Chapter 7 - Academy

Alden used his 10 'unused points' on strength, agility, and intelligence. By now, he was on the level of low-rank mercenaries, assassins, or scholars. After doing that, the system appeared in front of him once again, but now it was something completely different. It was a quest window, which I suppose could be compared to the job boards used by mercenaries in need of money.

The so-called 'quest window' had a light blue color, similar to cyan, with an azure outline on it. The writing on the window was white and cursive. It contained the sentence, 'Chapter I,' followed by a line break, 'Academy's degree.' As Alden thought of the words contained within the window, another one appeared, saying that he would need to enter the Ivory Academy. 'The academy?!'

Alden was pretty stressed about the new task he received, but when he saw that the penalty for not completing the quest was death, he almost passed out. Sweat was coming out of his face, although the quest reward was something good. The reward was a glass of the lowest-class elixir. It may not sound like much, but even some nobles would give away their money for it.

The academy was located in the capital of the kingdom he was staying in, the Veridian Empire. Even though the academy was one of the biggest in the world, it remained neutral since the beginning of its making. They welcomed most commoners with talent, although not as readily as nobles coming from great families. Alden ran back inside his tiny house and picked up an iron shortsword that belonged to his father a long time ago. He fell on the floor, to relax and think about all that happened. His face was displeased with the current events, but there wasn't anything he could do other than to follow the system.

After about ten to twenty minutes, he got back up, dropped the sword he was holding, and started stretching. He noticed the daylight streaming in through the window. He walked to the door, opened it, and began running through the woods. In that interval of time, he questioned if the reputation of the academy and the rumors were actually true or not.

Nevertheless, he thought that he should focus solely on his body, as it was just above average. To get into the academy, you need to be a 2-Star warrior at the least, but he was only a 1-star. Warriors are ranked in the world based on stars, from a one-star warrior being someone who hasn't awakened their aura but knows how to use a weapon, to the highest that a human achieved, a seventh star warrior who is a master in terms of power and skill.

Alden knew that if he wanted to become a 2-star, he needs to awaken his aura, but there was one thing missing. He realized that he could only gain points by leveling up. He looked in the status window again, to see if anything changed and something did. The EXP Progress text went up by sixty, and it was now 60 out of 1100. 'So if I did this for half an hour, then would an hour give me one hundred and twenty experience?' he continued with, 'Hmm, it's not a bad deal at all,' he said with a pleased look on his face.

He continued to run and run for another half an hour, when he finally arrived at the city. The city was named Alchen, with Baron Burghley serving as its mayor.

From then, he smiled and whispered to himself, 'Let's see when the next selections are going to happen!' He walked into a blacksmith shop, where he encountered a middle-aged dwarf with very short brown hair. As he entered, he noticed that the room wasn't spacious, but this didn't bother him too much. He then asked, 'Hello! Can I ask you something?' The blacksmith ignored him, prompting Alden to ask his next question more forcefully, 'When are the next selections for the academy?' The blacksmith sighed and replied, 'They will be held in 3 months,' without even glancing at him. Alden nodded, apologized for the interruption, and left the shop.

Alden started wandering off, deciding if it would be better for him to become a mercenary and earn more experience as time goes on. As he turned into an alley to sit and relax, he saw a male kid who seemed about his age sitting down, as if someone had beaten him. 'What is he doing here?' He had red hair and red eyes, but despite his strong and rebellious appearance, he had bruises and wore an innocent expression. Alden got up and walked towards him, then looked down to ask for his name, 'What is your name?