Elena looked at Zoie, the Senior Year student she had met in the Student Council Room.
Zoie looked at Elena and Eva as she winked at them with a smile.
“Did something happen?” The first-year students started asking each other.
“Okay, listen to me,” Zoie grabbed everyone’s attention.
“I am Zoie, a Third-Year Student, and I am the head of the Management Committee,” she introduced herself.
Her exuberant nature attracted the attention of many students around her.
“We are in charge of managing all the student activities and events, and I am here to make an announcement for all of you,” Zoie said.
“As you know, the seniors will start interacting with you guys and invite you to their clubs and factions,” Zoie explained.
“But first, you all need to understand that factions and clubs are different,” she said.
“Factions are formed when a group of students works under one name, and there are many small factions, most of them are made around influential personalities,” Zoie said.
“The most famous faction currently is the Blood Faction, which is under Leonard Tarvian,” she didn’t need to explain it as most people already knew about Leonard and his faction.
“But clubs are different; each club is made for a gathering of people with similar motives, and you need to get permission from a professor to supervise that club,” Zoie said.
“There are multiple clubs inside World Academy, and many seniors will approach you guys to invite you to the clubs, so join one if you like them,” she said.
“Is it compulsory to join them?” A guy sitting in the front row asked.
“Not really, but I would still recommend joining one as it’s better than joining none,” she replied.
“There are multiple varieties of clubs, from casual ones to serious ones, so take a look and see what fits you best,” Zoie said.
“And you will see more Senior Year students from now on, and there are some classes where you might attend together with senior-year students,” Zoie said, but some students’ faces didn’t look good.
And most of them were from Class 3. There were many rumors that you should avoid some seniors.
“Okay, so you might see some second or third-year students coming to your classrooms to inform you about their clubs,” Zoie said.
“That’s all; have a good day!” Zoie waved her hands as she left the room.
*******
In the Raven Family Mansion,
Helena was sitting as she was talking with Sylvie on the hologram.
“So, you are going to World Academy?” Sylvie asked.
“Yeah, they asked me for a special lecture,” Helena said with a smile.
Sylvie frowned as Helena was one person they would not want to invite to World Academy. However, she could not guess why they had invited her. It was true that there was nobody better than Helena at Black Element, but it was still not worth it.
‘They will keep an eye on her anyway,’ Sylvie thought.
She didn’t think too hard about it.
“Wait, are you going to check his memories again?” Sylvie asked with a serious look on her face.
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“It doesn’t matter; I believe in him,” Sylvie said, but Helena did not reply.
It was a conversation of years ago that Sylvie didn’t want to talk about, and neither did Helena push her.
Years ago, when Asher was around 7 years old, Helena was visiting the Greville Estate.
“So, where is my cute grandson?” Helena asked, but she saw Sylvie thinking about something else.
“Uh, he is in his room,” Sylvie noticed that her mother was looking at her, so she quickly replied.
“What happened?” Helena asked as it was rare for Sylvie to be this absent-minded.
“It’s about the party that happened months ago,” Sylvie told Helena about the incident where Asher was pushed into a pool of water.
And how he didn’t react much.
“Why don’t I check his memories?” Helena said.
“There is no need for that, Mother,” Sylvie said, but Helena had already decided.
Helena went up, opened the room door, and saw a young little boy sitting at his table reading a book.
The little boy looked up to see Helena as his crimson-red eyes stared at the middle-aged-looking lady who had just walked in. Then, seeing similar features to his mother, the little boy easily guessed the person’s identity.
“Hello, Grandmother,” Asher said, but his face didn’t show much emotion.
“Hello, cutie,” Helena got on her knees as she looked at the little boy before her.
“What were you reading?” Helena asked as she looked at the book.
All the books around him were related to human emotions or something that helped with those things.
‘Why is he reading these,’ Helena thought in her mind.
These books were presented to most elite family children, but they rarely used them as they rarely cared about manners and other things.
But it was the first time Helena had seen a 7-year-old reading such a book.
“They help me understand others,” Asher replied truthfully, but his voice was monotone.
“That’s very smart of you,” Helena raised her hand to ruffle Asher’s hair.
The moment Helena touched Asher’s head, her eyes turned completely black, and Asher closed his eyes as the memories and emotions of the 7-year-old were being seen and felt by Helena.
She could see the world from Asher’s point of view, and everything appeared dull. It was almost as if the world in Asher’s eyes was devoid of color and life. He felt nothing, unlike many other people Helena had used her bloodline ability on.
“What is this boy thinking,” Helena was shocked to see Asher’s memories.
It was almost unthinkable for her to see a 7-year-old feel that he was different from others. He felt no emotions for others. It seemed that the boy had struggled to connect with others, unable to understand or share his emotions.
She saw the memory of the boy who felt nothing when he looked at his own mother, but he noticed that he was different and tried to change. It was the effort of a 7-year-old who wanted to understand other normal people and act like them.
She didn’t sense the inner madness in his mind, as it began sometime after Helena’s visit. Instead, it was something that warped the way he looked at the whole world.
‘What should I tell Sylvie?’ Helena didn’t know.
She had never felt such a thing in another person before, and it was the first time she felt such distant emotions that were almost non-existent.
But Helena decided to hide this from Sylvie, as she didn’t want her daughter to think her son was emotionless and felt nothing for her.
She also saw his memories about the accident at the party, but she didn’t feel fear when Asher was almost drowning. Instead, it was as if his emotions were numb to an extreme point.
Helena removed her hands as the little Asher turned his head to look at her.
“Continue your study. I will go downstairs now,” Helena said as Asher nodded back.
He saw Helena go back and open another book that he was planning to read.
Helena went downstairs and saw Sylvie, who was about to leave.
“What did you see, mother?” Sylvie asked.
“His view of the world around him is a bit more emotionless than others, but I feel like he will grow and learn eventually,” Helena lied.
“Of course, he is different; my baby is smarter than others,” Sylvie said with a smile.
Helena didn’t tell her then because she thought maybe it was due to Asher’s high intelligence that he was like this. The result might have been different if she had seen his inner madness.
********
It was the next day already, and Helena was about to leave for the World Academy.
Asher, who was training, still didn’t know about Helena’s visit, but he had received the message that Arman was taking the class in the outer sector without any senior-year students. Instead, it was a class only for the first-year students.
Asher stepped out of his training room, his indifferent eyes, now strikingly different from the young Asher in Helena’s memories, fixated on the screen before him.
His screen displayed the current condition of the share market around the world.
“The effect of killing them will soon be noticed,” Asher recalled Gemard and Robert.
He closed the screen in front of him. It was the data that Tom sent him daily, so there was no chance of him receiving incorrect information.
“The timings will overlap,” Asher thought of his plans for next week.
Asher stepped onto a large balcony with an excellent view of World Academy. He looked in a particular direction where the famous Trial Grounds were located.
It was a place Asher wanted to visit because he had missed it in his previous life. This was the reason why most Elite families sent their children to World Academy.