Grades of acceptance

To say Aether was disappointed would be an understatement. While he wasn't completely convinced that he would be accepted into the academy, he still held quite a bit of hope.

Yes, he understood that with a crippled body and nonexistent energy cultivation talent not being accepted is only logical. After all, he would forever be weaker than his peers and all those in the same cultivation realm.

Still, he had shown so much talent and potential with his soul and blood, more than he wanted to show, all in the hopes to reach some sort of balance and still be accepted. Unfortunately, it seemed like it wasn't enough.

After thinking for a couple seconds and feeling a bit down, Aether shook his head and looked at the list again. At the very top, to probably no one's surprise, was Antaura.

There were three grades next to the right of her name. Aether quickly understood that the first two grades resembled the theoretical and practical tests respectively, while the last one resembled the end grade. This one was probably also the most important of the three.

The first grade showed an S, which was understandable. She freed herself only a couple seconds after Aether did, after all.

The second grade showed an A for her cultivation talent tests. If Aether had to give grades, he would have given her an S here as well. But because the teacher was wrong with her body cultivation talent, and Antaura herself butchered her battle prowess test, this was the score she received.

Not that it really mattered, she was still the one on top of the list, even with these wrong scores, with a total grade of A plus.

Aether started to go down the list. While doing so, he saw Otrava's name on the seconds place. She was, surprisingly, also rather talented. She got a triple grade of A, causing quite a few male examinees to look at her with even more desire then before.

Around halfway through the list, Aether discovered something interesting. None of the three grades was ever below C, causing him to frown a bit. Quickly looking at all the scores, he realized why this was the case. Just as he was forming this thought…

"Sir deputy headmaster, my talent tests where all around B plus, my total grade should have been C plus if I calculate correctly. There are even people with a total grade of C who are on the list. How come I am not on the list?"

Aether immediately realized that the examinee didn't say anything about the first test.

This examinee, however, was clearly not the only one who wanted to know this, as a few more began to voice their dissatisfaction immediately after.

"How can the academy act like this, you are clearly playing favorites!"

"You should be ashamed!"

"Wait till I tell my father about this!" One of the fools even shouted.

Instead of answering those questions, the deputy headmaster just released a small portion of his pressure, causing the clamoring crowd to instantly fall silent. Those who were shouting paled instantly, and some even had to cough out blood.

'That's a bit heavy handed, but still understandable.' Aether thought to himself.

Unlike those shouting idiots, he had used this time to figure out why this was the case. Since he himself, like some others, had a total grade of B or even higher.

"The passing of the examinations is decided as follows."

"The total score has to be C grade or higher, with both the first and second test scoring no lower than C grade."

Some people's faces shone with understanding, while most frowned. How was this scoring even fair? Since their total score reached the necessary mark, shouldn't they be allowed to attend the academy? What did it matter that one of their scores was significantly higher than the other if the end result is the same?

"I know this sounds unfair to some of you, possibly even to most."

"However, in order to succeed in cultivation, you need both knowledge and talent."

"If you don't have the knowledge or understanding to make use of your talent, then your talent means nothing."

"Similarly, if you don't have the talent, then even all the knowledge and understanding in existence won't be of use."

"That is simply the harsh reality of this world."

Most examinees understood now, but Aether was frowning in displeasure.

What crap was this deputy headmaster spouting?

Aether himself had enough knowledge to fix his crippled body already, he only needed to figure out some small parts and could begin. Even his crippled Energy Centers and Veins would be able to be healed when he researched a little bit more about his specific circumstances. And all the knowledge Aether needed to do that only consisted of the first three realms, or the mortal foundation realms.

He knew this because Old Herb had confirmed this, and even helped him with the way his body could be healed. Granted, he had been pretty uncertain about the Energy Centers and Veins, but also didn't deny that it should be plausible.

But this speech had made Aether realize something else.

'This is some backwater place, and everyone here are frogs in a well.'

This was something uttered by Old Herb from time to time, and now Aether understood what he had meant.

Even the deputy headmaster didn't seem to know all that much. This disappointed Aether quite a bit if he was being honest with himself. He had expected this Royal Academy for Cultivation to be better than this. Or at least more knowledgeable.

"There is one special case this year, however."

The deputy headmaster suddenly and unexpectedly continued, and it seemed to be with a bit of hidden disdain in his voice.

"The headmistress decided to make an exception this year and accept a student who failed the practical tests because of the impressive answers he gave during the first test."

"So, examinee Aether, congratulations on being accepted to the Royal Academy for Cultivation." The deputy headmaster said with a dark glint in his eyes before continuing, "I wish you a lot of luck."

All Aether could do was sigh and lament his fate, since he already knew he was going to be hated and looked down upon by the students and teachers alike.

He then looked at Antaura to the side and saw her looking at him with a beaming smile.

'At least there is one person who will treat me like a human being.' Aether smiled inside.

...…

The examinees who failed were forced to leave the academy grounds, while the others had to follow a teacher to the dormitories.

Since male's weren't allowed in the girls dormitory and vice versa, the girls were led by a female teacher and the boys by a male teacher.

While Aether was following the green robed male teacher, he heard him explain a little bit about the rules and regulations.

"All of you will have a room in the building for the first years, the upperclassman are not allowed to come inside this building."

"You will find a couple of items on your beds when you enter your room."

"The first item is a book with all the academy rules, memorize it as soon as possible. Breaking the rules can bring you quite some trouble, so be warned."

"The second item is a piece of paper with your class and schedule for the foreseeable future. If there are any changes, you'll be updated right away."

"The last item will be a badge you have to wear at all times. Those badges are linked with the school array and function as identification. You will need to pay quite a hefty fine and need to replace it when you lose or brake it, so take care of your badge."

"There will be a closet in your rooms with a couple academy robes. Since you are first years, your robes will be red. Those in the second year wear orange robes and third years wear yellow robes. Green ones, the same ones I am wearing, are the teachers robes."

"There is a curfew from eleven in the evening to six in the morning. Classes generally start at eight and end at five."

To mortals it may seem too difficult to follow lessons like this, but since this was a cultivation academy, they would soon cease to be ordinary mortals. Someone who walks the road of cultivation, even when the person has taken just a single step, is far more durable than a mortal.

Not only would they need far less sleep, their minds would also become more powerful, their bodies stronger and their will more tenacious.

Even mortals with very high academic achievements would need to bow in front of the knowledge and mind of a cultivator who only started just recently. There was just no way to compare them.

Of course, right now these newly accepted students of the academy hadn't achieved all that much just yet. The first few days were going to be rather hard on them, but the sooner they got past them, the better it would be.

They soon reached a bright red building, next to an orange one and a yellow one to the right of the orange one. Aether immediately realized that the red one would be the dormitory he would sleep in, and from the looks around him, he wasn't the only one.

Except for the color, the building actually looked quite ordinary. There were no special accents anywhere on the building, no engravings, only a cube like building in red.

Aether looked at it with a frown and thought, 'What an ugly building. Even the wooden house my family and I lived in back in the village was better than this stone abomination.'

But then Aether looked at the other newly accepted students and understood why this was the case.

'Almost all of them are from rich or influential families, so this is the academy's way to teach them some humility.'

He didn't think this was a bad way to do it, he had just hoped that after the suffering he had lived through, and the years he had spent studying in Old Herbs apothecary, he could finally live a little bit more luxurious.

"All of you, go choose your rooms. It doesn't matter who takes which room, all of them are identical. Familiarize yourselves with the rules and go to sleep. I'll come get all of you tomorrow morning."

Aether quickly found himself a room on the third floor, which was also the last floor, at the end of the corridor and entered the open door.

He saw a desk with a chair, the closet the teacher had talked about, a little carpet to meditate and the one person bed with the three items on it, just like the teacher said there would be.

'This room is also pretty basic. Sigh, I really want to live better.'

'Maybe I am a bit too focused on the materialistic side of things. I want to live more luxurious and have a girlfriend, but this is probably not the correct mindset to have in order to cultivate.'

'Old Herb also got annoyed whenever I said something similar. 'You should be more spiritual in order to cultivate'', Aether smiled a little inside at the fun memory.

But Aether then thought about Antaura and the small amount of desire he felt inside the entire time he was with her.

'Isn't following one's heart and living and doing whatever one wants the entire reason people cultivate and try to become more powerful? What purpose does power have when you are chained down?'

Slowly, a small and carefree smile formed on Aether's lips.

'No need to think too much about it right now, first I'll read the rulebook and look at the schedule for tomorrow, then I'll just go to sleep. I am a little bit tired right now, if I am being honest.'

So Aether did exactly that.

After reading the entire rule book, he switched to the schedule and let out a heavy sigh.

"Oh well, who cares. I'll just see where this leads then."

Aether threw himself on the bed after saying this, and almost immediately fell asleep.

It seems he was a little bit more tired than he himself believed to be.