Chapter 3. Zero

"Wake up Ken! How can you still be asleep! You will be teleported in 30 minutes!"

"I can't believe it's 8:30 already" the groggy Ken replied.

"I wonder what time I even fell asleep last night." Slowly rolling off his bed, Ken begins to pack his things to get ready for the teleportation.

Having pretty much no personal items, after getting dressed, Ken decided to just stuff his remaining clothes into a sack and call it a day.

"Don't forget to bring your clock Ken. I am really worried about how you will be able to get up for your classes without me around. Maybe you should go buy one of those artifacts that will sound an alarm after a set number of hours."

"Don't be stupid Emma, those things cost way more than what I got. I will be fine, don't worry about it, I'm sure I will be able to get up on my own once I'm at the academy."

Suddenly hugging him from behind, "I will miss you Ken" Emma said softly with her voice quivering.

"It will be fine Emma, I will go learn all I can, maybe make friends with some royalty, get a great job one day and support my family like Kate's parents are doing."

Completely missing her intentions, the two left the room to join the rest in the dining hall where the family had some toast for breakfast, and everyone said their goodbyes one last time.

"Make sure you all be good and take care of mom fo" before Ken could finish his sentence, the necklace begins to glow and instantly, what's in front of his eyes are no longer his family in their dining room but a giant stadium full of people with big fancy luggage and dressed even more extravagant.

The first thing Ken noticed is that unlike his home, the weather is quite comfortable and not chilling at all even during the first month of the year. The next thing he notices is that he is now inside a giant stadium, one that he has seen many times before.

"WOW! I'm actually inside the Dragonspire stadium!" Realizing where he was at, Ken couldn't hold in his excitement. The biannual tournaments are held at this very stadium where the world gets to witness the strongest fighters serving the largest kingdoms battling it out for glory with the periodical newcomers who will leave a strong impression and eventually become the next great.

With the world at peace and to keep it at peace, the largest and most powerful kingdoms that's keeping the balance have to display a certain level of military force that will make other kingdoms think twice before invading. While the military size is a factor, the key to a strong and powerful army is without a doubt, its commanding general.

It's said that the current top 10 each have the ability to destroy any kingdom unless they are faced against each other, or hundreds of extremely talented individuals will need to be sacrificed to take them down. Their immense power and the fact they all serve different kingdoms is what allowed the world to be at peace and the people have dubbed them as heroes for keeping the world at its current balance.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Dragonspire Academy"

As Ken looked up, he saw the lady from the selection standing alone on the announcer platform with a sound enhancer artifact speaking clearly to them from quite a distance away. As he looked closer to the stands, the stadium seats weren't fully empty either as he also noticed the professor who enrolled him sitting near the platform with others who he assumes are also professors.

"My name is Evelynn Dragonspire, the current headmistress of the academy. For today, my staff members will be registering each of you and you will be going through our entry exam to determine where you are academically and what areas you would need to improve to remain a student here."

"So here is the exam that I will be failing" Ken murmured to himself with a chuckle.

As the headmistress finished her explanation, the staffs got out of their seats and approached the new students in the arena.

Roughly 100 members of the academy staff approached the new students and one by one those up front began to move after speaking with a staff member. To ensure no one waits for too long, especially since the majority of the students are from royalty, noble or highly respected families, the process was fast and well-practiced by the staff and only a few minutes were spent with each student.

As a staff approached Ken, he handed over the teleport necklace artifact like those before him did and the staff conjured a spell on the necklace that seemed to allow them to get the information he provided during the selection.

"Ken? What's your family name?"

"I'm an orphan so I don't have one"

"You can leave your baggage here; it will be teleported to your dorm bed once registration is done. Here is your ID bracelet, please wear it whenever you are outside of your dorm room.

When I say the enchantment, please think of a word in your mind. That word will be the activation spell for your ID.

Each month you will be provided with 100 academy points that can be used to buy anything you need within this city, not just the academy.

If you have anything you don't understand, once we have concluded the exam, all the school rules and guidelines will be posted in your year's common area. And after we enchant your ID, please go backstage to where the written test is taking place."

As the staff recited some incoherent words, the bracelet that was just handed to Ken lit up green and as Ken thought up an easy word to remember, the bracelet turned red.

"Please think of the word now to verify that the ID is been setup correctly."

As Ken thought of the word, the bracelet lit up blue and words appeared in thin air from the bracelet that displayed his name, class 2000, rank question mark and a balance of 100 academy points.

"Everything is now setup; your rank will be displayed once everyone's exam scores are complied. Now please head to the back to start your test."

As Ken walked towards the backstage, he saw his sack suddenly disappear as the staff moved on to the next student.

With the stadium having enough seats for over eighty thousand speculators, the backstage area beneath the seats is quite enormous in size and it easily fits the thousand or so individual desks needed for all the new students.

As Ken entered the testing area, he was greeted by another staff member.

"Please be seated at any empty desk, the moment you sit down, you will have 3 hours to complete the exam.

Please use the restroom and grab any food or drink that's provided in the rest area up front if you need a moment to get ready as once you are seated, the test is over if you wish to leave the desk.

Math, language, history and science are the four required written subjects. Once you are done with the beginner portion, if you have time leftover and wish to move on to the intermediate and advanced portions, those tests will also be provided."

Learning that there is free food and all he had today was a few slices of dry toast, Ken happily made his way up to the long table where enchanted plates kept all sorts of food at the appropriate temperature for the dishes contained inside.

Grabbing a clean plate, Ken was mesmerized by the amount of food in front of him that he didn't know where to start as he barely even knew what most of the dishes were made with.

While the orphan boy with barely enough to eat is thoroughly thrilled by the offering. He could hear whispers all around him of people complaining about the quality of the food or how it's not even fit for a servant.

Ignoring the chattering, Ken couldn't help but get a bit of everything and ended up with 2 plates full of food as he sat at a table near the buffet area to enjoy the meal.

Scanning the room, Ken noticed that most of the students had skipped the meal and were already concentrating on their tests.

"How can they even concentrate on the test with all this food up here" Ken wondered to himself as he gobbled down on the delicious food.

Other than himself and this one girl he noticed, all the others that decided to get some food all got small portions and ate in a petite manner fitting for a noble. For obvious reasons, the girl who's chowing down drew Ken's interest. With big fluffy black and gray ears, deep piercing yellow eyes, and a bushy tail sticking out from her chair, she is no doubt some sort of a wolf beastman.

After finishing the best meal he's ever had, Ken moved over and sat down at a desk to start his written exam. As he sat down, a staff member showed up by his desk and provided him with an enchanted quill and a stack of testing paper.

When Ken gives the staff member the go ahead, an hourglass is placed on the corner of his desk to show him exactly how much time he has left to complete the tests.

Four tests were provided, each labeled with the subject on the cover sheet. As Ken turned over the math test, the page is labeled as beginner.

Flipping through the sheets, the beginner selection consists of 100 short answer questions. Likewise, the pages after were labeled as intermediate and 100 more questions labeled as advanced followed the intermediate section.

As someone who has never gone to school for a single day in his life and was taught how to read, write and count to the most basic level by his adoptive mom, even the beginner portion of the test looks like a bunch of gibberish.

When Ken flipped through the math test, didn't want to turn in a blank paper, he decided to put down some random numbers on some of the questions knowing full well he had no idea what he was doing.

The language, history and science parts turned out to be even worse with Ken not even knowing what most of the words mean. Not even ten minutes after he started the exam, he raised his hand to indicate that he had finished and was ready to move onto the practical part of the exam.

After the staff verified that he was sure to hand in his paper, Ken was informed to head back out to the arena for the practical portion of the exam.

As Ken walked back onto the arena, the area had completely changed. It is now set up with various stations with staff members waiting at the start.

Even with him taking his time enjoying a luxurious meal, only around an hour has passed since they started and not surprisingly, no one else is out here for the practical exam.

Walking towards the first station, the first available staff asked for Ken to display his ID. When he thought of the word, his profile lit up, allowing the staff member to transfer his information to a sheet of enchanted paper that seems to be how he will be graded for the practical section.

As the staff member guided him to the first station, He explained that each of the stations is set up with a 12-inch-thick slab of magic stone to test the 4 different base elements and asked Ken to aim his strongest concentrated fire magic at the first slab.

"If you manage to creative a 1-inch dent, you will pass the beginner exam, 3 for intermediate, 6 for advanced and if you can get through the whole thing, then you have achieved expert level of mastery."

"Uhhh... I can't use magic"

"No fire magic at all? I guess we can move on to the other elements." The staff member answered in confusion.

"I mean, I can't use magic at all. Never went to school, so I know nothing about how to use magic."

"Well, I guess we can move on to the physical portion of the exam." The staff replied when jogging down what Ken can only assume to be zeros.

Finally, for the first time since he got here, Ken was able to perform the tasks asked of him. For the first test, the staff member provided Ken with a sword and told him to swing full force into the slab.

Then he was told to lift and hold onto a box that would double in weight every 5 seconds for as long as he could. And lastly, he was asked to run a full lap following the marked track as fast as he could while holding a baton like artifact.

After finishing his run and handing the baton back to the staff, Ken was told that he could either head back and relax in the dining area until everyone is done, or he can stay out here and watch the others complete their exam.

Since he just ate and is still quite satisfied, Ken decided to just stay around and see how the others do. While the staff walked away with his results, Ken saw the wolf girl with another staff member at one of the sword stations.

Knowing that she took even longer than him to finish eating and he had spent no time until the physical part, Ken knew that this wolf girl was in a similar boat to him where she probably didn't have much clue on how to perform on any of the tests so far.

Up until he saw her, Ken was pretty sure he would end up dead last on the rankings but seeing how short it took her to reach this point as well has given him hope that maybe just maybe he won't finish last in the rankings.

That dream was short lived. While he thought he sliced the slab quite deeply, the wolf girl sliced up the slab into many pieces like it was made out of butter.

Then she was able to carry the box for so long that when she let go, it caused quite a bit of damage to the arena grounds. And per course, her speed was just out of this world as Ken watched in amazement while she finished her lap in no time at all.

While Ken was still stunned by what he just witnessed, the wolf girl spoke with her staff member and headed backstage.

Not willing to give up hope just yet, Ken decided to stick around and see how others do on those tests. Eventually, more and more people begin to show up as Ken witnessed people shooting fireballs, water balls, airballs and mudballs at different stations while others trying to cut down the slab, holding up the box and doing their laps.

After almost two hours of watching most of his peers finishing their exams, Ken got a pretty good idea of where he stands amongst the group. Obviously when it came to magic and the written exams, he is for sure dead last unless the wolf girl can somehow save him from that last place finish.

When he saw how amazing the wolf girl was at the physical portion, Ken almost completely lost hope thinking that he is just that much inferior to everyone else in everything and not knowing if he will be able to make up the gap between him and the rest.

Thankfully, it turns out the wolf girl was just crazy strong, fast and powerful. While a few others also impressed him with their magic and/or physical abilities. A majority of the students didn't do anything so outrageous that Ken thought it was impossible for him to catch up with some proper teaching and training.

That sense of relieve he isn't worlds behind everyone else and have such a long way to go made him feel hungry again and just as he decided to go back and get some more food, he saw a girl blast out a huge fireball bigger and stronger than anything he seen so far today.

Amazed, Ken stopped in his tracks and saw her perform the same level of powerful attack to the other three elements and also performed the physical part on par with the wolf girl.

On a closer inspection, the girl is not only extremely powerful but absolutely beautiful. Looks to be around 5'6 tall with her pure silky white hair flowing halfway down her back, when she finished running her lap, she made Ken's heart skip a beat when she turned towards him, and her stunning sky-blue eyes met his.

As she walked by to speak with her staff member, Ken could clearly see her flawless pale skin and also long pointy ears which made it obvious that she happens to be an elf.

After finishing her exam, the elf girl started walking towards backstage as Ken decided to catch up to her.

"Hey, that was some impressive abilities, how long did you train to be able to do that? My name is Ken, what's yours?"

Without even turning back to see who was speaking to her, the elf girl replied in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Sorry, I am not interested in small talk, making friends or building connections."

"Well, sorry for bothering you" Ken replied nonchalantly as the girl kept her pace without a care for Ken.

Not bothered by her coldness, Ken helped himself to more delicious food after he got back to the resting area while the majority of the students are now chitchatting amongst each other looking to build some early connections and possibly forming some long-lasting friendships.

Not too long after Ken started having his second meal, a staffer announced to the group that all of the testing was now complete and asked everyone to follow him back to the arena so they could be teleported to the cafeteria where lunch would be served.

Finishing up what he grabbed so nothing gets wasted, Ken made up the rear as the group marched back out to what is now a giant magic circle with all of the testing gear nowhere to be found. As all of the students gathered inside the circle, a staff member cast a spell and the group got instantly teleported.

Over the past 2000 years, much has changed. From the early days when the academy was the one and only building on a deserted island that belonged to no kingdom. The once desolate island is now the only known city kingdom in the world without a ruling royal family.

For major decisions, the seven board of directors headed by the academy headmistress will take a vote with majority rules. With the academy as its centerpiece and more than 30% of the total popular students and academy staff, the city kingdom follows the academy rules and bases all of its business around the students and biannual tourists for the tournaments.

Even though the entire island is not that big at all, the stadium is at least a 30-minute walk away from the main academy gates and with the types of students that are enrolled. It was a smart decision to teleport the group instead of asking them to walk.

Suddenly, Ken is now inside the dining hall of the academy. For a small countryside boy, the level of lavishness and luxury before his eyes is beyond his comprehension.

Decorated with the most elegant enchanted chandeliers floating at different levels, they provided any level of lighting needed depending on the time of day.

The size of the dining hall too, is nothing short of spectacular. It's said at any given year, there are around ten thousand students plus staffing and this four-level high dining hall filled with fancy tables and luxurious sofas provided enough space that even if the whole academy were to all gather inside, it would not feel overcrowded.

Just like during the exam, tables of enchanted plates were brought out but unlike before when only Ken and the wolf girl seemed to enjoy the food, even the high class, nobles and royals seemed to be satisfied with the offering for lunch.

Not able to tell what exactly is different between the food offered now compared to earlier, Ken decided to pack his plate with a bit of everything even though he is still quite full.

As Ken was toward the back and one of the last to get food, after he was done packing his plate, he could see most of the students were already seated in groups they had formed.

Wanting to make some friends and not be alone, Ken surveyed the room to see who all were the most approachable.

Catching his eyes right away is none other than the elf girl. Before Ken could even approach her, he saw a few others trying to speak to her, but all got rejected quicky.

Knowing it would be a long shot, Ken decided to look elsewhere. Not far from where he stood, the wolf girl just happened to be sitting alone and wolfing down her plateful of food like she hasn't eaten in days.

"Hey, what kind of wolf beastman are you?" Ken asked as he sat down next to the wolf girl.

Not expecting anyone to approach or talk to her, the wolf girl was startled by Ken's sudden appearance. Instead of responding to his simple question, she would look down at her food than glance at him without being able to produce any words.

Unlike the way she mesmerized him during her physical tests or the way she aggressively ate before he approached. Her sudden timid behavior peaked Ken's interest greatly.

"Beastman are pretty interesting eh, I know this grizzly bear beastman that looks like a total savage but is the sweetest guy. You remind me of him with how awesome and confident you were when you did your tests yet now you seem so shy."

"I'm not shy, I'm just not good around strangers." the girl replied in a soft quite voice, totally in contrast to the way she looks.

Letting out a chuckle, "Isn't not good around strangers the definition of been shy? You are a funny one, what's your name?" Ken asked as he got more comfortable around the wolf girl.

"I'm Lovetta, a grey wolf werebeastman."

"You know, I grew up in the beastman territorial but have never heard of a werebeastman. What does that even mean?" Ken asked in bewilderment.

"We are a small, isolated tribe in the far north great forest of the territorial. The only difference between me and a regular beastman is that under the right conditions, I can transform into a gray wolf for a limited amount of time."

As Ken grew up in the beastman territorial and most of the people he has ever known were beastman. Been able to talk with and learn about something completely new and interesting has lifted his mood greatly and the nervousness he has felt since the beginning slowly faded away.

As the two got to know each other by name and built up a small connection where Ken did most of the talking and Lovetta sat and listened. They were informed that the test results have been compiled and they will be shared once they are shown to their common room.

It's when the huge group left the dining hall that Ken finally realized the sheer size of the academy. Less like a typical school building like those in a town or even large city. The Dragonspire Academy is nothing like a school but instead a gigantic castle much bigger and fancier than what Ken saw during his visit to the capital of his medium-sized kingdom.

While the group walked, they were told that to prevent getting lost, all they had to do was activate their bracelet and say map. Ken decided to try it out as they walked and surely when he said map, a map appeared out of thin air replacing his profile.

When the group finally reached their common room, it was more like a small castle inside a gigantic castle rather than a room.

Once inside, just like the dining area, the decorations, the lights, the room is of the highest class befitting the aristocratic students.

Beautiful tables and chairs carved from the finest material and sofas padded with the softest material scattered all around the room to allow students both the ability to both study and relax in privacy or in groups.

As everyone gathered inside, they were led to a gigantic ranking board near the entrance that has everyone listed.

On top, it says class of 2000 with 12 different columns listed as overall, math, language, science, history, fire element, water element, earth element, air element, power, strength, and finally speed.

When Ken looked at the very top of overall ranking, someone named Clare Yelwraek is not only the rank 1 overall, but her score is outrageously higher than the rest.

While people chattered about the scores, the staff member explained how the scoring system worked.

For the written portion, each correct answer is worth 0.4 points for a total of 40 points for each level with 30 as a passing grade. For the practical part, each level is worth 40 points and additional points will be assessed based on how much progress is made on the next level.

Looking over at each individual category, the name Clare Yelwraek was on the top for each of the written exams with a perfect 120 points meaning she got every single question correct.

For each of the four elemental magics, she also scored the highest out of the whole class with a score of over 120 in each meaning she is already above advanced level on all of the elemental magic.

Expecting to see the name Clare as the highest rank for the remaining categories, Ken was surprised to see that she actually finished in second place and the first-place finisher by a good margin for the three physical categories is none other than Lovetta Wulric.

Before Ken could say anything, Lovetta grabbed his hand and whispered in his ears.

"Please don't make a big deal about it, I won't be able to handle any additional attention"

Giving her a thumbs up, Ken kept quiet around the crowd as people looked and wondered who the top finishers were and turned his attention to the bottom of the list where he knew that's where he would find his own name.

When Ken focused his gaze to the bottom of the list, while he expected that he might be the last place finisher, the fact that on the overall score where he finished dead last at rank 1022 with an overall score of zero flabbergasted even himself.

"Excuse me? Can you explain why I got a 0 on the physical part? I can understand getting a zero on the other parts, but I am positive I did better than at least a small group of people on the physical part"

By speaking up, now all those around him know who Ken is and that he is in fact the one who ended up getting a zero.

"You might be correct that physically you are stronger, have more power and speed than some of your counterparts. However, what we are testing is your magic abilities.

For the physical portion of the test, we were testing how much you were able to amplify your basic powers.

To pass the beginner level, you would need to double your base power, speed, and strength. Four times amplification for intermediate and eight for advanced." The staff member answered Ken's inquiry.

"So, once I study up and actually learn how to do magic, I will be that much stronger than those that I'm already stronger just at base level? Phew what a relieve."

With a comment like that, the orphan boy who was already deemed inferior by most due to his scores is now getting even more side glances and whispers.

As the staff went over a few more things and rules, the students were brought to the middle of the room with a marble spiral staircase going up as far as the eyes can see.

"Your dorm rooms are located above with each of your belongings already placed by your bed. You can activate your ID now and see your room floor and number.

Each room is to be shared by 6 of you that was determined randomly. Each room is also enchanted to only allow those specific individuals to go inside to prevent any unnecessary incidents.

For those of you that do not wish to share a room or wish to share a room with specific individuals or someone from a different year, please follow me to discuss the different options and pricing for the upgrades.

For the rest of you that wish to use the free shared dorm, I wish everyone the best of luck and that you make the best out of this opportunity to study at the greatest academy in the world."

Before walking away, the staff also informed them that they will be provided three free meals per day between the provided hours, additional food can be purchased during any hours of business and that they are free to explore the school and city for the next week before classes starts next Monday.

If they have any questions or concerns, they are encouraged to talk to any staff members and they will be pointed in the right direction.

When the staff walked away, a sea of students followed.

"Looks like most of them aren't fond of sharing rooms."

"I would want my own too, but my family just doesn't have the money so I don't think I can afford it" Lovetta replied.

"I can count on you to tutor me on the physical magic, right?" Ken asked assertively.

After nodding her head in agreement, the pair decided to split up to check out their assigned dorm room and to get things set up, not that Ken had much of anything to set up.

The two later met up for dinner and after getting the lowest possible score of zero and the worst recorded score in the 2000-year school history.

The first day finally came to an end as Ken got back to his dorm room and crashed into his bed from exhaustion.