Preparations

After sending Olivia to Fliendar, I hurriedly revert the door as it was which I turned it into bed before. I was excited to tell the good news to my parents and dashed towards the kitchen area where dad and mom were having lunch.

"Mom, Dad I have got something to tell you"

"I finally figured out how to use my skill, look"

Then I made an arrow, my dad got so surprised to see that something came out of my hands and an object appeared out of nowhere.

"Woah, Peiji, that's a real technique, I think you have the chance to pass entrance exams now"

My dad's face was overflowing with happiness and smile which was all frowned before. My mom gave me a big hug.

"I am so proud of you, my dear son" she said

The exams were six days later but today was the last day to register for them and half of the day had already been passed. My mom started packing all the important things like clothes, toothbrush that we would need while being there. My father went looking for a cart available.

This made me kind of angry because we were getting late.

[Can't we just go and register for now. We can always come back for the stuff] was all I thinking

But that would cost more money and were already short on it so I remained silent.

After an hour of continuous hard work, we finally left for Alastar. As we were late, I was getting more and more hyper but my dad kept calming me down on the way, good thing that he tagged along with me.

When we reached there, it was already evening time, we started asking people for the directions to the Ult as we never went there before. But no one was even interested to talk to us, in their eyes we were just some countryside trash they weren't obligated to pay attention to. But Ult was a very popular place, so we eventually reached there.

As I gazed up at Ult's building, my eyes widened in awe. It was the largest monument I had ever seen, towering so high that my neck began to ache from straining to catch sight of its peak. But it wasn't just its size that left me breathless—the building itself was a masterpiece, beautifully integrated with the surrounding greenery, cascading waterfalls, and a variety of plants and features I couldn't even name. It was like something out of a dream, a perfect blend of nature and architecture.

The registration was at reception and only the candidate was allowed to go in there. There was a huge line in front of me that I couldn't even see what was going on at the desk. There were around 200 candidates already before me. Most of them were the people of Alastar, the last day for registration for people from another kingdom was not today, that means Olivia would have some leeway.

After waiting for more than three hours and constant disgusting glares of other guys, it was finally my turn. The receptionist was a girl around my age, with short brown hair and a slender figure. She seemed like a regular person, though there was an air of professionalism about her. She wore Ult's uniform—a red sweater paired with a black tie, a crisp white shirt, and a white skirt with subtle stripes running down it. Her appearance was simple yet neat, fitting the formal setting perfectly. Seems like she would be my senpai(senior) here at the Ult.

"Um, hello, my name is Itoshi Peiji, you are-"

she interrupted

"Yeah yeah, I am your senpai, glad to meet you, see you around the campus. I have already had enough of that talk. Would you just fill out the form, it's late and I am getting tired" 

woah, rude, well not the first person to talk like that.

The form only asked for my name, age and my skill, nothing else. So it's true that Ult only cares about talent not the bloodline or background of a person.

[What should I fill at the skill section] I was thinking

Originally my skill is the phoenix granted to me at ceremony but fabrication would count as an actual skill.

"Hurry up, what's taking you so much time, it's only 3 basic questions, don't tell me you don't even know how to read and write."

"No, I know, just a second."

In future, I might be able to get more skills through the skill gacha. So, I can't just fill Fabrication here. That "gacha" thing should count as my real skill, so let's just go with it. They are not even asking for some kind of description of the skill, so it won't be any problem. I came to the conclusion and filled "gacha" as my official skill. 

I hand over the form back to receptionist. She keep it with the other ones.

"You may go now"

Then I went outside where my dad was waiting for me.

"Oh, Peiji, you sure took your time, they weren't letting us in, we were really starting to worry it is already so dark let's go home" 

"Did everything went alright or was there any problem" my dad asked

"No, I successfully registered" I answered

Then, we went in the town area again and started searching for an inn that we could afford. After searching for quite a while now, we found a cheap inn which was provided by the government so that the people from countryside could afford.

Dad booked a room for five days and six nights. It was a small room with one single-bed and an attached washroom. 

On the next morning, 

"Peiji, it's time for me to go, your mom must've been waiting. I will come back on the exam day with your mom. Take good care of your health and do not miss out on your training"

"Yes, dad"

Then he gave me some spare money and left for the village. 

The reason I was living here in Alastar was to get familiar with the place and also in the case if exams get preponed, I would be present here. Most of the students follow this precaution, I think even kaya and rito also moved here for the same reason.

 Come to think of it, I never got in touch with them after the ceremony, everything just happened so fast. In fact they might be staying at the same inn, let's look for them.

At the inn's counter, an old lady in the casual outfit was sitting on her chair

"Excuse me, mam, can you tell me the room numbers of my two friends kaya and rito"

"Of course, dear, let me check"

She started searching on her notepad lying on the front desk.

"We have the person Rito staying in room 303 on the third floor but we don't have anyone named kaya here"

"Yes, thank you"

I don't understand, kaya never came out of the church back then, and now she is not here, she wasn't at her home back at village. Just what's going on with her, maybe rito knows something, let's go meet him.

knock, knock

I knocked on the door with 303 number. The door creaked open, revealing a boy with messy brown hair and half-closed eyes, still heavy with sleep. It was Rito, looking every bit the picture of morning grogginess.

"Who is it at this time, huh, you-"

"Rito, how have you been doing, why did you abandoned me back then at church, what's going on with you"

"Huh, why would someone as great as me would wait for a poor bastard like you"

I stunned, I couldn't believe what I heard just now, why he is talking like that.

"Rito, what are you saying, you are also from the same place, we grew up together, why are you-"

"Shut up, you dimwit, don't treat me as an equal, I am so strong that even cannons would be crushed upon touching me, I am someone who improved my bloodline and left that trashy village for good, a one in a million talent. I will climb through the ladders of power and become a part of royalty, I don't have anything to do with you weak now I belong to this high society, now get out of my face"

and he pushed me after all that blabbering

"Wait, fine we will talk about this later, can you at least tell me about where kaya is"

"Huh, why would I care about that bitch now, get lost"

he shut the door after shouting at me

I was totally taken aback by the conversation that just happened. I never expected that rito who was my best friend like a brother to me said all those things. I guess I should just explore the town for now. I will meet both of them at the academy anyway, we will see what happens.