Chapter 3: Stay Away From Popular Girls

The phones that had been handed out at the end of the ceremony were plain devices with a black casing and the single crest on the back.

Ethan phone soon buzzed not long after he left the auditorium. An email was sitting at the top of the inbox.

He clicked on it and read the contents:

{Class Assignment: 1-A}

{Dormitory: Room 303}

He read it, then slipped the phone into his pocket and started walking.

The academy was larger than he had expected. Wide stone paths cut between open training fields where older students were already sparring. The dormitory buildings rose farther back, their windows reflecting the sky.

Everything looked well funded and carefully maintained, the kind of place built to produce results rather than comfort. Ethan took it in slowly. In his previous life he had walked through corporate campuses that tried to look inspiring and failed. This place did not bother pretending.... It simply existed to turn Awakened into weapons.

Dorm 303 sat on the third floor of the eastern building. The door opened into a small shared living space with two bedrooms branching off either side. Two desks, two closets, and a larger than average living room.

He looked around as it finally dawned on him that he was going to have a roommate.

Ethan stepped into the room on the left, closed the door, and finally looked at himself properly in the mirror resting on the wall.

He had dark hair that was slightly longer than he used to keep it and green eyes that had a certain sharp glow to it. He looked at his body. It was lean with the fitness of someone who had trained enough to keep a decent build.

He ran a hand through his hair...

Well, at least he wasn’t skinny...

In truth, that should have been expected since he was nineteen— or rather, in a body that was nineteen.

Another email arrived while he was staring.

{Class Schedule – Day 1}

{First period: Introduction to Ability Theory}

{Location: Building A, Room 1-A }

{Time: 14:00}

He checked the clock on the phone: it was 12pm.

He had exactly two hours before his first class.

Ethan took the time to freshen up, took a juice box that was already prestocked along with other ingredients in the freezer, and left the dorm as he walked towards Building A.

The paths were busier now as students moved in small groups, some already comparing abilities in low excited voices.

He kept to the edge of the path, his hands in his pockets and a calm expression on his face.

Sure he might have looked calm, but deep down, his mind was racing as with every passing second he came to understand that this was not his old world anymore.

***

Room 1-A was a standard lecture hall with arching seats and a wide board at the front. Ethan stepped through the doorway and immediately collided with someone coming the other way.

A soft impact, a faint drop in temperature.

He looked up....

Silver hair, blue eyes. A face that belonged on the cover of something expensive. She was already steadying herself, one hand brushing something from her sleeve, and the air around her carring the unmistakable scent of frost.

Aria Reed.

Even without introduction, the way other students had looked at her during the ceremony told him enough.

She awakened an SS ranked Ice ability. The kind of result that turned a person into a name before the first class even started.

The academy’s ranking system was simple and brutal: F at the bottom, then C, B, A, and the rare heights of SS and SSS at the very top. Most students would spend their entire time here climbing from F or C or toward something respectable.

However, an SS ranked ability on the first day was enough to spread her name.

She recognized him at once. Her gaze running across his face then setteled with something cold.

"Necromancer," she said. Her voice was even but laced with irritation.

"You’re the one with the guts to awaken such a skill and act like it’s nothing."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "What are you on about? It’s F ranked. Pretty sure it’s not worth your time or your attention."

The corner of her lip twitched. "It’s a taboo here. Real power is something you work for with your own hands. Not something you dig out of a grave."

Around them, a few students had slowed to listen. Where an F rank drew dissmal, an SS ranked drew attention.

"I’ll keep that in mind," he said, "Though if the dead are already done using their hands, it seems efficient to borrow them, don’t you think?" Ethan couldn’t resist the urge. He just had to.

For a moment Aria’s composed expression cracked, irritation flashing across her face, before she walked off without saying another word.

To Ethan though, that reaction was priceless and he was satified by it.

Ethan watched her go, then stepped aside to let other students pass.

But before he could walk inside, a second presence stopped in front of him.

This one had red hair that caught the light and golden eyes that looked permanently amused.

She was beautiful in a warmer type of way— confident posture, easy smile, and with the kind of popularity that came from both looks and an ability people was impressed with. Rank A, if he remembered clearly.

"Don’t mind her," the red haired girl said. "Aria’s always been like that. She takes the ’earned strength’ thing very seriously." She tilted her head, studying him before asking: "You’re the necromancer, right? Ethan Shaw?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I am..."

"I’m Lila Kane. Flame affinity, Rank A." She said it without arrogance, the way someone would mention their name.

"You should just focus on getting stronger. Rank doesn’t mean everything on the first day."

Ethan found himself momentarily without a reply. In his previous life, attention from someone who looked either like Lila or Aria would have been rare enough to unsettle him. Here it arrived before he had even sat down for the first class.

Lila smiled, as if she had expected the silence.

"Hope to see you again soon," she said, and then she too walked into the classroom, her red hair swaying behind her.

Ethan remained in the doorway a second longer...

Two popular girls in the span of five minutes. One who openly despised his ability, and one who offered casual encouragement and a smile that could make anyone stop and look.

His mind wandered towards the memory of Sophia Ellis, and the ones before that, and the memory alone left a bad taste in his mouth.

Interacting with popular people had never ended well for him....

He stepped into the classroom, found an empty seat near the back and sat down. Around him conversations continued— about abilities and ranks from people who had already formed groups.

Aria sat near the front, her silver hair enough of an indicator even from behind. Lila had taken a seat closer to the center and was already talking with two other students.

Ethan leaned back slightly, his arms crossed as he exhaeld...

Whatever this world was going to throw at him, he already had one rule he intended to keep:

Stay away from popular girls....