The carriage literally flew.
The word "flew" didn't mean figuratively that it moved quickly enough to feel like it flew but was actually airborne (above the ground) thirty foot by levitation (using an array of energies made of Void essence). The carriage was pulled by two horses that would appear as dark horses in the game but in reality were far creepier than that.
The horses were called Voidsteeds. They resembled horses, in very loose form. They had the shape of a horse in the same way that sharks have the shape of fish; the proportions were equivalent to those of a typical horse, however, everything that you instinctively feel when seeing a horse tells you that something is missing from the comparison. The horses to the eye were completely black – not just black in terms of pigment, but more accurately, black in terms of the absence of color. The horses' coats had no color. The horses' eyes were violet to the eye; their hooves did not touch the ground (ever). The air around their nostrils also shimmered with heat distortion when they breathed.
I continued to try to consciously ignore the fact that I was placing my life in the hands of animals that appeared to have been created by an evil genius who was working on creating what could be described as "nightmares that could fly."
The total flight time for the time it took me to ride to the portion of the grounds of Astral Zenith Academy from the Valdrake estate would be a total of four hours.It typically takes three weeks for ground transport to traverse the continent from the Imperial Heartland across to the Eastern Spires, where the academy is located by travelling along normal roads. However, thanks to the financial resources available to Valdrake and use of Voidsteeds, it has been reported that travel using these modes of transportation takes mere hours instead of weeks and that distances between different locations are simply suggestions, not limitations.
I spent my first hour preparing.
Flag #1: Entrance Exam (scheduled to begin no later than 72 hrs after enrollment). Duel with Aiden Crest. Plan for fight = Controlled Loss. Fight well enough to convincingly show D-Rank capability; lose close enough to maintain dignity. Frame the defeat as a case of bad luck rather than a display of weakness. Total time of engagement: duration 3 minutes. 3 minutes after time of engagement, my private level (Void) will be diminished and will be shown as my true rank.
Flag #2: Reputation Collapse (Conditional — rank is revealed). Mitigation of this flag = Controlled Loss at Flag #1 should prevent this from happening. If I can continue to show appearance as an underperforming D-rank character versus being a weak E-Rank, the vultures will not sense vulnerability.
Flag #3: Poisonous Tea from a Servant. Approximately 1-week from enrollment. A bribed servant will place a poison into Cedric's tea. This poison is what killed Cedric on Route #5 of Nyx's route when Cedric drank from it without checking it first. The easiest way to protect against this is to not consume any liquid unless I have personally examined it. Is this paranoia? Yes. Am I alive? Yes.
Flag #8: The Drakeveil Confrontation. Approximately 2-week from enrollment. Lucien will arrange for a public confrontation to take place. The specifics of the confrontation are not defined in the game and vary between Routes.More information was required before I could plan for the next stage.
For the second hour, I reviewed the Duke's enrollment list, which contained about 3000 students, 40 of whom I had seen in the game. The other 2960 students were unknown to me and included background characters in the game and minor nobles and commoners, who served as set-pieces in a narrative structure that primarily focused on the protagonist characters.
I recognized 40 names and did not recognize 2960 names.
I learned from this that I had only viewed the "tip of the iceberg" in the game, whereas the tip constitutes the ocean of knowledge.
For the third hour, I attempted to sleep; Cedric could sleep anywhere, which seemed to be another aristocratic superpower, but for me, my mind would not still. I kept visualizing Sera's drawing, Hana's face, and the Duke's eyes, and I could picture about the obsidian table. I could picture Valeria's hands trembling, gripping her wrist tightly enough to bruise.
During the fourth hour, I had my first vision.
"Youth." That voice from the driver came from behind the partition. "We're getting close."
I pulled back a portion of the curtain from the carriage.
The game had not prepared me for this.
Astral Zenith Academy is not just a single building. It is not a campus that could be described simply from an architectural perspective. Astral Zenith Academy is a wound in the stars; a place where the ground has exploded upwards, and all the debris remains suspended above.
Seventeen separate floating islands hover high in the sky above a large mountain range that reaches nearly into the atmosphere.The Eastern Spires were an impressive collection of islands, each ranging in size from that of a typical city block to that of an average small town. These islands were all connected with a combination of remarkably beautiful orbs of crystallized Aether that sparkled with a brilliance resembling that of lightning frozen in mid-air and lit by the sun. As water cascaded over the edge of higher islands downwards to the ones below, large plumes of vapor rose from these waterfalls into thin clouds before dissipating into nothingness.
Tower-like structures of stone or crystal resembled trees growing up from mountains. Some structures were perfectly vertical, while others were bent, twisted, or spiraled — often times, against the laws of nature and basic logic. Gardens, or hanging gardens, grew off the sides of cliffs. Off the edges of plateaus, various training grounds fell straight down to the ground below with soaring heights of more than a thousand feet.
The largest of these islands, which contained the main academy building/school as well as the central processing center for all Aether-based items created, had an extremely tall, majestic spire of white stone emerging from it. Eventually, the top of that spire extended into the realm of clouds far above.
The Eastern Spires were often referred to as "The Spire of Trials" and served as both the ultimate accountability for combatants and the place where combatants could be ranked or named by reputation.
The islands of the Eastern Spires received most of their energy from the vast number of Aether storms that existed between them. The energy in these currents passed from stone island to stone island, in what appeared to resemble a very slow version of lightning striking, and was also what fed each island's levitation array — which was what allowed all of the impossible shaped islands to float in mid-air. There was an overwhelming amount of ambient Aether energy being generated within this region of the world. I could feel it present in the air outside the carriage; I could also feel it from within the carriage, and especially through the Enchanted walls of the Void. The level of ambient Aether energy was so incredibly thick, it felt like stepping from one dry environment into a cavernous sauna; whenever I breathed in through my mouth, I experienced the taste of both Ozone and something extremely sweet. This sweet sensation engraved itself into the core of my body, thus inducing an uncontrollable surge of hunger (in a broken Aether Core) unlike anything I have ever experienced in my entire life.
The Eastern Spires hold the record for the highest concentration of Aether energy on the continent.The worlds energy gathered in a basin-like location and the Academy was built on top of it like a cup dipped into the ocean. No wonder these students grew stronger much faster than others. Training in this environment is similar to developing muscle in a weight training environment with gravity doubled. Therefore, anything you did in this environment was more valuable because there was so much more compliment to the energy and therefore, its density, richness and ability to respond to cultivation methods.
For a person on the Meridian Path, whose sensitivity to Aether flow is likely to be extremely high, this environment will feel like being physically inside of a sun.
I must take care. As one's sensitivity increases, so will the benefits, and as such, the risks are also going to increase significantly. If the ambient Aether flow overwhelms the adapted meridians and they are unable to adjust to the new baseline within a new set of meridians, the resultant experience will be something that would be between a seizure and a meltdown.
The carriage began to descend to the arrival platform, which was a wide terrace built of stone on the eastern face of the main island and was already crowded with the carriages, mounts, and teleportation circles of the students arriving from all parts of the continent. I felt the students before I saw them through the curtain. I could feel the pressure of several dozen, if not several hundred, Aether signatures pushing against my Void Sense, like a myriad of people all speaking at the same time.
Almost all of the Aether signatures that I felt were at the Initiate/Acolyte level. While a candle flame or campfire would be unremarkable if seen by themselves, they are exceptional when observed collectively.
A few Aether signatures were much brighter than the rest. The gold candidates were very powerful and able to do significant damage if developed correctly. I felt eleven signatures, which were at the Level of the Adept or above.
There were three Aether signatures, which stopped me in my tracks.
The first signature was warm; it radiated energy.There was a golden aura that felt like standing in the middle of a sunbeam. It was pure, clean, and beautiful; like a lighthouse that shined brightly but was gentle. It had the same effect as if I had been standing under Celestial Aether all day and it had been with me every moment of my life. This was what Seraphina Seraphel was feeling when she arrived.
A blaze of heat, aggression, and chaos was flowing through Liora Ashveil. It was a fire that was just beginning to burn out; the flames were licking the stones that held it back. The energy radiating from her body had to have been fuelling her because she was using every ounce of muscle in her being to control it. She had not come into being because of her bloodline; rather, she had created her own.
A deep, crushing cold surrounded Draven Kaelthar. It did not radiate from him, but rather pulled in the opposite direction – towards him. He created a force of movement freezing all other energies within his area of influence.
While I was tracking these three, I was also tracking several others. I was aware there were many dangerous ones; however, I discovered their signatures were either suppressed or lost within the mass of other symbols. They were being smart and hid.
The carriage landed, the Voidsteeds came to rest, and I could hear their hooves on the stone below as they cracked the ice. When the driver opened the door, I emerged from the carriage. When I did, two thousand heads turned in my direction. However, not all heads turned at once and not in an exaggerated manner.The waves created by my appearance rippled through the crowd of students nearest to the carriage (my new coach) in a similar manner to how they registered the crest on the door, the black coat, silver buttons, and the face belonging to the most feared name of the Empire's aristocracy.
The name is Valdrake.
When the name was stated within the crowd it impacted them as if it were a stone dropped into a pond. I could feel their reaction through their Aether signatures — spikes of fear, curiosity, hostility, and in some cases (not to be played down) sheer ambition. Political animals were looking for an opportunity, and timid folks were looking for a threat. The astute were able to see the two sides.
Me? I was of no assistance. The mask was fully intact, it had been since I awakened three weeks ago from my slumber. It had become so natural that I was starting to see less of a difference between the performance and my daily reality. Cedric Valdrake descended from his carriage as if he was the owner of the ground he walked upon, and he was very disappointed with its overall composition.
My violet eyes took in the crowd around me. I was not scanning, I was dismissing. When I made eye contact with anyone in the crowd they turned away from me. Some immediately. Some after they made an attempt at defiance which wilted under my perfected cold, calculating and completely unimpressed expression created in front of my mirror.
Tyrant's Aura. Though I did not obtain the skill from the Villain Shop, because I did not have the VP, the Aether energies flowing through my meridians as I was channeling from a dead villain's face for three weeks had given me a reasonable imitation. The ambient Void Energy surrounding me functions like a cologne, and I had the scent of the Valdrake estate. I was a walking embodiment of Power and Darkness and Old Money and that which drives the primal part of the brain away screaming.
---
[Villain Points Earned: +15]
Reason: Intimidated approximately two hundred students when I first appeared with no noise, no aggressive action, and without the use of any active technique.
Efficiency Rating: A.
Ledger Note: This is, to date, the most efficient way to intimidate others recorded by the System. The Villain Handbook would be proud of you if it existed...which it doesn't, as you are supposed to stick to the script and not improvise.
---
I walked across the arrival platform; the crowd naturally moved out of my path...not in a dramatic manner as would be depicted in movies, they simply altered their direction to avoid any direct interaction with me. Their "personal space" was approximately three feet when with other students, with Cedric Valdrake it was roughly ten feet. An illusion of respect presented as isolation...the natural habitat of a villain.
I was approximately halfway to the terminal when I noticed it.
A signature that didn't quiver.