“I am back” xeron’s thoughts were interrupted by his mom’s voice. Xeron stood up from his bed and ran to greet her.

“Mom, how are you?” he took her into his arms.

“Xeron! When did you return?”

“Just a few minutes ago, mom”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming back today? At least you should have called me when you reached your friend’s home”.

“Sorry, mom. There was some sort of signal problem so I could not contact you. Sorry”Xeron apologized.

“Do you know how much worried I was! You young boys of today, I don’t understand you people”

“Mom, he has returned safely so let’s just end it here” zess tried to calm her down.

“What can I do against both of you. But I am happy to see you safe”

“Zess told me that you had gone to meet a newly shifted neighbour. Who are they?”

“They… They transferred to Imperial City today. They are from Alzarec city. Their daughter wanted to study at the “Imperial College of Saints” so they transferred with her.

Zess: “Yeah, I totally forgot. Mike was here a while ago. He was asking about you. He wanted to talk about something”.

“I am then going to meet him” Xeron rushed towards the main-door and was out in an instant.

Mike is Xeron’s childhood friend. Since Xeron was 6 years old, they have been like best friends. Studied in the same school, lived in the same neighbourhood, they are like brothers. Their friendship also tied their families.

(“At this time of day, he will be sitting in the city park waiting for the sunset. The only person I have ever acknowledged as my friend; not due to his abilities or anything but due to his comedian nature”) Xeron was running at his full speed towards the city park. (“He never falls no matter what kind of problem he has to face. I might have turned into a serious evil slayer but due to him, I have managed to maintain my funny side. Evil for evil and good for good; that’s what I am”).

It was evening time. Children with their families were enjoying their free time. A boy of the same age as his; wearing a T-shirt with a scythe pic on it was watching the sky.

“Here you are…… Mike!”

“Xeron?” Mike turned and embraced Xeron.

“When did you come back from your friend’s home?”Mike asked.

“Nearly 10 minutes ago. I was told that you came to talk about something. What was that you wanted to talk about?”

“I wanted to talk about the college”.

“College?” Xeron made a surprised face.

“Don’t tell me that you forgot about it? Our school days are gone. Now we have to get enrolled in a college to continue our studies…….. Do you understand now?” The last words were loud so as to enter his ever forgetting mind.

“Sorry! I totally forgot about it……...So which college are we going to enrol in?

“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Personally, I recommend “Imperial College of Saints”. They enrol only those students with good marks in their previous exams and there is no fee problem so it should be easy for us to get admission. What do you say?

“It’s fine as long as we are going to the same college”Xeron was fine just with Mike being there for him. He never cared about the popularity of the schools; he just went where Mike went.

“So, it’s decided then. I will fill admission forms for both of us. Today is Tuesday. College starts next Monday, so be ready”

“Fine by me”

“So how was your trip? Enjoyed it?”

“Yeah. Very much”

“So are you free today? Mike asked.

“Yes, but why?

Mike: You forgot again. Today is the final of Intra-city football tournament. I have got 2 tickets. Wanna tag with me”

“Sounds interesting. Let’s go”

Having received Xeron’s agreement Xeron and Mike head to the football stadium.

During the second half of the game, someone pats Xeron’s shoulder.

Xeron finds a familiar face behind him. It was none other than the Imperial Army Branch 9 head officer, Reus Halvor, the one Xeron was working for. He was disguised as an old man but Xeron saw through his disguise.

“What is your opinion, young ones? I mean who will be the winner today?” Reus asked in an old man’s voice.

“I think my team; the one with the black shirts will win” Mike replied while eating popcorn.

" The one who performs better will win of course " Xeron replied normally.

Reus: “I see”

“Which team do you think will win?” Mike asked the old man(reus).

“I think the weaker one will lose”

“It’s the same as Xeron said” Mike replied.

“No, it’s not”Reus said,“If you are strong then no matter whom you are fighting against, victory will be yours but if you are weak then you will lose regardless of an enemy being strong or weak”

“I do not understand you but all I understand is that my team will win for sure” Reus’s words went over Mike’s head.

“It’s nice to be young, isn’t it?” Reus said.

“Yeah, that’s right” Mike kept on eating the popcorn.

Reus extended his right hand towards Xeron,put a piece of paper in his pocket and whispered in his ear,” You have become quite interesting, Xeron. We’ll meet again soon”.

Xeron turned his head quickly but found no one behind him. In an instant,reus was out of the stadium walking slowly with a smile on his face,“ Xeron: The evil slayer! He has got a good name…..Indeed”

Monday morning

As usual, Xeron woke up early, went on a walk, completed 100-morning pushups, ate his breakfast and left for college at 7:30. As preplanned he was to meet Mike at his home and then to go to college together.

Xeron reached his home at 7:32, entered his home, greeted his parents and was told that Mike is late as always.

“Just how many times have I told him not to play games late at night but he never listens to me. He is still changing his clothes............I am thankful to you for taking care of him. You are the only one whom I can entrust my son to. Please keep being his friend” Mike’s mom bowed her head.

“Do not do this. You are making me feel ashamed”Right words for the right time.” You have always thought of me and loved me as your son and I have always respected you. I will not leave his side no matter what”

His words somewhat made her feel relieved.

“I am here. Sorry for late coming” Mike makes his entry in a cheerful mood.

“Hopeless as ever. We are already late. Come quickly”

Mike said goodbye to his mom and walked with Xeron towards college at a fast pace.

They reached college within 10 minutes at 7:50.

“Where is our classroom? Do you know, mike?”

Mike nodded indicating that he knew where to go.

“I memorized all the college places the last time I came to fill the admission forms. Do not worry. You are in good hands. Just follow me”

Mike guided him and they reached their classroom. Many new faces that they never had seen before were going to be in their class for the next 2 years.

Xeron: There are so many new faces!

Mike: All of our previous classmates got admission in different colleges so it would be a start over. I hope to enjoy my time here.

Xeron: Yeah. I hope it would be fun.

“Hello. Hello. Your class will start at sharp 8:00 a.m. Please take any seat you want to. Your teacher will be here soon” a loud voice coming from the speakers fitted in one of the classroom’s wall informed them.

Hearing this, all students took the seat of their choice. Mike took the seat, the one behind Xeron’s.

Mike: I wonder who our teacher will be? You know that the teachers here are qualified ones. As one would expect of “College of Saints”.

Xeron: I hope he/she will not be an old one, like our previous teacher.

“I hope too” Mike chuckled in response.

Towards the college gate

A man in his twenties carrying a bag in his hand was running towards the main gate as fast as he could.

“I am late. I am late” he stopped at the main gate to catch his breath.

“Class will start soon. I need to hurry” he looked at his watch and again started running towards the classroom. He should be running as it was his first day with his new first-year class and he didn’t want to give them a bad impression. He hurried towards the classroom as fast as he could.

The door of Class 1-A suddenly opened and a man flooded with sweat and taking rapid breaths entered.

“Who is he?

" He is sweating from head to toe”

“Is he our teacher?”

“Cannot be”

“But he is carrying a bag” all those voices started echoing in the room.

The man took his time to recover from running, sat on the chair, puts his bag on the table in front of his chair and started by greeting them.

“Hello, students. I will be your room teacher from now on. My name is William. You can call me William sensei”.

( “sensei” means ” teacher”)

“On the behalf of our whole college, I welcome all of you to Imperial College of Saints. As you all know our college is well known for producing many famous personalities in the country…..”He took a deep breath and said, Let’s just skip formalities and start the class”.

William: First of all tell me. What do you know about “zi”? Will anyone answer my question?

Among all students, a blonde female student of roughly 15 years stood up.

“Sensei, Zi is the essence of all living beings. We all are born with zi. Zi becomes strong and massive the more we train. Some of us train themselves to take their zi to higher levels while others prefer living normal lives. That’s all I know”

“Very well. You know quite well about it. What is your name, young girl?”

“My name is Esla”

“Thanks, Esla. Now you can sit down…………… As you all heard right now, zi can be trained and for that training, there are colleges…..After graduating, you can become whatever you want to. You can be an adventurer, an imperial officer, a famous martial artist, a member of “The Association” or you can open your own college supported by the government. You will be paid well and will have a high reputation...So what I mean to say is that you can fulfil the dream for which you have worked so hard uptil now. So any questions? Anyone?”

“………”No one said anything.

William: Okay then I would like to check your current zi. It is the zi store of your body and is not in activated form. It is for academic records so make a line.

Students arranged themselves in a line while William took a white ball out of his pocket, with a lot of ancient language words written on it and asked students to come to him one by one.