Upon waking, Rodrick took a quick shower. The bathroom windows fogged up from the hot water, and Rodrick's head was now filled with doubts. Having a moment to think had become a blessing. As the water poured down on his head, Rodrick thought about his strange existence.
Where did the stellar body come from? It was a complete mystery. At one point, Rodrick had assumed that his strange constitution was due to his inherent talent, but that theory was slowly falling apart.
Stepping out of the shower, Rodrick dried himself with the clean towel provided by the academy. Looking at himself in the mirror, Rodrick frowned.
His gray eyes felt so out of place, his blond hair felt shinier than usual. Even his previously skinny body had changed.
"You can..."
Rodrick sighed and left the bathroom.
***
Rodrick grabbed his backpack and adjusted his uniform vest. It felt strange to wear such formal clothing. Rodrick had always been a simple guy, and even in high school, he had rarely worn the full uniform, thanks to being the principal's son.
On his way to his first class, Rodrick noticed several things. In the area where he was currently located, there were all kinds of people. Tall, short, old, young, there seemed to be no difference; everyone was in this sector studying. It was curious how the academy preferred to have all the Weapons candidates in the same area. Rodrick even thought it might be a good thing. Young people are naturally attracted to surpassing their superiors, and adults, logically, will not allow themselves to be surpassed by their inferiors. That's how this academy worked, pure and simple competitiveness.
"I like this place... Damn, not again!"
Rodrick had no idea why his personality had undergone these sudden changes after obtaining the star body. He even tried several times to ask the system for details about the star body, but it always responded with the same thing.
"Low Star Body level, unable to view detailed information."
With this, Rodrick sensed that the Star Body could actually level up... This was a complete surprise. Now Rodrick could follow two paths to power at the same time. While leveling up, he could increase the rank of the Star Body. It was a blessing!
After walking for a long time along the long, ornate paths, Rodrick arrived at the doors of today's class.
"Aula Magna 2"
Rodrick opened the doors and walked inside. The teacher was already in the middle of an explanation, so the situation was quite awkward. Rodrick quickly walked to his seat and sat down without making any more noise. As the class continued, Rodrick glanced around the enormous room.
All the students were seated at various desks arranged in a wave pattern. Below, the professor was explaining the lesson on a huge blackboard. Everything the professor drew or wrote on a small blackboard on his desk appeared enlarged on the enormous blackboard.
"Amazing..."
When Rodrick looked at the students, he was stunned. None of these students were bored or sleepy, as Rodrick would have expected. They were all in a state of total concentration, taking notes every time the teacher gave important information. Everyone here was completely attentive to the class, so Rodrick followed suit.
"Okay, next question. You are on the fourth floor of the Eagle Tower, facing an Adlet, your aura reserves are low, what do you do?"
Instantly, dozens of students raised their hands. Rodrick shrugged his shoulders shyly; he had no idea what an "Adlet" was, let alone how to deal with one.
"Okay, let's see... You, over there, answer it."
Rodrick raised his head to look at the person who had been chosen to answer the question, but instead, he realized that all attention was focused on him.
"Damn..."
Rodrick had stood out simply because he hadn't raised his hand. Everyone else in the room had done so, so not doing so unexpectedly drew attention to him.
"I'm sorry, sir. I have no idea," Rodrick replied, trying to end the situation as quickly as possible.
"What does it matter? Try it. Tell me, what would you do?" said the professor with a smile.
Rodrick remained silent for a moment before answering.
"...What would I do? Well, maybe I would run away and find my squad to challenge the creature together."
The room filled with murmurs, but the professor kept smiling and didn't react in any particular way.
"Well, that's a good answer if you're looking to complete the floor efficiently.
I like it."
The combat tactics class continued shortly after. This class was quite interesting for Rodrick. He had never learned anything like this before. It was a completely different world for him, a young man who had never been interested in martial arts or aspiring to reach the top of a tower. It was impressive.
Even so, despite the complexity of the topics, Rodrick managed to learn and understand most of them. He used to be quite talented in high school, he had above-average intelligence, he was sure of that, but having absorbed all that information in such a short time seemed incredibly crazy to him. It wasn't possible, it couldn't be.
Rodrick looked at his right hand doubtfully.
"The stellar body..."
It was quite likely that the inheritance the system had given Rodrick, the stellar body, was what was causing these benefits in Rodrick's mind.
This was an invaluable aid to him, especially at this time, when learning quickly was an absolutely necessary skill. He needed to hurry and learn as much as possible at that academy in order to begin climbing the tower.
***
After this revelation, a month passed quickly.
During this month, Rodrick received instruction in four main classes: Combat Tactics, Aura Management, Weapon Handling, and finally, General Aspirant Theory.
It wasn't too hard to guess what Rodrick was learning in each of these classes. His teachers were nice, and they all shared one thing in common: they were stupidly passionate.
This month had been fruitful for Rodrick. He discovered his inherent weapon, the sword.
The instructors were surprised by this, because of Rodrick's powerful build, they had assumed he would be a spear user. Surprisingly, Rodrick showed great talent with the sword.
Of course... not enough to compete with those four boys.
Rodrick wielded his sword on the general training ground for Weapons aspirants. In the distance, he could see the four top talents at the Eagle Academy.
Nicole Azheven, Arthur of Scorpio, Cedric of Scorpio, and Anna of Taurus.
Rodrick looked at Nicole with a frown and clicked his tongue. That girl... dark blue hair, amber eyes, indifferent gaze... The same damn girl who had treated him like a dog on the bus.
Rodrick still held a grudge over that experience, and knowing that this woman, along with those other three boys, were the academy's most prized talents, made Rodrick's blood boil.
This month had been fierce. Rodrick had been struggling against the abysmal pace of improvement of these four kids. Not even the stellar corps was able to keep up with them. Their talents were stupidly unfair!
The first week, when everyone held their weapons for the first time, these four kids already had a built-in idea of how to use them. It was more than obvious that they had been previously instructed by their clans, and yet they publicly admitted that it was their first time picking up their inherent weapons. It was ridiculous.
Similarly, even though they had a basic idea of how to use their weapons, they were mediocre at using them. So this week passed normally, and the next... the pressure of talent overwhelmed all the students there. These guys were already at a level of mastery over their weapons almost equal to that of an aspirant already climbing the tower.
Simply unfair!
But Rodrick was not far behind. Among these people, Rodrick was considered a great talent, because thanks to his stellar body, Rodrick could learn all kinds of skills faster than average people, and he had a body with the same power as an aspirant at level 15. It was impressive, it had to be... but was it really as impressive as Rodrick thought?
The third week was the one that completely marked Rodrick. For the first time since they arrived, the teachers organized sparring matches. At this point, Rodrick was already considered the fifth best in the class, so when the sparring matches of the top four were over, Rodrick was paired with Arthur of Scorpio. He could still remember that fight vividly...
"Come on, Rodrick, you can do it... relax, everything will be fine, you've been working hard all these days without stopping, I'm sure you'll beat him! His lineage doesn't define anything..."
Defeat within the first ten seconds. An overwhelming defeat. This boy's body was superior to Rodrick's Star Body in every way. There was no comparison. Their combat skills were worlds apart, and their bodies were incomparable.
When this combat ended, a system panel appeared in front of Rodrick.
"The Star Body is severely damaged, it is recommended to take a break."
For the first time, the Star Body was severely damaged. Rodrick, who in all his short training had never had to rest, had to retire to his bed for two full days that day.
"Damn... how are they so powerful?"
Rodrick continued to wield his sword, trying to push away the memories of that battle. It was humiliating... All the students at this academy were at level 1, so why was there such a difference? Rodrick had no idea.
Arthur of Aquarius was supposed to be fourth in the class, so Rodrick had no idea how absurdly strong that annoying girl, Nicole Azheven, the top-ranked student, would be.
This difference in lineage and birth had Rodrick completely depressed. Simply being born into one of the three major clans globally was a chilling advantage.
According to what Rodrick had heard from the gossipmongers at the academy, the clans were born through the intervention of three of the divine constellations that formed the universe: Taurus, Scorpio, and the Big Dipper.
No one has any idea why the Azheven clan decided to take that name instead of the Big Dipper. But that didn't matter; they were still descendants of the divine constellations, and because of that, all those born into these clans had bodies blessed by these constellations.
When Rodrick learned this, he quickly associated it with his stellar body. He suspected that his body, granted by the system, was something similar to the blessed bodies of the clans, albeit inferior.
"Ah, what does it matter? I'll catch up with them through hard work!"
Rodrick wielded his sword with more pressure. He wanted to improve, catch up with them, surpass them...
He wanted to save his sister at all costs, and being weaker than the descendants of the clans, he would never succeed.
At that moment, a girl approached Rodrick curiously.
When Rodrick saw who it was, he jumped in surprise.
"Hello. Sorry to interrupt, I see you're training very hard," said the blonde girl.
"Don't worry, I was about to stop. What's up?"
"Oh, sorry. My name is Anna de Tauro, I was just interested to know where you learned that... peculiar fencing style," said Anna with a tone of contempt.
"I just learn what the instructor teaches us," replied Rodrick, bored with her condescension.
"Are you serious? Didn't your clan give you any books on techniques?"
Rodrick sighed. It was the second time he had been mistaken for a descendant of a major clan.
"I'm not a descendant of a clan."
The girl looked at Rodrick in surprise. Then she burst out laughing.
"My God! Forgive my stupidity, I mistook you for one of us. I thought it was strange that you could train for the same amount of time as us. I guess you're just a poor talent from the village. Don't worry, I'm sure you can go far."
Anna turned around and walked away, laughing with the group of clan descendants.
"Tsk... idiot."
Rodrick continued his training, trying not to get distracted anymore.
With every slash he made, he could feel it. With every cut in the air, Rodrick became more precise, more efficient. It was as if he had been born to wield a sword.
Then, Rodrick was distracted again by an amazing sight in the other corner of the training ground. It was Cedric of Scorpio. The ceiling of the hall had been destroyed by his aura sword.
"Damn crazy..."
This guy used aura like an intermediate class aspirant would, being at level 1!
It couldn't be possible...
Rodrick walked towards the exit of the field, left his sword along with the other weapons, and walked out of there.
Once outside, he realized that it was already nighttime. Rodrick headed to the university campus and threw himself onto the grass.
Rodrick hit the ground with all his strength, the earth flying up from the power of the blow.
"Damn... why am I so weak?"
Tears fell down Rodrick's cheeks.
The inferiority complex he had buried under a thick layer of indifference toward everything was resurfacing.
He hated it.