38 Heading For The Ancient Academy

The Ancient Academy was nested deep inside the abyssal forest, and was a place where every child in the continent dreamed of going. It was a place of both wonder and discipline, where both the rich and poor were treated equally, or that's how it was supposed to be.

As the rulers of the continent, the ancient families such as Knox had long since banded together and imposed many rules upon the academy from the day it was formed. One of them was of course preferential treatment for their descendants.

Over the years, as the ancient families lost more and more of their strength, the dissatisfaction within the academy grew to a boiling point. New regulations that would remove all preferential treatment for these privileged descendants were already in motion, and the teachers were hopeful that they would be implemented very soon.

As one of the teachers who firmly detested the ancient families, Madam Augury dictated her lecture to the seven-year-olds in front of her with much enthusiasm.

"You children may come from all sorts of backgrounds. Rich, poor, doesn't matter. One thing you all have in common, is talent."

Madam Augury paused as the children looked at her proudly. To many of these seven-year-olds, such acknowledgement was quite hard to come by.

She continued in a duller tone.

"Most of you probably do not know, but our continent is called 'The Old World' by those outside. Why is it, when we get so much talent every year, we are still behind the others in almost everything?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the traditions and backward thoughts of the ancient families along with our lack of pioneers is what has made us lag behind. In the future, I hope that some of you can become those very pioneers who shall open the eyes of those that look down upon us!"

The little children listened to her with their eyes and ears wide open, their minds boggled as their world view expanded. Even the mighty images of the ancient houses came crashing down in an instant. Many of their parents may dislike the ancient families, but none of them had truly dared to look down on them.

"The leaders of these ancient families call themselves Kings, although they do not really rule over anything or take any responsibility, and their children are called Lords and Ladies, while the youngest descendants might receive titles such as Prince and Princess."

"Is this not a joke, children? In the future, remember, these so-called Princes and Princesses are no better than you, and you must not let them look down on you in any way! Even the royalty of those large kingdoms and empires is nothing special in our academy, you are all equal!"

"In fact, these 'royalties' will be lazing around for an entire year and enter your class when they're eight years old. By then, there is no reason why the leaders aren't from you bunch! Remember, you must make me proud and work hard, don't let these so-called royalties look down on us!"

"Madam Augury don't worry!"

"We'll work hard!"

"We won't lose!"

Madam Augury nodded with satisfaction at the kids' enthusiastic cheering. "Alright, don't waste your energy shouting, lets learn more to get ahead while we can!"

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As time passed, the foreign alliance kept on exerting more and more pressure on the Lavinian country, and neither the royal family nor the justice envoys cared for the crippled ancient families anymore. Or at least that is what Evelyn assumed was happening.

Unfortunately, Bree's condition did not change even now. But the little puppy had really grown far too close to her heart. She wondered how she would part with her puppy once Bree returned to her original form.

But that was a dilemma she could face another day, because right now she was busy pacifying her panicked mother.

"It's fine, mom, don't worry so much…"

"But you're going to be away from home for so long! Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything? Did you take all the clothes I bought for you earlier?"

"I did, it's all in here."

Evelyn patted 'The Untainted' proudly. Of course, it barely contained anything, as she just used it to mask her usage of the inventory.

Desmond patted his wife's shoulder. "Stop fussing over her so much, Bella. You're embarrassing the poor girl."

Isabella reluctantly stopped nagging her daughter, and turned her attention to the Gilmore sisters instead.

Amara was much more cooperative, and faithfully tallied each of the items she had packed up to the young mother. The redhead still found it a bit unbelievable that they were also being taken along with Evelyn, especially since Vivian couldn't even be admitted yet.

Apparently, Evelyn had decided to exploit her right to have up to four personal attendants to register all of them as her fellow companions in the academy's 'Impermanence Expedition', which was basically the only way to enter and exit the academy safely.

She even registered Ruru and Bree as her companions!

Amara couldn't help but bite her lips, holding her little sister's hand tightly. "Are you sure this is okay?"

"It's fine, Amara. I'll handle it if something comes up."

Of course, Evelyn's confidence wasn't unfounded. After making friends with Cecilia, she had established a 'pen pal' relationship with the girl, as she could be a valuable pool of knowledge.

And the girl ended up responding to her letters with much enthusiasm, enabling Evelyn to learn about many things she had been struggling with.

The knowledge of the academy rules as well as the general strength of her peers was included among the details she had acquired.

She was shocked to confirm that people born from spirit eggs absorbed energy ten times faster than normal people, while those born from blessed spirit eggs did so a hundred times faster than the regular people.

This meant that a normal child could technically be barely level one when they reached academy age, which was absolutely garbage as far as Evelyn was concerned.

Of course, once they enter the academy, they would learn the techniques required to level up faster.

People born from spirit eggs were quite rare, and those from blessed spirit eggs were even rarer. According to Cecilia, only two people in the world could upgrade the spirit eggs to blessed spirit eggs, and simply getting their hands on spirit eggs was hard enough, let alone getting them upgraded from these two 'supreme beings'.

"It's quite impressive that Bree managed to somehow get it done, huh. She must have paid quite the price. I guess I'll have to rub her behind her ears some more as a reward."

Before she realized it, her parents were already waving goodbye as she approached the academy's escort team.

Their age varied from young teenagers to elderly, hunched backs and everything. They even had many rough looking muscular strongmen and tantalizing beauties. The variety of these guards was really amazing.

The only thing common between them was a royal blue cloak they all donned, each with a shield shaped badge on their chest.

"Identification, please."

Evelyn took out the metallic card she had been given by her grandfather, and the gruff looking man didn't react at all to the thing appearing from thin air.

The pink haired girl of course knew that among the wealthy and the talented, spatial treasures weren't anything worth gawking about. Of course, even the most precious of them could never compare to her inventory.

After all, even her grade five silver belt could only hold a fraction of what she could store in her inventory. Simply put, they were in totally different leagues.

"Please head to sphere 13, you can count the marks to find out which one, right?"

"Yes, thank you."

As the guard allowed her to pass along with her companions, she finally saw the 'vehicle' they were being escorted into.

Ginormous black balls, each the size of a small building, lay on the ground interconnected by a 'string' with at least a teen foot diameter. The last bead of this chain was bound to a beast that looked like it could rampage through Moreen city unimpeded.

A hideous looking thing that very much resembled a centipede, with thousands of eyes all along its carapace and legs. From time to time, the eyes receded back into its body, leaving ominous holes from which long red 'tongues' would sometimes poke out of.

Just looking at it gave Evelyn shudders, and she couldn't help but turn her eyes away.

"Here, sphere thirteen. This is the one. But how do we enter it?"

Amara's question made sense, since it was literally just a black sphere with no openings. Even the connected 'string' seemed to simply merge into the sphere, with not a hair's gap.

"Wait."

Evelyn watched as the gruff looking man who had taken her 'identification card' earlier walked towards the hideous creature leading the carriage. He didn't get too close, staying a few feet away from the creature as if waiting for something.

After a while, one of the 'tongues' struck towards the man like lightning, and the card in his hand was gone.

The man walked back, and Evelyn thought she saw him shudder. Although that could have been just her illusion.

"Let's go."

She held Amara's hand and led the confused redhead right into the sphere, passing through the solid looking object and entering a luxurious cabin. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't circular, but rectangular in shape.

"Wow!"

Vivian had of course followed them in as well, carrying Evelyn's two 'pets' in each of her hands.

If it had been the past, Ruru would have thrown a huge tantrum, but her little fox had grown much more obedient with time. Although she was still very naughty, she now knew how to read the situation.

In sharp contrast, Bree hadn't learned anything at all, and was still the same dumb little cute puppy.

The cabin had a total of four large marble tables, each with a long blue cushioned sofa on either side. The entry ways on either end of the cabin seemed to lead into other cabins, and Evelyn expected that perhaps it was to promote 'socializing' between the students during the trip.

It was a nice gesture, considering that it was a fourteen day long trip, after all.

Perhaps the best feature of the cabins was that two of its four walls were completely transparent, allowing the students inside to view the mystical and perilous woods when the academy's expedition would pass through them.

Evelyn calmly took a seat on the sofa, and the Gilmore sisters took the one opposite. Her little fox and puppy quickly jumped over the table and onto herself, and the pink haired girl wondered just what the academy would bring to her.

She hoped it did not disappoint.