Prologue 18 (Part 1) Orientation Day (1) and A Noble Feud.

They moved towards the trailing crowd to catch up to anything that they had missed. Seeing them in distance, some yards away from one of the school buildings, Isimaila Fginja was walking as briskly as she could, eyeing the culprit of their lateness who seemed to be ignoring her intently.

"Hey, it's not fair," Jagonu Nanhor tuned her hooded face to her. "You get to float while I run."

"I stick out my tongue to you." A sound imitating tongue on lips and saliva forcing its way through them came out and Kazu Nini began to chase the Spirit who laughed as she flew. The Goblin could take the young Pixie's smugness no more and began to chase after her too, so Kazu Nini saw the intent on Isimaila Fginja's face and sped up which also made her the Spirit fly with gusto.

They ran in rough circles until they made their way to the crowd.

"Gotcha!" The pixies hand landed on the Spirits robe and felt like she had hit hard foam.

"Die!" The Goblins hands landed on her and she allowed her claws to dig in. At least she tried, then pulled her hands away.

"Sorry, I already said sorry!"

The crowd turned to them and they all nimbly shifted out of the way, in unvocalized perfect sync, acting as if they too were ignorant of any disturbances.

The Goblin, however, was shocked that her nails did not even reach in the young Pixie's skin but she hid it when Kazu Nini turned to her. To which Isimaila Fginja drew a line across her throat.

Kazu Nini rolled her eyes.

"General rules again – for our most punctual of students – " the speaker her black hair with stripes of blue, the blue more obvious at the ends of her hair. The crowd laughed at her joke, while her dark grey skin and height made her literally stand out;

"No killing, no stealing, be punctual and late to class. Attendance will be marked. Punctuality will be marked. Demerits will be given to people who work against the rules just as merits will be awarded when rules are adhered to. No vandalism, apart from art class who get a graffiti wall" – the students from arts shouted in jubilation. "Hands up when you need to ask a question and so on and so forth."

She tuned sharply to one section of the crowd and crowed her index, "You there, come."

No one moved.

"Come!"

No one still moved.

"Minus 10 demerits points, meaning that you will clean all the roads for one week."

A student scrambled to the front. Pointed ears, big eyes, lithe body and no wings. The Elf hurried to the front.

"Give me your Telewatch!"

"I have done no harm!"

"What is harassment?" His words struck in his throat as he no was sure she had caught him. "Not only will you have demerits but it seems like you fancy expulsion."

The boy's eyes welled with tears and he fell to his knees.

Out of the crowd, came one of the boys Kazu Nini had seen before. Chalk white hair, like his brows, that were shaven at the sides of his scalp and also fell to the middle of his spine. Where was his Unicorn? Kazu Nini asked herself, as this was one of the people she had seen from before when she had been waiting in traffic and before the nobles had arrived.

"Mercy, please," his baritone voice made him sound older than he was. "Forgive him. Maybe he has not yet adjusted to the ways of the school."

The teacher eyed the boy, then opened up her hand. "Transfer your contacts to another Telewatch in 10 breaths."

The boy immediately called his friends who wanted to run away but was called to the front by the teacher.

"…5 breaths…"

The Elf immediately transferred his contacts to his Kin in race and blood before she snatched the Telewatch from his hands and crushed it to pieces.

He walked back with teary eyes and stopped to bow to the kid who had pleaded for mercy on his behalf. The three of them returned to listening attentively like the crowd, and orientation resumed.

"Participation in Tournaments and School Competitions like Mathematical quizzes, Spelling Bees and Intra-School Sports will count as School contributions. Obviously, Intra school will rank higher than inter school."

An arm rose up; the boy from early was eager to get some merit points. "What is the difference?"

"Inter is within and intra is without."

"Oh, thank you Miss!"

"The ways I spoke about are ways to add to the school. Apart from that you can get creative. I mean, it is easy to take form a school but to add to it. You will be rewarded."

"Now, for the Martial Students, your competitions will be fiercer – not to forget your entrance test this Friday – and the awards allocated to you will correspondingly be higher. Likewise, your position and status will determine your treatment."

The same hand up and she pointed to him.

"Can you please elaborate?"

"Sure, pure Martial Art schools have Outer, Inner and Core students. Students with these statuses are treated different. For example, like here in Chilkt State University, Bronze Vein Crystals will be gotten more by Outer Students than inner ones, and correspondingly so regarding inner students and Core students pertaining to rewards and the like.

The hand again, and the crowd began to realize what was going on.

"What are these rewards specifically?"

"When you get there, ask them." The boy's face dropped, "The Martial Entrance Examination will test age against cultivation level, martial prowess and potential."

When she saw the hand in the air once more, she had half the mind to bury the owners head in her shoe but she showed a perfectly kind smile. "Yes?"

"How can potential be judged?"

"You will see it when you get there." The crowed laughed at that and she went on. "Monthly Treatments and supplies will be given to these students as well."

She turned to her latest student and yet again pointed at him to speak.

"You said something about ranking."

She stayed quiet wondering if he was playing the deviant when she realized that he was hoping for redemption. "Yes, that. For first years 0-10 will be first tier, 1-100 second tier, 2-1000 for third tier and 2,000 - 10,000 will be bench students. Maybe it has changed, not my department."

"What if a student were to pass a Martial exam but fail an Educational one?"

"Good question, actually. That student will be moved to his area of expertise; if he fails, one he will be recommended to the other, except if he wishes to repeat the semester."

They began walking at her lead and the boy she just answered, rushed to her front. The same one which she had just crushed his Telewatch knelt on the ground. "Do I get any merits?"

"Get lost!"

The crowd scoffed and mocked, taking pictures of his kneeling form, even when he fell to the ground entirely and shouted. "I have never had to sweep before. Life is unfair!"

Kazu Nini followed the teacher and closed in with her roommates until they began walking at the back of the school buildings. Seeing the word 'Chilkt' being written in building and stone awed her at is magnitude and when she turned the other way, she could not see some buildings because of their depth into the massive compound.

"Inheritance grounds will be open too, which will be accessible by year. These will be further divided into Single and Co-op, with co-op having more rewards but all of them will have a test before any of them are picked. Looting Grounds will be available during the summer break. However, Looting Grounds will have other schools involved and might need more caution as even veins can be stolen. Also, students can only participate in an inheritance round, or looting ground, if they participated in the last one."

Most student sucked in a breath.

Veins could be stolen?

It was Kazu Nini who wanted to ask a question, this time. "These, Inheritance and Looting Grounds, are they simply to loot and inherit or is there more to it?"

"Your identification cards will be slipped into tokens that have your tissue applied to them so that we can roughly gauged the situation and stay updated as to your situation. The most outstanding students are rewarded apart from what they themselves get from the grounds."

"The Inheritance grounds will be available for all years, 14 of them – single and Co-op - and the 6 for Looting Grounds over the summer."

She nodded as they moved downwards for half an hour, and finally turned right. They all witnessed domes in the row, 20 of them. The heavily guarded circular buildings glimmered sunlight from windows that did not allow one to view into them.

"Moving on," she moved back without looking, until she reached a board that had a map of the school. "Remember that you can always view these sign boards if you get lost."

Walking for close to another 15 minutes, towards the center, they saw building that had a sort of gutter circumventing about them and a bridge that connected the large space to the school compound. The buildings here were made of brick, at least their outer appearance was only just that, according to the lady, and it was very different inside.

"These are the Administrative Quarters."

The students stared in awe as this collection of buildings almost matched the scale of their educational blocks which spelt 'Chilkt'.

"Remember to not try and pass through anywhere but the bridge when reaching here." Walking away and the students following, she pointed far ahead. "There are the cafeterias, of which you can get something for breakfast, lunch and dinner with your student card. However, if you want something outside of Chilkt School's food timetable, then you will have to pay."

Another student spoke after raising an arm. "The Bronze Crystals, can they be used to pay?"

"Yes," they trailed behind her until she passed several stone throws from the grounds. "Here is the gym."

"More like mansion." The young ogre puffed out his chest, "I'll be here every day."

"10 Demerit points!"

The student held his mouth in regret as his companions chuckled. The lady, at that moment, that was leading them about, had her Telewatch ring and then excused herself from the crowd.

Kazu Nini and her roommates had been conversing when she heard a shout from a voice that she remembered why it was so familiar despite its condescending speech.

"Low born!" Her feline face was quickly remembered, the mane carving themselves into her cleavage. Her short nails and her pawed feet held her body in an almost hunched position but Uniah Gramanos did not look any weaker because of it. "I am talking to you!"

"I think someone just farted," Isimaila Fginja said but Jagonu Nanhor corrected her.

"No, I think it is supposed to be breath."

"How can I have roommate so wrong?" Kazu Nini squinted at the Sphinx whose teeth were snarling and mane fluttered in the wind of her readying Ko-jin as sand began twiring at her feet. "When someone grows up in an environment – like a swamp for instance – the smell becomes their body odor. Like, we should not judge any half animals brought to learn literacy and improve their poor excuse of a life, rather, we should entertain them and make them feel comfortable."

Uniah Gramanos snarled and leaped forwards, only to be held back by one of her friends. "Remember her age and this is school." The Sphinx rolled her shoulders and calmed her erratic breathing. "Also, your Royalty Speech, you should not give in to emotions that fast."

The Sphinx regarded the young Pixie as excitement shone in everyone's faces that were around or about them. "When you get old enough, I can accommodate your short comings and allow you to fight with me." She leaned her head to the side, "it would be your greatest accomplishment."

"Why not use the Martial entrance exam score rating?" Kazu Nini retorted, "I did not need money to get where I am, you did. It is so sad that you stand feeling smug when I doubt you could have passed the Educational School's examination with skill or genius." The young Pixie tapped her head and scowled. "Forgive my memory, I should not use such big words on those who could not half my results. Accept my apologies, please." Kazu Nini ended with a bow and the new students were shouting in excitement.

"The Martial examination scores?" The Sphinx shrugged her shoulders. "If you feel the need to make up for your financial status you should not use such words that would offend my knowledge of vocabulary."

Kazu Nini feigned a shocked expression and even clapped. "Wow, she used the word *knowledge*. It seems you need my influence in your life a lot more. Let me know when you need new friends, a new brain and a new life."

The instructor returned at that moment and was going to ask why the students seemed excited but she glanced at the laughing Kazu Nini and then the Sphinx who seemed to be barely holding herself back to surmise the situation.

"Everyone, Move!"