Eventually Nora walked back out of her office and started giving advice as she walked by. She noticed Yuki was stuck in place with her eyes closed, but she decided to leave her alone. She pondered how much Yuki would understand from the spar and made a mental note to check in after a few days.
Nora couldn’t help but keep looking over to Damien who was giving advice to Cal. She made her rounds a couple more times and dismissed her class for the day. She watched them all leave to their lockers to change and mumbled quietly to herself.
“This is going to be a much more interesting year.”
Damien and Cal walked out of class washed up and changed into their uniform. At the entrance Yuki was standing emotionless waiting for them to arrive.
“You were quite the surprise Daniel. Who taught you swordsmanship?”
Stumped into place Damien quipply replied.
“It’s Damien, and my grandfather did, since I could walk.”
Cal decided to chime in as they were walking down the hallway.
“And who’s your grandfather? Somebody strong?”
“He is definitely strong! My grandfather is named Veron. I don’t know much about him except that he was a high general.”
Damien continued to walk forward and remembered that he didn't even know what class was next. He decided to ask his classmates where they were going but found them to be far behind him. He yelled back at them, catching a lot of looks.
“Did I pass the classroom? You should’ve told me something.”
He went running back to them and found them to be frozen stiff. Amused with their state he waved his hand in front of their faces. He was ready to poke Yuki’s face, when she snapped her fangs at his finger.
“I’ll bite that finger off clean if you do that again.”
Her surprised face slowly became stale and cold once again.
“So your grandfather is Veron Flor, the Heaven’s Wind Sword God. I didn’t know he had any relatives alive.”
“He is a walking legend. You could write a novel of all his exploits…”
Cal’s excitement faded when he saw Damien’s face. He could understand from his empty reaction that he didn’t even know a thing about his grandfather.
Meanwhile Damien’s mind was blank, he couldn’t speak any words. The information kept slamming into his head, frying his brain. Eventually he came to and he was the one left behind from the group.
‘My bet is looking harder to win.’
Damien quickly caught back up with a self-deprecating smile. He changed the topic to their upcoming class.
“So what’s the next subject?”
Yuki and Cal both groaned together and answered him.
““History.””
“Fun…”
Even Damien’s face turned a little down. He hoped for more excitement and thirsted for subjects to bring his strength up. He could only resign himself to fate and follow along the schedule he was given.
The group went 5 stories up and reached a classroom reeking lifelessness. Many students from the previous class joined them here and the ones sitting down already had sunken faces. Most of the knowledge taught here was ingrained into their brain from childhood from their family tutors. Unlike them, Damien grew up learning the bare minimum about the history of the kingdom and mainly read about grand epics. The rest of the class was in no mood to even gossip about the new student who shocked many of them earlier. Feeling the depressed mood he sat down in the front row with the two in tow.
In came a decrepit old man who looked like he was on the edge of death. His beard reached the floor and every step he took felt like eternity. When he reached the front he noticed Damien, who was new to his class.
“Hello Damien, I am professor Felix Berj, you will have to catch up on the past readings, but today we will go over the history of StarPoint and how it affected the advancement of our society.”
Half the class already fell into his cadence and fought hard to keep their eyes from shutting. Professor Berj began going over the beginning of the academy and how it came too. Damien as the only student here who was unaware of the history quickly became enamored with the story.
StarPoint Academy was created by six founding members. They were all born in the continent of Zyres that was divided into five kingdoms. The continent was harshly divided with few friendly relations. The kingdoms were divided like so:
-The Human Kingdom of Atria
-The Beast Kingdom of Hanoi
Stolen story; please report.
-The Elven Kingdom of Aquiponte
-The Dwarven Kingdom of Tryea
-The Demon Kingdom of Lichenstine
Each of them were born in their respective kingdom and later became renowned in their field. Leading them to establish their own guilds to expand their influence.
Bjorn Fierstone was a Dwarf born in the Kingdom of Tryea and became the founder of the Blacksmith Guild. He created groundbreaking techniques and countless legendary artifacts worthy of the Dwarven lineage. His weapons could be found to this day used by the strongest beings alive.
Laurel Greentree, born in the Kingdom of Aquiponte, was an elven researcher who deciphered ancient runes and created her own inscription technique. She named her technique ‘Rune Coding’ which allowed a simpler way to enhance any object. Her work brought upon what modern society is today, essentially driving forth the unification of all races. She went on to establish the Rune Guild.
Virgil Blackwing a legendary black dragon who settled in the Kingdom of Hanoi. His life goal was to compile alchemy knowledge under one umbrella. His knowledge alone created a new school of alchemy, bringing its golden age and the creation of the Alchemy Guild.
Leon Mildred, a human born in the Kingdom of Atria with no Dao Magic aptitude but with an obsession with the sword. He traveled the world challenging any strong foe he came across. He had countless losses, but he never lost hope. After many years of fighting he found enlightenment with the sword. His strength grew exponentially to the point of becoming known as the Sword Devil due to his obsession with fighting. He reached the peak of swordsmanship and founded his own school. Eventually he created the Sword Guild.
Sahiid Zalika, a demon born in the Kingdom of Lichenstine that overturned the world. With his natural gifts he quickly came to power and left a mountain of bodies in his wake. All he knew was combat and only wanted to find his match. He grew tired of overwhelming all his opponents so he resorted to only using his body and limbs as weapons. Even then his natural gifts made it far too easy for him. He sealed his strength and faced defeat for the first time by the hands of Leon Mildred. In admiration of his technique he set out to create his own martial art to rival Leon’s. In no time Sahiid mastered thousands of arts, but thousands of wolves was no match for one dragon. A downcast Sahiid went into mediation coalescing his knowledge into his own path. When he came back he rivaled Leon and was dubbed the Battle God. He went on and founded the Battle Guild.
Sirius Ashea was born the most talented mage in human history. Her birthplace was unknown but from the earliest records she found her way to the Kingdom of Atria. Her talent and potential was undeniable to all. She mastered all of the 5 base elements and became the godmother of all modern magic. She was able to combine various elements together and utilize them in new ways, revolutionizing magic. She founded the Mage Guild creating a new age for magic.
At this point in time only Damien was paying attention to the lecture. He was like a sponge ready to absorb the rest of the knowledge. He was so fascinated by the origins of StarPoint that he didn’t even notice the sight of Yuki drooling in her sleep! Professor Berj did not mind if anyone paid attention and continued on.
These 6 figures became the pinnacle in their fields and led innovation along the way in the same era. Their names resounded throughout the continent bringing their races to prominence. They shared the stage in what is now known as the Miracle Age. Eventually their knowledge was coveted by all, leading to wars and personal battles. The bloodshed was so immense it caused all 6 to meet with each other in a summit.
They all sat down and debated for days to find the correct solution to bring peace upon the land. In the end it was Sirius Ashea who proposed to create an academy allowing all their teaching to be taught to anyone who enrolled. The idea was debated for a couple more days until they all agreed to give their teachings to the masses. They announced the founding of StarPoint Academy over 5000 years ago. Any one could apply and enroll with no discrimination. All the other academies were led by example and they all followed suit. Kingdoms opened their borders allowing whoever to come and go. The expansion of knowledge to the masses brought stability and peace upon the land. Over the next millenniums new heights were reached and coalesced to what modern society is now.
“Seems like class is about over, you may all go now.”
Professor Berj’s cue caused all the students to snap awake from their daydreams and pour out of the room. Damien was a bit saddened the story was over but he was even more excited about the history of this academy. There was not a better place to be to accomplish his goals.
“Let’s go.”
Yuki interrupted his thoughts and lifted him out of his seat.
“It's a free period now. Go do what you like until the next class.”
With that she disappeared into the crowd and left Damien and Cal behind.
“Don’t mind her, she likes to act distant, but she doesn’t mean bad. Well let’s go get something to eat.”
Damien followed Cal through the crowd of students heading to the mess hall. Inside you were able to order any type of food you like. Damien and Cal carried their food to a remote table in the corner of the hall. They sat down and finished their food in silence. The mess hall was too loud to have your own thoughts and if you heard carefully you could hear Damien’s name being tossed around.
Many stares came in their direction but no one confronted them like Erik. His performance in swordsmanship class was already well known among the students in Point 1. Damien finally remembered something from history class and brought up Erik.
“So Erik Fierstone, is related to Bjorn Fierstone? That legendary figure?”
Cal’s eyes lit up at his chance to let his mouth run.
“Yes, Erik comes from the legendary Fierstone lineage. He is a part of the main household that directly connects all the way down to Bjorn himself. So he is a distant great grandfather to Erik. Unlike other Fierstone’s…”
Damien had forgotten about his tendency to talk due to the momentary silence they shared while eating. Cal unleashed the floodgates and he pretended to pay attention to the rest of his monologue since he got the answer he was looking for.
‘I’ll have to ask Yuki instead about Professor Mildred and her lineage.’
Damien patiently waited for Cal to finish and interjected another thought he was curious about.
“So Erik is an amazing blacksmith, it must be nice to create exactly what you want.”
“Well, actually no. He is considered the black sheep of his family due to not focusing on blacksmithing. Instead he focuses all on swordsmanship and magic. His aspirations did not line up with what his family wants from him, so he is ostracized from them. From what I know he wants to become a great warrior to prove that a Dwarf can become the strongest and…”
“Okay thank you, Cal.”
Damien stopped him in his tracks and took all the information into account.
‘Maybe Erik is just misunderstood, like me.’
He felt empathy for him but that wasn't enough to stop Erik from giving him a dirty stare from across the mess hall. He let his thoughts go on the subject and began to focus on himself. He needed to continue practicing swordsmanship and get the know-how about magic.
“What is our next class anyways?”
Damien remembered that they still had more to go for the day and was eager to learn.
“Next we have Magic Class with professor Wexley Cloudshade. We already tested our aptitude and potential last week but I’m sure he will have you do it too. You aren’t hiding some freak talent in magic too, like you did in swordplay?”
“I don't even know about that. Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”
Damien replied to Cal casually and kept his thoughts to himself.
‘Even without magic I can always focus on other things.’
Both of them once again sat in silence until the period was over. The mass of students began walking to their class and on their way out Damien saw Yuki standing by the entrance waiting for them. Damien was too curious about her whereabouts so he asked her about it.
“Where do you go in your free time?”
Without skipping a beat she just turned around and walked off coldly.
“Let’s go, you don’t want to be late.”
“She’s right Damien. Professor Cloudshade is real anal about tardiness and you don’t want to see what happens when you are. Let’s catch up.”
Damien didn’t want to find out on his first day so along with Cal they ran to catch up with Yuki. The three once again walked together to the next class. They went up to the 6th floor and entered a space just as big as the Swordsmanship class. The difference was that it had the standard auditorium class seating unlike the Swordsmanship class, which just had an open space. Everyone quickly sat in their seats with a bit of fear. The three once again sat in the front and waited.
After a few moments a sleek middle-aged man strutted in with pride and arrogance. He had a few streaks of gray in his black hair, which was slicked back down past his long pointy ears to his shoulders. He wore an ostentatious red robe bringing all the attention to him. He walked to his podium and surveyed the entire class. He stopped his gaze onto Damien who stuck out with his uniquely colored hair and shaded glasses. Wexley condescendingly and sternly spoke out to his class.
“Attention everyone. Today we are going to test out the ‘special’ transfer’s aptitude and potential. Let’s see what you’re made of, kid.”