At My Own Pace

"Greythorne? That kid is Damian Greythorne?"

"The Dean just called him by that name and you're still doubting it?"

"No way!"

"I finally get to meet a Greythorne!"

"I heard he was being trained by the champion in secret that's why he was away from the public eye for so long."

"Of course he is an Exceptional, it's only expected."

"This is my chance to get in good terms with the house of Greythorne."

Listening to the rising mumurs made Damian sigh.

'Well there goes my peace and quiet.'

This was exactly what he was trying to avoid, and looking at Ian who just stood there smiling like this was his plan all along.

"Greetings, Prince Ian," Damian bowed slightly.

He may be annoyed, but this man in front of him was still royalty. He had to be treated with respect.

"Oh please, while on school grounds, it's best to refer to me as the dean," Ian's smile widened. "It's been quite a while since I saw you, I thought you wouldn't remember me."

"If it was any other person, probably. But it's hard to forget, as a citizen, the prince of Elyandra," Damian responded.

When the Greythorne mansion still received visitors, Ian used to personally deliver gifts from the royal family to his. As a child, Damian had even engaged in a few conversations with the man.

For a prince to take on such a menial task as delivering gifts, it showed the amount of importance the Greythorne family had in Elyandra. They held a position that made other noble houses full of envy and fear of their power.

"I wanted to see to it that you were properly welcomed to the academy. I hope you've enjoyed your stay so far?" Ian asked.

"So far? Well, your ways are quite interesting to say the least, but it's to be expected," Damian replied, "However, I would've preferred your welcome to be more… private."

He glanced at the students who were keenly listening in on their conversation.

"I apologize," Ian bowed, an act that left the onlookers stunned. The prince of Elyandra was bowing to someone who wasn't even royalty!

"But of course, I have a gift for you, one that should make you see past this event," Ian added.

Damian raised a brow, an indifferent expression still on his face, "I appreciate your show of mutual respect, but as I am a student in your school, I would prefer you do not do more things that would place me on a spot. Such as offering a gift to apologize for approaching me."

Ian showed surprise at the boy's thought process. He was only twelve but spoke with such a calm demeanor and intelligence that could make one doubt his age.

Ian could only attribute it to his upbringing.

"I mean no harm, I assure you. This is more an offer than a gift," Ian explained and Damian nodded, urging him to continue.

"I would like you to accept me as your tutor."

Shock spread through the students littered in the hallway.

"Wait… did the dean just ask to be his tutor?" Someone asked but the other students were to stunned to respond.

The dean was a rank 6 warrior, a level of power too complex for any first year to understand or imagine.

He had never taken in a student as an apprentice but here he was, not just asking Damian to be his student, but asking that Damian accepted him to be his tutor!

This was just too much.

It would've been understandable if Damian had any feats that showed his potential, but a simple glance and anyone could tell that he didn't even have any aura flow.

Aura was the manifestation of soul energy. Even though one could hide their aura to the point that it could not be detected, Damian should be too young to have mastered such a high level skill so the only explanation was that he hadn't started training his soul!

The average strength of first year students was mid-level rank 1. Among Exceptionals, it was peak-level rank 1, with students being in entry level rank 2 not being entirely uncommon.

Damian shouldn't even be in the school, talk less of being an Exceptional and he knew this.

When he had gotten the admission, he was initially confused but he understood why when Jack explained the political reasons behind this move.

That was why when his father stopped him from going, he somewhat understood the reasoning behind it, but was still angry since this was an opportunity for him to finally leave the mansion.

"I take it you didn't hear me asking to not be put on a spot," Damian's voice was cold.

Ian was confused. He hadn't expected Damian to be elated by the offer considering all caliber of people he had around him, but he did at least expect him to think about it. Instead the boy seemed to be more concerned about things he had thought insignificant.

"I did not—"

"To not waste your time, I'll give you an answer now—it's no," Damian turned around and walked away.

He paid no attention to the bewildered crowd who couldn't believe he would refuse such an offer that any of them would do anything for.

Ian watched Damian's receding back and couldn't help but shake his head as he headed back to his office.

This may not have gone as expected, but he couldn't say he was surprised. This was the son of the world's strongest man after all, no one would be a better teacher to him than his father.

It was understandable why he would reject the offer.

At least he now had an idea of the boy's personality and could try to fulfill the mission bestowed upon him through some other method.

'Don't you worry, Damian, I'll be back.'

____

Damian entered his room and closed the door behind him, finally free from the hundreds of stares.

Victor still sat quietly and read his book, paying no heed to him as he had been doing all morning, while Harry was off somewhere else.

After yesterday's revelation of Victor's rank, Damian attributed the fact that they were both in the same room due to his father's influence.

It might seem like he was overthinking it, but he found it unlikely that his luck was so good that he was placed in the same room/team, with who was undeniably the strongest person among first years and he wasn't even an Exceptional!

However, after his interaction with Ian, he was beginning to question who was really at work here. His father or the royal family?

Truthfully, he didn't expect his father to do anything for him personally, but Darius had enough influence that would force people to do things independently just to gain his favor.

'The dilemma of a political tool,' Damian sighed at his predicament as he sat on his bed.

He wasn't going to think about any of that right now, besides, he had other things to attend to.

Damian glanced at the star on his wrist before closing his eyes, concentrating on it or more specifically, the almost insignificant weight imbalance he felt in it.

There was no difference for a few minutes, but soon Damian felt the weight turning malleable. It was an odd sensation, but he suddenly had an intuition to stretch it out and he did.

He felt his body filling up as he moved the malleable weight all around it, and when it reached his brain, he noticed an unexplainable change.

Damian opened his eyes and was met with darkness. This sudden change should've made him alarmed, but for some reason, the darkness felt familiar.

HUM~

Damian turned around as he heard that sound and saw a transparent orb floating in mid air.

It glowed dimly, like a dying star in the vastness of space.

He stretched his hand to it and the orb moved into his open palm. Observing it, Damian couldn't sense anything extraordinary, but instinctively, he knew what it was.

This was the representation of his soul.

It seemed so… weak.

Damian let go of the orb and it floated back to its original position. He then sat down cross legged and began to meditate.

Some time passed and Damian couldn't feel any difference. He was just maintaining the malleable material filling his body, as he felt like he should.

Usually it could take the average person a few months to break into rank 1, but depending on the original strength of one's soul or how high level the meditation technique used was, that time could vary.

With the perfect resources, it could take around two months to achieve breakthrough.

The record time for breakthrough was currently held by his grandfather.

He had achieved it in one day!

According to Jack, Darius had done it in two.

Even then, quick breakthrough didn't mean quick advancement. Of course, that didn't apply to those two monsters.

Damian didn't expect to breakthrough so easily. He wasn't his father or grandfather, and he would never pressure himself to please anyone but him.

He would move at his own pace. If it took a whole month, then so be it.

Luckily, he had Victor in the same room with him so he didn't have to worry about the monthly battle royale.

Even more time passed and Damian felt like he had been here for ages. He opened his eyes and looked at the orb.

It now glowed a little brighter.

'Could I call this progress?'

Due to the lack of a teacher, he didn't really know how to tell if he had made progress or not. Meditation differed between people so no one had the exact experience, but guidance to some extent was possible.

Jack claimed to be terrible at teaching outside combat, so he refrained from informing Damian about anything specific concerning meditation so as to avoid any roadblocks his mediocre teachings might cause.

If Jack could see Damain meditating now without any guidance, he would definitely be disappointed.

Damain was stubborn and just wanted to get this over with, but he was regretting that decision now.

'I think it's best I return to this after I begin classes.'

With that thought, Damain was ready to end his meditation when suddenly he felt a presence.

His heart quaked and he grabbed his chest in pain.

Immediately going on alert, he turned to see a pair of eyes with red pupils staring at him.

His heart seemed to stop as an overwhelming fear took hold of his body, and a deep guttural voice resonated in his head.

"I've been waiting for you."