章 16: Classification

"What happened?"Concern was evident in Ivory's eyes. No matter how many pranks he pulled on her, at the end of the day, he was her father. (She completely forgot the pranks she pulled on him)

"Show me!" She got up and yanked at Dagger's shirt. The shirt was pulled over without any resistance, revealing the thick white bandages covering his front and back both.

Each and every attack from Brom was not to deal external injuries on the skin and muscles but the internal organs. Though he would not spare the external organs in the process. It would take at least three days to heal even after using the best treatment methods available.

At this time, he looked like someone who was midway through the process of being mummified before his death.

"These are nothing! They'll heal in about a day or two, really!" Dagger tried to explain. "The mission I was on for a decade is finally over, hoo! I had to fight my target but after a few rounds, he realized he couldn't hold on against me any longer so he escaped!"

Blake snickered.

"You were sent out for Dad because you were the closest to him?" He asked.

"I don't think it was decided because of that...", Dagger crossed his arms, eager to divert from the embarrassing stuff. "The person in charge for the job gathered us school heads and held a rock-paper-scissors tournament. He was one of our superiors so we had to oblige. The winner was going to get a free pass to any reachable location in the world, restricted or not. I have never lost a rock-paper-scissors match so even if I didn't want to, so I won big time in the tournament. When that fox was giving me the prize, he said that I should use it as much as possible so out of convenience, he handed me the task of finding that bird poop of a father of yours to 'help me out'", Dagger grunted.

"Father, I also want to learn how to make fire out of my hands!" Said Ivory suddenly when she remembered Blake creating a flame out from his fingers.

"You can't use flames now. Your innate elements are wood and water. Until you reach the fourth realm, you can't use any other elements. You'll be taking the Academy's entrance examinations along with Blake which is... Let me see... Ah! Five days from now! You two will get to know more about cultivation over there"

...

Five days quickly passed. Blake spent his days playing online with Sproule while Ivory followed behind them. She had learned quite a bit from watching these two experts and asking questions here and there. Enough to let her complete the eleventh level of the solo Quest mode all by herself. Dagger was kept busy with his job so he rarely came back home after sunset.

The Academy, which's full name was so long that nobody bothered to remember it, was the only Academy which was directly under The Adventure Guild. The Adventure Guild was an organization which had used its resources to rise up over all other organizations and eventually swallowed them.

There were several similar schools and academies but all were lacking compared to the Academy which was directly supported by the Adventure Guild.

Dagger dropped the both of them at the Academy's doors. It was located in a very desolated area. On the west were mountains, the north was woods, a distance away in the east was a massive sea while the south was filled with deserts. The place was in an unknown corner of Earth which took a whole hour to reach even when it was Dagger who was taking them. With his power, it should not have taken this long even if he had to go to the other side of the globe.

Blake had seen several restrictions along the way.

The towering Gates had a massive field in front of them. The walls surrounding the Academy were too tall but the canopies of the taller buildings were still visible.

The field was packed with thick crowds which were getting thicker and thicker by the second. The crowd was mainly filled with youths ranging from 15 to 25 years of age with a few younger ones.

Blake did not need to search for long when he found Sproule sleeping soundly on a nearby tree's branch. Under the tree was another kid, leaning by the trunk with his arms crossed in front of his abdomen. He appeared to be as old as Sproule.

The duo did not bother him and neither did he.

The Gates soon started to open up.

Blake pushed Sproule off from the tree to wake him up.

An old man and a middle aged woman could be seen exiting from what was behind those huge bars of metal. Seeing them, the noisy crowd abruptly became silent.

"Welcome to the Academy!" The middle aged woman spoke. She did not need to use any amplifier or mic. She spoke normally but to each and every youth present, it sounded like she was speaking while standing right in front of them.

"Those who are here to take the entry tests, stay. The guardians or the people tagging along, you can wait over there", she gestured to her left where a tent suddenly sprang out from nowhere. The few older ones , presumably parents, parted with the crowd and headed towards the tent.

"Those who have started cultivation, to the right, the rest gather in the left", she further commanded.

The crowd once again divided into two. The left one was evidently larger.

Sproule was from the Segenam family which turned out to be an influential family in the cultivator world, so he had started cultivation the moment he brought up the topic in front of his mother.

The trio followed the crowd to the right.

After further further classifications, they were divided into many smaller groups.

From those who had not started cultivation yet, those who were over twenty were immediately disqualified.

Those who had started cultivation;

Those over twenty five but below the second realm were disqualified on spot.

Those who were over twenty and below the fourth stage of the first realm were also disqualified.

Then, they were further divided into fifteen groups according to age starting from ten and ending at twenty-five plus. The groups were further divided into teams of seven with each of the individuals originating from different groups.

The Gates opened once more and several professors emerged from the Academy and assembled before the group. One stood before each group.

In front of Blake's group stood a sharp-looking man who appeared to be not above thirty.

"Follow me!" He called to the seven ten-year-old cultivators, the only team which's individuals were from the same group and the only group which could be considered a whole team. Something like Australia being a continent and country at the same time.