Many academies contacted John and tried to secure his enrollment. Nine hadn’t picked one to attend yet either.

John had a mind to enroll in the lowest-rated academy since he didn’t want to further antagonize the Li, but Amber needed him to attend the best.

After accepting enrollment, the weekly recap stated both John and Nine were attending the top-rated Premier Grand Akua Koa Academy, one of the two mixed clan academies.

With the two credits John received for attaining second place in the enrollment exam, he currently had 14 credits, and had earned a total of 29 and a fifth credits. He needed to earn many more for Amber’s plan to work.

For the remaining six weeks until the academic year started, John studied and trained. He’d be on his own at the academy with no Abe to help him. He’d still have Avatar though, and if he ever got a solid grasp on the fundamentals, he’d be able to utilize her training for [Skills] he didn’t yet qualify for. Even after all his studying, most fundamentals such as [Algebra] were still in early Novice Mastery, barely out of Neophyte.

Premier Grand Akua Koa Academy was on a small island close to the Palm continent. All the Li attending were to arrive the day before classes were to start. After exiting the portal, John was very impressed and thought the campus and buildings were beautiful.

After waiting in line and checking in with an Alii trainee, John was given a room number he was to board in. He was handed a bag placed off to the side away from the others which all came with the exact storage bracer he already wore. The Alii asked for Talker’s old biosuit to be returned, and he gave it to her.

No Li looked lost or confused, which surprised John as he had a lot of questions. He checked in his CSL and found a map of campus and a general schedule. He even found a personal schedule just for him. The next required event he was to attend was for a commencement ceremony in the morning.

On the way to his dorm, most of the Li ignored John and a few gave him strange looks as he passed. They all seemed excited, and he could understand why. Most of them were 16 years of age. Some would be 17.

The graduation rate for Li academy was about 92%. John wasn’t certain if it changed for specific academies. Maybe the lower-rated academies had higher failure rates or vice versa. The failures would be recycled through and given a second chance. If they failed to graduate on their second try, they’d be sterilized and shipped off to Palm. He wasn’t sure if the same standard applied to himself. He wasn’t even sure if he was now officially considered Li or not.

After making his way to his room, John found it unoccupied. There were nine beds, each with a bureau and chair beside it and a chest at its foot. He wondered what the bureau and chest were for if all students had storage bracers. He was in dorm 2, room 211. There were nine floors in total, and each floor had communal waste and shower rooms, a sauna, and a lounge.

The bag John was given at check-in contained two school uniforms, what looked to be two outfits to wear while exercising, and comfortable boots, all possessing the standard item soft-glyph as well as a [Major Resize] rune. Since all Li were about the same size once grown, items made for them only had the [Lesser Resize] rune. Why his bag was placed off to the side of the others now made sense, as it would’ve been easy to remove the storage bracer from any bag and hand it to him.

Most of the other Li had already changed into the school uniform, so John donned his over the robes he always wore, put on the new boots, and placed everything else inside his bracer. Since he wanted to practice with the bolter as long as possible, he had just the day before unbound Talker’s old biosuit.

The uniform was just a loose robe with the school symbol, which was similar to the Koa clan symbol. John’s own boots were better than the school issued boots, but a uniform was called a uniform for a reason.

Having nothing else to do, John sat on the bed in the farthest corner of the room and meditated, creating emptiness. He stopped meditating when a Li entered the room and placed his belongings into the bureau nearest the door. The Li completely ignored him and left the room after unpacking.

Why not keep those items in the storage bracer, wondered John.

Soon after the Li left, John received a message through his CSL ordering him to immediately report to the Rector in the administrative building. He left some junk items on the bed and in the bureau, marking that bed as his own.

Oli were supposed to be combat ready at all times, on deployment or on Gani. They never removed their helmet or boots. They slept wearing both. Talker had told John it was seen as weakness to seek the comfort of removing a helmet and such.

The Rector had a cybernetic arm, was in a hoverchair due to missing both legs, and wore no helmet.

Seeing an Oli without a helmet looked strange to John. Like the Li and Ele children, the Rector had a haircut called a high-and-tight, where short hair remained on the top of the head, and the sides and back were shorn down to just stubble. He wore the school robe over his biosuit.

Though the Rector was a Salt, it took normal people many years to regrow limbs, even at that tier. There were faster ways, but those ways were all expensive. The Peerless gave administrative duties to Oli too injured to deploy. Until the Rector was whole again, he wouldn’t go back to his kauwa. Cybernetics were an option, but like credits, gifts of unusual or special gear were awarded, not given.

The office John was told to report to had three desks and not much else. A different Alii trainee than the one handing out the bags sat in one. The Rector’s desk was near the door, away from the two other desks. The Salt took a seat and told John to do the same.

The trainee was all business and wasn’t even smiling coyly, which worried John. The Rector said, “As of this day forward, you’re a Li. The second Kahaka to become Li.”

John sighed in relief. Not because Nine was granted Li status first. He hadn’t seen Nine yet, but he would at some point. He assumed it wouldn’t be a peaceful meeting. And that was fine with him now.

From this point onward, if John attacked or defended himself from the Peerless, he would do so as one of their own. It wouldn’t result in humans suffering retribution for his actions.

If Nine attacked him, John wouldn’t hold back. He would do his best to ensure the biosynth suffered the same fate as Thirteen.

The trainee said, “This means Kahaka rules no longer govern you. Peerless rules do. We know you’re familiar with them. Self-gratification as a means of relief is no longer allowed.”

That wasn’t an issue for John. He hadn’t done that since the period between becoming a man and having the need and taking his first wife. He never had to since he always had at least one wife at hand until his desire dried up. Though his need had returned, the thought of self-gratification had never crossed his mind.

It’s strange the Peerless know so much about me but don’t know this rule needn’t have been mentioned, thought John, but as the Alii trainee continued and covered every single restriction that now applied to him, he realized they were just checking every box regardless of applicableness.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

That his plan was proceeding along nicely caused John to feel some joy. I’m one of them now.

The Alii trainee provided a new CSL with no restrictions and the Koa clan symbol. Koa used to be a real clan. When the Peerless first took control of the demon portal, Koa clan was assigned the mission of guarding it, and that mission destroyed them.

In honor of the Koa clan’s deeds, it wasn’t rebuilt. It became symbolic of Peerless sacrifice, devotion, and superiority. The Alii without breeding rights considered to be in the Koa clan still maintained loyalty to their clan of birth as Koa was more a symbol than a clan.

John knew clan was important to Peerless society, but as an outsider, it wasn’t all that obvious how clan mattered other than being told the clan Nani were the real power in the empire. Nani Empire had six members, and every member was of one of the six clans. The old crone of Koa clan was the Kayu clan representative of Nani Empire.

Historically, clans formed and took the name of the underground cities the Peerless were bred in on Palm. Besides Inoa, as that clan replaced Koa.

After being told he would be adopted by a clan only after being bought by a kauwa, John wondered how they’d decide what clan Amber would be placed in.

Once the meeting was done, though it was still early in the day, not many Li were wandering about the campus, and John made his way back to his dorm. There were five Li in the room, all laughing and having a good time. The room quieted as he entered.

Most Li looked very much alike, but the one sitting on John’s bed looked a little off, like all of his facial features were pulled towards the center of his face, or his head had grown too large for his face.

Most brutes also never smiled, but the one sitting on John’s bed, a four-five, was smiling widely while meeting John’s eyes. “Hey, Kahaka Four-three. We’re glad we’ll be sharing a room with you. Welcome. Grab a bed.”

John mentally named this Li Tiny-face. He said, “Thank you. I already did. You’re sitting on it.”

Tiny-face, still smiling, looked around confused. “You must not have been told, Kahaka. We’re Peerless, one, united. None of us own these beds. We use them while students here.”

“Understood,” replied John. “And while I’m a student here, that’s the bed I’ve decided to use. What happened to the items I left upon it, marking it as my…the bed I’ll use?”

Tiny-face and a few of the other Li laughed. Tiny-face said, “Sure, sure, Kahaka. You can use this bed tonight. We put the garbage littering our room in the disposal. Sorry about that. We have random and scheduled room inspections. One’s scheduled for tomorrow after the commencement event in the morning. We don’t want this room to receive gigs.

“Hey, we heard about you breaking the Agonizer record. Impressive. We do something similar here. I was just telling these new students it was done to me last year. It’s like a rite of passage but it can help open an aspect naturally too. Wanna tag along, see if you’re up for it?”

If Tiny-face had been at the academy last year, he was a recycled student. John had pushed the bed issue because it was better to immediately set boundaries and let everyone know there was a price to pay for crossing them. He didn’t want to antagonize any Li or make enemies. He said, “Sure, I’ll tag along.”

Tiny-face smiled wider and said, “Great. Let’s go.”

John and five of his roommates made their way across campus as they excitedly talked and joked. They entered a small maintenance building and made their way down to the basement.

There was a thick metal wall dividing half the basement, thick enough John couldn’t sense anything through it at all. There were a lot of warning signs on the wall, and it had a metal door with a sign that read, “DANGER. Proton and Particle Radiation. DO NOT ENTER without protective gear while below 7-1 (Oli) or 8-1 (Alii and Mele).”

“Okay,” said Tiny-face. “This is the power generator for the whole island. What we do is open the door a little, run to the generator, infuse a little essence into it, and run back out. As a recycle, I’ll go first to prove it’s safe. But don’t dilly dally. Spending too long in there’s dangerous.”

Proving his words, Tiny-face unbarred and unsealed the door. After cracking the door open, he ran into the room.

The other Li opened the door a little more to watch, and John poked his head in too. Tiny-face ran to the essence-infuser sticking out of some large machine and spent a second there, then sprinted out of the room.

All the Li laughed as they took turns doing the same.

When it was John’s turn, he played along. But as he was infusing essence, the door to the generator room slammed shut and was sealed and barred.

As before, John could neither feel nor sense anything past the walls. From his studies, he knew of different types of radiation. Sunlight itself held many forms of radiation, and sunlight was a substance he was infused with. It was made part of him when he attained his body refinement [Perk].

Just to be sure, John entered his Mind’s Eye and asked Avatar. She said he was mostly safe. He thought he could break out of the room, but he wanted to see how long Tiny-face would leave him in there. He sat down and lost himself in meditation.

John had already opened his next NCU expansion slot months ago and installed the cooldown reduction NCU into it. Since, he had been creating a bit of shen and a lot of emptiness, though he still applied a significant credit towards opening further NCU slots.

When he noticed the generator room had become dark and silent, John stopped meditating. His dantian felt like it contained a burning substance. Minutes later, as he was still trying to figure out why the room had darkened, the door unsealed, and the bar was removed.

The Rector hovered into the room and said, “Great Akua! There you are! What the hell are you doing in here, Kaha…I mean, Four-three?”

John stood and said, “Sorry, Rector, I was locked in here as a prank.”

“Good thinking turning the generator off,” said the Rector. “Strangely enough, I don’t sense any damage, but we’ll get you checked out and provide what medical help we can. And your transgressors will be severely punished. Give me a moment. We need the generator back on or else the Autodoc won’t be able to scan or decontaminate you.”

“I’m fine, Rector,” said John. “I don’t need medical help. I didn’t turn the generator off. It was on when I started meditating.”

“How long have you been in here?”

“Since shortly after I left your office earlier.”

The Rector paused from fiddling with the generator. He turned and said, “That was yesterday. Fourteen hours ago. That you’re alive is a miracle. We thought you were hiding and doing weird Kahaka stuff since I couldn’t sense you anywhere. I told them I’d need a Mele assigned to the academy with two Kahaka here. I told them. They gave me an extra trainee instead.

“Hey, could I ask a favor? I’ve read you have more essence than a four has any right to. The generator’s empty. Mind filling it with your essence? It’ll make my life a lot easier.”

“Sure,” replied John. It took nearly three quarters of his dantian to completely fill the generator. Once he was done, the Rector restarted the machine and said, “This’s a newer model and doesn’t use much essence at all. The process generates most of its own energy. It should last a couple years now. That’ll really help the budget. Gratitude, Four-three.

“I still want the Autodoc to check you out. Tell me what happened on the way. I’ll report to one of the trainees and they’ll make sure your transgressors pay for their actions.”

John hesitated and said, “Rector, I’d rather not. I’d prefer to take care of this on my own.”

The Rector continued hovering forward. “Well, that’s not how Peerless operate, Li Four-three. We do our duty. The Aikapu’s clear on our role and duty. If you won’t tell me, you’ll tell a trainee directly. What you won’t be doing is taking care of this on your own.”

John followed the Rector and thought it through. As Amber stated, he had to play his role perfectly. He was done failing. He would be as the best of men.

But the best of men weren’t tattletales. Men took care of their own business. Sometimes help was needed, and a man had to inform his superiors or ask for help with an issue he couldn’t handle on his own. But that was only after he had failed to rectify the issue himself. Or lives were on the line and people would likely die if he didn’t.

The situation with Hyavod was an example. John had tried. And he had failed greatly. Talker had died because of John’s poor planning. Telling the clan Nani all that had transpired was the only reasonable thing to do if it could save the Kahaki girl.

In this instance, there was a life on the line too, but only if John tattled.

“Apologies, Rector, but what will my punishment be if I refuse to tell you or a trainee?”

The Rector grunted. “You must tell them. You can’t disobey an order from an Alii, unless it contradicts an order your own Alii has given you. You know this. You studied the Aikapu. It’s the only thing you scored well on that didn’t have a physical or combat component.”

The Aikapu listed many crimes and offenses in great detail. The closest section John could place refusing to tattle into would be refusing to perform a minor task, such as a police-call detail. The punishment was a flogging and a loss of ‘battle winnings’ for three battles. As he understood it, the ‘battle winnings’ had been reinterpreted to mean loss of access to the Advancement Chamber and such.

But most of the Aikapu’s crimes and punishments were for adults. As a Li, John was considered a child. The Aikapu had a few offenses or crimes against children, but nothing at all about the crimes of children.

Even if John was punished as an adult, he had no issue being flogged. If the Advancement Chambers ruined aspects, he didn’t want anything to do with them anyway. He was curious to see how he’d be punished. Whatever the cost, no matter how great, he had no real choice but to accept it.