Lei Shan was a member of the Lei clan, a clan with a high position in the Illusive Empire.
Two days ago, the awakening ceremony was held, and he, like many others, awakened an innate rune. The rune he awakened was Sowulo, the rune of the sun.
As he comes from a righteous background, he of course despises evil people the most, and today is the academy's opening ceremony. He had already seen quite a few young clan masters abuse their powers against others, especially people of commoner background.
He had been paying special attention to all the people that had entered the area, along with the few members of his clan that had awoken. Surprisingly, out of the whole group in this batch, there are only two individuals with the Sowulo rune, Lei included. Most members of his clan have awakened with the Tiwaz rune.
Looking around the area once more, he could see a lot of notable individuals, most of them from either the royal family or, shockingly, individuals of lower clans that had awakened with a good rune.
A commotion was heard at the gate as a boy, followed by a girl, entered. The boy had bright, fiery hair and eyes with tan skin. On his forehead, a blazing Sowulo rune could be seen. The girl behind him had white hair and blue eyes, with extremely pale skin. The Isa rune, the rune of ice, was glowing with a blue, chilly hue on her forehead.
This was Huo Liang, a person who became famous after awakening. He possessed the Sowulo rune, just like him. The girl behind him was Ning Yiyin, who also became famous after awakening. They were known to be childhood sweethearts with an extremely deep bond; however, not much of their background was known as it was classified information about their clans.
Once again, another commotion was heard at the gate, but at the same time, it didn’t seem to be a commotion caused by the people inside but rather outside. A guard was currently telling a person to leave as he was not allowed entry before promptly stopping and allowing the individual to pass.
The person was wearing commoner clothing and a bamboo hat that covered his face and, most clearly, his rune. The only clear features that could be seen were his white jade skin and long black hair.
Many in the crowd whispered amongst themselves.
"Isn’t that a girl? I mean, look at that supple skin and long black hair; it must be a beauty!"
"Are you an idiot? It’s clearly a man; you can tell by his posture alone, not to mention that he is full of muscle."
"You can tell that he is full of muscle? What kind of bullshit is that? Anyway, is it some sort of secluded young master?"
"I don’t know, but I’ve never seen him before!"
When the whispers reached Shan’s ears, he became intrigued by this new individual. He had never seen him before, and he was clearly unique. What sort of person with that appearance would wear such common clothing?
Just as he was about to order his lackeys to go and checkhis background, a closed fan appeared before his face.
Stunned, he turned around to see a skinny young man with long black hair and slits for eyes. A bandanna covered his forehead, hiding his rune.
After realizing who this individual was, Shan’s pupils shrank, and he immediately tried to bow, but he was stopped by the fan once again.
"Don’t bow; I hate such formalities, especially since we are both fellow students."
He said this with a grin, opening his snake-like blue eyes and closing them once again into crescents. Shan felt a chill on his back and stood straight.
"Anyways, I came to inform you not to do anything stupid like harass that young man. Trust me, it wouldn’t end well."
Opening his eyes once more, the young man said with a serious look,
Hearing those words, Shan understood that this matter was not something he could dig into. After all, if this person said so, then that must be the case.
"Your highness pr-"
Once again, he was stopped by the closed fan, the young man’s eyes full of killing intent.
"Just address me by my name; I already told you, fellow student Lei Shan, that we both belong to the academy now."
Shan’s forehead was full of sweat; he couldn’t understand this young man’s intentions.
"Thank you, brother Han Dong, for the information."
Clasping his hands Shan addressed the young man with a bow.
Seeing this scene, Han Dong smiled once more, opening his fan and leaving.
After he left, Shan could finally take a deep breath. It had been a while since he had been under such pressure.
‘Just who was that person, that even his exelenc—no, fellow student Han Dong—would pay so much attention to him?"
Just as he was thinking this, a group of people approached the person that Han Dong had told him not to bother. This group of people were Han Feng and his gang.
Han Feng was a member of the royal faction and didn’t care about rules the most. He was incredibly arrogant and overbearing, even when not being a rune master. Seeing this scene, Shan’s fury rose. He was a righteous individual, so he couldn’t tolerate people like Han Feng.
However, just as he was about to intervene and stop Han Feng from making a severe mistake, the young man wearing the bamboo hat moved his body slightly, and all of them fell down with a look of disbelief in their eyes.
It was clear that Han Feng had no idea what happened, and he was embarrassed. His face turned red, and he was about to lash out at the young man. However, in an instant, the hand of an old man grabbed him.
Looking at this, all of the individuals on the scene were shocked, as this was the academy elder.
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Rui had just walked in and was looking around the place, trying to determine where he should stand and wait.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A group of arrogant people had approached him, asking him to hand over all his rune stones.
Rui was stunned and couldn’t believe that such thuggish things would happen so blatantly out in the open.
Just as he was about to respond, he was stopped by a sudden notification.
[An emergency quest has been created.]
[Six individuals covet the user’s property.
The user must defeat these individuals.
The bloodline suppression skill will be temporarily learned as it is the easiest and can be used at the current user’s cultivation and level.
Quest success rewards, 50 XP, and the Bloodline suppression skill
Quest failure,???]
Looking at the quest, a smile appeared on his lips. Opening the skill tree window, a skill had appeared there, and multiple paths, like branches, were extending from it. These were probably new skills that could be unlocked in the future.
Activating the bloodline suppression skill, instantly all six of the thugs fell to the ground, their faces full of shock. They tried their best to get up and resist the pressure, but they were unable to lift even a finger.
A sound was heard, and the quest window popped up once again.
[Quest Has been successfully completed.]
[The skill Bloodline Suppression has been unlocked; 50 XP will be rewarded.]
A new sound effect was heard, this one sounding like a happy chime.
[Congratulations to the user for leveling up! 1 free attribute stat has been obtained! Users intelligence increases by 1 thanks to the Ansuz passive!]
Reading the message Rui was pleased with himself, but he had other things to do now.
The bloodline suppression skill was now turned off, and the guy who seemed like the boss of those thugs was about to rush him.
Preparing himself for a fight, he was shocked to find an old man the very next instant, stopping the thug boss from attacking him.
“Academy elder!” Said the thug boss, bowing with respect.
Noticing this scene, he also bowed and greeted the elder, as did all the students in the area.
The academy elder smiled at this scene, dismissing their bows and saying it with a commanding tone.
“All of the new students assemble! All of you must be in your designated area; based on your status, after the assessment is complete, each of you will be divided into a class tailored for your talent and potential!”
Hearing those words, all the scattered students gathered in one area, following the orders of the teachers and getting into lines. This reminded Rui of when he entered school on earth.
Seeing that Rui had joined the Commoners, many of the people that witnessed the scene before were stunned, having thought that he was from a powerful family. One of these people was Lei Shan.
Just as he was wondering why Han Dong would pay so much attention to this commoner, the commoner was ordered to remove his bamboo hat by a teacher.
Rui was a bit reluctant. Many of the people around him turned to see his appearance and were once again awestruck. They couldn’t believe that a commoner could have such an appearance; was he a bastard son of the emperor?
Rui had extremely supple and clear skin with long black hair. His eyes were shining with a light blue light at all times. Of course, this stunned the others, as a commoner with that appearance was absurd.
However, Shan and many other noble young masters weren’t focused on his appearance but rather on his rune. The rune truly determines one’s future. If he was just a commoner with a shitty rune, there was no need to pay attention to him, even if he was otherworldly in appearance.
The people wishing that he had a sh*t rune would be more than disappointed.
“Oi, isn’t that the Ansuz rune? How the fuck can a commoner possess the Ansuz rune?”
One of the young masters saw this scene and nudged his friend in disbelief.
This caused a commotion in the surrounding area as a commoner of mortal background awakened as Ansuz.
Seeing that just revealing his rune caused so much trouble, Rui rubbed his glabella in worry.
“Silence, we are going to be starting the test now. All of you will enter this array one by one. All the individuals that are unable to enter will still be able to attend the academy, but they will be unable to advance as Rune masters in the future! Now line up in a row, from highest ranking to lowest ranking!”
The academy elder’s voice was heard, silencing all. Following his order, all of the teens lined up in a row.
There were a few thousand individuals, and the academy was large enough to easily accommodate them, along with living quarters that were based on one’s talent and cultivation speed.
Although Rui wanted to check his status while he was waiting to enter, he didn’t want to risk anything in front of the elders; maybe they could hear him mutter and determine that he was some weird bastard.
Even though the window had appeared multiple times so far in front of others, it wasn’t visible to them. However, those windows weren’t issued by him; most of them were automatically shown to him by the system. The only window he had seen in front of others was the skill tree window, but that had something to do with the quest.
If he could utilize the system even when such cultivators were in front of him, then he wouldn’t have to worry for a while.
Finally, it was his turn. Looking around, six people were unable to enter out of the few thousand students here; their faces were full of despair.
Walking down the path that appeared once he entered the array, he found himself in a gigantic area. There was no room, and there seemed to be a starry sky above. Stairs that seemed to reach the sky were in front of the crowd. The scene was magnificent. The stairs were wide and long enough to hold a few people on each step easily.
After seeing that everyone who could enter had entered, the elder nodded and proceeded with an explanation.
“This is what we call the stairway to heaven. After taking a single step, one will experience certain amounts of pressure; depending on their rule absorption rate, they will step higher! There are a total of 100 stairs here, and depending on what step you can stand on, it will determine your rule absorption rate as a percentage.”
Finishing his explanation, a youth among the crowd raised his hand. He had fiery red hair and eyes, and his tan skin was glistening. This, of course, was Huo Liang.
“What is it, student Huo Liang?”
“What is the rule, sir?”
It was the question all of them had. They had never heard of such a thing; only individuals from high-ranking clans or the young masters knew what it was, as they had been well informed. Huo Liang was probably already informed, but he had already forgotten everything.
“Rule Absorption corresponds to the cultivation speed of each individual! The higher the absorption of the rule, the faster one cultivates! Any other questions?”
Asked the elder, looking at the crowd.
Seeing that no one had any questions, he informed them that they had the whole day to advance the stairs and could take as many breaks as they wanted.
This calmed down all the individuals in the area. The teachers would still look at the area, noting each person’s results. Each of them had their own special area, with some writing down the promising students while others would be doing the commoners, etc.
Seeing that no individual so far had entered the stair test, Rui looked around and found an empty space, sitting down to observe first.
Seeing him do that, some scoffed, and others looked at him with a profound look. Many young masters did the same thing, gathering their people and sitting down to observe.
Finally, after a while, the first person to take a step appeared—it was Huo Liang!
He took his first step, finding that he felt nothing and was just on common ground. He easily took a few more steps before being promptly stopped by an unusual energy. Trying hard to suppress it, he was able to take another step forward, this one feeling as icy as the tundra.
This was the uniqueness of these stairs: each step possessed different rune abilities and different elemental suppressions, and it would assess one’s overall talent and resistance. Every action and reaction taken on the steps was recorded.
Taking one more step and reaching the tenth step, a huge heat hit his face, but he was unfazed; in fact, he stretched his body, feeling revitalized. It felt like he was finally at peace in this environment.
Time slowly passed, and two hours had gone by. A few more people attempted to take the steps, some reaching their limits while others traveled much higher.
Huo Liang had already traveled to the 60th step and looked like he could still go on. The step he was currently on looked like hell, with flames constantly surrounding him.