Chapter 72: White Lotus Building!

"Follow after us."

After walking out of the train station, the instructors walked through the streets of New Hope City. Vincent followed in tow.

He could see a lot of shops of various kinds as they took one turn after another, walking towards the tract of land owned by the military academy.

Along the way, Vincent stared at the demi-humans and subspecies with wide eyes, there were humanoid beings from the pyrite race, metal race, humanoid beings with fluffy tails and animal ears, and so on, but all of them were interacting with each other in harmony.

The demi-humans didn't mind him looking at them intensely as they could infer from his gaze that he didn't mean them any harm and was just curious about them.

As for why he was being outright disrespectful to them, this was the first time he saw so many different types of demi-human in real life, and unable to suppress his curiosity he couldn't help but look at them while following the instructors.

"How could are you gonna keep on looking at them," Kayle said as she looked at him.

"My bad," Vincent sheepishly replied while rubbing the back of his head.

"Come on, such a scene isn't common on Earth, and this might very well be Vincent's first time seeing so many demi-humans in a single place. Let him enjoy it," Theodore said as he glanced at Kayle.

Hearing his words, Kayle realized that he is excited to see beings of different races. So, she didn't say anything to stop him from relishing the feel of it.

"I was the same when I saw dozens of races in a single place for the first time. I thought it would take a lot of time to get used to it. Contrary to my expectations, it didn't take a lot of time for me to get used to it. They were all friendly, after all. Besides, the military academy is a place where children of all races attend. In a few days, you will also get used to seeing different races living together." Kayle reminisces as she saw the reflection of her past in Vincent.

Vincent nodded. She was right, after all. There were a lot of demi-humans inhabiting the thirteens cities of this world. He will be seeing different races pretty often than not.

"It's the western district that is usually so populated with different races as the spatial tunnel that leads to Lorena is located in this very district of New Hope City. It is located just a few miles from one side of our military academy, the side containing the nearly 10-mile field of flowers." Theodore explained.

"I understand," Vincent said.

Xavier was a world's connecting space or a Mini World. There were only thirteen cities on this planet, four were called great cities as they were far bigger than the others and also connected to Lorena.

This planet was mainly used to carry goods from the world of Lorena to planet Earth and vice versa, and although Xavier was riddled with dangers, the transportation system was well-protected by well-paid members of society, academic students, military personnel, and sometimes even mercenaries.

It was a big deal for more than one hundred trains to carry goods from New Hope City to the Central Train Station every day. The same goes for the other great cities and even the nine cities provided goods, one that sold for a reasonable price in the auctions held on Earth.

The thirteen cities were ruled by City Lords, each belonged to the Earth Federation, they were royals of the Avalon Empire that was a part of the Earth Federation, royal descendants of the four great royal families that were also part of the federation, and peoples that have contributed so much to the races that they were awarded a city by the federation.

The great city of New Hope, however, was ruled by Wallace Pyrite, a member of the Pyrite race that has been kind to the elves for generations. They have guided and served the elves race since time ancients. Wallace Pyrite was a vessel of the Empire, and although his Empire has signed a deal to become a major part of the federation once the tides of dimensional war shifted in their disfavor, Wallace refused to become a part of the federation.

His reasons were simple. He will die as a vassal of the empire, and live alongside them.

As he was too valuable and powerful, the federation comprised, signing a peace treaty with him, and letting him rule the Great City of New Hope.

Naturally, a great position comes with great responsibilities.

He was to protect the interest of his Empire and the Federation by saving the city each time it is under threat of annihilation.

The New Hope City spanned a full forty miles. It was connected with eight legs of the river of 108 legs, so problems related to water shortage never occurred. It was teeming with more than a few million beings, be it humans or demi-humans. Most lived in a common complex, sharing personal life with their professional life. The above portion was a home where the family lives, while the lower portion was a shop where various things were sold. The rich once lived in the few castles and palaces that could be seen in each district.

Wallace Pyrite was responsible for the lives of all these citizens that he has come to love over the years

Although the pyrite race was made of stone and had no heart or blood in their bodies, they were beings birthed from the World Tree and they were naturally gentle, loving, and kind.

Wallace was no different.

As the city lord, he has taken it upon himself to see that every gets their share. Even the poor families and less fortunate were able to make end meets due to his generosity.

Vincent who already knew that didn't find it weird to hear dozens of demi-humans and humans singing praise in the City Lord's name.

"He is a good man. It is not common to hear about a person opening multiple orphanages and old houses to help homeless youngsters and hopeless elders," Vincent thought as he walked out of the shopping district, entered a park, and then walked up a few stairs, reaching a pathway with trees on one side and fences, benches and vending machines on the other.

A few service Droid could also be seen sweeping the ground from recyclable trash like plastic bottles, plastic bags, and so on.

Sometime later, once they stepped on a winding path with trees on each side that stretched far and wide, Kayle said, "This winding path will lead us to the main entrance of the academy."

"Finally, we are almost there."

"There is no need to hurry. There's still half an hour left for the sun to fall and the entrance ceremony to begin." Theodore said as he intentionally slowed down to walk in a relaxed way.

Hearing his words, instructors Kayle and Vincent also decided to take their time while walking through the relaxing winding path. Along the way, they chatted about miscellaneous things.

Sometime later, once they reached in front of a few buildings that were shaped symmetrically, Theodore pointed at the one on the left and said to Vincent, "Well, we will be splitting up here. Once you enter this building you'll reach an open place where the entrance ceremony will be held. Everyone that has passed the entrance examination this year will also be gathered there."

Following the direction of his finger, Vincent chanced upon a building shaped like a white lotus.

A lot of silver patterns were drawn on the external petals of the structure and the internal petals were used as bridges of some sort.

"Instructors, I will see you later," Vincent said as he walked towards the beautiful building.

"See you later!" the instructor exclaimed while waving their hands as they looked at his back.

"Thank you for everything so far!" Vincent turned around and expressed his gratitude in a loud voice before entering the White Lotus building through the big doors.

After a moment, he found himself blending in with the massive crowd of newly enlisted students who were waiting for the ceremony to begin.

There were a lot of students here, enough to fill the massive floors connected to the bridges he saw outside the building.

Vincent looked around the place as he searched for Leila.

"Where is she? Should I use my magic technique to locate her?"

After a few moments, the sweet face of his girlfriend entered his sight. She looked like a snow rabbit lost in dark woods. He could see a lot of guys looking her out and he didn't like it at all.

Leila's small head turning left and right as she tried to find her boyfriend.

As he saw that, Vincent's lips stretched into a teasing smile.

He concluded that she was looking for none other than himself!

'Where is Big Brother? Why hasn't he come yet? The entrance ceremony is about to begin yet he is not here? Maybe I didn't search thoroughly. Ugh, it's hard to look for a single person in this sea of people.' Leila thought as she couldn't find her boyfriend, as searching for him in these massive crows was like trying to find a tiny needle in a haystack.

However, little did she know that Vincent was silently walking closer to her.

Along the way, his ear caught on a few important details from the students talking to each other.

"Although the tests were hard enough to disqualify more than 50% of the participants, there are still a lot of students enlisted in the academy this year," A descendant of the metal race said.

More than ten million people had participated in the entrance examination to become a part of the military academies. Out of them, the ones that passed and were chosen to become a part of the military academy located in the western district of New Hope City were mostly all here.

"Well, military academy is better than most of the other academies. The facilities provided to the students are so much better than what the others have to offer, it's natural that the people will choose us over the others. That's also why I am here!"

As the students chatted with each other, some trying to make friends, others already friendly enough to talk about their interests and personal life, a girl with a bob haircut, walked up to two guys who seemed like the hottest dudes in this place.

"My hometown is here in New Hope City. What about yours?" The female student tried to strike a conversation with the guy she found the hottest in the room.

"I am from Cloud Tower City. It isn't too far from here. Only an hour's ride away from where I come from. Though it's the first time we arrived here," Peter said as he looked at the short girl with purplish hair in front of him.

"Me too, I am from the same place as him and we took the entrance examination at the same time." Nevis chimed in from the sides. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Ah right… I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Iris. I am a newly enlisted student just like you. Though I took the entrance examination a month ago. Big guy, what's your name?" The girl said while looking at Peter implying that she was more interested in him who has a majestical and muscled physical appearance than a pretty boy like Nevis.

Although Nevis understood that she wasn't interested in him at all, he wasn't one to step back and accept defeat without a fight.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Nevis from the Truemight family and my dream is to become the greatest streamer. What is your family name? Who knows, our families might be great friends."

As Nevis blabbered on about his life, Iris's calm and mesmerizing gaze never left looking into Peter's eyes.

"Hi, I am Peter," Peter said with a pleasant smile as he looked at the pretty and somewhat eccentric girl with a head full of purplish hair and eyes more beautiful than the flower she was named after.

Iris Twilight beamed towards him.

"It's a nice name." She said while extending her slender hands towards him.

"Thanks, I guess," Peter said as he shook hands with Iris.

"Do you wanna exchange contact numbers with me?" Iris asked standing near him.

"Well, smartphones don't work here, and I don't have any other communication devices with me. So I don't think I can even if I want to." Peter scratched the side of his chin in embarrassment.

After he had arrived in Xavier, Peter found out that the intense magic power in the surrounding interferes with the working of the smartphone. Thus, they were useless here. Not to mention, there was no network in this world. So even if he had one of the better smartphones that could negate the statistics interference, he still won't be able to talk with her via a call or chat with her by using a chatting app.

"Hehe, we can exchange contact with each other by scanning the identity code at the back of our student identity cards," Iris explained as she raised one of her hands.

Iris's identification card was pinched within the slender and slightly ruddy fingers of her hand.

"Okay," Peter said in a calm tone as he internally exclaimed let's do this.

This was his first time interacting with a girl to befriend her to later become her boyfriend.

"Wanna hang out with me until the end of this ceremony?" Iris asked with a look of anticipation on her face.

"Yeah, sure, I would love to." Peter agreed as it was better to hand out with a pretty girl than a pretty dude.

Nevis could only eat dog food as he looked at the two acting like pair of lovebirds with eyes opened wide.

On the other hand, as Vincent reached behind his girlfriend, Leila coincidentally stepped backward and bumped into him.

"Argh! I'm sorry, I didn't know that someone was behind me." Leila apologized immediately after turning around.

As she was short and her eyes were also lowered, she didn't notice that the one she mistakingly bumped into was her boyfriend.

Vincent gazed at her with a loving look as he thought that she looks cute even when flustered.

"It's me, Leila. You can bump into me as many times as you want. I don't mind." Vincent stepped forward and patted her head.

Hearing his words, Leila's eyes widened in happiness as she discerned that this familiar voice belonged to her beloved boyfriend.

After lifting her head with one of his hands, Vincent stared into her eyes, and with one look he could discern traces of tiredness and happiness flickering in her beaming eyes.

In the split of a second, he concluded that she hasn't had enough rest and that she was happy to see him.

Leila gently gazed into his eye and said, "Big brother, I have been searching for you everywhere. I almost thought that you will be late for the ceremony."

"Sorry for worrying you," Vincent replied as he lightly embraced her waist with one hand and used the other to rub her under the chin.

Leila's eyes squinted in pleasure as he played with her like she was a cat.

'It feels so good, words can never compare.' She thought as pleasure and happiness began to fill every fiber of her being.

Vincent saw that she was liking this and he said, "Since you are loving this, I will rub the sides of your chin regularly."

"I am not allowing for that to happen," Leila said in a sweet tone that sound pleasant to her along with her happy giggles as she escaped the boundary of his trap of seduction.

Vincent teasingly smiled. "Oh, we will see!"

Right after, one could see him chasing after the skirt of a cute girl with skin as white as snow and looks as gentle and gorgeous as a cat.

After a moment, once the Dean of the academy along with a few higher-ups, as well as the student council president entered the White Lotus Building and walked up the stairs to stand on the raised platform, the sound of students talking to each other intensified.

"The student council President Eric is here!" A fangirl of the student council exclaimed.

The student council was made up of extremely handsome, rich, and well-qualified students. They were popular throughout many worlds as their videos have topped the charts of many streaming platforms a lot of times. So, it wasn't a big deal to see girls fanning over the members of the student council especially the president.

"Damn, he looks even better in real life than images and videos!"

"What's so good about him? His looks are feminine and he wouldn't look any different than a girl with a little bit of makeup. I am far better than him. Look at my manly moves. Look at my muscles."

After he said those words, the royal descendant of the Metal Family posed multiple times to outlines his thick and burly muscles.

However, he was not only a creature filled with grey muscles but also lacking bodily hairs.

He was bald and had no eyebrows!

"Holy shit, what was that? My eyes are tainted!"

"So ugly. What I just witnessed ruined my day," Gwen said as she rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I wish I can rewind this day by a few minutes!"

The students around her knew that there was no way her wish was gonna come true.

It's not like she is the King of Time!

A few moments later, a voice resounded throughout the building and sounded in the ears of every newly enlisted student.

"Quite down! The entrance ceremony is about to begin."