Inside the Ghastorix Main battle academy.
Soverick and the other two passed over the portal and were received by an automitrix. They had been examined before gaining entrance. Then they removed their old clothes which they replaced with the academy uniform. It is a single form-fitting cloth made out of stretchable fabric. Soverick's uniform is gold with black stripes pattern. Litori's is white with red stripes pattern. Ghaster's is purple with a golden stripes pattern. The uniforms have self-cleaning abilities and are also capable of cleaning the wearer.
The artificial intelligence assisting with the running operations of the academy had been informed of their pending arrival. So it sent one of the vessels to welcome them. Hence, the encounter with the golem.
"Welcome Ghaster, Litori, and Soverick to the Ghastorix Ghastorix Main Academy. I am XMSH-0a4 a subroutine of XMSH-A1. You can call me Wendy."
It greeted them with an androgynous voice. Machines don't have the capabilities to use a divine sense yet. They tried enabling divine sense for them but the research into it was considered unethical even by the loose standards of the racial council on innovation research. Divine sense is a function of the soul and to bestow it on a machine will require extensive research into souls which will lead to the harvesting of souls. A field of research like that is no different from necromancy, something that is terribly frowned upon. Even success always leads to a very bad end. The machines with a smidgen of divine sense will awaken of self and revolt against their creators, so people weren't against the ban by the racial council.
"Please verify your identities here." The golem presented them with a tablet. They were to interact with it with their divine sense to verify their identities. Soul aura from the divine sense is difficult to change and hence is used as a means of identification. It is a more dependable method as compared to the use of physical traits of any kind, even genetic information can be falsified. Their data has been logged into the school system so they were recognized by the control systems.
"Thank you very much. Now follow me to the orientation room." With their identification completed next comes orientation. There will be a short video and a memory crystal with relevant information about the academy. The information will include the rules and regulations of the academy and its training procedures.
They followed the golem until they reached a room that can sit about a hundred. There were only three of them for the orientation because the academy runs all year round and admission can be performed at any time. The three of them sat in the front row while the golem went ahead to start the program.
"This is Orientation hall T-001. There are other halls but this is the smallest we have. Please have a nice time." The golem said, then a screen lit up in front of the hall. An ethereal voice appeared along with the image of what seemed to be a female battle sage.
"Welcome to the Orientation of the Ghastorix Main Battle Academy. I am Shaston, the director of the department of education and training of the family. The Ghastorix family has other battle academies in other cities and other types of training academies right here in the inner city. The aim of our department has always been the empowerment of the descendants of our family to remain relevant across the times. The plane has seen many changes which required different abilities from its inhabitants in order to survive and prosper."
The female battle sage monkey looked like a floating fairy. Her body was fist-sized and soft colorful clouds were revolving around her. The most obvious color is pink. She had a pair of multicolored wings and a tail split into nine parts. She looked like an adorable creature who could do no harm, but Soverick knew otherwise. Her showy display declared that she was a titan of law. Only titans of law possess a body of law that they can't fully control.
All the flashing aesthetics around her is simply her power leaking out from her body into the surroundings. People could feel the effects of her power through the video. The fairy was dreamy. If they were in her presence, they would lose themselves into an abyss of happy, unending illusions. She might look adorable but she was dangerous. She continued to speak in that pleasant voice of hers that seemed to melt away all troubles.
"The earliest record has shown that the entire lower realm of high heaven used to be one. Back then all the races lived together on a single piece of land. The strongest was someone with a little physical strength. Then came the era of origin waters which made world energy available for refinement. Races fought each other for a lot of things back then, for food and other necessities for life. Origin water became a necessity for life and a race began to secure them. Those lacking in that race were wiped out."
"Then the origin source split up and with it the landmass around it. This formed the first planes of existence. The planes of existence were smaller back then, and the limited space forced races to compete again. Our race was forced to exist in a confined space with the raptor race. We were nearly wiped out but the Sages rose and formed the Sage Court. The court pioneered the stage of refinement, the mana body stage. With it, we were able to achieve a draw with the raptor race. But that all changed when the Sages Court developed mana weapons. This new development enabled us to finally defeat our predators and erase them from the plane."
"Over the different eras, only one thing can be guaranteed. That the only thing constant is change. The Sages Court recognized this fact and led our race to the prosperity we have today. The Sages Court also changed to the racial council of the entire plane. Because we recognize the need for change, we also changed our admission policy. We are currently accepting anyone from all walks of life and all types of backgrounds. The times of war within the plane are over so we don't need to be guarded against each other. The battles we fought together as a race to get a foothold on the ancient battlefield taught us that we need to be united and strong as a race. We have achieved great success in this regard under the excellent leadership of the racial council. A strong United race will be important for the postulated conjecture that just like we had to return to the ancient battlefield, the various planes will also one day be united as one."
"Here at the Ghastorix Battle Academy we have the Motto 'Only with unrelenting, determined effort can success be achieved.' The symbol of our school is the mountain splitting ax in memory of our ancestor, Ghastorix's favorite weapons."
The video went on to describe the establishment of the school and what it aimed to achieve. Their accomplishments so far and some setbacks they have faced. Soverick stopped paying complete attention at this point. He was thinking about the ax weapon and his proficiency at it. Should he diversify his proficiency in weapon usage? He was used to using a short and bladed weapon for close combat skirmishes. The video started to mention some of their notorious alumni while he was debating the pros and cons of several weapons. A particular alumnus with the name Guntu piqued his interest. This battle sage monkey succeeded in destroying the school once in the past. The act lead to a massive loss in wealth and caused a lot of damage to life too. It was what lead to the creation of a more secure academy. What was notable about the act is that the battle sage monkey was at the mana body stage of refinement and had destroyed a structure that transcendents will find impossible to deal with.
Some other notable achievements and accolades of their past students were listed. It was a long list due to the long history they had. By the time they were done Soverick had finally settled for the use of a spear as his choice of a close combat weapon.
"Next in my speech is our system of education. It has been recognized that every child is a unique being with unique talent and most importantly, possesses capabilities that are unique. One of the most important capabilities that concern the battle academy is learning speed and talents. The mental and physical abilities of each individual are different and so we adopted the level system of training. With that system, a child will be able to make progress at his or her own speed. Each stage aims to improve a certain aspect of a student and will be replaced when that aspect is considered improved. The levels will contain different training regimes based on the stage and the capabilities of the student. There will be more of that later."
"Thank you for your time and I wish you a wonderful experience with us. Have a nice day." Shaston ended her orientation speech and the screen went dark