Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 211: Chapter 211: Factions of the Academy

Chapter 211 – Factions of the Academy

"Spirit Affinity?"

Cassius asked while slowly standing up, his joints cracking in the process. Finally, he had time to take in the sight of the wide, enormous room.

By his estimate, it had to be enough to fit half of the Desdemona mansion.

’Why so big? Oh, right...’

The answer came immediately when he remembered Mallory’s true race.

’A dragon... how did no one know about that in the Game?’

This was some massive, unexpected information. Cassius had originally thought that only the White Phoenix was a being of special birth and race hiding within the Kingdom.

But there was a dragon too. And that dragon was the Dean of the Academy herself.

’This Kingdom is strange. Why are so many powerhouses from other parts of the world gathering here?’

Just what was here?

Or was it some kind of convergence pulled together by the world’s Will, because of Emrys Stormblessed’s existence?

Did the World wish to create an environment suited to him? An environment where opportunities to grow stronger would never run dry?

Cassius felt he was spot on.

After all, by the end of the Game, the White Phoenix became Emrys’s Sugar Mommy. To say he became even more outrageous would be generous.

Completely unacceptable.

’Damned World, or Fate, or whatever is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Making everything easy for Emrys.’

[You’d better focus on the dragon in front of you before talking about a Phoenix.]

’I was complaining about Emrys, Queen.’

[And complaining will get you nowhere. Besides, I know you have something planned for this.]

’Oh dear,’ his lips curled into a smile, as if daggers were hidden behind it, ’I have many things prepared.’

Ananke smiled, expecting nothing less.

Cassius then shook his head, turning his attention to his master, who was leaning against her desk.

The desk was the only piece of furniture in the office, aside from a chair. There was nothing else in the room, its walls painted in a strange shade of silver that seemed to glow like starlight.

"You must have surely felt it." Mallory began, her eyes taking back their draconic shape as she looked around. "Dragons are special beings, granted many things at birth. One of the most basic things we can do is see and communicate with Spirits."

She lifted her finger and swept it downward, causing Fire, wind, earth, lightning and all manner of elements to burst and flood the room for the flicker of a second, or even less.

Cassius’s back was damp with sweat. The power just now was so overwhelming that he had witnessed his own death within that span of time.

"And some of us," Mallory continued, unbothered, "can even form a contract with them, if our Spirit Affinity is strong enough."

"Was what you just did...?"

"Yes, technically, that was not my own power." She replied. "But I have quite a number of spirits under me."

"Isn’t that too strong?"

"Why do you think dragons are among the top races of this world?"

"Makes sense." He tilted his head. "What are the others, though?"

"That, little bastard, is none of your business for now." Her silver eyes returned to their human form. "Have you been in contact with Spirits?"

Cassius nodded curtly, stopping a couple of metres from her. "I do manage to see some spirits from time to time. But they all avoid me, for some reason I don’t understand."

"Did you do something?"

"I do many things every single day." He shrugged. "But if the question is whether I did something to anger them, then I don’t know. I don’t even know what could anger them."

"I thought you were good at everything." Mallory looked at him harshly. "That boy Emrys, despite being human with no bloodline related to Spirits, can control them. No, he’s even a {Prince} when he uses his Manifestation."

"You’re comparing me to someone born with a bloody jade spoon in his mouth, master. Take one look at Emrys and the first thing you think is: Chosen One! That bastard has the label stamped on his bloody forehead! And he wears it proudly!"

"Perhaps too proudly." The Dean added.

"See!"

"That doesn’t change the fact, does it?"

"Master, don’t you know it’s frowned upon to compare your disciple to others?"

"I do whatever I want, little bastard." She shrugged. "Now shut up and put your hand on this sphere. Let’s see how much the Spirits hate you."

A white sphere the size of a baseball appeared between them, slowly rotating in place.

A strange power wafted out of it slowly. a kind Cassius had only felt slightly when he was close to Klaus.

Spirit Essence.

A unique type of essence only Spirits and their companions could use.

Klaus would be dreadfully strong in the future, once he succeeded in controlling both Spirit Essence and his own essence.

The quality and strength of the two were, after all, different.

Exhaling, Cassius cleared his mind and raised his wooden hand before placing it atop the sphere.

Channelling his essence, he coated it around the sphere.

It began to glow, but the glow was harrowingly dim, like the fading light of a dying ember.

The same glow his Birthright Mark had once had, before Ananke’s Blessing.

"Worse than I thought." Mallory sighed, then stored the sphere away. "You would have become more powerful if you managed to form a spirit contract, even with an Unranked one. But we’ll leave that path for now."

"Is there no way to increase Spirit Affinity?"

"There is." She said. "But not something you can do at your current level."

"I want to—!"

"Later." Mallory cut in directly, her eyes narrowing. "You’ll need to head back quickly to prepare for tomorrow. Let’s talk about the factions of the Academy first. You need to be aware of them in order to know how to act."

Cassius sighed, disappointed, then nodded. So they began their conversation, talking about the factions.

There were three factions at the Academy, each with its own vision of what the Academy should be and how to achieve it.

There was the Dean’s faction, where she was the sole member.

’They want your blood that badly, huh? Wait... didn’t I just make myself a target again by becoming her disciple? Queen’s breath. Always problems.’

[That’s your fate.]

’Don’t talk fate with me, Queen.’

[Rude.]

The Dean’s faction was unnamed, Mallory finding it pointless. Her vision of the Academy was... the same as it had been at its beginning: a perfect place to create the strongest.

Her vision of "the strongest," however, was not limited to physical might. Mallory knew the importance of those who excelled in Alchemy, Runes, Architecture and even simple research.

She accepted them all, and respected them all, as long as they produced worthy results.

However, the second faction — the one under Adam Kai, better known as Teacher Kai — was quite different in a very subtle but fundamental way.

To Adam, talent was supreme. Nothing else mattered to him.

And his own vision of talent seemed to be ridiculously limited to physical talent, with little regard for intellectual or supporting ones.

Cassius only now realised that Teacher Kai was the one who had turned the Academy into a little pit of vipers where only the strongest survived, changing it from the original holy place of learning.

Adam Kai was the one emphasising the importance of power and how the strong ruled. Numerous teachers stood behind him. Even some Head Teachers.

’Is that why he chose Emrys? And is that why, back in the Game, being Teacher Kai’s disciple was a guaranteed 89% chance of success at the Academy?’

Cassius had initially believed it was because Teacher Kai was a Master.

But no.

It was simply because he had ridiculously high influence in the Academy, and power to boot.

All these hidden politics were things never clearly mentioned in the Game, only left insinuated.

All Cassius knew was that the teachers wanted the Dean gone.

’And I’m not even surprised. How could I know anything about it, when the Academy, for Emrys, was a heavenly place to collect women for his harem and slap lowly third-rate villains every chance he got?’

It was no wonder all of this was new to him.

’But let’s look on the bright side. It’ll be different for him this time. I’d better start making a list of every woman I need to blackmail, kill, or otherwise keep away from Emrys.’

Emrys was a hero, according to the Game. The more people around him, the more his motivation to protect them and grow stronger.

That was something Cassius wanted to avoid as much as he could.

’Ah well, let’s think about it later. For now...’

There was also the third faction, the one controlled by the Vice-Dean himself, White Chamberlight.

This faction’s vision was truly unexpected to Cassius.

To the Vice-Dean, the way of the future was to focus heavily on researching the monsters, the concept of the Path and the Origin Pool, and most importantly... Characteristics.

The Vice-Dean was known to see humans as limited creatures who could only transcend by integrating Characteristics and power from other races.

For that, he would need more research-focused people and... more test subjects.

Cassius frowned heavily at the mention of "test subjects."

’So these are the three factions. Each one believing it’s right.’

But Cassius didn’t care who was right.

He only cared about the fact that he was, by some twist of fate, in the Dean’s faction.

And that automatically made the Dean’s vision the right one. The other two be damned.

"We’re in a more dire position than I thought." Cassius said, standing beside Mallory, leaning against the desk like her. "How is it that you have no support? Not even one Teacher?"

"There are rules. Adam and White know well how to bend them to their needs. I try, no doubt, but they’re more adept at sly things."

"What makes someone eligible to become the Dean?"

That was something he needed to know first.

"Support behind you, the power to stand against the current Dean, and the decision of the Paragons in your favour." She replied flatly. "Then the final step would be to go before the First Law, and a verdict would be made."

"And what is Teacher Kai missing?"

"Power on par with mine, and the Paragons’ support." She replied. "He’s very close to the former. As for the latter... he’s close there too. One of the three Paragons supports him. One more, and he has the majority, and it’s over."

"So I’m part of the game at the very end." Cassius frowned subtly. "What exactly are Paragons, anyway?"

"You’ll find out later." She said simply.

He sighed, having expected it.

Still, he was deeply curious about them. Nothing of them had been revealed in the Game except their number and the identity of one of them.

The White Phoenix. She was a Paragon.

And the Paragons had authority, power and resources. They were a kind of backing that could take you far and high.

Cassius sighed, slowly shaking his head. "I understand."

"So you understand that I cannot go easy on you in your training."

"I prefer it that way." He said, looking at his arms. "But first, I’ll need to regain my proper body. Which makes me ask, I’ll need access to the Testing Ground."

She raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"I left my eyepatch there. And I feel like being in the same place where I unleashed my Ultimate Skill again would help my Eye understand it better. And since it’s connected to my Eye... I might gain some new insights."

Mallory looked at him in silence, then nodded. "I see. It’s perfect, it’s a good place to do your training. So we’ll train there."

"Oh, yes, alright." He said, then turned his head, looking at a bunch of papers scattered across the table.

His eye immediately landed on one paper that made him move to grab it before he even thought about it.

"What’s this?" He asked, looking at the job application, his eyes confused.

"A teacher was killed some time ago." Mallory said. "An assassination. We’re recruiting a new one."

"So you mean..."

"Yes, she seems to be a candidate. It looks like her application came in... a few hours ago?"

Cassius smiled strangely, looking at the reverent, peaceful and loving face of Helene Mars on the application.

"I guess we’ve got ourselves the first teacher on our side, master."

—End of Chapter 211—