Chương 21: Joining the Nacesai Academy

Yale followed Swordmad in silence because he also understood the meaning that his master left the clan.

Yale was happy to see how his master cared about him, and since his master left the clan, Yale felt completely detached from the clan.

However, he felt that showing happiness about something that had provoked a calamity for the clan would make him look like an evildoer, so Yale didn't open his mouth.

Yale didn't care about the clan, but he also didn't wish for the clan's destruction nor any bad thing to it. Since Yale left the clan, to him, the Roanmad Clan had become like any other clan in the Nacesai City, completely unrelated to him.

In almost two hours, Yale and his master reached the doors of the Nacesai Academy, where there were two guards to block any outsiders from entering.

Of course, the Nacesai Academy had protective spells that would be activated if some intruder surpassed the guards.

The guards weren't an impediment to Yale because he had an identity medallion to prove his qualifications as a student, so he could enter without any problems.

However, the guards stopped Swordmad from passing as he didn't have any identity medallion.

"Sorry, sir. You can only accompany him until this point."

The guard blocked his path, but he wasn't arrogant towards Swordmad. The guard didn't know who Swordmad was, so he was careful that he wouldn't offend him.

Furthermore, three days ago was the Nacesai Academy Recruitment Test Day, and those who were approved started to arrive at the Nacesai Academy accompanied by their elders. Those elders tried to accompany the kids inside, so Swordmad trying to enter with Yale wasn't anything surprising.

Yale had only missed the test for three days. He would have been very unlucky if he hadn't had the qualifications from beforehand as the Nacesai Academy Recruitment Test Day happened only once every three months.

The guards thought that Swordmad was like any other elder, but the loud voice that resounded a moment later proved that they were wrong.

"Let him enter!"

The guards instantly moved to a side, opening the way to Swordmad because they recognized that voice and didn't dare to disobey it.

The source of that powerful voice was an old man that was waiting for them inside. He looked towards Swordmad and smiled.

"Old friend! I haven't seen you in years, but you are still the same as always."

"I can say the same about you. People like us don't change that easily."

Indeed, powerful experts like them couldn't easily change as they already experienced a lot, and they had mostly fixed demeanor and habits. Furthermore, they had very long longevity, so they had stopped aging long ago.

That was the opposite of Yale and other kids of their generation because they were in a period that their appearance and character could change a lot in almost no time.

As long as one advanced in practicing a Path, the longevity would increase, and the aging would slow. However, one wouldn't recover the lost youth.

A Rank 1 Magus had double the lifespan of a mortal, and they would also age at half the speed. However, if one reached Rank 1 at fifteen years, one would remain with the same appearance until thirty and then began aging at half speed.

And if one reached it at twelve, then it would remain the same until twenty-four, and only if that person's rank wouldn't increase more because otherwise, the aging slowed even more.

That was why in the world, seeing a youngster wasn't equal to seeing a real youngster. Some fearsome experts looked like teenagers, and they were usually the ones with more potential.

The Warrior Path also slowed the aging, but in the first ranks, the rate was vastly inferior to the decrease of the Magus Path.

Swordmad and the academy's old man looked old because they were truly ancient and had lived enough to age even with extremely long lifespans.

Furthermore, increasing the power became more difficult, the more powerful one was, so even if one managed to have a breakthrough and expand the longevity, one would have an aged appearance.

"You must be Yale. We have been waiting for you. I'm the Nacesai Academy chairman, but you can call me chairman Sainac. I still need to thank you for your merits saving Ange those years ago."

That old man was the Nacesai Academy's chairman, and also its founder, in all the history of the Nacesai Academy, there had been only one chairman.

He was the most powerful and ancient person in the whole Nacesai Academy, and there were only a few comparable to him in the entire city. Of course, Swordmad was one of them.

Both have been friends ever since so much time ago that they didn't remember how long it had been, but they rarely met each other.

Sainac was the one who issued orders to spare no costs in Yale's recuperation after the incident in the clan's gathering. Yale saved Ange, and furthermore, he was his old friend's disciple.

"Greetings to chairman Sainac."

Yale bowed towards him. As an old friend of his master and the chairman of the academy, he was someone who Yale would show respect even if he weren't told to do so.

After Yale bowed, Swordmad spoke to his old friend.

"I'm planning to reside here while my disciple is in the academy, is there any problem?"

Even though Swordmad knew that his old friend would accept, he at least asked because Sainac was someone at his level and someone he respected.

In fact, no one knew who would win if they had an all-out battle, but fortunately, they had always been on good terms. Only a few people in the whole city could imagine how would be a battle between two powerful experts like them.

"Of course! I'm very happy to let you live in the academy."

The chairman laughed. He was very happy because having another expert at his level living in the academy would benefit the academy's overall power.

Swordmad nodded towards his friend remembering how, in the past, Sainac tried to recruit him to found the Nacesai Academy, but Swordmad refused as he had only wanted to focus on his training.

"Yale, your situation is quite special. Usually, you should join the classes for which you have the best talents. However, you didn't go through any testing at all, so I doubt that you know about your talents. Furthermore, there are almost three months until the next recruitment season when you could apply for a test."

Even the academy couldn't test the talents at any moment. They had their methods, but they needed time to execute them.

Yale sighed in relief as he preferred to let his talents remain secret.

Furthermore, in three months, his time to reach the 2-star would be used up, so he couldn't wait, and the Nacesai Academy test only worked with 1-star mortals.

"Chairman Sainac, that doesn't matter, I would like to apply to all the classes."

Of course, Yale was referring only to the beginner classes. The Nacesai Academy separated the students under sixteen years in three grades, a beginner grade from 1-star to 3-star, the intermediate grade from 4-star to 6-star, and the advanced grade from 7-star to 9-star.

If a student didn't reach the Rank 1 before turning sixteen, that student would be expelled from the academy, and if a student reached the Rank 1, that student would become a true disciple from the academy.

Before Rank 1, all was about potential, but one needed to reach Rank 1 to have a future.

Sainac was slightly shocked at Yale's answer. There wasn't any norm against it, but few people dared to do it. Reaching Rank 1 was a race against time, so focusing on one's best points was the most optimal manner.

However, when Sainac looked at Swordmad and saw him smiling as if Yale's answer was obvious, Sainac agreed.

"You are crazy at training, just like your master."

Then, Sainac produced a class schedule, a very tight one.

The classes imparted in the Nacesai academy separated into Warrior-focused and Magus-focused.

The Magus-focused classes were for all the normal elements plus poison and healing, making a total of nine different Magus classes.

As for the Warrior-focused classes, they were divided into battle styles: Fist classes, Sword classes, Spear classes, Rod classes, and Archery classes.

Those were the five most popular types of battle styles in Nacesai City if one excluded the heavy weapons because those only have classes after reaching Rank 1 due to their power being too destructive.

Aside from attending classes, the students spent the rest of their time practicing on their own.

Each class happened once a day, and as Yale chose to attend all the classes, he would have fourteen hours of classes every day, which was extremely harsh.

"Yale, don't forget that you still have to train with me. Even if you are in the Nacesai Academy, there's no reason to stop your training with me, but you will be quite busy with the other classes, so I will let you do just one hour of training instead of two."

If one included Swordmad's training, Yale would only have nine spare hours every day, and only if he didn't sleep and used Fasting Pills instead of eating.

Fortunately, Yale had auto-recovery, so he wouldn't need to rest as much as others, otherwise he would have no time for training after all the classes.

"The classes for the new students will start in three days. You are lucky that you didn't miss the first classes."

Sainac laughed again, and Yale agreed. He missed the Nacesai Academy Recruitment Test Day, but he was able to enter with special qualifications and even before the classes started. The results were very good as his experience in the academy would be the same as the other kids, but without revealing his talents.

In the first year inside the academy, the beginner classes would be with the same members that entered the academy in the same Nacesai Academy Recruitment Test Day.

Once one went into the intermediate classes or stayed for more than a year, then they would be mixed in general classes, which were bigger than the initial ones.

That way, everyone will have the same start inside the academy, and after a year at most, they would have classmates at a similar level of power based on their abilities.

After that, Swordmad left with Sainac. They reunited after a long time, so they went to drink together while Yale went to see his sister, who he hadn't seen since the Clan's Gathering.

The Nacesai Academy was the most secure place in the whole city, and with the powerful Sainac in charge, no one dared to break the rules inside the academy. Thus, no one needed to fear any danger.