"Those guys who got full marks... more than half of them might have snuck in like me, disguising themselves as elementary students to take the exam," Edmund thought to himself. "What's the purpose behind arranging things this way? It seems completely pointless. But the higher-ups definitely don't think like a small dragon like me."
"For example, a few years ago, all the dragons opposed the order to convert the cities into underground ones. However, as it turns out, the order from the United Front Department was entirely correct. Thanks to the allure of these underground cities, the population of humans on the Synapsis Subcontinent alone has multiplied a hundredfold."
...
"Class dismissed!" Amidst the beautiful sound of the school bell, the elderly history teacher announced the end of class. The elementary students, free for a short while, orderly rushed out of their classrooms.
"Aeolos, let's go home together!" Several adorable little girls gathered around Aeolos as he packed his schoolbag, inviting him to walk home with them.
Aeolos was the heartthrob of Class 23, and even the whole grade. Despite being sealed, his appearance and the natural aura he emitted were irresistibly attractive to the opposite sex.
"Sure!" Aeolos smiled warmly, agreeing to the invitation from the little girls who claimed to live nearby, displaying an unusually gentle demeanor.
...
"What a boring guy!" Aeolos' strange behavior did not escape the eyes of his classmate, Edmund, who was also one of the top students. In his view, Aeolos must have been assigned the same task as him: earning academic credits. The extraordinary charm Aeolos possessed, which far exceeded normal human limits, could only be explained by something beyond the ordinary. After all, these were underage girls!
"This guy isn't afraid of getting caught by the Monitoring Department? Having such thoughts about young girls—he could be skinned alive!" Edmund muttered under his breath. Honestly, he was tempted to ask Aeolos what he was thinking. But since he had signed a confidentiality agreement before taking on this mission, he couldn't have too much contact with others in the school. Breaking the rule would mean losing ten times the credits, and that was a punishment he couldn't afford.
...
"Women are such a hassle!" Standing at his front door, Aeolos waved goodbye to the dozen or so classmates who had walked him home. As they left, he sighed, putting on the face of a little adult. "It's all because my charm is just too overwhelming! Sigh!"
After straightening his clothes, Aeolos turned to look at his house, a three-story villa. His family was considered middle-class in Holy Flame City—not wealthy but certainly not poor. As for Aeolos himself, he was just an ordinary elementary student with excellent grades and perhaps a slight touch of uniqueness.
"I'm home!" Aeolos shouted as he pushed open the door, the scent of food wafting into his nose, making him feel ravenous. He yelled toward the inside of the house, announcing his return to his parents.
"Dad, the results from last week's language test are out." Aeolos carefully announced when he saw his father in the living room.
"How did you do?" His father, a young man dressed in long robes, put down his book, pushed his crystal glasses up his nose, and asked calmly while looking at his son.
"Full marks!"
"Not bad. That's about what I expected." His father nodded in approval. "How many students in the grade got full marks?"
"Fifty-two."
"Oh, seems like the test wasn't too difficult, then," his father remarked thoughtfully. "Make sure not to get too proud of yourself. Keep up the hard work and don't fall behind."
"Got it!" Aeolos obediently nodded. He didn't argue with his father about how hard the test actually was. Doing so would only result in him being forced to memorize obscure texts, which served no purpose other than punishment.
"Go eat," his father gestured toward the dining room, where a gentle-looking blonde woman was already setting the table with the freshly cooked food.
"Okay."
After the meal, Aeolos went upstairs under the watchful eyes of his young parents. He needed to rest a bit before preparing for the afternoon classes, which were quite intensive at Holy Flame Elementary.
"Muria, do you really find it amusing to keep suppressing our son?" Mikaela, the gentle-looking woman with her hair neatly arranged, asked her husband after their son had gone upstairs. She waved her hand, instantly cleaning the dishes.
She handed Muria the language test results for the fifth grade. She had already gotten the results as soon as they were released. "Out of the 52 students who got full marks, 49 were arranged by you. It's always like this."
"Really? There are actually three full-mark students I didn't arrange?" Muria was slightly surprised before quickly seizing on the key point. "Next time, I'll have them raise the difficulty of the test."
"Muria!" Mikaela was frustrated. "Can't you let your son enjoy being the sole top student for once?"
"Isn't he already the top of the grade?" Muria responded indifferently.
"But he's tied with 51 others."
"That's a good thing! This way, he won't become arrogant and can stay focused on his studies to maintain his current performance."
"But he worked hard to earn his place as the top student, and his effort isn't being rewarded! Don't you think that's unfair?" Mikaela argued.
"I only sealed most of his bloodline powers, some useless inheritances, and his childhood memories. I didn't seal his intelligence! With his memory and IQ, plus the knowledge he gains daily from his inheritance, isn't being the top student a given?" Muria retorted.
"But Aeolos is putting in effort, and effort should be rewarded!"
"I'm doing this for his own good. Constantly being at the top inevitably breeds arrogance. If he's first in every exam without me manipulating things, his ego will soar into the sky!" Muria explained, clearly exasperated. He had learned this the hard way.
Back when he lived among giants on the Titan Islands before going to the Titan homeland, he had been unbeatable in battle, even against giants a full tier above him. That had fostered an unhealthy pride in him.
Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. For many extraordinary individuals, sins like greed, envy, wrath, and sloth can be controlled, but it's hard to curb the arrogance born from being too exceptional. This kind of pride is shaped by the environment.
"What's the next step?"
"We'll follow the plan!" Muria said confidently. "The massive underground labyrinth beneath Holy Flame City is about to emerge."
"Aeolos is only ten, and you're already planning to send him into a labyrinth?"
"Not yet. The Holy Flame Labyrinth will first be explored by humans from other continents. When Aeolos graduates from elementary school, I'll send him in. He needs to find the little gifts I've prepared for him."
...
"Riiiiing!" The sharp sound of a magic bell pulled the sleeping children out of their afternoon nap. Aeolos yawned as he turned off the alarm.
"Ugh!" He rubbed his throbbing forehead, feeling like new knowledge had been added to his mind. This was part of his bloodline's inherited memories, something his father had explained to him.
Aeolos knew his parents weren't ordinary humans. They had extraordinary bloodlines, and as their descendant, he had inherited some of that power. He wasn't like other children his age.
However, he didn't take pride in it. His father had told him there were many beings like him. In fact, after starting school, Aeolos realized that many of his classmates also had strong, inherited bloodlines, just like his father had said. Compared to them, Aeolos found himself quite ordinary, lacking any obvious supernatural traits.
From what he'd gathered, although his father never explicitly said it, Aeolos deduced that his own bloodline was likely very diluted. That's why he hadn't gained any special powers, only occasional flashes of knowledge appearing in his mind.
"Time for school." Rubbing his temples, Aeolos got out of bed and prepared to leave.
"Dad, Mom, I'm heading to school!" Aeolos called as he prepared to leave the house.
"Okay."
"Be safe," his parents replied, perfectly playing their roles as an ordinary couple with a hint of supernatural power. In Holy Flame City, there were thousands of families like theirs—perhaps even tens of thousands.
"Safe? Hmm!" Muria glanced at his son as he walked out of the yard and smiled.
Holy Flame City was one of the priority cities in the Synapsis Ten-Year Thousand City Plan. Anyone who wanted to live in this city had to apply in advance. Only after passing a review could they gain the right to reside there.
Paladins with glorious records in battles against demons and evil entities, peace-loving elves, dwarf craftsmen, humans with divine bloodlines... This magical, technologically advanced core city in the east was home to carefully selected inhabitants.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter] [+5 Reviews = +1 Chapter]