Today, Deverick was walking around Star Bound Academy. A few weeks ago, he got a call from Lilith letting him know everything is set for him to start. As a result, he decided that he should actually get to know the place before the school year starts. That is why he is walking around the campus right now.

Opus, on the other hand, has gone off on her own. Yes, her. Deverick reasoned that since Opus uses a female voice and her intelligence has grown significantly, it would be awkward to keep referring to Opus as "it," so Deverick asked Opus about it.

"Personally, I don't really care. As a rune construct, I have no genders. I can reproduce by forming another construct and giving it consciousness as you did for me. So it makes no difference what you refer to me with."

Deverick walked up to the front door of a building and swiped his card. A security measure based on the same process as a Nori card. This card is the identity card that everyone has when they attend the university. In fact, Deverick is sure the card is just another Nori card with some more settings to keep track of if someone has permission to access certain places. 

He walked in and looked for a map. 

"Let's see. 202, 204, 206, Ah there it is. Room 210"

As Deverick turned a corner, he found the room he was assigned for his classes. Since he is new, he is only responsible for two classes. Both of which are held in this classroom. Other than the location, the Academy is pretty lenient with everything else. This includes when the class meets, what the professor talks about, and what classes the students do in their free time.

The only requirement for the students is that they need to sign up for two required classes. What these two classes are, is up to the students. Other than that, they can sit in on any class if they wanted. This is to allow the students to tailor what they want to learn. The students know their situation best so why mess with it?

Deverick entered the room and looked around. A fairly large-sized lecture hall. At the front of the room, he noticed a girl with fiery red hair. A telling sign of the Firebloom family. She noticed him as well. She started walking towards him. When she is in front of him, she reached out her hand and introduced herself.

"I'm Sylvia. Sylvia Firebloom."

He shook her hand.

"Deverick Mordesin."

"Hi, Deverick. Are you looking around the place as well?"

Deverick nodded.

"It's a big place isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So is this one of your classes? Otherwise, I can't find any other explanation for why your here."

"It is. The introduction for the class is very intriguing."

"I know right? What was the exact wording again?"

"Foundation of Magic Specialties: This class will cover the basics of all fields of magic to an extreme level. By the end of this course, the student will be proficient in the basics of all fields of magic specialization. Be prepared to work hard. This will be the second hardest class for freshmen."

"Darn, accurate. Although I will also be taking that class, I was talking about the other class held here."

"You're taking two of the hardest classes for freshmen?"

"Yeah. I must live up to my name and personally, I find a lot of the stuff too easy so I want to see what the hardest classes have to offer. Do you remember the description?"

"Intricacies of Elements: This class will introduce the changes in the basic elements, the relationship between those changes and advanced elements, and the unique applications of advanced elements. The students will take an individualized approach to exploring advanced elements. By the end of this course, the student will be able to form their own advanced element and have a basic grasp of what they can do. Be prepared to spend the majority of your time on this class. This is the hardest class for freshmen by a long shot."

"It's crazy how the two hardest classes are held in the same room. Some bigshot must be teaching them"

"I don't know if he is a bigshot, but I do know the different wording between the two descriptions "

"How so?"

"The first one says it will be the second hardest, meaning it might not actually happen this year. The second one on the other hand is more detailed and says it is the hardest course, as if stating a fact."

"Now that you point it out, that's pretty clever."

"But you still shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of the class. It is taught by the same person that claims to have the hardest class."

"Did anyone tell you you're pretty smart?"

"It's all in the details. I won't bother you anymore. See you in class, Sylvia."

"Nice talking to you."

 

---

 

Deverick left Sylvia and continued his tour. After looking around and getting familiar with the important places, he met up with Opus and started making last-minute preparations for his classes.

On the first day, Deverick showed up an hour before his classes began. Since his first class is in the morning, he decided to get breakfast at one of the places he secretly owns. He made sure there were plenty of them in the city since he will be spending a good amount of time here. This particular store he is going to is hidden in the crevices of many alleys. 

Apparently, the place was a secret hideout for some shady business before it got cracked down and sold to Deverick. Now the place has become a favorite of the locals because finding the place is a journey in itself. Just spending some time getting lost in the complex allays and exploring the old scenery is quite relaxing. 

As Deverick made a turn around a tight corner, he felt someone bump into him. He looked down. On the floor, a girl around the age of 13 was covering her forehead. She brushed aside her short blondish-white hair and looked up at him. Her wide, innocent blue eyes met his. 

"Emy sowy she bumped into you. Emy got lost looking at scenawy."

"As long as your ok, little one."

"Can stranger tell Emy where univasee is?"

"If you follow this way and take a left, you will find yourself on the main road. Then just follow the path and you should see it, it's hard to miss."

"Thonk you, stranger."

As the girl was about to leave, her stomach rumbled. She blushed and started quickly walking.

"Seems like your hungry. Do you want to join me for breakfast?"

"Really, you would allow Emy to join you?"

"Yeah, treat it as my apology for bumping into you."

"Then Emy will thonk you in avance."

A small smile formed on her face. As she followed Deverick, she started humming a happy little tune. 

They walked for a couple more minutes until they came to a remote place. Deverick walked over to a door hidden in the shadows and motioned the girl to follow. When the two of them entered, a bright place with a red and yellow theme that contrasted the dark alleyway outside. It's like they entered a different world. 

Deverick led them to a table and gave the waiter his order. 

"Two breakfast meals please."

"Any drinks?"

He turned to the girl

"Glass of milk"

"Orange juice"

"Give us a few."

As the waiter walked into the kitchen, Deverick introduced himself.

"It's a little late, but I'm Deverick."

"Emily, but Emy like Emy better."

"Ok Emy, what were you doing alone anyway?"

"Emy was walking to school, but she got distracted by butterfies"

Deverick stared at the girl across from him. Her face was very beautiful with no imperfections. Almost like that of a doll. She gave the energy of a cute little sister that he just want to pamper. She smiled back at him.

This continued until the waiter came back with their order. A couple of minutes later, Emy leaned back and patted her stomach.

"Ah, that hit the spot."

"I'm glad you liked it."

Deverick looked at his watch. 20 minutes till 10.

"Hmmm, Emy, it was nice meeting you but I need to go to class now. I will pay first and when you feel like moving, you can walk back."

"ohkay"

Deverick started walking back and eventually arrived back at his classroom 10 minutes before class starts. He walked in and decided to sit down on the outside seat in the back of the room. That way, he can get up and walk down when he needs to.

"This will be fun," Deverick said to himself, thinking of how he will make his entrance.

---Sylvia's pov---

A genius. That's what they called me. From a young age, I was able to accomplish many things that others my age deem impossible. Having been born into the Firebloom family, I trained very hard in magic. My sole purpose was to get stronger to please my father. A single-minded pursuit that was left unfulfilled.

But as a result of that, I became isolated from other people. They feared my family. Everyone avoided me like a plague. They gave me gazes of fear, disgust, and hatred. The little me could not understand why they gave me such negative gazes. It hurt to be so disliked for no reason. This kind of treatment carried on until my teenage years. I had long stopped caring about the gazes of strangers.

All I cared about now is getting approval from my father. To get acknowledgment for all my hard work and suffering over the years. For this goal, I would do anything to improve myself. I pushed myself to the limit and then past it. Over and over again. Every day, I would train to complete exhaustion in both my martial arts and magic.  All just for a chance to prove myself.

This chance came to me when I heard about Star Bound. Hearing of their reputation, I figured this would be the chance of a lifetime to impress my father. So I trained even harder. Every chance I got, I trained. Every opportunity I had, I cast magic. 

All of this paid off when I joined Star Bound's entrance exam. With all my effort, I managed to get 5th place in the overall ranking. A very hard-earned placement. If I had not risked my life multiple times, I doubt I could have even gotten into the top 10. The academy always attracts many geniuses every year. Many of them have talents rivaling my own.  

As for the top 4, they showed me what despair looks like. It feels like no matter how much I train, I could never match them. Every one of them is an absolute monster among monsters. They are the godlike figures that will make the place their playground and jump to the top.

It is for this reason that when I was picking my classes, I looked only at the hardest ones. I will need to work harder than ever if don't want to fall behind. This is why those two classes stood out to me. Although they sounded simple, the end goal they claimed to achieve was something I was not willing to give up. Especially when those topics don't even get covered in the freshman year. I am pretty sure specializations are not mentioned until next year and advanced elements are not something one would even consider until their junior year. 

I was not willing to follow the normal path. I was not willing to waste the time. So I took the opportunity when it presented itself. 

A few days before the school year started, the academy opened up to allow students to move in. Having anticipated this, I had already packed and was ready to move into the dorms. I wanted to get there as soon as possible because they apparently have some of the best training facilities in the world. 

I was not willing to waste the time. When I finished unpacking, I decided to explore the school buildings. I visited every building and got to know where the offices of the professors are. I found the labs. The training facilities. The cafeteria. And lastly, the classrooms. I decided to leave visiting my classrooms last. 

I pulled up my profile on my kata and looked at the room numbers. Weird. Both of them say the same number. Did they mistype the room number for one of them?

I went to the room and looked inside. Pretty big, but what else can you expect from Star Bound? I walked down to the podium and stared at the giant magic chalkboard in awe. Just how much information can fit up here? I could totally get used to this luxury. Then I heard the door open again.

I turned around and stared at the handsome black-haired boy about my age. He was looking around the room before looking in my direction. I walked up and reached up my hand for him to shake. I introduced myself and he returned the favor. Deverick. He is supposedly the son of the Mordesins, but nothing much is known about him. In fact, he has been pretty much transparent for most of his life, completely overshadowed by the genius that is his sister.

I asked if this is one of his classes. He nodded and said something about how interesting the course description is. I agree. They completely caught my attention. Whoever wrote them knows how to make people curious.

Eager to continue this conversation, I asked about the introduction. Then he repeated the description for classes, verbatim. Very impressive of him. It also explained why the two classes have the same room number. They are held here. I just got really lucky that both classes were taught by the same professor. Seems like I will get to know them very well. Maybe I can ask for help outside of class?

As we were talking, Deverick made a comment about the wording of the description. 

"How so?" I asked, curious to know what he noticed.

He explained the difference in wording. The impression I got was that he's very smart. He made a comment about the details and left me.

I stood there in happiness. This is the first time someone treated me as a normal person. Oh, how I craved to have a normal conversation free of any prejudice. To say my thoughts and have them taken as just that. Nothing but my opinions. An exchange between normal friends. For this, I am grateful, Deverick. Maybe we can even become friends since we are in the same class. He does seem like an easy guy to get along with.