Royal Academy!
The days flew by, Seth spent them laying in bed and talking to the nurses that came by to check on him. Eventually, he was let out of the hospital as he had gotten used to his new vision and could live relatively normally. Seth's stats had grown considerably, they had almost increased by 10000 each. Seth didn't know what would happen after he reached Peak Mortal, but he had a feeling that it would be a huge boon.
When Seth went back to his normal living quarters, he and Augie were called to meet with their parents. They slowly made their way into the
"Seth, Augie, you both are going to go to the Royal Academy. In just one week, you are both going to leave the castle and live at the Academy!" Arthur broke the news to the boys, getting straight to the point.
"Yes, you boys have already gotten new school uniforms! Go try them on for us, please!" Elizabeth was visibly excited as she handed the brothers sets of clothes that were set on the table beside her. The uniforms looked almost exactly like the ones from private schools that Seth had seen kids wearing back on Earth. Seth and Augie went to their rooms to change and met back with their parents a few minutes later. The uniforms fit perfectly, Seth was a little surprised that his uniform fit because he was literally a baby, he was an anomaly. He wondered why the school would be so ready to make uniforms for babies and children too young to go to school.
"Oh, you boys just look so gorgeous! I could just eat you up!" Elizabeth acted just like a normal mom from Earth, seeing her children wear something she picked out. She was just like his mom from Earth, the way they both acted, the way they both smiled. Seth flinched at the thought and pushed it out of his mind. She wasn't his mom, she was just a random person he had used to get to this world, they had no emotional attachment whatsoever.
Elizabeth drowned Seth and Augie in compliments for a quarter of an hour as she looked them over and straightened out their clothes. The brothers then changed out of their school uniforms and gave them to Elizabeth, who stored them away for safekeeping. Before running away to the garden to play.
The next week went by in a flash, Seth and Augie spent their last days with their parents. They all played together during Arthur's free time, and before they knew it, it was time for them to leave. The boys got dressed in their new uniforms and hopped onto the carriage, ready for a long trip. To the boys' surprise, the carriage ride was only an hour, it stopped at a platform covered in unreadable scribbles made of silvery elementals.
"What is this?" Seth touched a stray silvery elemental, he felt a shock and the elemental teleported a meter away.
"This, boys, is a waypoint. You just need to input magic power and it will teleport you to a set destination." Arthur spoke before ushering the brothers out of the carriage doors and onto the platform. The family stood on the platform and waved the carriage goodbye as Arthur injected magic power into the platform through his feet.
Seth's vision was filled with the spacial elementals for a few seconds before they receded. Seth could see all sorts of elementals floating everywhere, he could see a bustling city, with buildings even taller than those of Earth. As Seth was marveling at the city, he heard retching, Augie was throwing up his guts right next to him, some of it was even splashing on his foot. Arthur cast a spell on Augie to stop him from throwing up and another to clean the vomit. Only a few people looked back at Augie, this was a relatively normal sight for them.
"Ah, boy. You'll get used to it eventually." Arthur patted Augie on the back and slowly walked him off the platform. Seth and Elizabeth followed suit and the family set off again. The walk was short, only a few minutes. They went to a large building and signed a few forms before Arthur and Elizabeth said their goodbyes and left. There were a few other kids, but none of them stood out to Seth when he Inspected them. That's not to say they weren't strong, most of them were stronger than the adults around the city. But none of them were strong enough to catch Seth's attention.
The kids waited in the building for thirty minutes as more were dropped off. Once the group had reached almost five hundred, they were led into a back room. The back room had a huge waypoint, the kids were led onto the waypoint with four Higher Mortal guards. They injected magic into the waypoint and the group was teleported away. When the Spacial Elementals disappeared all of the kids that weren't throwing up gasped in shock. The Royal Academy was a huge castle. When Seth saw it, he felt like he was seeing a bigger version of Wartshog that he had seen in a movie. He had watched the movie with his family on his sixth birthday, it was one of his favorite ones.
The guards cleaned up the group and marched them to the Academy's opened gates. There were already thousands of new students sitting in the hall. Seth's group was led to a long table and told to sit down. Seth Inspected as many people as he could, he only made it to a few thousand before all of the new students made it into the hall. Most of the kids were like those in his group, about as strong as the common adult. But a few caught his eye, the most notable people Seth Inspected were Higher Mortals like him. None were nearly as strong as him though, his base stats had reached an average of 57000, which Seth assumed was halfway to Peak Mortal. Seth saw a few younger kids like him, but they were few and far between.
There was a crash and a loud ringing noise, at the noise the kids that had started talking to each other quieted down. A middle-aged man standing in front of the students had hit a gong. Seeing as he had gotten the students' attention, the man spoke.
"As you all know, you are the geniuses of your generation and all have illustrious statuses! Here, you will learn how to fight your enemies and lead your people! You must be ready to face challenges and to overcome your fears! If you slack off, you will die! We may not be the ones to kill you, but your competitors will! This is your chance to become a warrior or a king! If you use it wisely, you will see to your dreams! If you don't, however, your dreams may not be the only thing to be crushed! That is all!" The man's speech started as Seth had expected a welcoming speech to go, but it took a turn that sounded more like a threat than a speech.
After the man's speech ended, the kids had a feast that lasted hours. Most of the kids ate to their heart's content, only to regret it when they heard what was happening next. After the feast was the tournament, all the new students would participate in a tournament to decide what level of magic and martial classes they will take. The top three places will also get extra benefits, they will get a strengthened school uniform and a weapon of their choice. Seth didn't need a weapon as he had the knife from his master, but he wanted to know what the strengthened school uniform was and he didn't have any reason to hide his power.
The students were walked out of the castle and to a large field with hundreds of huge platforms littering the ground. The students were formed into groups of about 50 and the groups were each sent to a platform. Seth and Augie were split up, but he didn't really care. Seth Inspected everyone in his group, there was nobody special. He would be able to win without even thinking.
"Start!" The loud shout came from everywhere at once. Immediately, the groups sprang into action. Seth was attacked by five people at once, probably thinking that he would be an easier target because of his age. Seth didn't feel the rush of exhilaration he did when fighting strong opponents, he only felt boredom as he flung them off the platform with a kick. Seth watched a few kids locked in battles with each other and removed the stray few that ran in his direction. The battles lasted a total of 20 minutes, ending with most of the participants breathless or unconscious. Seth looked around, he saw a lot of people he recognized still standing. There were only a few he hadn't Inspected and gauged the ability of.
As Seth Inspected the winners of each group, he noticed a baby. The baby had easily won, like him, but was still on a lower level than him. the baby was much older than him too, he was about seven months old. Seth could tell though, that this baby was too intelligent compared to most of the other reincarnators. His eyes were unfocused too, he seemed to be seeing something right in front of his face, a screen maybe. Seth's suspicions were all but confirmed, there was almost no chance that the baby didn't have a system, he wasn't alone.
The finding shocked Seth, but it wasn't too surprising because he had already tossed around the idea, it was just surprising for it to be right. Seth was shocked out of his stupor when the kids started shuffling off of their platforms. He didn't get to Inspect all of the winners, but he thought that he had probably found the most surprising thing he could. The kids were given five minutes to rest before the 2v2 rounds. There were only around 250 people left, so Seth knew he would already be accepted into one of the higher classes. He was still going for first place though, and it should be pretty easy, right?
After the five-minute break, Seth was paired with a girl that had barely won her first match and was up against a buff and skinny boy pair. The buff boy crossed his arms and grinned evilly at Seth while the skinny boy shivered and raised his arms in front of his face. They were pure opposites, Seth Inspected them. The brawny boy had a huge amount of strength and the skinny boy was good at magic. Seth had already Inspected his partner, she was an all-rounder but she had low stats. Seth Healed her, only using a minuscule amount of magic, before looking back at his opponents. He didn't feel any pressure at all, they were nothing compared to him. When the voice called out once again, he stomped on the ground and pushed the elements in the platform to swallow the boys up, winning the match.
Most of the other matches finished quickly, there was a large difference in the strength of the students. Seth could tell from Inspect that most of the ones with high stats had exactly 1000 Luck, he could tell that they maxed out their stats and Growth. The others, Seth could tell they were a lot like Chien-Shiung Wu. There seemed to be a way to randomize your point usage, but Seth didn't know what it was.
The kids were given another five-minute rest before doing 1v1s, which would be the next competition in the tournament. Seth was a little excited for who he would fight next and how he would match up against others like him.