Heaven, Earth, Me

Cecile looked at Yasenia's curious eyes and decided to speak about the Academy. Her clear and cold voice was pleasant to listen to. "The Rising Talent Academy is an independent state that appeared one day 1700 years ago between the three Empires. As soon as this power appeared, they occupied one-tenth of each Empire. Unreconciled, they tried to take it back. Still, when the Academy's Headmaster descended on the battlefield, the Sun Empire's Emperor, the Moon Empire's Emperor, and the Star Empire's Empress decided to retreat."

Yasenia and Oliver turned to look at her. Cecile continued. "It is said that they thanked the heavens that she only took one-tenth and wasn't vengeful to retaliate against their attack. Many congratulatory presents arrived from the Empires, nearby sects, and other powers for the next months. The Rising Talent Academy was established just like that."

Seeing that they were paying attention, she continued speaking with a calm voice. "Rita Academy accepts disciples from everywhere in the world and is very famous for gathering a lot of talented youths from the surrounding Empires, Kingdoms, and Sects. The facilities are one of the best of Sky Continent, having training areas for all elemental attributes and the main professions."

"They have a ton of resources and always have entrance slots in almost all the secret realms that appear in the Sky continent. This is thanks to the Headmaster, Elders, and teachers who have a lot of strength and control different businesses in the Empires and Kingdoms, providing alchemy pills, formations, and blacksmith products."

Cecile said thoughtfully. "It is said that this makes everyone hate and love the Academy simultaneously. Nobody wants to provoke them for fear of being blacklisted and deprived of their products."

Yasenia and Oliver blinked twice. 'When did we ask for so much information!?'

Unaware and invested in her explanation, Cecile explained the Academy's infrastructure. "The Academy is divided by mortals and cultivators, and inside the Cultivator section is the cultivation branch, alchemy branch, formation branch, and the blacksmithing branch. Each class has a student list, and you can get more resources the higher you are ranked. There are tournaments, excursions, secret realms explorations, cultivation areas for each element, and a mission hall."

"The Contribution Points, or credits, are the currency in the Academy and can be gained by different methods: beast nucleus, rare plants or metals, bets, advancing in the Sky Piercing tower, setting stalls, reaching a higher position in the student list, completing missions..."

Yasenia was amused by this block of ice's tirade. She looked adorable while speaking with the same expression and a monotonous voice, like a life-sized doll.

Cecile felt slightly embarrassed by Yasenia's teasing stare but continued. "The living quarters at first are shared. Then, you can get better accommodation by paying credits or advancing in the class levels. The class levels are like the rainbow: red is the lowest, and then there is orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Violet is the best class and has the best resources. Cultivation classes are always in the morning, and the others are in the afternoon."

Yasenia laughed and Oliver looked at her, stunned. 'We didn't ask so much!'

Oliver stuttered a little and said, "T-Thank you for sharing."

Cecile answered with a nod, "En."

Yasenia continued to laugh a little and asked, "What class are you in?"

Cecile said. "Violet Cultivation class."

Yasenia opened her mouth, completely surprised, "So you are a genius cultivator!"

Cecile calmly spoke, "I'm not."

Yasenia was unconvinced and asked, "What rank are you in your class then?"

Cecile again said with a deadpan expression, "First."

Yasenia and Oliver looked at her, imitating Cecile's deadpan expression, thinking seriously about opening her head and wanting to see how her brain works. 'Violet Class's first rank is not a genius? Then are the others in the Academy hopeless?'

Anna and Eve looked at them and had a mischievous glint in their eyes. They thought for themselves. 'The surprises are just starting, miss!'

After some hours, they arrived at the residential zone and dismounted the carriage. Anna waved her hand and stored it. Then she fed the rank two horses and sent them to a nearby stable. Meanwhile, Eve guided the three of them toward the inn where they had made reservations.

All the people were looking at Yasenia, whether for her tail or beauty.

This made Cecile slightly uncomfortable, and she didn't know why. She was used to receiving people admiring or jealous looks, so feeling uncomfortable with the stares Yasenia received felt strange.

Cecile wasn't a person to hide her thoughts, and she thought about covering her with her body but looking at the one-head taller dragoness with the swishing two-meters-long tail, she gave up. 

Yasenia saw that Cecile was bothered by something and asked gently. "Are you okay? Do you still have symptoms from the poison?"

Cecile was slightly startled that someone could see through her expressionless face and felt her heart strangely beating again. 'What's wrong with me?

Either way, she answered calmly and honestly. "No, don't worry. I don't like the stares that people give you, that is all."

Yasenia looked at her deeply and smiled. Then, she said while patting her head with her tail, drawing gasps from the mortal people around, "Thank you for caring. I'm already accustomed, so don't worry."

Cecile felt the soft tail caressing her head and answered with an almost imperceptible natural smile, "En."

Oliver said, "Is something that surprising for little sis to have a tail? I've grown up with her, so I don't think that is strange. I think that it elevates the charm of little sis."

Cecile nodded, thinking, 'En is super soft and warm. I like being patted by it.'

Yasenia patted Oliver's shoulder with her hand, saying. "Didn't you hear Cecile that even in this ginormous Academy, there aren't other people with beast-like traits?"

Oliver said. "Don't worry, little sis! If anyone dares bully you because of that, I will beat them up!"

Yasenia laughed gently and said, "En, I'm counting on you."

Anna caught up and, hearing their conversation, said with a bloodthirsty smile, sending her imposing aura around. "If someone dares bully Miss because of this little thing, this maid will deal with them, don't worry."

Everyone shuddered and averted their eyes.

When they reached the inn, Cecile said goodbye and told Yasenia she would be in the examination area on the day of the entrance exam.

The exam was one week from now, so Yasenia and Oliver had plenty of time to prepare.

The week passed fast, Yasenia didn't bother going out during this week because of the people's reactions, and she didn't want trouble before starting her evaluation.

Before arriving, she thought there would be more people with these traits and that she would be unable not to gather so much attention, but reality slapped her hard.

Yasenia didn't know then that people with beast-like traits are usually influenced a lot by their characteristics and that a child with beast-like qualities appearing between human-human progeny was highly unusual.

This, of course, isn't known to the general populace because only female cultivators with beast bloodlines could give this kind of transformation to their children.

Tatyana didn't tell Yasenia because she didn't want her to worry about people who had nothing to do with her. Moreover, she was an exception since Tatyana wasn't related to dragons in any way.

Tatyana wanted to raise her child naturally and didn't want Yasenia to have self-confidence issues because she was different from the rest.

Also, with Tatyana's 'persuasion' power, she made sure that nobody told her there were other countries and continents that beast people rather than humans habited.

Thanks to this and her education method, Yasenia wouldn't blink even if she saw an unrelated beast-human with a slave mark. It wouldn't be her first time nor her last seeing human slaves, so she would, at most, be curious if she saw beast-human slaves.

This doesn't mean that she accepts slavery, but she understood that even if someone as strong as her mother banned slaves, it would only change from slaves being sold openly to slaves being sold through dark channels. Slaves traded through these channels would naturally be treated worse than now, so it was not even worth it. At least, slaves nowadays are treated much better than before, with legislation created just for their better treatment.

Because everybody understands this, the bottom line of the law right now is that slaves won't be too severely treated or forced into sexual relationships or any other forced action.

When one buys a slave, they know if they are willing to have sexual relationships, participate in experiments, or be used as tools. There are a few because payments for those slaves are high, and some need extra income.

The slave seal regulates all of this.

If someone tried to force a slave, the slave mark would activate, teleporting them back to the slave house they were sold. The person who activated the slave mark would be banned from buying from all related slave dealers.

This is why people who don't know what to do with their lives become slaves of their own will to have food and a cottage.

Finally, when a slave starts his or her cultivation path and reaches the Mental nourishing realm, the mark becomes ineffective and the slave can end the contract, freeing themselves.

Yasenia didn't know all of this, but right now, even if she learned about it, she would be interested and nothing more. Yasenia wasn't a hero nor a villain; she had her own interests and wouldn't deviate much from them for unrelated people.

Yasenia went out of the inn with Oliver, and they went to the Cultivation branch of the Academy.

During these months and since she was a child, Yasenia had tried learning formations, alchemy, or blacksmithing. However, she wasn't talented in either of them.

So, she decided to concentrate on cultivation and learn general knowledge and how to defend against them.

When they reached the exam site, it was filled with people. There were as many participants as stars in the sky. There were a lot of tables doing the preliminary selection. They would check age, cultivation realm, level, and constitution. The attributes are considered part of the skill set of the cultivators, and they let them have secrets.

They put themselves in the shortest line and waited for their turn. After some hours, it was finally their turn. First, it was Oliver. "Fourth level of the body modification realm, age 22 years old, constitution [Sea freezing wolf]"

"Not bad, the fourth level of the second realm, and he is so young!"

"His constitution is rare, second strongest in the freezing wolf category, only bested by the [ocean freezing wolf]."

The murmurs continued until they set their sights on the next person.

The tall female walked towards the tables with her long legs, her face carrying the natural air of seduction with a slight smile on her lips. Behind her, the slowly swishing tail made S-like slow movements.

She reached the front of the table and spoke, her voice charming. "Will you begin my evaluation, senior sister?"

The senior sister responded, stuttering. "Y-Yes, please put your hand here."

Yasenia gave her a small smile and did as she was told. The one who was in charge of announcing opened his eyes and exclaimed. "Second level of the Body Modification realm! 19 years of age! Constitution [Celestial Yin and Yang body]!"

The people around directly exploded.

"Second realm and 19 years old!? Is something wrong with the measuring device!?"

"This is the first time I hear [Celestial Yin and Yang body]! Does anyone know about this?"

"I want to know her attributes! If they are good, she will be an absolute monster!"

Yasenia calmly turned and went where Oliver was.

Then, they entered the examination ground, then started looking around for Cecile. 'Didn't she say that she would be here? She wasn't at any of the tables and isn't in here either….'

Since Cecile wasn't here, she started speaking with Oliver while waiting for the examination to begin.