Instructor Voren left after leaving us some more miscellaneous information.

Now we were left to our devices.

Unlike a normal academy, Aeternum doesn’t force their students to actually go to classes, barring this.... "homeroom" is the only way I could describe it..

It was the only compulsory class to attend and it was also the only FREE class one could attend.

Every other thing? You’ve got to pay to get access..

I could already hear multiple discussions about what classes were beneficial and what were not, but these were the least of my concerns.

I’d just learned that my old man had been one of these so called "Paragons" and not just one, he was one of the very first, together with that robotic Valen..

Everytime I seemed to learn something new about my father, it seemed more and more inconceivable as to how he could’ve been killed..

Most of what I’d heard made him out to be someone many wouldn’t have dared challenged much less gone after his life.

It was either those who killed him were much more dangerous than I thought or truly, their scheming methods were much more vile.

It could easily be both at this point..

"Hey... hey... hey... let’s spar!" Trust my new "friend" and his lively personality to always be there to break you out of your thoughts..

"No." Simple, direct.

I wasn’t in the mood to spar, or anything for that matter, I just wanted to find a quiet place and get my thoughts sorted..

"Hey.. hey.. hey.. don’t be like that, how will we know who’s stronger if we don’t fight?" The monkey followed right beside me..

"I’m stronger, satisfied?"

"You can’t be sure of that, I’ve got lots of skills to use you know?"

"It doesn’t matter, before absolute strength, nothing does."

"Hey... hey... hey.. let’s just do it, it’ll be fun, much better than going to some boring class and listening to some boring stuff." I had to give it to the guy, he was very persistent...

But, like I said, I wasn’t in the mood, so I was just about to reject him once more when a thought crossed my mind..

"Yea, that could work."

"You know what? You’re right, let’s do it, I need to stretch out a bit anyways." I replied..

"Hahahaha.... Yes... this is going to be epic." I had no idea why this guy seemed to always be laughing but I guess to each his own..

The moment I stepped out of the classroom, I hadn’t taken more than two steps when a body was already wrapped around mine...

"Missed me....?" Cara’s voice sounded in my ears like a whisper..

"It’s barely been a day.." I chuckled..

"Ohh? So you didn’t miss me then?" She asked as she slowly released her constrictor grip..

"Heh... I’d miss you even if it were mere minutes, let alone a whole day." I pulled her close, kissing her gently...

"Hey... hey... hey.. friend, is this your mate? She’s quite ugly, nothing compared to the women back home.." that obnoxious voice I was getting scarily used to just had to ruin everything..

"What do you mean ’quite ugly’ you monkey bastard?" Cara broke the kiss as she turned towards the monkey, a visible vein twitching on her forehead, her expression one that promised pain..

"Hey... hey.. hey.. friend, your mate is looking very scary right now, mind helping out?" He finally looked scared for once as he backed up slowly.

"Sorry friend, you made your bed, so lie in it, I’ll mourn for you." I gave a pitiful shake of the head as I replied sadly..

"Wait... lady, we can talk about this.."

"FREEEZE!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"

...

Atchooo!!!

"You okay buddy? You look like you’re about to collapse." I couldn’t help asking worriedly as I looked at my shivering friend..

"Tha... that.... That was crue... cruel.. fri... friend..." Malachi’s teeth were clattering violently as he tried to get some warmth back into his fur and body..

After thawing out the poor dude from the ice pop Cara had turned him into, he hadn’t stopped shivering since...

"Yea, sorry about that, but why did you have to go and say things like that? Calling a woman ’ugly’ to her face is a sure fire way to die." I shook my head in pity..

"Wha... what... whatever hap... happ... happened to free... freee.... Freee.... ATCHOOOO!!!!" He sneezed so violently the wind was stirred..

"Hey watch it, don’t go spraying monkey snot all over me." I hadn’t dodged anything so quickly before, because no way was I getting drenched in monkey snot..

"Anyway, you sure you can still fight?" The moment the question left my lips, the monkey’s demeanor did an entire one-eighty, a halo of gold flashed briefly behind him as he instantly recovered..

"Heh.. I guess that answers my questions.."

"Hahahahahahahaha... let’s do this!!"

....

"What are they doing?"

"I heard they’re about to fight.."

"But, aren’t they new students? Shouldn’t they be trying to acclimate themselves to the academy’s environment?"

"You sound like a new student yourself, look at that guy’s neck, he’s an elite class student, you think he cares about "history" or "geography"?

"Hahaha.. I guess you’re right, let’s go over and watch, I missed the enrollment but I saw the videos, there were quite a few monsters there.."

"Yea, let’s do that.."

The chatter of the surrounding crowd mattered very little to me..

Me and Malachi had made our way to the academy’s training grounds, somehow our spar seemed to have attracted a bit of attention from the students already gathered there..

Well, so long as no one bothered us, I was fine either way, but..

"First thing’s first, I didn’t agree to this spar because I’m interested in finding out who’s stronger, that answer will always be me, but I do need something from you." I asked the monkey, Malachi, who was standing on the other side, clear excitement on his face..

"Hmm, what is it?" He asked..

"That skill you used during the ceremony, the one that lets you clone yourself, can you teach it to me?"

"This...." He scratched the back of his head, his expression turning conflicted..

"If it’s something of a taboo, you can forget I asked.." I didn’t want to put the guy in a tough spot..

"No, no, it’s just, that ability was something I received when I inherited the Monkey King’s bloodline, so it’s not really something to teach,in fact, in my entire clan, I’m the only one capable of using it.." he explained..

Ahh, so that’s what it was, well, not the reason I was expecting but it didnt matter either way..

"I see, well then, can you atleast use it during our spar? I’d like to see if I can glimpse anything from your use of it." I asked once again..

"Sure.. sure, though I doubt you’ll get anything useful, it’s not an ability you just... learn by seeing, hell, you can’t even learn from getting taught so I wouldn’t get my hopes up." He tried to comfort me..

I merely smiled, unbothered..

"Don’t worry about it, just don’t hold back when using it."

"You sure? You might get hurt."

"Ha...hahaha...hahahahahahaha..." I laughed..

Amusement washing all over me..

I couldn’t help it.

It felt weird having someone my age be worried about hurting me.

Though I can’t say it felt bad either..

"Don’t worry about hurting me buddy, you should be more concerned about not getting hurt yourself." I replied, an amused smile on my face..

"Alright then, ready whenever you are.." he got into a fighting stance..

"Alright, let’s see what you can do, My friend..."

*************

A/N: Dante seems to be having fun... too much fun...hmmmmm....

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Thanks for reading...