The Ludicruos League

Cornfields Academy

Inang stood on the narrow balcony outside their assigned dormitory on the first floor, watching several students on the ground doing target practice with the abilities they were gifted with.

It had been a month since they arrived at Cornfields Academy. After they settled down, they were instructed to assimilate with the academy's schedules. In the mornings, they did manual labour and workout. In the afternoons, they trained. All under the supervision of a faculty member and segregated by gender. Only after that, the students have some free time to do whatever they wanted before shower time and dinner. Some students used those times to practice their targets. At night, they had some hours to read before bedtime.

Inang's first impression of the academy was somewhat contradictory. At first, she felt honoured to be there. She felt wanted and that she belonged there. But why were they selected to gather at the academy? Not all of them possessed mind-blowing abilities only seen on anime and fantasy films.

Perang, the girl who welcomed them, could wield any kinds of weapons. It was said that she was trained to be a warrior by her grandparents after her parents vanished mysteriously. Feeling a kindred spirit, Inang tried to befriend the Head Girl but Perang was often out of reach.

Inang watched as the boy with rabbit ears called Welu threw rocks towards Masa as fast as he could hop. She, a prodigy with the ability to manipulate time, capable of bending the fabric of the continuum to rewind or accelerate the passage of seconds, used her ability to stop the objects mid-air, and hurled them towards her target pieces. Biru, a twelve year old who could ignite blue flames from his fingertips, wreaked havoc on his target piece with a fiery blast. Mea, a popular girl with her mastery of illusion, conjured a lifelike projections of flaming arrow and hit bullseye. Her admirers cheered her on.

Others had powers she had never even heard of. The Flower Girls - Leboni, Lindu, Tae and Tala - with their special abilities to create flowers and vines, enlivened the academy with their floral decorations. Hilaris, the humanoid boy with metallic body and a square face, could crack the most impossible of jokes and still make others LOL. Cham, the boy with whisker, used his olfactory to sense danger. Another boy they called Samar had the ability to camouflage himself with the surroundings. In fact, Inang had no idea how he looked like because he, true to form, was always invisible.

However, the humans from Mutiara had the most absurd abilities of all.

The lanky boy Zhanshi had not displayed any abilities yet except in cooking. He could make the most amazing dishes out of a few ingredients. In fact, the academy's Chef Koki unofficially became his apprentice.

Jino could read and understand ancient languages. Most of his time was spent in the academy's meagre library, doing who knows what. Inang didn't find him especially interesting so she didn't pay him much attention.

Ehad, Ali's older brother by a year, true to his athletic prowess, came out to be the strongest and sturdiest among the students. He could withstand any physical constraints, be it lifting heavy goods or pulling down a boulder. His only rival was Voreqe.

On the other hand, Inang was pleasantly surprised when they discovered that Ali had the same abilities as hers. Together, they could summon anything beginning with the letter B, after chanting the name three times - but at the risk of losing their strength. They could control gravity and float objects but with limitations and only during extreme situations.

Other than the Head Girl, the other students were fairly friendly with Inang, especially the younger girls who were friends with the twins, Tae and Tala. They always included Ali and herself in their activities. Mealtimes were filled with anecdotes and laughter. Nonetheless, she detected a coolness of attitude in her bestie that she never knew before, although she couldn't quite name it.