[OP: ]

[[ Dark society! ]]

The unique voice of the tree that had become familiar to them at this point rang again as Eon came out of that room and just like Rein, he also looked back at him with a little surprised look.

He wasn't expecting something like that but the way a little chuckle was heard after his announcement and the tree saw the shocked look on his face, the ancient tree laughed and corrected himself.

[[ Haha. No no. That is not right. Let us do that again. ]]

Eon was genuinely surprised for a moment but he grasped the little playful joke of the old tree from that laugh.

And thankfully that was just a joke as the things he had done to make this deal were no small matter.

He was just betting on the natural restrictions that ancient tree had otherwise if there was any chance that the tree was able to tell someone their conversation it had during a deal then he would never have considered revealing that name to him this early in the game.

He knew the tree had no choice but to follow through with their deal but for a moment there, that playful nature managed to give even him a heart attack.

[[ Wisdom phoenix! ]]

But things were fine and though the other students had no interest in a loser who had been assigned to the rock bottom house, the teachers and especially the headmaster had a little surprised look on their faces as they looked at the tree and then at that boy who had just come out of the gates.

It was surprising for them for some reason and from a closer analysis, many of them grasped they were surprised at the actions of the tree and not the boy who just walked back to the very back.

It was surprising for some but there was no information on their unique behavior and the area was already dark, only illuminated by the magical lights floating around the gardens, so the only thing on most of their minds was to just finish this thing, see who would be the ones to lead the houses and manage the things there, go in and have dinner, and then go rest.

It had been a long day for all of them but after standing here and sitting around, clapping and cheering for the ones who were famous or got into [True dragons] or [Fusion stardust], they were tired.

Every famous person was assigned to their houses already at this point so the enthusiasm that they all had at the start was nowhere to be seen anymore.

So.. after this small event where the ancient tree had almost made some kind of joke, things returned back to quiet and normal and the house-assigning event came to a certain end.

Some unexpected things happened, some people who they were expecting to join some certain house joined some other house while some also got into the one they all had thought they would be in.

Some people unexpectedly got into the house they had never thought about while some got into the house they had never wished to be in.

The atmosphere was normal as always for the teachers and the vice headmaster who watched over the bored children and gave them a smile from the pedestal at the end of their very first event.

"Bored?" She asked while looking at the children and many of them nodded, some even shouted in agreement while some were too lazy or busy to even say anything or even nod their heads.

"Hungry and sleepy?" She asked again but on this second question, some answered positively, some negatively, some with neutral expressions and the bored ones mostly ignored these questions too.

"Excited to see who would be the captains and vice captains of your houses? To see if you can be that one, that special lucky person chosen by the great ancient tree?"

"YESSSSSS!"The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0/v3l-B1n.

She had a particular smile while asking this question and the reaction she got from this question was also particularly more enthusiastic than the previous ones.

The young ones cheered up and the atmosphere became so cheerful that even the ones who had been too lazy to even move, looked around with surprise, and then some even joined the enthusiastic crowd.

Everyone was filled with a new light and, on a signal from the vice headmaster, the area was also filled with a new magical light.

-Ooooooooooooong!

And this distinct green light was familiar to a few of them.

"Pretty.."

Rein praised it and Eon concurred her as both of them and Carla and the group stood before the now glowing tree, admiring the bright green body of the tree, as well as the innumerable leaves that now glowed with unique colors.

Everyone seeing this phenomenon was mesmerized and even more when all the trees suddenly shook and some of them slowly cascaded down from the high sky.

The tree was tall after all, and between the leaves and them, there was a considerable distance so as the colorfully glowing leaves fell from the tree, they changed their shapes and took the form of a small star, and when looking closely, one could see a green fire was imprinting something on these colorful stars.

It looked bizarre but it was strangely attractive so everyone was just looking up, their eyes locked in the direction as if they were hypnotized by the marvel before them.

And even in this marvel, there were certain stars that attracted the attention of the thousands of students present in the vicinity.

"Looks like this year will be more fun than all of us had thought." The vice headmaster said in a low voice and the dwarf standing behind her nodded with a calm expression, and the attractive man wearing a lavish suit beside the dwarf nodded with a smile.

The blue eyes of the man were locked in one direction as his long blue hair fluttered with the newborn winds from the wonderful tree before them.

That was Eon's first uncle El, someone who will definitely be the homeroom teacher of someone from their group. And however duty-bound he was, he wanted to teach his dear nephew and daughter at the same time.

Sadly though, even if Eon and Rein attended his magic engineering classes, Carla wasn't going to learn from her amazing father. At least not this year.

But that wasn't as important as the unique silver and golden stars that stood out among all the other colorful star leaves falling from the sky.

They had a magnetic glow unlike no other and most of the students looking up at these stars knew just what these peculiar stars were.

"It's different from what I expected too. Every one of them is different from my thoughts and that just makes this batch even more delightful."

The dwarf in unique clothing stained with some black-white stains smiled while looking at the twinkling stars and nodded at the smiling headmaster.

"It's gonna be fun~!"

He caressed his white beard and laughed joyfully, making many of the teachers behind him shake their heads with a pitiful expressions for the young students.

They didn't know what they were going to be stepping in after the overmorrow. Especially the brave souls who willingly or accidentally choose his class.

But that was for them to worry about so for now, they all looked up as the normal colorful star leaves marked with a symbol of their houses came down and stopped right before their owner's eyes.

Those stars made from the special leaves of the ancient tree were something special and bound to them and throughout their time in this academy, they would have to have these stars on them.

This wasn't just a mark of which house they all belong to but also their one and only identification cards on this floating island of magic's wealth and this academy.

The stars that looked normal and somewhat solid were practically indestructible objects that would grow back to their current state even if they were decapitated into particles of light.

And even among them, the silver and golden ones that slowly came down to their owners with a unique shine of their own were all special.

The silver ones signified their vice captains and the golden ones were naturally for the captains who would represent their houses for their academic time in this school.

And though there were exactly eight golden stars, there were surprisingly twelve silver ones, meaning some of the houses had more than one vice-captain.

And what was even more surprising in all of this wasn't the fact that the top house [True dragon] had three vice-captains, but the fact that not a single one of the twelve prodigies that were the center of the world's attention right now was chosen as the captains who represented their houses.

Yes some of them were chosen as the vice captains but even among the vice captains, there were many known and unknown people now holding ranks far above them in this certain role.

The thousands of them were surprised how some unknown boy wearing a simple-looking hood was chosen as the captain of [True dragon] and also how the new 'normal' girl that had recently become famous, the new member of Heliox household of Roxana, now held the brightly glimmering golden star representing the lowest house.

It was somewhat acceptable that the famous crown prince of a small beast kingdom was chosen as the captain of [Eternal tigers] and the captain of [Fusion stardust] was an actual fairy, but it was absurd that some commoner was chosen as the leader of [Aqua mirror] instead of Carla.

Well, some people recognized the girl as a strong mage who was pretty high in the rankings so it was at least acceptable from the other commoner's point of view but to think the useless prince of Roxana, the prince with a fragile body who somehow attained a high rank in the entrance exam, was chosen as the leader of [Turtle defenders].. they didn't even know just how this absurd selection worked after that.

But there was no way they could possibly question the decisions of the ancient tree in the open right now so they just accepted that much, just like they accepted that unknown girl who was previously surprised at the choice of the ancient tree, who now held the golden star representing her house.

From most of their perspectives, everything was fucked up, and they cannot do anything about this anymore.

The decision was made and Rein, Prince Alpheus, and Zoe were now representatives of their house.

Carla, Alf, Prince Claudius, and Eon were now vice representatives but there were two others aside from Prince Claudius in his house who would have to support the captain and their house, Carla also had another one, and in the second-ranking house, Princess Luna and Hide were the vice representatives who would have to look after the young fairy captain and others.

[[ It has been a while since I was this excited over a batch so I have faith that you all will do some fun things and achieve something of your desire.

I wish you all a fun time and, welcome to the academy. ]]

A green light burst out from the tree and a unique green stardust started falling from the tree, falling over the students and the teachers, rejuvenating them with its abundant natural energy.

That was the start of their academic journey and everyone was at least happy about this fact.. and also the most important fact that they will finally get some good food and rest for now.

It was already night and most of them were mentally exhausted.

Still, they had smiles, and the smiles on the faces of Rein and Eon, Carla and the group; the ones who had gained more than their thoughts; and the ones who were going to start their new journeys to achieve the solid goals in their heart were brighter and livelier than the rest who had just as much potential as the others in their own special fields.

They all were there to find and hone those special fields and talents so they were definitely in for a humongous roller coaster ride.