The academy bird was crowing outside his dorm at 5:30 AM.
Lucius Fable groaned, he rolled over, opening his eyes, staring at the calender in the side of the bed.
His hand drifted to his throat. The cold, rusted iron of the Null-Stone necklace was there, heavy against his collarbone.
"Another day," Lucius whispered, his voice raspy.
He sat up, the bed springs squeaking in protest. The Class D dorms were located in the basement of the North Wing, affectionately nicknamed " The Dungeon" by the upperclassmen. It smelled of mildew and unwashed gym clothes.
Although Lucious had secure a spot in the academy, he was allocate to the D class, the class that everyone called "the Dustbin class", that focused on learning simple swordsmanship and simple enhancing spell.
Lucius dressed in his uniform. While the S-Class students wore pristine white blazers with gold trim, and A-Class wore royal blue, Class D wore a dull, slate grey. It was a color designed to blend into the walls. A color that said: You are background noise.
He grabbed his wooden practice sword—he wasn't allowed a steel one yet due to his grades—and headed out.
The walk to the main campus was a daily exercise in humiliation. The path was lined with statues of great heroes, all of whom wielded massive amounts of mana. Lucius walked past them, feeling the necklace pulse softly, eating the ambient mana in the air before it could even touch his skin.
Being at the D class wasn't quite respected by others, cadets from C class and above treat them like servant, a group of un-derserving trash that got barely got into the academy.
"Hey, look. It's the Pebble."
Lucius didn't look up. He knew the voice. Jarek, a Class A knight.
"Morning, Pebble," Jarek sneered, shoulder-checking Lucius as he passed.
"Try not to trip on your own shoelaces today. We wouldn't want you to break a bone. Again."
Lucius stumbled but caught himself. He kept walking.
Being from the D class is bad enough, but Lucious was the also the weakest from the D class as well, he was treated as a laughing stock by everyone, well, it was reasonable, he loss all his fight and still got into this academy, the academy that only accepts the best of the best, nobody accept him, even student from his own class.
'having Kaelen acknowledge you doesn't mean everyone will huh?'
His only friend in the academy was Kaelen, and opposite from him, the bottom student of D class, Kaelen has always been the strongest student in the S class, always securing number 1 in both theory test and practical test. But because S class and D class was two worlds apart from each other, Lucious didn't meet Kaelen frequently, thus Kaelen had no idea of Lucious being bullied by everyone in the academy.
But Lucious had learnt to endure it, he believes if he tried, he can be stronger and proves everyone wrong.
"Mana," Professor Haldor droned, pacing the front of the lecture hall, "is not a tool. It is a limb. It is an extension of your nervous system."
Lucius sat in the back row, his quill hovering over his parchment. His first subject today was the 'magic control' class, which Lucious found the most useless.
'Why would a knight needs to learn how to use magic, can't we just use our sword?' Lucious was not paying attention in this class at all, it was all blabbering for him.
"Close your eyes," the Professor commanded. "Feel the ley lines beneath the Academy. Feel the warmth of the Fire nodes in the east, the cool drift of the Water nodes in the west. Reach out and pluck a strand."
Lucius closed his eyes.
He concentrated, but not in the mana that the professor commaned, but concentrating to sleep. Lucious had been lacking sleep lately because of the academy strict schedule, so he was trying to make the best of this useless assignment.
"Mr. Fable," the Professor's voice cut through the silence.
Lucius opened his eyes. The Professor was standing over his desk, looking disappointed.
" Everyone else in the room has successfully levitated their feather,"
the Professor gestured to the room. Thirty white feathers were floating inches above the desks.
Lucius looked at his feather. It lay limp on the wood.
"I... I'm trying, Sir,"
"Trying isn't doing, Fable" the Professor sighed, adjusting his spectacles.
"And trying doesn't mean drooling like that, Sir Fable."
The Professor tapped the desk.
"Why are you here, Fable? This is an Academy for knights. You are not qualified to be a knight. You are simply a historian with a sword."
Laughter rippled through the classroom.
"I'll do better next time," Lucius said, his face burning.
His only place where Lucious felt like he was actually learning something is combat training. Before, Lucious was just a kid pretending to be a knight, but after half a semester, he had actually learnt how to use a sword efficiently. Students got to choose a sword style they wanted to folllow to suit their mana attribute the best, Lucious had inherited water mana from his mother, so his sword style should focused more on elegancy than power, taking advantage of his water attribute. But Lucious decides to follow the sword style that focus more on power, simply because he loves swinging hard more than swinging precise.
"Pair up!" Instructor Gorsh barked. Gorsh was an Orc, seven feet of green muscle and scars. An Orc who has been through countless battles, but because of his age, he decides to retire in this academy, training young students to powerful as him. Although Gorsh was powerful, comparable with instructors from higher classes, his teaching methods was... Questionable? He believes that if the student got beaten enough, they would be stronger, just like him. So he just paired students up and let they beat up each other while he watched.
Lucius stood there, everyone was preying to pair with the Pebble. He was the easiest target, and Lucious knew that too, in the D class, pairing with Lucious is how you minimize your injuries to none.
"Fable!" Gorsh shouted. "You're with Miller!"
Lucius winced. Miller was a Wind-Attribute Knight. He was fast, the kind of knight that Lucious hated the most.
"Don't cry when I hit you," Miller grinned, spinning two training batons.
"Say the guy who gave up imediately after Kaelen barely touched you."
"Big mouth for a weak trash huh?"
"We're all trash here, so that was not quite an impressive insult is it?"
"Begin!"
Miller didn't wait. He activated Wind Step. Green mana wrapped around his boots. He blurred.
Lucius saw him, Lucius's eyes were naturally sharp. He saw Miller dash to the left. He saw the baton coming for his ribs.
Lucius raised his sword to block.
"Too slow!"
WHACK.
But the baton changed it course to Lucious helmet. He was trying to regain composure when.
WHACK.
A strike to the knee. Lucius buckled.
WHACK.
A blow to the ribs where Lucious had removed his blocking stance, Lucious air left his lungs, then Miller kicked him falling to the ground.
"Too slow?" Miller taunted, dancing around him.
"What are you doing? Moving through molasses?"
Lucius gritted his teeth, tasting blood. He scrambled up.
Miller lunged. Lucius ducked, aiming a counter-thrust at Miller's stomach.
It was a perfect read. The sword strike critically in Miller stomach pushing him flying back.
Miller panicked, flared his mana, and used Wind Blast while flying backward.
A shockwave of air hit Lucius in the face. He was thrown backward, tumbling across the gravel.
As Miller was standing up holding his stomach, smirking.
"Winner: Miller!" Gorsh shouted. "Fable, why aren't you using any mana, are you disrespecting your own opponent?.
He wasn't disrespecting anyone. He just... couldn't do it. Learning how to control mana was too difficult for Lucious, and without mana reinforcement and magic spells, he was fighting physics itself. Every student here was enhancing their muscles with magic. He was the only one running on pure biology.
"Get up," Gorsh spat. "Again."
After a bunch of beatings, it had finally reached lunchtime, the only time where Lucious felt like this academy is truly heaven, the cafeteria was for every student, even D class student, and the food is out of this world, it was food made for nobles, how could it dare to be bad.
"You look like a wrecked"
Lucius looked up. Kaelen Valiant dropped his tray onto the table. The tray was laden with roast chicken, fresh fruit, and a sparkling potion.
"I was training my durability, thank you very much." Lucius defended,
Kaelen sat down, his S-Class uniform gleaming in the sunlight. He looked like a prince from a fairy tale. Red hair, blue eyes, an aura of effortless power.
Students nearby whispered.
"Why does Lord Valiant sit with him?"
"Is the Pebble his servant?"
"Maybe it's charity work."
"Be honest, you look like a corspe" Kaelen noted, tossing Lucius an apple from his tray. "Gorsh again?"
"Miller," Lucius caught the apple. "Wind attributes are cheating."
"They aren't cheating you know, you just need to anticipate the air current, every attribute has its own weakness, you just need to find it." Kaelen said through a mouthful of chicken.
"Or, why not abuse your mana attribute like them, I'm sure you can figure out your mana attribute, and even develope your own sword style, like how Valiant family had developed our own sword style." Kaelen proudly said when he is still chewing his food.
"Finish your food, Kaelen," Lucius said quietly. "And I can't do it, I can't control my mana."
"Hey, you fought on par with me, while I'm using the Valiant sword style, I'm sure you'll figure out something."
"It's just pure luck, I was simply lucky."
"It wasn't luck Lucious, I experience it myself, none of that were luck, and even if it were luck, luck is also a skill depending on how we interpret it. Well, good luck, I have class soon."
"Thank bro, I really need it."
"Anytime."
When Lucious is walking across the hall back to his afternoon class thinking about what Kaelan had said, he walked through a rankings board. The board was created through magic, and will updated continuously in real time. Lucious search the knight department, the number 1 spot was of course Kaelen, how could it not. Lucious was moving finger downward, and downward, the bottom spot, number 101, Lucious Fable a number that shouldn't even exist, every other departments only have 100 student each.
*Sign* "I haven't done quite good with the test am I."
Although Lucious performance in the practical exam was consider good, all of his theory exam was all 0, and Lucious didn't even bother with it, thinking it would have no consequences. He still thinks that way, what if he placed last, he can still slowly climed up.
That was until a week later, the semester ended not with a bang, but with a death sentence.
The entire student body was gathered in the Grand Hall. The chandeliers glittered, mocking the tension in the room.
Dean Cornelious stood at the podium. Standing in the middle of the podium with other instructor behind him.
"The standards of the Royal Academy," the Dean began, his voice slithering through the air, "are absolute. We do not coddle the weak. We do not tolerate mediocrity."
He unrolled a scroll.
"The Kingdom is facing threats from the borders. We need soldiers, not students. Therefore, the Board has decided to implement... The Culling."
A murmur of fear ran through the crowd.
"The bottom students from the Knight Department and the bottom students from the Mage Department will be expelled immediately following the Final Exam."
Lucius felt his stomach drop.
"The D class of both Knight Department and Mage Department will be disband, and everyone who failed to climb to class C after the final exam is to be expelled from this academy, and this time, there will be, no exceptions." The dean stared right into Lucious, then to another girl.
Lucious was dead inside, barely standing after what he just heard.