"…An easy a life for a ruler. A simple thing is to order.

The noble they revel, in famine and man-slaughter.

Whatever may we hope for, whatever you may trust

These rulers of man, they aren't one of us…"

* - Folk song, author lost to time

The building was positively giant. Cormac was used to extravagancy, including buildings way bigger than they had any reason to be, but even he was left flabbergasted by the Academy's height. It must have had at least a two-dozen stories. The main building looked very much like a castle, the walls made out of smoothly cut grey bricks, boasted with huge windows, some with clear glass, some with colored. The big black gate was wide open, as a maw of a beast, devouring all that came close to it. The whole castle felt like a living entity. Too giant to move, yet too strong to not strike fear into those that came close.

And fear Cormac felt, alone with but a suitcase to his name.

The entry hall must have been at least twenty meters tall and thrice that wide, strong columns held the mighty weight of the ceiling and a giant singular circular window poured enough daylight in to illuminate the whole room. A number of desks were positioned towards the door, each with a person quickly scribbling something into their respective books. The other applying students seemed as confused as Cormac felt, mostly shooting glances at each-other and at the people working at their desks.

"Hello, sorry. I am here to apply…" Cormac was interrupted by the worker handing him a paper. When Cormac took too long taking it the man just glared at him, at which point Cormac took the paper as well as a few steps back. Then the person started writing furiously again.

Appliance of a student: Cormac… he read the paper. They must have known who he was, since they had all his details right without him even having to say so.

As he read on there appeared a set of instructions on the paper

Once this entry ticket is given, the student is expected to enter the training grounds straight from the entry hall. There, they are to await new instructions by one of the school teachers.

Cast issued: minor noble

Cormac made his way through the group of students and left as by the instructions.

The training grounds were more of a wide arena than anything else. Stone circular stairs led to a flat surface, where some dummies where positioned. A number of people assembled at the bottom of the arena already, so Cormac decided to join the others. After some time, the arena was bustling with the nervous students. When a strong man made his appearance.

He wore a dark jacket, with similarly black pants all in style of the school uniform. His dark short hair was even and his face portrayed that of a seasoned warrior. Resolute, calm and tough. He stood there motionlessly for a moment, but when the group quieted down, his voice flowed strongly through the arena.

"I am glad to welcome all of you here. I am sure you have heard many stories of out esteemed Academy, but let me assure you, they are often exaggerated. Still, here, you will learn to be strong, to be wise. You will have the opportunity to add to the endless names of famous adventurers that learned their skills and knowledge, that allowed them to survive, here. You are strictly forbidden from sharing personal information, with students and instructors both. Here, you have no family name, no history. You are just you and that’s all we will judge you about."

"You will be separated into four casts. Please note that the split is random and has no correlation to your life outside the Academy. The following casts are: Common folk, minor noble, lord and baron. Your task would be to successfully move to the upper cast. You can move between these casts based on merit, which you can earn in classes and extra tasks. The higher your cast status, the more Academy resources you will have access to."

"You will have today free, to settle-in your rooms and establish connections with your neighbors. The coordinates and directions of your rooms should have appeared on your entry ticket. I in the name of the whole institute welcome each and every one of you and we hope that you will prove to be men and women of honor, principles and discipline. Farewell." He said as he disappeared into the school complex.

Cormac looked at the paper and there really was a new line.

The raven lounge, east room.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

As the name suggested, the rooms was decorated with black and purple colors; the couches and armchairs adorned with dark black feathers; paintings with mysterious and intriguing settings, mostly raven themed. Their uniform was much the same, black with pinch of dark purple. Cormac donned his uniform on happily. The colors suited him and it was made from fine materials and he liked soft clothing.

His room was one of four in the lounge and though it was much smaller than his room back home, it was incredibly cozy. The bed was comfortable, the desk was positioned right next to a window overlooking the far and wide training grounds.

The room was fairly lavish, considering that he was supposed to be a minor noble, but he definitely didn’t complain. The common room was cozy and he could clearly imagine spending time there. The only problem was, that most of his roommates did not seem to share the sentiment. He met only Gavin, a young mage apprentice who got to this university a week before him. He prided himself on the fact that he got accepted based on his merit and not his birth - which was something Cormac was fairly sure he wasn’t supposed to share at all. But he did not mind. He occupied the west room and was of the lord group. He told him of the other residents, before quickly running away to do some errant.

Hurek was supposed to live in the north room. He was a burly boy around Cormac's age and he was obviously battle forged. His body and his faced were riddled with scars of varying sizes. One going across his all-white eye, which Cormac suspected he was blind in. Hurek seemed to spent the whole of his leisure time locked in his room and Cormac had yet to trade a word with him. Gavin suspected he is from the lord group also.

Araviana was in the south room. She was a huge mystery, as Gavin called it. He knew nothing of what she looked like, because she seemed to wake up before anyone else and go to her room only in times when nobody was around. The only reason Cormac and Gavin were sure that there even was a fourth roommate, was because of her making random sounds in the evening.

They all shared a bathroom, that was fairly well furnished. It lacked any purely decorative items, but Cormac liked that. He himself sometimes wondered what reason his family had the need to put statues or gold anywhere a person could possibly look, though he supposed there was a sense of beauty in it, even if a little vain.

For the lack of company his roommates presented, Cormac decided to venture out on campus, to get a better sense of where things were.

He checked the lecture halls, which were almost identical, with only slight differences when it came to the teacher's desk. They were pretty much exactly what Cormac suspected to be like. Efficient, clean and still reasonably pretty.

Though whenever he looked about the training grounds, that were more akin to training fields by their size, he was left utterly impressed. Not only did they have similar wooden structures used for agility and strength he had back home, there were also a plethora of different ones, a wall of stones protruding out just a bit, probably meant for climbing, rocks and iron weights in smooth shapes, for training muscle, as well as machine's that he did not understand at all.

There was also a fire-range, made for aspiring arcane users to train their craft. He thought he spotted Gavin there, but he was focusing on some kind of spell, so Cormac decided to leave him to focus.

When he finished with his walk across the training grounds, sun was already setting and the signal for dinner rang throughout the whole school.

Without knowing where the dining hall was supposed to be, Cormac followed crowds flow, which lead him to his destination.

Cormac was getting used to the impressiveness of the halls. Someone clearly decided to fit all the students at this school into the dining room at the same time, since Cormac had trouble seeing the far end of the room. He panicked a bit when he entered, thinking that finding the food meant for him and a place to sit would be a daily grueling experience. Thankfully, the food for minor nobles was easy to find and the cook assured him that it would always be the same place, but finding a place to sit was a different problem entirely.

Cormac wasn’t really an outcast, nor had a problem with talking to people, but crowds of this magnitude made him dizzy. He wabbled through the tables with his food, starting to feel a bit ill.

But just before the world started spinning a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey Cormac! Where are you going?" asked Gavin from behind him. Cormac shook his nausea away.

"Honestly, I have no idea." said Cormac with relief.

"Come with me! I secured us as spot!"

"Us?"

"We are the raven loungers, we gotta stay together!"

"Alright." replied Cormac weakly, while Gavin basically pulled him off to the side. They were walking a

minute or so before they arrived to an empty table. With a fairly bad drawing of a bird on it.

"Did It myself, now its signed as ours." said Gavin proudly.

"And where are the others?"

"Well…they…they couldn’t make it! Yes!" Gavin nodded as he sat down. Cormac just followed, unsure of how he felt about the situation. On one hand, he was glad that Gavin wanted to sit together, on the other Gavin seemed like a weird guy.

Then for the first time since getting it, Cormac appraised his food. It was a fairly straight-forward steak with potatoes, nothing to scoff at, at all. But when he took a look to his right, a hint of jealousy appeared.

Gavin had a hoard of food. Not only did he have the same steak, he also had a sweet cake with it and an appetizer made of small fish and vegetables.

Gavin, noticing Cormac staring at his plate just grinned and started devouring his portion like an animal. Cormac had to let out a small laugh and started eating his own food.

It tasted even better than it looked and left Cormac utterly content with the food he was given. Gavin on the other hand seemed ready to burst any second, after wolfing the giant meal he had.

They then together left for their lounge, where they agreed to meet the next day to go to the first class together.

As Cormac lied in bed falling to his sleep, he had to smile a little. It was nice to not be noticed for a change.