I made my way downstairs to the lounge room where most of the others had already gathered around a table with a crystal placed on top. It was clearly the same one used to display the ranks of the other classes.
“Is that ours?”
I asked a general question to the room and nodded at the crystal.
“Mmhmm, Professor Kuhn gave it to us before escorting that walking scandal out. He’ll be back soon… lucky bastard.”
The boy with the ponytail from earlier answered me, mumbling that last part under his breath. He had a serious expression as he gazed at the crystal and I could see his fingers shaking in anticipation.
“We agreed to wait for everyone to gather before looking at it, but we’re still missing two people.”
I looked at the group and as he said, our numbers had shrunk.
“The Sol Proudmanes seem to have deemed us unworthy of their presence.”
A lithe girl with piercing green eyes and short purple hair scoffed. I could tell by those reptilian pupils and the scales around her scalp that she was another Therian.
In response to her, Axel laughed loudly.
“Haha! You’re not totally wrong there, snake-eyes. But it’s just that angsty girl who is behaving like a brat right now.”
“Bridgit, you mean?”
Lloyd spoke up from his position standing behind one of the three couches in the room, it didn’t look like he had recognised me yet.
“Zac said he had to go check on her and left our room a while ago, do you know what’s going on?”
“I might.” Axel smirked. “Just accept it when I say that that girl is a royal pain in the ass. C’mon, let's check out what we’ve got here."
Axel was seated in the middle of the central couch, he leaned forward to activate the crystal.
“Hold on a sec.”
I spoke up.
“Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t know half your names. I’d like to place faces to the names I’ll be seeing in the rankings.”
Axel blew air out from his mouth and scowled at me, but he did stop what he was doing and leaned back in his seat.
“I think that’s a good idea, I’ll go first then.”
Lloyd took the lead.
“I’m Lloyd of Redwater, my Gift is Limit Breaker, and I specialise in swordsmanship. I’m here to hone my skills and become a hero!”
He hadn’t changed much it seemed, although I was inwardly cringing that a teenager could talk about being a hero so proudly.
“My name is Isolde Langenberg. It is very nice to meet you all.”
The girl from the medical tent spoke up next.
“I am a certified priestess of Faelora, please come to me if you are injured.”
She spoke politely, then looked expectantly at the person to her left. It seemed we were going around the circle for introductions.
“Guy Vespertille.”
The boy with the ponytail was next.
“I’m a Vampire from the Vespertille clan, but don’t worry, the school provides my food. You can still donate if you want though.”
He grinned playfully.
Vampires in this world were similar to the stories from Earth that I knew well. The main difference was that the pureblood families were mostly well respected in society. They often used their supernatural ability to fight as a sort of mercenary force to assist nations. In return, a 'Blood Tax' system was introduced to keep them fed. The typical weaknesses differed as well, though the thin blooded vampires still couldn't step foot in the sunlight.
“Who are the Vespertille clan?”
I asked.
“You haven’t heard of us?”
Guy looked at me with a mixture of shock and disappointment.
“Most people call us the Blood Knights. We’re recognised nobility in the Soleo Kingdom and specialise in direct confrontations. Oh, and I forgot to mention, my Gift is Blood Thief. I can temporarily copy any Gift if I drink the user’s blood.”
He pretended that last part was just an addendum, but he was clearly bragging, and with good reason. Blood Thief sounded completely overpowered.
“Me next! I’m Lily of Ashenport, I’m great with spells and specialise in darkness magic. My Gift is Shadow Bond, what it does is a surprise.”
“Me next? Fine. Paris Vipera. Therian.”
The girl with the purple hair finished abruptly.
“Oh, uh… thanks. You’re up next.”
Lloyd tried to keep things going, but the next person was even less cooperative.
“...Nekrotica.”
The bandaged girl said simply.
“As in the Goddess Nekrotica? Isn’t that the one part of yourself you shouldn’t share?”
Guy spoke up and eyed her cautiously.
The Goddess Nekrotica ruled over the domains of death and necromancy. The Empire recognised her legitimacy as a part of the Pantheon of Gods, but the Soleo Kingdom frowned on her worship and outlawed necromancy entirely. Vampires in particular feared Nekrotica as they believed she sought to enslave all intelligent undead and rob them of their independence. Her followers were naturally loathed as a result.
The girl had pointed to herself when she said the name, implying she had taken the Goddess’ name as her own surname. This was a normal practice, but only for the most devout of followers.
“It’s nice to have another servant of the Gods here.”
Isolde, despite being on the opposite end of the divine spectrum, smiled at her warmly.
“Fleur Sylvain is my name.”
The soft, calming voice to my right spoke up. It was the elf girl from earlier, still wearing her hood.
She looked at the group cautiously, but seemed to come to terms with something and gracefully removed her hood.
Her long pointed ears stood out and confirmed her identity as an elf. Both her hair and eyes were the same shade of pale green signifying noteworthy magical intensity.
“I come from the Leafwhisper commune in the forest that you call the Verdant Divide. I am here because the Black Crown Empire has the resources I need to best understand my abilities.”
She was surprisingly talkative.
“I understand not much is known of my kind as we rarely venture out of our homes. I will tell you that we do not have 'Gifts' as you call them, but my specialties lie in spirit sorcery and alchemy.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Her words were clear and firm, without being overbearing. The grace of the elves was being displayed with her every action.
She turned her gaze expectantly to me.
“Hello, I am Rex Jaeger. As you all saw, I am under the care of Ada Jaeger. I’m a Druid in training, I hope that answers any questions.”
I kept things simple. Others had also selectively omitted certain information, so I figure I could too without drawing attention.
“Oh, and the black cat is Tiara. She is asleep in my room at the moment, but you’ll definitely see her around. Don’t leave food unattended, or she will take it.”
I smiled and looked at Oliver next to me.
“Uh… Oliver of Bradbrooke… I actually set my preference to the support class.”
He mumbled, avoiding eye contact with the group and staring instead at his feet.
“My Gifts are… Oh, I have two… uhh…”
Everybody perked up at that revelation, but they kept quiet hoping he would elaborate on his own.
“They’re not as great as you’re probably thinking… uh… Artisan’s Touch and Fizzle are their names… In short, I'm good at enchantments, but not much else… th-thank you.”
The last person was Axel.
“Axel Lionheart. I’ll graduate at the top, join the army, and fight strong opponents. The rest you either already know, or will find out soon enough.”
He brazenly rushed through his introduction, took one last look to make sure everybody was done, then reached for the crystal again.
The result screen was no different from the other classes, and lacked the flair that diamond class was given. There, we could see our names in ranking order:
- Axel Lionheart
- Fleur Sylvain
- Bridgit Sol Proudmane
- Rex Jaeger
- Lily of Ashenport
- Meztili Nekrotica
- Guy Vespertille
- Paris Vipera
- Oliver of Bradbrooke.
We looked at the list, but nobody had reacted positively or negatively yet. I can’t speak for the rest, but personally I felt the ranks meant nothing since I had no idea where chamite class was meant to stand overall. I could be beneath two golds and a diamond and only above bronze class people for all I knew.
Surprisingly, Axel didn’t bother looking at his own results, instead he started from the bottom.
“Woah! Is this right?”
He exclaimed when Oliver’s scores appeared.
His physical scores were among the lowest possible, which wouldn’t be a problem for a support as he claimed to be applying for. But his theory scores were close to perfect. There was an additional note at the bottom: 'First place in theoretical exams.'
Axel laughed and leaned over to pat Oliver’s back roughly, the force would have knocked him out his chair if Axel didn’t pull him back reflexively, which itself caused his collar to gag him and force Oliver into a coughing fit.
“Amazing, kid! And check this out everyone, he’s younger than us!”
Axel scrolled back to the top. Sure enough, it displayed Oliver’s age as 15, whereas the rest of us were 17 or 18.
“Thanks…”
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
In this manner, we continued looking at everybody’s marks in detail. I kept an eye out for any patterns that would hint as to what our class was supposed to be for, but it seemed like our specialties were all over the place.
“Huh… That wasn’t as helpful as I hoped.”
I commented once Axel finished scrolling through the final page. He did end up bringing up his own report, but only so we could look at it, he didn’t review it himself. His confidence was well earned, considering he set a new record in every physical test. His theory scores were near the top as well across all categories.
“Yeah, I shouldn’t have started with the genius kid, I thought we’d all be at the top or something.”
Axel sat back and sunk into his chair, kicking his feet up onto the table.
“Well, we at least know we’re not supposed to be ranked above diamond.”
Guy had his chin in his hand and lazily twirled his ponytail.
“Speaking of that, where’s the diamond kids’ crystal?”
Axel directed his question to Lloyd.
“Instructor Stark still had it when he left, he told us all of them would be publicly available in the main hall of the central building. I think only you guys get to keep yours.”
“Stark? Is that the guy from earlier? He never introduced himself, did he?”
Guy looked to the rest of us for confirmation. I nodded in response.
“He did, but it was just before we followed you guys here.”
“Tch. What crap. I have to wait until tomorrow to gloat at the Proudmane boy.”
Axel clicked his tongue.
“Oooh are we going to have some dramatic feuding between the two top performers?”
Lily leaned forward with great interest.
“Haha! Zac’s too proper, he won’t entertain that at all. Bridgit on the other hand… She’ll be fun to push around.”
He returned her grin with one of his own.
***
We killed time chatting for another hour before Professor Kuhn finally returned. He had taken his jacket off, but still looked dapper in his vest and white shirt.
“I see you’ve already sated your curiosity. That’s good.”
He scooped up the crystal and tucked it away into his pocket.
“I’m sure you have plenty of questions, but it’s getting late. I’ll answer what I can and be off for the night.”
He scanned over each of us and quickly noticed the absentees.
“Where are the Proudmanes?”
“We’re here, sir.”
Both Zachariah and Bridgit came in through the back door. They must have been talking in the yard the whole time.
“Good. Take a seat.”
“Um, sir? Should we be here for this?”
Lloyd asked.
“It’s a non-issue. The Chamite class is unique but will be explained to everybody eventually.”
He shrugged, barely casting a glance at Lloyd.
“So. Questions?”
Professor Kuhn addressed the room. All of us raised our hands simultaneously.
“Hm. Paris, you were the fastest by 0.03 seconds. You may start.”
“What is the point of the Chamite class?”
She still had the same curt attitude even after the teacher’s arrival.
“Simply put, it was designed to collect talented individuals whose skill likely would not be appropriately recognised or fostered in any other class. Axel, you go next.”
Most of us lowered our hands after Paris’ question seeing as it mirrored our own.
“Are we stronger than the other classes?”
“Yes and no. Your overall placement on the hierarchy is similar to the support class. You stand outside of it entirely. I’ll say this much, at least, at your current levels, you could be spread out among any of the other classes. However, your potential could put each of you at diamond or above.”
“Hmmm…”
Axel seemed satisfied and bore a smug grin as he looked meaningfully at Zachariah.
“How will our lessons be structured?”
Oliver asked next.
Usually, lessons would be mixed between everyone in the grade. But when we had to compete or team up, students would typically stay within their own class to keep things fair.
“I will be selectively moving you wherever is appropriate for your skill levels.”
Everybody had lowered their hands at this point, except for me.
“Rex. What is it?”
“It was mentioned earlier that we can expand this place, right?”
Professor Kuhn tilted his head in interest.
“That’s correct. Have you already decided on something?”
“Yes. I’ll work on it myself in my free time if nobody has any objections.”
“Tell us what is first. I’m not agreeing blindly only to find some hideous eyesore in my yard later.”
Bridgit spoke up for the first time, she seemed entirely displeased being there. And her expression only soured further when Axel snorted loudly.
“I want to build a stable. I have a friend I want to bring here, and I need space to raise any more I might find in the future.”
Nobody seemed bothered by it, one person even spoke up in support.
“I would like that too. I will assist you if you’ll have me.”
Fleur looked at me expectantly. I nodded, but we still hadn’t received approval yet.
“Very well, fill this out and hand it to me when you can.”
He handed me a form.
“That will need to be approved by the headmaster before anything can begin.”
“Oliver, do you have something I can write with in the room?”
“Yeah, you can help yourself.”
I thanked him and headed upstairs.
Step step
“...”
Step step
“...”
I paused in front of the door and glanced behind me.
“...Can I help you?”
I asked the elven girl who was standing uncomfortably close to my back.
“I’ll help.”
She said simply, looking at me blankly.
“Ok… come in I guess.”
“Thank you, I will.”
She followed me in, but quickly spun back around as I went to close the door.
“Leave it open, please. I do not want unwelcome rumours to spread about me too.”
“...Of course.”
Goddamnit Ada.