The Author's POV

"Alright, everyone please be quiet"

—Clank!

Suddenly the doors of the classroom opened up, and Donna entered. Her crisp voice traveled through everyone's ears.

Instantly the classroom quieted down.

Putting her hands on the podium, she solemnly looked at everyone present.

"Okay, have you all received the message? The one about the mourning ceremony for tomorrow?"

[Announcement to all students, due to what happened yesterday at the banquet, Wednesday, from the times 8:00 P.M - 9:00 P.M the academy has decided to...]

Turning my wrist slightly, I pressed on the foremost notification. I quickly skimmed through the long text.

'I see...'

Despite what happened yesterday, classes resumed as usual.

Originally there should've been a week break, but because the incident was handled so cleanly and swiftly, there was no break.

Regarding the fallen professors and students, a mourning ceremony would be held tomorrow night.

That was what the current announcement was about.

"As most of you have been informed, there have been 31 confirmed deaths from yesterday's accident. 15 of which were our very own academy professors"

"I'd like for you all to attend tomorrow as a form of respect for those that have sacrificed their lives for you. It's the least you could do..."

Donna's face was solemn. Even if she was used to death, such announcements were never easy.

Especially since some of the people that died were people that she had talked to as recently as yesterday.

It truly was depressing.

"...enough of that for now"

Finished with all of the depressing stuff, Donna's tone became lighter. Brushing her hair to the side, she checked her watch.

"Alright, with that out of the way it is now time that I introduced you to your new classmates. They should be here soon..."

—Knock! —Knock!

Right on cue, the doors of the classroom opened and around twenty youths came in. They all wore different uniforms.

Instantly the classroom became noisy. Sitting next to me, Kevin's eyes squinted.

"It's that guy"

"Who?"

Curious, Emma turned around and looked at Kevin. With his eyes narrowed, Kevin softly said.

"Aaron"

"You've met him?"

Emma's brows raised.

She had met Aaron a couple of times in the past. She had the worst impression of him.

To think that Kevin went through a similar situation as her.

"Yes, at the banquet. He came at me from out of nowhere. If I don't remember wrong, he said something along the lines of 'you're only so-so' or something of the sorts..."

"That does indeed sound like him. I've had a similar situation happen to me..."

Whilst Emma and Kevin were busy talking, I stared at the incoming students. My eyes instantly paused on a certain few individuals.

Five to be exact.

The Leinfall twins, John Berson, Eleonore Grey, and the man in question, Aaron Rhinestone.

The strongest first years of each respective academy.

Nothing much needed to be said about the Leinfall twins. With their platinum blonde hair, they were easily recognizable. Moreover, their flawless teamwork was what made them so famous.

The same went for Aaron.

Long black hair and deep blue eyes. His fame and skill were already documented for everyone to see.

John Berson on the other hand had a sturdy build with short brown hair. His stature resembled that of Arnold's, however, he was much more intimidating than Arnold.

'Now that I think about it, he shares quite a lot of similarities with Arnold'

Build aside, both of them used a shield. If not for John being stronger, I could've easily have mistaken the duo for a pair of siblings.

Lastly, there was Eleonore.

She had had short black hair and an oval-shaped face. Though she wasn't ugly, compared to the likes of Amanda, Melissa, and the others, she was average.

Despite this, her skills were undeniable. Especially since she was a combat mage.

Someone who specialized in casting spells.

'That should be it...'

Apart from them, everyone was pretty much an extra.

I obviously knew who they were, but in general, those five people were the ones I had to watch out for.

"As most of you know from the recent banquet, for the following two months, exchange students will be joining us in our classes"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Donna's voice.

Turning around, she stared at the twenty students next to her. Sensing the air of confidence and aura coming from certain individuals, Donna nodded her head in satisfaction.

They were definitely on par with the student at the Lock.

To her, regardless of the fact that they were from the Lock or not, it was always gratifying to know that such talented humans existed.

Taking a step to the side, she smiled.

"I don't think you need me to introduce them as most of you have already met at the banquet or known each other beforehand. In fact, some of them are so famous that they even appear on Tv..."

After a brief introduction, Donna stopped. Redirecting her attention back to the exchange students, she smiled.

"So how about you guys find yourself a seat. Just sit wherever you like"

"Sure"

"Thank you"

Thanking Donna, the exchange students split into many different groups.

Many choose to sit towards separate areas of the classroom, whilst others sat at the front or back.

Ignoring the commotion, I suddenly found two shadows cast over me.

Turning my head around, I found the Leinfall twins looking in my general direction. At times they would take glimpses of Kevin and the others.

"May we sit here?"

"...Sure"

I naturally didn't refuse. After all, that would be quite rude of me.

Plus, they merely just wanted to sit with Kevin and the others.

Since I was the one that led them around the academy, they found it easier to just ask me.

After I gave them the green light, the twins quickly sat down. Extending his hand, the older brother introduced himself to everyone.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Nicholas Leinfall and this is my Twin sister..."

Whilst twins introduced themselves to Kevin and the others, I leaned against the table and massaged my forehead.

'Haa...what the hell is going on?'

I suddenly realized something.

What was supposed to be my secluded seat far from the prying eyes of others turned out to be the place with the most attention in the class.

Just where did I go wrong?

...

Inside of a shabby three-bedroom apartment.

"Isn't he the person that came to our door last time?"

Sitting on a worn-down couch, a lady in her mid-thirties pointed towards the TV screen standing opposite to her.

[Following up the investigation on the student...]

On it, a TV anchor relayed the news. Besides him, a picture of youth with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes appeared. Hearing what the anchor had to say about him, the lady looked quite surprised.

"Oh my, it seems like he was quite a talented youth. To think that he was from the Lock, no wonder he was so strong"

Turning towards her son, the lady excitedly pointed at the screen.

"Ryan, it was him that come to our house, wasn't it? I'm sure of it"

"Um, it was..."

Playing with two plastic toy cars in his hands, Ryan looked up to his mom. Blinking innocently and looking at the TV for a couple of seconds, Ryan nodded his head.

"Wow, to think that we would be meeting someone so important! I can't believe it"

Getting confirmation from Ryan, his mom became quite excited. She had met such an outstanding figure, how could she not be excited?

Taking her controller, she raised the volume.

—Clank! —Clank!

Ignoring his mother, Ryan kept playing with his toys. Suddenly, his mom turned around and scolded him.

"Ryan, why don't you go play with the toys in mom's bedroom. Mom wants to watch the TV!"

With him playing so loudly, she could barely hear what they were saying.

"...Okay, I'm sorry"

Stopping whatever he was doing, Ryan lowered his head. Taking his toys, he obeyed his mom.

"Thank you, Ryan"

"No problem"

He moved away from the living room. Turning right into his mother's bedroom, he quickly moved towards her drawer and opened it. Without hesitation, he took out a large file and skimmed through it.

"This should be it..."

Stopping on a certain point of the page, he took his mother's phone and dialed a number.

'I hope I'm making the right call'

...

"It's so hot..."

Covering my eyes, I stood under the blazing sun and the blue sky, enjoying the clear and warm Ashton city weather. With summer around the corner, the temperatures were steadily rising.

I was currently waiting at the front of the academy.

"You're finally here"

After waiting for approximately five minutes, Melissa's figure appeared in the distance.

Wearing a long white blouse coupled with matching black pants, Melissa calmly walked in my direction.

'Hmm, not that I think about it, I usually see Melissa in either a lab coat or school uniform...she looks kinda weird'

I wasn't used to this. Sort of felt out of place.

"Seen enough?"

Heating her steps, Melissa's face darkened a little. I nodded in response and quickly switched topics.

"Plenty...by the way, did you get everything?"

"I spent the last couple of hours adding some finishing touches, it should be good for now"

Rolling her eyes, Melissa took out a hard drive. On it was a detailed report about the project.

"This?"

"The presentation as well as the data"

"You're giving this to me? Can't you just keep it?"

My eyes shot wide open. She was giving me such important information?

Melissa shook her head, she had a reason for doing this.

"I've got a spare. I'm just giving this to you in case something happens to mine"

Though the chances of such things happening were extremely low, Melissa didn't like to take any risk. Thus, she why made a spare one for me.

"That's fair"

Though I wasn't sure what could happen, I still naturally accepted the hard drive. Putting the hard drive in my dimensional space, I covered my face with my hand to avoid the sun. Turning around, I asked.

"So, when's the ride coming?"

"I don't know, should be soon"

"Haa...I've already been standing under this heat for too long"

It was currently 5:00 P.M, and it was naturally the time of the day when the sun was most active.

Despite my superhuman abilities, I still could not combat the heat. Melissa seemed to feel the same way as droplets of sweat appeared by the side of her cheek.

"Suck it up. Stop being extra"

"Stop pretending, I know you're just as tired as me. ..."

Another sigh escaped from my mouth.

Right now, Melissa and I were headed to the Demon Hunter headquarters. Today was the day that we would pitch our magic card concept.

Right after the lectures ended I quickly headed back to my room to get changed. An hour after getting changed, I directly went to the entrance of the academy.

Looking at the sun, I muttered, "This heat sure is something..."

"It's here"

Snapping me out of it, suddenly, a black limousine stopped in front of us. It was a long, luxurious limousine that I only thought existed in the movies.

Exiting the front doors of the limousine, a man dressed in black opened the door for us. He wore white gloves.

"Please get in"

I got inside the limousine with Melissa and quickly sat down. Sitting on it made me recall the time I was traveling to Hollberg.

If not for Melissa, I would've probably moaned out loud.

"Is everything alright?"

"Mhm"

Turning around, the driver checked on us. Melissa nodded her head in confirmation. At Melissa's confirmation, the driver put his foot on the peddle and drove off.

Throughout the journey, the limousine moved without shaking in the slightest. It was so smooth that I thought we weren't moving at all.

Before long, we arrived at Demon Hunter's headquarters.

"As expected of the world's number one ranked guild..."

Taking a step out of the limousine, I was left in awe by the building before me.

The first thing I thought once I looked at the building was, 'Isn't that the shard from London back on earth?'

Honestly, it looked amazing.

Each part seemed to have been designed carefully as the building looked both beautiful and geometrically marvelous.

This tall building was undoubtedly built using cutting-edge magic engineering and technology.

It looked flawless.

—Shuuua!

Suddenly the transparent doors of the building opened up. Wearing a neat black suit, Amanda greeted us.

"Welcome to the Demon Hunter guild"