For his first stage of life, Darius had grown up in a small village that was virtually in the middle of nowhere. There was barely any technology used and if there was it would be by the travellers and merchants.

Darius remembered having his meals cooked by fire and having his laundry done by the nearest river for him by his mother. His father was the village chief, and in such a small village he had nothing much to do so he was a lumberjack.

After the horde Darius was sent to multiple villages until he finally got a home in Loyalty Village. The Matron was very kind to him and understood his plight. Due to his curse and trauma it was difficult for the boy to settle at most orphanages.

Loyalty Village was much closer to the provincial capital hence it was much more advanced than his old village as well. It was there that Darius received his first communicator and got introduced to the wider world.

Compared to Loyalty Village, Sahid was like a giant, with tech far beyond the boy's comprehension. This was even more so for Ethereal Forge Academy. In the short time he had been there he had seen mindblowing technology, for example his recovery room. Another example was the room he used for the noble trials. A room that could have anything sent to you. He was mindblown. Hence Darius had high hopes for this building, which housed one of the most powerful proffessions out there. Unfortunatley, he didn't get to see much.

…

Today Hope had been given an unusual order by her teacher, "Work by the reception by yourself and keep the information on anyone who comes for entrance examinations classified. Only I can know the information."

Someone of her standing should not have been reduced to such menial labor. She was a proper martialist through and through! She was supposed to be training but instead she was stuck doing this. Teacher simply didn't make sense!

A lot of the time he gave her strange orders but they usually had a hidden purpose. This time however she was flabbergasted. She speculated that perhaps some incredible personage would arrive, hence she waited patiently and meditated above the front desk. And her instinct was right. He passed through those doors, causing her to narrow her eyes and killing intent billowed out.

Jah Mun Ro. A fourth year similar to her. He was a legend at the academy and had bested her in combat many a time despite the fact that he wasn't a martialist. He was the reason she chose to be a martialist in the first place. In the entrance exams, Ro had dominated over everyone else with ease.

This man had odd means and an ever stranger background. She swore to surpass him hence she became a martialist. Year by year many gave up but she remained. Fueled by her competitive nature. Time and time again she challenged this man and time and time again she lost. She was grateful to him for spurning her fighting spirit on but despised his lackasidical nature.

No one in the academy had ever seen him train outside classes, yet despite this his record remained unchanged. He was undefeated from anyone his year or lower. Even the upperclassmen who defeated him were at least two years higher than him and were top class. Breaking into a cold sweat. Ro's incredible feats could fill up countless books and was the stuff of legends. The only question was, why was he there? He never took the initiative to challenge anyone. Unless…

Hope's vision turned to the dark skinned lad walking behind him. Evene among black people Darius was considered dark, but the fawning expression on his face made Hope crease her brows. He was obviosly a hick with barely any training.

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Hope observed Darius as he walked, and was shocked by what she saw. He moved like an amateur but he already had Honour level cultivation! Hope was once more shocked. Martialists were the greatest observers of the martial path. Just from observing your gait they could tell many things about you. That's how they were able to pinpoint the weakness of their opponent.

Darius was an oddity to her because he was clearly untrained, but he moved like he was always ready for battle. He had fewer openings than he should, and even those openings were not easy to exploit. He was a hick but he exhibited incredible control over his body with his steps. They seemed haphazard but there was an order to them, a rhythym. Hope just couldn't see through it. An amateur hick who was honour level which precise body control and few openings? This sounded absurd, but her eyes did not lie.

Hope shifted her vision to Ro and saw the latter smirk with arrogance. She didn't need to be told by anyone because she could see it herslef, this boy was dangerous…

Darius was impressed by how fancy the reception hall was, but unlike in his imagination it was empty. There was only a girl wearing a fourth form uniform with badges all over it. She was sitting cross leggedd on top of the desk as if she was a hermit sitting on a rock, pondering the viscitudes of life.

The school uniforms were rather simple. First forms wore white. Second forms green, third forms yellow, fourth forms orange. Fifth forms red and 6th wore black. Low level staff wore blue while high level staff wore grey.

The first 4 years of school were termed as Ordinary Level, while the Last 2 were termed as Advanced Level. If one was to graduate Ordinary Level they were already considered and member of society. Advanced Level was only for the truly monstrous geniuses. Graduating from Advanced level meant that one was destined for greatness, becoming part of the upper echelons of society.

Only one in a thousand students had the opportunity to enter Advanced Level and only One in ten thousand had a chance to complete it and graduate. This was a system used all over the continent and was recognized by powers far greater than their tiny empire.

It usually took 3 years to graduate to the next form in Ordinary Level while it took a decade to graduate a form in Advanced Level. This goes to show just how difficult it was to join Advanced Level education.

As both Ro and the woman had orange uniforms, there was a possibility that they knew each other. Darius' conjecture seemed to be correct as he obserevd the hidden hatred on the woman's face. Darius had a high EQ and was very sensitive to the moods of those he observed. His new sixth sense further compounded upon this.

'They definitely know each other, and their relationship doesnn't look ggod…at all.'

Darius cursed his bad luck as he and Ro approached the woman.

"What the fuck are you doing here you piece of trash." Hope's words were laced with a venomous sting that caused even Darius to cringe.

Ro laughed her words off and said, "Is that how you talk to an friend? Look I even brought you gift, this boy wants to join your crew."

Students coming in late was not a rare thing, but students brought in by Ro was. Ro was a powerhouse with loner tendencies. He also had ridiculous standards when it came to battle. He looked and acted the fool but in battle he was anything but weak.

According to her memories Ro had only recommended 3 students to be Martialists. Hope took a deep breath and got ready to assess the boy. She had no doubt about his quality, because she was one one of those three.

Under normal circumstances one had to go through a rigorous screening process before they were even processed, but Hope had sufficient authority to override these. Someone brought in by Ro was no weakling. Not to mention that he was clearly powerful.

There was just one thing about Darius. Hope shifted her eyes as she starred at Darius, as if she was trying to look through the lad. Darius shivered from her stare and stepped back a few steps.

'You have to be joking, this boy looks like a coward.'

There were two things Martialists despised. Laziness and cowardice, and the same applied to Hope. She could smell the fear oozing out of Darius. He didn't even dare look her in the eye. She didn't even intimidate him much. Darius seemed like he had less spine than a chicken. In fact he looked like he could run away from one himself.

This however didn't change the fact that the boy had talent. His rhythmic movement and Paranoia made him constantly aware of his envirnmoment.

'He probably would have been a person difficult to catch by surprise, even as a mortal'

Mortal. That was the title of people who were not skilled in using spiritual essence.