The line moved forward. One by one, cadets placed their hands upon the orb. For most, it shone a steady, soft blue. A few emitted brighter pulses, earning a slight nod from Hera and a note on her digital clipboard.
William stepped up. A bright flash of blue. "Human only, but above-average physical capacity," Hera murmured.
Aurel approached. The orb glowed, then flickered with streaks of silver, like miniature lightning. Hera's brows lifted slightly. "Exceptional human. Resonates with cognitive patterns. If developed, a potential cornerstone of our strength. Noted."
It was Farren's turn.
"Ordinary human, average physique, utterly plain."
Next came Serra.
"Ordinary human. The only remarkable trait is keen eyesight. Perhaps in the future, you'll be assigned as a spy."
Then came Yuna.
"Mutant, Elementalist type. Earth affinity."
Huh? That girl's a Mutant?
My turn crept closer. My heart thrashed like a trapped animal. Gerrald stood just ahead. He placed his hand down. The orb shone a strong, pure blue—steady, ordinary. A perfect reading for a noble-born human, non-mutant. He didn't look back.
I stepped forward. The weight of the instructors' stares, the seniors' gazes, everyone's attention pressed down like a physical force. The book's warning screamed inside my skull.
"Show no mercy."
I raised my trembling hand.
Who am I?
I set my palm against the orb's cool, smooth surface.
For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. A terrifying void. The crystal remained dim and lifeless.
A flicker of confusion crossed Hera's face. She tapped at her device. "Subject: Nico. Unmeasurable. Unusual."
•••
[PoV: Dane Bondou]
[At Noon]
From the highest balcony, I gazed downward, unseen by the cadets far below. My eyes lingered for a moment, sharp and watchful, before I turned to my assistant.
"How was the assessment on the first day?"
"Promising. No problems whatsoever. Each of them demonstrates talent in their respective fields."
"Forget the others. I'm asking, what about Nico?"
After days of waiting, the spy I had dispatched finally returned with news. The boy's name was "Nico." Not long after, I entered it into the academy's official database.
"That young man… you'll have to see for yourself." He handed me his digital slate.
The moment I looked, my eyes widened in disbelief.
- Name: Nico ???
- Age: 18 (?)
- Height: 181 cm
- Weight: 63 kg
- Classification: Human (?) Mutant (?)
- Skills: ?
"Why two classifications? And why are they riddled with question marks? What does this mean?" My voice broke the silence, heavy with astonishment.
"That's the strange part. I don't understand either. But according to Hera, it isn't the orb that's defective—it's Nico himself. He's fractured to such a degree that even a flawless orb cannot measure his essence."
My brow lifted, a quiet smile curving across my lips.
This surpassed even my wildest expectations.
He was now shrouded in deeper mystery than before. And I had nearly revealed my most precious card to the world.
No one must learn of him—whether from within the Academy or beyond its walls.
Perhaps… he is the key I've been searching for all along!
•••
[PoV: Nico #####]
Our lessons began in the main building. I found myself assigned to Room 29 of 30, on the 7th floor. Together in the same room with Gerrald and Farren. I sat quietly at my desk, my chin propped on my palm, watching the room.
The classroom itself was a circular marvel. Around me, digital panels and holographic boards shimmered, some fixed on the walls, others hovering in the air like fragments of light awaiting command.
Here, for our very first subject, we were to learn about the structure of this nation.
At the front stood our instructor—Evan Jern, a man clad in a pristine white coat. He is doing a strange habit, spraying a perfume scented of apples.
The fragrance of that perfume overpowered the stifling odor that had pressed upon us all this time, metallic and reminiscent of a hospital.
Then he tap on his digital tablet, every panel came alive at once, casting the room in an ethereal glow. Lines of text and flowing diagrams filled the air.
"As the name suggests," he began, his voice firm yet calm, "the Exlish Federation. A nation built upon the federal system—states bound together, each holding their own powers, yet united under a central authority: Exlish."
All eyes turned toward the shifting streams of information before us.
***
Official Name: The Federal Republic of Exlish
Motto: Ex Unitate Vires (In Unity, There Is Strength)
Federal Capital: Astra Prime—a master-planned, ultra-modern city as a neutral seat of governance.
1. Historical Roots & Foundation
TheFederation of Exlish had not risen from the ambition of a throne, but from the ashes of the Fifth Continental War—a war that had left the continent scarred for decades. Fifteen nation-states, each fierce in their own right, armed with armies, treasuries, and cultures, had finally realized that peace and cooperation were the only path forward.
Through the legendary Astra Accord, they bound themselves together. They surrendered control over foreign affairs and defense to form a single, united federation, while still preserving significant autonomy within their borders.
Thus, the state found its most logical form: a Federal Republic, governed through a Presidential System. A president elected directly by the people across the federation would stand as a unifying figure, while the federal structure safeguarded the rights of states that had once stood sovereign.
2. The Federal Government
Executive Branch:
The President, chosen directly by the people for a five-year term, with a limit of two terms, stood as the Head of State, Head of Government, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. This office wielded broad authority over foreign policy, defense, and the economy at large.
Alongside him was the Vice President, elected as part of the same ticket, tasked with assisting and presiding over federal cabinet sessions.
The Federal Cabinet—the Council of Ministers—was composed of figures appointed by the President: professionals, academics, coalition politicians. Each was responsible for specific domains under federal jurisdiction.
Among them were the core Federal Ministry:
Minister of National Defense: Overseeing military strategy, weaponry, and logistics.
Minister of Foreign Affairs & Global Strategy: Steering diplomacy and international relations.
Minister of Finance & Strategic Economy: Managing budgets, investments, and markets.
Minister of Homeland Security & Intelligence (MHSI): Supervising the Federal Intelligence Bureau and coordinating national security.
Minister of Science, and Innovation (MESI): The flagship ministry, funding groundbreaking research.
Minister of Transportation & Inter-Regional Connectivity: Ensuring national infrastructure tied the federation together.
Ministry of Manpower: Development of human resources, preparation of regulations, and supervision of labor policy implementation.
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources: Formulation of policies, technical standardization, and coordination of programs and activities in the sectors of new and renewable energy, coal, minerals, and natural gas.
• Legislative Branch: Bicameral Parliament
The Federal House of Representatives (FHR)—its members called People's Delegates. They voiced the people's will, shaped national laws, and held the power of the purse.
Opposite them stood the Federal Senate, where each state, regardless of size, sent four Senators. They guarded the rights of the states, holding veto power over any bill that threatened autonomy. Their approval was required for the appointment of ambassadors, top generals, and Supreme Court justices.
Both chambers are elected through general elections—conducted under the principles of direct, general, free, confidential, honest, and fair voting.
Elections are held every five years on a public holiday, or a day declared as one—always using the official digital voting system, guaranteed and organized by the Federal Cabinet.
Participants in elections for the House of Representatives are political parties.
Participants in elections for the Senate are individuals.
All members are chosen by the highest percentage of votes.
• Judiciary Branch
At its peak was the Federal Supreme Court, resolving constitutional disputes—whether between the federal government and the states, or among the states themselves. Justices were nominated by the President, but only with the Senate's consent could they serve.
3. States & Local Governance
Each state was led by a Governor, directly elected by its people, heading a Cabinet that oversaw education, healthcare, local policing, and taxation.
Their State Parliaments, unicameral in form, forged the laws unique to their lands.
4.The Political Sphere
Three great forces vied for influence:
The Nationalist-Progressive Alliance (NPA): right-leaning, driven by military strength, defense industry independence, and economic nationalism. Their strongholds were industrial states.
The Green & Social Coalition (GSC): left-leaning, championing environmental sustainability, social welfare, and the reduction of military expenditure. Their strength lay in academics and the youth of urban centers.
The Democratic Unity Party (DUP): centrist, balancing the scales. Advocating stability, diplomacy, and technological progress, often playing the role of kingmaker in federal coalitions. Special Institutions & Supporting Systems
5. The Military: Exlish Federal Armed Forces (EFAF)
Professional. Neutral. Loyal to the Constitution above all.
Army: Elite armored divisions, each state contributing regiments integrated into federal command.
Navy: Guardians of seas and trade routes, boasting aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
Air Force: Masters of the skies, operating stealth drones, next-gen fighters, and satellites.
Cyber & Space Corps: The youngest branch, wielding control over cyberspace, satellite defense, and even outer space.
6. Federal Science & Research Institute (FSRI)
The mind behind Exlish's technological edge, operating under MHSI with near-total autonomy.
Astronomy & Space Research Center (ASRC): Overseers of telescopes, observatories, and the space program, launching both communication and spy satellites.
Advanced Research Projects Bureau (ARPB): Pioneers of disruptive technologies—AI, directed-energy weapons, exotic materials, hypersonic propulsion.
Federal Institute of Technology (FIT): A network of elite universities, feeding scientists and engineers into the federation's most critical projects.
7. Intelligence Agencies
Federal Intelligence Bureau (FIB): Conducting espionage abroad and counterintelligence at home.
Homeland Security Bureau (HSB): Under MESI, tackling terrorism, domestic threats, and safeguarding vital infrastructure.
***
And so, I had read through and grasped all that information, though only a little. This wasn't even the entirety of it—merely fragments, scraps of knowledge. I could only hold on to what I had read and understood. The rest remained unread, cut short the moment the Instructor turned off the screen after finishing his explanation of the nation's structure and moving on to something else.
Instructor Jern let the final frame in silence before darkening the screen. The apple-scented air felt sharper now, as though the sweetness had turned acidic in the mind. He folded his hands behind his back, eyes sweeping across the room like a hawk measuring fledglings.
"You have now seen the skeleton of our Federation," he said, his tone low but deliberate, "yet I wonder—what do you think binds the bones together? Is it law? Tradition? Fear? Or perhaps something more fragile, like trust?"
He tapped his tablet again, bringing forth a map of the fifteen states.
"Consider this," he continued, "each of these states once stood as sovereign nations. Each had its own armies, its own pride, its own scars. They gave up that independence not out of love for one another, but because war had exhausted them. Tell me, students," his gaze swept across the rows, pausing long enough that silence became weight, "is a unity born of desperation more stable, or more brittle?"
He stepped closer to the holographic projection, the faint light bending across his coat.
"Power was surrendered. A President, elected by all, now commands armies that once swore loyalty to separate crowns. But is such power truly safe in the hands of one? What happens when a President forgets he is servant to the Federation and instead seeks to be its master?"
The holograms shifted again, now showing the Parliament chambers locked in debate, Senators raising their hands, Delegates shouting across the floor.
"And then there is the Senate—equal voices for unequal states. A vast industrial giant, and a mountain enclave with only a hundred thousand people, each with the same vote in the upper chamber. Is that justice? Or is it a flaw disguised as fairness?"
He stopped pacing, his eyes finally settling on us. His voice dropped lower, but it carried sharper weight than before.
"Remember this lesson: systems are never sacred. They are choices—choices made by those who feared returning to the abyss. The question is not whether Exlish stands strong today. The question is: what would it take to make it fracture again?"
The room held its breath.
I, on the other hand, could only feel the weight pressing against my chest. All of it—the government, the parliament, the military, the research institutes—appeared to me like a colossal structure, both solid and fragile. Built on logic and interests, yet always teetering at the edge of collapse.
Instructor Evan Jern closed the presentation with his flat voice. "Let us conclude here, and we shall meet again on the scheduled day."
He sighed softly. "Remember this, cadets. The Federation exists not to protect a single nation, but fifteen at once. And ironically, it has become a mask for rulers who twist circumstances for their own gain, wielding power and might as they please. That is why you will become the soldiers who tear down the corrupted authority within the Federation of Exlish."
He set down his digital tablet, then looked at us one by one. His eyes lingered on me longer than the rest. For a moment—just a fleeting moment—I felt his gaze pierce too deeply.
.....