Under the gaze of countless cadets and officers, Nero stepped through the gates of KMA amidst a surge of swirling aether. Besides kicking up a small fuss, the swirling aether didn’t do much so not too many paid attention to it. Instead, they were focused on the boy who had caused the strom.
Nero, of course, paid no attention to any of them. The difference in environment between the inside and outside of KMA was non-existent. There was only a mesh fence and a metal gate between the two, and everything else was the same.
Yet just like all the other cadets who had stepped in before him, Nero froze the moment he took his first step inside!
A silent, pervasive and dominant aura enveloped him - one that was too familiar and too alien at the same time.
Nero knew what that feeling was. After all, just a few days ago, his mother had demonstrated it perfectly! It was the feeling of Monarch’s Dominion! It was the first Profession ability one received upon becoming a Monarch Mystic, and it would be identical to all other Monarchs. That is what made the feeling so familiar.
What made it so alien, then, was the fact that mixed in with the sensation brought about by Monarch’s Dominion was the pressure only a Sage could produce!
Was there a Monarch Sage within the academy? But how was such a thing possible?
The only Monarch Sages within Kolar were Morphius and Donivan Kade. The father and son duo both had very public facing positions, thus they could hardly go somewhere as public as KMA without attracting a lot of attention.
Considering that he had been paying attention towards topics related to KMA even within Unity, he would have noticed if news of a Sage’s arrival were to spread, yet it had not.
"Keep moving, cadet," spoke one of the officers sternly, giving Nero the same dismissive glare he gave to all other cadets.
Nero immediately stepped forward, falling in line with all the others who were standing along a painted line in the ground. There was a single road driving from the gate through the wilderness into the depths of the academy, but there was no vehicle there to pick them up. It seemed that the officers intended for them to run or jog to their destination.
More important than that, though, was the fact that while the terrain was exactly the same as outside the fence, its appearance had drastically changed! No longer was wild grass riding to knee height in random patches, nor were the trees spreading out wildly. The bushes did not grow haphazardly, nor were there random stones and boulders jutting out of the ground.
Instead... everything was thoroughly well kempt!
The grass was mowed at a uniform height, the trees were pruned so that they were more uniform in appearance, the bushes were trimmed in perfect circles, and even the rocks and boulders in the ground had been carved to remove sharp edges, giving them a smooth look.
It was as if Nero had suddenly stepped into a massive garden, except that the scale of it was beyond anything he had ever seen!
Nero’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he finally noticed a break in the uniformity of the academy! Towards the left of the road where he stood, one of the trees had scratches and claw marks near the base. The marks weren’t too deep, nor were they too high, indicating that they were made by a small animal. They also seemed fairly fresh.
It was strange. This place had all the signs of being well maintained, yet the wildlife was either not disturbed, or purposefully allowed to remain.
Nero wasn’t sure what the reasoning behind such a thing was, but he could think of a few things. If the ground in the academy was converted into concrete, like in the cities, it would become much safer, but maybe the academy didn’t want the cadets to feel too safe or too at ease.
The prevailing aura of Monarch’s Dominion meant that everything that was happening within this region was well within view of whoever was using the ability, and that was probably enough to eliminate any small or weak curses that appeared here. Yet how were the stronger curses kept at bay? This was incredibly fascinating.
While Nero was studying the academy, the surrounding officers were studying the cadets. Nero wasn’t the only one taking a look at the unusual features of their surroundings - everything around them was just too novel for most of the new cadets. It was natural to study such an unusual place.
But there were differences between the cadets. Most just looked around, marveling at the novelty. A few, though, scoped out their surroundings with tactical insight.
Such a thing should not have been unique - their schooling should have included basic survival classes, which would have included how to assess their surroundings for danger. The purpose of such classes wasn’t to make kids into soldiers - it was literally just to increase the survivability of kids in most situations so that they didn’t get themselves killed. This world was too dangerous, and anything could happen at any time!
Of course, kids were still kids. Despite taking such classes, most only used the learned skill scarcely, or only when they felt threatened. It was clear that within the academy, the sense of crisis for most of them was incredibly low.
The observation and assessment of cadets which they had been informed of in orientation had already begun. So early on, the purpose of this assessment wouldn’t be something like separating the wheat from the chaff. Instead, it was to get a better understanding of who needed more attention. Of course, those who were more aware of their surroundings would have it noted down in their individual files, but something like this wasn’t enough to put them ahead of others.
The strange, swirling aether around Nero was enough for him to get noticed though. Although the swirling aether had weakened, it was still there.
"Attention cadets!" yelled an officer once all of them had entered the academy and lined up. "Split into five rows behind me."
It was a simple order, and many quickly left their original line to form some more, and this is where a lifetime of living in an army nation began to show. Too used to doing this during their school assemblies, they quickly split into five lines of even length, paying full attention to the officer who yelled.
"Follow me and keep up, cadets!" the officer yelled and began to jog into the academy, keeping a fast pace.
Nero nodded, having already anticipated such a scene, and easily kept pace with the leading officer. Let alone Nero, a simple jog, even at a slightly quicker pace than they were used to, would not exhaust any of the cadets who had made it this far.
Not only did they have a lifetime of basic physical training from school behind them, they were all Neophytes and Initiates.
The jog from the gate to the depths of the academy was not too long, just a little over 4 km (2.4 miles). The road was not straight, and instead curved around and followed the contours of the land, giving them all a glimpse of what the academy actually looked like.
About 2 km (1.2 miles) in, there was another fence with just as many patrols, and yet another gate, leading them into the inner layer of the academy, allowing them to finally spot a few buildings and structures.
There were very limited roads and pavements, extremely different from what Nero was used to. In fact, the buildings and roads seemed to be the only sign of civilization anywhere. Everything else around them seemed to consist of large open grounds and lawns.
Yet that notion also quickly seemed to face the deeper they went into the academy. It wasn’t that it looked more like a city - no, there were just a whole lot more people within.
Senior cadets, all in uniform, could be seen everywhere, working to maintain the area! Some were cutting grass, others sweeping leaves and some more were hedging bushes.
This... was not what Nero had been expecting the academy to look like!
Just as Nero was reevaluating what to expect from the academy, they reached the front of a massive structure where they were all lined up.
"First line, follow me. The rest, wait here and stand at attention!" the officer yelled before leading the first line inside the building, and leaving the rest standing.
Nero assumed the attention pose, and then just waited. He already knew what this was. They had been left out, without any information, because they were either being observed, or tested. After a while, once standing became monotonous, the cadets would loosen their posture or begin to chat amongst themselves. That would be considered a breach of discipline, and then either the specific cadets would be punished, or much more likely, they would all receive collective punishment.
This was a good way to better understand some of the cadets, while instilling in them the need for obedience!
He sighed internally, waiting for things to fall out according to his expectations. While he hoped that would not be the case, a few minutes in, some of the cadets were already leaning from one foot to the other. It would only be a matter of time before they completely broke form.
He sighed internally. This was going to be a long morning.