The man that had just entered the hall was very powerful, and this was just from first impressions. He seemed to care about nothing, and from the looks of things, he barely bathed and dressed himself.
The reason everyone seemed so shaken by his appearance was because of his reputation. This man was called Nephris, and he used to be the Imperial Legate of the Lemuria Guard, the largest army on the continent.
The man was known for his great tactics, combat power, and never losing even a single war. No one truly knows what happened, but the man suddenly broke down, and he was let go from his position. He ended up as a lecturer at Argonaut Academy. He was the Battle Master, meaning that he was in charge of teaching the students everything that had a connection with fighting.
The man pulled a chair to the front and sat down without a care in the world. He said nothing for a very long time, and when there was only an hour left for his lecture to come to an end, a student could no longer handle the situation and spoke up.
"Aren't we going to have a lecture? If not, I will excuse myself." Even Hildr was surprised to hear these kinds of words from someone other than herself. She had wanted to leave this place long ago, but she decided that pissing off two lecturers on the same day would not do her any good. She had to endure and wait. Hildr looked at Nara. She was the one that had spoken up. This girl was one of Hildr's new roommates. She was Narantaka Agneya, the girl that had claimed to be a fire spirit. Hildr had not accepted that this was indeed what she was. After all, she was far too powerful to be a fire spirit, and the aura she gave off was too foreign.
From the moment the two had met, Hildr had known that she was a no-nonsense girl, and it turned out that she had been right. For Nara to say what was on everyone's mind showed that she was not scared of offending even lecturers. As long as she felt that she was in the right, she simply said what she wanted. The Battle Master looked at her with slightly open eyes. He did not say anything and simply continued looking at her. This could have been taken as an attempt to intimidate the young girl. Hildr could hear Nara counting down from five, and when she reached zero, she stood up, grabbed her bag, and moved to leave the hall. The lecturer was surprised by her boldness, and Hildr smiled brightly at this.
She also wanted to leave, but she had to consider the rules of this place.
"Fine, I will lecture since that is what you want," the lecturer said. He had given in to Nara's pressure. "Someone else bound by the rules," said Nara.
A few people heard her, but they did not think much about it as the lecturer got up from his seat and began writing on the whiteboard at the front.
Nara sat back down, and just like that, the second lecture began.
'Power divisions among the Otherkind.' This was what the lecturer wrote on the board.
"Can someone remind us of the five Realms of Power?"
Most students raised their hands since everyone on the continent knew what the answer to this question was. Amelia, of course, did not raise her hand since she did not know the answer, and Hildr felt that she was far above this.
The Battle Master chose some random guy to answer the question.
"There are five realms of power, and they are: Mortal, Transcendent, Heroic, Epic, and Legendary," he said. This was something that everyone on the continent knew.
"That is correct. Each of us is born already belonging to one of these realms. There is nothing that can allow one to change their realm of power, just as there is nothing that can change the past. The realm one is born in determines the amount of Sol they are able to take into their body and even the amount of worldly Sol they can control to do their bidding. For our first lecture, we will use a Realm Orb to determine the realm into which each of us belongs."
The lecturer brought out an orb that was the size of a human head and threw it into the air. The students gasped, but when the orb was falling back down, it began slowing down as though it was not allowed to get in contact with the earth. The laws of this world would not allow it.
The orb stopped exactly six feet from the ground.
"You can come up one by one and show us what you are capable of," said the lecturer.
The students looked at each other with unease. This was meant to be their greatest secret, and no one was willing to share it with a bunch of strangers.
Since no one came forward, the lecturer got the attendance sheet from one of the lockers by the side. This was the attendance sheet that had been written by the previous lecturer.
The man just began reading off one name after the other. He read off five names to begin with and then waited.
These five students had no other option but to move forward. The first student strained to reach the orb, making all the students laugh, forgetting that they would also have to do this.
The student finally reached the orb after tiptoeing. He placed his hand on the thing and waited for about ten seconds before there was a change in the black orb. It glowed with a yellow light that was akin to the light of a new sun. This light filled the entire hall, forcing everyone to look away. The young man removed his hand after a second.
"You belong to the third realm, the Heroic realm," said the lecturer.
When the people in the hall heard this, they were all shaken. Gasps filled the hall as everyone looked at the young man who was smiling with glee.