It's been five days since he first stepped foot into the academy.
Blake has been able to explore the entire general campus, along with the general buildings in the STEM branch, Magic branch, and the Cultivation branch.
He also received detailed profiles of the troublemakers courtesy of Elise.
[Kaelen Virux, nephew of the current CEO of Voidsphere Holdings, loves throwing around his name and background to get things he wants, has several outer professors under his thumb, with one senior professor covering for him. The only connection is through the corporation. Typical bully background.] Blake thought as he read through the profile. [Didn't like doing physical activities, used his connections to have several professors removed before being punished by the academy. Still uses his background to bully other students.]
"An as*hole." Blake commented as he made a few notes with his terminal. "Next."
[Daughter of the Duke Morcant. Known for spirit arts. Vaelira Morcant. Caused her spirit arts professor to resign due to a sense of inadequacy as well as being unnerved with how she uses her spirit arts. The current professor describes her art as borderline necromancy. She is tainted with a negative energy. Some cultivation professors warn that her Yin energies heavily suppress her yang energies, that her unbalanced nature would cause health problems. None noted thus far.]
"Great, a spoiled princess. And one with a so-called unmatched talent." Blake muttered as he wrote down more notes on her profile.
[Last spotted in the dungeon tower, located in the academy's trial forest. Students and professors steer clear unless required otherwise. Is also followed by student attendants, hired by the grand duke himself.]
Letting out a resigned sigh, Blake picked up the last profile.
[Son of the current patriarch of the Celestial Ascendent Pavilion. XuanYan Celestis. The immortal sect is obsessed with pursuing ascendancy. His father currently stands as one of the oldest and highest realm elders of the cultivation world. Last spotted attempting to climb even higher, in closed door cultivation at the edge of space.
His son suffers from a god complex, calling everyone else unworthy and beneath him. Was given a reality check by an outer professor, who was promptly dealt with by the sect. The sect was then punished by the academy and its proxies, no longer acting overtly within academy grounds.
Xuanyan listens to some professors, those teaching life skills and general knowledge. Caused many incidents with past combat instructors.]
"..." Blake stared at the profile on his terminal, hands frozen as he tried to come up with a way to deal with this particular individual.
"I hate dealing with these kinds of people." Blake grumbled as he slowly made his notes. Recalling his past dealings with similar people and organizations. "He is going to be a pain in the ass, but his profile makes him out as one of the more tame zealots that I've dealt with."
Once Blake finished reading through the profiles one more time, he called it a day and left his home office to start prepping dinner for his own kids.
Solan noticed the noise coming from the kitchen, and popped in to help Blake with preparations.
Blake decided to make an eastern themed dinner. With several lazy dishes since he hadn't made any preparations the previous night.
"Dad." Solan pulled at the hem of his shirt.
"Hmm?" Blake beckoned him to continue.
"It's our birthday soon."
"...!" Blake spun around and stared at Solan in surprise, nearly spilling the dish of tomato eggs onto the floor.
Nodding, Solan reached up and took the plate from Blake and set it down at the table.
"Noa and Ivy don't remember, but I got an accidental glance at our information at the lab…" Recalling his memories, Solan's mood went down for a moment before he shook his head to get rid of them and only recalled the specific information.
"In about 5 days. If I remember correctly." Solan spoke with composure as he adjusted the cutlery on the dining table.
He was about to continue but Blake interrupted his train of thought by pulling him into a deep embrace.
"That's enough." Blake spoke softly as he held him. "It's great that you guys have an actual date for your birthdays, but you don't have to recall those memories."
Solan slowly nestled into his embrace, small tears forming in his eyes, not knowing if it was from the longing comfort coming from Blake, or from recalling the pain and suffering caused by those experiments.
"Let's celebrate on the weekend, okay?" Blake asked as he looked at Solan.
Solan nodded as he wiped away his tears.
"You also said that the girls don't know about their birthdays right?"
Solan nodded again.
"Do you want to help me set up a surprise party?" Blake asked, looking up bakeries nearby on his terminal. "Wait, you all have the same birthday?"
"If I remember correctly." Solan replied, as he thought back to that document he managed to get a look at. "Something about synthetic creations, followed by a date of creation."
[I see.] A grim look appeared on Blake's face briefly as he processed what Solan just told him.
He made a mental note about this and threw the topic to the back of his head. He had Solan fetch the girls for dinner.
Watching him drag the girls out of their room, Blake realized that things were much much more complicated than he first thought.
—
Monday.
The combat field was ablaze with conversation.
A new professor was coming.
Many students were making bets on how long this professor would last.
Amongst the crowd was Xuanyan and Kaelen. Xuanyan stood to the side, with a bored look on his face.
Kaelen stood with his own group of henchmen, all trying to curry favor from him or the corporation behind him.
All the students had received a notification on their devices that a new professor was coming in to finish the semester for them.
"It's way past the specified time."
"I wonder if the professor will be a man or woman…"
"Hey, wanna ditch class and get something to eat? I haven't had breakfast yet."
Similar conversations were taking place throughout the field.
Meanwhile, Blake stood right in front of him, with his illusion spell in place, causing everyone to simply gloss over his existence.
[Man, I honestly thought they would be better than this. This simple spell is taught here at school. They should've been exposed to this spell already.] Blake thought as he recorded their behavior with the AI teaching assistant given to him earlier that morning.
He even stood right next to Xuanyan and made laps around Kaelen.
Both showing no reaction to him.
[Even these troublemakers haven't noticed my presence.] Blake snorted silently as he made way onto the podium.
Right as the more troublesome students were about to bail, a loud clap of thunder echoed through the field, lifting up a dust cloud, forcing them all to shield their eyes.
Once the dust settled, everyone was surprised to see Blake standing right before them, as if he had been standing there ever since they started coming in.
"I'm disappointed." Blake stated, eyeing every single student.
"I was told that everyone here was somewhat special. That my predecessors didn't have what it took to teach and advise everyone." Blake announced with the help of magic, enhancing his voice.
"It seems that I was lied to. Not a single person here noticed my presence at all."
"Disappointing." Blake stated once again, with a disapproving look on his face.
"A simple illusion spell, something that everyone here should've read or encountered already through upper classmen or advanced classes."
Blake stepped down from the podium.
"A simple spell that will be officially taught in grade 8."
An unsettling aura began emanating from him.
"One that can be simply dispelled just by concentrating."
He stepped towards the crowd of students, a cold look etched onto his face.
"And you're telling me that the so-called 'genius class' was unable to see through this cheap facade."
With that sentence, Blake vanished from sight, causing all the students to start using their spells and knowledge to find him. All to no avail.
Xuanyan gritted his teeth in anger. Wanting to tear apart this newcomer teacher to shreds for belittling him. But he too, could not find him through this so-called simple illusion spell.
He then began concentrating his qi, and through a series of hand signs, released a bright radiance around him.
"Ancestors hear my call, reveal all that is hidden around me!" He commanded with a grave voice. Only for nothing to happen save for his surroundings to be illuminated in a golden glow.
At the same time, Kaelen was busy bringing out tools and gadgets given to him by his henchmen, only to achieve the same results as Xuanyan.
"How sad, only one person here was able to conceive my location." Blake's voice echoed behind the duo.
An amused look on his face as he looked past them.
The students then followed his gaze, which fell upon a bespectacled boy.
"Tell me, how did you discover where I was?" Blake asked the boy with a grin.
"It's like you said, a simple illusion spell that was supposed to be our first encounter with deception." The boy began, shifting side to side as he wasn't used to being at the center of attention. "All I did was concentrate on using my senses."
"Good job. 90 points." Blake clapped his hand as he walked by the 'troublesome' duo to the head of the class.
"A simple spell, countered by simply concentrating. Yet effective because it can slip past all sorts of detection methods." Blake lectured as he walked through the crowd.
Once he reached the front of the students, he turned around and gave them all a second look.
"You think you're tough shit? Well think again." He taunted. "I don't care what methods you use, be it through official channels, or through unscrupulous means. Each and everyone one of you is a kid. None of you are worth my attention. So here is my first assignment."
Blake grinned as he took in all the disgruntled faces in front of him.
"If you want me to take you seriously, land a single hit on me."
Right as he said that sentence, he tilted to the side slightly and Xuanyan sailed right past him, tumbling onto the ground behind.
Staring at him with a grin, Blake continued his spiel.
"And for each failed attempt, or an attempt not taken. A failing grade will be applied to everyone. So figure out a sure fire way to land a hit on me. You have until the end of the semester to do so."
The first day of teaching at the academy is over. Blake has successfully become enemy number one to the student body.