“Is that why everyone is looking at me funny?” I said, glancing at the students who glared at me as they passed. “Because I bypassed the hierarchy or something?”
“More or less,” said Barrett with a shrug. “Even I was shocked to hear that a no-star like yourself challenged three three-stars at once. It takes balls to do that, as your younger brother might say.”
“And let me guess,” I said, brushing back my brown hair, “no-stars are basically the bottom of the barrel, right?”
“Spot on,” said Barrett. He resumed walking up the steps into the castle, with me following close behind. “But no-stars generally don’t factor into the system at all because they basically aren’t really students until they put on their uniform and receive their first star. Now that you have a star, you are officially
