Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1809
On the first day of Ricardo's academy life, he was assigned to the first floor because he was the youngest child in the family.
The Academy Masters assigned each of the brothers to different floors and prohibited them from leaving their floors until the next year except for training.
This was a precaution against the possibility of the brothers strangling each other from the very first day.
As soon as Ricardo entered his classroom, all eyes turned towards him. This situation felt very nostalgic to him.
In his previous life, when he was still a prince, he had gone to the Ancient Empire's Crown Academy, and as soon as he entered his classroom, all eyes had turned towards him.
On the other hand, while the Crown Academy resembled an extremely elegant, magnificent, and noble Mansion, the Blood Academy, where the Kislavein children were raised, had a pessimistic, suffocating, reactionary atmosphere that could give the feeling that you could lose your life at the slightest mistake.
Ricardo sat at the front of the class in a specially prepared seat for him.
His close friends Marco and Marilin were with him.
Marilin was trying to hide her smile; she covered her mouth with her hand, but she was agitated inside.
The man she was in love with was right next to her, right under her nose.
She could hear his breathing, his face and muscular body; she could look at every detail very closely.
"Oh my God, oh my God, he's so close, so close. Calm down, Mari, calm down... aaaaa I'm so happy. I'm grateful to the Spirits of my Ancestors. My love is right next to me."
Ricardo, who was 14 on the outside and 84 on the inside, naturally noticed Marilin's state.
He averted his eyes from Marilin, sighed, and thought about how he had ended up in this situation.
"Haaa, what did I do to get into this situation? I'm talking about a girl who is my granddaughter's age. What the hell am I going to do? Oh man, I need to somehow alienate this girl from me."
While Ricardo was making plans to alienate Marilin from himself, something caught his attention.
"I've just noticed, but everyone here has blood-red hair and eyes. So, does that mean everyone here is descended from me?"
Ricardo knew that the Kislavein blood was a very dominant blood, but this situation seemed very strange to him.
How could a bloodline be so dominant as to cause so many people to have similar appearances?
Ricardo folded his arms and leaned back against the desk. This situation caught his attention greatly.
"The best thing is to go to the library. I can find all kinds of information there, from family trees to historical events."
While Ricardo was lost in his thoughts, Academy Master Tristan Kislavein entered the classroom, stood in front of the board, and first suppressed the students with his Aura to establish his authority over them.
Even Ricardo was slightly impressed. Then Tristan folded his hands behind his back and stretched his chest as he spoke.
"Listen to me, apprentices. It doesn't matter whose son or daughter you are here. You are the academy's property. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
When there was no response from the students, Tristan raised his voice.
"I SAID, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
The students reflexively and with some fear replied,
"UNDERSTOOD, MASTER!"
Tristan felt his ego satisfied and didn't even bother to hide his arrogant face.
However, he heard that three students hadn't answered. They were the Lord's son Ricardo and Marco and Marilin, who were sitting next to him.
Ricardo was the Lord's son, and it wouldn't be a wise move to go against him. If he messed with Ricardo, the Dynasty Lord Orsman would interpret this as an act of rebellion against his Dynasty and would kill him horribly as an example to the world.
But this was not the case for those sitting next to Ricardo. Tristan turned his gaze to Marco and Marilin.
"I see there are some fools who don't understand a word I say."
Tristan pointed to Marco and then to Marilin and made both of them stand up.
The twins who stood up showed no signs of fear or obedience. Tristan thought of using the twins to scare everyone.
"What is it you don't understand? I told you that you are the property of this academy. What part of that don't you understand?"
Tristan's eyes suddenly turned to Marilin. Her beauty and charm attracted even Tristan, who was in his thirties.
As Tristan extended his hand towards Marilin, Ricardo made a short sword from his aura and cut off Tristan's hand.
Tristan lost his balance in pain and fear, was thrown back, and started screaming and cursing in agony.
"AAAAAAAAAA! YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU CUT OFF MY HAND? I AM ONE OF THE MASTERS OF THIS ACADEMY!"
Ricardo leaned his hand on the table and jumped over the table with a leap. He continued to add aura to the short aura sword in his hand, slowly increasing the length and sharpness of his sword. He approached Tristan with slow, threatening steps. The cruelty in his eyes pierced Tristan's soul.
"Stop, I'm sorry. Why are you angry? I didn't do anything to you."
Ricardo's anger was evident in the tone of his voice. He raised his sword in the air.
"You didn't do anything? You dared to openly humiliate my friends in front of everyone. More importantly, you dared to lay a hand on Marilin, MY Marilin. I will shove that hand up your ass."
Before Tristan could even say anything or plead for his life, Ricardo separated Tristan's head from his body.
A week passed, and this incident was talked about throughout the academy.
A student, the Lord's son, had killed a Master, in broad daylight, in front of everyone's eyes.
The other Academy Masters held meetings and discussed what to do about this matter.
While some wanted to punish Ricardo, the majority thought of ignoring the situation because they were afraid of Orsman's anger.
As the discussions grew more intense, they decided to leave the decision to the Dynasty Lord.
A few Masters informed Orsman of the situation and waited for his decision. Orsman made his decision after a short while.
"Of course, it is not acceptable for Ricardo to kill an Academy Master. On the other hand, Tristan reaching out to a woman from our Dynasty, especially my son's woman, in that manner is not something he could pay for even with death. Therefore, my decision is this: Ricardo will not be tried for Tristan's death, but so that this incident does not set a bad example for other students, I will subject Ricardo to a difficult test. Moreover, Tristan's death has served as a lesson to some wild dogs who call themselves masters."
No one opposed Orsman's decision. All they thought about was what kind of test would be applied to Ricardo.
Two weeks passed. Ricardo was taken to the arena under the supervision of the Masters. When he reached the middle of the arena, he raised his voice with a Master's mana.
"Students of the Blood Academy! The student Ricardo Kislavein, currently in the arena, has been put to the test for killing a Master. If he fails, he will be punished. If he wins, this murder will be forgotten."
The students started talking among themselves.
"So, if we kill a Master and pass this test, nothing will happen."
Conversations like these began to spread among the students. The Masters thought it was time to start the test.
"Now, the test begins."
The iron doors opened, and 10 monsters, the size of adults and fearsome in appearance, emerged from them.
These were the monsters of Kerbel Forest. Ricardo was about to have his first serious battle in this life.
Three of the monsters in front of him were Jumping Deathclaws: monsters that jump high and fall quickly, tearing their prey to pieces.
Two of them were Mist Wolves: the air they breathed turned into fog. This fog was extremely poisonous and caused the prey to lose consciousness.
One of them was a Mud Cycle: a monster resistant to physical attacks that created destruction with its mass power.
Four were Boneweaving Siege Snakes: fast assassins covered in poisonous needles and bone armor.
Ricardo's opponents were dangerous, but Ricardo was stronger.
Without giving his opponents a chance to attack or prepare, he transferred his mana to his feet and cast a speed spell.
He charged towards the monsters at great speed. The students who saw this could not sit still with excitement.
Ricardo wrapped his sword and body with his aura. The Jumping Deathclaws jumped high and quickly lunged at Ricardo.
Since they were in a fixed position in the air, Ricardo burned the Jumping Deathclaws to ashes with his fire spell.
The Mist Wolves sprayed the poisonous fog they held in their breath towards Ricardo, but when Ricardo protected his brain with his mana and prevented any potential mental damage, the Mist Wolves had no more moves left to make.
Ricardo lengthened and sharpened his sword with his aura and cut both Mist Wolves in half with a single move.
The Boneweaving Siege Snakes, true to their name, surrounded Ricardo and encircled him.
Ricardo flew himself high with his wind magic, surrounded the snakes with thick, hard rocks using his earth magic, then threw a fireball at the snakes and burned them all alive.
He first attacked the last monster, the Mud Cycle, with his aura sword.
He evaded the Mud Cycle's attack with his acceleration spell and sped up his own attacks.
When Ricardo saw that physical attacks were ineffective, he gathered his mana in his hands. The mana took the shape of a water sphere in his hands, and then he blasted all his power towards the Mud Cycle.
Although the Mud Cycle withstood this violent current for a long time, Ricardo eventually won, and the Mud Cycle died.
The students jumped up from where they were sitting, shouting Ricardo's name in unison, cheering for him.
His slaughter of the Academy Master and the monsters had increased his popularity throughout the Academy in the first few weeks.
This would be a big plus in the future when he formed his own group.