The military academy

Established in 2051, the military academy was a prestigious and ruthless training facility used to hone, sharpen, and nurture the future weapons of the Victorious Fighting Country.

A victorious fighting soldier could come to being unless they underwent nurturing and development from the military academy.

Six...

In total, there were six academies, with their being one in each of the strongholds that humanity had were capable of establishing.

No matter which of the six cities, the military academy was in the safest district, province, region, or whatever that part of the city was titled as.

With the Core City being molded in a round shape, several districts made up the outermost perimeter and as one made their way to the core of the city, there were less and less districts.

In the center of the city, the Core district was established, and in the center of the Core district there were several towering infrastructures. There were towers that hovered above the ground, whilst some were all the way into the clouds above.

Who knew, beyond the clouds may very well contain structures too.

The military academy was separated into three sectors, zones, domains, or whatever one desired to label it as.

Currently, in an open field, comparable to several football fields stacked in front of, and alongside each other, there were thirty-six hovering buses painted in dark green, with holographic words colored in a golden black, "military academy," running across the bodies of these buses.

These buses slowly descended from approximately one meter above the grassy earth before landing atop the ground with muffled booms that caused small explosions of dirt and wind as gentle shockwaves spread out.

Upon exiting the buses, students were greeted by adults all adorned in similar uniforms to each other, who then attached something onto their wrist.

No student could resist this.

Notably, some buses were flooded with students, as made obvious when compared to Blackridge district's bus that saw nine students exit it.

There were those that had twenty, thirty, and there were even some with close to forty students exiting.

Anon, alongside Seth, and the others from Blackridge, stood amongst a cluster of geniuses numbering in the hundreds.

They all stood under a blue sky with a yellow sun, much different from what they grew up under, as they were spread out across an open field, a grassy field the size of several football fields.

Interestingly, surrounding all sides were towering mountains, as if they were within a basin of some sort. Surrounding them were trees in the far distance, as surrounding these trees were imposing and bold rocky mountains.

More intriguing was the slightly less than two dozen individuals that were in front of this large cluster of students.

It was not specifically they who were eye-catching; the act of standing mid-air was what grasped the attention of these geniuses.

As if there was an invisible platform that they all stood on, with hands clasped behind their backs, respectively positioned behind one man, who spoke.

"Good day, one and all." In front of the two dozen adults, a bald old man with dark skin and a hunched back spoke with a warm smile. "My name is Veerabhadran Rao, dean of the Year Ones."

"I welcome all of you to the Military Academy!"

Thump!

Ignoring the miscellaneous activities occurring, Seth was casually observing the bracelet that the staff-members of the academy had wrapped around his wrist.

But the dean's voice utterly shattered whatever mental barrier he had built up around his mind, reverberating violently within its boundaries.

Seth's pupils dilated as he rose and eyebrow and shot a sharp and cold gaze towards the old man. Yet, the old man seemed none-the-wiser as he continued smilingly.

"From orphans," he said, glancing at several individuals, including Anon.

"Lowest class individuals," his gaze shifted to a few more, including Felix.

"To those with odd and distinct backgrounds," he chuckled lightly, his eyes landing on Melissa and Bolan, among others.

"And last but not least, the children of luck," his smile broadened as he stared intently at Seth, Catharina, Cassius, and many more.

"And of greater luck!"

A select few in the crowd raised their heads, their eyes shining brilliantly.

Therein, these eyes seemed to contain a world of emotions, of presence, of thoughts, and of strength, for they were children of greater families.

Weakness?

Beneath them!

Arrogance?

No, that too, beneath them.

The military academy was not a goal, but one step in their path forged by their forefathers, to join the army, or more accurately, to transcend the army, becoming Otherworldly Knights.

"Within the military academy, walkers of all lifepaths are embraced, and equalized." The dean said this, "No single individual is higher in authority than the other, unless of course, there is a disparity in strength, true strength."

"What is true strength?"

"And what can make one know of true strength?" Veerabhadran Rao said this and went mute.

He silently observed the reactions of the students as his voice echoed loudly in the open field.

Within, this voice carried a peculiar power that seemingly made the very winds churn with excitement, and the earth tremble in fear.

One second passed, two, then three, and the environment calmed, yet silence remained omnipresent in the near vicinity of Anon and the stellar geniuses, soon-to-be, students of the military academy.

"To understand this," The dean's hunched back straightened.

A crazed look appeared in his eyes as his upper body leaned back and his arms opened wide, "One must venture to the other side of this mountain, or these mountains... Heh! Who knows?!"

Boom!

It was akin to a flashbang.

There was a buzzing sound that did not leave Anon's ears whilst his eyes grew wet, blind.

'What madness?!' He couldn't help but exclaim internally.

In the early hours of the morning, he had entered the second world, meaning he was a second world entity.

If even he had such a reaction, turned deaf and blind, what would happen to the rest of the stellar geniuses, of which, besides Seth, were part of the first world?

And yet, when his vision came back, and his hearing returned, he realized that it was the same for all the other students.

'It seems as if they know that I am within the second world.' Anon swiftly deduced.

He turned to Seth who seemed to be stuck in a perpetual state of smiling and frowning simultaneously.

'He also seems surprised.' Anon ginned, 'Seth is surprised.'

'More importantly,' Anon pondered inwardly, shifting his gaze towards the dean, or more so, the lack thereof, causing him to frown.

Not just the Dean, the two dozen or so individuals that stood behind him were nowhere to be seen.

"Do we have to go there?" Melissa asked.

She was situated near Seth. In fact, the nine of them were near each other, so after her vision and hearing returned, and she caught herself, intelligently, she drew closer to Anon and Seth who were the two strongest members of the Blackridge group.

Naturally, it was the same for the others whether they liked it or not.

For the likes of Felix, Bolan, Catharina, and Andrew, who were all confident in their strength, they were also smart enough to know that in the case of an emergency, there was strength in numbers.

Melissa's voice was not shaky and unconfident as it might have been three months ago. Still, it was obvious she was more of a quiet and introverted individual.

She pointed to an area of the grassy field where a golden platform extended into the forest in the distance.

"What are you speaking of?" Cassius frowned at Melissa's question before pointing at another golden platform in the opposite direction, "Don't you see that thing? Whatever the dean was speaking of must have something to do with that."

After all, in his eyes, the golden platform was the only unusual feature he noticed since arriving in this place.

As for Melissa, she saw the golden platform as well, but it was not what Cassius was pointing at.

The two saw differently.

Seth turned to Anon, smiling.

Anon felt the gaze and frowned, squinting for a moment before saying, "Walk towards the golden platform..."

He then stepped in a specific direction.

His path did not lead toward Cassius or Melissa.

For him, a golden platform was visible. Seth and Bolan also followed, stepping toward it.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Catharina headed toward the platform they saw, while Cassius and Dalia moved to the platform that was visible only to them.

Melissa watched all of this, realizing that no one saw what she saw.

But she wasn't the same unconfident girl from before...

Even if it was an unorthodox path, it was not embarrassing to walk on a path walked by no other.

Obviously, it was just an overdramatized way to say that she approached the golden platform visible only to her.

But this was her way of thinking.

Right after, Felix walked behind her and said in a deep voice, "It seems that it'll be just us two."