My Soul card is a Reaper
Chapter 563 Arcana Festival: Day 1 (Part-1)



Dragon Academy, Central City, World of Arcana;

The entire academy was decorated as if they were celebrating New Year. Everything is taken care of by the academy's student council. 

The students created a playful and whimsical display using bright colors, oversized decorations, and fun patterns.

A large area was accommodated by the food stalls featuring street foods from all over the world of Gaia. It is completely operated by the students too. The food is also free for everyone as the ingredients were provided by the academy.

As for their hard work, the participating students get merits according to how many plates they have sold in the meantime. A few secret inspectors have been assigned to make sure no one is cheating. 

This theme has clicked with the students of the hosting academy as well as the visitors. Only the true introverts or old ones, who lived for centuries and millennia, were uncomfortable with it.

But then again, they were not only in the extreme minority but most of them were also the type of people who wouldn't unnecessarily complain. So, everything is fine.

By the time Emerald Academy students arrived there, the place was already bustling with teenagers.

Their green blazers did attract the attention of the people as they walked past them while looking around curiously.

Under the guidance of the Dragon Academy's student council members, the group of 67 made it to the campsite, where registrations were taking place. It was also the place where they are going to live.

At first, the students felt displeased upon assuming that they are going to live inside tents like some sort of campers even with heavy security around.

But then, as they stepped inside, they realized that these aren't simple tents. Each of them was big as a grand mansion. Azzy couldn't help but think of his camping tent (given by Sapphire Magnolis in the past timeline), which was also quite similar to these but slightly smaller.

As for the girls' safety, there's security outside but the onus is on the teachers of respective academies.

If there's one thing that the Dragon Academy doesn't want to take responsibility for, it is the lives of the visiting academy representatives. 

Emerald Academy was given a section of the campsite where six tents were nearby each other. Each tent has twelve rooms inside and will be enough for everyone.

Likewise, the other two visiting academies were also allotted space in the camping site but there is a stark difference in the treatment.

The Heavenly Academy has just one tent allotted for 60 of them but there are atleast 25 security personnel guarding their section. 

The students of Emerald Academy heard the student council representatives say that the Dragon Academy went all out to invite the Heavenly Academy. That simple tent had an entire palace built inside.

But then again, they shouldn't be surprised by such unfair treatment either. The Heavenly Academy of Arcana is famously known for allowing only kids of noble birth to study there. 

The nobles might be nothing more than people with surnames in the current generation (atleast, in the eyes of the society). Still, for tens of thousands of years, they ruled the world, and every king who marked his name in history has studied in the Heavenly Academy.

It goes without saying that these princes and nobles of ancient heritage will be getting royal treatment.

As for the final participating academy which was receiving the same treatment as Emerald Academy, it is called the Marigold Academy of Arcana.

Also known as the Arcana Academy of Music and Light, this special academy only takes the kids in with light attribute Arcana, music tool Arcana, or someone who is a musical prodigy.

And the Dragon Academy doesn't need any introduction either. If one asks what the best Arcana Academy there is, atleast 6 out of 10 will say that it is the Dragon Academy. It has been that way since ages ago.

And Azzy has an interesting relationship with the Academy too. 

During the finals of the champion league in the past timeline, not only he won against the Dragon Academy's team, but he also punished them by damaging the soul orbs of his opponents, almost destroying the lives of those geniuses. One of them even died.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the final match of the Champions League was telecasted on television, although not live. 

It doesn't matter who at fault is. It's a fact that the Dragon Academy's reputation was damaged quite a bit, back then.

"More than 30 years passed since then and it is long enough for the teachers and the principal to forget about the incident," thought Azzy as he reached the registration center with the students.

The registration center has an earth-grade artifact (rank-10/works for demigods and below), a large glass orb that works similar to that of the Death clan's sacred relic.

One has to pour their soul energy into the orb and stay connected to it. The latter will display one's true soul realm, potential, Arcana grade, and density of energy.

They purposely used this artifact not only to make sure to see no one cheating so that they get to battle a weaker opponent but also to take this opportunity to scout potential geniuses from Emerald Academy and Marigold Academy. The two academies didn't have any advanced studies and hence, their students are a perfect target.

The one who was overseeing the registration process was an intermediate-stage Legendary realm expert (mid-rank-8), one of the three vice principals of the Dragon Academy. 

And fortunately or unfortunately, the young-looking fellow turned out to be a familiar-looking guy for Azzy. 

To be specific, it was a past opponent who tried unfair means to kill him but instead got his own teammate killed and had his soul orb destroyed entirely. 

"Alan," mumbled Azzy as looked at him and fell into thoughts. "It looked like not only this fellow regained his soul orb and even managed to reach such realm within a short period of time. How?"

"Did you forget what your future self told you already?" The Reaper commented, shedding light on his cloudy mind.

With the Reaper's reminder, Azzy relocated the memory of his first meeting with his future counterpart. "Oh, yeah! He did say that he gave Alan a second chance. But why though? I never figured out his intentions and didn't ask about it during our second meeting as I forgot about it. Now, I couldn't help but wonder about it."

"Chronos, what do you think?" He asked the Reaper.

The Reaper replied, "I don't sense death energy inside him. So, I guess it's not something you need to worry about. Whatever it is, your future self will tell you when he feels the time is right."

"Hmm, I guess you are right." Azzy shrugged his shoulders and decided to throw the thought at the back of his head. Since Alan won't remember him anyways, Azzy decided to behave as if he doesn't know him either. In case he remembers him from the footage, Azzy prepared a lame excuse for that too.

Meanwhile, one after another, the students of Emerald Academy were registering their names and placing their hands on the glass orb.

"Sigh… 4-star silver grade and 6-star potential, not again." A look of disappointment was clear on Alan as he was recording their names and details in the registry file.