章 25: Admission
Today is the day I go to the academy. We got up at our usual time and ate
breakfast. We were going to the city where the academy is located and it was
200 km north of here.
It was very far. But if we use a gate in the teleportation station, we would be
able to go there in a short time.
I got dressed in a casual uniform, a blue shirt and black pants. We got out to
the station after half an hour of walking.
Dad went ahead to the receptionist and showed his badge. I learned from him
that using Gates was for the really wealthy. A single use of gate was worth a
1000 golden coin for a single person.
Money here was simple. People didn't use any kind of bills or credit cards.
They used metallic coins: Copper, silver, and gold.
A silver coin is worth 100 copper coins.
A gold coin is worth 10 silver coins.
An average person would make between 100 and 200 gold coins per month
while the poor people would barely have some silver coins. The copper coins
were like change.
We went in and got in a room. A gate was placed there. We stepped through it
and the room changed. We stepped out from the station and entered the city
street.
This city is called Portia. It was a very big city; it was one of the most
populated places in the kingdom, second to the capital.
Many business companies were situated here and people would come from all
over the kingdom to work here, because this city is located near mana stone
mines. Wealthy people and nobles would hire many people to go mine mana
stones, and then sell it at their companies.I look around the place and see many open shops but something was different
here. I could see blacksmith shops, flower shops, grocery stores and many
more.
Unlike back at my home city, the blacksmith workshops were not isolated in
the edge of the city.
I never mentioned it, but the city where I live is called South Gate. It was the
last big city when going south. The south of it was covered by many forests
and small villages.
From the south, the kingdom had borders with the empire and a county of
dwarfs; it was where Ralf came from.
Back to the main task, I followed dad. The place was clean, and the passerbies
were wearing good clothes.
We passed by a building and I stopped in my tracks. There was a sign on the
gate that read:
'Impact Academy'.
I turned towards dad and said:
"Isn't this the academy we are going to?"
"No, the one you will enroll in is called Mystralia Academy. Portia city has 3
academies, the one you will study in is ranked 10th in the kingdom. Endric
studies there too"
"Are Academies ranked?"
"Of course, there are many variables that would affect the academies ranking;
how many students it has, the strength and potential of their students, their
grades, the status of the teachers, and most of all their ranking at the
Academic activities."
(Well, I can picture what the ranking is for, the higher you are, the more
people would like to enroll in your academy. But there were two things that I
didn't understand.)(Dad, what has the teacher status has to do with ranking, and what are
academic activities?)
"Teachers status doesn't mean their political background or their lineage, but
instead their fame. Mages are different from one another by not only their
power and affinity but their deeds. The more feats you have done, the more
people would recognize you.
Take me for example; I am regarded as a grand mage because I managed a
great feat that is impossible for many other mages. I managed to single
handedly kill two dragons at the same time. Even facing a single dragon,
armies with tens of thousands of mediocre mages would die. And for that
deed, I was nicknamed: Dragons nemesis.
Now the more Grand mages an academy has the more it is highly regarded
and people would see a chance to have their children taught by them.
As for the Academic activities, it is just a tournament between the academies
of the kingdom. It is held to test the strength of the other academies and
decide the best one. Aside from that, the tournament has another goal; People
can buy tickets and come watch this event, so it is a great source of income to
the participating academy.
Of course, student would get prizes according to their final ranking; they
would get money, weapons, storage rings. Each year, the prize would change.
But for the first years, there would be no Academic activities."
I was interested by this tournament, not because of the prizes or the
recognition, but because I wanted to see how good my peers were and what
kind of magic affinities they possessed.
Magic was really fascinating for me. And I was curious to see new affinities
and how people would use them. It felt like science to me, you can never get
enough of it, and each experiment you see will blow your mind more than the
previous one.
We kept walking until dad suddenly stopped. I looked up and saw a long line
of people stretching for more than 200 meters. The line started from a huge door where some guards were wearing armors and probably the academy
staff taking parents and their children inside one by one.
We got at the back of the line, and dad said to me:
"Looks like we made it here early, the registration process usually takes three
days to finish and the line of people would stretch for more than a kilometer.
Most of the time, applicants would rent an inn nearby if they happen to stay
late in night and would come back the next day to register.
Even though I say register, children would have to pass a small test to be able
to apply for an academy. Each one has its entering requirements.
That being the case, the test here would be; having a Rank 4 or more in both
mana density and pool, being not older than 13, and finally being able to cast
at least two spells.
For the first two requirements, any average child is able to accomplish. As for
the spells part, being able to cast two spells in a young age, requires talent,
intelligence, hard work and sometimes good teaching."
I nodded at dad, I was reassured, I am qualified to enter the academy and I far
surpassed the requirements for being admitted.
We waited in line for about an hour, and when it was our time to enter a
couple came from the back with a boy my age.
They just skipped the line and wanted to enter without waiting like the others.
Just when they were going to stay before us dad said:
"Hey, both of you, what are you doing. Get back in the line."
The woman looked at us, and inspected us than said:
"How dare you commoner speak to us like that. Don't you know who we are?"
Dad looked at her with disdain:
"I don't care who you are, if you don't get back now. My previous polite tone
would change"The man besides the woman looked at dad and yelled:
"How dare you speak to my wife like that, I, Ortolf Grenz, will punish you"
He said as he raised his hand.
Just as he did, I could feel the air becoming really cold and even our breaths
turned to smoke. I felt something in the air that prevented me from breathing
slightly.
Ortolf on the other hand, had his face turning blue, he was suffocating.
"If you are this arrogant, then you should have the strength to back it up. You
dare threaten me. That mean you wish that I end you today."
Dad squinted his eyes; he was releasing his mana on the couple. The woman
began fainting and the guy would probably die.
I didn't know what do, this was just too sudden and besides I haven't seen dad
this angry, never.
Out of the blue a man wearing fancy clothes came from the Academy. He
looked at dad and said:
"Mister Raiden"
As dad heard him, he let the pressure on the couples dissipate. The woman fell
on the ground, and the man held his chest breathing heavily.
Dad looked at the guy that came and said:
"Dean Theodore, Sorry for the commotion I made. Some insolent nobles
wanted to exchange *cough* pleasantries."
"Oh, if that's the case then it's fine. Come Mister Roland. Let's get your kid
registered."
My dad went ahead and I followed after him. I had a last look at the guy and he
seemed to have realized something and took his wife and son and got back in
line.We went in a room that was spacious and Dean Theodore told us to get inside.
There was a guy there who said:
"Your awakening results paper please."
Dad proceeded to hand him a paper. The man looked at it and his eyes shone
with shock.
"Rank 7 density and rank 6 mana pool. That is very good."
The mana kept reading then he turned to me with a grieve face and said:
"Are you able to cast any spell?"
"Yes"
Dad bent down and said in my ear:
"Don't show too much, just normal spells."
I nodded and went ahead and cast the gate spell and the normal shield spell.
The examiner nodded and told us to go pay the admission fee. I was qualified
to study in the academy
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