Chapter 10. Origin Academy 2

" Who brought you here?" One of the guys with blonde hair asked. Alaric was confused and asked the question that made the guy gasp.

"Was someone supposed to bring me here?" Some might have thought he was arrogant but the confused expression said everything. He figured everything out. This was usually test number one for all those who joined the academy.

One could only be led to the dorm but no one would explain the system. Maybe the lucky ones who came from the ground floor were safe. Some even spent the whole day trying to figure out which room they were assigned. Even the three in the room climbed upto the third floor searching for their rooms during their admission before they figured it out.

Alaric stared at the three guys in the room. Apart from the blonde guy who was standing 5'7 the rest were seated around a table. There were several books on the table. When he walked in holding the arrar plate, only the blonde guy stood up, the rest just looked towards him. They even laughed at his reply. The tallest guy who appeared to be oldest had brownish red spiky hair and his eyes hazel.

He was wearing a green T-shirt and bluish pants. His T-shirt appeared slightly larger and the neckline revealed the collarbone. He appeared to be the silent type. On the other side of the table was a guy with fiery red hair. His hair standing like the top of a cone ice cream. His eyes orange like the flames. He apeared a head shorter than the other guy. He was wearing an orange T-shirt and black pants. He appeared to be the firery like people. Then back to the blonde guy whose eyes were goldish. Wearing a white T-shirt and brown pants. Alaric stared at him still waiting for his answer. The guy stuttured and lowered his head.

"No," he started, " Its just that it usually takes long to find your room..." The two guy laughed. It was clear that the blonde guy was often picked on by the guys. The guy scratched the back of his head as he gave them a begging look to not say anything.

" You know he went to every room searching for this room. He spent almost the whole day," the guy with hazel eyes spoke. He surely wasn't the silent type. The laugh from the other guy just proved that he was the fiery type. Now the blonde's personality was proved. He was actually the talkative type. He had thought that maybe they would find someone else to pick on but he ended up getting himself laughed at. He looked at Alaric who did not laugh. Maybe it was not funny.

"My name is Oliver Kenneth, still in the foundation stage," the blonde spoke again introducing himself, " That is Carlos Grey, early stages of Master Plane," Oliver said pointing towards the guy with brown hair, "That's Arazel Kael, middle stages of Cryptic Plane" Oliver shivered slightly when he said the name. He then whispered to Alaric, "He burns people." His voice was laced with slight fear.

"You know I can hear you right?" Arazel jested. Oliver shuddered and stood upright like a cadet when the commander spoke.

" I must ask," Carlos spoke, " This bag of yours... What is it that you are carrying. Oliver was only able to drag it." Alaric's eyes landed on his bag and he sighed. His greatest worry subdued. He smiled and walked past Oliver who was still standing. He had started scratching his head again. Alaric picked his bag as Oliver's jaws dropped. He was fifteen years old and was about to open his meridians so he would finally enter the Cryptic Plane.

Alaric walked to the closed room and pushed it open. He was welcomed by a single bed, a wardrobe and a study table with one chair. He sighed and walked in closing the door at the shocked gaze of the three. Only one word rang in their mind, "cold". Was he an anti social or what was bothering him? It was then it dawned to them. They had been snobbed by a 12 year old. They rubbed their nose and leaned on the coach.

Alaric sat on the bed and opened his bag. The first thing that came from it was a fishing rod which had been disbanded. He joined it parts together and placed it next to the wardrobe. There were several clothes on top which he first placed on the bed. He had to empty the bag first. Half of the bag were clothes and the other half, one would run away from him when they saw what he carried. Bones. Beast bones. Alaric did not kill them. Its just that during his stay in Lotus Forest he had developed a habit of collecting dead beasts bone. The reason being he wanted to use them on learning weapon forgery. He placed the bag at the bottom of the bed and proceeded to put the clothes in the wardrobe. He started undressing and wrapped himself in a towel. He then took soap and opened the door.

Well the most shocked person was Oliver. The little guy had asked no question but he behaved like someone who had been here for a while. They watched the little guy wrapped in a white towel walk to the bathroom. Several minutes later, he walked out in black sandals. It was then that they had a clear visual of him. What was shocking was to find out that he had six packs. Even Arazel who had been cultivating was just forming his naturally. As one's cuktivation improved, so did their body. They looked at his biceps and one could tell he usually worked out. He did not even glance at them as he went back to his room and shut himself inside.

Inside the room. Alaric had already put on a white T-shirt and black pants. He held the array plate and started studying the rules and regulations. He could not just leave the room knowing nothing about the academy.

The first thing the tablet spoke about was about the dormitories. It was then Alaric came to know about the social class system in the academy. Everyone with brains could understand. The Amazon dorm for both male and females were made for the First Grades only. The reason being that most First Grades usually came from powerfull backgrounds.

The Orca dormitories housed the second grades and the Rend Dormitories for third grades. Third grades had the highest number followed by the second grades. This explained the difference in size of the dorms. The female dorms were even larger. Alaric could only shake his head. So the academy promoted the system. Alaric knew then that he had to be careful since he was around people of the same level as his and those of strong backing.

The tablet went further and explained about factions. There was a total of 9 factions. One was always advised to join the faction that aligned with their elements. The most sought after factions were; Hydra Wind, Fire and Earth.The Hydra Faction which was a combination of both water and ice element. It was actually the largest faction in the Academy.

Those of the Hydra Faction were given a badge with the colour of the element one had been affiliated with. Those with ice affinity were given a white badge with a 'H' at the center and for those of water affinity it was blue with the same 'H'. The badge was usually stuck on the chest. Then there was Fire Faction.

Fire faction gave a red badge to its members. Fire faction was top 1 faction. Those of the Fire Faction were feared for their aggressive nature and their competitiveness. Though, fire was not the best attack element. Members were given a red badge with a n "F". Then there was the Lightning Faction which gave members a black badge with a "L" curved on it.

Lightning faction was supposed to be the strongest but their small numbers made it difficult to remain at the top where the other factions had more than a thousand, Lightning Faction barely reached 500. It was also important to note that it was usually difficult for one to advance for lightning cultivators. The lightning element was the best attack element. Followed by fire element. The numbers were what made the fire faction the top. During the inter-faction competitions, the fire elementalist would exhaust the lightning elementalist making sure they didn't get to the top. These thre were the top three factions.

Then there was the Earth Faction. Earth elementalist were well known for their combat prowess. Earth element was known to be sturdy and was the perfect element for defense. Also ice element could be used fo defense. The earth element was classified into various small group like metal and sand. Not every eart elementalist could use sand or metal. It was even difficult to use both earth and metal or sand at the same time. Earth Faction gave its members a brown badge with an "E".

The Hydra, Lightning and Earth faction fought for the second, third and fourth positions. At the moment, Earth Faction was ranked fourth, Hydra Faction second and Lightning Faction third. Earth elementalists were second highest in numbers after water. Then there was wind then fire which was ranked least among the four.

The faction ranked fifth was the Tamers Factions. Or generally called beast tamers. This faction was ranked highly due to those who could tame combat beast which enabled their faction to grow. To join the Tamers Factions one was required to be of a higher bloodline. It would be a joke for a lower bloodline person attempting to tame a beast of a higher bloodline. The stronger your beast was the higher your bloodline. Those of Tamers Factions did not allow for instance, someone of a higher bloodline from the Fire Faction to join their Faction. This enhanced independence. This applied to all factions. Those with duo affinities were forced to choose a single faction. This Tamers Faction gave its members an orange badge with a "T" at the center.

Next in line ranked sixth was the Wind Faction. Despite have numbers advantage, the wind element was relative weak. No, the users were relative weak. The higher one progressed with wind element the stronger it became. Wind was also a great attack element. The Wind Faction gave its members a yellow badge with a "W" at the centre.

After, there was the faction ranked seventh called the Auxillary Faction. Though it was ranked seventh, when it came to individually, these members were ranked top ten. The same for lightning. This faction was ranked low since it was greatly disadvantaged by numbers. The Auxillary Faction had those who had space and time affinities. They were rare and their faction barely had 200 hundred members. It was fit to say it was ranked last since the last two were not combat factions. The Auxillary Faction gave its members a green badge with an "A" at the center.

The other two factions were not ranked but they were equally important. The Practitioner Faction and Alchemy Faction. The Practitioner Faction mainly had people with fire element. The Practitioner Faction involved weapon forgery and refining. Those of this faction were tasked with supplying weapons. Those who did weapon forgery and refining were classified into four. Staring with practitioners, then master, then grandmaster and moon level. Depending on your level was your worth. The best in the faction was at the master level. To make a master level weapon was hailed by the academy since they knew just how durable and compatible these weapons were. The tutors for this were all grandmasters. And those who were true living legends were moon grade. This faction gave its members a silver grey badge with the letter "P" at the center.

The Alchemy Faction was classified the same way as the Practitioner Faction. There were practitioners level pill refiners, then master, grandmaster and finally moon level. Those of the moon level could refine pills that could grow back lost organs! For one to join the Alchemy Faction, one needed the affinities of wood and light elements. These two elements were known for their healing capabilities. Though they could be used as combat elements, the faction just decided against fighting. Though individually the member took part in fights during intra-academy competitions, as a faction, together with the Practitioner Faction were neutral.

One could ask the importance of joining a faction. Factions enabled one to acquire points. What Alaric had come to know was that it was not possible to borrow a book from the library without points. Some floors of the library were inaccessible without a given number of points. Ways to earn points were attending all classes, joining factions and doing missions given by the academy. Other ways to earn points were taking part in activities such as competitions. You could also challenge a person and take their points.

Challenges were open and fair. One could not challenge a person with points exceeding his and get all their points, for example, a person with two points could challenge a person with more points but if they won they would get only two points not all. Every student was awarded 100 points during their admission day. Factions were important because as an accumulation of birds of similar feathers, it was easy to mobilize resources to each of them. The academy administration would issue cultivation resources and techniques to these factions to be shared among their members.