Born In Ashes: The Enigma

Azrael looked at the name of the sender and saw it was from someone named Professor Ronald.

'He must be one of the professors who will teach us,' He thought to himself before checking the location the professor had instructed them to gather.

'It's not far from my place.'

After confirming that it would take him only five minutes to reach the destination, Azrael put away his student card and went down to the ground floor.

Using the mansion's backdoor, he stepped into the backyard.

The moment he entered the backyard, the scent of fresh grass and blooming flowers immediately hit him, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

He sat down on a bench in the backyard, gazing at the lake flowing beyond the property's edge, and took out a few high-energy bars from his storage ring to fill his stomach.

As he ate, he pondered over his current situation.

The area he had been assigned to live was reserved for the first-year Elite Class students of the Slayers Academy.

This meant that all the mansions he had passed on his way to his own residence were occupied by elite students who had just joined the academy, just like him.

'Judging by the size of the area, there should be roughly two hundred mansions here. Does that mean only two hundred people will enter the Elite Class?'

Considering all the students who had participated in the Eonrift Trial this year—including those who had entered Eonrift in January, Azrael estimated that the total number of new students who would be admitted into the Slayers Academy was around ten thousand.

This number was quite small, considering that the number of people who entered the Eonrift Trial was in the millions.

However, passing the requirements to enter top-tier academies was no easy feat, so this figure was not surprising.

Still, with only two hundred residences in the Elite Dorm, it meant that the remaining nine thousand eight hundred students who admitted this year would be placed in the Normal Class.

"Well, considering you have to pass the sixth level inside the Tower of Trials to enter the Elite Class, it's not all that surprising that only around two hundred people can make it."

In fact, when Azrael thought about it more deeply, he suspected that even these two hundred mansions might not be fully occupied, as defeating an elite monster higher than your rank—which was required at the sixth level of the Tower of Trials was far from an easy task.

'I wonder how many elite students are in this batch…' He mused. But knowing that all the Elite Students must have received Professor Ronald's message, he realized he would soon find out.

While he ate, his second consciousness was working diligently in the background to learn the Essentia Art—Skyrift Slash.

Just last night, he had finished refining his energy veins once more to make them more suitable for his power of wind. As a result, his ability to channel and utilize wind had increased even further.

With the refinement complete, he had decided to begin learning the Essentia Art.

Although his second consciousness was not as strong as his main consciousness, thanks to his Eternal-grade Trait, it was still progressing at a rapid pace.

"I will also use my main consciousness to learn Skyrift Slash during my free time. This way, I should reach the entry level in three or four days."

If anyone else had heard him say this, they would have thought he had lost his mind. Even though Skyrift Slash was a low-level Essentia Art, it was notoriously difficult to master a Essentia Art.

Even warriors at the Legend level often took several months just to reach the entry level in a low-level Essentia Art.

For Azrael, a mere Class-level warrior to say he could do it in three or four days sounded really absurd.

Essentia Arts were divided into several ranks: Low Level, Middle Level, High Level, Planetary Level, Star Embryo Level, Star Level, and so on.

The Low Level, Middle Level, and High Level corresponded roughly to Class Level, Epic, and Legend-level techniques, respectively.

In fact, most Star-level beings only used High Level Essentia Arts, as mastering anything above that was exponentially harder—often taking decades or even centuries just to reach entry level.

'Now that I am an official student, I can check out the academy's skill library as well to see if there are any useful skills for me,' Azrael thought as he finished eating his energy bar.

While waiting, he began using his main consciousness as well to speed up his progress in learning Skyrift Slash.

As he closed his eyes, the wind carried the sound of chattering voices from outside.

He didn't pay it much attention, knowing it was probably other Elite Class students heading to the location Professor Ronald had mentioned.

Although he was slightly curious about how many students were in his batch, it was a passing curiosity at best as these people didn't matter to him.

Other than his family in Genesis and the small number of people he had been close to on Earth, Azrael didn't truly care about anyone else.

Though he often appeared amiable when speaking to others, deep down he was indifferent.

It was just like during his Eonrift Trial. His attitude toward Rudheer had been cordial at first, but only because he had intended to use him as a source of information—a mere tool to aid him in the trial.

The moment Rudheer became an obstacle and threatened to hinder his progress, Azrael had eliminated him without hesitation.

He was neither a cruel psychopath who killed for no reason nor a good person.

After everything he had endured on Earth, he had long since stopped caring about others—especially since no one had been there for him when he needed help the most.

Time passed, and soon there were only ten minutes left before the appointed meeting time.

Azrael stopped using his main consciousness to study Skyrift Slash and stood up.

Taking one last glance at the beautiful, flowing lake in the distance, he turned and began making his way to the location Professor Ronald had sent him.