"Hello!" Lana's mother, Louise Moonless, gave Stark a warm smile as she fixed her gaze on him, she had long brown hair.
"…" Aoki, the brother, didn't say anything, and instead just glared at Stark, he also had blond hair but didn't seem to like him at all.
Stark promptly ignored him and sat down on one of the available chairs, which were both coincidentally right next to one other.
"Nice to know my future son-in-law has come here!" Arthur, the archer king, laughed.
"DAD?!" but Lana didn't seem to like the teasing.
"…" Stark didn't say anything, instead he just looked down at the table before him, it was made of pure glass, so he was able to see himself in it.
He saw his face in the reflection and… he noticed that he was sweating.
'…?' he didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this meeting.
They seemed friendly, but beyond those smiles… he saw something else.
"Let's start eating then we can talk," Arthur laughed and clapped both his hands, which resulted in a dozen butlers and maids to bring many plates filled with food on the table, "Enjoy your meal, Stark!"
Safe to say, Stark didn't touch his meal.
And after half an hour since the meeting started… Arthur finally talked about the REAL reason why they invited him.
Of course, it was visible Lana didn't know anything since she was happily smiling, not knowing why the atmosphere was so tense.
"Oh… and by the way, Stark," Arthur smiled, and the overwhelming blue aura around him suddenly grew ten times in size, from Stark's position, all he could see was his face turning dark, while his eyes and mouth were burning with blue aura.
He asked the question.
"Have you thought about which academy you would like to go to?"
Stark, feeling the weight of everyone's gaze on him, hesitantly looked up from his now-empty plate. His gaze met Arthur's, who was waiting for his answer.
Fellarburg is home to four elite academies recognized as the pinnacle of education, even among others of this world: Rift Conqueror Academy, Crimson Class Academy, Imperial Academy and finally, All-Go-To Academy.
Of course, as a domination class user, Stark truly had no better way to improve his skills than by risking his life inside of rifts… or joining that stupid domination association, but he had no plans to do that.
"My daughter is going to the Rift Conqueror Academy, it is ranked top 1 in the entirety of Fellarburg, and top 3 worldwide," Arthur boasted.
"…"
Inside this world, the 'Class Showcase', which was the event where Stark conquered the [City Ruins], didn't only serve as a start for your classifier career, but also to show your potential to other parties.
Depending on how well you did inside of it, you would receive invitations to academies, guilds and even associations.
And Stark… well… even though he was the one to conquer the rift, he hadn't received any sort of invitations.
He couldn't deny there was a small appeal to it, but he was pretty content with how he was doing currently, and there was pretty much no way for him to attend…
The reason was simple:
First, you need to be part of a big family, or prove your worth inside of rifts to be able to attend to one of them, which would be impossible for Stark since everyone knew that he was the black sheep of his family.
And second… well… there is a tuition fee, obviously, needless to say Stark would rather spend his money buying items that would actually benefit him, or ingredients now that he was an alchemist.
But…
"Would you like to attend an academy, Stark Heartsouls?" Arthur grinned, looking at the boy in the eyes, "I think you deserve it…!"
"…" Stark had a perplexed expression on his face, "Sorry, but I have no way to prove my strength, and the tuition is way too expensive."
"Oh yes, the tuition for these academies vary, but for the top, it is roughly around 20 to 25 million rher coins…" he nodded, which almost made Stark choke, this would be enough to buy a decent house or even a legendary/mythical equipment.
By now, Stark and Arthur were the only ones that spoke, the rest just looked at them both engage in this conversation.
The All-Go-To Academy is the best diverse academy in Fellarburg, it accepts any and all classes, meaning that even those not specialized in close range could benefit in attending.
The Imperial Academy stood as the pinnacle of educational resources, it is for people who would rather stay in the back and use their brains rather than fight and risk their lives.
The Crimson Class Academy is a bit of a special case as it only accepts the top three classes in this world: Soul Wielder, Magus and Alchemist, they are considered the best as they hold the strongest individuals; any person from a different class that attempts to access it, no matter their potential and strength, wouldn't be accepted.
They only want the elite of the elite, basically.
And as for the last and final academy that was considered the 'top' of Fellarburg…
It was the Rift Conqueror academy, and although this one accepted any and all classes as long as you were strong, it was still the one with the highest standards, and the most difficult to enter.
Removing the 25 million rher coin tuition fee, there were also the many other classifiers there, and showing any signs of weakness could result in you being taken over by them, or even getting kicked out if you make a mistake.
"We do not need failures" is their slogan, and it results in hundreds if not thousands of people getting suspended/expulsed every year, they don't even refund the tuition, and it is even said there is a 95% failure rate as the majority of students quit (if they don't just die).
Getting suspended from this academy or quitting also goes on your record, meaning that it would result in most good guilds/groups not wanting anything to do with you: you would have to start from scratch again.
It was a risk many were willing to take though… because if you ever survived the two years and graduated, you were not only guaranteed success, but also strength and connections to back it up.
"Stark… do you want to attend the Rift Conqueror Academy?" Arthur gave a chilling smile to Stark as he suddenly asked the question he had invited him over for.