4| Parmadon Academy
"Shen, you didn't have to tap me so hard," Zen swept his eyes lazily over the classroom. "How ungrateful, Professor Elfman almost noticed you sleeping." Zen always sat at the back of his class with his best friend Shen, where he could sleep all he wanted without getting cut.
"Yes, yes. I thank the great lord Shen,"
Zen replied sarcastically. "It seems I have transmigrated into my character in Azurpomax." Sai created his in-game character Zen as an extra in his own story.
Kuramo Zen, second born child and also last child of the Kuramo noble family. Ever since he was young, he had been completely average, always hidden underneath the shadow of his elder sister Clara. Unlike his sister, who was a genius, Zen was mediocre.
During his evaluation ceremony, the mana crystal presented with a blue glow, which meant he was also a magic knight. That was to be expected since he came from a long line of magic knights; the real issue was his mana reserve. It was evaluated as tier 3—no, it wasn't a mistake. The priest inspected the filter crystal thoroughly, and there were no faults. In comparison to his sister, who started with a tier 6 mana reserve, he was just at the bare minimum.
Though there was still hope since mana reserves stopped expanding when an individual hit fifteen years, this method had a low rate of success, but for the very least, his mana reserve increased by one. His elder sister was praised for breaking through to tier seven, which most individuals her age could only dream of reaching.
His sister left for the academy two years ahead of him. Since he was a noble, he was allowed to attend one of the best academies in all of the continent of Monyue. But in reality, Zen was actually very powerful; in fact, he was leagues above his sister in both skill and talent. He chose to hide it so he could tread perfectly in the darkness. He purposely dampened his mana so the filter crystal couldn't detect all of it.
When he was just 12, he was able to defeat opponents of tiers nine and ten with ease. The Parmadon Academy was filled with students with outstanding skills, so he barely stood in the crowd.
"Okay, students, that would be all for today," Professor Elfman arranged his bag. "I would also like to inform you that the Muken Festival will be coming up in two weeks."
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
"So it's that time of the year already." Toudo, the class muscle brain, stood from his seat. "Don't worry, guys, I'll make sure to claim all the PA points for the first year." He gloated, boasting of his strength—what a typical martial artist. He was the son of a high-ranking noble family that hailed from the kingdom of Toran.
"Aghhhhhhhhh, not this silly speech again." A boy with sharp blue eyes adjusted his specs. "We all know that the Muken Academy is just all about muscles; you need brains too… which unfortunately you lack, my friend." A mild grin formed on his face.
Toudo was literally fuming, the smoke evaporating from his brain was quite visible. "Huh?" He angrily walked over to the front of the class. "I dare you to say that again, Himekawa Tenji!" He slammed his fist onto Tenji's desk.
The professor took his bag and slightly left the class; he believed that things would sort themselves out.
"Hey, lowlifes!" A girl shouted from the corner of the class.
Toudo and Tenji shrieked in fear. They kept quiet on auto command as if they had been muted with a remote. "Can't you see you are disturbing my sleep, huh?!" A black whip materialized in her hand. "Take this, this, and this!" She flogged them haphazardly with the whip; the entire class couldn't do anything but watch
.
"Princess Arima-chan!" They exclaimed in excitement. They actually enjoyed it; it was most probably because she was the prettiest and strongest girl in their class, Toran Arima, fourth crowned princess of the kingdom of Toran. She was an assassin by class, so when it came to precision, she was leagues above Toudo and Tenji. Furthermore, there was no boy in their class, apart from Zen, that didn't have a crush on her.
"Zen, aren't Arima's tits looking a bit larger today? If only I could get a feel." Shen drooled over his desk. And this was Shen—just like Zen, he was a complete background character who always went unnoticed in the class, the main reason Zen chose him as his friend. He came from a low-ranking noble family, and his class was a holy knight, though there was nothing holy about him.
"Really, I didn't notice. As usual, you have a keen eye." Sai blended into Zen's character flawlessly; after all, he was the one that wrote him, and he was currently more eager to test his spells. He couldn't wait for the closing bell to ring. "We need to participate in the Muken Festival; those PA merits are going to be a huge boost to our overall semester grade." Shen turned towards Zen.
PA merits are important for every student if they intend to move up to the next year. Most students could meet the average quota, but few could go above that. Those select few students were honor students, who were granted special privileges, like staying in the academy dorms even though they weren't royalty or high-ranking nobles.
There are three ways to get PA merits. The most common of them was from festivals. The second way: professor assignments; professors usually designate tasks to students who are in need of PA merits. Upon completion, they are awarded a fair amount of PA merits. The last option is converting merits to PA merits. Most first years had little to no merits, so the third option was officially cancelled for now.
Ding-dong.
The bell rang, and immediately Zen stood from his seat. "Don't worry, Shen, I am fully confident you got this." He walked towards the door.
"You mean we got this." Shen's voice faded; Zen was already in the hallway.
A burst of light shone over his face as he stepped out of the hallway. The distinct chatter of students echoed through the air. "As expected of a fantasy world, I can feel the mana coursing through my veins." He basked in the sunlight, enjoying the feeling of mana.
"Hey." A red-haired girl, with a sword strapped by her waist, approached Zen. "Little brother of mine, give your big sister a hug." She spread her hands widely and gripped him tightly, raising him slightly above ground.
He had just remembered that Zen's sister was obsessed with him.
"What a hassle," he thought.