At the end, Leo and Mirage had registered themselves as Advent with Bastard and Celestial Paths respectively. Since Leo’s Path was a new one, his curriculum would be different from the rest in the school, which would obviously be a mix of Tenebris and Celestial curriculum.

Uniqueness comes with responsibility and hard work after all.

After that, they went to their respective classes. Each class was divided by the ranks, with Mirage and Leo in Capricorn Class. Still, given the amount of students in each class, they were separated into letters from A to E.

Leo was in Capricorn D while Mirage was in Capricorn A, so they wouldn’t be seeing each other until recess.

The academy classrooms were situated within the eastern sector of the main fortress, a massive interconnected structure built in layered levels that overlooked different parts of the campus. The higher-ranked classes were positioned closer to the upper floors and inner towers, while the lower-ranked students remained in the outer sections of the building. Long metallic bridges connected the different departments together, allowing students to move between lecture halls, training arenas, libraries, and practical chambers without ever leaving the structure itself.

Despite being called classrooms, the halls looked more like military briefing chambers than places of learning. Wide reinforced doors stood at every entrance, each marked with glowing inscriptions indicating rank and class designation. Large glass panels lined portions of the corridors, revealing distant views of training grounds below where students could already be seen sparring, releasing aura, and testing strange abilities under instructor supervision.

On top of that, the whole building looked futuristic and was also well fortified. Well, Leo had lost all his trust in fortifications after what occurred at the Awakening City, but he was willing to give the academy a chance to prove itself worthy.

Since he also knew the attack at the Awakening City was planned by a supposed insider, he wasn’t expecting the same thing to occur here.

Leo’s first class was Aura Theory.

According to the schedule he had received during registration, it was one of the few compulsory subjects shared across every Path and Rank within the academy. Whether one followed Celestial, Tenebris, or any other Path, understanding the fundamentals of aura manipulation was considered mandatory.

The classroom itself was located near the middle section of the eastern structure. After walking through several corridors and crossing one of the metallic bridges suspended between buildings, Leo finally arrived in front of a massive reinforced door marked:

[CAPRICORN - D]

Unlike the noisy hallways outside, the area around the classroom was strangely calm. Students quietly entered in groups while others leaned against the walls discussing Volumes, rankings, and rumors about instructors. Some glanced at Leo before immediately whispering to one another, clearly recognizing him already.

Leo ignored them and pushed the door open.

The classroom was divided into three rows and seven columns. He took a seat on the second row, not wanting to stay at the front nor go to the back.

On everyone’s table was a book with the academy’s name on it and a feather pen beside it. After finally settling in, Leo glanced through the window and wondered how things were at the Atlantis fortress.

Soon a shadow fell over him.

He looked up and saw a fellow student grinning at him mischievously. The student had rough red bangs, and scars were visible across his body, with one particularly striking scar running over his left eye.

Two other young boys followed behind him — one chubby with a bob cut, while the other had pink hair and eyes, making him exquisitely handsome. Unlike the scarred student, he looked completely bored, as if he couldn’t care less about what was happening.

For some reason, Leo wanted to believe the pink-haired student was the one leading the other two, whom he was already sensing to be idiots about to do something stupid.

Of course.

Leo groaned inwardly, not interested in whatever drama they were about to start. He forced a smile, although he was already prepared to summon the [Yielding Spine] and end things before they escalated.

"Uhm... I think you mistakenly obstructed my view. Can you please move?"

The scarred student grinned wider.

"Oh, did I obstruct your view? I’m sorry."

He had a huge build, making him much bigger and physically stronger than Leo. Without warning, he grabbed Leo by the neck and lifted him slightly above the ground.

"Can you see well now?" he asked, his grin never leaving his face as his grip tightened.

The classroom fell silent almost instantly.

Some students looked away, pretending not to notice what was happening, while others watched openly with interest. A few even leaned back in their seats as if expecting entertainment before the first lesson had even begun.

Leo’s expression remained calm despite the hand around his neck.

In truth, he was more annoyed than angry.

’First day.’

"Can you drop me down?"

The others besides the pink-haired boy laughed.

"I should drop you down? Can’t you use your Bastard ability or something? Or maybe call your witch mother to come help you? Oh, wait. I heard you’re adopted so you’re a Bastard everywhere you go? Who are you going to call to help you, huh?"

Leo frowned. "What are you even talking about? Why would I call someone to help me? Just drop me down or else..."

"Or else what?"

Aura slowly coursed beneath Leo’s skin. Thin streams of energy moved through his arms and shoulders as the familiar sensation stirred faintly within him.

The scarred student seemed to notice it too.

"Oh?" his grin widened. "You actually want to fight back?"

The chubby student behind him laughed nervously.

"Easy, Brak. Don’t accidentally kill the prince before class starts."

The pink-haired boy remained where he was, his bored eyes lazily observing the situation without the slightest intention of interfering.

Leo glanced at him briefly.

’Yep. Definitely the leader.’

Unfortunately, the leader seemed completely uninterested in leadership.

"I asked for directions earlier," Leo suddenly said while still being held. "Nobody helped me."

The scarred student’s grin faltered slightly, clearly not expecting that response.

"So?"

"So I’m already irritated." Leo sighed. "And now you’re touching my neck. That’s making things worse."

Before Brak could reply, Leo used the advantage of having a smaller body.

Instead of struggling directly against the larger student’s grip, he suddenly swung his body upward and drove his knee straight into Brak’s chin.

Brak’s head snapped backward.

Before the bigger student could even react properly, Leo twisted out of his loosened grip and landed lightly on the ground.

Aura surged through his legs as he stepped forward and drove a punch directly into Brak’s stomach.

The larger boy choked violently. A second hit slammed into his ribs. A third struck his throat just hard enough to force him to stumble backward while gasping for air. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The entire exchange barely lasted ten seconds.

Brak crashed into a desk and collapsed onto one knee, coughing uncontrollably while clutching his stomach.

Silence filled the classroom.

Leo calmly adjusted his collar.

"I warned you already," he sighed. "I really don’t want problems today."

Nobody spoke.

Most of the students were still trying to process how someone much smaller had just overwhelmed Brak so casually. Well, Leo was a Royal so it was expected, but so was Brak.

Brak was just a different kind of Royal.

Brak himself looked stunned.

"You little—"

A terrifying pressure suddenly descended over the classroom.

Everyone froze. Even Leo instinctively looked toward the entrance.

A tall woman stood by the doorway wearing a dark academy coat lined with silver patterns. Sharp glasses rested on her face while cold golden eyes swept across the room with enough force to silence every student instantly. The aura around her was overwhelming.

Her gaze stopped on the damaged desks. Then on Leo and Brak.

"...Interesting," she said calmly.

Nobody dared to speak.

She walked into the classroom slowly, the sound of her boots echoing against the silent floor.

"Class hasn’t started for even five minutes," she continued, placing a stack of books on the desk at the front. "And yet someone already started a brawl."

Her emotionless gaze swept across the class.

"You two."

She adjusted her glasses slightly.

"Explain."