CHAPTER 208: GOLDEN SET

Sophie left the group with Quin and went in. Quin led them to the training house, the same place Riven had honed his skills in the beginning.

When they got in, Quin picked a wooden sword and started tossing it around.

"Did you bring us here to train?" Mia asked.

"Nope, that’s not it," Quin replied.

"Then what is?" she asked. He pointed his sword at them. "You lot have a lot of stress coming ahead of you, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

After the first incident at the academy, some of you were the highlight, especially the top ten of the first years.

Sure, other students from the other classes also shined, but you, you ten were the top.

And now information like that can’t be kept away from the king, no matter how much we try," Quin said.

"What do you mean?" Riven asked. He had a feeling he knew what was coming, but he felt that due to the changes in the story now, it wouldn’t happen again.

"The academy is called the Royal Academy, the pride and joy of the Royal family. You do know that not only the Royal Academy exists to train the young, right?

Right there in the capital we have the Mage Council, and they are the pinnacle of magical training. Many mages that graduated from our academy went ahead to learn more from the council.

Then there are over ten major cities and more smaller cities. And in these cities there are numerous academies targeting training youngsters like you, each owned by the kingdom, but the Royal Academy is the elite of the kingdom.

That being said, within the walls of the academy are people set to watch and know what’s happening. Their mission is just to relay to the king and no one else.

So it’s impossible for us to hide anything major that happens in the academy," Quin said.

He tossed the sword up and balanced it on one finger, his eyes went cold and serious. "And you ten of the first year have entered the limelight, especially after what happened on the other island.

Your set has been tagged, the golden set," Quin said, and the moment he did, Liana, Mia, Sofia, and Quin opened their eyes in shock as if they knew what was happening.

Riven, on the other hand, was confused for the first time. He was always the one with inside information of this world, so how come he did not know of anything called the golden set?

"It seems most of you already know what the golden set tag means. Well, I’ll explain a little bit more. Over ten years ago, before most of you were born, was also my set of the Royal Academy.

We were a set that was made of the elite of the elite, prodigies that could only be born once in a lifetime.

We were not only students, we were the pinnacle. In every yearly academy event against other academies, we defeated them easily. At young ages, we destroyed demonized beings, fought ridiculously strong enemies.

We were the set that was believed to be the ones that might save us from the demons. Our top ten were beyond imagination.

But much like many things, pride crept in, a struggle for who was the strongest, and other issues erupted, and the top ten had issues born out of nothing.

Some of us ran from the academy before even graduation and as for their whereabouts, no one really knows. Some sought out power crazily, and that made them tap into forbidden sources.

Of all ten, only three remain inside of Vermilion, and we try to protect the kingdom in our own capacity," Quin said. He tossed the sword and grabbed it.

"That name, it’s not just a name, it comes with so much honor that it creates a weight over you. You might believe that you’ll avoid that weight, but you can’t, you never can, and when you finally get that title, you’ll understand why.

Especially you, Riven. You’re a low-ranked noble that somehow took first spot. You have been covered by the academy all this while that you don’t even know the battles happening because of you.

Normally I wouldn’t reveal it to you because I want you to have at least the smallest amount of normalcy, but when this name is given to you, you’ll see the difference.

Nobles are out to kill you because they don’t want a low noble to rise and become something so powerful," Quin said.

’This is all new information. Golden set? Nobles against me? I don’t want to be part of all of this. Being the rank one had already set so much weight on me, I want to hide more if possible and stay away from politics especially,’ Riven thought.

"I don’t want the tag of golden set, and I can defend myself from whatever nobles try to kill me. I’ll keep a low profile and even if it calls for it, I’ll throw away the rank one title.

At some point before, having respect and being seen by all was a goal of mine, but right now, I prefer to survive so I can enjoy the little things my life can offer," Riven said.

But when he looked at the girls, he noticed a sad and pained expression on their faces. He didn’t know why. He looked at Quin, and there was no expression on his face, then suddenly Quin threw the wooden sword toward Riven.

Riven caught it, but there was a confused look on his face.

"Everyone step back, except Riven," Quin spoke, and they all backed down.

"What’s happening?" Riven asked.

"Quin, I want to show you something, and when I show it to you, I’ll be able to explain the situation even more.

I want you to attack me, no holding back, no thinking twice, just attack, and I want you to go as far as you can to try and kill me.

Make sure you put your all into it," Quin said.