"Hmmm," a slight hum escaped Nn''s lips as his fingers moved forth towards the holographic panel.


    He was about to click on the panel and order a new set of battle dummies when he heard the sound of a throat clearing.


    Slowly, he turned to look at Instructor Gerard, who had risen upright.


    "Your body is falling apart, you know that, right?" Gerard asked, his voice calm yet firm.


    Nn''s eyebrows furrowed, and he nced down at his own body.


    Various cuts decorated his skin—wounds left behind by the training dummies.


    "You''ve been going relentlessly for the past seven days. Don''t you think it''s time to rest a little?"


    "Give your body the time it needs to recover before the transfer tomorrow."


    "Believe me, you''ll need your strength on the first day of entering the Ascendant hierarchy..." Instructor Gerard advised.


    Nn''s hand hovered over the holographic panel, hesitating when he saw a golden notification appear.


    [Listen to him. Your body is exhausted, Nn. Too exhausted. There are internal injuries you might not fully sense.]


    [If you keep pushing, you''ll be incredibly weak when entering the Ascendant ss.]


    [All of your enemies lie in wait within that ce.]


    [Arriving while being less than fifty percent of your true power would be a foolish risk, wouldn''t it?] the system added.


    Nn thought deeply in silence for a few seconds before finally withdrawing his hand from the holographic panel.


    "Good!" Instructor Gerard called out from behind before adding, "The bathroom is just over there."


    "Clean up those bloodstains before heading out, or you''ll give the new students a scare."


    He then disappeared from view.


    Nn walked towards the bathroom at the side.


    --------


    The sound of water sshing echoed off the tiled space, the floor stained with dried blood forming a small pool.


    Slowly, the crimson hue in Nn''s hair washed away, revealing its snowy white color.


    The water soothed his injuries, the result of the most intense and relentless training session he had ever gone through.


    After his fight with the assassin the other night, he had been unable to sleep, no matter how hard he tried.


    Rather than waste that time, Nn had decided to do something productive: improve hisbat skills.


    The training room was the only ce where he wouldn''t be interrupted, so he had spent the past week training non-stop.


    Thankfully, it was thest ce any student would think to visit right now, allowing him to have it all to himself.


    He had asked Instructor Gerard to notify him when it was time to move up to the next ss.


    This had been an intense decision, even for Nn, but it was something he felt he needed to do.


    Minutester, Nn exited the bathroom, pulling on his hoodie and trousers before quickly heading out of the Kratos Training Hall.


    The entire lobby was quiet, and the only figure in sight was that of Instructor Gerard, who didn''t raise his head as Nn walked by and exited the area.


    Once Nn disappearedpletely, Gerard lifted his head from the book he was reading, staring after Nn''s retreating figure.


    "It''sing. It''sing fast, and it seems he''s no longer unaware..." Gerard muttered to himself.


    ---------


    As Nn exited the training area of the academy, he was surprised by the unusuallyrge number of students walking to and fro.


    The further he walked, the more he realized that many of these students were unfamiliar to him.


    "Don''t tell me..." Nn thought.


    [Yes. The newest Neers have already arrived,] the systempleted his thought.


    Nn''s eyebrows furrowed, but he shrugged it off.


    Pulling his hoodie tighter, he attempted to cover his face to avoid too much attention.


    Still, it seemed he couldn''t escape notice as he soon arrived at a junction where a small group of three guys were sitting.


    The ce was a shortcut Nn liked to take whenever he returned from training, a path that saved him nearly three times the time it would take to walk the usual route to his Greek-Descent dorm building.


    But now, as Nn tried to pass, he noticed the guys were blocking the way, sitting casually without a care in the world.


    There was a small path to the side, just enough for Nn to squeeze through.


    He didn''t mind the tight space, so he quickly moved forward, attempting to pass.


    But just as he was about to, one of the guys lifted his leg, cing it against the wall and blocking Nn''s path.


    Irritated, Nn turned his head to the side, only to see the group snickering among themselves.


    The one who had raised his leg smirked and said,


    "You can still pass underneath."


    Laughter erupted from the group, their mocking voices echoing as Nn stared at the guy''s mockinf eyes for a few moments before snorting.


    [They''re the newest Neers, and yet they''re already picking on the older ones? How arrogant,] the system echoed what was on Nn''s mind.


    His eyes turned cold. Frigid cold.


    Without a word, Nn lifted his leg and then—


    BAAAAANG!


    CREEAAAAAK!


    The sound of something roughly smashing into something else resounded, followed by bones shattering as Nn kicked the leg before him.


    The force not only crushed the young man''s leg but lifted him off his feet, sending him rolling into the distance amidst a chilling scream of agony.


    "You failure! Know your ce!" one of the other guys shouted.


    Dark tattoos appeared all over his hands as he immediatelyunched a fist towards Nn''s face.


    The air around his fist shook slightly, a strange force swirling as the young man''s hand twisted unnaturally, gathering even more momentum and power as it inched closer to Nn''s face.


    Yet...


    BAAAAAAANG


    The fist never reached Nn''s face.


    Instead, a powerful kick mmed into the young man''s face, as his cheek rippled like the surface of a water, and sending him crashing to the ground, blood and teeth scattering into the distance.


    Nn looked at the young man on the floor and realized something that didn''t make him too surprised.


    He had been knocked out t and cold.


    Now, only a single boy remained, sitting on the raised tform, frozen in shock as he stared at Nn, too slow to react.


    One icy re from Nn''s crimson eyes was all it took.


    The terrified young man bolted, screaming for help as he ran into the distance.


    "Tch, idiots..." Nn muttered with a bored expression, pulling up his hoodie to cover his face before walking away from the scene as if nothing had happened.


    "Even neers, who''ve barely spent five days here, are already forming small gangs and bullying other students."


    "Just how rotten is the ce they alle from?" Nn mused to himself.


    The academy itself was naturally a dog-eat-dog world, but it seemed like many of the pupils were just as twisted.


    Why would any neer begin bullying students of the academy within their first week of arrival? Could that really be attributed to the academy?


    Nn had always assumed that the actions of the students were due to the academy''s invisible yet ever presentw of survival of the fittest.


    But now, it seemed like the problem went beyond just the academy''s influence.


    The Celestial heirs themselves appeared to have some screws loose in their heads, drawn to violence as if by instinct.


    "Hopefully, they learned their lesson. Idiots like that won''tst long if they run into the Old Neers, who are probably looking for targets to vent their frustrations on..." Nn thought to himself.


    He could have spared the boys'' egos and scared them off with just a nce, but this time, he felt it was better to handle the situation with a little more force.


    It would teach them a proper lesson—one they wouldn''t soon forget.


    In less than two minutes of walking, Nn finally arrived in front of the Greek dorm building.


    It was bustling with students, both known and unknown.


    [Why do I feel like your room is already taken?] The system asked as Nn''s eyes narrowed dangerously.


    Unconsciously, his footsteps quickened as he hurried toward his room.


    Once Nn arrived in front of his door, he was more than shocked and a vein popped on his forehead when he saw immediately that the door was half-open.


    But he also noticed that the dorm room of his neighbors also had Neers that he had never seen beforeing out, revealing to him that he wasn''t the only one whose room was taken.


    Entering into the room, Nn came in contact with a figure on all fours, and  with an especiallyrge brush in his hands with which he scurbbed the floor.


    Nn''s presence didn''t even seem to be able to awaken him from his dead focus as he continued scrubbing the hell out of the white tile that was already more than clean to Nn.


    "Hm-hmmm"


    A slight warming of the throat was all it took from Nn to catch the young man''s attention and he was revealed a face that surprised him a little.


    The person before him, he wasn''t humanoid and Nn had never seen his race before among all of the students.