Nathan Modernson's life became slightly different every day, just as he wished.
His name was now widespread throughout the entire academy, not limited to students of his year. His challenging, threatening, and even shameless attitude towards anyone who started trouble with the Salvation Club had become his whole reputation. Few dared to oppose him, and none could relate this white-uniformed tempest to a poor child in Lostburg
The academy rules stated that lower-level students could not travel upwards through the central tower, but Nathan somehow trespassed that rule under the unequal treatment from Henry Nox. He and his group of representative students ravaged the school grounds, as arbiters confronting all privileges and persecution that once reigned unchallenged.
There had once been a social hierarchy across the Imperial Academy that even the professors developed and practised, with students' value and treatment measured by their familial background and wealth. Though its influence wasn't profound and didn't affect the majority of students,.To be enrolled in this prestigious academy signified at least some legendary history.
Once a hierarchy is formed, it stays eternal unless disrupted by an external factor. One could argue that this because the ones on top would never demolish it, and the ones at the bottom didn't have the power to. That was one of the reasons, but not the most prominent one.
The true reason these scales held together was that, when people thought of those standing lower than themselves, they no longer possessed the motivation to protest. Whenever rebellion was rooted in someone's heart, the silent voice, "At least I live a better life than them…" would always pop up.
For the general citizens, it was Lostburg. For academy students, it was people like Ash Robert. They were reliefs for temporary pain—drugs to escape the harsh reality. For people belonging to the lowest of the low, their hearts and bodies had already already been calcified with acceptance.
Nathan's unconventional approach, however, changed everything.He stood at both the highest and the lowest rank at the same time, and had rewritten the unwritten rules with his actions.
He proved to everyone, well, at least the academy, that not all members of high social status held a careless attitude towards oppression.
Jennifer Lumendra would often mock him, "You are nothing without your identity." Her words were sharp yet no longer held the same edge of hostility.
In return, Nathan would calmly reply, "You wouldn't be willing to achieve what I did, even if you were me."
Nathan could still remember the tales his father used to tell him. In one of them, though he had forgotten the context, one quote had always lingered in his heart:
"Great powers come with great responsibility."
But Nathan wondered: what about those without great powers? Their responsibilities didn't seem to be any lighter. When great responsibilities didn't come with great powers, all he could do was utilise everything he had.
Unfortunate people might help others in mutual suffering, but it often felt more precious when fortunate people also chose to. He accepted all critiques. As long as he understood himself, that was more than enough.
Under the fear directed at him—call it good or bad—the circumstances of those in need had changed. Ash Robert and everyone else who had once been looked down upon could now walk with their heads held high on the school grounds. The salvation club flourished.
Turns out, even if Ash was the titled club leader of the Salvation Club, all the fame escaped to Nathan's side anyway. But he was even more satisfied with this outcome. Nathan was the person who had changed his life, a saviour he would remember for eternity. The same belief was shared by his companions in the club, because Nathan was truly someone they could trust.
During times of celebration, Nathan would sit on the ground and cheer with them. The uncomfortable distinction of his uniform seemed to blur into the benevolent atmosphere. He would share his secrets and stories, Rune Art tricks only taught to Representative Students, and even discuss his private insight and perception of the world. He wasn't only a good speaker, but also a good listener.
No matter who they were, they could feel that Nathan Modernson truly cared for them—he truly treated them as equals.
Under his guidance and pressure, the rest of the representative students made their own attempts at achieving harmony with the others. Though the effectiveness varied, none reached the same level as Nathan.
They did treat the others as equals, which was something the club members deeply acknowledged and appreciated, but ultimately, it was for their own benefit, not because of the beliefs they possessed.
The most amusing part of all this drama was that the representative students had become more and more friendlike as their academic lives progressed. Nathan somehow managed to set their backgrounds aside, and when they looked at each other with unfiltered eyes, they realised these supposed enemies of theirs shared similarities and values they approved.
Don't get it wrong—the tension between William Schwarz and Leo Blanc's side was still as heavy as ever. The difference was that both waited for the other to break the cord first and refused to be the one to start the conflict.
Their senior clan members—Jonathan Schwarz and Amy Blanc—were quite furious at their inaction and gentleness. When Arthur Paradox heard about these peculiar situations, he would shake his head and murmur:
"Nathan Modernson is young and naive. His efforts are futile in comparison to the lifetimes of structured success this kingdom holds."
No one knew if his words were genuine, a tactic to dismiss their worries, or simply an attempt to brainwash himself into thinking the best. Arthur Paradox wasn't an ordinary Student Council President—everyone recognised that fact.
The only person unimpressed or unafraid of Nathan's actions was, unsurprisingly, Clara Marshall—especially after the first exam results were released.
"Jennifer Lumendra. Theory: full marks. Fieldwork: full marks. Excellent work, Jennifer. I can already smell your success in the future."
"William Schwarz. Theory: 85%, fieldwork: full marks. Lives up to the name of a Schwarz Clan member. Great job."
"Leo Blanc. Theory: full marks, fieldwork: 85%. You too, Leo—Blanc Clan's unshakeable theoretical foundation remains unchallenged."
"Charlotte Clayfield. Theory: 80%, fieldwork: 80%. Acceptable results, though I demand a tiny bit more."
"Monica Gladius. Theory: 65%, fieldwork: 95%. Expected, but don't let your practical brilliance be shackled with lack of knowledge, rectify this."
"David Edmonds. Theory: 50%, fieldwork: 50%. If you add them up, it's 100%, great job, you defined mediocrity. Yeah, that's not good enough—in fact, it's utterly horrible. "
She paused and scanned the class for her final victim—Nathan Modernson, who was whispering something into Charlotte's ear, surrender written all over his face.
"And finally, Nathan Modernson…" She sighed with exaggeration, one hand resting on her wand.
Nathan smiled wryly in response.
"Theory: full marks."
The students cheered in celebration. Nathan fell back into his chair, his veins relieved.
"Fieldwork: 0%,"
She stated. "Do you want to explain yourself, Mister Modernson?"
To remove his lasting credits, Nathan hadn't even achieved the full marks on his theory test with his own knowledge. He had managed to persuade Principal Nox to hand over a copy of the answers.
And as for practical application of Rune Arts? Nathan was absolutely useless at the start, and there wasn't an answer sheet he could copy from. The only two Rune Arts he could cast competently were Conceal and Illuminate—and perhaps simple light-shadow projection. All the others depended on whether his hands decided to listen to his brain on the day.
So when Clara instructed him to cast Delusion Shadow–a famous representative Rune Art for light and darkness artists—Nathan constructed a muddled rune that couldn't even be used. In Clara's words, an uncastable rune was stupidly impressive. Useful or not, most runes at least had some sort of influence in reality.
Nathan swallowed a deep breath. "We should focus on the positive side, right? I got full marks on the theory test…"
Sighing again, Clara stated seriously, "Theories and knowledge won't take you anywhere in real life. But I give credit where credit is due—your answers for the theory test were almost perfect. So perfect, I would've suspected you cheated. However, if you managed to get your hands on the answers or cheat in an exam I supervise, you probably deserve the mark anyway."
"Well, I don't have a mentor," Nathan lied. "Just forgive me this time, please, professor. At least I can't get any lower in the end-of-term exam."
Henry Nox had told him recently that he held absolute superiority over every student or staff member in the academy—except for Clara Marshall. His reasoning was that she held a secret that must be secured safely within herself, a secret that had the potential to send Runalond to destruction. The kingdom couldn't afford any trouble with her. Nathan had tried to crack the secret from Henry out of curiosity, but apparently, he was the last person the information should be shared with.
"The attitude is more disappointing than your scores, Nathan," Clara warned. "Remember my expectations—at this point, graduation is further from you than your hopes and dreams."
Nathan endured all the scolding he received in Clara's class. He had somewhat gotten used to it. He understood that it was almost impossible to graduate through exams with his nonexistent skills, but if he could manage to construct an impressive personalized Rune Art, then none of this would matter.
Lily had told him that different strokes and symbols all created different effects, and it was the combination of these dots and lines that formed a Rune Art and resulted in its final products. Arrows direct force, size dictates reach, strokes birth effect from elemental essence. A famous example would be the infinite rune symbol—illustrated as a horizontal "8." In theory, the effects of a Rune Art would falter when the Rune Artist's elemental energy was depleted. However, there was one person in history who could achieve a relentless storm of Rune Arts with no halt: the Sixth Seat of the Rune Arts Federation, Red Hair. His personalised Rune Art, "Infinite Explosion," could materialise a double infinity loop that stacked and farmed of elemental energy to generate new ones, eventually reaching a point of overflowing energy eruption that would, realistically, continue perpetually and permanently.
Nathan didn't want to do anything that complicated. He treated his personalised Rune Art invention task as a simple requirement for graduation. Impressive or not, as long as it had never been seen before, he would accept it happily. However, it turned out that even that was relatively difficult with the limitations of his elemental traits. Light and Darkness actively contradicted each other's effects—controlling them to collaborate harmoniously was a practice that required serious work, which Nathan didn't have the effort or time to devote to.
As for the Student Council, Nathan hadn't heard anything about them for quite a while. He had expected some interference from Arthur's side, but the anticipated trouble never came. It almost seemed like the Student Council didn't see them as worthy threats to challenge their position, which was more concerning than if they did.
Nathan couldn't test their limits. He didn't know if they cared, nor the extent to which they would go if action was deemed necessary. These were the scariest types of opponents—coiled serpents who remained completely silent until the delivery of a fatal venomous strike. No time to prepare, no time to react.
Despite the consistent confidence on his face, Nathan felt fear at the uncomfortable silence. His identity was a profound asset, but there was no confirmation that it held any significance to people like Arthur Paradox. He could trick the representative students in his year, but Arthur was on another level.
After all, "V" being his mother was as much as he knew, and even that was not 100% certain. The aspect of him that people truly feared was not that he didn't have to lower his head before her, but that royalty also approved of this privilege in silence.
This symbolized something petrifying—that Nathan was more superior than the king himself, at least to a figurative extent. People were well aware of that, but still, shrouded in mist among the aristocratic class, Nathan didn't know how much that actually mattered.
Nathan Modernson knew he had taken but a single step—and the road before him was wide and long, with no end in sight. He felt lost at times, but he vowed to keep walking forward, until the sun rising from the horizon cast its brilliance upon the misty path.
He would continue walking in solitary resolve, for himself, and for those who couldn't
He dozed off in class again. Clara Marshall shook her head in disappointment—but seeing the flowing emotions within his eyes, she ultimately decided to let him off for once.
Nathan wondered if his journey had a destination. Perhaps the tomorrow he dreamed of was just a delusion. His efforts might all go to waste one day, but he would need to test the validity of that assumption for himself.
"Hm." He murmured to himself, "So be it."
"If everything in life goes the way I want it to go, then what's the fun in that?"
Charlotte tilted her head and whispered, "Did you say something?"
"No," Nathan replied. "I don't think I did."