"Lad, you must tell me, which great sire has endorsed you! I'm the headmaster of this great academy, of all the people here, if there's one individual that you can trust, it's me" Retired Knight John Wood said, as he desperately tried to convince Luke to give him a name.
Over the last hour, Luke had shaken up the entire academy by bringing over a genuine token of honor and one by one he was sent to meet higher ups, starting from the professor to the dean to finally the headmaster.
Everyone pressured Luke to reveal the name of his sponsor, however, Luke remained steadfast in his answer that he could not divulge his master's identity.
"I don't understand headmaster, why is me revealing the name of my sponsor so important? Will the academy treat me differently based on who my master is?" Luke asked as the headmaster could not help but pinch his eyebrows.
The real answer was 'yes', it did make a big difference as to who Luke's master was, since there was a big feud ongoing between the various knight masters from the shadows.
Only 3 of the current knight masters were once part of the academy with most others achieving their status through the independent mercenary route or via the military.
Some were patrons of the academy, while others were not particularly happy with its teaching practices and hence the headmaster wanted to know Luke's affiliation, since that would give him a rough idea on how much importance he should give Luke. But since he could not outright declare it, he tried to come up with a clever solution.
" Of Course it's important child. Different masters have different styles of fighting and you as their disciple need to be molded as such.
We need to know what primary weapon to teach you, whether to focus on agility or strength, whether to teach you dual sword and shield wielding or not-
There's a lot to decide based on who your master is" The headmaster said as Luke shrugged his shoulders and said "I would like to perform dual sword and shield wielding and my primary weapon of choice is a sword"
The headmaster instantly factored in these cues and eliminated 6 knight masters who either used the spear as their primary weapon, or preferred to fight without a shield.
It helped him narrow down the possible masters for Luke to a number that could be counted on two hands and he was satisfied with this progress.
" Alright, you're one tough nut to crack…. and I won't press anymore" Sir wood said as Luke thanked him for his understanding.
With that, Luke's admission into the academy was officially completed and the student robes, badge and dormitory was assigned to him at once.
Since he was a knight masters disciple, he was given the finest room which he shared with the son of the West Duke Family, the Crowheads.
" Hey, I'm the first son of the Western Duke's Family, Jerome Crowhead, it's a pleasure to meet you-" Jerome said as Luke pleasantly shook his head and introduced himself "I'm skylion, just a humble commoner"
Jerome, a five feet 11 inch tall guy, with a muscular body and short blonde hair chuckled when Luke introduced himself as a commoner as he heartily tapped him on the shoulder.
" If you are scouted by a master knight, that means you won't be a commoner for long.
History will remember your bravery one day, skylion" he said as he warmly welcomed Luke to the room and joked around with him for a while.
This year's recruitment was likely to go on for a week more with most candidates joining after multiple rounds of selection, with Jermone and Luke being the only two individuals who were given a direct admission.
This gave the two an extra week of induction as they got to meet with the professors, have one on one discussions about their future paths and formulate a better strategy for their growth.
Since their status were not common, the professors were also more than eager to help them since even the professors wished to be connected to important people.
However, with the professors being well above level 300 and their strength being nothing to scoff about, Luke still had to be careful to not piss them off.
At first, Luke did not realise how big of a jackpot he had scored by enrolling into the academy, however, as he conversed more with Jerome he realized that he was going to be uniquely poised to learn about the secrets of the empire and the hidden game mechanics via his friendship with Jerome.
He had only spent a few hours talking to the guy and he already learnt many important things like the location of the biggest dungeons, the alleged dragon lairs, the areas within the empire that were controlled by assassin guilds and necromancers and how the Elven king was not too happy with the status quo.
However, the most important hint that Luke picked up from his conversation with Jerome, was an event that would take place roughly 11 months from now.
The Emperor Memorial Cup! A tournament where independents competed with the students of the four prestigious academies for the greatest reward of having one of their wishes being directly fulfilled by the Emperor!
It was a tournament where the students from the knight academy, teamed up with the students of the mage, swordsman and beast tamer academies to challenge the top 100 independent talents of the empire.
It was a grand affair, watched by millions and was the biggest young talent tournament in all the empire.
Having an impressive performance in this tournament, got one immense fame and fortune as the rewards for winning each competition were usually insane.
However, the cherry of the tournament was always the fact that the number one performer would be granted one wish by the Emperor and it was this reward that everyone hoped to aim for.
Apparently, the knight academy had 25 slots for which students to send to the tournament and Jerome was dead set on winning one of those slots.
For him, it was a matter of proving his worth, as if he could make it to the tournament it would send a message to his father and the people of his duchy that he was a talented and strong leader.
His position as the next Duke could be confirmed and his name could become extremely famous amongst the noble circles.
From day1, this was Jerome's only goal and listening to his passion, Luke felt a desire to try his best and secure a spot for himself as well.
[ Quest Notification - A new chain quest has been generated!
Quest Title - Level up to at least level 120 in the upcoming year and be selected as one of the top25 candidates of the knight academy.
Quest Difficulty - SS
Quest Duration - Until selections complete.
Quest Rewards - 5000 Gold Coins, 2500MP, One Epic or higher Knight Body Armour Set.
Failure Penalty - None ]
A new chain quest had been generated for Luke, with the system giving him additional rewards should he actually make the cut.
It was a long road to selection for sure, however, with how fine Luke was positioned, he was set to undergo explosive growth, if only he worked his ass off in the year to come.
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/// A/N - This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron Cervantez91, please thank him in the comments for the same ///