Mom

"So...humans can surpass the traditional limits of physics?" Alex asked when he understood what Dean was telling him.

Dean nodded in seriousness as he raised his palm to show a small orange flame emerge our of thin air. "There are various names for this process. Sublimation. Cultivation. Ascension. Immortalization. They are basically different ways of saying the same thing. Using some special supernatural methods, people in the sky forge their bodies and surpass the traditional limits of mortality."

"And every student here is already an...immortal?" Alex asked in shock. Dean shook his head.

"The immortal here is not in the sense of immortality in the fantasy sense of earth. It's a way to say that the human has shed their mortal body. Think of it like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. It has become a different creature entirely, with a different biology. But it isn't living forever.

As for the students, no. I believe most students here should not have transcended yet. You have to prepare your body first before transcendence. Most people are still in the body preparation stage." Dean patiently explained.

"What about magic?" Alex asked. He realized that this so called magic was a completely different system from what Dean was suggesting.

"Those are manipulations of the energy that can be performed by transcendents. It could also be tools that have been imbued by these transcendents to act like catalysts to perform a specific function, like these scrolls." Dean explained. "They are just a specific specialization like other similar fields. There's material Alchemy, Hex, Sealing, Forging among others. One thing is for certain though, you can't grow stronger without fighting for it."

"I don't want to fight though. I don't see the point in getting more powerful for no reason either. Doesn't it sound like too much effort?" Alex asked in confusion. All this talk of growing more powerful didn't make any sense to him. What was the point?

"Wait, why did you join Dantalian then?" Dean asked in confusion.

"My parents said it would be a fun filled experience. Why would I fight and stuff? I'm not someone who uses their fists, haha." Alex replied while scratching his head.

"Are you serious man? This is a world of kill or be killed! Do you know the hardships we go through just to receive an invitation to an academy like Dantalian?" Dean's eyes flashed with signs of grief and rage that Alex didn't miss.

He wondered if his parents had swindled him into signing up for something he had no interest in. Seeing Dean's passion, he felt both guilty at his own lackadaiscal attitude and fear. Was violence really so integral to progress in this place? He still didn't understand what the point of getting stronger was.

Thanking Dean for his help, Alex returned to his own room pondering about what he learnt today. He grabbed the globe like thing he found out was a telephone and tried contacting his parents based on a previously cryptic detail in their letter he hadn't understood.

A screen appeared in the air, suspended by the globe and a beautiful lade with gorgeous hair and deep eyes appeared within the screen with joy plastered on her face.

"Son! Did you join Dantalian?" Alex's mom, Angela, asked with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mom. You two sure dumped a load of stuff on me." Alex grumbled childishly as he explained what he heard from Dean as well as his frustrations.

"That kid must have had it hard." Angela said with a rare seriousness in her eyes. "But you don't need to worry about such matters. We just want you to live a happy and peaceful life. If you want to avoid that kind of violent competition, we will support you. Just take the opportunity to experience the life of the Sky. If you don't like it, you can always return to Earth." Angela's loving eyes looked at Alex as if she were looking at a precious gem.

"I'm not interested in this violent business anyway, mom. I don't understand why violence is so entrenched here. Aren't there rules to stop this kind of antisocial behavior?"

"Rules can only work when everyone is on an even playing field. On earth, most humans have the same level of power. Rules and social pressure can bind them. That is much more difficult in a world where a single immortal can overpower entire armies. Power is authority, and power needs resources. Resources are limited. I'm sure you can extrapolate from there." Angela replied with a sigh.

Alex was stunned by what his mother said. At the same time he remembered how Dean had described the political and violent machinations in his own household all for an admission letter.

"You and Dad aren't from Earth, are you?" Alex asked with suspicion.

"Hm, you will learn in due time. Don't worry about such things for now. Enjoy your time at Dantalian. It is a good school. The headmistress is a good friend of mine. I've told her to look after you. Mom has to go now. Buhbye!"

Alex looked at the dissipating visage of his mom, his eyes glinting at the tantalizing hints in his mom's words. He decided not to ponder about them for now.

The next day, Alex was sitting in the introductory class for mortals, along with Dean. The two were the only students and along with the two was the memelord Professor Morene.

"Yo, students. I hope you are doing good? I'm sorry for being late. I spent the entire night watching this awesome anime." Professor Morene rattled cheerfully.

"..." (Dean)

"..." (Alex)

"..." (Professor Morene)

After the end of the so called n00b classes, the two guys joined the rest of the new students for the common classes they all had.

The class was about the process of body preparation for transcendence. An old lady with a hunchback, who used a walking stick to balance herself from falling was croaking out details about the subject.