Chapter 111 Military Academy [1] - Groups

Lloyd stood on the platform of the teleporter and looked forward.

Determination could be seen on his face; he didn't really understand what was coming next after all, but he still knew he would get through it alive. He's gotten through everything so far... He lost too many people to die an impactful death.

He had to make sure that he would eventually return to his family. That he could protect them when the time was right.

He knew something was coming, and while he didn't know what it was, he knew that its very presence would change the universe.

That's when a set of words he had heard before echoed in his mind.

"The stars are going out... Silence will fall." Lloyd narrowed his eyes, taking a final glance at his family before the teleportation device sucked him out of the room and threw him into a dimensional tunnel.

A sense of euphoria washed over Lloyd the moment he entered the tunnel. It felt like he was at home, but he knew that wasn't the case.

It was temporary. Homes were not temporary.

A bright flash of light blinded Lloyd for a moment, yet in the next second, Lloyd regained his vision, finding himself in a place that looked similar to the outpost, but a bit larger with much stronger guards.

Leaving the teleportation pod, Lloyd looked back to see hundreds of teleportation pods place in a grid-like pattern. People of all ages walked out of the teleportation pods, everyone from the age of 14 to 30 walked out, and while their commandments varied, most of them were first commandments or lower.

'I guess Arthur and Grace were right.' Lloyd thought while thinking back to them, telling him that many of those who would go to the military academy would be those without any fighting experience, or those with fighting experience but weak commandments.

Of course, this did not mean that those below the first commandment would be in the same class as Lloyd. Hell, they wouldn't even be in the same academy as Lloyd. Most of them would be thrown into the boot camps for the first year. Think of it like a foundation year where they can catch up to their peers of even surpass them.

'Now that I think of it, when I last saw Arthur, he was in the early stages of the first commandment, and he is about the same age as me. Yes, he awakened before me, but from the reports about the 7 reapers, it said that Arthur was not a first commandment when he joined.

He has more than enough recourses to reach the first commandment in under a month, so why didn't he?' Lloyd thought.

While it was weird, it wasn't too weird per se. Many families had the tradition of making their children go through the commandments on their own without help them break through. Lloyd understood the reason behind why they did it, but for some reason, he didn't think of it until now.

'Oh wait. The Starforger family is like a huge sect. Maybe they don't have enough resources to go around? But my parents said he was an heir of the sect, so I don't know what to believe now.' Lloyd sighed while facepalming.

"Can you move out of the way?" A boy the same age as Lloyd asked with an annoyed voice after seeing Lloyd stand still for an extended period without moving.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Lloyd apologized before moving out of the way and leaving the teleportation room they were in.

Lloyd's eyes widened the moment he left the teleportation room. The place they were in, it was nothing like he had seen before. Hell, even Snow city didn't look as good as the place he was in right now.

Flying cars could be seen moving around the city skies. They weren't orderly in any way, shape, or form, but just when you'd think I car was about to collide with another, they would miss one another by a hair's breadth.

"Holy shit." Lloyd exclaimed while many others did the same. However, those who didn't exclaim looked much richer than he was just from their clothes and the enchantments he felt on them.

Most of the richer folk decided to wear something white with the main color their family crest held embroidered into the clothing lines.

Anyone from a strong backing did not forget to place a visible family crest on their chest pockets or into their dresses.

'Don't they look way too stylish for a group of people who are about fight for the lives in the upcoming months?' Lloyd thought to himself, yet he did not make the mistake of standing still this time. Instead, he walked alongside everyone else, at the same pace everyone else was walking at.

It took a few minutes of walking, but they all eventually reached their destination.

"Please stand in an orderly line. When you reach the assessment podium, it will quickly check your identity and confirm your commandment.

It didn't take long for Lloyd to reach the front of the queue. Sure, the military academy had the most people enter it out of any academy, but they seemed to have it under control since they had hundreds of podiums in place.

The military academy was broken into several branches spread throughout the central sector of the milky way. Eight, to be exact.

North, North-East, East, South-East, etcetera.

Each branch took in the people closest to them, and while it doesn't seem like much at first, once you look at the numbers on paper, it makes sense why the military needs the largest budget in the Solaris Empire.

Once Lloyd reached the podium, he simply placed his hand on the crystal in the middle and closed his eyes.

He could feel his mana being forcefully pulled from inside him, traveling through a section of his nervous system-looking mana channels and into the crystal.

His mana channels weren't just split into two different sections, but rather into 4/5 if your count the capillaries.

After testing it out, Lloyd realized his output mana channels were his nervous system-looking ones. They were split in two. It is a section that channels mana into the core and a section that takes mana out of the core and releases it outside his body.

On the other hand, his blood circulation mana channels did not release mana outside his body. Instead, they used the mana gathered by the nervous system channels to circulate that very same mana throughout his body.

By doing this, he slowly increased the power of his body throughout every circulation, but there was a small problem that he hadn't really dealt with.

He didn't know how to strengthen his core's power, and despite trying to gather ambient mana inside, it didn't seem to be the trick to it.

He knew that it had something to do with the runes inside his mana core, but ever since he created his core, he hadn't been able to channel mana into the runes.

However, other than that, it was almost creepy how well his mana channels worked for him. Of course, he had no idea that the training he had with Eris had affected the way his mana channels would be formed, but it wasn't just that.

Years of using his father's katana techniques also added to create the perfect mana-channeling system, and if he were to add the fact that he had Eris's blessing when he had broken through, it became the complete package.

When Lloyd's mana finally finished channeling itself into the crystal, he felt his watch alert him of a message, and as he walked through the testing site, he looked at the message he had received.

[Military ID]

[Name: Lloyd Elrod]

[Age: 17]

[Year: First]

[Group: ---]

[Commandment: First - Initial Stage]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Shadow Assassin Hybrid]

[Talent: 2-Star]

[Affinity: Shadows - Fire]

'Hybrid, huh?' Lloyd thought to himself.

He walked for a few minutes, and before he knew it, he had reached an area with nothing but grass and groups of people walking around and talking to each other.

Lloyd didn't really want to talk to anyone. Socializing wasn't really his thing, and after everything that had happened with Felix, Tina, Veronica, and all the others in the dungeon, Lloyd wasn't thrilled nor eager to make friends.

After several minutes of waiting, a pillar was erected out of the ground with a man wearing military clothes standing atop it as it rose above everyone by at least 10 meters.

"Welcome to the military academy." The man spoke, his voice rough and low, almost like a threatening growl. The man standing there was and even slightly old, something you don't often see nowadays due to the increased lifespan.

He had a white goatee that wrapped around his mouth, as well as the brightest blue eyes Lloyd had ever seen.

His military coat was littered with dozens of badges, each one holding an honor of its own and a symbol that he had saved countless lives to get each of every one of them.

However, even after everyone had seen him, their chattering did not stop. It was quite the contrary, actually.

"Qui-ET!" The man slammed his foot onto the pillar, sending out a shock wave that made the entire place tremble with the power of an earthquake scaled 7 on the Richter scale.

His booming voice almost destroyed the eardrums of the weaker students, while his aura alone quieted down everyone to the point that it had become eerily quiet.

'He's stronger than my father.' Lloyd thought with a slight frown.

"You will be sent a message shortly that will tell you which class group you will be in for the next term. If you are lucky, you will move up a group when you reach the next term, which is usually the case for many of you since you won't be assessed by your talent or commandment, but rather by your skill.

Your entrance ceremony statistics will also be taken into account when choosing your group; however, since many of you either lost in the first round or didn't attend at all, we will be using the rest of the information we have in our hands to make the most educated and fair decision we are capable of making.

Throughout your first term, no matter what group you are put in, you will be learning the basics of fighting and cultivating. Anyone below the first commandment will be sent to a boot camp for their foundation year, except a few chosen individuals who will go straight into their first year.

If you can prove yourself within the first term, there is a chance that we will move you into the first year's groups. The same can be said for anyone who reached the first commandment within the first term." The man explained with a voice that inspired determination in the hearts of anyone who knew they would be in the boot camps for their first year.

As if it had been waiting for this moment for its entire life, the promised message came as a wave of notifications swept through the crowd, making everyone look down at their watch to see what class they would be in.

[Military ID]

[Name: Lloyd Elrod]

[Age: 17]

[Year: First]

[Group: C-3]

[Commandment: First - Initial Stage]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Shadow Assassin Hybrid]

[Talent: 2-Star]

[Affinity: Shadows - Fire]

[Author's note: Just to give y'all context, this is how the group system works.

Going from highest to lowest, the lettering goes-

Special Class: X

---

S

A

B

C

D

---

Foundation Year: E

The number means nothing. It just tells you what class your going to be in, not how high your class ranks in the group you're in.]