Chapter 9: Astrid's qualification

THE twins' parents, specifically their mother, was against them going to a school at the Empire's capital. Although she hadn't told it directly to them, her actions were more than enough to express her opinion.

When academies and universities started accepting application for incoming students, their mother had been constantly suggesting different schools to them. All of those schools were all quite famous. Only accepting the best students. But none of them were located at the Empire's capital. Not only that. As she was suggesting those schools, she was also telling them how dangerous the capital was. That it was not an ideal place as people might thing it was.

From that, it was quite obvious that she didn't want them to go to the Emperor Star.

The only reason Astrid could think of for that was because of their mother's family. Considering how their parents eloped, it was not hard to imagine that their mother's family would be very antagonistic towards them. She was probably worried that once they went to the capital, those people would do something to them.

But nothing could be done since he and Reas had already made a decision.

The two of them had never talked about their future with their parents. And their parents never asked, really. Probably because they trusted their choices. And maybe also because they thought that the two of them would choose something along the lines of agriculture and culinary.

It was due to the fact that Reas had been helping with their father in the farm ever since he was a child. While Astrid, on the other hand, had been very talented in cooking. So, it's not wrong for their parents to think that. What they didn't know was that their children both had very different dreams from what they expected.

Reas wanted to be a soldier and Astrid decided to go back to his former trade – acting. Of course, both of them wanted to go to the best school. And the school they chose just happened to be in the capital.

It's a no brainer for Reas to choose the Imperial Military Academy. Anyone who wanted to be a soldier of the Empire would choose that school as their first pick.

Meanwhile, Astrid chose Redwood School of Performing Arts. It was the school where the top actors and actresses of today went to. They have the best facilities and they were also affiliated to a lot of filming studios. Many entertainment companies often scouted potential talents from there. If one wished to be a top-ranking star across the universe, then being accepted to Redwood would be the first step to that.

Even though he had a lot of experience in acting, he was now in a different era. A lot of things would definitely be different from how it was in the ancient Earth. So, he had to adapt. And the best way to do that was to go to a performing arts school. He simply chose Redwood. Not just because of its obvious advantages, but also because it's in the capital where his twin would be going.

As soon as he found out that Reas was planning to go to the Imperial Military Academy, his choice of school immediately narrowed down to those at the capital. How could he let his baby brother go there alone? Of course, he had to accompany him. Besides, if both of them were going there, they might be able to convince their parents to agree to them.

"Minimize the damage? I think it would be the complete opposite," he replied back to what his brother said earlier. He was already imagining the reaction of their mother.

"Yeah, especially once they found out that you're planning to be a star," Reas said putting more bite on the word 'star'. Clearly, he wasn't totally on board the idea of his brother being one.

"And they won't be against you being a soldier?" Astrid countered with a raised brow.

"They probably will. But they definitely will have a more violent reaction to your choice of career."

Well, he kind of already thought that that would be the case. The entertainment business here would surely have its own dark side. Just like how it was in his past life. And because of how he looked, he would definitely be a big target. To those jealous actors and to some perverted investors. If he didn't watch his back, he would definitely be destroyed.

But just as he said to his brother earlier, he could take care of himself. And that's not simply lip service. Because just like his brother, he also had a very good qualification. Although his physical strength was only A level, his mental strength more than made up for that. It was SSS level. But what was registered on his personal record was S level. He could thank his parents for that.

A month after he and his brother were born, their family went to a small hospital near their land to have their qualifications checked. Doing that was important because the resulting information was needed to completely register newborn babies as citizens of the Empire.

As already mentioned before, Reas had both SS level mental and physical strengths. That qualification was already very high and considered as quite rare. Because most of the time, if one had a high level of mental strength, then their physical strength would be lower. And vice versa.

He remembered how proud his parents were when they were told that.

Then it was his turn.

The result was as already mentioned – A level physical strength and SSS level mental strength. He remembered the worried look of his parents when they saw that SSS level. Having SSS level strength, either mental or physical, was already very eye-catching. But add that to his appearance and he would simply be a walking light stick. Or at least that was what his parents said.

And so, they asked the doctor who took his and Reas' qualifications to not put his real mental strength on his personal record and change it to S level. This was because a doctor's signature was needed in order to register one's qualification on their personal record.

The doctor was their father's friend. From what he heard from their conversation, his father saved the doctor's life before. So, to repay him, the doctor agreed. He had some big guts to actually do that. After all, if it was known that he actually faked someone's record, he would definitely be punished.

And that's why, Astrid had always been careful whenever he used his mental strength. Not only because of his parents but also to not implicate that doctor. By using mental strength, he meant putting mental pressure on others. The higher the mental strength, the stronger the mental pressure you could put on other people.

Because he knew right from the start his real level, he was able to train himself on how to control it early on. It was a bit hard from the start because his parents put a limiter on him on the guise of a choker. It would limit his mental strength to S level. It was a bit hard to get around that limiter. Now, the choker he was wearing had long been replaced by an ordinary one.

When he started his secondary education, he ordered a choker online that was similar in appearance to his limiter. So, he replaced his limiter with it. Since then, he was able to freely used his mental strength to the fullest. He was actually quite lucky that he had almost perfect control.

And this was how he was able to protect himself.

"Don't worry, I'm confident I'll be able to convince them," Astrid said to his brother. Then he smiled at him. "Maybe you should also start thinking of ways on how to convince our parents."

Reas shrugged. "Well, if they don't agree, I could always just run away."

Astrid glared at Reas when he heard that. "Don't you dare."

His good brother grinned at him, full of mischief. "That's why you should help me."

"Are you blackmailing me?" Astrid asked with a frown.

"No way. How could I do that?" Reas leaned on him. "But Aster will help me anyway, right?"

This brat. Astrid could only punch his brother's arm as an answer. But they both knew that he already agreed.