Monday September 11th, 2018

  With the first week of classes over, Helo and his party are preparing to go to one of the other families’ territories. The entire first year class gets split into sixteen and sent to train in one of the sixteen dungeons on earth.

  Unfortunately for Helo, his injuries mean that he won’t be able to participate. He is still going, but he is going to spend his time in the back with Aiko and Luna. Out of everyone in the party, they have the least offensive capabilities and the strongest support skills.

  It doesn’t take long for Helo to be ready. Along with his custom spatial bag, which only has a few things in it. His spatial necklace holds most of his stuff. Even in his room at the mansion, he only has enough things set around to not be suspicious.

  Exiting his room Helo turns further into the hall and toward Alli and Hinata’s rooms. Only a few steps out of his own room and he can already sense the feeling of despair and teenage angst in the air. Even if he didn’t have enhanced sense, he would have been able to hear Alli yelling and groaning as she tries to pack.

  Helo’s steps falter, taking a deep breath, he calms his mind and steps up to her door. Looking into the open door he has to consciously hold back a groan. They have only been living here for a few weeks. Plus, the ever elusive and scary maid is always popping in to cook or clean.

  But Alli’s room is already a complete mess. Clothes are strewn about. There is a bra hanging off her ceiling fan, her school clothes are tossed into a corner in a bundle, and the rest of her clothing are anywhere in between. But it isn’t just the clothing. Her bedding is all on the floor, it looks like she fights demons in her sleep. The only thing on her bed is a single pillow, but it is at the foot of the bed, not the head.

  Taking in the visual cacophony that is Alli’s room. Helo almost staggers but catching himself he just lets out a loud sigh. The noise attracts Alli. Her head whips toward Helo like a feral creature. Eyes wide she breaks into a grin. “Perfect!” Dashing forward with a speed that makes Helo think she has a movement skill, she appears in front of him and wraps him in her arms.

  “Please please please please please!” She looks up with wide pleading eyes. She even has little spots at the edge of her eye that are starting to glisten. Helo isn’t sure what is happening but to him it seems important. Why else would she beg like this.

  “Store my stuff inside your necklace! I just can’t CHOOOOSSSSEEEE!” She whines to him and starts to slide down his body until she is laying on the ground. “How am I supposed to pack for only a week. I just need so many things, plus… options.” She says the last part like it is obvious.

  This entire time Helo has been too stunned to really respond to her. But she doesn’t seem to notice, she just keep barreling forward. “But with you here, I can bring everything. Just POOF gone!” Alli is now smiling up at him from her place sprawled out on the floor.

  The ever-elusive maid appears behind Alli with a “POP”. Her teleportation doesn’t make any noise. But when she wants to draw attention, she can make noise. She appears behind Alli with her hands on her hips, already look down at her.

  Staring at her with wide eyes, Helo takes in her appearance for the first time. She has short blond hair that barely reaches her chin. Her eyes are blue and she has very sharp and attractive features. Helo would say that she is leaning closer to fierce than cute. But either way she is attractive. Her body is slim and obviously fit with subtle curves. Her maid outfit is classic black and white. But it is closer to a tight black dress with a white frilly apron.

  She glances up at Helo and rolls her eyes. She can feel his gaze on her, but she doesn’t really mind. Looking back down she cocks an eyebrow at Alli. One of her mistresses, the supposed heir to the Brightmoon family, is laying on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum.

  Even with the “POP” to draw attention, Alli takes a few seconds to realize that she is there. She is still grabbing Helo’s leg and begging. “Please! Please! Just a few. Five, no, Seven bags!”

  “Ahem.” The maid coughs, drawing the attention of Alli. She turns around with wide almost frightened eyes. She looks like a deer caught in headlights, or a child with its hand in a cookie jar.

  “Oh. Hey Kristin.” Alli says quietly. “Um… Your dismissed?” She says quietly. But it is more of a question than a command.

  The maid, Kristin, just stares down at her. In a soft and attractive voice, she speaks, her words are laced with power that Helo and Alli can’t fathom. “You will take only what can be stored inside your spatial bag.”

  Alli looks up at her like she was just betrayed, but she knows better than to argue with the scarry teleporting maid. Then with no visual cue, sound, or mana fluctuation, the maid disappears.

  Alli grumbles to herself as she looks around her room. “Stupid maid. How am I supposed to pack, I don’t even know where we are going.” Helo just stands there trying to be invisible, which for him is almost possible. The hallway is darker than Alli’s room. Standing in the doorframe his desire to disappear is caught within his aura and his presence slowly fades away, at the same time the hallway around him darkens and he is covered in thin shadows. He isn’t invisible, but if he was trying to hide, it would go a long way to helping him.

  A few minutes later Luna walks up the hallway and, on her tiptoes, looks over Helo’s shoulder. “Ahhhh.” She sighs. “I expected this. I was hoping she would have matured.”

  For the last few minutes Helo watches as Alli went through her room like a miniature tornado. Quickly picking up clothing options and discarding them in a flurry of movement. As Luna got there Alli was in the process of shoving as much clothing as she could fit into her spatial bag. With another sigh Luna steps into Alli’s room.

  With someone else there to help Alli, he quickly makes his escape. Vanishing like a ghost Helo heads to Hinata’s room. Her door is also open, but the image is very different. She is calmly sitting on her bed. Dressed in her school uniform with her spatial bag on her hip and a small backpack on her back.

  Her room is pristine and she looks up as Helo steps into the door frame. She watches as he takes in the room and visibly relaxes. “HA.” Hinata laughs cutely and covers her mouth with her hand. “You just got back from Alli’s room I take it.”

  Helo just nods and Hinata smiles. “Don’t worry, she is the only needy heiress.” Just as Hinata says that Aiko stumbles out from the attached bathroom doorway and she looks much different than Hinata.

  Aiko looks dead on her feet and looks around with wide eyes. “Finally, I finished.” She says while falling to her knees. “So much packing.” She sobs into the ground.

  Hinata looks between Aiko and Helo’s confused face. Before signing. “Fine, I am needy, just not a mess. Hmpf.” Hinata crosses her arms and looks away from him and out the window. “I take it your packed as well?”

  “Yeah…” Helo double taps his necklace and shrugs.

  Hinata seeing the movement from the reflection in the window rolls her eyes. “I’m jealous. Having a dimensional storage sounds like such a convenance.” Still on the ground Aiko nods her along with Hinata’s words.

  Getting up she looks at Helo. “Well. Let’s go check on the messy one.”

  It takes another hour, along with Aiko’s reluctant and tired help for Alli to finally have her storage bag packed. In the end there was overflow that Helo placed into his necklace. But most of it was able to fit inside of her own bag.

  With the two heiresses packed up the five of them left the central wing of the mansion and headed toward the central common area. There they spotted everyone in the party except Lelai. Heading back to his own room Helo finds her still sleeping in his bed. Rolling his eyes Helo grabs the little Mist Fox and carries her into the common area.

  Now that everyone is gathered the team heads out to get some breakfast. Then meet at the central auditorium. That is the place where everyone gathered when school started. Noramlly Aiko would wake up to make breakfast before everyone else even woke up. Unfortunately, today she was too exhausted due to Hinata’s needy packing.

  It is an hour later that the group of thirteen make their way to the auditorium. Helo is in the back of his group and walking with his cane as they reach the steps. Like everyone else he has the school uniform on.

  Using his aura to subtly feel around he is looking for people he might recognize. At the same time, he is constantly looking around. One of the first things that he realizes is that his party is much larger than the others.

  There are many smaller groups all around the area. Each group has between two and five people. The commoner or just non-noble groups seem to have between two and four people. A full party is six people. This doesn’t include familiar or beast companions like Lelai.

  As they start to walk up the stairs, groups ahead of them part. It isn’t fear as much as it is respect for the power that the two leading the party have. Alli and Hinata have higher tier bloodlines and classes. This accumulation of power is something that others can feel.

  Their walk up the stairs is quick and easy with everyone moving. They reach the two massive doors of the auditorium. Once they get there, they find the other noble parties waiting for the doors to open.

  Huh. So that is why I couldn’t feel any of their aura’s. He has been looking for them ever since he saw the large group of people waiting. But it makes sense in a ‘power is equal to respect’ kind of way. Why would the nobles and their parties wait around with the commoners when they can walk up to the front. Helo rolls his eyes at the thought.

  With a quick glance Helo can tell that each of the noble parties are between four and six people. Not everyone is lucky like Alli and Hinata. Filling out parties isn’t easy. You need people that are somewhat equal in strength, have personalities that don’t clash and classes that fit well. It was easier for Alli and Hinata because they have a large group of people to choose from with two clans worth of awakened people.

  It also means that their party has a large pool of talent to use. Most parties won’t have two people capable of making walls and doing crowd control. But they have Rurgrim’s earth and Arisah’s trees. It is the same for Aiko and Luna. Having a healer and a support mage is something that most groups will have to pick between.

  Plus, there are only a few people within the group of sixty noble children that have the influence that Alli and Hinata have. Isla is the daughter of the Australian leader. Da Chan is in the running to be the next sect head of China. Maria was adopted into the Brazilian leadership. Finally, Adan is the young master of the Guatemalan Crime Family.

  The other fifty or so lesser noble children will pick from the best of the commoners to fill out the rest of their parties. By the end of the year there should be about one-hundred-eighty parties in their year, with each party having six people. By the end of the year only sixty of those parties might be left.

  Most of the parties that drop out will end up going home, or taking a much slower track. But those that stick with it, should graduate after four years with the power and skill to take command of their lives. They call it the Noble Track, and at the end of the fourth year about thirty parties graduate from the original one-hundred-eighty.

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  As Helo thinks about all this, he starts to get a feel for the auras around him. They are his true competition. Each one of these people should have an uncommon class and some might even have unique bloodlines. While walking through the first group of non-nobles, he felt maybe ten auras out of the one-thousand that were interesting. The rest are the kind of people he would usually ignore.

  Lost in his own head Helo is looking around as Alli and Hinata start to talk to the people around them. Da Chen is off to the edge of the group. His own standing in his family isn’t high. His ability to sense energy means he is a contender to be the next Sect Leader. But at the same time, it puts a target on his back. So, he is one of the more reserved of the nobles, doing his best not to make waves.

  Adan is standoffish and sees no reason to interact with others, unless it is to fight or fuck. Out of all of them it is Isla that has the most attention. She is the exact same as Helo remembers. She uses her skills in communication to lead conversations and spread gossip.

  Isla gracefully makes her way through the crowd and up to Alli. She set her as her mark because between Alli and Hinata, Alli seemed to be the easier target to influence. But what she doesn’t know is that after Helo met Isla for the second time, he sat down with both girls and told him what he felt from the woman.

  Sensing emotions using aura is instinctual, but also an art. It is something that naturally happens, like picking up on killing intent. But telling what those emotions are can be more guesswork than fact.

  On the bright side, Helo’s own energies are directly connected to his physical and mental energy. Not only that, but his natural energies are starting to become attuned, if at a slow pace. But due to this his control continues to improve. This means freeform telekinesis is becoming easier, and with that his ability to feel and see other peoples’ mental energies is easier.

  So, the second time he met Isla he activated ‘Bloodline Awakening’ and used his mind sight, what he saw didn’t surprise him. It only reaffirmed what he believed. She isn’t a psychopath masking herself. She is a sadist and enjoys causing others to suffer using her wit.

  With his aura and ‘Mind Sight’ saying the same thing he sat down with both girls and told them what he saw. Hinata took it much easier, but Alli needed some time. Hinata never had much of a relationship with Isla, but Alli has spent a decent amount of time with the heiress from Australia.

  So, as Isla steps up to Alli, Alli does her best to keep what Helo said in mind. “Ahhhh! Alli!” Isla says as she puts her hands on the other girl’s arms. Isla leans in and kisses each of Alli’s cheeks.

  “Hey Isla.” Alli says. She is a little distracted. Such a joyful greeting couldn’t come from someone who is a sadist. But at the same time, she does realize that in a manipulation standpoint. A friendly and physical greeting like that is exactly what she enjoys.

  “Oh? Is everything okay? You seem distracted?” Isla says to her. “Issues with your joint party?” Isla says that last part quietly in Alli’s ear.

  “Huh?” Alli snaps out of her thoughts. She looks Isla in her eyes; all she can see is concern for her wellbeing. But again, at the same time Helo and Hinata both told her that Isla is going to fish for information using a mask of concern and friendship.

  “No, things are great. I love Hinata… I’m just nervous about our first week away.” Alli has to quickly think about a reason for how she is acting. But she mentally pats herself thinking that she came up with a great reason.

  “Me too.” Isla nods and loops her arm with Alli before pulling her closer to the large, majestic doors. “We are going to be going to a random dungeon within the sixteen clans. Everyone must be nervous.”

  Alli walks with Isla and gets pulled a little bit from her group. Fortunately, Hinata is aware of what Isla is doing, and her party moves with her to follow Isla. They get to the front of the doors. As soon as they do they start to open.

  “Ahh. It’s a shame. I wanted to introduce you to my party.” Isla sighs wistfully. “I guess you can meet them when you invite me over for some tea next week.”

  With that she releases Alli’s arm and the two parties enter the building. It looks similar to the last time Helo was here; large, imposing, grand, and expensive. But they all quickly enter and find seats.

  While they sit Alli, Hinata, Aiko and Luna are all looking around for someone. “Are you looking for Maria?” Helo asks Hinata. He is siting between the two heiresses. But they are still standing.

  “Yeah. I haven’t been able to find her.” Hinata says down to him.

  “Let me see…” Helo mutters and closes his eyes. Casting out his aura he looks for Ana. She was the girl that he met when Wei Chen tried to attack him. He remembers her having some kind of Spanish accent. Because of that he made sure to get a feel for her aura so he could find her again. He remembers thinking that he might have found a clue about Maria when they met.

  It takes a few sweeps of his aura. Some of the most perceptive first years in the room even shiver as his aura passes over them. But after about a minute of looking he finds her within the crowd. To his surprise she is in the back with the non-nobles. For some reason he expected her to be with Maria and in the front.

  Turning around and looking toward the back of the auditorium, it is easy for him to peer into the darkness. A few seconds of flicking his eyes between faces and he finds the young Spanish speaking woman. “There.” Helo says and points back.

  Both Alli and Hinata are surprised. First, they have no idea how he can find Maria, they have never met. Second, how can he so easily find someone in this mess of people. There are over one-thousand people here.

  Of the two heiresses it is Hinata that has the best eyesight. Alli’s bloodline might be that of a Divine Wolf. But her own skills have more to do with the arcane and mana. Hinata on the other hand is a skilled illusionist. Due to this, her eyesight is much better.

  It takes her another few minutes, in this time almost everyone has found a seat and they are about to get started. Right before the lights flash on, Hinata shouts. “Found her!” A moment later the lights in the front of the room flash on. Closing her eyes as they adjust, she loses sight of Maria. With a sigh she turns back around and falls into her seat.

  “You found her?” Alli asks. She is leaning over Helo. “You were looking way in the back, why is she there?”

  Hinata copies Alli and leans over Helo as well. Suppressing a sigh Helo thinks. There are already rumors about us all being in a relationship, you two are not helping it by acting like this.

  What Helo doesn’t know is that both girls are aware of this. They already talked about it and decided that they didn’t care. Actually, they decided to try and see how far they could push things.

  They both start whispering furiously about all the reasons that Maria could be in the back. They only have a few seconds to talk because Hal Frison is walking onto the stage. In those few seconds they come up with a few ideas. One, she rejected the Brazillian heir’s advances and was disowned. Two, she is so powerful that she wants to hide from the other nobles. Three, she is shy. Four, she is planning to assassinate someone. “AHEM!”

  The two girls get cut off and sit up quickly. “So, welcome back everyone.” Hal says to the room. His gaze pans over everyone but he stops on Helo’s group. This is because similar to the Runeglass siblings he can feel Helo’s aura creating a barrier around the two heiresses.

  His gaze doesn’t stop long, most don’t even notice it, those that do make nothing of it. But Hal is internally impressed. He heard about Helo from his two teachers, but he didn’t think much about it. Getting an aura at tier 1 is almost unheard of. It is like a myth that children talk, making grand claims about how they will become the most powerful or be the first to break the tier 3 wall.

  But when he feels Helo’s aura he is impressed. Not only is its nature a high-tier concept like darkness. But it is more powerful than a normal tier 1 should be able to have and it is controlled very well. Impressive. He thinks, then he moves on.

  “So, I’m sure everyone is excited. This will be the first of sixteen dungeon trips. But first, let me explain some things for you. You will be split into sixteen groups; each group will rotate between the different dungeons. No. You do not get to choose, no you cannot switch.” Hal pans an intense gaze through the crowd and snaps his fingers.

  Behind him on a massive magical screen a map of the globe appears. As the globe rotates there are sixteen different dots that are illuminated. Each one is the location of a dungeon core.

  “There are over a thousand of you first years. Right now, there are around two-hundred-fifty parties. Hopefully over the course of the next few weeks you all can consolidate yourselves into groups of five or six. That will put you into about one-hundred-eighty parties.” He waves his hand and each party leader gets a ticket.

  To Helo’s surprise both Alli and Hinata get a ticket, on the bright side they show the same number. ‘5’.

  “This number is the group you will be going in. Take a look at the globe, each dot now represents a group.” Looking up at the spinning globe, Helo can see that the dot are all flashing random numbers to represent where they will go.

  “Next. Each group will have a teacher assigned to them. Said teacher will also have a few different year three and four students helping them. Other than those two things. There is one final rule. No killing.” A wave of mummer’s spreads through the group of students. For some the idea is ridiculous, why would they even want to kill someone. For others it is a disappointment.

  “That is all I have to say on the matter. Any other question can be directed toward your assigned teacher. Good luck.” Hal says with a short wave and then leaves the stage.

  “Kristin.” Akira says into the air of his office before looking back toward his desk. He is sitting within the central tower of the Kashiwagi territory and going over some report about the rebuilding of his territory.

  Thankfully the unique mana that permeates his territory makes it easier for those with the dryad and kitsune bloodline to control the area. It is this connection to the Fae that makes his territory so hard to enter. It is also the reason that the attack hit them so hard. Nobody expected traitors to let the enemy in.

  Akira knew about the Bloodline Supremacy faction that was growing. But he had nothing to personally fear from them, and he never expected them to intentionally attack civilians. The same otherworldly mystical mana that makes him feel safe within his domain, was the same reason he wasn’t actively expecting an attack.

  Sighing he looks up to find Kristin looking down on him. “Good to see you. How are the girls?” He asks.

  Kristin quirks a small smile. “The same as always. Sometimes I watch them and think about how much they have grown. Then there are mornings like today and I can’t help but wonder if they will ever grow up.”

  Akira smiles and nods. “I am glad that they still can laugh and play, especially with what happened here. Plus, what is coming in the future.”

  Kristin just smiles and nods. “Anyway. Tell me about their defenses?” He asks Kristin.

  “Nothing since the original attempts. I don’t know why people still try to break into the school’s barriers using mundane means. They have been refined over a thousand years. There are intentional holes in the barriers around the houses, but nobody has tried to break in.” Kristin says to Akira.

  He nods and smiles. “That is good. Hopefully Helo will take a look at the barrier around their house before someone makes the holes known.”

  “Yes. He doesn’t have the skill to modify the barriers. Nor would you want him to, but he could make patches or work with Bibbin to make traps.” Kristin says before bowing and vanishing but not before leaving a parting word, “You lunch will be ready soon”.

  Akira stares at where the maid used to be before sighing. “Ahhhhh. I am so jealous of her ability to teleport.” He says as he slowly gets up from his chair and starts to make his way to the dinning room.

  Once he gets there, he finds Kristin standing next to his chair with his lunch already set up an obvious smirk on her face.

  “So? Which one of the brats do you want?” John Arkson asks to the other teachers in the area. He is sitting next to a large table with his feet propped up and his chair tipping back.

  Alex Runeglass looks over at John and wants to say something about the breach of etiquette, lack of respect, or any other reason why putting your feet up on an antique table that is ten times your age isn’t okay. But he holds all his arguments inside. He knows that no matter what he says John won’t care.

  Alex’s sister Alexia steps up with a smile. She has her cane out, but everyone knows that she doesn’t need it. Her white hair drapes down her back as she speaks up. “Group five.”

  Beside her another professor speaks up. “Group five.” His voice is deep and he has a thick accent. Turning Alexia looks at Aadan Gumede. He is a large man with rippling muscles and a glossy bald head. His family is from Africa, and his skin is deep black.

  “How do you know group five?” Alex asks. He is a little frustrated. He wanted group five as well; be he knows that arguing with his sister is a fruitless endeavor.

  “My friend Bernard mentioned an interesting child.” Aadan says. He isn’t much for talking, but he is well respected and a great warrior.

  “Kuh. What is it some kind of Druidic pact? Maybe a book club where all you druids meet and share your secrets, maybe you braid each other’s hair?” Oliver speaks up from his own place in the room. He is a tier 3 healer and one of the only ones on earth. The issue with that is that he is also a massive prick. “Ha! My bad.” He says while looking at Aadan’s bald head.

  Alex rolls his eyes. “There is no reason to make an ass of yourself Oliver. We all know that Aadan shaves his head due to his beliefs.” Being the most diplomatic of the teachers Alex is usually the one to get between the hot-headed personalities.

  “Let them play, Alex.” A sultry voice comes from the doorway. This is the final of the tier 3 teachers. Ria Garcia. She is a tier 3 archer and one of the deadliest ranged attackers on earth. She has brown hair and amber eyes. She is wearing a set of leather armor that covers her, but is tight enough to show off her slim figure.

  “Well, it looks like the whole gang is here.” Alexia says with a smirk. The group is made up of Alexia, Alex, John, Ria, Aadan, and Oliver. They are the main six tier 3 teachers that teach at the school. There are a few more, but they only teach specific classes or certain grades.

  There are a lot more teachers at the school. But the rest at tier 2 so when it comes to deciding who gets what group, they don’t get as much of a say. Like Theo Ronulus. He is the tier 2 history teacher. Each year there are only sixteen openings to be the teacher for the groups.

  Six of them are always taken by the tier 3 teachers. That means that for the rest, there are only ten places. This is a big deal for the teachers. Not only does it mean that for sixteen weeks they have free access to a dungeon, as long as they do their jobs. Which is easy because they also have a group of third- and fourth-year students to take care of most of the work.

  But each group is graded and the group to gain the most levels, get the best loot, and defeat the strongest/most monsters gets extra resources. For the tier 2 teachers, it means resources to potentially reach tier 3.