Chapter 3 – Trinity Academy
The next day started suspiciously normally. No alert was issued overnight, and William was beginning to think that he must have imagined the whole episode yesterday.
“How are you not nervous?” Finn asked, his hands visibly trembling on the lecture hall desk. He wore glasses, and could easily be mistaken as fifteen or younger due to his short and scrawny appearance.
Finn Mutton was one of the first friends William made in college, and although he sometimes lacked a spine, William appreciated how normal he was. He was the second son from a regular merchant family, whose older brother died during the initial dungeon break twelve years ago.
That was actually a common story among many families, so William still considered him as normal as you could get. As the only surviving child, his parents doted over him like no tomorrow.
The only problem was, Finn had a bad habit of laying in his dorm room sofa to play mobile games all day long while neglecting everything else.
“You’ll learn to get used to stressful situations,” he replied.
He hadn’t shared with Finn anything about the events last night. Finn had a tendency to panic, and that was the last thing William wanted to deal with right now.
“But the initiation isn’t just any school test. Our future gets decided in a span of two minutes. How is that even fair? What if I don’t even get a power level of two?” Finn moped with his hands over his face, lost in his own world. “I can already imagine my mom’s face, she’s going to be so disappointed.”
“Life has never been fair,” he said. “Might as well get used to it.”
As much as he envied a normal, coddled upbringing like Finn’s, Finn’s lack of resolve made him admit that his own orphanage upbringing had served him well in some respects, making him harder, more self-sufficient.
Right on the hour, the door to the classroom burst open and Luke Brightsteel walked in with a group of students. He wore a tailored dark navy blazer, his hair was combed and his overall appearance was unmistakably media-ready for the initiation today, where there would be plenty of cameras flashing on all the new prospects, including himself. Luke scanned the classroom angrily before locking eyes on William.
Finn was lost in his own worries and hadn’t noticed the two staring daggers at each other, and continued to talk. “Well, you know my grades are bad, and my mom’s gonna kill me if I can’t at least be a healer–” he stopped, finally noticing the approaching problem.
“Didn’t think you had the balls to come in today,” Luke Brightsteel sneered. He was flanked by a group of three male and two female students that frequently hung out with him. Needless to say, they were all from elite families.
The male upperclassman called Jared Pain added with a smug grin, "You should probably know that Luke is going to one of the big seven, and I already have a sponsorship from Blue Mountain. What about you two? Anyone sponsor you two yet? Maybe Kicken Chicken?”
The two girls of the group giggled as the upperclassman started to mime a cashier.
The mockery was annoying, but he had a point. Sponsorships were the reason why all the students were dressed to impress today. For the average guild aspirant, getting the attention of a recruiter from one of the top guilds could be the ticket to a life of fame and luxury. But like all things in this world, nepotism was a major advantage. The Brightsteels, the Pains, the Mardurs, and all the other elite families were practically shoe-ins for those positions.
Their taunts were more irritating than upsetting. Compared to the horror he felt yesterday, Jared Pain’s remarks were like a mosquito buzzing around his face. He didn’t feel bothered at all.
In fact, he was itching to fire back.
He’d noticed a shiny tint on Luke’s face, and when he realized what it was the poisonous words simply slipped out of his mouth. He gestured his head at the Brightsteel heir and delivered the blow that he knew would piss him off to no end.
“Nice makeup.”
The laughter from their group instantly ceased.
Finn shrank in his seat, as was typical of him.
“Hey, don’t piss them off, those guys can cause us a lot of problems,” Finn whispered anxiously to him.
Jared and the others looked at their leader for his reaction. There was a brief pause, and Luke looked angrier than ever.
“You better not let me catch you on your first expedition,” he finally said.
It was a thinly veiled threat. What happened on expeditions into the gates was beyond the control of the government. And with that, the crew turned and left.
More people were beginning to enter the lecture hall, including a rather gorgeous girl with long black hair who squeezed past Luke’s crew before quickly darting over to William and Finn. She wore similar elite family attire to the two girls from Luke’s group.
“What did you do this time?” she asked, her eyes accusatorially landing on William.
“Mind your own business, Evelyn,” he replied, not in a mood to explain himself.
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Evelyn’s eyes then switched over to Finn, who buckled under their intense gaze. “William pissed off Luke and his gang,” he blurted out.
“Great. The school board just told me that they’re canceling all of our final exams, and now I come here and find out that you’ve pissed off the darling son of one of the great families, whose mother, if you didn’t know, also sits on the school board. As if this day couldn’t get any more wonderful.”
William and Finn nearly fell out of their chairs. “They’re canceling our exams?”
Back before the dungeon break, year-end college final exams were considered a sacred rite, a path to a good career. Even now in the post dungeon break era, exams were still a defining moment in a university student’s life. Regular jobs still had their place in the world, and so did final exams.
Evelyn crossed her arms. “Yeah. Which means all of our studying is going to be flat out useless. Apparently the government is pressuring all university students to join combat training classes. I think they’re expecting more breaks to happen, so we’re being trained to fight. My mom said that it’s going to be mandatory for everyone our age.”
William recalled that Evelyn’s mom worked in some kind of important government-adjacent position, although he wasn’t sure of the specifics.
Evelyn Moon belonged to the renowned Moon family, considered one of the minor elite families and known for producing skilled blade users. She was also the current vice president of the college’s Charitable Aid Society. When William first joined the school, she was tasked with looking out for him due to his background as an orphanage child. She helped him acclimate to the school’s culture, but sometimes it felt like she was patronizing and treating him like a sickly abandoned cat, like a pet that she had the responsibility of taking care of.
It was also clear that her main purpose for joining the Charitable Aid Society lay in padding her resume and advancing her future career. That’s why whenever William caused any trouble, Evelyn would be the first to appear to chastise him. His success at school was an extension of her own image to the professors who would write her recommendation letters in the future.
“I wasn’t aiming for a career as an awakener, but if the government is this keen on making it part of our curriculum, it’ll be something I need to take seriously from now on,” she said with her arms crossed. “If I’d known this beforehand I would’ve taken more elixirs.
“But aren’t elixirs like a fortune each?” Finn replied.
“Yeah. My family saw some on the market, but I only had one. They’re even more expensive than usual lately. I heard that the Brightsteels have been buying them in bulk for Luke, just like they did with Cassius.”
That name rang a bell for William. Cassius Brightsteel was the older cousin of Luke and one of the strongest fighters in humanity’s arsenal. He was the first to clear a crisis level gate seven years ago.
“Elixirs huh… so even here, it’s pay to win,” Finn said in a dejected voice.
“Pay to win?” Evelyn asked with a confused look on her face.
“It’s a gaming term.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes, just as the loudspeaker in the room crackled to life.
All students are required to report to the auditorium for initiation. Attendance is mandatory.
“Alright, let’s get going,” Evelyn said. “I’ll see you there, and don’t you cause any more trouble William.”
“I won’t,” William replied.
Watching Evelyn rush past the students and disappear through the door again, William rose from his chair and took a much needed stretch. Today was one of the only occasions that he wore a collared shirt, and he wasn’t used to how it squeezed around his neck uncomfortably even after unbuttoning the first button. He looked at Finn, who was wearing a blazer that was a size too large for him and fit awkwardly over his shoulders.
He mentally reviewed his preparations—breathing exercises, fire ability specific techniques, energy circulation—as he descended the stairs with Finn.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Finn said, his face pale with nervousness.
William put a hand on Finn's shoulder and straightened it. “Try to breathe through your nose for two counts, then exhale through your mouth,” he said. “The forums said that that helps with nerves when casting.”
Finn tried to follow along as William explained the basic breathing technique to him.
There was a bit of a crowd forming right outside the door.
“I think the media is already here,” William said, seeing the flashes of cameras from the hallway.
They made their way to the auditorium.
A group of reporters stood near the entrance, their cameras trained on the students as they filed inside. The media was buzzing with excitement, and it was clear that they were looking for the next big story.
"Here they come, the future defenders of humanity," one reporter said into her microphone, her eyes scanning the crowd. "Among these students are the heroes who will lead the fight against the monsters. We've already spotted some familiar faces—like Luke Brightsteel, who needs no introduction, and Jared Pain representing the illustrious Pain family. Both are expected to make a significant impact today."
William and Finn pushed their way through the throng of people as they were completely ignored by the paparazzi. Luke Brightsteel, who was still in the spotlight, walked confidently with his entourage. A camera zoomed in on him, and the reporter continued, “Luke Brightsteel, son of the influential Brightsteel family, is rumored to have already secured a position in all seven of the big seven guilds. Expectations are sky-high for this young man, whose cousin Cassius Brightsteel was recently promoted to vice guild master of Carthagis.”
Luke’s group paused briefly as a few recruiters approached them. One of the recruiters, a tall woman with a Blue Mountain Guild insignia on her jacket, exchanged a few words with Luke before nodding approvingly. The media didn’t miss this interaction, and the camera focused in on it, capturing Luke’s smug smile.
“Already courting the attention of top guilds, I see,” a male reporter commented. “It’s no surprise that Brightsteel has all eyes on him. The Blue Mountain Guild has a reputation for selecting only the very best.”
Nearby, Evelyn Moon was also drawing attention. She stood with her red haired friend, her own long black hair gleaming under the lights. A few reporters whispered among themselves as they noted her presence.
“And there’s Evelyn Moon. She’s expected to perform well today, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Moon family’s legacy continues with her,” another reporter added.
William and Finn took their places in the hall as more students continuously came in. When everyone had filed in, several soldiers appeared and closed the doors. Outside media reporters were not allowed in the auditorium during initiation. A single camera was fixed to the back of the auditorium to live stream the event.
An instructor's authoritative voice cut through the murmur of the crowd. "All right, settle down, everyone!" The tall, silver-haired man surveyed the room, his presence commanding respect. "We're about to begin the initiation process. When your name is called, step up for your evaluation."
William glanced at the oddly large amount of soldiers assembled in the auditorium. More than a dozen were guarding the doors and scanning the auditorium, giving off the feeling that they were monitoring the students and making sure that none left the room. But what reason would they have to keep the students in?