Stepping out of the soul train, Caecus sensed his surroundings.
The s-train station in Eureka was crammed with people.
He sensed three thousand souls here alone.
Unable to handle crowds well, his expression shifted into clear discomfort.
Amelia looked at him, standing right next to the boy.
"Let's go quickly, the faster you get to your dorm room, the better, right?"
Caecus just nodded, wanting to leave as soon as possible.
Amelia took his hand, not wanting to lose him in the massive crowd, and pushed through, repeating "Excuse me." every few seconds.
When they were finally outside, Caecus took a deep breath, the air now clear.
"Young Master, I'm sorry, but we'll have to take another s-train. This one is on the surface, though, and a new one comes every few minutes, so don't worry about it being too cramped."
…
'She lied.'
Squished between a civilian and Amelia, Caecus felt like he was being suffocated.
'My new goal is to reach rank five, just so I'll be faster than those stupid s-trains on foot, without using my soul essence, and never have to enter one again.'
Luckily, they were incredibly fast, so they reached the academy in just five minutes.
But when the doors opened, Caecus frowned.
'Oh no.'
Everyone tried to get out, which resulted in him being pushed forward.
He almost fell on his face, but there was a person in front of him, so he just crashed into their back.
"I-I'm so sor-"
'Fuck.'
The 'boy' standing in front of him was huge.
Two meters and ten centimeters tall.
And Caecus could clearly feel that he was extremely muscular too.
'Shit, he feels lean, but also extremely bulky. This guy is a machine!'
Caecus felt the gaze of the enormous boy lower to his face.
He was staring straight at him.
But instead of what he expected, the boy simply smiled kindly and touched his shoulder.
"It's okay. You must have struggled in a crowd that big with your size, huh? Are you a participant's little brother?"
"..."
This was a punch to the gut for Caecus.
'I am being treated like a little kid!'
Just as he was about to reply, Amelia called for him.
"Young Master Caecus, come here! It's time for you to see your dorm!"
The only people allowed into the dorms were participants of the entrance exams.
'Mr. Titan' was still staring at him and realized that Caecus was a participant too, not someone's little brother.
The smaller boy felt the bigger one scratch his cheek in embarrassment, and he quickly ran to Amelia, his face flushed as he shared the sentiment.
Trying to forget about what had just happened, he walked up to Amelia, who pulled him away from the crowd and outside the station.
The pavement of the street was very smooth, with no asphalt in sight.
Cars had been abandoned many years ago in Anima, replaced by soul trains.
They were fast, reliable, and far less costly than cars or fossil fuels in general.
There weren't many obese people in Anima either, as the average calorie expenditure had increased significantly because people walked more.
The streets weren't made of asphalt anymore, but concrete, and were used purely for walking or riding bikes.
This allowed them to look far more beautiful, as more flora could be placed throughout.
Walking toward the academy, Caecus noticed that the air was very clear, even though they were in the city, most likely due to the high number of trees.
Eight minutes away from the station, the gates of the academy finally appeared before them.
The entire area was far too big for Caecus to sense, so he was only able to feel the gate.
When they arrived, the guard looked at his bracelet, then at his face, and nodded.
The gates opened, and Caecus walked forward, but Amelia didn't follow.
"Amelia? What's wrong? Why aren't you following?" Caecus asked, confusion clearly etched on his face.
"I'm afraid I can't follow you. Only participants are allowed into the academy. Your corpus has rented a hotel for all the servants and members who wanted to watch the entrance exams, so I'll still be here, watching. Just not by your side."
"Oh… will I see you after the entrance exams?" he asked with a frown on his face.
"Yes, of course. After the entrance exams, there is a week before classes start, so you're free to do whatever you want."
"Alright, I'll meet you here after the entrance exams, Amelia. Promise?"
"Yes, I promise. Don't worry, Young Master, I won't abandon you that fast."
She hugged Caecus, completely catching him off guard, and they parted after a few seconds.
When he went inside, the guard looked annoyed that he had to wait for them to finish before he could close the gate.
He waved toward Amelia, then turned away, facing the academy and turning his back to her.
The gates closed behind him.
'Now it's just me…'
There was a paved path in front of him, leading toward Psychéion's different buildings.
It split into two paths, and a sign stood before him.
Too bad he was blind.
'Well, shit.'
He stepped off the path and felt the blades of grass beneath his shoes.
Then he touched the metal rod supporting the sign and infused it with his soul essence.
His soul essence spread throughout the structure until it reached the engraved text.
<— Dorms
Academy —>
Suddenly, he felt a new soul enter the academy through the entrance.
It was a girl, tall, around one hundred eighty-two centimeters.
She just stared at him like he was crazy.
After a few seconds, she shook her head and walked, more specifically to the left, toward the dorms.
Caecus, once again embarrassed, stepped back onto the path and followed her toward the dorms.
Then he felt a third soul approaching, one he recognized.
It was 'Mr. Titan', or at least that was what he called him in his head.
When he walked through the gate, Caecus felt his gaze burning into his neck.
'Oh no… this will be awkward. I think it's best to just go to the dorms and not talk to anyone…'
Trying to avoid any human interaction so he wouldn't embarrass himself any further, Caecus headed toward the dorms, acting as if he didn't notice him.
After all, they didn't know he was blind.
He felt the big boy following him.
'Of course he's following, after all he's an exam participant too…'
The girl walked ahead of them, but her legs were longer than his, so she moved faster.
There were a few crossroads, and Caecus did his best to follow her.
Mr. Titan's footsteps grew louder and louder, and his soul drew closer and closer.
After two minutes of walking, his longer legs allowed him to catch up, and he stood right next to Caecus.
Caecus tried to ignore him, but his plan failed when the two-meter boy spoke.
"Uhm… I'm sorry about before. I really thought you weren't in our year…"
He rubbed the back of his head.
'Wow, he is so nice! I thought he'd laugh at me or something…'
Caecus' face, still slightly red, shifted into a shy smile.
"It's okay, after all I did bump into you, haha…"
The giant's expression showed clear relief, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"I'm glad… I'm not really trying to make any enemies here too fast, you know?"
Caecus just nodded in reply.
"My name is Titus, by the way."
He reached out his hand, and Caecus took it, his own hand being completely dwarfed.
"Caecus. I'm glad I found someone so nice here."
An awkward silence hung between them after the introduction, and they just walked next to each other, Titus slowing his pace to match Caecus'.
Ten minutes later, they reached a new area.
Eight buildings that seemed to scrape the sky stood next to each other.
One building, in particular, was slightly shorter.
"It seems we've arrived. W-where will we go now, though?" Caecus asked.
They continued walking, noticing that the skyscrapers formed an octagon, each one representing a corner of it.
There was another gate that allowed entrance, and once again, a guard stood watch.
"It seems there's a guard over there, let's try asking him." Titus walked in his direction.
Caecus followed him.
When they arrived, they noticed another boy standing in front of the gate, arguing with the guard.
"I told you, I don't belong to any corpus, why can't you believe that?!" the boy exclaimed angrily.
"Without any corpus identification, I'm afraid I can't let you enter," the guard replied without emotion.
"What do you mean you won't let me enter? The vice-headmaster himself asked for me to come! My name is Elijah!"
The guard suddenly froze, his expression a clear contrast to his previous indifference.
"Don't you dare use the vice-headmaster's name in vain," he said.
"Do you have any proof to back up your claim? The vice-headmaster did mention a boy named Elijah, but I still need proof."
The boy, around one hundred eighty centimeters tall, stared at him in disappointment and took out a brooch.
A very thick soul essence emanated from it, slightly denser than Caecus'.
"That… well, it seems you told the truth. You may pass. Your room is eight thousand and twelve."
The guard had a very grim expression on his face.
"Damn mundane," he muttered in a tone only Caecus could pick up.
When they approached, the guard looked at them, and seeing their bracelets, his face brightened.
But when he looked down at Caecus, his expression shifted back into a frown.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you can't bring your family into the dorms. This is strictly for participants."
'Again?!'
"He isn't my little brother, look at our bracelets, we're from different corpora," Titus said, clearly sharing Caecus' frustration.
Titus stepped forward, said his name, and showed his bracelet, a skull with a lightning bolt striking through it.
"Titus Titanis."
The guard froze once again.
"Titanis corpus?! You may pass immediately. Wait… you could be lying. I'm sorry, Young Master, but I have to check."
The guard checked the list for the Titanis corpus, then nodded and opened the gate for Titus.
"Your room number is registered as two thousand and twelve, Young Master."
Titus nodded and stepped through, but didn't continue walking, waiting for Caecus.
"And what's your name?" the guard asked, frowning as he looked at Caecus.
"Caecus Caelum."
The Caelum name wasn't uncommon here, as it belonged to one of the largest corpora in Anima.
"Alright, you're in. Uh… room two thousand and thirteen."
The gates opened.
'Two thousand and thirteen? That means I'm right next to Titus.'
He walked through, Titus waiting for him on the other side.
When he passed through the gate, there was once again a sign with multiple directions.
'I can't let them know I'm blind!'
Titus stood in front of it, reading, then took the third exit to the right.
They reached one of the skyscrapers, its entrance decorated luxuriously.
There were many seats, and a TV was playing a duel between two rank five soul essence users.
When they reached the elevators, five of them stood side by side.
They entered together, and Titus pressed a floor.
This time, the numbers slightly protruded from the buttons, allowing Caecus to read them through echolocation.
2000–2100 was written on the button Titus pressed.
The elevator hummed softly, and Caecus felt it begin to rise.
Not even ten seconds later, they reached their floor.
The metal doors opened, revealing a large corridor.
A long carpet stretched across the entire hallway.
Occasionally, there were plants placed along the sides for decoration, and every twenty meters or so, a new door appeared.
'How big are these dorm rooms?!'
Caecus walked for a bit until they reached room two thousand and twelve.
Titus looked at him, then back at the door, pausing for a few seconds as if thinking, before speaking.
"Can you give me your Soulgram and DM number? I need as many friends here as I can get, haha."
He rubbed the back of his head.
"Sure."
Caecus was about to hand over his s-phone, but then realized Titus might notice its unusual features and figure out he was blind.
So instead, he simply told him his name and number.
"Alright, see you later."
Titus waved casually, then infused his soul essence into the doorknob.
'So that's why they didn't give us keys. We need to infuse our soul essence, and it recognizes it.'
Titus' soul essence was about the same density as Caecus', meaning he would most likely do very well in the exams.
Caecus stepped toward his own door and repeated what Titus had done, infusing his soul essence into the knob and augmenting it.
Click.
The door unlocked, and he twisted the handle.
Stepping inside, Caecus' soul essence expanded once again.
The room was around thirty square meters, with a door leading to another area that seemed to be a bathroom.
There was a large desk at the end of the room, positioned in front of a huge window, which Caecus, of course, could not enjoy.
To him, the window might as well have been another wall.
"Well, this is completely useless for me," Caecus muttered under his breath with a sigh.
Luckily, right next to the entrance, there was a panel of switches.
Each one had a label indicating its function.
Caecus touched them one by one until he found one labeled 'Blinds'.
He pressed it and felt the glass being covered by metal until it was completely sealed.
'Much better, now I can have my privacy.'
On the right side of the room, next to the window and desk, Caecus sensed a very large king-sized bed.
The door to the washroom was in front of the bed, on the left side of the room.
When Caecus turned to his right, he noticed a four-meter-wide closet that extended around the corner.
Curious, he opened it and found his luggage already inside, his clothes neatly organized.
After settling in and exploring his room a bit more, Caecus decided to explore the academy's facilities.
Outside, it had already grown dark, and his phone showed that it was 17:00.
Since it had become slightly colder, he put on a thin jacket from his closet and left his room.
Caecus remembered that Titus was now in his contacts.
'Should I ask him to hang out with me?'
After thinking for a moment, he decided against it.
'Forging friendships can wait until after the entrance exams. Right now, I can't let the other participants know too much about me.'
On the nightstand next to his bed, there was a small brochure listing the facilities available to participants and where to find them.
'Ooh, a library. I'm sure they have a wide selection of books, it's Psychéion.'
Stretching his arms over his head, he walked to the door, stepped out, closed it behind him, and heard the mechanism automatically lock.
To make sure, he tried opening it again, but the handle didn't budge.
'Good.'
The carpeted floor felt soft beneath his shoes and was pleasant to walk on.
He reached the end of the hallway and pressed a button to call the elevator.
Ten seconds later, he heard it arrive, followed by a ding as the doors slid open.
The fifteen-year-old stepped inside and pressed the number one, one floor above the ground level.
He heard the doors close, followed by the familiar hum as the elevator descended.
When it stopped, the doors opened again, revealing a completely different area.
There were around thirty souls inside, ten of whom were now staring at him after looking up from their books.
Caecus noticed one boy glance at him briefly before returning to his book, only to look up again to double-check.
Most of them had at least seven times less soul density than Caecus, with two exceptions.
One had slightly less than him, and the other had about the same.
However, they couldn't sense his soul density, since he kept it hidden within his core.
'Amelia was completely right, they're all circulating their soul essence! Why would they expose their ranks like this?'
He stepped further inside and sensed that the space was roughly the same size as the library in his manor.
'I hope they have different books.'
Someone approached him, and he quickly looked up, trying to appear as sighted as any normal person.
It was a boy, around one hundred eighty-three centimeters tall.
"Are you lost? Only participants are supposed to be here. I can help you find your older sibling if you want," he said gently. "How did you even get in?"
'Why does everyone think I'm someone's little brother?!'
Caecus resisted the urge to punch the boy in front of him.
'He means well. He means well. He…'
He repeated the same phrase in his mind, trying to calm himself.
"I-I'm a participant," he said, doing his best to remain composed.
Looking at the boy's soul essence, Caecus realized he was one of the two exceptions, the one with similar density, and clearly physically superior.
A slight sense of intimidation crept into him, but he tried to remain neutral.
"A participant…? I'm sorry, but how old are you?" the boy asked, confusion evident on his face.
"I'm fifteen, like all of you."
The academy grouped students by birth year.
Caecus had been born in 2030, meaning anyone else born in 2030 would be in his class, regardless of whether they were born in January or December.
He had simply been unlucky to be born in December, though in the end, it didn't really matter since he had started in January anyway.
Introductory classes began in mid-December, while the official school year started on January first.
From December tenth until January first, second- and third-year students had winter break, marking the transition into the next academic year.
"Fifteen? Oh… I'm sorry. Uh, I'll go read something. If you need anything, just ask… haha… my name is Augustus, by the way."
The boy quickly retreated to his seat and sat down where he had been before.
'That was really awkward. But seeing people's reactions is actually kind of funny…'
Caecus wandered through the different sections of the library, occasionally coming across books about soul essence application.
'It's probably best if I research that later. Trying new things before the exams would be risky.'
So instead, Caecus returned to the basics and studied the material likely to appear on the entrance exam's theory test.
…
'Haa, that was exhausting. Going over every single possible topic is a lot of material. Well, it's fine, I didn't get a single thing wrong. Wait… how long was I studying? I lost track of time…'
Taking out his soul phone, Caecus infused it with his soul essence.
'What?! It's already nine?! I need to sleep…'
Hurriedly, Caecus returned the large stack of books he had accumulated while studying.
If he had stacked them all on top of each other, they would probably have reached his height.
'Geography of Lynea, where the fuck did I even get this from?'
Caecus picked up a book from the table and touched it.
He had no memory of reading anything about the geography of Lynea, a country on the other side of the continent.
Suddenly, something moved.
The blind boy flinched instantly as he sensed a presence in the seat next to him.
'What?! I didn't sense any soul… and it's impossible to hide your soul, unless you're… wait. It's a rank three?!'