Beijing Universal Academy, College Department

Louie Monteazul walked through the vast hall of the school. Around him were a lot on enrolling students from different parts of Asia. Some were even foreigners from western countries. Currently in China, Beijing Universal Academy had the most diverse community. There were even students that came from other worlds who were not hostile.

He could feel a different air in this school compared to the other colleges he once visited.

"Holy Cow is that an Elf?"

Louie could hear some students screaming in excitement as they were able to witness people from different races. The most popular ones were the Elves. There were many depictions of elves in various folklore and films. But the elves that are currently present looked differently compared to the fantasy depictions in movies. For short, they still look like regular humans. They also have different races which you can tell by their appearance. The only difference they had with Human Earthlings was their eyes and ears. Aside from that, they just look like regular people in cosplay.

Aside from the famous elves, there were a lot of other races present that garnered all the attention of the human students.

"I guess people would soon be dealing with, not just racism among humans... but also of the other races in the universe." Louie thought to himself. He knew how hearts tend to move. At first, everyone would be happy seeing other races, but as time would pass, the negative nature of intelligent lifeforms would surface. He also knew that racism doesn't just exist here on Earth, but in all parts of the universe.

"I hope I'm wrong." Louie could not help but sigh thinking about the future. "Sigh... here I am again, trying to predict the future. It doesn't really matter to me as long as my family is safe."

As he continued to walk in the hallway for his enrollment process, he found a vacant enrollment officer and submitted his credentials.

The enrollment officer took his papers then scanned it. Then she was shocked. She then smiled at Louie.

"Welcome to Beijing Universal Academy student Louie Monteazul. Or shall I call you by your Chinese name Xiaoqi?" the enrollment officer beamed.

"Anything is fine." Louie replied.

"Alright student Xiaoqi, these are your necessary items while studying here at Beijing Universal Academy." the enrollment officer said as she picked up a box and gave to Louie. "Inside this box are your school paraphernalia's such as your school ID, student pass, dormitory key, school uniform and cafeteria pass. Food in the school cafeteria will be free for you as long as you have this pass, so you better not lose it, since not anyone can just eat the world class food at the school cafeteria." the enrollment officer continued to smile as she gave a brief orientation to Louie.

"Ok. I see. Thank you. Though, is enrollment supposed to be this quick?" Louie asked.

"Student Xiaoqi, with your credentials, there's no point in delaying your enrollment process. You could say that you're one of the VIP students here in the school." the enrollment officer replied.

"I see... feels like going thought the back door. Hahaha" Louie laughed.

"No no no. It's not like that student Xiaoqi. It's a privilege given to one person appointed by one of the school's higher officials as their representative." she explained.

"Ah... I understand." Louie ended their conversation and went his way. "I guess the stuff that old man gave to me was pretty useful." he thought to himself.

"Hey bro!"

As he was walking away, Louie heard someone calling to him. He looked back and saw a group of students walking towards him.

"Yes?" Louie asked.

"Hahaha. Hey bro. We observed your enrollment procedure to be very fast. Your background must be very formidable." one of the students who seemed to be their leader spoke.

"Not really..." Louie replied.

"Ah.. please excuse us. My name is Zhang Yuili and these three are my brothers. Xiao Tanglou, Li Moubin and Shen Guqi." Zhang Yuili said as he introduced his group to Louie.

Meanwhile, Louie had a questioning look.

"What? Is something wrong?" Zhang Yuili asked as he looked at Louie's bewildered look.

"Um... So... you guys had different fathers?" Louie asked.

"Hahahahahhahaha!" the group laughed. "Bro, we call ourselves brothers not because we are siblings. We are childhood friends who grew up together, so we became sworn brothers." Shen Guqi explained to Louie while the others continued to laugh.

A flash of memories entered Louie's mind as he remembered his siblings from the past. Though most of them had different mothers, everyone had the same last name. Odinsson.

"I see. My name is Louie Monteazul. But you can also call me Xiaoqi." Louie introduced himself.

Zhang Yuili continued to chat with Louie while introducing themselves. Louie found out that these four youngsters belonged to very influencial families here in China. They had powerful family backgrounds backing them. Zhang Yuili's father held a high government position in Beijing. Xiao Tanglou was a heir to a large corporation in Beijing, Li Moubin was a military general's son, while Shen Guqi's family was the owner of the largest entertainment company in here in the capital. They also asked Louie his background. But they were confused at Louie's reply.

"My family runs a snack bar back in the Philippines." Louie said to them.

"Oh... so it's like a large franchise of snack bars? Something like that BeeJolly food corporation?"

"No... it's a small roadside snack bar. Our house is also on top of it, on the second floor."

"So... like... it's an exclusive snack bar for VIPs?"

"No... it's a snack bar for everyone..."

"Wow!" the group was amazed at Louie's simple family background and business.

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What was more amazing was that his enrollment process was faster than them who had rich and powerful families. Faster than those other races of came from other worlds. It was as fast as those Avatar Class students who descended from well-known groups and Avatar linked families.

The group continued to chat as they walked towards the dormitories. Louie learned that there were two different classes of students enrolled in this school. One was those who had Avatar lineage. Either inherited from their ancestors, or those who independently got turned into new Avatars. The second group was the rich scions. Their families were able to pay for the high tuition fees of the school. Meanwhile, Louie didn't belong to any of those groups. He got in this school as a scholarship aided student, with recommendations from someone.

The next day, classes were about to officially start.

There were two types of classes. The regular degree class, and the battle class.

Louie was enrolled in the regular degree class majoring in business management. He also sidelined for a culinary class as he wanted to improve the menu back at his family's snack bar.

The battle class however was the most common and well-known class in the school. It was the reason why the school was built. To nurture the new generation of avatars. The regular degree class students were just a sideline for the school so that the avatar students will be integrated into normal society.

Louie met his new friends at the school cafeteria for breakfast.

"Let me tell you Xiaoqi, I've done my research last night and found out about the school's top beauties." Shen Guqi chatted while eating his food.

"You're always at that list of yours you lusty brat." Zhang Yuili sneered.

"Of course. My family owns the top entertainment company. So, I need to be always on the lookout for potential artists to hire." Shen Guqi defended himself. "Let me tell you Xiaoqi..." he continued.

"The top 20 students on my list are all so amazing. And all of them belong to the battle class. Meaning... they are all avatars." Shen Guqi said.

"Then those 20 top beauties on your list will be out of the league of your entertainment company." said Zheng Yuili.

"We'll never know. There are a few avatars that would prefer to be safe, away from those gates. Some of those beauties might prefer to be an artist. Hehehe!" Shen Guqi laughed.

Looking around, Shen Guqi spotted some of the girls in his list.

"See that pretty girl over there? She's a sophomore. Her name is Song Hwa-bin from Korea. She's on the 12th on my list. She's also one of the strongest archers among her year level. She is a disciple under the western avatar Sagittarius. That one over there is Kayli Pelomeno from Brazil. She excels in support magic under the western avatar Gemini. That one lining up to get food over there is Izakuchi Rei from Japan. She belongs to a family of swordsmen. She is trained to be the successor of her grandfather, the current avatar of Amaterasu..." Shen Guqi continued to chatter endlessly as he scanned the large cafeteria for the beauties on his list.

As Louie was eating silently while listening to Shen Guqi, he's left eye was also scanning around.

When he was born, he inherited the two eyes he acquired from his past life. His right eye was the "Eye of the Deceiver" while his left eye was called the "Eye of the Beholder".

His left eye was his most powerful weapon back in his previous life. The "Eye of the Beholder" enabled him to know the name, abilities and thoughts of the people it scanned. But even though it was like an all-knowing eye, it still had its limits. Like he could not scan his cunning adoptive father's thoughts... or the mind of his simple-minded brother, Thor.

The moment he was born here on earth, his "Eye of the Beholder" was like a fish in the sea. He can scan everything. He can even know if an ant was male or female.

His eyes scanned everyone and everything, until it settled on a girl who just entered. Her face was beautiful, and her body was well proportioned. She looked like those fantasy depictions of goddesses in modern art, like she was made by an AI, by cropping all the other beautiful features of women and combined into one perfect art.

But right now, the beauty was the least of the things he was thinking about when he saw her. What shocked him the most was that... his "Eye of the Beholder" cannot scan her. No name, no abilities, nothing. It was like if his powerful eye stopped functioning when he tried to scan her. He looked at Guqi, and was relieved that his left eye was still functioning.

[Shen Guqi]

[Has high charisma]

[Ogling at the beautiful belles]

Yes... his eye was still working.

Then he looked at the girl again, but there was still nothing. Now he was more shocked. Was she a being more powerful than him just like Odin? Impossible. All those beings in the previous higher plane all died during the Ragnarök. Even if the middle plane became the new higher plane, it would take at least hundreds of thousands of years for those beings to be at least Odin's level of power. Six thousand to seven thousand years was not enough for a being on the new higher planes to have the power to block the "Eye of the Beholder".

As he was looking at the girl, he silently spoke "Who is she?"

Shen Guqi and the rest noticed Louie and looked to where his eyes was gazing. And they saw the beauty he was looking at.

"Ah she's here." Zhang Yuili spoke. But then went back to eating as if he was not interested at the beautiful girl. So did the rest of his brothers.

"Sigh"... Shen Guqi could only sigh as he looked away from her.

"Why the sigh guys?" Louie asked. He too was confused of their reactions.

"Her name is Long Xiaolan" Shen Guqi said. "She is heir to the Long corporation, owned by a business family, the Longs. Whenever you see a product that is marked with the symbol of a sleeping dragon, it is manufactured by their company. She is currently in the top 3 of Beijing Universal Academy's top beauties. She is also the avatar of the eastern zodiac, the Dragon."

"If she's that formidable, what was with your sighs?" Louie couldn't help but ask again. He was now curious.

"Sigh" Shen Guqi couldn't help but sigh again. "She is cursed"

"Cursed?"

"That's right... cursed..."

"Let me explain..." Xiao Tanglu interjected. " Long Xiaolan has been the youngest Avatar in history. She was born having the abilities of the Avatar Zodiac Dragon. During her birth, as a Zodiac avatar, her powers was shared to her parents, and they became disciples. But a few days later, her parents died in a clash against a rogue avatar organization. But her sad life story didn't end there. Every time she befriends people, they always receive the mark of the Zodiac Dragon as disciples. Every time this happens, those who receive the mark will die after a few days by some weird event. Everyone believes she is cursed to be alone. Like a beautiful flower, with poisonous prickly thorns. Good for the eyes, but never to be touched... or you die."

"She was ostracized by her family as the harbinger of misfortune. Fortunately, for some reason, her grandfather, who is the current president of Long corporation is immune from her curse. So he was able to take care of her until now." Shen Guqi said.

"Thats why, even if she is very beautiful, you will notice that people are staying away from her. They are scared they might receive the curse."

"I see..." Louie took another glance at her, then looked away to continue eating his food.

Unbeknownst to him, that Long Xiaolan was also looking at him. But what she felt was different. She froze as cold sweat dropped from her forehead. Her eyes were focused on Louie.

She had a very special set of eyes. She discovered that she could see spiritual aura, especially those who are avatars and those who came from other worlds.

When she looked at Louie, her eyes were working at full force. Because what she saw was an otherworldly aura that not even avatars or those from other worlds have. It was like, there was a fight between his aura, and that of the world. The world wants to reject him but then cannot overpower the aura he was emitting.

She saw a dark malevolent aura surrounding the whole cafeteria, that she found it hard to breathe. She felt a sense of dread, but as well as the unknown feeling, like he has the cure for her curse. In her eyes, as the guy she was looking at was surrounded by the dark aura, there was also a comfortable light enveloping him.

From a far, Long Xiaolan mumbled silently, saying.

"Who are you?"

Louie noticed her gaze and saw her mouth moving. He was able to lip read what she just mumbled. Then he looked at her while smiling from a far. He also moved his mouth silently that his friends around him didn't notice. But Long Xiaolan was able to see it and also tried to lip read.

He said,

"I am Loki."