For days now, Arsene had been practically glued to that couch—so much so that he'd left a proper dent in it. A dent that said a lot about how deep their relationship had gotten.
Whenever he wasn't being dragged to Erebus's office, Arsene would spend most of his day sprawled across that couch. And lately, Erebus's training sessions had started to feel more like him just dumping paperwork on Arsene than actually helping him improve.
There was barely any focus on his Magic Promotion training like there had been in their first two days together. Maybe Erebus had noticed how fast Arsene was progressing and figured he didn't need constant supervision.
But still—wasn't that against the rules? Wasn't it Erebus's job to stop him from slacking off? Heck, wasn't he supposed to punish him?
All four of them were hanging out at Arsene's apartment when Clem broke the silence with a grin, "Isn't punishment a flexible concept?"
Arsene narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at?"
Klause laughed from his corner, clearly catching on to Clem's point. He raised a brow. "Didn't you say he's been dumping his paperwork on you? And just totally ghosting your training?"
Arsene nodded slowly. He had already started to suspect that—but he didn't think Erebus would actually go that route.
Clem chuckled. "That's your punishment, man! Neglecting you, dumping boring office work on you, and skipping out on your training!"
"Seriously, though. Erebus? Of all the professors, Arsene? I know I've said this a million times, but there are a lot of rumors floating around about that guy. Especially about his past before he became a Regis Academy professor."
"I don't really care about the rumors," Arsene replied with a small smile. "As long as he's got enough experience for me to learn something from, that's all that matters."
"I get that you're worried, Clem, but don't stress it. I'm doing fine with Erebus. Sure, there are some… obstacles—especially when it comes to communication. The guy's always sarcastic, like just being in the same room with me annoys him. But I know it's not what it looks like," Arsene reassured him.
Sarl stepped in and scolded both Klause and Clem. "You two, knock it off. If Sin's comfortable with him, then there's nothing to worry about. He knows what he's doing. He's not a kid."
Arsene felt a little better hearing that. Klause and Clem didn't bring it up again.
"By the way, Sarl—when's our next academy activity battle thing?" Clem asked.
"No idea, honestly," Sarl replied with a tired tone. "There was some kind of incident with third-years a couple days ago. Everything's on indefinite hold until it gets sorted out. I heard a bunch of students got hurt."
"Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently it happened in Professor Meridith's class. He taught them some advanced tricks, and they started using them against each other. Boom—chaos." Klause added.
"Oh, that reminds me—" Arsene looked confused. "Since I got here, I haven't seen or met a single student from the advanced years. Is there something I'm missing?"
"…Wait, seriously?" the three of them reacted, surprised.
Arsene tilted his head. He was dead serious.
Klause started explaining, "You don't see upper-year students because they're not even here. Technically they can come here, but they need special permits just to access this area."
"I don't fully get why it's so strict either—but did you know the academy is divided into five zones? Each zone is for a specific year. But here's the wild part—those zones aren't on the surface."
"Only the first-year zone—the one we're in—is on the surface. The rest are underground, like a massive house with four hidden basement levels beneath it."
"I heard each 'basement' is like its own complete world. Realistic skies, rivers, forests—it's like living a whole life underground."
As Klause went on about how the academy was structured, Arsene found himself remembering two things—Holdem, and the demons known as Vald'rins.
He remembered Holdem because of his age. The guy was clearly old but still lived among the first-years and even had an apartment here.
And the Vald'rins? Because their society reminded him a lot of the academy's setup.
Vald'rins lived deep underground. And here? Students went deeper underground with every academic year. The similarities were uncanny.
Arsene started asking the three of them a bunch of questions. They were teaching him more than he'd learned from the academy itself—mostly because he'd been skipping classes like a pro.
But of course, he had a plan. He would make up for the lost knowledge, and he'd do it soon.
Clem's explanation answered a lot of his questions, even if it was simplified.
To get into the second year, there were a few basic requirements—you had to pass exams, prove you were worthy of a seat, and most importantly, get a recommendation from a professor you'd trained under for the entire year.
This recommendation system applied every year. No switching supervisors. Most students trained under the same professor for all five years.
Changing mentors just made everything more complicated.
But what about the people who didn't pass? Were they just kicked out?
Nope—there was always a solution. The academy couldn't just pile up students like that.
Anyone who failed to move on would keep studying that same year in a different branch of the academy meant for first-years. They'd stay there unless they succeeded later and got a recommendation.
But the catch? The perks and the quality of education dropped hard.
Usually, students who failed were taught by volunteers from their own year—often in exchange for money or other rewards.
Most of the time, these students would just repeat their year in the main branch to try again. They knew that learning from fellow students wasn't really going to help much.
But repeating a whole year meant losing time. And even then, getting a recommendation wasn't guaranteed.
Unless… you were a Singularity.
If you had a Grade 0 Singularity, you never really had to worry about recommendations. Someone would always be willing to vouch for you—even if you never trained under anyone. Still, the academy had to see you trying. You had to prove you weren't just leeching off their resources.
And what better way to do that than with your Magic Promotion results and exam scores?
If you nailed both, you'd be bumped up to the next year without needing a recommendation.
In Arsene's case, according to Klause, they might even skip him right up to the fifth year—if he proved he deserved it.
That was the power of being a Singularity.
Arsene had a golden opportunity—and he wasn't going to waste it. Right now, his only focus was on climbing through the Promotion stages as fast as possible. But he knew that had come at the cost of real academic knowledge.
So, he made up his mind: tomorrow, he'd attend a class. Time to learn something interesting for a change.
_____________________________________
Author here , A schema for you to understand how fully the system at the academy works
First-Year Students
|---> [Pass Exams + Professor's Recommendation]
| v
| Second-Year Zone (Underground)
| v
| Third-Year Zone (Underground)
| v
| Fourth-Year Zone (Underground)
| v
| Fifth-Year Zone (Underground)
|---> [Fail Exams or No Recommendation]
| v
| Repeat First Year (Side Branch)
| Taught by Volunteers
|---> [Try Again + Succeed] ---|
v
Back to First-Year Students
Special Case:
Singularity (Grade 0)
|---> [Exceptional Performance]
| v
| Skip Directly to Higher Years (Even 5th)