The sky was cloudy yet bright.

My head felt like someone was stabbing needle in brain continuously.

During my talk with The Duke, I realized few things.

1. Lucas was not a simple character

2. he was not hated by his family. Lucas himself thought he was hated.

3. at birth he had immense strength, which rotted due to not drinking blood

the main problem was that the explanation given by The duke was way different from the book. The duke may not know, but Lucas always loved his family. but he never went crazy. It's a mess but the only thing I can know is , I can be strong.

but how?

***

-Hello students, today we will be providing you the things you need for the next 6 years.

A typical old man was now talking to the students.

-The criteria for entering the academy is simply age. the reason why there is no test or entrance exam is because, you all are simply level zero.

A weird smile formed on his face.

-now I'm not degrading or insulting you. you students are going to learn only from now. there is no point in keeping exams to people who don't know anything. but.

He looked towards Raphael.

-while it easy for you to get in , everything will differ from your second year. this year is fully focused on learning basic thongs required to survive.

Not win but survive, huh

-Today , we will be doing something which will decide your future path. 

He raised hands up to shoulder and said

-reveal.

Immediately, the area  we were standing changed from a colosseum to what appeared to be some sort room filled with equipment and animals.

In the story it was explained that everybody had their unique way of transport and weapons they specialized.

-now choose.

I looked around . The machines similar to the bikes from those mecha suit games, were known as jet . most students choose accordingly to their respective races strength and weakness.

vampires typically choose weapons which could slash and stab.  races which had strong physique choose blunt weapons. Most choose jet , few choose creatures known as lizards which was like a mini dragons .Lizards , while they could fly they were way slower than jet.

I walked around and stood in front of a horse.

Horses were both slower  than jets and didn't have any special abilities. 

but they were intelligent and were capable of protecting.

they could perform few attacks. horses were never really used by students but were present for selection due to its importance in the warfare of the past. few sentimentalists requested for the horses to be always for selection even though it was never selected by anybody since the invention of jets.

The horse I was in front was a black Dutch. 

'black is always the best'

I patted him on the neck

-easy boy, easy.

his eyes was way too fierce for a animal. it looked like it was observing me .

-Lucas 

I turned my head to find Raphael looking at me with smile. My stomach immediately churned for some reason.

-you too?

He moved eyes back and forth between me and horse. 

ahh. I got caught.

the reason I choose a horse was because Raphael also choose a horse in the story. it was a brown Morgan horse.

-yeah , they are awesome, aren't they?

-yep

I actually like Raphael . His character was something I never understand but still liked it. some may think that he was a hypocrite. But then aren't everybody a hypocrite at one point of their lives?

in this book, every event and battle takes place on a large scale. Even if I were to simply be as I am, things would definitely affect Me .

To protect myself and become stronger , he would be the greatest shield . being with him would provide me with lot of knowledge and connections.

-I don't want things to become awkward between us but I hope that we can be family if not friends.

ahh that smile. even though I like bubbly characters , in reality I didn't how to talk with them.

but still..

-what are you talking, little bro?

I patted him on his head. It doesn't matter how things were before but from now on he is my little bro.

-is that so?

He looked immediately happy like a puppy.

- you go on and start choosing your weapon .by the way , can I stay at your room?, you know, my room is a bit nasty

He knows about the rumors about Me and how I'm treated , So he understood and nodded his head.

-ok, brother.

all this I haven't noticed but people were snickering at us

'ha, looking down on me for choosing a horse'

whatever, horses are cool no matter how outdated they seem.

now about the weapon. what should I choose? sword? hammer? daggers? all this weapons need strength which sadly I lack.

I looked around and found which was familiar. it was guns and rifles or simply artilleries . these made for people or specifically humans who were physically weaker than most races. but even most humans did not choose them since rather than weapon used for fighting , guns and rifle were made for killing. in this era of peace the only things which were intentionally killed were monsters as such , guns were not used in the academy. but the tragedy is most fighting styles now are much more dangerous than guns since the use of magic.

I could learn magic and arts but there is very less time for me to learn . Others may think the first year is going to be full of peace and beginning of new relations . 

but this year is going to be a lot more gore than I can imagine.

I need to avoid using any vampire powers since there is a lot of chance for me to crazy for blood

guns are more suitable for me than any sword or dagger.

I choose pistol and shotgun for close range fighting , rifle for large range.

-what he is doing?

-weirdo

-is he crazy?

obviously going by the typical troupe of a munchkin story. I just ignored them and choose a body harness to keep the weapons. The only problem I'm going to have with guns are that it takes time to reload and aim. also it is going to time to switch weapons according to power and range.

-hey

A pleasant yet normal female voice tickled my ear. Looking at the student , My legs went weak.

her hair was so long and shiny. it was as black as my hair .Her eyes were like two amber gems. the most striking thing was her gaze which was aloof yet fierce. Her skin was as pale as the dragon . The black uniform suited her well

-can you pass me that harness?

-Here.

If beauty was a talent, this girl was talented for sure.

-thank you.

She gently smiled and left. I was still stunned by her appearance.

-oi focus

thwack

I slapped myself and stated thinking about the things which needed priority. First I need to figure out how to satiate my blood hunger and also understanding my trait. for now I should ask the duke to make custom weapons to protect me outside the academy. I also need to learn some basic magic spells and learn the basic of dagger skill. sword skills require way too much time and practice.

In these academy students all have general subjects to hone on a particular field they choose a special subject. but special subjects are only introduced in the second year. the first year is fully focused on learning basic skill for defending and attacking. they would also include subject on common politics, land analyses and foremast mathematics.

-now students who finished selection come to the corridor to find your respective classroom.

'so soon?'

***

While there is discrimination based on status in the academy. there is a discrimination of talent . It was done so while teaching the top , the bottom doesn't fall.

The way they separate this by allotting ranks for the talented .

to determine the talent they introduced a type of magic or more accurately a system to display the ranks and skills of any individual.

It was simply called as status .

Every body were forced to learn this magic on the first day .

in front of us were six doors.

between us and the door was a large circle with two person. one had some sort of paper. another held a sword in his harness.

the man with the sword spoke.

-status may appear complex. it is. not because it is difficult to apply. it is because even a person with no ability create spell can also access status. the history behind status is not clear. at the same time not everyone has the same status system. sometimes few people's status go beyond simply displaying abilities by sometimes granting something , it can be information, goals or even skills. the only common point between everyone's status is the rank of your talent and what your talent is.

The man drew his sword slashed at the ground. The ground split in two.

-now the reason why I am here is because few people become violent after unlocking their status. beware of your power and make proper use of it. now everybody do as I say. close your eyes.

The man with the sword nodded at the man with the paper as if saying things are okay.

I closed my eyes.

-status are not like regular magic which can be unlocked with a simple word of mouth. breath in and out 

the air around me felt heavy for some reason

-think about yourself. think about your deepest desires . think about the things which are the most the precious.

'precious'

thup thup

my heart suddenly started beating in a strange rhythm .

A soft cold wind was brushing my face.

The scent of soil entered my nose.

Then immediately everything was absent . I felt like I was abandoned in space. Someone grabbed my hand . It was thin and soft. weak yet firm.

'is it okay to open my eyes'

I opened my eyes. The scenery baffled Me. I was floating in space.

It was the the most beautiful nightscape I've ever seen. It was making me feel something. I looked at the person who grabbed my arm.

Hair shining like the stars. eyes hazier than most winter fog. 

-ahh what a joke. of course it's you.

'Precious'

That word repeated inside my ear .

I don't know if it was real or not , but I hugged her anyway. as if to never let her go I hugged her even tighter. She didn't spoke a single word instead hold me even tighter. The silence surrounding us were deafening.

-Luc.

She spoke for the first time. Her voice was so pleasant in my ear like the most harmonious music ever created. Her calling my name 

-...

The silence returned . We just spent time without speaking a word.

'but '

I looked into her eyes.

-Sorry, this is not real. 

I pushed her away slightly .

-But if you are alive, like me . If this is real , I will find you. 

I spoke as I took a oath in heart to find her.

-...

I opened my eyes from pleasant day dream .

[congratulations. you have status accessed  status.]

[your talent is hunter : rank c]

***

Looking around everyone opened their eyes and were staring at blank air.

-Those who have awakened talents which are for combat come to my right and those who are not , to my left.

In the six classrooms Three were for people talented in combated and three for people with talented in non combat

[due to your weak body  you are unable access the features of your status]

[the current features you can access are:

1. predator mindset- allows you to pursue your goals ruthlessly and achieve it
2. prey finder- allows you to know about your prey and track it any where
3. Intermediate use of weapons - allows you to use weapons on minimum level
4. Medusa's eyes - allows you to lock on to a person and estimate their

your trait: intent ingrain

Use the trait in order to know it's feature 

*Trait is always activated and is used to interact with this world*

-hmm , now this could be troublesome

'Normally even a D-ranked talent is considered as a remarkable talent, with my talent being C-rank without even unlocking all the features means I have a lot of potential in this world '

Thinking about this Lucas went into Deep contemplation not knowing atmosphere around him.

Someone shouted.

-what in the hell is he!!!!!