The Old Scholar

Along the Great Plains of the continent of Kalani, there sits a nation called the Kingdom of Partoba. It has a long and storied history on the continent as a nation that spread throughout the land and brought enlightenment to the small tribes and clans that dotted its landscape, earning the name the "Scholar's Kingdom" by the many dukedoms and smaller kingdoms that dotted Kalani. The Kingdom of Partoba is a powerhouse that dominates the continent as well, using its massive military and economic might to keep the peace and protect the continent from outside threats, much to the gratefulness of the other nations under its protection. The numerous cities of Partoba are thriving communities bustling with multiple species of life, the cities themselves are connected across the vast plains via well-paved roads constructed by their ancestors long ago, and the nobles of the kingdom work tirelessly and with absolute loyalty to the king who takes their suggestions and does his best to enact them for the betterment of everyone, showing that the royal family can and will do what needs to be done for the people and that they are supported in their endeavors. But there is a secret that only said royal family of Partoba knows, the secret that they are not really royalty, in fact, they are more akin to appointed regents. For the King of Partoba wears an artifact known as the "Crown of Memories", an artifact dating back to the first king of the kingdom at its inception, they see that the people of Partoba were led by a great woman called "The First Scholar" who helped build the kingdom to what it is today, as to never forget where they came from and to remind them of who was responsible for almost everything that has happened so far. 

But alas, the King of Partoba cannot reveal that information unless granted by "The First Scholar" less his head explodes as a consequence, for reasons known only to him.  This has worked so far as no king dares spill secrets he fails to understand the importance of and is content with just ruling a nation at its helm. Now, one would think that this enigmatic figure who holds sway over the life of the ruler of the strongest nation on the continent has passed already and someone else has taken the title, but you would be mistaken as in the northern reaches of the kingdom, deep within the Malikei Mountain Range, there sits a massive university that draws students from the continent and from around the world due to it's high-class education.  Imperia Academy is its name and the university itself is massive, carving out a giant plateau for itself from the mountain it rests upon and below it sits a massive city known as Imperia City that houses a massive population and other educational facilities such as libraries and schools for kids and teenagers. 

For you see, the principal or rather, the Dean of Imperia Academy is the same person who once rid the continent of the Khanate of Cretorum, the same person who had spread knowledge throughout the world from continent to continent as "The First Scholar" picking up disciples along the way and sending them to their respective continents to continue her work, the same woman who was forged by the gods of the world to become a beacon of progress and of insurmountable might, a woman by the name of Leilani Augusta, who is currently presiding over a massive research defense from her students within the auditorium of the academy. 

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"So, what you are telling me is that there is a Scholar we do not know about?" Leilani asked her students as she leaned back into her chair, looking down at the stage that had a group of students standing on it

"Yes Ma'am, our research believes that there is a Scholar who is not recorded and is forgotten about" The blonde-haired student named Victoria Von Eliess, the crown princess of the Einheret Empire from another continent, proclaimed as she looked up at Leilani. 

"Our group has compiled over five hundred scrolls, books, historical papers, and research articles from our homes across the world, to show you what we mean. We have found that in every continent except the continent of Kalani, there has been one person with the title of "The First Scholar" but there is also an addition to that title, that being the name of the continent they are in, such as "The First Scholar of Oneisius" or "The First Scholar of Reim" all of them have the title of First Scholar but none of them claim to be THE First Scholar" The black-hared student named Oliver Prenst, a humble commoner from the Duchy of Sparrow from another continent quickly added as he too looked up at Leilani 

"In addition, the writings of these scholars indicate that they were taught by someone else, and since the other continents all have one scholar, then that means THE First Scholar must have originated from here" Another student added, she had brown curly hair and her name was Amber McAntry, a merchants daughter who worked in the Duchy of Maine, a small nation on the continent of Kalani. 

"But there is no writing or knowledge that there was a Scholar present on this continent" Leilani replied to them as she began writing on the paper that held their score 

"That is our point Ma'am, there is no writing. If we frame the rise of Partoba through the same lenses of our homes, then there must have been a Scholar who helped build the kingdom to a more powerful state before going across the world and teaching the other "First Scholars"" The last member of the group added, a young boy named Kresh, an orc from the Kingdom of Rebesh from another continent" 

"But what if those scholars were all just the same person but with different names and identities?" Leilani asked 

"Impossible Ma'am, their writings and records show that all of them were on their respective continents at intervals between ten to twenty years from one another, meaning while one Scholar was working, another one popped up" Oliver answered 

"What if they were just clones of the same person?" 

"Also impossible Ma'am, they all had different blessings, such as the "First Scholar of Reims" who was an elf woman but blessed with the blessing of Dashran, while the "First Scholar of Oneisius" was a human man but given the blessing of Ragneus" Amber answered

"And to add to that, their writings all feature the same thing about how they learned from someone they called "Master" or "Teacher" Kresh chimed in

"We have more detailed and in-depth answers and explanations in the five hundred page defense paper we presented Ma'am" Victoria quickly stated

Leilani looked over to the seat on her right side and picked up the stapled defense paper, quickly glancing through it and reading everything, and processing the information at a speed no one else could. She smiled as she finished flipping through the pages and placed the paper back down, she looked back towards the students who were all nervous from their small beads of sweat, and Leilani could read their internal minds and thoughts so she knew they were hoping to pass. And she would make them, as they had satisfied her with their defense and they presented it with such skill and expertise. She pulled out their individual grading papers and a set of stamps that had grades on them and ink for the stamps

"Right. Miss Victoria and Co. As the last group to present, the score for your first-trimester research defense is a whopping hundred out of a hundred, congratulations" Leilani stated with a smile as she stamped the papers with the one-hundred-grade mark

"WOOOOOO!"

"YAAAAAAH!"

"YIPEEEE!"

"AHAHAHAHAHHA!" 

All four of the students on stage cheered as they heard their grades, they high five one another as they passed around congratulations to each other and were giddy with excitement. 

"You are all dismissed now, you can go back to your dorms now" Leilani added as she tucked away their papers into a folder to her left

"Thank you Ma'am! Hey Victoria let's head out for celebration!" Oliver stated as he and the other two were making their way out the door 

"I will see you all later, I need to discuss something with Ma'am Leilani" Victoria replied with a smile as she hopped off stage and made her way up to where her teacher was sitting. Oliver shrugged as he joined his other two groupmates and exited the auditorium 

As Leilani finished packing her stuff, she turned around and saw Victoria going up the steps and heading towards her, the blonde crown princess locking eyes with her all the while. 

"Wait Ma'am!" Victoria called out as she neared her professor 

"Oh? Miss Eliess, what is it?" Leilani asked as she waited for her student to catch up before beginning to walk towards another exit which was further to the left 

"I just wished to speak with you about our defense Ma'am, I  know we got a perfect but there were somethings we had left out due to the guidelines and restrictions for the presentation" Victoria added as she caught up and walked side by side with Leilani 

"Mhmm, you can tell me all about it later in my office, say around four-thirty in the afternoon after classes, I still have things to do now so if you will excuse me" Leilani told her as she pat the young woman on the head before ripping a portal in front of her to get her to her next destination 

"Ok! Thank you Ma'am!" Victoria added as she saw her professor disappear into the portal. 

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A few hours later through the day, Victoria was inside her extracurricular club located in a large room at the top floor of one of the major buildings on campus, a club known as "The First Scholars Club" which was made up of the brightest minds in the university, from the smartest freshmen to the sixth-year senior who was to graduate. This club was the elite of the elite with club members of differing backgrounds, and unlike most high-end elite clubs that Victoria knew from her homeland, this elite club lacked the very common arrogance and aristocratic bullshit that she saw in other types of clubs. When she asked her more senior clubmates about it the first time she joined, they informed her that the club was always in the process of being dissolved and destroyed due to the principal. 

This club was introduced about two hundred years ago and the principal then was still Dean Leilani, who by personal statements was a unique vampire who did not need to feast upon blood but instead feasted upon magic to keep her life until this day. Apparently, when the club was first introduced, she shut it down multiple times upon the understandable concerns that an elite of the elite club in a university that was already ranked top of the world would only cause the students to be divided and thus create conflicts. During an interview with a panel of students and their parents who had been organized to ask why she had shut down their idea, she stated "I will not have the poor personality, aristocratic bullshit, and political fuckery inside my university for as long as I am the Dean. And if you dare to try and make a club like this in secret then prepare to be annihilated on the spot, either accept it or withdraw from my school" This was supposedly the end of the idea as the students and their parents did not wish to anger the person who had been by all accounts in her right to oppose the formation of a club with understandable fears. 

But, a few years later, the same students approached her and pleaded for a full day, outlining that they would hold up an entire code just to ensure that they could have their club, and after many attempts, Leilani relented and accepted but placed upon some conditions that the club was to follow to the letter or face punishment by expulsion or being expelled. 

1. Have members from all species and all walks of life 
2. Uphold the values they swore to keep such as fairness, no discrimination, etc. 
3. No use of the club as a political tool
4. The club will act as the university student body 
5. Any acts that violate condition number 2 will immediately result in the club's dissolution and punishment of the students

After these rules were in place did the "The First Scholars Club" truly thrived as it received a wave of requests to join and although there have been many close calls and many grudges, by this point in time, all have been dealt with and the club is still sailing onwards. 

"Hey Vic? How'd the defense go?" A beautiful-looking, purple-tailed lamia senior club member and close friend by the name of Hissanti called out to the blonde crown princess who was still reflecting on the knowledge of the past 

"Oh! Uhh, we did amazing. Got perfect!" Victoria replied as she snapped out of her trance and faced her senior 

"Really? Nice work! That's good! To be completely honest, most of us here were blown away by the paper you handed over to us to review, amazing stuff!" Hissanti added, with the added cheers and acknowledgment of her fellow seniors backing her up

"Thank you, my friends also helped me a lot as well" Victoria nodded as she blushed at the compliments sent her way

"But you look so out of it today, what's going on in that head of yours?" Hissanti added as she slithered right up close to her friend

"Umm, I will be speaking with Dean Leilani later again after classes today, I wished to run something by her for my next research defense for next term" The blonde crown princess replied with a wry smile 

"Ohh, well I wish you good luck with that then, some of us are going to spend the afternoon practicing for weapons class tomorrow, see yah!" Hissanti finished as she hugged her friend and then slithered away. 

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Going back to when Leilani entered that portal, she exited it and was now in her office. 

As the portal opened up before her, Leilani immediately used magic to keep away the folders and papers she was carrying back into their respective places. And as she was walking to her desk she conjured up the file of Victoria Von Eliess and a cup of hot chocolate and sat down on her chair, conjuring up a blueberry cheesecake just to go with her drink, before opening the file. 

"Hmm, Victoria...let's see if I remember...Ah!" Leilani exclaimed as she glanced at the report and quickly refreshed herself on the details of her student. 

"Hmm, eldest daughter and next in line for the throne...high marks in magic and weapons classes, high marks in physical fitness, high marks in academics....huh, an amazing piece of work...hmmm" Leilani muttered as she put down the file, took a bite out of her cheesecake and taking a sip of her hot chocolate 

She then got up and walked over to the massive window behind her and looked down at the campus below, students were running about trying to make it to class while other classes were being held outside such as weapons and martial arts classes. Leilani admired the environment she had built over the last five thousand or so years, reminiscing about her time traveling the world and its many continents, experiencing different types of cultures that varied widely from land to land. She remembers the eleven students she took in, all of them once lonely orphans she raised into mighty scholars of knowledge and power, and while none of them individual or combined could ever trump her might, they were still powerful and smart kids who did their best to bring about the change that they received from Leilani. She solved the problem of the gods not gaining any substantial form of spiritual energy by spreading the religion through her disciples, now she just has to continuously help the world grow by teaching the generations that come and what better way to do that than through the education system she had already planned from the start. 

She had spent many years traveling and teaching under a veil that warped people's perception of her, and now for the past two hundred years, she has decided to do away with the veil and just be out in the open, with the small lie of her being a unique type of vampire being accepted by the world as expected. She had come a long way, and it has been a rewarding way despite its many challenges. She remembers how she ensured that her university would be funded from across the globe and how her power has kept ambitious bastards in check, she remembers how the world trembled at her fury when she brought down the leviathan race during the crisis of the Leviathan War all those years ago, she remembers it all and keeps them all close to heart as fond memories. 

"sigh...Still so much to do" Leilani mumbled as she took a sip of her hot chocolate and taking one final glance at the outside world before sitting back down and pulling up some documents that needed her attention. 

A/N: Hello! And so here we are in the present day! Do not worry about the skipped years, for they will all be presented further down the line! And I hope you enjoy reading this chapter just as much as I had fun writing it! Anyways let me know what you think or if you have questions,, post them in the comments below! and as always Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!