Chapter 98: The First Class

The morning sun shone through the curtains of Valerian’s dorm room; the light hit the oversized bed and went straight into his eyes, causing him to wake up.

With a still groggy mind, he sat up and looked around himself.

’Right, I’m in the academy now.’

Valerian pulled away the bedsheet and stepped from the bed. Today he was feeling much better than he did yesterday after the short nap.

The rest, paired with the healing given to him by [Genesis Spark], fully healed his damaged soul overnight.

And Valerian went straight ahead and tried it out by teleporting into the bathroom. To his delight, there was no pain or weird feeling during or after the teleport, reinforcing his diagnosis that he was now fully healed.

’Finally, I can teleport without pain. I missed that so much.’

Over the years, space had become the affinity he used the most. Whenever he didn’t want to walk somewhere, even for small distances barely a meter, he always used his space affinity.

So not being able to use it even for one evening caused a feeling that something was missing to swell up inside him.

In a good mood, he went and took a long shower while looking at his watch.

’I have 30 minutes until the first class.’

Today the classes would officially begin, and Valerian of course had to attend them. When he was done with his shower, he teleported back into his room as a warm gust of wind dried his body.

He was about to search for his uniform when he remembered that he had to wear the same uniform he had to wear to the banquet yesterday. It wasn’t just a ceremonial outfit; it was also his day-to-day school uniform.

He reached inside his pocket dimension and pulled it out. After he finished putting it on, he stepped in front of the large mirror that hung on his closet and looked at his reflection.

’Damn, I look good.’

The black fabric with silver lines stood out against his silver-white hair and pale skin, while his onyx horns made a stark contrast with the head of hair.

The inside of the outer robe looked like a mirror into the cosmos, with stars, galaxies, and other celestial objects drifting around in a purple light.

Valerian gathered his long hair and tied it into a high ponytail with a hairband he created with Twilight.

The ponytail fit really well with the outfit, as it took away from the wild look and made him look more refined and royal.

Finally done with styling his hair, Valerian teleported to the entrance of his room and left through the portal.

Once he got to the lobby, he could see other students walking out of the building and to their classes. As Valerian made his way through the crowd, his special and unique uniform stood out against the ocean of students.

When they looked in his direction and realized who was walking there, they couldn’t help but remember the speech Valerian held yesterday.

Some of the students became angry and wanted to confront him on the spot, but none actually came closer, as Valerian released some of his mana to keep them from annoying him so early in the morning.

He didn’t stop his relaxed walk and walked outside the dorm building. There he could see Arthur standing and waiting for Valerian. Arthur wore the standard-issue academy uniform.

The standard uniform consisted of a black blazer with silver constellation-like lines, a white inner shirt, a black vest and a deep blue tie with the same constellations on it.

The hem of the jacket was slightly longer than normal, and the inside had a deep midnight blue design with stars inside it. It looked like a less sophisticated version of the one Valerian was wearing.

Every student could decide if they wanted to wear pants or a skirt; there was no rule that the female students had to wear the skirt, and they could, if they so chose, pick the same pants as the male students.

It mattered little, as for the combat lessons there were academy-issued combat suits that everyone was supposed to wear.

"Good morning."

Valerian walked up to Arthur and greeted him.

"Oh, good morning."

After the short greeting, they both walked in the same direction. Both were obviously in the elite class and therefore had the same schedule.

As they walked to their class they didn’t speak much, as neither of them was a morning person. After walking for a few minutes and taking three spatial gates, they reached their class.

Since the elite class was so much smaller than the other classes, the classroom was built like a lecture hall with rows of seats at different heights, ascending so the people in the back could see what was happening in the front.

Some of the students were already seated and waiting for their teacher to arrive, but as Valerian and Arthur entered the lecture hall, everyone in the class looked at them. They were the first and second rank after all; naturally, that would turn some heads.

But they ignored the stares and walked up the stairs to a seat in the back rows.

Sitting at the very back on a window seat was Seraphine.

She wore her long silver hair in one braid; she wore the academy skirt with black thigh-highs. She had her head down and was reading a book, so she didn’t notice that Valerian sat to her right and Arthur sat to Valerian’s right.

"Good morning."

When she heard Valerian’s voice directly next to her, she sprang up in surprise, causing her book to fly into the air.

The book disappeared from mid-air and reappeared in Valerian’s hand, as he looked at her with a grin.

"What’s the matter? Why so jumpy?"

As the realization settled in that it was Valerian, a slight blush found its way onto her face as she snatched the book from Valerian’s hand.

"Who’s jumpy? Not me! And don’t sneak up on people!"

"Yeah, yeah, got it."

With a light laugh, Valerian leaned his head on his elbow and looked at the flustered Seraphine.

"I didn’t have the chance to say this yesterday, but you looked really good."

The light blush on her face deepened, but she stayed quiet and turned to the window, not wanting to look at Valerian. But there was a small, imperceptible smile on her face.

Lucky for Valerian, Arthur wasn’t paying attention to their interaction, as he was slumped over his desk and falling half-asleep.

The reason he was so tired was that he spent the entire night planning his first day and how he could impress his female classmates. But all that planning left him too tired to actually go through with his plans.

Over time, more and more students entered the class, until the last person entered and the clock hit 9:00, signaling the first class to start.