Chapter 17: Pave Academy.

Alseace left the airport with Gratya and Katya after a three-hour flight. Gratya went straight to Emissary headquarters while Katya and Alseace went straight to the academy.

"You'll be meeting a man called Julius Harth, and he's an instructor and supervise the academy from the Emissary. Gratya has informed him about you, and he will be waiting for you there," Katya explained as she looked out the car window. "Since you don't like the attention, I'm only going to drop you off there. The principal name is Estian Forger, an S-Rank Agent just like Gratya," Katya looked at the traffic in front of her.

Katya gave Alseace a small book, and inside it was information about strong Guilds with the information of the strongest members of each Guild. She dropped him off in front of the Academy and then left after she informed Julius about his arrival.

"This academy isn't the same as I imagined," Alseace look at the classical architecture of the academy like a few mansions with a beautiful garden and pond in between the buildings.

"Ah, you must be Alseace," A man walked past the gate with his dark brown curly hair that covered his right eye. His name was Julius Harth, and he wore the same black suit and tie just like Katya and Gratya.

"Yes, I just got here," Alseace answered as he nodded his head.

"Looks like you already know who I am, but let me introduce myself. My name is Julius Harth, and I'm an instructor at the Pave Academy. Nice to meet you," Julius offered his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Harth," Alseace shook Julius' hand.

Julius walked Alseace into the entrance of the Academy, and it was like a normal school, but with extra steps. They were normal students from the age of 14 up to 20, but they were all Candidates and got proper training from the instructor.

"I heard a lot about you from Gratya, and she put you under a special case which is quite intriguing," Julius said as the students were looking at him because of his good look and how neat his appearance was. "May I ask you something?" Julius looked at Alseace over his shoulder. "Are you really an F-Rank?" Julius asked.

"Yes, I'm still an F-Rank," Alseace nodded his head.

Julius took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. He sounded like he was sick with the joke that Gratya did. But Alseace stayed quiet since he didn't care what Julius thought about him.

"Instructor Harth! Who's this guy? A transfer student?" A man who looked young compared to Alseace, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, approached them with five people following behind him.

"Edgar? What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be in the training ground for your extra class?" Julius asked.

Edgar looked at Alseace and he was curious about Alseace's appearance and the way he looked at him that didn't look like a normal kid. "I'm on my way there, but who's he Instructor Harth?" Edgar looked at Julius as he pointed his finger at Alseace.

"Ah, he's a new student, but he's in a special class. He won't be taking the same class and lesson as all the other students here," Julius answered as he looked at Alseace.

Edgar hummed as he tilted his head and looked at Alseace from top to bottom. "He doesn't look strong at all, and he's a special student?" Edgar asked and was curious about what Julius meant by a special class.

It wasn't a weird question since Alseace never worked out to gain his stats, only training and sparring. His body didn't have much fat, only muscle that made him look skinny in his black coat. Raising stats from training and gaining stats from leveling up or using items gave different effects on the body. Since he gained his stats from his [Scavenger] skill, he didn't gain mass in his body.

"That's classified," Julius smiled, but he didn't deny Edgar's question since he was thinking the same thing as him. "Go on, Instructor Laire would punish you if you're late," Julius tilted his head toward the training ground's direction.

Edgar left with his friends, and when Alseace entered the main building, someone bumped into him. A red-haired man fell down in front of him, and he was a skinny man with a piercing on his ears. He looked at Alseace and was shocked because he felt like bumping into a steel wall.

"I-I'm sorry!" The man said and immediately left the building.

Julius looked at him, "You don't want to get near him." "It's not because of who that kid is, but because of his sister. He's a Madris, and you should know who it is," Julius looked at Alseace.

Alseace opened the small book and looked for Madris' name, and he found out that there was an S-Rank Candidate named Lucretia Madris. Her title was the Fire Empress, and she was the only one who had [Fire Magic] skill with Ex-Rank which was the highest rank. She was the strongest Mage in East Dasmein, and she could be the strongest Mage in both West and East Dasmein.

"Is there anything else that I need to keep in mind?" Alseace asked as he followed Julius without knowing where he was going.

"Let's just take baby steps, and enjoy your time here," Julius smiled as he opened the door. "For now, let me test your skill," Julius showed the empty training ground.

Alseace entered the room and looked around to see if there was anyone inside, but it was really empty. He then looked at Julius walk past him as he removed his suit and loosened his tie.

"I'm an A-Rank Candidate, so I'll go easy on you," Julius said as he pulled his hair back and walked to the middle. "Which weapon you're good at?" Julius asked as he pointed at the weapon racks behind Alseace.

Alseace turned around and looked at the variety of weapons on the racks, from a dagger to a wand. There were even unique weapons like a scythe, sickle, and shotel that were categorized in a spear, dagger, and sword class.

"Which weapon you're good at, Instructor Harth?" Alseace asked back without looking back.

"Daggers, dual-wielding daggers," Julius answered with his eyebrows raised because he was confused why Alseace asked that question.

Alseace grabbed 3 daggers that had similar shapes and lengths. He then threw 2 daggers at Julius as he held the last dagger with his right hand and readied his stance.

"Let's see if you're really special," Julius said and coated his daggers with Aura. The color was bright blue and looked like it was the best he could do.

Alseace used [Aura Dagger] from [Mana] and [Dagger Art] combination. The color was dark blue and it was a lot denser than what Julius had. It made Julius a bit nervous knowing that he had already lost to Alseace in terms of Aura.

"(I see... it seems you're not joking about him, Gratya. To think an F-Rank can create such Aura...)" Julius tightened his grip on the daggers as he stared at Alseace with a sharp gaze.

Julius dashed forward and started swinging his daggers at Alseace. Alseace dodged them all and could tell Julius made so many unnecessary moves on his body that it made him so easy to predict. Julius then started using his legs and kicked Alseace to create an opening, but Alseace already knew his intention and didn't show any opening and moved to counter-attack him.

"(He reads me like a fucking open book)" Julius said as he jumped back and thought of a way to deal with Alseace. "(Is he really an F-Rank? How could he dodge all my attacks...)" Julius had so many questions in his head.

"You leave me no choice," Julius said as he changed his stance and changed the way he held his left dagger.

Julius' body slowly became blurry and he created afterimages of himself every time he moved around. Alseace squinted his eyes, but it didn't help at all, and suddenly there were two illusions of Julius that made the same move as him. He could tell which one was the real one until the illusions started to move around and made it hard to check the real one because they were all blurry including Julius' real body.

The moment Julius got close to Alseace, all his illusions multiplied, and it reminded him of when he was running away from Arisma. But compared to her, Julius was nothing, and he already knew which one was the real one by the killing intent.

"(Nobody could tell which one is the real one. Even Gratya had a hard time fighting me)" Julius thought with confidence.

The moment Julius thrust his daggers at Alseace, Alseace glanced at the real Julius. It shocked him, and Alseace blocked his attack before his dagger could reach him.

Julius watched a big piece of blade fly right in front of him, and when he looked down at his dagger, his dagger was cut in half. Alseace suddenly grabbed the flying piece of the blade with his left hand and pointed it right in front of Julius' right eye.

"(I couldn't even see him make a move... who the hell is this kid...)" Julius was cornered and knew he was no match for Alseace. "It's my loss..." Julius removed the dagger from his left hand and immediately lifted his hands up.

Alseace removed the aura on his dagger and walked back to the racks to put it back.

"Alseace, are you perhaps faking your rank?" Julius asked with suspicion.

"I'm not," Alseace answered as he approached Julius. "We can party up if you want to see my level," Alseace offered his hand to Julius.

Julius didn't let the opportunity go and accepted the offer. They formed a party, and when he saw Alseace's level was 6, it baffled him that he lost to an F-Rank Candidate.

"Not only you're an Otherworlder, but your information has also become confidential that even Agents from the Emissary are forbidden to dig into it. I wonder who you really are, but knowing that you're going to be an Agent of Emissary, we are so lucky to have you with us," Julius said as he disbanded the party. "Anyway, I'll show you the room you're going to stay in. Follow me," Julius continued and left the training ground.

Alseace hummed and followed Julius from behind.