"The kingdom was not always the kingdom,"
Professor Maren Solke walked to the chamber's north wall, where a map had been mounted in the standard institutional format.
"Eight hundred and seventy years ago, this territory did not exist as you know it."
She pointed out the map's western region—the current territory of the Aetherion Kingdom.
"It was the western province of the Helios Empire, no longer existent. The Helios Empire at its peak held three times the territory Aetherion currently holds. Its capital was here."
She pointed at the eastern region of the map, which was outside the territory of the Aetherion Kingdom.
"Its military was the largest on the continent. Its institutional infrastructure had been running for years. No one doubted the rule of the Helios dynasty."
She paused.
"Then, the empire collapsed."
Isaac flipped his pen. He had a rough memory of receiving this in a form of a child's story.
"The collapse did not begin with a war. It did not begin with an economic failure or a natural disaster. It began with a Rite of Manifestation."
Maren looked at the students.
"Specifically, with a choice made at a Rite of Manifestation by the Crown Prince of the Helios Empire—a young man who had spent the previous decade studying the relationship between skill quantity and military output."
She let that sit for a moment.
"His hypothesis was that ten practitioners of any rank, properly coordinated, outperformed one practitioner of any rank operating independently. He had the data to support this—or believed he did. He had modeled engagements. He had run projections. He had built an entire theoretical framework around the idea that skill quantity meant versatility."
The students reacted silently, as if knowing what was about to come.
"When the Crown Prince stood at the Rite of Manifestation, the stone presented him with a choice. One S-rank skill stone, or ten F-rank skill stones."
The room was quiet.
"He chose the ten."
Nobody spoke. However, some students had the look of someone witnessing an inexplicable, rather idiotic decision by another.
"He was not stupid," Maren said. "He was not impulsive. He made a deliberate, theoretically grounded choice based on a decade of careful study. His framework was internally consistent. His projections were mathematically sound." She paused. "Or so he thought."
She moved back toward the center of the floor.
"The ten F-rank skills performed as ten F-rank skills and nothing more. Utterly incompatible. The S-rank stone was not reclaimed. Once a choice is made at the Rite, the stones that weren't selected return to the World Tree Acacia's measurement system. The Crown Prince ascended to the throne with ten F-rank skills."
Maren looked across the room.
"He ruled competently and wisely. The Helios Empire didn't collapse in his reign. But something began in his reign that didn't end until the empire did." She paused. "His children manifested B-rank skills. His grandchildren manifested C-rank. His great-grandchildren manifested D-rank. Four generations after the Crown Prince's choice, the Helios imperial bloodline was producing F-rank skills consistently."
The room broke the silence and produced a sound—the specific low register of students absorbing information that had implications.
"The academies of that era debated the mechanism. Some argued that the World Tree's measurement system was responding to the bloodline's demonstrated preference for lower-rank manifestation. Some argued that the F-rank skills themselves had altered the bloodline's genetic composition. Some argued it was coincidence compounded by poor political marriages." Maren's voice remained flat. "The debate was never resolved. What was resolved was the outcome."
She indicated the map again.
"The world's fate is dictated by skills. The constant F-rank skills of the royal bloodline diminished citizens' trust in their kingdom. To accommodate, the royals were subjected to corruption. They used all possible means, regardless of ethics, to maintain their positions and privileges." She stated. "The Helios Empire began to collapse from the center."
She looked across the students.
Isaac, seated still, felt a couple of gazes on him.
After all, while the Crown Prince of Helios Empire failed with ten F-rank skills, Isaac defeated Silas and his S-rank: [Lightning Spear] with a single F-rank skill.
He had not looked at any of them. Eventually, the gazes left.
"To fight against this corruption, a man born from the western province arose. He was a man with no noble blood, no institutional standing, no house affiliation. He was simply a common soldier's son who stood at his own Rite of Manifestation at the age of sixteen."
Maren then continued.
"The World Tree presented him with SS-rank: [The Light]."
There was a shift in the room's atmosphere. Some peeked at Lyra, who, just like Isaac, didn't address those gazes.
"His name was Remian. He had no surname before the revolution. Aetherion was the name he gave the kingdom after he overturned the Helios Empire, and that name conversely became his, as its First King." Maren's voice remained level. "There were two factors that played greatest roles in his revolution. First was his skill. Second was his allies. There were many who followed him, and the most noteworthy ones were the five ancestors of Pillar Houses, who all owned S-rank skills."
Ignis. Zephyr. Terra. Fulgur. Valerius.
"Was this a coincidence? One SS-rank skill and five S-rank skills surfaced simultaneously, within one empire. The Order of Acacia said that it isn't. That it is a fate that World Tree Acacia chose."
There was silence. Isaac's eyes headed toward Silas, who appeared bored, not as interested in history.
Conventionally, it is said that only one to three individuals with S-rank skills exist simultaneously. Yet, with Silas awakening [Lightning Spear], this Kingdom now has five S-rank skill users. Isaac thought, I have [The Prism]. Is this a coincidence?
"The Order of Acacia," Maren continued, "is the religious institution organized around the World Tree Acacia. They are the ones who established the measurement architecture that produces the Rite of Manifestation, assigns skill ranks, and provides the foundational structure on which this kingdom's hierarchy is built. They have existed for a very long period, even longer than the Helios Empire and numerous other civilizations that had fallen."
She let this land.
"They sided with Remian Aetherion during his revolution. Before the revolution had succeeded and the outcome became clear.Their reasoning was, as I said, fate. The SS-rank skill and five S-rank skills rose to defeat the royal blood producing F-rank skills, and there was no one who could stop them."
She paused, allowing students to note down the details. Once she saw that they finished writing, she resumed.
"The revolution lasted eleven years. The Helios Empire fell. Its western territories became the Aetherion Kingdom. Its eastern territories—those that remained under the control of the imperial loyalists who refused to accept the revolution's outcome—reorganized. They called themselves the Solari Empire." She indicated the map's eastern expanse. "They called themselves the successor state to Helios. They are still calling themselves that."
She looked at the students.
"That is the war you are standing inside of."
A silence held for a moment.
Then, Maren moved to the map's eastern edge.
"Now, the current situation."
Her voice had shifted to a darker tone.
"Aetherion Kingdom is a warring nation. The war with Solari has been ongoing, at varying intensities, for the entirety of the kingdom's existence. And, the specific intensity of the current period is higher than it has been in the past two decades."
She paused—slightly longer than her other pauses. This one wasn't intentional, Isaac could tell.
"Recently, Solari has acquired a significant advantage. The kingdom is, objectively speaking, in a dire state."
What came out of her words felt heavy.
"…Even with five S-rank skills in our kingdom?" One guy, someone whom Isaac doesn't know, asked.
Maren was silent for a while. She finally said, "Yes."
Some made connections. First, she talked about the history of the kingdom's establishment, and now, about the unfavorable circumstance of the kingdom—which shouldn't have been the case given how there are five individuals with S-rank skills.
This meant one thing.
"…The Hollow King."
The words didn't come out from Maren, but from another student who whispered.
Maren's fingers tremor, but she quickly hid it. They didn't escape Isaac's eyes, however.
"Reports from the eastern border indicate that two of the smaller allied kingdoms—nations that had maintained the eastern coalition against Solari for decades—have fallen in the past year." Maren's voice was steady as she resumed. "There was no military clash involved. Those were the doings of one man."
She let this sit.
"His specific capability is still under investigation. His identity is not yet clear either." She paused. "We are in the process of determining the mechanism of his skill based on the aftermaths. At the moment, Aetherion Kingdom remains stable, for the eastern campaigns are focused on the smaller neighboring kingdoms. However, it is the matter of time."
The room was still.
"That is all I am able to confirm at this time."
She closed the ledger.
"Understand why the higher class receives this information. You are not receiving it as background context. You are receiving it as operational reality."
She looked across the sixteen students—at Silas longer than the others.
"Starting from this year, you are legally adults. By legal means, you are already affiliated to the militia. An exceptional force will be met with something of the same quality. In a dire situation, act with the situational awareness befitting that of a higher class student."
She stepped back from the floor.
The session was concluded.