Damian looked at Harry's outstretched hand in confusion.
When did he get to the academy?
Harry withdrew his hand, "Not a people person. Noted."
"I'm just slightly confused," Damian replied.
BAM!
They both turned to the blond boy who had just loudly closed the book he was reading. Without glancing at them, the boy stepped off the bed and walked out the room.
"That's Victor. Forgive him, he's not much of a talker," Harry said.
"I can see that," Damian sighed and laid on the bed.
He had imagined finally getting to the academy so many times, but none of those scenarios matched this. He felt like he had been cheated off a significant part of this experience.
"The academy doesn't let first year students walk into the school freely, it was the same with me too," Harry said as if reading Damian's mind.
"It's fine," Damian nonchalantly responded.
Harry walked over to his bed and sat down, "So, when do we get your name?"
"Sorry, I'm Damian. Damian Greythorne."
Harry's eyes widened, "Greythorne? The actual Greythorne?"
"The one and only."
"There were rumors of you being admitted as an Exceptional, but to actually have you as a roommate…" Harry laughed excitedly, "Yes! I'm safe!"
Damian looked up at him, "Safe? From what?"
"Before we talk about that, I just want to say how excited I am to meet you," Harry said with a smile.
"We're roommates so you'll see me a lot. I'm not big on having fans so I would prefer if you treated me like any other person or I would be requesting a room change," Damian stated.
"Unfortunately, no student can request a room change, but don't worry, I won't make you uncomfortable here," Harry assured.
"That does nothing but make me want to change my room more, and why can't students change rooms?"
"Because we are all teammates."
"Teammates?"
"Where do I start to explain this?" Harry scratched his head, "Every month, at the sound of an alarm, each room in every dormitory is pitted against each other. If all three people in a room are defeated, they all get expelled. Lectures begin next week, but we were told to expect the first alarm to 'weed out the trash'."
Damian was stunned.
'Jack didn't tell me this part when I asked about the academy,' he hissed internally.
"Ok, anything else I should know?" Damian asked as he rubbed between his eyes.
Mandatory fighting every month? That was too much! But what else would you expect from a school of this caliber?
"Not even worried? I truly am safe," Harry's smile widened and Damian just glanced at him, "Well there is a ranking system for each year, and then for the entire school. The year rank is allocated according to the time you resumed and you can only go up by challenging higher numbers and winning."
Harry then rubbed on the metal bracelet on his wrist and showed Damian as particles gathered to display a number. It was the number 67, meaning he was the 67th first year student to resume.
"What about your rank in the entire school?" Damian asked.
"First years have no place in that ranking fortunately," Harry answered.
Damian nodded his head, now getting an understanding of what was going on.
"Where do I get one of those?" Damian pointed at the bracelet.
Harry moved his gaze behind Damian and the latter turned to see a box next to him. He opened it and truly, a similar bracelet sat in it.
He put it on and rubbed on it like Harry did. After a few seconds, the number 346 could be seen.
"What's your number?" Harry queried.
Damian showed it.
"Oh, that's low. The school only admits 350 students total per year, but it doesn't matter, I'm sure you could go high up before the month runs out," Harry smiled.
Exceptionals were allowed to skip the orientation but had to resume before the first week was over. Damian had delayed his resumption so his rank was at the bottom of the barrel.
"Have the ranking started changing already?"
Even though Damian's rank was low, he wasn't foolish enough to think no one would challenge him. Not only was he an Exceptional, but he was also THE Damian Greythorne. There was bound to be a few people who would want to test his power once they knew who he was.
And he knew his identity was bound to spread quickly. Hopefully not too quickly.
"Already started since after orientation," Harry said.
Damian hissed, "Ok, is that all?"
"The upperclassmen—"
PUUM~
A deep but incredibly loud sound washed over the whole school suddenly.
The sound lasted for 30 seconds, but after that, everything went silent.
"What was that?" Damian asked.
Harry turned to him, panic all over his face, "The alarm."
_____
Somewhere far off…
Sat in a large room was a great round table. It was made of impeccable gold and released an aura that could cause even the most willful of men to turn submissive. There were 10 equally grand chairs around it but only two were occupied.
The occupants wore dark robes with white featureless masks.
One of them had a pile of paper before them with many others on the floor. They were currently reading one, seeing clearly despite having no eye slits on their mask.
"Greythorne. Damian Greythorne," the one reading said in an altered voice as they looked up at their colleague, "That's him, is it not?"
"Greythorne? Lord Astriel found his way to a Greythorne?" The other asked in a similar altered voice.
"According to the intel, yes. If this is true, then that changes things, Icarus. We can't move without alerting the champion," The first one said with a sigh.
"Darius is a challenge we should be able to overcome with proper planning, but I don't think he would leave his son there without proper security," Icarus folded his arms, "Especially knowing his worth. But knowing you, Iris, you already have a plan in play."
"You think too highly of me," Iris sighed.
"Am I wrong then?"
"No," Iris turned to the empty chair next to her, "But I did have to promise a seat at the table."
"You don't have the power to make such promises," Icarus instantly responded with an undertone of annoyance.
"I may not, but I'm sure Neo will agree if they succeed," Iris said and Icarus nodded.
"…he could. He has been wanting to fill The Table for a while but hasn't seen anyone fit. Now that the unrivaled champion has taken down one more of us, I'm sure that need has increased. If they succeed in freeing lord Astriel, it could make them worthy," Icarus confirmed.
"It's too bad Darius is dedicated to killing us all. Hopefully we won't need to fill any more seats before the plan bears fruit," Iris relaxed on the chair.
"Hopefully."
______
It had been three minutes and everything was still silent.
Harry had thought that there would be chaos immediately the alarm rang out, but nothing had happened yet.
He turned to Damian who had gone back to lying down after a few minutes had passed. Looking at this sight made him feel like he was worrying too much.
'I have a freaking Greythorne in the same room as me, why am I even worrying?'
With that thought, Harry relaxed. If a fight was to come to them, then he would just have to leave it to Damian.
Damian on the other hand might look calm and collected, and he was, but he made sure to pay attention to the door. The last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard, especially by any of the strong students.
He was moderately trained in combat, but he knew there was no way he could defeat any of these people. Not while still being unawakened.
He had learnt from Harry that there were two dormitories for first years with 60 rooms in each, however not all the rooms were filled with students.
"Do you think we should go attack other rooms before they come for us?" Harry suddenly asked.
"Henry, right?" Damian asked to confirm.
"It's Harry."
"Ok, Harry, why do you think you haven't heard any fighting?"
"The others are likely hiding or maybe they are too scared to engage in combat?"
Damian shook his head, "I strongly doubt students who went through the entrance exam would be afraid of fighting. Even if that were the case, the intention for the first battle is to 'weed out the trash', so I'm sure the academy will make that happen."
"What do you mean?" Harry was confused.
"The trash is being weeded out, Harry. The reason why nobody is approaching us is because they are fighting for their lives," Damian said, maintaining his calm composure.
There was no way the academy won't have expected people hiding. Damian also knew that anyone who did that, had no business being in the academy in the first place.
Plans had to be in place to make sure the weeds were properly taken out.
"So what's stopping the stronger guys from coming here?" Harry questioned.
"I have a guess, but we'll have to wait for him to come back."
"Him?"
At that moment, their bracelets gave an alert sound. A quick glance at the message portrayed made it clear the exercise was over.
Harry made a sigh of relief. It all happened so fast, but he was still grateful it was over.
The door opened and Victor walked in calmly. He moved over to his bed, sat down, opened his book and went back to reading.
Damian looked over at him, then down to his bracelet. There was a number.
It was one.