"When are these kingdom games starting, Headmaster?" Theo asked, making the old man put out three fingers.

"Three months, and in that time, you need to get selected and be on the team, Theo Merrick. You do that, and I will fix everything that needs fixing," the old man spoke with that same smile of his.

Theo felt like he was making a deal with a demon with how persuasive he was.

"And these games are dangerous, right?"

"Just as dangerous as entering a gate, illegally and legally both included. Nothing too special for your track record, I would say," the man spoke.

Theo took a deep breath. He couldn’t be talking about danger when his record would always show two entries into gates, one legal while the other downright illegal.

"I accept, Headmaster. Thank you for this opportunity," Theo spoke, making the old man clap his hands again.

"Good! I expect great things from you, Theo Merrick! You can go rest now. We will take care of your classes from tomorrow."

Just like that, the old man went on to write some more things down on a sheet of paper, and Theo got up.

He bid farewell to the headmaster and moved out of the room, finding both his attendants having a conversation with the same girl.

The opening of the door made the three look at Theo, and for the attendants to sigh in relief until Clara moved toward him.

"Young Master, this miss here is the student body head this year. She is telling us about an attendant course that we can enroll in alongside you," Clara spoke with her eyes sparkling.

But only Elias and Theo could see that; the girl could only see the poker face instead.

Theo smirked and looked at the girl.

"Thank you for the offer, and we will gladly accept it if my attendants would like it."

Both Clara and Elias agreed to it, and the student body head wrote some stuff down before she too bid farewell and went away.

Theo, Clara, and Elias went to the dormitory. The guide had already shown them everything about the academy.

After a little bit of registration, they got allotted a room, and Theo was surprised to see one big door and then a relatively smaller door that was given to him.

The bigger one was his living space, while the smaller one was given to the attendants if there were any.

Theo went inside the attendants’ room first to know if it was any good or not and realized that while the gate was smaller, the room was relatively big. It had all the amenities and more that lived up to an academy made in the royal capital.

Theo settled inside his room while Clara and Elias made arrangements in theirs.

By the evening, a worker came and gave him a timetable of sorts for tomorrow, which had some classes that were compulsory and then a meeting with the faculty head so that they could discuss further.

Theo had a good night’s sleep that night, even though he was itching to practice his aura, which he hadn’t done for quite some time now because of the travel.

In the morning, Theo made his way toward the first political theory class, which he was looking forward to.

And just when he entered the class, he saw a lady who looked to be in her thirties. Theo couldn’t help but look at her in awe with how beautiful she was.

She was wearing a black robe over her beautiful dress, and when she noticed Theo entering, she looked at him with a rather serious look.

"Theo Merrick?" she asked, making Theo nod.

"Yes, Professor."

"You’re early, but we can get started right away as there are no more students," the lady spoke again and then got up before starting to move toward Theo.

"My name is Maevelin Stork, but you can call me Maevelin, Theo Merrick," she spoke before moving her hand forward to shake his.

When she was close, Theo realized that she was about a quarter inch shorter than him.

He took her hand gently and gave the top of it a peck.

Maevelin looked at Theo with surprise but sighed when she looked at that professional look on his face.

"We will get started now."

Theo sat down on one of the seats before taking a big book from the professor.

"The headmaster told me about your situation, so this class will go a little faster than the usual flow. If you feel any need for things to slow down, you need to inform me about it."

With that, Theo’s first class started, and it went on for a total of three hours before the professor was done.

All this time, Theo took notes and understood all the topics she introduced.

"Your doubts made me happy that you are understanding things clearly even with the fast pace. Tomorrow, we will be going through the pillars of the Elaria Kingdom."

When Theo was done, he gave the professor a deep bow and went out with the book and papers in hand.

When he was gone, Maevelin looked at the contents they had already covered and had a sad expression on her face.

They were going so fast that she had covered the contents of over a month’s worth of classes in one, which made her feel like the decision was not a good one. Theo was going to burn out anytime now.

The next class was one that Theo was anticipating the most. It was the hybrid fighting style one that he wanted to take in the previous academy but couldn’t.

When he reached the class, he saw a man wearing the same black robe, but he was sleeping with what sounded like roars instead of snoring.

When Theo took one step inside the class, the snoring completely stopped, and the man peeked toward the gate.

"You are early, Theo Merrick. I thought you would be taking a break first," the man spoke before taking a big stretch and then standing up.

Theo smiled when he saw the build of the professor. The man was not a giant like his brother and father, but he was up there among the top in his eyes.

The robe was a tight fit too, making Theo know the status of his hard work.

"Name’s Carlos. I handle the hybrid training style in this academy," the man spoke while yawning before he looked into Theo’s eyes.

"Your eyes have a good level of sharpness, Theo. I like it. Let’s start already, follow me."

Carlos already started moving out of the class, and Theo kept everything on his table before moving alongside him.

They walked for a while, and when Theo looked outside, he saw many children moving out of the main gate with their suitcases dragging behind them. Some seemed to have attendants, while some were walking alone.

There were carriages lined up outside.

The corridors he was walking through did not have as many students as before.

"Having second thoughts about studying during vacation?" Carlos looked back with a grin.

Theo smiled and shook his head. "I need to catch up, Professor Carlos. For that, I need to make some sacrifices."

"I can’t say I have not seen your file. It was very interesting. I had the opportunity to fight alongside your father once a few years ago. I still remember that fight like it happened a few weeks ago," Carlos spoke with his fists clenching tightly and a look Theo was used to seeing. There was nostalgia in it.

They moved toward an area that had many training dummies, but these dummies were made with metal instead. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"The way you walk, the way you have the hilt of the sword in that position to access it within a few seconds. I see it all," Carlos spoke while looking at Theo from top to bottom.

"You have already surpassed the first-year level of the hybrid fighting style, which is the very basics. Maybe the second year too," he spoke, and Theo kept listening with a nod.

"So now, it all comes down to a few tests to know where you stand," he spoke. "First, show me how much output you can make out of your aura."

Two hours later,

Carlos had written many things on the sheet of paper he was carrying. The whole training area was in ruins.

There were slash marks all around the walls and the ground. The metal dummies were cut in half, and only the area Carlos was standing in was perfectly alright.

"You can go on par with a... normal fourth-year student, Theo Merrick.... Commendable," Carlos spoke before he stopped his writing.

"And your special ability, which you call your family’s secret art, makes you come among the top few in the academy already. I don’t have a clue about what I should teach you. Your basics are down to perfection, and all you need is to train your aura now to increase its output."

"So we will work on that from now on, and you can take this class’s last exam anytime as you see fit. In my eyes, you have already passed."

Theo only had a little inkling about it, but he didn’t know that he was about to pull some record timings in the academy, keeping everyone on edge all the time. It was time the Merricks rocked the world again.