would be the first time rankings would be refreshed.

This was a nerve-wracking experience for most of the students in the Academy. As their rankings were also accompanied with various consequences.

In the central region, several buildings were serving as classrooms. They were further divided into first, second and third-year buildings.

At the entrance of the main building for the first years, a large number of students had gathered in the foyer.

They all had their heads craned slightly, looking up at an announcement board. Presumably, it was the rankings.

Students who were eager to know their position gently pushed into the group and weaved between others in order to get a closer look causing looks and cries of discontent to fly around.

Kaiel glanced at the top of the rankings for a brief moment, and with no change in expression, he proceeded to walk to his classroom. Kaiel belonged to Class IX.

Each class consisted of around thirty to forty students. Each year had twenty classes, making the total student count for the first years around 700 students. There was no specific rule or method for how students were assigned to any of the twenty classes, regardless of their background and status.

This was different from the past manner it used, which allocated students accordingly based on their overall abilities. However, since the Academy had only recently opened its doors to individuals other than nobles, they favoured this random assignment to avoid favouritism to any one side.

It was also intended to promote growth in a harmonious relationship between the students.

The classroom of Class IX was still completely empty. This was to be expected. Most students were still busy checking out the rankings and entering the classroom where they would have to attend a boring lesson was one of the last things on their minds.

The classrooms were very standard. Multiple rows of desks and chairs were neatly arranged, the instructor’s podium was at the front of the classroom, and a large board was on the wall. The structure of classrooms did not change even in such an elite academy.

Kaiel’s seat was located dead centre of the classroom. He placed his books on the desk, headed over to the large windows and opened them, letting fresh air seep into the room.

Again, he liked the peaceful and quiet atmosphere, fleeting as it would be. He returned to his seat, brought out a pen and, without hesitation, began to scribble away at a stable pace.

This continued for several minutes, even after the classroom door was opened several times. And as more and more time passed, classmates entered one by one, and the quiet classroom quickly transitioned into one full of chatter and discussion.

Of course, everyone still had yet to fully get over the buzz of the results.

But Kaiel managed to tune out their existence as he continued to work hard. It was a skill he had honed for a long time, and he was confident in focusing even in noisy environments such as these. As long as there were no physical disturbances, of course.

But as luck would have it, his focus was not meant to last.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over his desk. He looked up in reaction to this and was surprised to see the body of another student blocking his vision.

With a loud thud that sent the class into a deafening silence, Kaiel’s books were knocked to the floor, and his table was misaligned as the student used it to break his fall.

Kaiel had also managed to brace the student’s fall slightly in reflex.

The student, a brown-haired boy who looked rather timid, clutched his chest and trembled slightly.

He could hear the mumble of another student, “Ah damn it.”

A snarky voice then caught Kaiel’s attention, “Ah. Look what you’ve done, Leo. We told you to be careful, hurry up and apologise.”

In front of him were three boys with sinister smiles plastered across their faces. Their uniforms were neat without a single crease, and they exuded an arrogant aura.

In response to the boy’s voice, Leo, who was sprawled across his desk, quickly gathered his bearings and forced himself up. He swivelled his head around as he searched for all the stationery and books that had fallen onto the floor and scattered because of him.

Clumsily, he gathered them together and fumbled around to arrange them back onto Kaiel’s desk in an orderly state. While he was doing this, Kaiel looked at him without so much as a word. He examined Leo’s face and noticed that it was slightly swollen. The boy was still rubbing his chest in discomfort.

Leo forced a wry smile on his pained face, “Ah…Uh. I’m really sorry.”

Seeing as there was no response from Kaiel, Leo peeked at his face but saw nothing of note to indicate how the boy was feeling.

It was clear to Kaiel that the boy before him was not at fault. Kaiel glared at the three boys behind him.