Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 1. Selection

His sister on the other hand stands out for a completely different reason. While she has delicate and beautiful features, her mixed blood made her look like a mismatched doll.

While some mixed breeds can pass off and blend in with pure breeds. With a third of her hair pure white and two thirds golden blond, one sky blue eye, one forest green and her human sized ears but pointy tip. It was not hard to tell that she had both human and elf blood running through her.

After spending quite a bit longer than the rest at the checkpoint answering questions and explaining why a human and a half elf is in the heart of beastman territory, the pair finally made it through the walls to enter the capital city.

As the city has enjoyed centuries of peace, it has prospered and grew into what it is today. The stone paved roads are wide and smooth to accommodate more than 2 lanes of carts with plenty of space left over for people to walk about and see all the shops, restaurants, bars, inns, and houses, stacked one after another in this bustling city.

"Hurry up Ken! It will take us another hour of walking to get to the town square. So glad I woke you up when I did instead of letting you sleep long."

"Come on, it's not like we are going to get picked anyways. The whole thing is just a lie to make it seem the school is just. You know that literally only nobles, royalty and kids of high rankings ever get selected right?"

As the pair of countryfolk hurried along the busy streets without giving into the sights, sounds and smells of the city. Finally, after 5 hours of brisk walking and 30 minutes stuck at the gate, they made it to the city square with 30 minutes to spare.

"Hey Emma, once this selection is over. We should spend the afternoon explore the city!"

"I don't even think we have enough money for food in the city and it's another 5 hours to get back home. Where are we going to spend the night if we don't head back right away?"

"The city is so big! I'm sure we will be fine; we could even sleep on the benches right here or something"

"Ken! It's literally freezing out here and I am a girl you know. You expect me to just sleep outside in this weather on some street bench in the middle of this huge city?"

"But it's our first time in such a big city! You want us to just go back home without exploring the city at all? When will we even have another chance to come back? Don't worry! I told mom we will be staying the night. I will figure something out and make sure you have a proper place to stay at night as well."

As the time got closer and closer to the selection, the massive town square is now filled with thousands of teens anxious to be judges and many more thousands of parents hoping for the same outcome.

As the selection time approaches, a group of royal guards can be seen approaching from the castle gates carrying a giant mirror.

Once the mirror was brought into the square and placed on top of a platform in front of the crowd. An academy provided artifact plus a high-grade sound amplifier artifact are placed by the mirror and instantly instead of reflecting the crowd that's in front of the mirror, the figure of a woman appeared.

The woman in the mirror appeared to be middle aged. The way she dressed and carried herself, it was easy for everyone to see just how important of a figure this woman is.

"Welcome to our annual selection process. My name is Evelynn Dragonspire, the current headmistress of the Dragonspire Academy. As my ancestor's goal in creating this school is to allow equal education for all who are talented, for the past 2000 years, we have carried on that tradition."