Rose, a 13-year-old boy with bright red hair and sparkling green eyes, awakens in a small room on the second floor of a bustling inn. The soft glow of the morning light barely illuminates the rough cotton sheets covering his thin mattress, and he feels the hard wooden floor beneath his bare feet as he rises from the bed.

He shuffles over to a small cupboard where a lantern flickers on a nearby table, striking a flint against steel to ignite the wick and cast warm light around the room. The tantalizing smell of fresh bread and roasted meat wafts up from the kitchen below, making his stomach rumble.

"Hey Teseji, are you up?" he calls out, glancing at his childhood friend's bed on the opposite wall. Teseji's long silver hair with a white rose in it is splayed across the pillow, and her beautiful green eyes blink open sleepily.

"I could use a few more minutes of rest, but I'm starving. Do you smell that?" Teseji asks, eager to go downstairs for breakfast.

But first they change into their school uniforms, Rose is a red fine tunic with the symbol of a dragon on the heart of the tunic, he also wears a raged grey cloak covering his uniform, while Teseji is wearing a golden tunic with black accents, with a hawk on the heart of her tunic.

Teseji nods, and together they make their way down the creaking wooden stairs to the bustling common room. The innkeeper greets them with a smile as they enter, and the pair looks around, taking in the sight of many people enjoying their meals and conversations, drinking ale, and being rowdy.

The common room is dimly lit by candles and the small windows that line the walls. The air is thick with smoke from the fireplace, which crackles and pops in the corner. Rough wooden tables and benches are scattered throughout the room, some occupied by groups of boisterous men and women, others by solitary travelers.

“So what's the special dish of the day?” Rose asks with a smile, trying to make himself heard over the din.

The innkeeper, a burly man with a thick beard and a booming voice, replies, "We've got meat for days, so assorted meats with a loaf of bread is on the house today."

"Sounds good to me," Teseji says, grinning.

Rose and Teseji pick out a small, rickety table in the corner of the room and take a seat. The table is sticky with ale and covered in crumbs, but they don't mind. A serving girl with frayed clothes and bare feet approaches their table, balancing two wooden bowls filled with chunks of seasoned meats ranging from poultry to red meats and also 2 stale loaves of bread.

Rose and Teseji devour their breakfast hungrily, savoring the salty meat and the tangy bread. As they eat, they overhear conversations in various languages, from French to German to Italian, Korean, Japanese, and more, as travelers and merchants exchange news and gossip. The room is filled with a cacophony of sounds, from the clanging of pots to the strumming of a lute in the corner.

Rose and Teseji finish their meal and prepare to head out into the bustling streets of the nearby town. They step outside into the cool morning air, surrounded by a throng of people. The smell of horse manure mingles with the scent of fresh bread from a nearby bakery, and the sound of a blacksmith's hammer echoes in the distance and many other inns around the city most owned by the merchants' guild. Rose and Teseji join the throngs of people, ready to start their day.

Teseji and Rose begin to walk through the bustling city, “So how does it feel going to the first day of school” Teseji asks with a smile, “uh I guess I feel pretty normal” Rose says with a shrug, “wait‌ so you’re saying that you feel normal when you are going to the most prestigious school in the known world, the same place that raised countless legendary heroes yet you feel normal!!l” Teseji shouts.

Crowds of people glance at the duo and begin whispering and muttering between themselves, Rose manages to hear some of the gossip about them attending royal path academy, and the scepticism about it.

People saw Teseji’s uniform and realise she is a student of royal path academy but people are suspicious of Rose as his grey cloak is blocking the view of his uniform, Teseji looks flustered realising the situation.

Rose quickly grabs Teseji’s hand and pulls her with him as he walks as fast as possible, dragging her until they reach an empty alley and pulls her in “never do that again” Rose says with a stern voice “you know that I don’t like attention” Rose says in a low voice unable to look Teseji in the eyes.

“Oh right I’m sorry” Teseji says in a weak voice unable to face Rose fidgeting with her fingers, “just don’t do that” Rose says in a sad tone, the two continue to walk without a single word being spoken.

They are standing before the royal path school, a huge castle-like building with a little over 1,000 students from all ages rushing from all directions and bustling while carrying stacks of books, and Rose walks into the castle leaving Teseji behind him.

He sees halls with scholars, he quickly walks through the halls searching for room A-3 while avoiding any eye contact with anyone who walks by.

Rose finds an intricately detailed light wood door with A-3 carved into it, he opens the door to see a spacious classroom with 21 students already in the class, they all seemed to be of nobility and look quite lavished, their uniforms are all, yellow, white, black, and green uniforms each with their own creatures, but not a single person had a red uniform other than Rose.

Rose quietly walks into the room and takes a seat, no one pays attention to him, over a few more minutes a few more students come in, and finally, after 7 minutes of waiting a man with short blonde hair and brown eyes, wearing a fine cotton tunic, behind him there's a man with medium gold hair with silver streaks through it, he is wearing a dark blue samue with, his each step is perfect without a sound.

“Good morning class I am Henry and the gentleman behind me is Geo Seok-ji and he is a world-renowned monster hunter and a bit of mercenary work, he was also at this school before,” the blonde man says with a smile.

“I am Geo Seok-ji and I will be leading you on a subjugating a dungeon, that's C- rank,” Seok-ji says with a stern voice and his face completely neutral, “that's crazy!!” a student shouts, “most of us are E- rank do you really expect us to do this!!!” the student shouts even louder.

Most of the students begin to shout and riot, while others murmur to themselves, but Rose just sat still with a little bit of a smile cracking on his face.

“This subjugation is optional, but those who have ambition and an actual backbone,” Seok-ji says coldly, the entire room falls silence, some of the students looking agitated, while some others silently chuckle.

“So then those who would like to go on this subjugation stand up” Seok-ji says, Rose stands up and gains the attention of the room, his uniform hidden behind his cloak and his red hair.

Another student with long white braided hair stands confidently with his chest tucked out, wearing a yellow tunic with a gold pendant with his family crest on it, “pathetic to think all of you are so spineless,” the teacher says with a grin.

“All those who would like to stay has to do cleaning work” 1 more student reluctantly stands up, he is wearing a black uniform and he looks like he's a commoner.

Suddenly a girl with long brownish red hair lams the door open, “sorry I’m late” she shouts loudly “did I miss anything” she says confused noticing most of the students are stewing in rage.

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“We will be subjugating a C- dungeon, and those with no honor will be on cleaning duty,” Seok-ji says calmly, “no way a C rank, aw hell ya,” the girl says with sparkles in her eyes, “are there any more volunteers”, the whole room falls silent.

“Then those who are standing we will go to the western thymia forest, a mining cave that was taken over by some elemental wolves and you will kill them” Seok- Ji says.

“Wait, hold on, what's on the other side of the capital,” the commoner boy says, “yes that’ll be a quick warm up” the brown-haired girl says, the commoner just stares in disbelief, David begins walk to the front of the room making sure not to gain any attention.

The boy with white hair follows behind realizing how suspicious a student with a grey cloak completely covering their body and face, suddenly his face turns into one of disbelief and confusion, questioning why this suspicious person is basically invisible.

“Who the hell is that very suspicious person who is just, like, just how does no one notice him,” he says frustrated with a slight stutter, “oh yeah who is that guy, is he really a student,” a student says, “how are you now just realizing this!” the white-haired boy shouts.

“Show your uniform to prove you’re a student,” the white-haired boy says, Rose removes the hood of his cloak revealing his wild red hair and green eyes, He then unlocks the pin of his cloak revealing his red uniform, the uniform of the slums.

A boy in the class gets very aggravated, “how is it that a boy from the slums can enter such a prestigious school!!!” a student shouts, Rose at this point is very angry but he still maintains his composure and says nothing.

“Well social standing doesn’t matter to attend this school, what matters are the skills to kill monsters, if you’re good at killing monsters then you have a right to come to this school no matter who you are,” Henry says, “So what you’re saying is that he can come to this school looking like a starving bandit,” the student says in retaliation.

“So what you are saying is that he is unfit to come to this school” Seok-ji interjects, “yes that is exactly what I’m saying,” the student says, “Then a duel is to be arranged, the winner gets to stay in this school while the loser has to leave and never return, as long as you both agree of coarse,” Seok-ji says calmly.

The student agrees with a crap-eating grin on his face, “I agree” Rose says with a serious face, the entire class goes wild as losing such a duel can drastically change their life.

The class goes to a large stone arena, and the two students face each other in the center of the arena. “introduce yourselves before we begin” Seok-ji says standing on the rim of the arena.

“I am Hendrickson Levi heir to the Levi estate,” the student says, “I am Rose” Rose says with a devious smile, “make sure not to cause permanent bodily harm. Going out of the arena is strictly forbidden, and to win you must either knock out your opponent or force them to surrender, weapons are allowed so tell me your preferred weapon.”.

“I would like a rapier,” Henrickson says with a smug smile, Seok-ji activates his stigma, black spiral markings appear on the sides of his face. He puts his hands out and a thick black mist forms in his palm, shaping itself into a blade.

Through the thick black mist, a silver shine could be seen, and the gas clears revealing a shiny silver rapier in Seok-ji’s cold palms, ‘so he can conjure, how exciting’ Rose thinks to himself. Seok-ji throws the sword to the center of the arena.

Hendrickson picks up the rapier, and gets in battle position “Three, two, one, go”, Hendrickson charges at Rose the moment the fight begins, Rose's devious smile grows wider, and his eyes show a crazed expression, Hendrickson attempts to jab Rose in the stomach, but Rose jumps to the side.

Rose activates his stigma, and suddenly red and green spiraling marks appear on either side of his entire body, “activate your stigma you coward” Rose says with a devilish smile.

Hendrickson, now with a frustrated expression activates his bright orange stigma radiating with heat, he summons a ball of fire and hurls it a Rose, “now we’re getting somewhere” Rose mutters as he lunges at Hendrickson, and just then a strong spriraling wind forms around Rose shielding him from all sides.

Rose runs right into fireball but it just barely missis him by a millimeter. Hendrickson imbues his rapier with fire and plunges Rose in the heart but missis once more, Hendrickson grows increasingly frustrated as he jumps back.

Rose continues to make a dash towards Hendrickson with a gleeful happiness clear for anyone to see. Hendrickson, hesitating to counter attack, stumbles back as Rose coils his muscles and musters his aura for a punch. Rose’s punch connects hitting Hendrickson in the face, but Rose doesn’t stop there he swiftly lands a barrage of powerful blows. Rose could feel the vibrations in his arm.

Hendricksen is sent to the ground from the powerful impact. He hears a loud, maddening ringing in his ears. His vision blurring, unable to see more than a foot, and on top of that he feels a sharp pain in his head making everything feel distorted and lost, but he bears through all the pain mustering all the strength has left he jumps up in a desperate attempt to catch Rose off guard.

Hendrickson plunges his rapier forward with all his force and aura behind it, creating a beautiful unrelenting fire that waved and lashed creating a shape that resemble a red spider lily, suddenly a massive gust of spiraling wind bursts from Rose extinguishing the flame and sending Hendrickson’s rapier across the arena.

“Do you know what really pisses me off, its people like you who think that status is everything, people who have never had to struggle abd where given everything, and yet they ridicule us who struggled to get where we are and do this with our own power, but you, you got this far because of some guy a hundred years ago that wanted their family to have a cushy life. You truly disgust me and you are going to get what's coming to you,” Rose says with a deranged smile and eyes that show true, loving cruelty.

Hendrickson stumbles towards his rapier desperately, taking big steps, and with each one he nearly stumbles to the ground. “Unlike you, I have something to fight for, the honour and glory of my family, I must win, but someone like you doesn’t even have a family” Hendrickson shouts as he stumbles to the ground only metres away from his rapier.

“Good it seems you’re a feisty one, and you’ve got more fight in you. That means I get to play with a bit more” Rose says still having that smile on his face watching Hendrickson crawling towards his rapier.

Hendrickson grabs the rapier and grips it with rage and determination in his eye, he brings himself to his feet and bolts toward Rose, using the little aura he has left he releases a barrage of fiery attacks, Rose attempts to dodge all of them but he got overwhelmed and Hendrickson manages to land a few strikes.

“Pathetic,” Rose says with a smile his clothes burnt and turned to shreds but Rose comes out unscathed, “the reason how I did so much damage with such few blows is because you didn’t use your aura to guard, you thought you could win in one blow, you need to know how to properly manage and use your aura, otherwise you're nothing more than a pig being fed to wolves”.

Hendrickson engulfs himself in wild flames lashing out every where preparing for the final attack, ‘if I fail this attack then I lose but if I can just pull this off maybe it could be a draw’ Hendrickson thinks to himself determined to win. The fire continues to grow Hendrickson now barely visible.

Rose laughs in excitement, watching the spectacle before him. Suddenly, the massive fire condenses, wrapping itself around Hendrickson's rapier as it begins to melt rapidly. He winds up his melting rapier condensing his fire into a single point and thrusts his rapier with all his might, releasing the tiny blinding dot.

The dot moves faster than Rose could even think and within a split second it is about to hit him but suddenly Rose’s eyes become wider and his pupils dilate instinctively, and quickly guards, ‘is this the way I die, losing to this pathetic loser”, Rose with a clear mind begins to smile once more, ‘no, I will not die today, not to him’.

Suddenly a slim pointed spire made of stones comes spiraling from beneath the ground hits the dot of fires that can melt steel. Rose looks carefully waiting for his moment to strike, the spire makes contact with the dot and it explodes in an instant sending Rose flying away, but Rose expected this and uses his aura to protect himself.

After the carnage was over and the dust settles, Rose is revealed to be standing with his ripped and burnt uniform and a slight scorch mark in the center of his chest.

Rose looks at the small stone spire strutted out of the ground, its perfectly smooth edges make Rose look on in amazement, “did I make that?” Rose questions, “and how did it not melt or break?” but his thoughts cut off when Seok-ji says, “Rose is the winner”, Rose turns to look at Seok-ji and his classmates, he looks down at Hendrickson to see him lying on the ground with blood spreading on the surrounding ground.

‘Did I do this? Did I kill him’ Rose thinks to himself as he breathes faster and harder, he feels his heart beat rapidly, ‘I can’t handle this, it feels so painful. I can’t bear this suffocating feeling’ thinks to himself as his thoughts ravage his mind.

Rose looks at his classmates, most of their eyes filled with fear and disgust while some with rage and vengeance but Seok-ji stays calm with his eyes devoid of life, staring emptily at the scene before him.

Rose begins to panic realizing what had happened, the fear sets in as he gasps for air, ‘I fear their rejection, I fear what they may think of me’ Rose thinks with these thoughts racing through his mind tearing it apart, “This is where I end” Rose mutters to himself.