Jin muttered tiredly as he opened the closet, grabbed his school uniform, and started putting it on.
"I'm such an idiot, who gets so excited that they don't sleep all night?"
The opening ceremony was supposed to last for three full days.
On the first day, the students would be divided into two groups to introduce themselves to their classmates and teachers.
The first group would sit in the front rows these were the wealthy and noble families, along with the royal families.
The second group would sit in the back rows. They were just ordinary students without important backgrounds.
Of course, Jin was in the second group, and for the first time he felt happy about this damn class division.
The reason was simple: he didn't want to sit with anyone important while he looked like this. He seriously looked like a corpse right now.
On the second day, it would be the Oath Day. All the students would gather in a massive colosseum and swear by their souls to protect humanity and use their powers for good.
The oath was extremely important to everyone because many saints and important figures from the three main factions and other saints would be present.
On that day, saints from the different factions would come to talk about their achievements and their merits.
Of course, they would do this because, over the next three months, they would be competing amongst themselves to win the most outstanding students from the academy.
Naturally, it was the same for the students. They were eager to see these powerful figures in person so they could decide their future and which faction they wanted to join.
The third day of the celebration would be a showcase day, where the students would showcase their strength and abilities to everyone, hoping to attract the attention of one of the three Saint Factions, or at least one of the other known factions.
Everyone wanted to join one of the three strongest factions, which were the Golden Faction, the White Faction, or the Saint Faction.
These three factions had great power and influence that any student would dream of having.
The strongest saints on the continent of Marta belonged to one of these factions, and they also had the largest number of saints compared to all other factions.
After getting dressed, Jin left and headed toward the hall, which was already crowded.
The wide hall had numbered seats. Each student's seat number matched the number on their necklace.
Between every section of seats, there was a long marked pathway that led to a circular stage at the end of the hall. That stage was reserved for the teachers and academy leaders, and the students would stand in front of them to introduce themselves.
Jin's number was 981, and his assigned seat was at the very back of the hall.
He sighed. "It's hard to see anything from here."
Jin sat down exhausted, feeling very sleepy, as he yawned. "It's going to be a long day."
Students kept flowing in, and the hall slowly filled with more and more students.
A thin and short guy was looking nervous as he stood next to Jin and asked, "Hello, may I sit here?"
"Huh, why are you asking me? Just sit in your numbered seat."
The boy laughed awkwardly and sat down beside him. "Thanks."
He seemed nervous, fidgeting with his fingers and glancing at Jin every few seconds, as if he wanted to talk.
Jin sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm Jin, by the way…"
The boy looked at him in surprise, then replied with relief, "Oh—I'm Henry."
"Where are you from, Jin?"
"I'm from Anvil," Jin answered.
Henry smiled and seemed to relax more due to the conversation. "Great, I'm from Kainel."
"Oh, you're from Kainel? That's nice, we get a lot of fertilizer and soil from you."
Henry replied, embarrassed, "Yeah, you're right."
Jin adjusted his position to look forward. "Nice to meet you, Henry."
"But let's focus now. The ceremony is about to begin." He pointed his finger at the teachers as they entered the hall.
The teachers entered through a front door located near the stage, different from the students who entered the hall through the back doors.
The teachers' clothes were luxurious, similar to the students' uniforms, but completely different in design.
The teachers sat in seats behind Saruman, while the three seats beside him were occupied by three other people in ordinary suits.
Jin didn't fully understand why, but when these three people entered the hall, everyone cheered and shouted loudly.
"These people seem very famous."
Everyone shouted, "They're here, they're really here!"
"Long live the Saints!"
"Oh my God, am I dreaming!"
From the students' joyful shouts, Jin realized that these three were the strongest men on the continent, the three Saint faction leaders!
Their shouting was very annoying to him, especially since he was feeling sleepy and very tired. Those loud noises were like a nightmare to him, so he tried to muffle them by putting his hands over his ears.
Then Saruman spoke loudly so that everyone in the hall could hear, "Silence."
Silence filled the hall out of respect. Saruman was not an ordinary man; he was the head of this academy.
Even though he was not as powerful as the other Saints on the continent, he held a position of great importance and influence.
"Welcome, all of you to our Academy."
His voice echoed through the hall as he looked at them all.
"Every year, many students join us carrying ambition in their hearts and dreams in their eyes. And every year, some of them leave their names in history, and others gain fame and power."
"Here… you will not only gain knowledge. You will not only learn how to control your abilities—you will learn how to control yourselves."
"You will gain strength, status, and prestige… but above all, you will gain honor."
"Honor is not just a word. Honor is going to be earned through battles and sacrifices. Those who do not understand its meaning… will not last long anywhere."
"You will fall many times. Many of your bones will be broken…"
He paused briefly before continuing, "But let me be clear, we are not looking for the weak. Lucaria is not a refuge for those who fear pain, not a shelter for those who run from their fate."
"The fate written for you is only one thing, battle after battle!. If you fear the pain, then there is no place for you with us."
"Today, you will tell us your names… but in the future, we want to hear the achievements of those names."
Then he spread his arms slightly as if embracing the entire hall.
"Bring glory to us. Bring glory to the continent. And make your names remembered with pride by everyone."
At that moment, everyone cheered, clapping and whistling.
"Long live Lucaria!"
"Long live Marta!"
"Long live the saints!"
Saruman smiled at them before returning to his seat.
Then a woman who looked to be in her early thirties stepped forward.
"It's a pleasure to see you all. My name is Anya, and I am the vice principal of the academy."
"Each of you will now step forward and introduce yourselves to us. All you need to do is state your name, your age. After that, you should return to your seat."
With that, Anya took her seat beside the other teachers and began calling the students forward by their numbers.
The first student came forward and he was from one of the most famous families on the continent. He had black hair, a strong physique, and black eyes.
"I am Jonathan Malekith, and I am sixteen years old," he said as he bowed, then returned to his seat.
Everyone looked at Jonathan with respect, and some were already trying to get on his good side.
For many of the students, knowing someone from a famous family was important as they wanted to stay in his favor from the very beginning.
Then the second student stepped forward, instantly drawing everyone's attention. Even Jonathan's eyes remained fixed on her as he stepped down from the stage.
The three Saints also watched her closely. It was clear she was someone important.
She had long white hair and green eyes. She was so beautiful, yet her gaze was calm, sharp, and cold at the same time.
She spoke quietly. "I am Yumi Artavelia, and I am fifteen years old." She bowed her head in respect,
Then she returned to her seat, as she didn't care about the attention that she was getting.
When she mentioned Artavelia, many students gasped or whispered under their breath. That name clearly was important.
After her, a tall young man walked onto the stage. He had a muscular physique, dark skin, brown hair, and dark eyes.
Despite his powerful appearance, he seemed very kind and popular. Before the ceremony began, Jin had seen him outside the hall, surrounded by several other students who were talking and laughing with him.
He stood confidently and said, "I am Alucard Shanzu. I am seventeen years old." He clapped his hands and bowed out of respect, then he returned to his seat.
The introductions continued for a couple of hours, as Jin started to feel incredibly bored and sleepy. He could barely keep himself awake.
After nearly four hours, everyone was given a break outside then came back after 30 minutes.
The introductions resumed for another 3 hours until Jin's turn finally came.
He was incredibly sleepy and nearly fell asleep several times, barely able to stay awake.
Of course, when it was his turn to step forward and introduce himself to the teachers, no one really paid attention.
In fact, it felt like no one even noticed he was there. Most of the students were already talking with each other, completely ignoring whoever was on the stage.
And honestly it was normal to see that happen.
By the time the students from the second group began introducing themselves, everyone had already lost interest and no one cared who would be on the stage next.
Jin stepped onto the stage like a corpse and looked at them.
Since he didn't have an important family name or at least that's what he thought he wasn't sure whether to tell them his name was Jin Adrian or the name Park told him to say.
Before joining the academy, Park had urged him to introduce himself as "Jin Yoshta."
So, Jin decided to just go with that name since it wouldn't matter anyway.
"I'm Jin Yoshta… and I believe I'm fourteen years old."
"Or maybe 15, I'm not really sure," he added, looking tired and yawning.
At that moment, the leader of the Golden Sect, Francis, looked at him.
And for the first time in hours since the students started to introduce themselves, one of the saints spoke.
"Are you Arthur's son?"
Suddenly, silence fell over the place... Since the beginning of the event, none of the saints had spoken to anyone.
"Yes," Jin replied.
Francis looked at him for a moment… then did something that truly shocked everyone.
With a simple finger gesture, he blocked all sound around them using some kind of ability that made only Jin the only one who could hear him.
"I'll be honest with you," he said calmly.
"Do you want to join the Golden Faction?"
What Francis did surprised Saruman and the other saints, as it seemed very strange that Francis would keep their conversation secret from everyone including them.
One of the saints looked at Jin curiously, while the other stared coldly.
"Who is this?"
"Why is the Golden Saint talking to him?"
"What are they talking about? Can anyone hear what they're saying?"
"I didn't catch what they were talking about, but I heard Saint Francis said son of something."
"Did Saint Francis just call him a son of a bitch?"
Many students continued to ask each other while looking at Jin.
Jin was so tired and sleepy that he didn't even notice what Francis was doing or the reactions of the students behind him.
He was so exhausted that he didn't hear anything Francis said to him... but it seemed he was asking if Jin was in a faction?
His mind was blank; he didn't even realize how stupid his answer sounded or how stupid the way he explained Francis's words in his mind.
So he simply answered, "No,"
thinking Francis question was just about if his father was in a faction or not.
Then Jin looked away, ignoring the three saints, Saruman, and all the other students, and started to move back to his seat.
All he wanted at that moment was just to sleep...
The fact that he completely ignored the three Saints and Saruman shocked them even more.
Unlike the other students, he didn't bow to show his respect to them... and he didn't even say thank you to them.
It looked like the students explained what Francis did by blocking the sound around them as just to discipline him without anyone else being able to hear.
They thought that Jin had disrespected the saints from the start, so Francis wanted to teach him a lesson with words.
Unfortunately, that day Jin got a pretty bad reputation, ended up on everyone's blacklist even from the teachers…
"Look at that piece of shit, he's ignoring the saints!"
"What a jerk!"
"Kill him, kill that bastard!"
"Who does this asshole think he is?"
"This motherfucker disrespected the saints!"
Then Jin sat down next to Henry, who looked at him in shock, speechless with disbelief.
Jin noticed this and said, "What? Is something wrong?"
"No—" Henry swallowed hard.
-----------------------------
After a few hours, evening arrived, and everyone had already finished introducing themselves, making it the end of the first day of the celebration.
Jin left the hall and walked out to go back to his room... finally he would get the sleep he had been looking for.
As he was walking back, three people were following him...
When he got to a somewhat secluded spot leading to the residential complex, he heard a sound behind him.
"Hey bastard!" one of them yelled at him.
Jin turned around and saw the red-haired guy with two others standing next to him.
He remembered seeing them at Saruman's office that day when he provoked him for no reason.
"Uh… hey, what was your name again?" Jin scratched his head, trying to remember it.
"I'll make sure you never forget it today!" Mark said, snapping his fingers angrily.
The other two laughed as they surrounded him...