2 I : The New Era

Many years have passed since the end of the 'Requiem',and times was changing.The being known as 'The Uncrowned Emperor' was forgotten,buried in the rich history of the earth,while various big-name fighters began popping up,being named by many as the heroes of this age.Legends such as the 'Red Cardinal',the 'Wraith' and the ' Undying One ' for example,were titles of the beings that stood at the top.Civilization had evolved,and cities had become extremely advanced.There were schools to teach up and coming talents that dreamt of being a knight or a sorcerer or even the other jobs that were minor in popularity compared to the aforementioned,there were even people who wanted to be adventurers due to the recognition that they get from completing quests that sorcerers and knights do not do,such as Monster Subjugation requests.The city of Asphodel is an example of an extremely advanced city,which was also where a school named 'Arkanian Academy' was located at.It was a prestigious school that had produced many top percentile fighters alike,many of which had become some of the strongest beings known to mankind.One such example was the woman known as the 'Red Cardinal',formerly the best student in Arkanian Academy who graduated as part of the top one-percentage of sorcerers throughout the world.Likewise,there were also famous knights who had graduated from the academy as well, 'Raika' was one such example.A prodigious knight thought to be the strongest of her generation,she was rumored to have never lost a single battle.However,these two geniuses are not the focus of the story,instead,the one their fates are entwined with is...

A young boy not older than sixteen was walking in the streets of the city of Asphodel.Donned in a black uniform with a badge on his collar that had a dragon swallowing the tail of another,it was clear that he was a student of Arkanian Academy.However,what made him stood out was his facial features.He was simply charming,his onyx-black eyes matched his raven-black hair while he walked with pride.He had an aura around him that seemed to radiate his superiority and power,which was further bolstered by the muscles on his body.People could easily tell that he was extremely fit,he clearly had no baby-fat on him.He was also different from the typical overly-muscular men that people would think of when they picture someone powerful.He had the right amount of muscle that added on further to his charms.simply said,he was stunning.

He caught the eye of many people,most of whom were young women who found him irresistible.The boy wasn't dense,he could sense the various emotions that these people felt.Most of the men looked down on him,probably dismissing him as some sort of pretty boy who came here to fulfill their 'hopes and dreams'.There were,of course,a small percentage of men who could sense his skill and the strength that he held.However,it was a completely different story for the women.He could sense an immense amount of lust from them,some of them were even eyeing him like a piece of meat,checking out his body and most probably thinking of having some 'fun'.There were even young girls brave enough to go up to him,clearly trying to seduce him,which was made obvious by some who had slightly showed off their cleavage and even some who straight out asked him out on a date.Of course,he was not that aloof to even not know how to appreciate the beauty of the opposite sex,he was simply too busy to be concerned about such small things.He politely declined them with the promise of going out with them next time,which they excitedly accepted.After a few short minutes,he arrived at the gates of what appears to be a school,made apparent by the various students going in,some of whom were even talking about their tests and subjects.He looked around the front of the school,seemingly to verify if it was the place he was supposed to be at. 'Arkanian Academy,seems I am at the correct place' He thought.He was about to walk inside of the school to complete his registration as a student when he was approached by a group of three...

'Hoho,looks like we have some fresh meat here!' He turned to face the voice and was confronted by a guy that seemed to be one year older than him,who was accompanied by two other students who appeared to be the same age as he is.

'What is your name,freshy?' The same guy asked.

'Rain.'

'Hoho,Rain eh?I am Jin!Sorry to disturb you,but you see,we have an unspoken rule in this school.Freshmen who are not clear with the rules of this school are to follow their seniors and do what they ask of them to familiarize themselves!'

Rain sighed.He couldn't be bothered to deal with these people,from what he had appraised,they were simply trash.' Thank you for your kind offer,but i believe that i am fine.' He politely declined.

Jin raised an eyebrow,seemingly surprised at being rejected.'Sorry but you seemed to be confused.Let me make it clear to you...'Upon saying this,Jin and his henchmen surrounded Rain,while he continued 'Freshmen are to follow their seniors and do what they ask of them WITHOUT any objections to familiarize themselves with how this school works,is that understood?'

Rain looked around him,some of the students who witnessed this incident seemed to be afraid,unconsciously stepping away from them.There were also some who seemed to be taking this opportunity to observe his skills,as if gathering information about him.He sighed once again,'this is the 'bullies in schools' that I had read about in storybooks I see.' He thought.To be honest,Rain was frankly surprised! He would think that with such weakness,these seniors would instead lay low and avoid attracting attention so as to not be taken out early in the year.

To avoid wasting his own time,Rain brushed them off and attempted to walk past them,but was stopped when his collar was suddenly grabbed by Jin. 'Hey,listen to your seniors when they are tal - ' He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Rain pulled his hand from his collar and threw Jin behind him without much effort. 'Wha-,G-Get him!' Both of Jin's henchmen lunged at Rain,which he simply dodged one of them and struck the other in the neck.He grabbed the one that he had struck while he was stumbling by the head,and brought it down towards the ground.Many of the students found their eyes popping out of their sockets,due to how shocked they are at seeing this display of skill.But Rain was not finished yet.He disappeared from the remaining henchman's sight and delivered a devastating Axe Kick to his head,before driving his knee in his face,thus knocking him unconscious.Rain then jumped back from the attack,gracefully landing on his feet with a smirk on his face.

Jin shook off his surprise and chanted : ' Create : Earth Blade! ' Jin's hand began gathering the dust that flowed in the air and it soon took the shape of a large broadsword.Wasting no time,he lunged at Rain with what the other students thought to be unimaginable agility,but to Rain,he was simply too slow. Jin swung his sword at Rain in an attempt to injure him,and smirked when he felt it made contact.However,it was replaced by a look of utter shock when his blade started to crack and it revealed Rain's index finger in a sword's stance.'Unbelievable...' was the thought that ran through various students' minds. They stared at Rain with wide eyes,astonished by the godlike physical ability his body obviously has in order to be on par with a weapon made of earth magic.

'You bore me,you know that?' Rain mocked him. Jin was embarrassed,which was made worse by the fact that his magic was seemingly destroyed by Rain's mere finger. He then heard Rain say :

'However,let battle rejoice.' In an instant,Jin went flying in the air,crashing into the walls of the academy. He limped out weakly,but before he could get any further,he was struck relentlessly.He weakly looked at Rain,and was shocked to see Rain standing in the same place with his hands in his pocket.But before he could even utter a word,he was smashed into the ground,this time,with Rain standing triumphantly with one foot on his chest. ' H-How.. ' Jin grunted. Rain shrugged,bluntly telling him : ' My skills,from start to end,was only my physical ability.My strength,my speed,and my reflexes,all that you experienced,had no usage of magic behind it.'

' Im-Impossible..'

'It is of course impossible to you,someone who has become too dependent on his magic.This is why you lost,when your magic was defeated,you lost hope and unconsciously cowered in the face of my strength,If I were to be honest,you were simply not worthy for me to even use magic against,not because of your weakness,but because of how you might die due to my usage of it.'

Rain stepped away from Jin,turning away from him but not before sparing him a last glance.He then started walking away from him.

The surrounding students were muttering about themselves,perhaps due to how happy they are knowing that Jin would not be there to threaten them from now on.However,most of them were murmuring themselves to discuss about the display of skill they have just saw.After all,Jin was a second-year student who belonged to the Emerald class in this school.Yet,he was trounced,no,he was completely crushed by a freshmen who did not even use magic!

Not long after,Rain was done talking with the vice-principal of this school,Mr Evan.Walking out of Mr Evan's office,he was not surprised to see students murmuring among themselves while casting short glances at him.From what he had interpreted from their conversations,they were, not surprisingly,talking about his encounter with Jin earlier.Many of them were impressed with him,and some of the girls were even starting to admire him,calling him ' Prince Charming' . He brushed off the attention he was getting and was soon immersed in his thoughts. ' I am here to simply rise through the ranks and graduate as the strongest,so as to solve the puzzle that is my memories. ' And,this was true! About three years ago,Rain was reminiscing about the past,thinking about what he might want to do in the future when he noticed that there were many missing portions in his memories.Long story short,he wanted to become a sorcerer so as to find a type of magic that could possibly bring back his memories,and the fastest way to do so was to graduate from this academy. '

He was then woken from his thoughts when he reached the door of a classroom.He looked up at the sign : ' Class I - Emerald II. '

In Arkanian Academy,the ability of a student is determined by the class they are entered into.The cream of the crop would be in the Diamond class,followed by Diamond II,which is a sub-class that was for people with the potential to be in the Diamond Class.This also applies to the other classes as well.The Diamond Class is then followed by Ruby,Ruby II,Sapphire,Sapphire II,Emerald and finally,stopping at Emerald II,which is otherwise known as the worst class of all.One thing to note is that the roman numeral after the word 'Class' represents what year the students of that class are in.For first-years,otherwise known as freshman,it is represented by the numeral ' I '.

For second-years,it is represented by ' II '. For third-years,it is represented by ' III '.And obviously,the ranking of the classes applies for these two as well in the same order as the first-years.However,for third-years,there was one extra class that comes after the Diamond Class,which represents the top percentile of the students in this school,some of whom had entered regardless of what year they were in due to their skill.This class is known as the Adamantine Class.

Getting back to the story,Rain was obviously unhappy with the class he was assigned to.He was assigned here as he did not use magic in the school's entrance exam as he felt that there was no need for that,Oh,how he regrets it.However,after brushing off this fact,he placed his hand on the handle of the door and turned it,thus stepping into the classroom...