Second Dawn Academy

Falling Woods province...

Unlike the First Dawn Academy, the Second Dawn Academy was located outside the capital's province in an entirely different location. Fallen Woods province was one of the provinces that bordered Golden Gate province as such, it was in the control of three Marquises extremely loyal to and dependent on the royal family.

Although the Second Dawn Academy wasn't in the number one province of the kingdom, it was in the number two province. When it comes to an aggregate measurement based on the factors of commerce, production, population, and development, the Fallen Woods province came in second next to the Golden Gate province. This wasn't to say that it was the second best in any of these factors individually, but when grouped together, it did considerably better than the other provinces, except for the capital's[1].

Just like the First Dawn Academy, the Second Dawn Academy was located some distance outside the provincial capital and took up a large space. It was divided into four sectors; the administrative sector, the dormitory sector, the training area, and the Wild.

The first two areas are self-explanatory while the training area consisted of all the various training facilities used by both the students and staff.

Currently, a lot of students were gathered at an announcement board set up in front of the dormitory sector. Even those who were previously training ran towards here because of the gravity of the news.

The higher-ups of the Second Dawn Academy announced a joint exercise with the First Dawn Academy. But in all honesty, this was nothing new. Every session, the fourth years of both academies would face each other in a decisive tournament that had a lot of impact on their lives and future. However, this time around, the third years were included into the picture, which had never happened before.

What's more, if a Second Dawn Academy student managed to perform well enough, they would get promoted into the First Dawn Academy and enjoy the quality resources and education from there.

For this reason, there was a lot of anticipation and excitement amongst the students. Conversations of various kinds were ongoing beside the announcement board.

"Who do you think would manage to get promoted? I heard the students from First Dawn are no joke."

"They might be the real deal but unlike us, they haven't got much practical experience. That's at least what I've heard."

"That's true. Unlike us, they don't have a 'Wild'."

Some of the students nearby nodded in agreement to the statement.

The Wild was the fourth sector in the Second Dawn Academy. It was a wide span of fenced land filled with various vegetation making it look like a forest. However, it also contained a bunch of magic beasts and monsters, making it a special region in the academy. The weakest monsters were equivalent to mid-rank Late Human stage mages while the strongest were four third-stage Guardian realm monsters; two were at the early rank, while one was at the mid-rank and the other at the late rank.

Starting from their second year, students occasionally went in there to train themselves after collecting permission from their academy higher-ups or deans, but even then, very few ventured deep in.

"Speaking of the Wild, Hanru is still in there, right?" One student in a group discussion suddenly said.

When the name Hanru was spoken, everyone suddenly went quiet,inckudi including those who were close by but not part of the discussion. At the mention of the name, fanaticism appeared in the eyes of some, fear in the eyes of others, and respect bordering worship in the eyes of the rest.

"Yeah. It's been two weeks now and he hasn't exited. That's a new record for our division." Another student said.

Hanru was a non-elemental mage and the unmatched number one student in the entire Second Dawn Academy despite being a third year student in his mana realm. He was so strong that even a majority of the fourth years couldn't beat him with only two others trumping him, merely because they were one stage higher.

To describe how strong Hanru was, no one had ever forced him to completely unsheathe his sword unless they were one stage higher. Hanru had displayed only five attacks; quarter slash, one-third slash, half slash, two-thirds slash, three-quarters slash and full slash. The numbers beside the 'slash' implied the degree of unsheathing his sword went through. So in the quarter slash, Hanru would only unsheathe a quarter of his sword and sheathe it right back, having already made an attack in the process.

The quarter slash easily handled those considerably weaker than him while the one-third slash took care of those a bit stronger.

Half slash was enough to handle 80% of those in his generation and mana level, which included quite a lot of the fourth years.

Two-thirds slash handled the elites which included the second-best in the entire third year and a majority of the fourth years. In terms of mana level, it could handle mid-rank third-stage Guardian mages.

Three-quarters slash was now used for peak talents at the same stage as he was and the only ones who could take this attack were the two top students of Second Dawn Academy or some of the staff when they faced Hanru with their mana realm suppressed to match his. Hanru also utilized this technique when facing late-rank third-stage Guardian mages.

As for full slash, Hanru only used this when facing someone one stage ahead and more skilled than him. In this case, it applied to all fourth-stage Guardian mages at the early rank. However, this didn't mean that he could beat them but that he could only exchange blows to a certain level for a while.

In other words, Hanru utilizing full slash was the same as Aurora using her Heliotrope spear.

For a better description of Hanru's potential and talent, if the top two students suppressed their realms to his, Hanru would be able to take either of them on using only the three-quarters slash. If he used the full slash while they maintained the same level as him, Hanru's victory would be set in stone. The same held true even if his opponent was a staff of the academy.

As long as the opponent was in the same realm as him, Hanru would come out victorious. This was why he was called the Unrivalled Genius.

Due to his absurd strength and talent, Hanru was the most respected and feared student in the entire Second Dawn Academy. Even fourth years had to steer clear of him unless they were either of the top two students. As for why Hanru was still a student of the Second Dawn academy despite possessing potential on par with one of the legendary talents of the First Dawn Academy, this is a topic for another day.

"Hanru might be the strongest but he's not the only one we've got." A student suddenly said.

"Yeah, that's true. Hanru's spot is pretty much secured and he's destined to walk all over those pesky high chin brats, but he's not the only one."

Others supported the statement.

Just like they said, Hanru wasn't the only one with talent worthy of First Dawn Academy, although he was the only one with a talent on par with the peak geniuses of the opposing academy.

The next genius in the Second Dawn Academy's third year division was a student who went by the name Koln. Unlike Hanru, he was not from a noble family, yet Koln had managed to snatch the rank of second in a division, losing only to the monster called Hanru.

"I heard Hanru just announced a seclusion training right after the news came out."

"Even without that, he was already strong. I can only imagine how much stronger he'd have got by now."

"Haha. We have Hanru and Koln, as well as a few others. Those bunglers from First Dawn are in for it."