Ch.1 - Entering the academy

A young boy stood in front of the famed school Altris, a sacred place where countless elite "awakeners" attended before they shot to fame. Unsurprisingly, that young boy was naturally me, the miserable little Mong on a death mission, starting with the central region called Ashk.

I have to at least pretend I'm trying my best because the corporation is paying for everything, and it's like a "you listen to what I say until you are 18 and can move out" type of deal. Looking at the foreign style of infrastructure and the presumptuous facade in front of me, I signed knowing this was going to be my home for a few years.

After making sure none of my real appearances is showing through the disguise magic, I confidently strode past the giant gates and towards the administration office.

"Hello, how may I help you today?"

A cute-looking receptionist greeted me as I walked in, and then proceeded to help me get settled into my dorm room after learning of my purpose. Though I would have liked to talk with her more, I heard it's illegal for a minor (me) to date an adult. Back to the topic, the corporation was gracious enough to pay the school for me to have a private room.

Though it should have been the minimum, due to me being an "alien" and having to do super secret spy stuff. It would be truly unfortunate if the whole operation was exposed because of a curious roommate, and we'd both lose our lives in that case (theirs first though).

The first thing a competent spy should do in a foreign place is to look around and to have a basic understanding of where they are. It's only the afternoon, and I have a few hours until the school cafeteria opens for dinner (I heard they have great food). My plan would be to look at the school guidebook and then reorganize the information I already know about the Aris realm, the realm we are planning to invade after I weaken them from the inside first.

I closed the school guidebook and took a deep sigh, why do they have so many classes in so many fields, I was only learning basic espionage skills at their age. There was not much useful information included, but the things I found interesting were: the ability training class, the sparring class, the history class, and of course, the different delicious-looking cuisines I have never tried before. Of course, I'm joking about the last one but in all seriousness, the history class will be the most beneficial to me at the moment.

The ability-related classes will be difficult though, I'd have to make up an average, believable ability out of my finite (and unfortunately small) skill pool.

As I was pondering about random things, I suddenly realized that this is the closest thing to an Isekai I have ever experienced. Even though I have past field experience in espionage, assassination, and general infiltration, it was never for a period as long as this.

I still remember that one excruciating mission, the one that gave me nightmares still to this day. It was due to the army division I was infiltrating, they were based in an icy frozen part of a realm, and I can never ever forget the bone-piercing cold I had to endure every day (especially when I was tasked with night patrol). Though they had one saving grace, which was the abundance of booze and the minimalist arctic colored uniform.

Now, onto the important task of re-organizing information about this realm. After taking out a notepad and pen that was provided by the school, I started writing with a special invisible ink while organizing everything.

First of all, this realm had a sudden "Qi" re-emergence. Qi is a powerful energy that is present in most parts of the known universe, and it triggers innate powers and allows one to achieve unimaginable power (with enough talent and resources of course).

Secondly, due to the recent emerging presence of Qi in this originally forsaken place, many people developed powers that they labeled "abilities," which would be called skills/techniques where I'm from.

Thirdly, because people now have supernatural abilities, the local governments and third parties all rushed to obtain them to create organizations called "guilds." The government-controlled guilds are the strongest and the rest are usually based on their higher up's combat strength.

This all ultimately led to a lot of tension between the other guilds and the government having rather tight control. In fact, the academy I'm currently attending was mainly funded by the government! It's probably to guarantee they have early access to rising talents, and it's not a bad plan by any means. Whoever thought of that must be an old, slippery snake, aka people like me (Please don't call me old, I'll snap your neck).

In conclusion, I'm in a really dangerous place right now. However, there is no time to waste on further pondering, as it is now dinner time and I'm starving. After carefully hiding the notebook and applying a camouflage technique on it, I excitedly skidded towards the cafeteria, hoping to have myself a grand time.

*Burp*

I involuntarily burped as I held my stomach with my face full of satisfaction. The food served there was truly top-class, and I can't believe I get to have it 4 times a day (including an extra meal I can sneak in between classes)! The reason I'm so excited about food is that it's the most important part of every mission, as one can only do their best with a full stomach, right?

Anyways, this has been a hell of a day and I'm feeling extremely fatigued. I think I'm going to head into meditative mode now (unlike the creatures in this realm, I do not require sleep under normal circumstances), and wake up early for the entrance ceremony.