Born In Ashes: The Enigma

"If you encounter any problems, don't forget to let me know," Maelir said as he dropped Azrael outside the Academy. "Also, if you don't like living in the Academy, you can always come and live with me."

"Thank you, Uncle," Azrael replied, nodding at Maelir's words.

Maelir smiled at him, and after speaking with him for a few more minutes, he left.

Once Maelir was gone, Azrael turned around and looked at the entrance to the Academy—the same entrance he had seen two days ago.

From his storage ring, he took out a square-shaped blue card and began walking toward the Academy's gates.

Just like last time, there were many senior students from Slayers Academy, dressed in black uniforms, assisting the new arrivals.

As Azrael reached the entrance, a male senior student stepped forward to stop him and asked for his student identification.

Azrael showed him the blue card he had taken out earlier, and the man scanned it with a device in his hand.

This student ID had been delivered to Maelir's mansion the previous day, sent by Mira, who had told Azrael she would handle all the admission formalities for him.

Once the device confirmed that Azrael's student ID was valid, the man handed it back and explained, "Please head to the dormitory area to get your residence first. You will receive information about your classes through your student identity card by noon."

Azrael nodded at the man's words and, after thanking him, headed inside.

He still had the map token he had received during his previous visit, so after glancing at it, he made his way toward the dormitory area.

The dormitory area was not far from the entrance, and he reached it in about half an hour.

When he arrived, he saw three long lines of people waiting outside the dormitory counters. The staff worked quickly, checking each person's information and assigning them their residence according to the rank they had achieved in the Tower of Trials.

Azrael quietly walked to the line with the fewest people and took his place at the end.

The staff members were efficient in their work, and the line moved forward at a rapid pace. There were no incidents of overconfident fools trying to cut in line as everyone knew that those who had been admitted to Slayers Academy were not weak.

In just fifteen minutes, it was Azrael's turn.

"Your student ID," A man wearing glasses said without even looking up at him.

Azrael handed over his card, and as the man scanned it to view his information, his eyes froze for a moment.

He finally looked up at Azrael, studied him briefly, then returned his gaze to the information on the device.

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Student Name: Azrael Thorne

Assigned Class: Elite Class

Academic Credits: 200

Rank: 1st

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'So he is the monster who cleared eight levels in the Tower of Trials during the assessment,' The man thought before handing the card back.

"I have input the coordinates of your residence into your card. Just follow them," He said.

Azrael took the card and left without a word.

As he walked, he activated the student ID card, and a small map with a marked location appeared before him. Following the map, he soon reached an area where many small mansions were built.

The surroundings were beautiful, with a lake flowing nearby and trees lining the roadside.

'It seems I'll be getting my own mansion, just as Mom told me…' Azrael thought, his eyes wandering over the buildings.

Before long, he reached the location marked on the map and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the mansion before him.

"These last three mansions are bigger than the rest…" He muttered, noticing that the final three mansions were larger than all the others, with the one assigned to him being the largest of them all—significantly bigger than even the other two.

"Let's hope this mansion has some practical benefits rather than just being grander than the others," He said as he walked forward.

He reached the door and touched its security device with his student ID.

The device beeped, and the door unlocked.

Pushing it open, Azrael stepped inside and saw a fully furnished, spacious living room.

Without much interest, he ignored the living room and the ground floor entirely, heading straight to the second floor.

When he arrived upstairs, he was met with the sight of several closed rooms, each sealed behind sturdy iron doors.

"Now that's a good benefit for being a rank-one student," He muttered, his gaze falling on the labels attached to each room.

Cosmic Energy Gathering Room, Gravity Room, Skill Training Room, Enlightenment Room, Spirit Training Room…

There were nearly ten different types of specialized rooms on the second floor.

What delighted Azrael the most were the Enlightenment Room and the Spirit Training Room.

Normally, he would have to pay academic credits to use these facilities at the Academy's training grounds, but now, he could use them for free in his own mansion.

'These will definitely accelerate my growth…' He murmured under his breath, his thoughts drifting to the task he had completed a few hours ago.

'Was this the reason I was given the task of achieving first rank—so I could gain all these benefits and grow even faster?' The thought seemed entirely possible to him.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but remember the dream he had right before receiving the task.

'Or maybe… it wasn't because of these benefits at all, but because of that strange place in my dream.'

One of the rewards for clearing eight levels of the Tower of Trials and securing first place was 200 Academic Credits.

And what could he use academic credits for?

'To quickly enter Eonrift…'

As that thought struck him, he began to wonder whether that strange place from his dream might actually be inside Eonrift.

"Well, I still need to gather three hundred more credits before I can enter Eonrift," He said with a shake of his head, continuing to explore the rest of the mansion.

By the time he had finished inspecting all the facilities, noon had arrived.

Just as he was about to relax, his student ID card buzzed.

Looking at it, Azrael saw a message instructing all students to gather at the location that had been sent to them—within one hour.