Chapter 101 - The Lyceum

Close to the central part of Eonia, some kilometers away from the Royal palace there was a humongous space occupied by a forest and a mountain. Auspicious birds flew above it everyday and there was a great amount of flowers that bordered a road that led deep inside the forest. There was a grand building inside not much greater than the Royal Military School, however it was not so austere like the Military School.

Many students could be seen coming and going, and they were dressed in a gorgeous green, blue and white colored uniform. Both men and women had tailored vests and they had different insignia sewn into them.

This was the Lyceum. It had been founded several hundred years after the creation of the Kingdom of Ansem, and ever since, many Legends, Ministers, Officers and even Kings had studied in their grounds. It's not an exaggeration to say that much of the Kingdom's current glory was due to the teachings and philosophy of the Lyceum.

It was only recently that the Kingdom decided to fully support the Royal Military School as a way to foster their own experts, especially those that are associated with the Military. This was requested some years ago by Dragon General Falma, who is one of the main supporters of the Royal Military School.

Still, the Lyceum is considered a hallowed ground for many in the Kingdom, and most nobles and talented young men that do not wish to enter the military go there.

The Lyceum has a 5 year curriculum, and its students usually enter when they are 12 to 13 years old, and they need to be a Grandmaster level expert as a minimum, which is already quite hard to achieve for most young men in the kingdom. They are further divided according to their entry tests into three classes: Outer Class, Inner Class and Core Class. The Outer Class is divided into six groups of students, and they go all the way from first to fifth year. Each group is composed of ten students only. The Inner Class is divided into four groups of ten students as well and they are also divided by years. The Core Class only has one single group for all years, and they can go from one to ten students, top.

The number of students for the school was usually no more than 500, since sometimes the classes were not completely filled. Theoretically, there could be a total of up to 510 students. This could be considered to be quite small, especially since in Eonia alone there were millions of inhabitants, and in the whole Kingdom, there were billions. This went to prove just how much of an Elite this school was, and the fierce competitiveness to both enter and remain inside the school.

In order to graduate, after finishing the fifth year, a student needs to have reached several thresholds in order to be able to graduate from the Lyceum. For instance, for a person in the Martial Path, they need to reach the minimum of a Qi General by the time they leave the school. A 17 to 18 year old Qi General can be considered a bonafide genius in any clan or sect. Even people from other territories come and try to become a member of the Lyceum.

The graduates are hot commodities in the Kingdom, and even in other territories. The students are all well versed in a grand amount of knowledge, many of them are quite skilled artisans, able to become great alchemists, apothecaries or blacksmiths. Some of them are more centered on the martial path, and they are usually quite strong experts, with strong foundations, that eventually allow them to soar when they go out into the real world. And this is only concerning those in the Outer Class. The Inner and Core Classes are worlds apart, with many of the Core Class individuals reaching the heights of Emperors, Saints, and even Legends. Therefore there is a great competition inside the school to become a member of the Core Class, since as you become an Inner and Core Class student, the amount of resources and effort that go towards said students are multiplied by ten and even hundreds of times.

All in all, the Lyceum is considered one of the greatest Academic Institutions in the entire world.

Currently many of the students from different years and even teachers were gathered around each other and discussing the latest rumours in the Kingdom. The young brother of the new Dragon General, a twelve year old boy named Nerun, was to begin attending classes in the Lyceum. Nerun had not gone through any of the tests most of them had to go through, so many of them found it quite excessive and unfair. And to make matters worse, Nerun was supposed to enter the Inner Class from the very beginning.

This request was approved by his Majesty and the School Direction themselves, so although many of the students had actually made a protest about this, there was nothing that could be done about it.

"Have you heard about that boy? Even though the rumour has started to wane, I've heard it from a friend of mine that he first tried to go towards the Royal Military School, however his results were so appaling, that even when they wanted to give face to the New Dragon General, they could not pass him. So the Dragon General threw a tantrum and almost killed the Vice-Dean. In the end having no other choice he opted to use the figure of the invitee from the Military that has been rarely used throughout the years to let his brother enter the Lyceum. I can't believe that such trash is allowed inside this School. We had to fight bitterly in order to enter, and he can come in just like that. I'm quite sure that any of us in the Outer Class is much better than that loser."

The one talking was a boy in the Outer Class in the first year. He was from a noble family from the County of Phoenicia in the northern part of the Kingdom, close to the Barbarian Border.

"What are you going to do about it Albert? The world has never been fair, who blamed us for not being the younger brother of a Dragon General, especially one that is willing to do whatever it takes, even nepotism in order to have his little brother enter the top Academies in the Kingdom. The surprising thing is that his Majesty is actually approving of these things. I guess I thought better about Ansem, but corruption can never be avoided. Who would have thought that the so-called hero Elijah was nothing more than this."

Conversations like this had spreaded in the Academy and were commonly seen everywhere before the beginning of the school. There was a young lady dressed in the School uniform, who looked ravishing, and that attracted everyone's eyes. She was seated in a classroom looking outside the window with an absentminded look. Her golden hair only served to frame a face that could very well topple a kingdom. This was Julieth Dai Corena, and her absentmindedness only made her look even more astonishing. Her uniform had a silver badge on her chest, proof that she was actually a member of the Inner Class. She was already in her third year in the Academy, and there was even a real possibility that she could be promoted to the Core Class in her fourth year.

Some boys were looking at Julieth with an infatuated look, however, while they were her classmates, few actually had the courage to go and talk to her. One of those was a good looking red-haired young man, Hernani Dai Baruna, member of House Baruna, and the younger brother of Seneschal Elizabeth, the Iron Maiden. He approached her and started talking to her.

"Hey there Julieth. What's on your mind? You look a bit pensive, is there something worrying you?" Hernani was using what he thought was his best smile. He was actually sought after by many of his fellow classmates and some underclassmen as well, however he was hopelessly in love with Julieth.

Julieth seemed to wake up and she turned to look at Hernani and smiled, however, that familiar and cringe-inducing yell sounded to her ear and almost made her faint.

"UGLY GIRL! SO YOU ARE HERE AS WELL."

Julieth wanted to burrow her head in the ground. She wanted to ignore the yell and make it sound as if whoever had screamed was a complete stranger and had nothing to do with her, but then she thought that the boy would probably make it worse.

After the yell, most people in the Academy who heard it turned to look towards whoever had yelled. It was a nice-looking teen, with a tender face, that could be considered good looking, though a bit on the feminine side. He looked quite tender, and most people would develop good feelings for him, however when the other students saw him, several of them showed clear hostility. Nerun was dressed shoddily, he wasn't even wearing the academy's uniform.

On the one hand, he had dared to yell at the School goddess, Julieth Dai Corena, and moreover called her "Ugly Girl". On the other side, they quickly noticed that the teen was accompanied by one of the School Supervisors, the man in charge of the Inner Class, Samuel Dai Manota, so they understood that this boy was precisely the object of the gossip they had been talking about as of late. Nerun No Rademia, the brother of Elijah No Rademia, the recently named Dragon General.

Nerun, however, paid no mind to how the people were looking at him, and started waving his hand towards Julieth. She could only helplessly nod back to him, and then proceeded to ignore him altogether. The boy next to her, Hernani kept looking at Nerun in a strange way. After all, he could tell that the relationship between him and Julieth was as simple as being only acquaintances, since Julieth was a very gracious yet firm girl, who was not afraid of standing up for herself, however, she seemed reluctant to fight Nerun, which gave him a sort of unpleasant feeling deep inside. Theoretically, he should be the one accompanying Nerun and showing him around, after all, Elijah was deeply related to the Baruna Household, however, he was reluctant to associate himself with Nerun, especially with the latest rumours. In the end, he was also a noble, and even though his father and sister liked Elijah a lot, he was not particularly keen to become friends or associated with him.

"Sorry for yelling like that, I saw a friend and could not help myself." said Nerun to the man standing next to him, while touching his head with his hand in an apologetic manner. The man seemed to pay no heed to what Nerun had done and simply kept walking. Nerun was then led by Samuel towards the same building that Julieth was originally in and started talking to Nerun.

"This is the Inner Class Court, where all the members of the inner class are located. Normally there are no more than ten students per group, per year, and right now the three groups are full to the brim. However, the direction has decided to make an exception, and you will be the eleventh student. There is a test and a promotion exam every three months, where the worst students of the Inner Class will be demoted to the Outer Class, and the best students from the Outer Class will then be promoted to the Inner Class. The next test will be in one and a half months, so you have less time than your companions to prepare for it. If you do poorly, I'm afraid that you will also be demoted to the Outer Class. Also, if someone is consistently in the lowest score of the Outer Class for three consecutive exams, he will be expelled from the school. We do not foster mediocre people, only the great are worthy of being in the Lyceum."

The tone in Samuel's words was quite stern, and he was quite proud of the institution he was part of. He was not completely on board with the idea of Nerun entering the school, but the decision had already been made by the Headmaster and the Board, so he had no other choice but to comply. However, it was clear that according to the rumours he heard, this boy was not worthy of being in the academy, even less the Inner Class, however, he was also an impartial man, and he would not let his bias mistreat a student, and had decided to tell Nerun at least what to expect, so he could be prepared in the future for what was to come.

"Also, you might face some opposition in the class, and some animosity. However, I suppose that you are already aware of such facts. As for the general rules, you will be handed a Handbook with all the norms of the academy and everything you need to care for. Students are supposed to attend class every morning and learn about History and World Knowledge. There is also a general class for Warriors to explain the theory of meridians, techniques and their uses. One day a week for the first six months, the first year students receive classes of Alchemy, Pill Refinement and Blacksmithing. Afterwards, they need to decide what specialty they would like to further pursue. You might also opt out of these options, there are also classes for hygiene and medicine, for instance."

Nerun was paying attention fully to every word that Samuel said, since he would likely be attending this school for the next few years and he was actually eager to begin. There was a training court which was quite large, different testing grounds in the mountain and in the forest around the school, each class had a Teacher in charge, who actually were Qi Generals and higher, and most of them were former alumni of the school.

In the afternoon there were several extracurricular classes in the different jobs, however the most popular ones were the Warrior Class, and there was even an Adept Class, though the latter were clearly too few, since Adepts were a rare bunch in Eonia and Ansem as a whole.

And like this, Nerun was taken to the Inner Class, First Year, Group C.