Chapter 9. Origin Academy

The elder knew it would be boring with a bad start. He decided to start with all the First Grades. He called the first five. Luck was on Alaric's side. The elder called the three and two more they did not know.

"Place your hands on the crystal as you did before. Its just a short procedure you have experienced before," the five stood from their seats and headed to the stage. Each went to the four foot pillar with a colourless crystal. They each did what they had done few days prior with confidence. The three from Lotus region were Seth Mathis and Kate Gernam. Alaric had come to know her name on their way here. He also had learned that she was a wind elementalist.

To be honest, even if Origin Academy only chose First to Third grade, there were very few First Grades. Thus when the skies darkened revealing a red, yellow, brown and black glow at the same time, the whole academy just stopped doing its activities. Seeing four first grades at the same time was an odd sight. Those who were near rushed to the stadium to check out these new talents.

They hurried to take a seat and watch. More flocked in while other did not care and continued with their activities after taking a glance in the sky. The stadium now was almost half full in a minute as the manifestation of the origin sources died down. Some shouted and clapped at the four. Each person's colour glowed around them each showing their element. Kate who had a yellow manifestation was a wind elementalist. The rest were obvious. Kate was the only girl in the first group. Although they proved they were genuine first grades, there was something gloomy on their faces. Their manifestations died down just quickly. They wanted to reign in the feeling of being first grade.

All eyes trained on the youth who had yet to awaken his grade manifestation. Even the elder calling out names had to recheck to confirm that he was really the person whose image appeared on the tablet. They started murmurs but his calm face showed that he least cared about their thoughts. He instead knew that the sky had been cleared by the incoming presence of his manifestation. Kate and Seth smiled knowingly as if telling him that the crystal he broke was just a mistake.

They held their heads high as they listened to the jeers towards Alaric. His smile just growed as the lights on their crystals disappeared. It was then that his crystal glowed. Since he had seen the most impactful manifestation was black lightning with silver lightning at the center, he decided to use it. The sun was blanketed by dark clouds which seemed to appear from nowhere. The people fell silent. The clouds gathered instantly and it seemed that a storm was coming. Just when they were in thoughts of evacuating to shelter, a calm voice filled with disdain spoke.

"To think that those lowly manifestations thought of appearing in the same sky as mine. You should know your place." All eyes turned to the asmall boy. Kate and Seth sighed. So that was the reason their manifestations died that fast. To think that Alaric's manifestation would wipe out theirs even from the crystal... And here they were jeering him. They lowered their heads in shame. The people took longer to conceive what was happening but when they did, it was too late.

A sound like a crack in the sky appeared. Who did not know about the manifestation that took place a week before. Now that they were near the source,they couldn't help but feel their bodies shudder. The rare odd sight of black lightning combined with silver lightning appeared. Their hearts beat faster. This was a very odd sight. Even Seth and Kate still were shocked again. The official who brought them here couldn't hide his smile. The lightning struck the ground next to Alaric, his hair blowing with the aftershock of the bang. Still he was not moved nor did he flinch or close his eyes. In the sky, the head of lightning god appeared clad in blue lightning staring at the earth with disdain.

Even the headmaster appeared for a second to glance at the junior who had manifested the lightning god. Wasn't the lightning god the manifestation of the successor of the immortal king. Just how was it possible to be wielded by a human? 'The immortal realm must be scratching their hair out.' The immortal king had been succeeded and his mantle passed over to someone they did not even know where to start looking for. The headmaster tried to see through the origin source of the kid but what he saw broke his heart.

So the stories passed among the sovereigns and supremes were true. Then what he was going to do was make sure that his identity was not leaked. If he did that who knew maybe he would get in the good books of the future immortal king. The seals could only be visible to those with a higher cultivation. The chains placed upon chains each emanating a green glow. It was clear that even the chains were struggling to contain his bloodline. Only a 5% leaked and it was the cause of the manifestation that could threaten the entire existence. Also he saw something that no one else could have noted. Even he missed it at the first glance.

The manifestation died down after around a minute and he had to conceal himself so others would not feel him. But he still felt other similar auras to his. Once one reached the Sovereign Plane, moving across continents would take about ten seconds. He was sure they too were brought from their chores just to witness the future immortal king.

They could speak telepathically and he warned them if anyone tried to get him they would have to fight him. They were Sovereigns. How could they not understand each other's thoughts. The mission was to protect the future immortal king behind the scenes so as to get into his 'good books' once he ascended. They were about to fly away when the kid removed his hand from the crystal.

Seth and Kate could only sigh. How could they even try to compare themselves with him. They gave up instantly. Accidents do happen but they do not happen twice. The crystal had been powdered to dust. The second time! Now everyone who was watching etched their bodies backwards their jaws dropped. Even the Sovereigns concealed in the space could only shake their heads.

How could they expect to measure the immortal king bloodline with such mediocre crystal? No wonder the war god manifestation disdained them. Even when he did not know his identity, his aura leaked of arrogance only someone on top of every existence could exhibit. It really was crafted in their blood.They should even have gone on their knees and beg for forgiveness for trying to test the immortal king. But they knew he had to grow. That was why his parents left him here despite knowing he would get a better cultivating environment in the immortal realm. With that they disappeared and continued with their activities. The headmaster would have his eyes on him whenever he was in the academy.

"After your identity has been confirmed, you will receive an array plate with every detail of the academy. Your details have already been confirmed and you shoud head to the direction your array will point you towards." The Elder said and continued with the next names. Now they were going to be four since one was destroyed.

Alaric stretched his hand and an array plate floated to his hand. Its surface glowed bluish. It scanned his face and his details appeared on it. A red dot appeared on the screen showing his position. The name that appeared at the red dot was 'Marshal Pit.' then the map of the entire academy appeared. There were abbreviations such as 'A.M,' 'A.F,' ' O.M,' 'O.F,' 'R.M,' 'R.F.' Some of these dots appeared to be closer to each other such that those with an 'M' were on one side while those with 'F' on another side far apart.

That was where the arrow was pointing he should head. He was so into the world of the tablet that he did not even notice those who were called had done their First Grade manifestations. He decided to go pick his laggage and head to the direction of the arrow. He walked to the Elder who told him that his bag had been taken to his room. Alaric felt insecure. What if they tried to open and see what each student was carrying. With his photographic memory, he would note the slightest change in his arrangements and he would be on high alert. The only person he trusted in this world was his mom who never hid anything from him. She also taught him most of the chores and communication skills though she was unable to get rid of his arrogance.

Alaric followed the arrow and headed towards the dorms. He passed through several pavements. But one had to agree that these people had put on an effort in decorating the places. There were areas with metal pillars supporting them and others had concrete pillars. These concrete pillars were carve into impossible shapes like some appeared to have a hourglass shape. Others went coiling around like a spring.

Some had intricate drawings easy to make up like flowers, insects, animals (all legendary eg. dragons.) He passed at a plece which had an abbreviation of 'S.A' . He stood at the place which was supposed to be called the library. St. Augustine Library. Of all the buliding, this appeared to be the largest. Spanning about 500 meters wide. It appeared to have five storeys. Alaric could feel his blood palpitating as he thought of increasing his knowledge. He really needed to know more about cultivation. He was tempted to enter right away but he decided against it.

He needed to at least take a bath and rest. He also needed to start his days officially like he did starting with 20 laps. That was going to be five laps from one end of the academy to the other. He proceeded to the direction of the arrow. He came to branching roads each leading in oppostie direction. Those with an 'F' were on the right and those with an 'M' were heading to the left. It was approximate 500 meters from the branching part. So they were 1km apart. Alaric loved these array plates. They were perfect at tracking someone as long as one had it on their bodies. Alaric branched left and headed towards the male dorms.

Along the paths were some room such as refining rooms, he finally reached the dorms and headed towards the Dorms written Amazon on top of its entry. It had seven storeys up and spun around one hundred meters in width and almost 200 meters length. The Amazon dorm appeared to be the smallest. It was abbreviated as 'A.M'. There were two others.

The middle one had the name Orca on top of its entry. Abbreviated as 'O.M' This dorm was slightly wider spanning about 200 meter wide and 300 meters length. Its storeys rose to the 10th floor. At the far end there was yet another one larger than the rest. It width spanned at 300 meters and the length at 400 meters. Its roof stood at the 15th floor.

These were the male dorms. Alaric was yet to visit the female dorms. Who knew maybe they were larger or maybe smaller. He walked through the huge doors and entered the ground floor. Its floor was different shades of red and grey. He walked to the stairs. The tablet said that his room was labelled F.7R7. The building was divided into three parts.

The middle part, the right part and the keft part. The middle part which was 40 meters wide. It was separated into two by a wall where each side took twenty meters with the wall as the boundary. The doors ranged to upto door number 20. For instance, all doors had the abbreviation of the floor number( F.x) then the abbreviation of word 'middle' (M) then the room number(x). So if it was the first floor door number seven was labelled as F.1M1. and so on.

The verandahs railings made of sturdy metals. The rooms labelled 1-10 faced those of the right wing of the dorms. Those labelled 11-20 were facing the left wing of the dorm. From this middle 40 meter column was a 10 meter distance separating the middle column and the left wing. There was also a 10 meter distance separating the middle column from the right wing.

The right wing was slightly different from the middle column. It was named right wing as it was on the right of the middle column. Its doors were numbered 1-10. The same naming format the only difference being the middle letter which read R. So the first floor right winged room 1 was labelled as F.1R1. The same for those of the left wing. The first floor left wing room one was labelled as F.1L1.

After Alaric made out the connection between the labelling, he took the stairs and climbed to the seventh floor. He walked to the room labelled F.7R7, the seventh room. He pushed the door open and was welcomed by another slight change. But the good thing was that there were four rooms to mean each room accommodated four people with each person having a personnal room. He walked in to find the astonished gaze of three who stared at him like he was lost.