First Day

Draco opened the door into the classroom, frowning at the pain of doing such a simple task. He had spent the remaining five days training until passing out, thus was the reason for his sore muscles.

Other than that, today was the first day of the official start of the lessons.

As soon as he opened and walked into the classroom, the smell of textbooks and sweat flooded his mind. He saw over a hundred students staring at him until most of them lost their interest and went back to doing whatever they were doing.

'All of them are present.' Draco noted, looking at a few people that were excluding a unique aura compared to others. Jaime and Cassie were the first ones to fall into his eyes. They were twins, who had this distinctive feature of having blue hair. They were the son and daughter of the Northern city mayor.

The next person who Draco took mental note of was Xander, a black-haired youth with green eyes who had this aura around him which screamed: "Don't bother me." He was the only son of the guild master of the second most powerful guild in the Northern city, and one of the strongest heroes of the future.

And then, lastly, Sarah. She was the daughter of Noah, the current leader of the most powerful guild in Northern city, and one of the strongest heroes throughout the human domain. Sarah had short red hair and a sharp look in her eyes that seemed inhumane in some way.

'They are strong.' Draco made his way towards the end of the class and took a seat next to some random girl, not bothering to greet her as he wasn't here to make any friends. From his observations, Sarah had to be at least [E-] rank right now, while Jaime, Cassie, and Xander were at [F] or [F+].

To be frank, it showed their incredible talent and resources since most of the students around were still stuck in [G] rank. However, that was deemed to be with their amazing genes. Other than that, they also had powerful martial techniques to aid them in their way of becoming a powerhouse.

'In the past, I was really envious of them, but now I just think of them as potential pawns in the future.' Draco smiled to himself, placing his head against the desk to get some rest. Barely a few moments later, silence descended, and he heard another person walking into the room.

Teacher Paul.

He wasn't the strongest hero, but he was quite well known for his intelligence. His theory about mana flow was specially recognized in society.

"Hello, everyone, I will be the one teaching all of you about the non-combat of aspects of being a hero for this entire semester. I am sure all of you have already been informed, but to pass this year's exam, you will also need theoretical knowledge, hence I would advise you to listen." Paul spoke clearly and loudly, just so that everyone in the study could hear him talking. "Now, since it's the first day, we will just go through some basic knowledge."

Paul looked throughout the classroom, noting that everyone was listening closely, and nodded. "As you all know, thousands of years ago, mana appeared in the air. At first, no one knew how to use it, but after hundreds of years, humanity understood that every creature had mana inside of them. By increasing its capacity within the body, they could feel it better and use it during the battles by coating it around their body parts."

Paul breathed out some air before continuing: "Does anyone have any questions so far?"

One girl raised her hand and only after seeing Paul nod did she open her mouth. "Since every person has mana inside of them, does that mean that everyone can be a mage?"

"Great question." Paul corrected his glasses as he thought for a few seconds. "In short, yes. However, don't be deceived. Being a magician sounds exciting, but it's actually the other way around. Magicians are fundamentally different since they connect their own mana with the surrounding one, hence creating a spell according to their will. The problem is that learning how to do that is extremely arduous work."

Paul took a moment to recuperate, everyone's eyes on him.

"Honestly, even though it may offend some people, practicing martial techniques is a much better choice. Of course, that is unless you have an extraordinary potential to become a mage. There are some extremely strong mages in the human domain who have a great affinity with the elements, but such talents are extremely rare."

"Overall, our race isn't very good at magic. Elves are much better at that. Paul smiled at the girl. "I hope that answered your question."

The girl thanked the teacher as he continued to talk about other boring things. Draco also nodded. Skill and martial techniques were much better. The class ensued as Draco buried himself in his own hands, deciding to take some rest before Angelica's lesson. Since he already knew most of the theoretical knowledge, there really wasn't any reason for him to listen anymore.

***

The combat classes took place in the underground training facility. The place was enormous and well kept, with a huge gym and a few other establishments. A huge arena in the middle of the place attracted the most attention from the students.

"She is here."

"I can't believe the Queen of Sun is going to be teaching us."

"Shh... don't get on her bad side."

A group of students talked at the sight of a golden-haired woman approaching them. She was dressed in a suit, but even that didn't hide her voluptuous figure. She observed all the students with a cold, strict look.

Draco stood at the back of the students, feeling the dangerous aura escaping from Angelica's body. He closed his eyes, remembering how she obliterated the enemy front lines while he was standing in the back, struggling to survive against even the weakest demons.

'Angelica, Queen of Sun, in this life you will be the one staring at my back.' Draco clenched his fists.

"I will be quite frank. If you aren't prepared for hell, then leave this school now. I won't stand idle seeing anyone slacking off and I will make sure that they don't graduate this year." Angelica said coldly as everyone in the room nodded, feeling goosebumps on their backs just from her voice alone.

"Good." Angelica nodded as a sly smile spread across her face. "Now, since this is the first day, I will be only checking your mentality."

As her words landed on the training ground, an extremely violent aura rushed out from her body, causing everyone to unconsciously take a step back. It didn't even feel as if Angelica was there anymore, as her figure was replaced by a gigantic monster who was ready to kill everyone right now.

While everyone's legs trembled, Draco didn't even falter. Yes, the pressure was heavy, but it was nothing compared to those demons on the front lines. Some people would say that it would be better to pretend that he was struggling to not attract too much attention to himself, but Draco thought it was the other way around.

By revealing his powers, he would essentially secure himself a backing. Since the Northern academy treasured their talents wholeheartedly, it would basically mean that a lot of different powerhouses would try to protect him, especially from the guilds.

Moreover, Draco also wanted to see Angelica's frustrated face. Her plan for today was simple: make everyone tremble in fear. How would she react when even some no-name withstood her killing intent?

Draco smiled.

***

Angelica looked at her new batch of students with disappointment. She only revealed a bit of her killing intent, yet most of the students were already on the ground shivering in fear. Only a few people held on, but they also soon fell to the ground, leaving five remaining.

Angelica looked at them with no emotion, though she mentally smiled. They were as expected: Xander, Jaime, Cassie, Sarah and... who was that? Angelica looked at the white-haired youth standing in the back with confusion. She remembered all the influential figures within her class, especially the talented ones.

That meant one thing: he wasn't somebody worth remembering.

'Interesting.' Angelica thought, exposing even more of her killing intent as the remaining students clearly struggled.

Cassie and Jaime were the first to fail as they took a knee at the same time, frowning visibly.

Xander was still standing, though his hands were shaking visibly. Sarah remained standing strong, concentrating on her breathing. However, that kid... he was different.

The killing intent did not shake him even a bit as he stared Angelica straight in the eyes, as if challenging her.

'Not bad.' Angelica exposed even more of her killing intent, finally causing Xander to fall onto one knee. A few moments later, Sarah had also stumbled as she clicked her tongue. Yet, that kid remained standing still.

'What the hell is this kid? Is he not scared of death?' Angelica exposed, even more, killing intent, but the kid didn't even flinch. For a moment there, she was mesmerized by his eyes, which were devoid of any life within them. It made her wonder what kind of trauma one had to experience to have such an unwavering soul.

Angelica was about to increase her killing intent once again when she saw some students passing out from the pressure, bubbles escaping from their mouths. Some even wet their pants.

Realizing her mistake, Angelica calmed down, letting the students breathe once again.

"I am disappointed. If you can't even take this much pressure, then you will never survive on the battlefield. We will have to train to death if we want to see any results." Angelica muttered as she turned around. "Anyway, we are going to continue tomorrow."

However, before leaving, she took one last glance at the students. Specifically, the white-haired teenager. She nodded subtly, and Draco subconsciously nodded back.

In her eyes, Draco now seemed to be the most fascinating of the bunch.