"No, not this guy. Everything about him screams pervert," I thought to myself as Leo entered the classroom with a grin that would put Xander's to shame.
"Listen up, little sheep. Since this is your first class with the Elite, the Headmistress decided to bring in the best," he announced. "I am going to make fine warriors out of you. The training will be beautiful; I will not stop until every single one of you is on the ground begging for your mothers."
Leo kept grinning as he envisioned the days to come. Some of these kids had Monarchs for parents, and because of that, he was going to torture—ahem, train—them, showing them the "love" he couldn't show their powerful parents.
"I should head out before the crazy woman enters," Leo thought, turning to leave. "Goodbye, little sheep. I'll see you in the afternoon for combat class."
Finally, the idiot left. He was enjoying this way too much. The door opened again, and I looked up to see a gorgeous woman with brunette hair and brown eyes. Her body was shaped in all the right places, but out of respect—and a healthy fear for my life—I quickly looked away. I didn't want to open that can of worms.
"Hello, students. You will call me Miss Elanor," she stated. "You will speak only when spoken to. You will listen and pay attention to everything I say as if your life depends on it—because trust me, you don't want to fail my test."
She paced the front of the room. "We will begin by discussing the current state of our planet. In three years, you will be joining the battle, so it is my job to ensure you are equipped with the knowledge to survive. To understand our situation, I will start by explaining the difference between a Rank 9 and a Count."
She tapped the chalkboard. "To advance from Rank 9 to Count, you must establish a Domain. A Domain is the ultimate form of understanding one's ability and oneself. You must know your own character, your ambition, and your resolve to build a place that makes you stronger and grants you absolute power over your opponent."
"What about someone who doesn't have an ability? How do they form a Domain?" a random student asked.
I could only mourn him as a piece of chalk flew faster than any of us could react. It smashed into his forehead, leaving the skin red and swollen.
"Speak only when spoken to. There will not be a second warning," she said, her voice cold and sharp. "Now then, those without abilities can still form Domains, but it is incredibly difficult. You must understand that the energy we call mana is more complicated than you think."
She picked up another piece of chalk and began drawing. "Think of mana as different particles floating in the air. When you absorb it, you are taking in all of them; you aren't choosing specific particles. You just absorb them to increase your stats and strengthen your body. However, abilities help you filter specific particles to exploit. Take Tkos, for example—his body absorbs metal particles to coat his skin. There are other factors to the complexity of mana, but this is all your stupid brains can handle for now."
She paused, looking over the class. "Back to the question: those without abilities must first learn to extract a specific affinity from mana before they can create a Domain. You may not know this, but your ancestors didn't have 'abilities' to begin with. They had techniques,the same ones you use today and later discovered affinities. We will get into that later."
"Now, when the Corruption first struck, it spread like a virus. There was almost no stopping it. People and animals died, only to rise again faster and stronger. To end the cycle, Sarah Milon a Monarch specializing in Light cast her Domain. It proved effective at keeping the Corruption at bay, but one person can only accomplish so much. To protect the races, all the Monarchs gathered on the Continent of Quier. They drove away any race without a Monarch. It was brutal, but necessary."
She leaned against her desk. "They amplified Sarah's Domain using their own power to cover this tiny corner of the continent. They settled in strategic corners to hold the formation, sacrificing their life force in the process. This means if even a single Monarch falls, a crack appears, and millions will die. That is all for today. We shall continue tomorrow."
As she walked out, I saw my classmates' expressions. Some looked conflicted; others sat with a newfound, heroic resolve. What a bunch of naive idiots. Who in this twisted world would put selfish desires below someone else's? Who actually believes that 'life force sacrifice' bullshit?
In this world, no one is a god. Monarchs are at the pinnacle of power, but they are not divine. You have to lose something to gain something. To keep the Domain of a dead woman functioning, you need the energy of the living. They didn't "drive people off" this continent—they captured them and used their lives as fuel. Even today, people are being bred like livestock, slaughtered occasionally just to keep the barrier functional.
The Monarchs aren't heroes; they are tyrants who will kill anything to stay in power. They need the people afraid and dependent. As a Monarch's child, I know the darkness hidden in the shadows. I also know this isn't the only continent with living people; they just want us to think nothing else exists so we never try to leave.
One day, I'll make them pay. I'll tear away those warm smiles they wear while playing the part of "sacrificial parents."
After her lesson, we moved on to others: beast weaknesses, botany, and trap setting. I knew it all already. By the time we finished, I had reached a state of pure enlightenment born of boredom.
Now, we're changing into sportswear for combat class. Thank the universe it's not white—just black with gold trim. Looking at the others, you'd think they were heading to a real battlefield.