Lavaad jolted awake at the sound of a loud knock on the door. The sudden noise startled him, causing his heart to race. As he looked around, he realized that he was on a boat headed towards Reguus' capital. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and sat up on the bottom bunk of his bed.

He watched as Cassius, his traveling companion, got up to answer the door. A man's voice could be heard from outside, announcing the delivery of breakfast. Cassius simply nodded and moved aside as three plates floated into the room and landed on the table.

"Thank you," Cassius mumbled in his sleepy voice as he closed the door, not paying any attention to his own rudeness.

Lavaad had arrived on the ship in the early afternoon the day before, after sleeping for a few hours as soon as he got on the ship, he began studying while waiting for dinner. When Lavaad saw the floating plates he was shocked, external manipulation of source to carry plates was high level use of it given the fact that the person doing it was someone who was just delivering food to the people on the boat. Any kind of servant using source was rare.

Though, now the site of the floating plates was a bit less shocking to him. Put into perspective the Kalpuk family having such high level people under their employ wasn't that surprising.

The server the day before had told them that lunch would be served in the mess hall a floor above where everyone on the ship, gathered from across the Aguire Lake, could discuss things, form relationships and so on before arriving at the capital, maybe in an attempt to aid their families or get a leg up in the academy.

Every student was entitled to a certain level of education from the academy, given its prestigious education and steep cost, especially for those outside the kingdom. However there was a certain advantage to high performers, in combat classes if you win fights you are going to be favoured over others, in classes involving crafting, the best craftsmen are going to be scouted out or provided better materials. Forming relationships with people who might be high level students was a good idea.

On top of that, the student body was mainly taken up by two separate "factions", those of Reguus, and the nobles from Edius. The people in these groups counted for more than seventy percent of the student population, and every year there was an innate rivalry between the two sides.

At first the school let it be, but some years there were incidents, where the tension between both sides reached a high and the academy could no longer turn a blind eye, lest someone is severely hurt or even killed.

In answer to this issue, only during the first year, the two sides would have some kind of competition in the first term, the competition always changed and was never set in stone, however the winning side would get bragging rights for their entire time at school.

Some years this meant little, but it was still universally kept as a tradition, it let the hierarchy be decided without any actual conflict and would act as the first real experience of a serious fight for some students, alongside strengthening bonds within the factions.

After the first year the two sides would be kept separate in their dorms, base classes and in any competitions (Though with exception of big competitions) , the only overlap being elective classes.

The final years of the academy had most students off grounds, some even out of the country for graduation tasks so the segregation of students mattered less as the years passed.

The entire conflict between the two sides had roots in conflicts from decades ago, but now there is just a natural hatred between the two sides, the Edius nobles seen as stuck up and full of themselves, the Reguus students seen as dirty or poor.

In all honesty, Lavaad thought it ridiculous, if he had a choice he would abstain from any of it, but he didnt have choice, on top of that he enjoyed fighting anyway.

Lavaad's mind wandered as he sat at the table, surrounded by simple yet delicious food. It may not have been as extravagant as the celebratory dinners at the Lormodra household, where important figures and distant family members gathered, but for a meal delivered on a boat, it was pretty good.

In this part of Reguus, freshwater food was abundant, whether it be fish or whether it be plants and herbs that thrived in the wet environments of the lake and rivers.

The largest plate in front of Lavaad held cold, filleted fish with holes poked along the edges, filled with a rich golden filling that contrasted beautifully with the pink of the fish. Surrounding the fish were various vegetables, while the other two plates held bread, one for Lavaad and one for Cassius. Lavaad picked up a piece of fish and placed it on his bread with some salad, and the two began to eat in silence.

As they finished their meal, Cassius finally spoke up, breaking the quiet atmosphere. "Are you attending the lunch today? I know you're not one for politics or socializing, but having connections can always be advantageous."

Lavaad's thoughts drifted as he considered Cassius' words.

"Yea I'll go, as much as I dislike it I need more experience on the social battlefield, this will be easy in comparison to the demons at the academy." Lavaad smiled as he went to go on his bed, where he grabbed a book from under his pillow and began reading.

Lavaad was starting to get excited, there was just one more sleep before he arrived at the academy, his reading was an attempt at passing time until lunch, which would pass time til dinner, which would pass time til he had to sleep again.

He descended into his book, that for once covered a topic he found interesting, it was a history of technological developments using the source, and he had been reading it for awhile. It was this very book that piqued his interest in source lights, as it had a whole chapter on the development of them alone.

Reguus was a minor power in the development of source-based technology, Edius through pure wealth was an arguable first place, while the Reivium Alliance, making use of Carbres' unique materials have developed their technology in an entirely different direction, leading the world by far in medical technology. The nature of Carbres was kept somewhat secret, the island heavily defended by the alliance, the knowledge within the book mentioned a sentient tree that birthed other sentient trees, causing an environment saturated with source that inspired growth.

The book stated various inventions that have been shared by the alliance, curing long thought incurable diseases, but the general consensus is that it's not even the half of what they have been able to do.

Lavaad had spent a couple hours, absorbed in his reading, before being notified by Cassius of the soon coming Lunch.

Putting the book down, Lavaad got up. He didn't bother changing into something fancier, he wasn't there to keep appearances up, he just saw this as practice.

Lavaad went up the stairs a few doors down from his room, as he entered the third floor he felt as if he had passed a barrier, and sound washed over him as infront of him he saw a gathering of people, talking, eating, listening to the music that seemed to come from nowhere but everywhere at once.

A few glances fell on him but they quickly turned away, as if deeming Lavaad unworthy of their attention.

Lavaad didn't mind this, and went to an unoccupied seat in the middle of the massive dining table, filled with various finger foods, meats, unique cuisines that probably can't be found in Lormodra, seeing as how he didn't recognize any.

As he sat down, he listened to the surroundings, boys and girls of his age discussing their studies and what they were looking forward to at the academy, or discussing their towns and the future business plans that they have.

Lavaad had felt confident in the room, but now that he was here he realized he was incredibly out of place, he searched for some chance to jump into any conversation around him, but he knew he couldn't keep up with their talks of business at all. So instead of trying to socialize, he decided to use this as a chance to listen to conversations between nobles, seeing if he could learn anything from it, maybe he could adopt their stories to cover himself when he was questioned at the academy?

The fake noble didn't want to embarrass himself when the time came, but he also thrived in the moment, he didn't like planning ahead, it confused him and made him second guess his actions, if he instead focused on listening to his initial instincts he would know that it was the best choice in that moment, even if it came back to bite him it was the easiest way to handle anything in his opinion.

So Lavaad just sat, studying mannerisms, noting down information he gathered from people, attempting to emulate them in his own mind. It would be a slow process, but for him physically absorbing information was the quickest way to learn, something Cassius had found out when he first started teaching Lavaad and Cassius had tried to teach him with words alone, noting that it was abnormally slow. But as soon as Lavaad started getting attacked or affected by whatever Cassius tried to teach him, his learning speed tripled.