Chapter 8: Someone interesting.

[A little warning, this chapter has a lot of talking/ exposition so do bear with it it a bit].

The teacher looked around the class from row to row.

  "Hmm, luckily as this is a new term there's still quite a few seats unoccupied, some other arrangements will be made for those who unfortunately arrived late".

He raised his hand and pointed towards the 14th row, more specifically to the right side of it.

"The last seat by the window over there, that shall be your seat for as long as you attend this class".

Taking a lazy look at the class he warned "be sure to get along with him everyone, that applies to you also young one, understood?" 

 Raizel gave a small nod.

  "Good, now off to your seat so I may continue my session".

The teacher snapped his fingers and a blue magic inscription circle the size of a car wheel was summoned, he placed his hands into the circle and pulled out a perfectly cut rectangular black stone tablet with a bit of an opaqueness to it, then he began infusing some mana from his palms into the tablet.

Raizel who had already teleported to his some seconds ago while the teacher was bringing out the strange object was now occupied with the solid holographic screen that popped up from his desk the moment he took a seat.

He could fell this wasn't technology but Magic, he remembered the words of his maid. The only evidence of a successful fusion between Magic and technology in this word was currently the bracelet that resided on his wrists, so this really was a 1,000% just magic.

Meanwhile unknown to Raizel the simple teleportation he just did had drawn some more eyes towards him, not because he had the power of teleportation as that could in no way cause a surprise to them.

The surprise came from the fact he was able to teleport in this space and so easily like he didn't feel or notice the restrictions that make this place unsuitable for stable teleportation below a certain level, a level only a few in this entire section bar the teachers could access.

  'Strong' 

They all thought, reaching a conclusion that the new kid was definitely not to be underestimated due to the much too high probability of him being really as powerful as they thought he was.

   [Seems you really do stand out way too much master]

"Mhm"

Replied an absent-minded Rai still tinkering with the screen before him, he looked just like an innocent child who had just found a new toy. And that description would be in fact pretty apt when taking into consideration that Raizel in a way was in fact still just a 12 year old child, but by earthly he would be a 1,000 year old man.

   "Alright everyone".

The teacher spoke up in his lazy and slightly slurred tone, finally done with the mana infusion he put the tablet down and faced his class.

"First things you should know, this is just the together class in essence, meant to promote more comfortable social relations between mutants, Dao practitioners and Mages".

    "This is a new project Leviathan adopted due to the great divide between each class in the world and our attempt to begin rectifying it, so do bear with it as the system might still have a lot of loopholes".

"Each of you belong to one of the three main universes of power and as such will have specific sections and tutors tailored to you".

       "With the deal being at the end of the day after each and everyone of you have completed your sessions in these departments, this same classroom will be where you all return to at the end of the day".

"You will learn to study together, grow together, train together and most importantly how to fight together as a team".

       "You will even have to live together sometimes".

Every student in here gave one another a venomous look at the thought of them having to be a team, one student who was a Dao practitioner stood up in protest.

"But sir, there's no way for a mutant to pull their own weight well enough in a team with a cultivator or a mage, they'd drag us down".

    "Yes, I agree, mutants can barely stand up to the bare minimum spiritual pressure of a practitioner, we know the effect of a mage is 10x worse".

"There's really no effective way we'd possibly be able to train with these weaklings let alone fight together"..

Some of the mutants who were fed up with the constant belittling stood up and bared their fangs towards the Dao practitioners.

    "Who the hell do you imps think you're calling weaklings".

"Wanna die you bastards".

Yelled a First path mutant as a silver marking appeared on his forehead and the natural field of sea blue bio-aura around his became more pronounced, some others followed suit in their and flared up their abilities a little.

But the Dao practitioners just burst out in laughter at the provocation, holding their guts and hunching a little downwards as if they had truly just heard the most killer joke of their lives.

The Mages who were numbered a total sum of 9 in this class had been very silent about their own opinions on this new setting, meanwhile Raizel who had been watching the whole situation titled his head a little.

     'Hmm'.

'Eva, in this conflict if I were to pick a side which do you think I should agree with'.

      [The practitioners and Mages].

'Why'.

      [They're the ones closest in character and status to type of people you'd be leading back in the heavens].

[Mutants are much closer to an oppressed minority though they have the largest population in the world].

      [Their ego, pride and instinctual ability to resist authority below theirs is incredibly weak in comparison to the other two].

[They're barely deserving of showing any when taking into account the much greater monsters they exist alongside with , if it weren't for the existence of the weakest universe they'd be labelled below trash already].

     [And trash is definitely not what you will be leading].

'I see'.

The teacher who had grown weary of the disruption tapped his index finger on the table, a weirdly tuned sound spread through the whole class and almost instantly the culprits for the disruption became still and silent.

But if one were to look closely you'd find that their eyes looking around desperately and the terror in them, the teacher sighed and released the spell he had cast.

      "Sit down" he ordered and they immediately complied.

'tsk, that was so unprofessional, have to get rid of this old habit of mine' 

He chided himself mentally and sighed as he faced his class once more;

      "I am...well, we are aware of the disadvantages mutants face in regards to being able to stand their grounds before the presence of a practitioner or a Mage".

"And the solution is actually a simple one".

He stepped around the small podium and came forward a bit.

          "Acceptance, that is the solution". 

Almost everyone had a look of confusion on their faces as they looked towards one another in hopes anyone of them understood what he possibly meant but they were all in the same boat here, but Raizel caught onto it a bit.

"Does this come from aura carrying an inborn subconscious intent of the user" is what he wanted to ask but he kept his words to himself instead.

The teacher heaved a little breath of air and released enough tangible raw mana plenty enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket and still spill over, he began manipulating and shaping the mana into visible mediums to aid with his explanation as he went.

      "Aura, every individual bears this and for each individual it carries their own special signature".

"But that is not all it carries, it also bears a subconscious inborn intent".

        "The natural ability of spiritual pressure is as you all know, suppression of all beings below it".

"But for Mages and practitioners it goes a little further, and this is where mutants come in".

       "The Dao and the Arcane are two supreme paths who stand proudly at the top".

"The seeds of these two paths that every practitioner and Mage possesses carry this innate pride".

      "And that is why in a way, these two supreme Paths which are constantly in a partial stalemate feel.... insulted by the third path".

"It's like a little lion cub coming anywhere near two full grown lions in a hostile situation, absolutely out of it's depths".

           "That's what it feels like for mutants to exist in the same universe as these two"

"It other words, these two paths carry an innate disgust for the last path called mutants".

      "That already subconscious feeling when amplified by your own willfully applied prejudices gets imposed into your auras thereby creating the problem we have on our hands today".

"And this is where the acceptance part comes in, by taking control of that subconscious distaste for mutants embedded in your aura then everything else is easy".

       "When suppressing a mutant it doesn't come from the subconscious feeling but only by want and by the fact your power exists above theirs".

"And since all that's left is your own wilful prejudice that means you can also wilfully choose for your spiritual pressure to cause no harm to a mutant indiscriminately without reason". 

       'I was right after all' thought Raizel to himself.

"Of course, this doesn't mean you get such freedom as to apply your prejudice in a way that would disrupt order on a large scale or cause unnecessary damage, laws do exist even for beings such as us".

He dispelled the mana he had summoned and returned to his podium and looked around the class from row to row observing each and every one of their expressions;-

          "Any questions".

"Sir"

Called one of the mutants as he stood up "I've understood the reason you gave for why the other two universes don't like us, but what genuinely confuses me is why the same hostility is non-existent for the universe that's ranked dead last".

The teacher leaned down a little bit onto his podium and sighed.;

         "Because it's not a path".

The students all had a genuine look of shock on their faces but the teacher raised his finger in a signal for them to hold up a little.

"To be more accurate, it is an honorary path and non-heavenly path, a path so weak that it gets completely forgotten by the higher ones".

 He eased himself up and looked to be contemplating something for a few moments "I shall let you in on a little secret".

"There's a classification to paths and there exists three of them".

      "mortal path".

"The World path".

        "And finally, the Heavenly Path".

"And I'm sure you've already begun categorising the paths you belong to haven't you".

The students gave a confirming nod.

          "Well, that's still not enough so I'll help you". 

He turned towards the board behind him and began creating a diagram;-

"Science obviously belongs the mortal path, Mutants are the top of close to the top of the hierarchy in the world Path".

       "Finally, the Dao and the Arcane belonged to the Heavenly Path".

"Now—

He turned back around to face his students.

       "As surprising as this may sound, the Dao and the Arcane aren't the only Paths in the Heavenly Path, neither are they the strongest"

Some mutants chuckled unintentionally and almost immediately they got a mean side eye from the practitioners while the Mages still remained calm and focused, this was definitely the most surprising of revealings till this moment.

  "But— so he continued.

         "Though they might not be the strongest, especially on their own, they both have an insane compatibility with almost every last path that exists in the Heavenly Path".

"So if by some miracle any of you are able to come into contact with another heavenly path and try learning it, then know you'd have a high chance of being able to assimilate it into yours, so long as you're able to comprehend it". 

At this news the eyes of every practitioner and Mage lit up in delight, their minds already thinking of the infinite possibilities that existed for them if they could perhaps find just one more path to assimilate.

        "I'd advise you get your heads out of the clouds".

The teachers voice came down on their fantasies like the mighty thunderbolt of Zeus.

"Not even those who have attained honourary 'god-level' status have been able to come in contact with another path, so do not think for even one second that it would be easy finding a new Heavenly path.

      "Unless the gods themselves decided to introduce a new universe of power into this universe of ours then we may genuinely never find a new path".

Silence reigned amongst them for a few seconds as they took in the reality of what he just said, the flames of desire in their hearts completely extinguished.

"Teacher" called one practitioner from the second row.

      "Do you know what the strongest paths are since the Arcane and Dao aren't at the absolute top".

He rubbed his chin for a few moments "Hmm, yeah".

"The Angelic and Devil Paths, these two stand as the absolute strongest".

        "So strong in fact that it feels almost insulting to put them at the same level as a Heavenly Path because they really do deserve a new level onto themselves".

Shivers ran down their spines, it was too impossible to imagine that there was really a path that strong it put the Dao and most especially the Arcane to complete shame.

 "Th–then, does this mean the beings born of this path might be even greater than...— he couldn't complete the sentence as the words got stuck in his throat due to just how heavy the thought was, but everyone knew his thoughts, they looked towards the teacher awaiting his reply with bated breaths.

         ".....I have no Idea".

"Huh?" They expressed in clear surprise, the teacher who had been looking like an infinite library of wisdom suddenly had something he had no idea about , how would it not come as a surprise to them.

        "If you thought that I hold a huge amount of knowledge in regards to this area then you're most certainly wrong".

"Even I haven't scratched the true surface of everything regarding the lower paths let alone the heavenly path and it's highest class".

      "We don't know what path the gods are, we barely know anything the gods and cannot even begin to fathom the limits of their power".

"Are they beings born of these two paths we have no idea, is it possible that there might even be something still greater we have no idea.

       "So I am truly unable that question of yours, perhaps if a god or a being born of path was present and willing to answer this question of yours then we'd know".

"But that's just never going to happen, it cannot even be called a dream but pure delusion to think it's possible".

One of Raizel's brows twitched as he realised this man right was just outright denying his existence entirely, it was a little insulting but he could not behold the man to his ignorance in this aspect. 

      "So, any other questions".

Each and every one of them shook their heads;

"Now we can move on to the next part, in time I will be teaching you the ways to get rid of the subconscious intent hidden in your auras".

      "But for now I need you all to come forth and place your hands on this tablet, mutants first".

The students got up and began forming in a bit of a line, not all of them got up as it would become too cramped. And so one by one they went towards the black stone tablet and placed their hands atop it.

A sphere popped up showing their name, ages, sex, class of which they belong to along with the innate potential it read from their souls and a bit more 

Name— Isaac Halden.

Race— Human.

Class— First path Mutant (Low mutant).

Age— 17.

Sex—Male.

Ability— Wind blades.

Soul class— Weak.

Innate limit— Third path Mutant (Peak Low Mutant].

The moment it got done evaluating him the tablet engraved an inscription of a chimera onto his palm "what's this for" he asked.

"It's an allpass key, it gets you into spaces specifically meant for mutants".

        "Also to classes where you'd have specific tutors tailored to your ability type to give guidance and how to maximize your potential and use your ability in incredibly creative ways".

Isaac nod his head and stepped out of the line to return to his seat as another stepped up and place their hands onto the tablet, it went on and on like that.

Most of the recorded were mutants and most had no ability or soul class that stood out much,  if it weren't for the simple fact Leviathan was an institution of which mostly royals or people with at least a strong enough could enter them none of these guys would be worthy of this place and would've attended a place with far less prestige.

But luckily it balanced out, because of the simple fact only those from royal families or those specially selected by those with powerful backing could attend, Leviathan was also the institution with the greatest concentration of geniuses, and also the greatest staff and the most indestructible fortress of all.

After a number of more scans and imprints down the line the ones meant to impress began appearing, the teacher nod his head internally, his eyes wandered over the row and towards those remaining seated while having a discussion amongst themselves.

Although he could get a rough read on how strong some of his students might be due to his skill of lesser insight, it wasn't to be trusted as there exists multiple ways students could use in suppressing their true abilities.

And although he might be able to see through most it wouldn't be worth it, cause it's not exactly a stealth skill when being used in such a manner.

Although even without his skill of insight there existed those who were already making a name for themselves, royals could never resist the urge to boast or broadcast about whatever geniuses they have born into their families.

So it was super easy to know those who stood out and those who didn't, and even without the need of those specifically referred to as geniuses, there existed a number of fourteen practitioners and then there were the nine Mages who individually could already be called superior to super geniuses from the other two sides even if totally average for a Mage.

And that's not even accounting the fact they were non-human amongst them too to take the gap even further. But luckily, it didn't mean he was out of luck amongst them too. He smiled at the thought of this, his class wasn't to be the one with the lowest quality after all, while most likely not certainly the highest but this was okay.

He'd never live down his fellow competitive staff teasing him for this at every meeting they have, headache free life is always the best life.

The mutants were finally done being scanned and imprinted by the tablet and out of the entire 46 of them, only 16 were born with the potential of a rare genius and their abilities were quite good, the rest were all average with only some having decent abilities that could further their combat potential.

Of course he wasn't expecting to find a supreme genius mutant that easily, he'd have known almost immediately if one was present, but this was indeed still enough, more than enough even.

"Practitioners next".

They got up and got in line, there were only 14 practitioners in total here so the line was much smaller. The first placed her hand into the tablet and the process began, the sphere popped up once more displaying their qualities.

Name— Bellona Monroe.

Race— High orc.

Class— Qi Condensation stage 7th layer.

Age— 16.

Sex— Female.

Martial Soul— Blood Lotus.

Soul Class— Strong (C+)

Attribute— Domain.

Body affinity— Body and Sword type.

Innate limit— (????) 

And gasps of surprise came almost immediately, a rare genius cultivator was someone born with the same potential as a supreme genius mutant, but more than that why was a high orc awakened as a practitioner was the question on their minds.

Of course it wasn't impossible per se but it was just way too damn incredibly rare, orcs are normally classified as a race spawned from the Arcane path and then there was the fact of her being a high orc too.

As their names suggests they were the highest and most powerful of the orc race, also the smartest and the ones with the potential on average for Magic, they were the definition of orc royalty.

But this sort of deviation.... although she luckily awakened as rare genius while being a practitioner and also a double as someone possessing two affinities, it could not be denied that this was in fact a downgrade if she hadn't deviated from what was the norm, even just being born as an average mage alone would put har far ahead of a supreme genius mutant in potential and with her being a monster, a high orc pushing it so much further.

"Hmm" the teacher came forward and stood before the girl, looking more closely she really was a noticeably more smaller than what a female high orc usually looked like though she was a bit taller than he was but that was normal, he was 5'7 and she stood at a very good height of 6'1.

       "From which house do you descend" he asked.

Bellona shook her head a bit "I do not know".

He understood her situation almost immediately but he needed to confirm it first "A banished bloodline am I correct".

She gave a small nod confirming his guess, he rubbed his chin for a bit and looked up at her "What is the name of the one who backs you".

Bellona's lips parted as she mouthed a word to him, his eyes shot open in mild surprise at hearing that name.

"I see, you may return now". 

She stepped out of the line and began walking back to her seat, it would also be at this moment that Raizel would be made aware of the fact he did in fact have someone seating besides him and that person was Bellona.

He blinked a few times 'was she really the one who sat beside me before .

[Yes].

    'Huh, interesting'.

Raizel took a casual glance at her imprint hand which was the right, the mark of a practitioner was just a simple golden egg....with some cracks around it. He raised an eyebrow but put it out if his mind a second later, for now he had to get back to his tinkering.

Or so it should have been but he took another glance again, this time directly at her 'can you feel that'.

[Feel what?].

     'Hmm'.

Bellona who had been aware of the fact Raizel was staring at her finally turned her gaze to meet his- "hello".

[Seems you've been staring too long master].

    'I have?'

[Mhm, it is not a polite thing to do, especially at a lady].

     'I see'.

"Hello" he returned the greeting with a welcoming smile.

     "Do forgive my staring, twas not for any bad reasons I assure you".

She smiled "I know".

"Ahh.....right, picking up intent is one of the greatest strengths for practitioners" he realised.

A low giggle bubbled up in her vocals as she gave an outstretched hand to him "Bellona" she introduced.

Returning the kind gesture he outstretched his hand and shook hers "Raizel, nice to make your acquaintance".

   "Mhm" 

She replied as they both let go.

"You're a bit different from how they usually are"

         "Hm?" Expressed a confused Raizel .

"Mages" she added.

        "Ahh".

Raizel realised that there had been a small error, him not standing up when both mutants and practitioners left only one possible answer, that he was a Mage. Not exactly wrong, just incomplete and there was nothing he could do about that now.

"Heh, is that in a good way I wonder".

She gave a playful shrug, suddenly a little uproar drew their attention towards the front of the line, seems another rare genius practitioner had been found.

With their super great eyesight they were easily able to see what the sphere was displaying;

Name— Xiān Shān.

Race— Human.

Class—  Foundation Establishment 4th layer.

Age— 18.

Sex— Male.

Martial Soul— Phoenix fire–(diluted and tiny fragment)

Soul Class— Strong(C).

Attribute 1— Combustion.

Attribute 2— Regeneration.

Body affinity— Sword type. 

Innate limit— (????)

   "The phoenix fire huh".

Whispered Raizel to himself as he could somewhat understand the cause for uproar, but just like the sphere had presented his fire wasn't anywhere near the original, not even if it were to be flames of a phoenix whose soul was almost burnt out.

"Yeah, quite a lucky martial soul" replied Bellona who had heard his whisper.

Raizel turned his head towards her "what do you mean".

     "Well, the phoenix fire is incredibly easy to use and upgrade, at least in comparison to mine which is recognised as one of the hardest martial souls to upgrade let alone awaken".

"Hence why he's more fortuned in this aspect than I am, a powerful soul and also easier to manage".

    She looked up at Raizel who was just staring straight at her with a little smile on his face while shaking his head a little. 

"What, I'm not wrong am I" she asked.

"If his phoenix flames were at least two levels higher in quality then I would agree with you, because those flames can do a lot of impossible things".

       "But his flames aren't anywhere near that, it's not even from a feather or from the core flames that his fire was birthed from".

"What he got is nothing but one of the stray wisps of flames that escapes from a phoenix's body and it's super diluted too".

     "But your Blood lotus Martial Soul, even with all it's petals still closed is far greater in quality than this. And so much more dangerous, I'm sure you've at studied a bit about just what it could do with just a single petal unlocked".

She gave a small nod and Raizels smile grew a little more.

"So there you have it, all you need is to just work hard enough".

       "You're a rare genius, compared to the unlucky average ones who were born with the same soul your path will be so much more smoother".

"You won't lack in resources nor guidance, you're good, very good".

    "There's also the fact----[....]–

"Of what". 

       "Oh nothing, just know you were born with a much better soul than his".

She smiled "Heh, thank you, for the encouragement".

"Was not encouragement, I was just being honest on the disparity between yours and his Martial souls".

Bellona giggled a bit "you really are so different from them".

Raizel sighed internally as he gave up on trying to convince her that his intent was truly not to encourage but to correct, so he just smiled and replied..– "Perhaps".

       "I wonder how you're so sure on the on the true origin of that guys Martial soul".

Raizel scoffed and smiled "call it a family secret" .

"I see".

She understood that Raizel wasn't ready to share that much with her yet and she found it perfectly okay, there was also the fact both were still perfect strangers to one another.

     "Still a bit surprising seeing a high orc lack any form of confidence in themselves, the books described it so differently".

Bellona gave a small shrug "just as surprising to meet a mage who gives no innate feeling of suppression to practitioners and is also this interactive with one".

"Heh, I give no innate feeling of suppression huh".

       "Yup" she confirmed.

"Almost made me fully doubt if you really were one and even now it's still surprising".

     "But the fact you remain seated here cannot be denied".

Raizel just widened his smile a bit as another commotion broke out at the front, he lazily moved his eyes towards the sphere for a moment but then opted to just look out the window instead.

"Another one huh".

          "Mhm-hm".

[Seems you're having great progress on your way to make your first friend master].

      'First friend...right, that was supposed to be one of the main goals coming to place like this'.

[Why do you keep forgetting it so much].

      'Well.....it's still not something I find important, I think I'm going to keep treating it like a side quest for a while'.

'But ah well, while I don't see her as anything close to a friend yet I do find her Interesting'.

     'Most especially for the anomaly that's been sealed inside her, she'll be useful for a little experiment of mine'.

[To be the first person born with two seeds, it's really an amazing thing and I'm sure that might surprise her].

      'Doubtful, aunty is very meticulous in her workings so something like this is most definitely something she accounted for'.

'The chances of it were just set way too low, I'm guessing this was to be the final piece'.

     'The rarest of the rarest and the true pinnacle of genius in this world'.

[That would be until you arrived master].

He smirked 'smooth, but you are correct'.

Raizel could feel Eva smiling and a small tingly feeling of satisfaction arose in his heart, he looked at the sphere which was still displaying the attributes of attributes of everyone who touched it.

The line was almost done now and there had been about for bursts of excitement in total, a total of five rare geniuses had been found in a the total number of fourteen practitioners present, only two people remained untested but he was sure the number wasn't changing.

'That sphere, I'm sure it won't be able to indetify my Angelic and Devil sides right'.

    [That is most likely master].

'Hmm, then again I also do not know what race it would categorise me as, I barely am a dragon anymore, neither am I a god'.

       'It would be pretty ironic if it categorises me as human huh, heh'.

[I find that too unlikely master, it might just categorise you as unknown].

     'Mhm, I wonder if it's possible you for you to mess with it'.

Eva kept silent for an extended period of time and Raizel sighed as he assumed the answer was a solid no, he had hoped that as she too was a being of Magic it might just be possible for her to mess with a comstrct of pure Magic.

       "Mages". 

The teachers voice rang out and Raizel turned his gaze towards him, he looked at Bellona for a second and sighed as he got up along with the other Mages.

"Get ready for a small surprise, it might just answer a question of yours".

He whispered as he walked behind her and joined the queue, the 9 Mages were now a complete 10 and so the process began.

'Tsk, it's really going to become very noisy soon huh'.

           'Ah well, I am creation's greatest anomaly after all'.

                                     r    EnD.