The commotion was caused because a lady had just entered the dining hall. As she walked in the dining hall, she was the centre of attraction of the entire hall. The eyes of the entire hall seemed to be focused on her.
A single glance was enough for Athar to tell that this young lady possessed her own charm and was quite famous in the academy for some reason. Athar raised his eyebrows in curiosity as he observed her.
The woman was tall, almost six feet. She had blonde hair with a few strands of silver in it, a strange combination that gave her a unique appearance. She had big brown eyes. The expression on her face was neutral, almost icy. She was unfazed by all the attention she was getting, probably because she was used to it by now. Without any doubt, she was epitome of beauty and grace.
Two more ladies were flocking to her as she walked straight to the breakfast serving counter.
"Who is she?" Athar mumbled with a hint of curiosity.
"Ah!" Terius answered immediately. "You are new in the academy; that is why you do not know her."
"She is Alice Aquila," he continued. "She is also in the first year, fourth batch, one month ahead of me."
"But why is she so…" Athar searched for a better word but ultimately settled on, "…famous?"
"The first is naturally her beauty," Terius replied with a click of his tongue.
"And second, because she is the only person who has gotten a gold grade in the entire academy. Probably in the entire town," he whispered.
"Only gold grade in the town?" Athar was slightly surprised hearing this. "Are gold grades really so rare?"
"You do not seem very informed," Terius said as he gazed weirdly at Athar. "Nawarin city has not seen a gold-grade beast in years. That's how rare it is."
"Only in bigger cities will you find gold-grade beasts," he added. "In cities like ours, even silver is treated like royalty among commoners."
"Oh! I was not really aware," Athar replied, and he questioned, "What is her beast?"
Terius shook his head. "No one knows. At least, none of the students know."
"From what I have heard, rumours you know, she has declared she will only reveal her beast when any student forces her to in a spar. From the few spars she has had, she has defeated all opponents and their beasts alone, without calling out her companion."
"Oh!" was the only word that left Athar's mouth. 'She is powerful,' Athar noted in his mind.
"And what were you saying that it depends? The question I asked earlier?" he added.
"What beast do you have?" Terius questioned again. "If you are willing to reveal it."
"It is not really a secret," Athar answered. "A snake. Iron grade."
"Iron grade," Terius repeated. "Although you will be fine, do not expect much."
"What do you mean?" Athar asked back.
"As I said, it depends. If you have a high-grade beast, say silver or at least a bronze grade, you can expect good treatment from the instructors. The academy will pay more attention to you and your progress. The older students would not bully you."
"I assume you are also poor?" he questioned midway, to which Athar nodded.
"Then students of status, wealth, and influence may come after you," he said.
"But," Athar added in shock, "the instructor said discipline is very important and that any fighting is prohibited."
Terius almost burst into laughter hearing this.
"And you believed that?" he asked. "Rules are there, but who follows them? It is not like that the academy is going to place eyes at every corner of the academy. And if you complain about it, it will only make them angrier and the bullying will only increase."
"If you are weak, have a beast of low grade, and do not have influence or status, you will surely be bullied."
"This cannot be that bad," Athar remarked.
"See," Terius explained further. "Most of the students in the academy have a bronze-level beast, and some exceptional ones even have silver grade."
"You are iron grade, and that would be fine, but for that, you will need to increase your strength. Since you are still in the first year, your strength is at rock bottom, and your beast is also below average; thus, you need to be a bit cautious and tread carefully. Do not create much of a fuss and remain silent."
"As long as you keep your head down and let the bullies bully you, things will remain fine. It will not amount to much; they might insult you or play some pranks. But if you dare to oppose them or anything like that, they will only come harder at you," he added further.
"I see," Athar murmured as he put another morsel of meat in his mouth.
"What about you?" Athar questioned.
Terius seemed to be caught off guard by the question, and he stammered.
"I have also got an iron grade," he mumbled slowly, but the expression on his face made it quite clear that he was lying. Athar realised this and did not press. Terius, probably embarrassed by his behaviour, quickly gulped down his breakfast and left.
Athar also finished his breakfast and did not linger in the dining hall unnecessarily. As Vale had suggested, he took a tour of the entire academy. He especially visited the training area. Surrounded amidst the four blocks of the academy, it was a large patch of land covered in green grass—three hundred metres long and two hundred metres wide.
Although Athar could not see it with his naked eyes, according to the guideline booklet, the training area was quite special. It was covered in different kinds of runes, and though not all the functions of those runes had been mentioned, one thing Athar knew was that the ground had been strengthened. That is, ordinary attacks were not going to create a crater or a hole or damage the grass of the training area. Apart from this open training area, there were a few other massive-sized halls that were to be used to conduct the practical classes.
Athar, after roaming around the academy, returned to his room, where he remained holed up for the entire day. He emerged from his room only two times—once for lunch and the other for dinner.
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[Thankyou for reading. Rate, Review and Comment on my novel. Also send the power stones]