The Imperial Academy was one of the first of its kind. Founded 150 years ago by an ambitious scholar mage, it grew to become one of the most prestigious institutions for raising future leaders.

The academy was located in the Kaize Noble District in the Imperial capital, Toril. Since the academy needed a large estate, the empire had it built near to the western part of the Empire’s walls where the West Gate was located. One of the academy’s entrances led directly to a forest outside the empire. This was so that students could train on their free time in the grasslands without having to go to the gymnasium.

The canyon east of the forest was the perfect place for students to practice their magic without leaving any damage to the forest or the empire itself. While there was restructuring magic—magic that instantly restores any damaged parts of an area—imbedded into nearly all facilities, it didn’t mean that it was capable of restoring all damage.

Antimagic or dark magic could render the countermeasures useless. Dark magic was a corrupt form of mana and was usually practiced by necromancers in special facilities.

Antimagic itself was the opposite of magic. The core structures of its spells were more complex and unknown in comparison to regular arcane magic.

Putting aside antimagic and necromancing; dark magic and arcane magic could be considered as the most mysterious concepts in this world. Of course, two very capable people would be able to discover the bizarre but rich truth of both.

And it all started here at the Imperial Academy.

One such person was standing in front of him.

“I need you to show Lauran around the academy, Al.” Adrianna said to Arnold as she looked at her watch.

“Huh? Why me?”

“I need to go to the office before the ceremony starts for the students. A messenger owl is nearby, calling me. There aren’t that many students around so it should be better to show her around now.”

Arnold looked at Lauran, “…Alright.”

A smile emerged on Lauran’s face as she linked arms with Arnold, “I’ll be in your care, Arnold.”

Arnold’s face distorted.

“Ah, I told her that there’s no need for honorifics since the two of you are equals. Isn’t that right, Lauran?”

“Yes, professor.”

Lauran’s eyes were shining like a puppy with its owner.

Arnold turned his eyes away from her and sighed.

“…”

Adrianna left soon after telling them that the ceremony starts at noon. This was because they had to wait for all the representatives from other nations to arrive. Perhaps the ceremony was being delayed because of this important thing at the office Adrianna mentioned.

‘The first years should already be on the premises since they have to be divided by class and gender,’ Arnold and Lauran walked down a paved path with flowers blooming on their left and a big river on their right, ‘I wanted to go to a ranking faculty where they measure a students stats but I guess I can’t do that now.’

He had to babysit Lauran until Adrianna got back. No, if he were given an opportunity then he’d abandon her to go do what’s most important.

“So have you heard from Luke during this month?”

Lauran shook her head, “The young master doesn’t respond to any of the calls I sent out. I’m not even sure when he’ll be back…”

“What the hell is Sebas teaching that kid that’s taking so long?”

Luke wasn’t a pure martial artist so it wasn’t required of him to learn any of Sebas’ techniques. Arnold was different since he could fight barehanded and with a sword. The process of the training was incredibly taxing on one’s mental and physical health. It wasn’t even rare for someone to die.

But the end result was the most rewarding.

‘Arnold was able to finish it. I’ll never really know how strong he was after completing his training. Haah…’

The pure martial art might give him an inkling as to how strong original Arnold was before. It was ridiculous how he was level 40 but couldn’t use all his skills. A level 40 was already considered a veteran in the game.

“I’ve been wondering something… Do I need to serve him at the academy as well?” Lauran asked uncertainly.

“No, knowing my mother there will probably not be any free time besides spending time with your family. Besides, the academy will provide servants to any heirs in their facilities so there’s no need for you to do that.”

It was rather contradictory to their claim that every student was equal.

Only the heirs and those of royalty were given servants by the academy. Free of charge, of course.

“Speaking of my mother… Has she told you who’s going to be the other sponsored student?”

Arnold was curious about who the other person was that his family would sponsor. The Berkley family had never sponsored anyone in their entire family history even if promising individuals were taken by other households.

Adrianna was the one who wanted to change that.

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“I’m not sure….” replied Lauran with a curious look on her face, “The first Lady said that I’ll be meeting the girl later today when the opening ceremony is done.”

‘It can’t be that whoever it is also has the potential as an Archmage?’

No, Adrianna couldn’t have foreseen Lauran’s potential so there was no way that the other student was the same as Lauran. Her sponsorship was finalized long before Lauran’s after all.

“Unlike me, I don’t think the other person will be an assistant. Maybe she will be an ordinary student.”

‘I see. So that means that my mother doesn’t see that much worth in whoever it is.’

She must’ve regretted giving away the first slot to that person. Well, she already got Lauran to fill the second slot.

..

Arnold and Lauran walked up the stairs that led to the gymnasium. This was where the future leaders of the empire meet to spar or train. It was the third largest building after the library and the teachers office building.

As mentioned before, there were safety measures for when students want to duel—things like enforcement magic that could repair any damage and automatic healing spells.

Arnold and Lauran passed by the gym and headed towards the area where the dormitories for first years was located.

“Eh? Aren’t we going around some more?” Lauran asked confused, “We’ve barely been walking for ten minutes.”

“I’m taking a shortcut to the class buildings.”

“…” Lauran silently glared at Arnold but stayed quiet.

The buildings of the female dorms came into view.

‘As expected. It looks far nicer than the boys’ dorm. I really hate the double standards of this world.’

Arnold groaned inside. There was even a big garden called the High Gardens where the girls could relax and drink tea. They were also each given a bathroom unlike the boys who had to take turns with one bathroom in each room.

Three students were allowed per room. This was to save space since the headmaster only allowed 1400 students for all years combined. Due to this the academy had to undergo multiple renovations and construction projects to add more facilities and classrooms.

Unlike the classes which was separated by year, the dorm rooms were randomly given to students no matter what class they were in.

‘What the hell…?’ Arnold frowned when the two of them were about to take the stairs leading to Lauran’s room.

Lauran looked at him who was looking into the sky, “What’s wrong?”

“…”

Airships. Hundreds of airships were flying in the sky, over the empire. Many were coming directly towards the academy.

These airships weren’t just any regular old airships. No, there were multiple that were considered as treasures and special in Star Fantasy.

He looked closely and noticed that many of the airships shared the same design with Dunfer. But the materials and weapons used on the ships were much lower in quality.

But still, if this were the game then those ships would’ve been considered mid-tier class. One sold for ten million SP while top-tier sold for ten times more. Dunfer didn’t have a ranking since it was special.

Even airships at low-tier were considered a rare vehicle to have in this world. The production costs, time needed, personnel and the right craftsman determined whether the ship could be built.

Of course, this was only for regular airships.

Those with weapons—like Olivia’s ship—needed an entire team of craftsmen and techno-weapon experts which only complicated the production.

Seeing even one noble in each city own one was rare to begin with.

But an entire fleet was approaching the academy!

“Lauran… what are those?”

“Oh, those are airships of other households.”

“No, I can see their insignias on the side of their airships… I’m asking why there’s so many.”

Airships were originally only reserved for the leaders of the empire and the imperial family. This was because it wasn’t easy to manufacture airships for all noble families or any other family that could afford it. The money and blueprints wasn’t the only problem, the scarcity of building methods were what caused there to be such limited models.

That was because only the dwarves knew how to build airships. The vehicles were originally their inventions to begin with.

This was why most of the playerbase chose to select dwarves as their race. This allowed them to unlock building methods and secret crafting skills that no ordinary blacksmith class could ever hope to compete against.

“Do we have an airship as well?”

“Not yet but the Duke ordered one to be made a few months ago. I think they need three more months before it is completed. It’s an Arycry model that came out just a few years ago.”

‘What!? I thought building an airship took two years at the minimum!’

That was how it was in the game. It took 760 in-game days to craft just one. Dunfer itself in its base form would’ve taken six years since it had the best technology and was as humongous as a palace.

‘Don’t tell me there’s a person somewhere on the continent with a Legendary crafting class or is it something else?’

He suddenly remembered something.

‘A new… industrialization era… Was this what the lady from that inn was talking about? I’ll have to find out the full details from Lunaria. She’s a merchant so she should know.’

“Lauran, do you know how many ships were brought to the empire this year?”

“I’m not sure about the exact number but I think it was in the thousands. The ships couldn’t be delivered whole so they had to take all of them apart before reassembling them at stations in the empire. I think some Houses bought multiple instead of just one.”

“…” Arnold blankly looked up at the sky again.

Coincidentally, he spotted a familiar airship that was about to land near them. The others were randomly picking spots to land since there wasn’t exactly parking like with cars on earth. But airships could stay afloat even without magic keeping them running.

The thrusters sucks in air which goes through a variety of processes before being turned into energy. It was like breathing for living things. The best part is that it’s green and didn’t need fuel. That was because—just like magic casters—airship engines suck in mana from the atmosphere to create energy.

“Is that Her Highness’ airship? Should we go and meet her?”

“Uh, yeah.” Lauran was now the one leading Arnold by the hand.

The two of them approached as the airship dropped its anchor which dug into the ground.

The other ships which had landed nearby opened up. Many of the academy students got off the ships and headed towards the dorms.

“Lauran, go and help Olivia get her stuff,” Arnold spoke, “Knowing her, she might’ve brought her entire collection of jewelry. There are probably more of that than her clothes.”

“Ah, right.” Lauran quickly approached the ship after it opened. Elna came down first to scout the surroundings.

As mentioned before, household servants weren’t allowed inside the academy. But Elna Hemlingdale’s case was different. She is from a knighthood family and is still a fourth year student, like Arnold.

That was why she was wearing an academy uniform with a sword insignia on her left chest. Arnold had the same. That was to signify that they were from the knight division of the academy.

She gave Arnold the stinkeye when she saw him.

Arnold smiled wryly.

“You might as well stop hiding behind that bush, miss.” Arnold spoke without looking back.

“—Ah…”

A girl’s voice came from behind him. She had been following Lauran and Arnold ever since they left Adrianna’s side. Of course, Arnold didn’t pay this person any mind since they weren’t a threat. He assumed it to be a stalker since Arnold von Berkley broke the hearts of countless women.

But he could faintly feel some killing intent every now and then. Perhaps Arnold had a dark history with this girl which made her bear a grudge?

The girl had brown hair with pigtails on both sides of her head and big green eyes. She gave off the air of a cute, outgoing type just like Norn. She wore a uniform from the martial arts division.

There was a green tie around her neck. It was a symbol of a “Greenhorn” in the academy or better known as a first year.

“Why were you following us around? Do you want an autograph or something?”

The girl fidgeted as her face flushed red, “…” she tightened her fists, “P-please go out with me, young master!”

….

“Huh?”