Prince of The Abyss

It was quiet, pretty weird when, during the day, you could hardly concentrate with all the noise, but it should be expected; with how entitled these nobles were, they would never stay after school; the teaching they got was already enough; they didn’t need any extra work.

Not like he minded.

Plus, if he thought about it, he was also noble, just not noble in this Kingdom, so was he talking badly about himself?

Reaching a door, Aether read the sign on it, confirming it belonged to Avius.

Opening it, he saw a small place, but one with grand things. There were many armors on the walls, as well... as the Abysses mark. His gaze lingered a bit, not rushing to get off; if he did, it would be suspicious.

Avius stood at his desk, on his chair, smiling as he saw him.

”Ah, Aether, please, take a seat.”

Aether walked over to the one seat, standing face to face with Avius. Before sitting down on it.

”How is Academy life?”

Aether leaned back a bit into his chair, scratching his chin with his finger as he thought about the question. ”Not that good, and pretty boring.”

The old man chuckled, a bit nervous. ”Really, that isn’t great to hear.... I expected the former, but the latter, definitely not.” Then he stopped. ”Though I guess, from someone inside the Abyss, something like this... truly is nothing; the average life there must be a lot more stimulating than here, am I right?”

Avius leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. ”You know, Aether, I truly am really interested in you. Above anyone else at the moment, not only were you part of the Abyss’s Rebellion, and might know things I would definitely love to know. But I’ve always been fond of people from the Withered, especially the one that managed to awaken. I find them incredible.”

Aether’s eyes widened. Was that why he was so nice to him, because he was fond of the Withered? It was interesting to know... what wasn’t, was that this guy was definitely not far away from asking him everything that was going on inside the Rebellion, and questions about its leader, the Abyss... not to mention he was the leader, and the Abyss’s Vessel.

Aether let his head fall to one side. ”I don’t get what’s so interesting about us.” He said, playing with one of the buttons of his blouse. ”We are like you guys; there’s no difference.”

Avius chuckled. ”True, we are all the same.” He tilted his head. ”But don’t you think life in the Withered is harder?”

Aether raised one of his eyebrows, confused. ”Of course I do. What’s that got to do with it though?”

The old man got up from his seat, getting a bit closer to Fallen Eden.

”I’ve always had this theory... that while a Blue Rose civilian might always be stronger than a Withered, because they have access to Relics and an easier ascension. If a Withered manages to awaken, or if he were to compare a Blue Rose and a Withered of the same class, he would be stronger than the Blue Rose. Rank matters... and even more, mentality also matters... that way of thinking your people have, that screams at them to do everything they can to survive. It’s... just amazing to me.”

So that was what it was about? It was an interesting way of thinking... one hard to prove... and while you could say he was the proof, was he? I mean, not only was he not Withered born, he was also the Vessel of a God... plus, it all started with Frozen Crown, because of it he managed to do what he could without it, he wouldn’t have been able to do the other book he cleared as Reader, and maybe not even Demon of Dread, since he wouldn’t have had Voidpiercer.

However, Frozen Crown was in no way a normal book; not only did it take place in their world, somewhere in the past, but it also should just have not existed in the first place. Godspawn are rare, and it was an understatement, so could you really say he was proof when he had found and cleared a Godspawn book?

He didn’t think Avius was that wrong with his theory, but he just couldn’t believe it without it being proven by better proof than he had, and he was quite bad.

Avius took notice of Aether’s silence. ”Thinking of his theory, hope you understand it. But I do want to ask, before I get into it. What is your rank? Just wondering, for my theory.”

He could say the truth... but did he want to do so? I mean, what did he get from saying the truth? That he would know he was strong- why would he want that? It was easier to make excuses when everyone thinks you’re weak than when you’re stronger. There were more advantages to lying.

”I’m a Fragment.” Maybe he should have said at least echo... but it has already been done.

Avius stood still, blinking twice. ”Are you... sure?”

Aether quickly nodded. ”I am, that’s my rank. I mean, it’s quite hard to kill anything, never had a chance with strong monsters, and it’s taking a lot of time with Reader Fragment beasts.”

The old wizard sighed, walking back to his chair and lying down; he looked visibly upset... he would have never expected that would be his reaction. He wondered what face he would have made if he told him the truth, that he was a Beast rank.

Guess he would never know, since the old man was not going to learn any time soon.

”Alright, I’ll first explain how the Academy works, then I’ll start tutoring you.”

Aether moved in his chair so he could pay more attention; he did care about this a lot. He needed to know if he wanted to survive in this place, and while he could ask some Losts, why not get it from him?

”I know it’s in two stages, each having two seasons.” Aether pointed out, so he wouldn’t repeat this information. The faster they went, the more information that came out.

Surprised, he smiled. ”Made a friend that told you?”

He wouldn’t call Sena a friend necessarily; they were acquaintances. He didn’t dislike her; he knew she was dangerous, and she had annoyed him with the whole lie becoming the truth thing, but she wasn’t that bad, maybe because everyone else was horrible in this Academy; she was the dullest needle in a bucket full of sharp ones. But he also didn’t like her; they weren’t friends; if they were, she would need to be as close as people like Riven, Kade, Lucien, and everyone else in the Rebellion had been.

She was... and an acquaintance. Nothing more, nothing less, his deskmate.

”Now, what you don’t know is that in each season, you can fail or pass. Depends on what you do each week. The teachers analyze the students’ work every day, and at the end of the week, they note if you passed or failed that week. If you go over five weeks in that class where you fail, well... let’s say it’s not good. Stay above it; you pass the season.”

So then Sena was really getting some special treatment; if it had been a normal person, she would definitely have all her weeks as fails, not only five, all, every single one, every single class, every single week.

”And that’s all for the Theory season explanations. I’ll tell you more after we start the tutoring session. Now for the pratice seasons its a bit different, depending on the class of the students. One thing is the same for both, though: the fact that you make teams of at least two, and usually a maximum of five.”

So he really couldn’t go alone, looks like he was going to have to start making friends. If not, then things were really not going to be easy,

”Now, for Readers, they enter the Infinity Library, of course.

...

For Seekers, we use the Wonderland.”

...

’Huh?’

Aether’s eyes widen in pure confusion. His face must have been funny, since Avius let out a big laugh when he heard it.

”Don’t tell me, you don’t know what the Wonderland is, do you?”

Aether shook his head, even more confused than before...

He was supposed to know what it was... what this Wonderland was...

Avius stopped laughing, clearing his throat.

”Let’s call the Wonderland a substitute Seekers unlock after ascending; instead of having to read and then enter books inside the Infinite Library, they seek stories in a world full of them. That’s what the Wonderland is: a world filled with stories and their domains; it’s infinite, yet at the same time, if you think about it, its infinity is bigger than the Infinite Library’s, since one book inside the Wonderland is much bigger than one inside the giant library.”

...

Interesting; he was going to have to check that out.