Ethan, be their protector in the darkness, our puppet-master of shadows, and protect the Light's Heroes from the Darkness’s Reach. The Light’s Heroes will need someone more attuned to the darkness to protect them from the foul Darkness.

Ethan smiled upon seeing the ornate gates of School of the Sacred Garden, and felt himself trembling in excitement.

The academy, where the goddesses wage war by proxy.

Ethan looked at all the students walking through the gates, so many smiling and excited, and wondered how many knew what they were getting into. Families, all crowded from near and far, came to send their children off. The freshmen, aged eighteen or nineteen.

The Garden was the next stage of their military training and one of the many tertiary institutions in the Kingdom, but easily the most prominent. Open to both commoners and nobles, the students would spend six years at a minimum, some more.

For the commoner-graduates, the Garden promised a future in the royal army as a professional member, a path to the upper classes, and even a glimmer of opportunity to earn their nobility.

“Commoners, please take that line.” The guards of the Garden ordered, and Ethan shuffled to the correct line. A long table with five administrators and a small army of assistants, took down their names and gave them their access keys to their room, student cards, and a few sets of uniforms.

[Goddess’s Outfitters: Garden’s Standard Uniform acquired.]

[Goddess’s Outfitters: Garden’s Practice Uniform acquired.]

Ethan dismissed the notification, and was corralled, along with the other students, into a large curved hall. The commoners were seated on the upper decks of the hall, the stage was smaller from the upper deck.

The nobility had a separate entrance, and they took the lower deck, closer to the speaker.

Ethan looked around, felt a little lost, out of place and so... young. Such a strange experience, to return to school again. His steps felt light, his body felt strong, without the weight of time, the damage yet to accumulate in his joints.

He sat there among the students, and listened to the chatter from his fellow students. Most were excited to be here, and quickly introduced themselves to their neighbors. Everyone seemed eager to make friends. They would need friends, because the nobility would push their weight around.

Bullying was expected in any institution of education, what more one where the two social classes are forced to interact. Commoners, without the weight of their wealth or the advantages of privilege, had to tread carefully.

Ethan shook his head and pulled himself back to the present. Ethan was fond of abstract concepts, and struggled not to churn in boredom. The master of ceremonies for the school’s event began to narrate some rules to the eager students.

It was, boring.

Instead, Ethan’s eyes darted around, and searched for the individuals he had to ‘protect.’

In his briefing, he recalled that the Garden should be fairly safe in the first two years, the cracks in the seal still tiny.

In his mind, the hero should be a commoner-

His eyes scanned the upper decks... No one fits the bill.

Was the hero really that ‘plain’? Ethan wondered whether the hero decided not to turn up, or decided to skip the opening ceremony? Or would he join as one of those ‘transfer students’?

Instead, he found a few individuals that stood out, but there was an edge to them that didn’t scream ‘hero’.

David Vivan, the chosen one. Where is he?

The noble-born students trickled into the hall, in their fine dresses. Today was the first day, they were not yet required to wear their uniforms.

Could he actually be a noble-born? Ethan tried to look to the larger lower deck.

There were two nobles for every commoner. Every noble born child of age was expected to attend the Garden, while for commoners, only a selected group had the chance. There were far more commoners than nobles out there, and here, they were the minority.

He scanned the lower deck and saw a few that seemed to be the heroines, but not David Vivan. Frustrated, he focused on his other gift.

[Goddess’s Skill - I Hear Everything in the Room]

He spotted his target immediately.

“David Vivan, I’m surprised your family decided to send you here! They didn’t think it was better for you to just hide at home and pretend you didn’t exist?” Ethan listened to the conversation happening in the lower deck, comfortably from his seat.

There was no reply, but Ethan kept his ability active.

The gossip continued “That’s David Vivan, the youngest child and failure of the Vivan house. I’m shocked that House Vivan still decided to send him here! I heard he couldn’t even fully use the core he inherited from his mother.”

Ethan stood and walked to the edge of Upper Deck, and took a good look at his ‘target’.

“Really, what did he do?”

“I was told he came without even properly aligning with a core! Can you believe that? A failure like that dares to grace the halls of the Garden, the Grandmaster should just seat him with the commoners. Such a shame to us nobles.”

“You can’t be serious! I thought the entry level expectation was proper use of a core by seventeen?”

Gossip soon engulfed the conversation, each more ludicrous than before. “Failure?” Ethan wondered, and noted in his mind to investigate. At least the subject was in school, and not outside. That was one worry solved.

From the edge of the Upper Deck, he searched for the other three ladies. The goddesses chose four in total.

“That’s Lady Sara Argos!” He heard some girls whisper. “Daughter of Duke Damien Argos!” His eyes darted in the direction of those whispers, and landed on a beautiful lady with long, slightly reddish colored hair. She exuded the aura of a fiery, proud and distinguished noble lady, and he felt his skin tingle. She sat at the very first row, and spoke only to her small group of female friends.

Camelia Everfrost, the next member, was also a noble lady. She sat in her own corner, at the side of the lower deck, surrounded by her own supplicants. She answered her members with disinterest, her eyes ice cold. She had slightly shorter hair, shoulder length that was slightly emerald-bluish in color. Ethan focused, but heard nothing other than the sycophantic praises of those around her. Unlike Sara Argos, Camelia’s ‘friends’ were a lot more... fake.

Gossip emerged quickly, even for folks their age, and he noticed some of the chatter revolved around the Everfrost family and the Argos family as rivals to power. The kingdom had about twenty duchies, all kings of their own domain, in all but name.

The last heroine was Violet Whitetower, a commoner. She was spotted on the girls’ side of the Upper deck, and right at the front row. She had beautiful, almost snow-white hair and a natural smile. Even when she sat quietly, the air seemed happier around her, and she had already made a few friends. Ethan observed her and deduced that she seemed to be quite good at making small talk. She talked a lot, but her words were polite, charming and she easily won friends.

Ethan nodded, satisfied that he now had an image of his targets, and retreated from the edges of the Upper deck, back to his earlier seat.

In his first year, his goal was to just weed out the agents of the dark goddesses, and keep them safe. The agents of darkness should be fairly weak.

“You were looking around a lot. Are you looking for someone?” The boy seated next to him noticed.

“Yes.”

“Trying to spot the future stars of the school?”

“I guess you can put it that way.” Ethan answered, instinctively, he decided to be friendly, rather than make enemies unnecessarily. “Hi, I’m Ethan Blacktree.”

“Pleased, I’m Andrew Redbloom. What core are you cultivating now?”

Ethan didn’t expect the conversation to head straight to the details. “That sounds very personal.”

“Eh, it’s eventually public knowledge. Like that lady you’re spying on, Sara Argos, cultivates the Dragon-grade Core of Thousand Swords, harvested from a Sword Dragon. I heard she has already reached the Second Realm! With a Dragon-grade!”

Ethan wasn’t sure he was supposed to be impressed. “You noticed I was looking at her?”

“Of course. Everyone’s looking at her. And you’re supposed to go ‘whoooooooah’ when I mentioned the Dragon-grade core.’” Andrew smiled. “You’re a country bumpkin, aren’t ya?”

“...I guess?”

“I mean no offense.” His new friendly neighbor clarified. “You had that ‘I-have-no-idea-what-that-is’ look on your face.”

“You could put it that way.” Ethan quickly checked what core he had, and the memories of this body returned to him. “I’m cultivating the Common-Grade Core of Shadow Swords.”

“Common-grade?” Andrew genuinely had a look of worry on his face. “Oh dear, you’re gonna have a tough life. You won’t feel it now, but down the road you will.”

Knowledge returned like a flood, and he sat in a daze. His mind spun, trying to catch up and organize what he suddenly knew.

“You okay? You look like you just blanked out there. Are you that nervous?” Andrew asked, his eyes concerned. Ethan nodded after Andrew poked his arm with a finger.

“I guess so.” He briefly checked his own skill frame. His only relief is that he has the special skills granted by the goddesses to make up for his shortfall.

***

[Ethan Blacktree]

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

[Core: Common-Grade Core of Shadow Swords]

[Core Cultivation : Fifth stage - First realm]

[Skill Frame : Skills slots available 0/4]

[Common-grade Shadow Steps - Level 4]

[Common-grade Body Enhancement - Level 2]

[Rare-grade Sword Unity - Level 1]

[Common-grade Shadow Copy - Level 1]

[Skills given by the Goddesses]

[Summon Master - Summoned Warriors - Level 1]

[Goddesses’ Outfitters - Level 1]

[Eavesdrop - I hear everything in the room - Level 1]

[Administrative Control (School-office) & Academic Pass - Level 1]

***

“Since I told you what I have, what’s yours?”

“Yeah. I’ve got the Rare-grade Core of Tiger Claw. It’s pretty good and at the 2nd stage I can learn the Great Tiger Claw strike! It’s strong and should serve me until I upgrade to a Titan-Grade!” Andrew explained, his pride unmistakable. “You better work hard and get a better Core from the school. I hope to graduate with a Titan-grade Core, or life in the army’s gonna be absolute shit.”

Ethan nodded, roughly understanding what it meant. His eyes continued to look around, and then abruptly, the master of ceremonies announced the arrival of the Grandmaster.

The lights dimmed as the Principal Grandmaster of the Sacred Garden, Grandmaster Plagos, took the stage. In a single-glance, Ethan felt afraid. The Grandmaster’s presence was oppressive, and it felt like there was a huge stone above his head, but that presence faded just as quickly.

Andrew whispered. “The Grandmaster apparently has a Deity-Grade core at a very high realm. But no one knows whether it’s true.”

“Really?” Ethan gave his newfound best buddy a feigned look of incredible surprise. “That’s so overpowered.”

“It is.” Andrew said. The Grandmaster did the usual welcome speech and how their lives will be filled with completing rifts, hunting monsters, harvesting materials from the various rift gates. The school aims to develop each and everyone’s combat ability while providing a holistic, well rounded education.

His fellow students appeared to listen intently, but Ethan’s mind recoiled in boredom. The speech somehow triggered his mind to automatically shut off, a revulsion birthed through sitting through.... He wasn’t sure why, actually.

“Hey.” Andrew poked his arms again.

“Huh?” Ethan snapped back and his ears eventually returned to the stage. They did a brief introduction of the other instructors of the Garden.

Students were expected to study and master at least one chosen weapon through cultivation of their core, and complete various monster-hunting related missions.

All students were expected to participate in some kind of monster-hunting, which earned GPs or Garden Points, where they could exchange for skill books, or better cores, or higher quality items. There were also multiple campaigns throughout the year, which would earn GP, grant specialised rewards, and even promotions to a ‘higher-grade’ with more dedicated instructions.

After a few more speeches, the welcoming ceremony was over and it’s time to check out his accommodation.

***

The new room was nice, but bare. Ethan looked through his clothes, still stuffed into a simple bag. At least the clothes looked like something he would wear normally. The goddesses had been pretty thoughtful, they gave him a clean family background, no parents, no siblings, no relatives.

They even got him into the Garden as a student.

Clean. Empty.

Just like his new room.

It had a bedroom with a study table, a small storage compartment and its own washroom. Incredibly modern, for a magical world.

After a shower, he changed into something more comfortable, sat on the bed and thought about what he would actually plan to do.

He reviewed his abilities again and frowned. He was too weak. Strategy was useless when he couldn’t do anything. He sensed the ambient energies of the air around him, and revisited the knowledge of Core Cultivation. Moments later, he began meditating.

Cultivating a Core involved pulling energy from their environment, and the School had some of the best Cultivation Chambers in the entire kingdom. In fact, the Garden itself was supposedly built on an ancient magical spring, certain parts of the School clearly designed to make the most of the super-high ambient energy that flowed through certain parts of the world.

“Protect the hero and the heroines, and for the first year, discover as many spies as you can. Your end of year rating will be determined by the identification of spies of the dark goddesses.”

He thought about the hero, David Vivan, and activated his fourth goddess ability.

“[Administrative Control (school-office)]. David Vivan’s personal file.”

A copy of the paper file popped up in his hand.

There was a registration form, a small picture, and a note from Lord Edward Vivan to Grandmaster Plagos.

“Dear Grandmaster Plagos, David’s a misunderstood child, he tries his best, but somehow he’s just not doing well. I’ve been trying to get him a Core that’s compatible with him, but very few seem to work that well, and he’s struggling with cultivating them. Please help him out. I’ve given him a Rare-grade Core of the Lightning Spear, which seems to be barely working. I’m not sure if he is even compatible with another core, but I hope the Garden’s greater access to Cores around the world would eventually lead to something compatible. Let me know if you figure it out.”

Cultivation Cores were supposedly separated into five grades, Common, Rare, Titan, Dragon and Deity.

He flipped through them, and noticed nothing else of value. It vanished once he didn’t need it any more.

“[Administrative Control (school-office)]. Sara Argos’s personal file.”

[Sara Argos’s file is protected. You cannot access it at your current level.]

“Eh.”

[Camelia Everfrost’s file is protected. You cannot access it at your current level.]

“Darn.”

The last one, an almost empty file popped into his hand. There was just a simple registration form for Violet Whitetower, a small picture and nothing else.

Ethan explored his remaining abilities, and activated [Goddess’s Outfitters].

[You currently possess the following clothes:]

[Low-quality unbranded rough-cotton casual tunic, Low-quality unbranded sleeping wear, Low-quality unbranded sparring attire, Sacred Garden Standard Uniform, Sacred Garden Sparring Uniform]

[You may equip one outfit on your summons]

“Hmmm.” He wasn’t sure what the goddess had in mind when they gave him this, but... oh well.

He activated his ‘real’ advantage, the ability that convinced him to accept the task. The ability to summon lifelike characters!

He could only summon one character for now, and he was restricted to a really small pool of weaker ‘gold-tier’ units. But the future was limitless!

He checked his list, and he could summon one of the five units.

[Kaname the Ninja], [Gordeaux the Blacksmith], [Matilda the Defender], [Fedora the Healer] and [Zaram the Fighter].

“[Summon : Ninja Kaname].”

[Assign an outfit?]

Ethan paused for a while, and nodded. At that moment, a tall girl with long black hair and dressed in the Garden’s uniform poofed out of nowhere and landed on his bed.

“Good evening, master. What is your command?” She somehow managed to sit on the bed like she absolutely belonged.

Ethan’s eyes admired how the uniform fit her perfectly, perfectly flaunting her curves. She looked exactly like how he imagined her to be and admired how real she looked. As his eyes scanned Kaname’s features, he noticed there was a small panel that floated above her.

As if recognising his attention, that panel expanded.

[Summon : Gold-Rank Ninja Kaname - Level 5/10]

[Skills : Body-replacement (log), Multi-strike, Camouflage, and Martial Arts (Master)]

“You’re staring inappropriately, master.” Kaname attempted to cover herself with a blanket.

“Was I?”

“Yes. As your first summon, I wish to highlight that attempts to engage in certain unpermitted activities will result in a temporary cancellation of the summon.” Kaname said, and Ethan mentally slumped.

“Nah. I’m just wondering how do you level up? It says you are Level 5/10.” Ethan quashed the impure thoughts, and then focused on the levels.

“I have no idea, master.”

“Your skills also don’t have levels.”

Kaname stretched, and the Garden’s uniform fit perfectly. She really looked good in it, and the pleated skirts made her look really sexy. “They are currently at max level.”

“Oooh, I know what you can do today.!” Ethan clapped his hands. “I want you to spy on someone for me. There’s a lady called Violet Whitetower, can you follow her?”

“I shall do so until my timer runs out.”

“Wait. How long is that?”

“Three hours and a half.”

“...that sucks.” Ethan cursed. “How do I get it to last longer?”

“I believe it is tied to your own personal power, master. I shall get to it now. May I see the personal file? It would greatly assist with my task.”

Ethan nodded and the magical file appeared again. After she glanced at it momentarily, she nodded and walked out of the door.

“This is sufficient. I shall get to it, master.”

Kaname walked out of the door, and Ethan rested back on the bed. But it didn’t take long for someone to bang on his door repeatedly, demanding to be let in.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Andrew! Let me in!”

Ethan opened the door to see Andrew and two other guys. Andrew immediately pushed in. He expected to see something else, so he seemed rather disappointed. “We saw a girl come out of your room, Ethan.”

Ethan internally cursed. Someone else saw Kaname exit his room.

“Who is she, and why is she in your room?” One of the other guys said. “She looks way out of your league, what’s your relationship with that lady? Is she a noble?”

Goddammit.

But Ethan felt that was an interesting angle to take. “Uh... yeah. We were.. Uh... I mean, we were ‘friends’, I guess?”

“A noble, friends with a commoner like you? Please.” The other guy retorted.

“Uh... who’re you, and why are you in my room lecturing me?”

Andrew laughed. “Oh lord, sorry. This is Basil Blackboulder, he’s a student too and lives just next to me. He saw that girl leave your room. That’s Jovan Rivergreen, he’s one of my friends from my hometown.”

“Oh.” Ethan assessed the two fresh faces in his room. “I don’t recall there are rules against visits.”

“But imagine what others will think! They’ll think you are some kind of scum.”

Ethan paused and considered the idea. “Wait. Are nobles that conservative?”

Andrew, Basil and Jovan didn’t have an answer. They hardly interacted with the noble world. Ethan looked at the three boys. “Well, since you guys are here, come, let’s have a seat. I don’t have tea or coffee, but, uh... here.” He offered them to sit on his bed.

“Are you going to tell us who that girl was? Is she a senior?”

Ethan thought for a moment, and decided to bend the truth a little. “She’s Kaname Kaga. We... uh... we used to work with each other.”

“You work for her.” Andrew said. In his mind, anyone with a common-grade core couldn’t work with a noble, and it was always a master-servant relationship.

“You can put it that way.” Ethan nodded and reminded himself to insert her name into the student list. The [Administrative Control (school-office)] should be able to do that much.

“What work did you do?”

“Uh... trade? Merchant stuff. I can’t tell you more, or she’ll kill me.” Ethan inwardly churned at the lie, but he’ll have to figure out some way to make it real. The goddesses warned him to keep his powers a secret, as revealing it would draw the attention of the dark goddesses. “I can’t explain it. That’s the end of it, alright.”

Andrew sighed and looked at the other two boys. “That’s fair?”

“Yeah. That’s normal. Everyone has some secrets.” Basil nodded and immediately got down to business. “Andrew told me you had a common-grade core. I can help you get in touch with some guys to get a rare-grade core, do you want it? It’ll cost a lot of gold though.”

Ethan shook his head, and took out his wallet. “I’m broke, brother.”

Jovan smirked. “Shouldn’t you be rich from trading?”

“Do I look rich to you?” Ethan took out his simple clothes to emphasize the point.

Jovan and Basil both had an epiphany. “Oh we see what’s happening now. That noble lady’s extorting you!”

“You could put it that way.”

The three boys had a look of sympathy. Andrew even patted his shoulder. “That’s totally normal. Nobles bully us commoners all the time.”

“So, where are you from?” Jovan decided to change the topic away.

Ethan was silent, as he rummaged through his memories for his backstory. Thankfully, the goddesses covered this part. A village in the Province of Frelka. “Uh... I’m from Fanasia Village, located in the Province of Frelka. But I’ve got no one left there.”

“Never heard of it, and orphaned.” Both Jovan and Basil shook their heads. Andrew nodded as if it was something he expected. “That totally explains why you only have a common-grade core!”

“Frelka.” Jovan looked at the rest. “Is there anyone else from Frelka?”

“Not that I know of. It is a fairly poor province.”

What followed was mostly idle banter, Ethan was pleasantly surprised that it was quite easy to make friends on the very first day of school. He had long forgotten what it was like to make friends, and was even apprehensive about the idea. It helped that Andrew, Basil, and Jovan were more than happy to talk about themselves.