I woke up the next morning feeling fully healed. Sleep is the best medicine. I headed towards the exit of the inn almost immediately. I had somewhere to be, somewhere important.
I grabbed my bag and ran out the door.
While leaving, I didn't forget to tip the receptionist an extra bronze coin; it was a nice inn. I slept in a warm and cozy bed and was served hot, delicious food. I had no complaints.
Well, except for the room beside me being a little..loud. But it is a hotel, what else did I expect?
I walked towards the center of Liberta, where the magical academies reside. It's quite a long walk to Ashborn from where I am.
I ended up running there, and even then it took me a while. I passed by districts of houses and some lower academies on the way, but they didn't look nearly as intimidating as the building, or maybe a castle? In front of me right now.
It was especially hard to miss, with the swarm of people heading in and out of the clearing.
Nudging my way through the crowd, I glanced up at the giant stone entrance I was passing under, which was engraved into the stone wall.
"ASHBORN ACADEMY".
I'm finally here. I quickly realized I was standing in front of the entrance, smiling like a retard.
So I walked forward, once again swallowed by the crowd.
Walking in, I couldn't help but marvel at the sights of the buildings and people. Everything was so modern and colourful, I saw a place to buy adventure gear, a market for souvenirs, and many more interesting stores.
The amazing part about all of this is that this isn't even the main campus; the campus is behind the entrance buildings.
But the three tests they run are here. I quickly paid the fee of 55 silver coins at the booth. I quietly thanked the old man for the money in my head.
I continued to walk and sightsee the campus. There was an interesting mix of people as you walked around; there were nobles, you could tell by the rich, over-the-top clothing that seemed utterly ridiculous.
And then the commoners like me had simple clothes, some commoners and nobles' parents were with them, to oversee them take the test or just wish them good luck.
There were also attendants of the nobles, and finally, you had the students, who, on the other hand, had unique uniforms.
I saw one guy walking by me, and I analyzed his outfit. he had a red blazer with a white collared shirt on the inside. On the blazer by the chest, there was a simple emblem of a phoenix that was engraved chasing its tail. He had black pants and black shoes.
Overall, he looked nice, but it's nothing I'd ever expect myself to wear. It looked too nice, like noble clothes, but less flamboyant.
But I knew I'd have to wear that outfit, or something like it, if I wanted to attend Ashborn, so I'd better prepare myself mentally to look like a noble jackass.
I continued to walk around for a bit, sightseeing, before making my way towards the testing site. There were probably thirty fucking signs pointing towards it.
Upon arrival, I saw a long line heading into a building.
I waited in line patiently for twenty minutes before finally making it to the front.
Finally entering the building, I walked in and looked straight at the instructor standing near the colourful stand with two handprints on it.
He was a tall man with black hair and black starry eyes. he had strict eyebrows and a tall nose.
He looked me up and down and spoke in a monotone voice, as if he had been saying the same thing all day.
"I am Professor McKannan. I teach magical combat for first-year students. The test you will be taking is very simple, you'll place your hand on the stand and push mana into it, that's all you have to do."
I looked at him and nodded, but I couldn't help but ask a question before starting.
"What does it measure?"
The teacher replied right away. I guess he's gotten this question quite a few times.
"It measures your ego."
He said with a straight face.
I looked at him with a plain look. Do all mages have a dumb sense of humour?
I put my hand on the stand and pushed my mana as hard as I could into it, shaking the platform a little bit.
The air grew thicker, musky even.
Oh no, did I mess it up?
The professor cocked his eyebrows at me and said.
"Impressive, you have a unique connection with mana boy, you have a promising future."
I looked at him for a second, speechless.
Well, that's promising?
I wonder what he meant by unique.
I was about to ask before he said something else.
"It measured your ego too, says you are a douche bag, how unlucky."
I instantly rejected any idea in my mind of asking him a serious question.
He looked me up and down.
"Kids these days look older every year. Old Marebore is feeding you, kids, something weird."
I was confused by the way he was talking, but before I could ask anything, he continued.
"I'm giving you 5/5 stars. Based on your potential in magic, it means one day you'll awaken an interesting element."
Awaken an element? What's he talking about?
I decided to let it go for now; he seems quite annoyed with having to be here. No sense in getting him angry.
"Thank you very much, sir. I won't let you down."
He waved his hand at me.
"Now go away, genius boy, I've got other people to test."
I have to say I like Genius Boy more than Rabid Wolf; it sounds a little more peaceful.
I walked out of the building and past the line of people and went further behind the building into an open field with many targets showing.
This one is simple, but a lot of people seemed to be failing it, an elf boy missed the target three times before hitting the edge.
He failed.
This time, instead of a stand, there were five targets set in a horizontal line. You just had to hit them and ideally destroy them in the best-case scenario with magic.
The instructor will grade you based on your performance and give you a rating out of five.
I waited my turn patiently; this one didn't take as long as the previous line.
The five-foot-four female instructor with pink hair and pink eyes looked at me for a second and then pointed at the targets.
"Hit them, doesn't matter how many tries. Just hit all the targets with any kind of ranged magic."
I know I shouldn't show off, but I learned a new trick while practicing, and I wanted to try it out.
Although it's not applicable in actual battle yet because I have to focus on using most of these spells, for this test, I should be able to time this so they hit simultaneously.
I split my mind in two and focused on each of my hands.
I compressed the mana and willed fire to envelop one of my hands, while the other mana I guided freely and willed wind blades to be summoned.
I point my right hand at the farthest target to the right and my left hand to the farthest to the left, I shot two fire balls at the targets on the right side and two wind blades at the left most targets, the one in the middle I willed a pointed spike to rise from the ground and stab into the middle of the target.
Simultaneously, the wind, fire, and earth element attacks all hit their marks, with each target exploding into bits.
Finally done, I looked at the professor.
She wasn't looking at me, just at the targets, which are now decimated.
"Impressive, what did you get on the last test?"
I replied in a polite tone.
"5/5, Ma'am."
I saw the surprise flash across her eyes, but it quickly vanished.
"I very rarely give four stars or above in this test, but there are three students who have received it this year, the princesses of the human and elven kingdoms, respectively, and the youngest prince of the elven kingdom.
You are now the fourth to receive above four stars with a rating of 4.75/5 stars. Congratulations, what's your name?"
"Sylas, no last name mam."
Her eyebrows rose in intrigue before she nodded and wrote something down in her booklet.
"Good luck on your final test, Sylas."
"Thank you, professor."
I briskly walked away. I now had 9.75/10 stars. I wonder if I can get above fourteen; that would be pretty good, right? I don't know the average scores.
Scoring high never hurt anybody.
The final test was located at the Academy's colosseum. Yes, I know, they have a fucking colosseum, rich bastards.
It took me a bit to find the Colosseum, but after walking in circles for another twenty minutes or so, I found it, mostly because of how loud it was.
I made my way into the entrance and was greeted by the loud cheers of hundreds of students. I guess they like spectating the third event? I still don't know what it is exactly.
I walked through the gate before I found a line towards the front desk. After a short wait, he asked me some questions.
"You are here to take the third test, correct?"
I nodded.
"Name and age?"
"Sylas, I am sixteen years old."
The man smirked a bit.
"9.75/10 stars, eh? You have some good talent, kid!"
I smiled at him.
"Good luck out there, and don't worry about it. You'll forget about this embarrassment sooner rather than later, champ."
Embarrassment? What's he talking about?
And champ? Really motherfucker. You look barely a year older than me.
"Well, wait till they announce your name on the voice amplifier, they'll announce your name and age, as well as your previous scores, fight like your life depends on it, kid, and don't hold back."
Fight? Who exactly am I fighting?
Can this guy just fucking speak normally?
"Who am I fighting?"
My tone came out a little too aggressive, whoops.
"You're fighting senior students. I know it sounds bad, but it gets worse, trust me. They decide who fights the first years, while the professors rank the students based on how long they last, or very rarely, how they win. But considering you're fighting a rank up, that rarely happens. After all, it's a requirement to reach the dusk stage if you want to be a second year."
Shit, I'm fighting a senior student?
I freaked out for a second before realizing I don't have to win, just hold on long enough or impress the teachers.
I can do that.
I thanked the man at the counter before walking into the giant stadium. I took a seat and watched the senior students pummel the newbies for a full hour.
Eventually, my name was announced, and with it, some questioning voices appeared.
"Sylas, sixteen years old. He scored 5/5 on the first test and 4.75 on the second test."
Sylas, please make your way to the arena."
The arena buzzed a bit with voices.
"Did I hear that right? He almost got ten stars! What kind of freak is he?"
More voices.
"Maybe he's a bastard of the Royal family?"
"Shut up, you dolt, the princess is right in front of you."
Despite these voices, I took my calm strides towards the arena, preparing myself mentally to fight my best.
End of chapter 10