However, she quickly adjusted herself and smiled sweetly. She said softly, "So you are also one of the magicians who had just awakened. Hello, my name is Anna. Nice to meet you!"

Anna was very willing to meet a mage who was even more talented than her.

Not to mention a young mage like Hughes, who was both talented and handsome.

"Hughes."

Hughes nodded slightly and said with a faint smile.

"Hughes? You're Hughes?"

"Is there a problem?"

Hughes looked at the shocked Anna and asked in confusion.

"No, no, I'm just too shocked. I heard that during the awakening ceremony this time, St. Peter's High School in Kyrenia had a magician with SS-grade light magic talent, and he was directly sent to Lach Academy.

"I didn't expect to see him in person. I'm a little excited!"

"Well, if St. Peter's high school in Kyrenia didn't have a second SS-grade light magic talent, then it would be me."

Hughes touched his nose and said in embarrassment. After all, this was the first time he had met a fangirl in his life.

Am I that famous now?

"Haha, it's so interesting to talk to you.

"You have no idea how famous you are now. Even Helsinki city, which is very far away from you, I have heard about you."

After Anna confirmed that the person in front of her was Hughes, she smiled and became active.

"Even Helsinki city has heard about me?"

Hughes was a little surprised.

It would not be strange if someone in Kyrenia knew him, but now, even the city of Helsinki, which was hundreds of kilometers away from Kyrenia, had heard of him.

"Then it must be heavily publicized. You are the only mage in our state who has awakened a rare magical talent at SS-grade level in the past seven to eight years. It is only natural that you should be heavily publicized."

Anna touched the purple electric mouse on her shoulder and smiled. "Then you will also go to the Lach Academy to report in advance like me!"

"Well, since I have nothing to do during the holidays, I might as well go to the academy to report in early."

Hughes said with a calm expression.

"You also arrived at the academy first because of the freshmen tournament, right?" Anna asked after thinking for a moment.

"Freshmen tournament? I only heard about it from Ms. Kate, but I didn't ask about it in detail."

"Ah? You didn't know?" Anna stared at Hughes, who was sitting opposite her, and then said again, "Then why did you come so early?"

"It's better to have mage training in the academy than to be at home alone.

"Besides, there are teachers and all kinds of senior mages in the school."

"Well, compared to you, I am indeed a waste," Anna said dejectedly.

"..."

However, Anna quickly adjusted her emotions and enthusiastically told Hughes about the freshmen tournament.

"The freshmen tournament is a competition between freshmen who have just entered the school. Those with good results will get some magical artifacts and magic points.

"Those with poor results may have fewer resources.

"I'm going to the Lach Academy in advance so that I wouldn't be left behind by others in the freshmen tournament."

After listening to Anna's understanding of the freshmen tournament, Hughes nodded his head and thanked her.

Then, the two of them discussed some questions about the Lach Academy and continued chatting casually.

As the two of them chatted, they talked about the teaching methods of the Lach Academy of Magic, the differences between the instructors in the academy, and whatnot. Then, they talked about some knowledge about demon beasts.

Hughes was not a boring person to begin with, so as he spoke, Anna beamed with joy.

Just like that, the two of them chatted for more than two hours. When Anna was a little tired, they ended the conversation and fell into a deep sleep.

As for Hughes, he took out his headphones and put them on, focusing on listening to the songs.

The name of the current song was courage. It had only become popular recently.

It was said that it was sung by a little girl who was in the same class as Hughes. She had just graduated a while ago, so Hughes did not know anything else.

As he listened to the melodious song, Hughes sank his consciousness into his spiritual mind and began practicing his control of mana.

Because he had previously discovered that when he was carving the magic array, the mana consumption was very high.

Therefore, he wanted to practice his control of mana more.

Moreover, the benefits of practicing more mana control were not limited to these. If he could control mana well, then the speed of carving the magic array would also be much faster.

The journey from Kyrenia to the Lach Academy of Magic was about eight hours.

Besides the time spent chatting with Anna in the beginning, all the remaining time was used by Hughes to carry out mana control training.

Although mana control would not consume mana, it would still consume Hughes' spiritual power.

Therefore, every once in a while, Hughes would stop to rest.

He would wait until his spiritual power was full again before starting the next training.

During the next training, apart from feeling that his control over mana was getting stronger, he also felt that his spiritual power had become stronger.

In the beginning, he could only control mana for a maximum of fifty minutes at a time.

But now, he could already control mana for more than an hour at a time.

...

"The final stop of this train, San Pedro, is about to arrive. All passengers, please get ready to get off the train."

The train's warning tone mixed with music entered Hughes's ears.

After hearing the sound, Hughes ended the training in his mind. He opened his eyes and his consciousness returned to reality.

After opening his eyes, Hughes looked at the desolate scenery outside, allowing the afterglow of the setting sun to shine on his body.

Soon, Hughes could vaguely see a large number of city buildings in front of him.

This was San Pedro.

It was also the city where the Lach Academy of Magic was located.

It was said that the Lach Academy of Magic had half of the campus in the entirety of San Pedro.

It was just that the Lach Academy of Magic had opened several different branches.

Anna had told Hughes this when they were chatting earlier.

According to her, Hughes should be at the Lach Academy in San Pedro.

And the Lach Academy she applied for was in the remote Lach Academy campus.

"Huh? Are we there yet?"

Anna said as she got up from her sleep.