I didn’t know how, or why, but I was in.

Two weeks following the interview I had written off as an absolute disaster, I found myself standing in the paddock grounds of Quintus, youngest of the nine Colleges of the Arcanum. All around me were other newly inducted first year students. Disregarding any potential unfortunate circumstances in the near future, these were the people I would be living with for the next six years.

The Arcanum was no joke. Of the over two hundred applicants that passed the first screening, only thirty of us made the cut, it seemed. Because of its recent establishment, Quintus was a small College – I heard that in the older Colleges like Heraldia, the Lyceum, Farsage, and Sanctuary, each year’s intake could go over a hundred people.

I took a cursory inspection of my new peers, gauging their abilities through the basic System. Level 23, Level 24, Level 25, Level 28, Level 26… the next lowest level individual was at a respectable Level 21, a full five levels higher than me. They were exchanging pleasantries – some of them must have known each other prior to enrolment, since they were chatting excitedly.

Some I recognised from the interview day. Rennir Adnet had made the cut, as I expected, and so did the noble girl with a profound talent for primaturgy. They were both conversing with another pair of students – both of noble birth as well, judging by the crests on their clothing that marked their pedigree.

I wasn’t the only one feeling lost amid the crowd. I spied several other students without a group, and we had exchanged eye contact more than once, but none of us took the initiative to exchange greetings.

Ah, the joys of social niceties.

Instead, I waited patiently, tuning out the conversations around me. It was hard to believe that I was truly here – here in Quintus, part of the Arcanum, the highest institution of learning in the entire kingdom. Dressed in gowns that bore the college coat of arms of a silver road that divided out into five branching paths, I was now officially a student of the Arcanum.

Then, without warning – without so much as a flash of light, or a rush of displaced air – two individuals appeared before our group.

Teleportation! It was an advanced feat of conjuration, one that took years of study to perform. There was usually supposed to be some physical manifestation of the magic at work, but whoever had performed the spell had executed it flawlessly.

I recognised Florian Rhones from the interview, accompanied by a wizened-looking mage, who looked old enough to be my grandfather. All around me, conversations were hushed, as the others gradually became aware of our instructors’ arrival.

“Welcome to Quintus, students. Congratulations on making it here as the twenty-fifth cohort of students to grace the grounds of our college.” There was a gentleness and kindness to his voice, but it commanded no less respect. “I am Gildar Haines, Master of the College, and I hold the position of Vice-Head of the Department of Conjuration.”

Vice-Head. That meant that he had to be of the Magus title, at the very least.

Should I risk it?

I took the chance, weighing the pros and cons – but ultimately, my curiosity was far too great to be suppressed by my desire to avoid chastise.

Level ??

I stiffened, startled. I knew that the scales of the Standard Framework could be saturated, but that was typically for measurements of affinities and proficiencies – up till now, I had never encountered anyone whose level went beyond the measurement range of the Standard Framework.

He chuckled. “I commend your curiosities, students, but please do refrain from observing me unbidden.”

There had been others who had done the same as me, it seemed. More surprising, however, was the fact that he had detected it at all, though I had kept the variation of the System spell to its barest minimum form.

“During the academic term, Quintus will be your home for the next six years,” Gildar Haines said. “Take a look around you. Each of you will read dazzlingly different subjects over the years, but these are the faces that you will come to know intimately well during your time in the Arcanum.”

There was some snickering at his statement, though I didn’t know at what. Regardless, Gildar continued to speak. “I hope that your time in Quintus will be fruitful. You will face many challenges and setbacks over the years, and there will be times when you question your place in the Arcanum – but know this: none of you are here by chance. Each of you are carefully selected, and you all fully deserve your place in Quintus.”

Was it just my imagination, or did his eye linger over me for a moment longer than necessary?

… yeah, probably my imagination.

“You have all already come to know Arcanist Florian Rhones, of course. He is an accomplished primaturgist, with a well-rounded foundation across various disciplines of study. He will serve as your Director of Studies, and I do believe that you will all value this partnership over the years.”

With that cue, Florian Rhones took over. “Congratulations again on making it to Quintus, and it is a pleasure to meet you all once again. I just have a few words on the structure of your curriculum over the next years, and the expectations we have of you.

“As you know, the Arcanum prides itself on its traditions of a tripartite system. The first triad consists of the Core Institutes, the Departments, and the Colleges, and each serve different roles. Within the Institutes and Departments, alongside regular lectures, other independent supervision groups of smaller sizes will be set up for specific instruction in each of their arts. For our part, in the halls and grounds of Quintus, we will provide supervision in the practical use of magic that will be expected of an Arcanum student. This includes, but is not limited to – combat, utility, and Planar Studies.

“Assisting me will be the junior faculty of the College. You have all already met Priscilla and Zhou-fa; they are but two out of the current twenty junior fellows of the College that provide supervision across the six cohorts studying in the college at any one time.”

There were some hushed whispers at that. The Arcanum was famous for its distributed system of the provision of teaching, where each of the three bodies that made up the educational triad played distinct roles. I couldn’t claim myself to be particularly good at combat, but I was decent at enchantment and transmutation. Hopefully, that would be enough for whatever ‘utility’ was supposed to mean.

I knew I would need to get better quickly. Little was expected of me now, but eventually, graduates of the Arcanum would serve important roles in the Kingdom. Whether it was fending off monster threats, or establishing interplanar relations with outworlders, being a graduate of the Arcanum came with responsibilities that could impact the Kingdom at large.

“The second triad within the tripartite system is the structure of your course. This is broken down into Parts I, II, and III, each having two years of study,” he said. “Part I aims to provide a general background across a broader range of subjects – you will each engage in studies at one of the five core Institutes, and a major and three minor studies in the Departments.

“In Part II, you will begin to narrow down your focus, continuing with your studies in the same core Institute, while engaging in a single option at a Department. Occasional modules are offered should you choose to take these up alongside your primary curriculum.

“And in Part III, you now engage in a specialised course of study. Often, this is taken up at either the core Institute or the Department selected in Part II, but there has been precedent of students taking up a subject they have never formally been taught in over the previous four years.”

It wasn’t new knowledge – all of us would have known that when we applied to the Arcanum. Still, having it been repeated to us again, I could almost feel the weight of the next six years pressing down on me.

“We expect all of you to engage in your studies diligently,” Florian emphasised. “Work together with your colleagues, and ensure that your time in the Arcanum is wisely spent. Quintus boasts a variety of co-curricular activities, and the Arcanum Games that sees the nine Colleges competing against each other in a variety of events that test magical talent has historically been popular since the academy’s inception. There will inevitably be times when tensions fly, and you and your colleagues come to disagreements – but I expect that these will be settled in a civilised manner. Your days as schoolchildren are behind you. Today, you are all adults in your own right.”

He didn’t need to worry about any trouble on my part. I had no intention of striking up a petty rivalry.

“If there are no further questions, we will proceed with the customary matriculation ceremony, that swears you in both as students of the Arcanum, and as members of Quintus,” he said. He waited a moment longer, before nodding. “Very well. Let us proceed to the Magus’ Sanctum.”

-x-x-x-

Matriculation was a bizarre affair. Led by Florian Rhones, we were brought to the college’s Sanctum, that served as the administrative hub for the college’s affairs, and the Master’s abode. One by one, we were made to read out a traditional declaration written in old Fornian that I could hardly understand, and to sign our names in Quintus’ registry of members with an enchanted quill whose ink would never be erased once placed on parchment.

They had brought us through alphabetically by our family names; nobles preceding over commoners. By the time I was finished, about twenty others were already outside and waiting for the rest to be done.

“Taelin! Level 16 mage extraordinaire!”

I winced, but masked it over as I turned to where the voice had come from. Rennir Adnet was excitedly beckoning me over, the same nobles I had spied him talking to earlier in his group. They formed four out of the seven nobles in our cohort, though it seemed that they were mostly minor nobles at best.

From anyone else, Rennir’s choice of greeting would have been offensive, but there was no way to be disgruntled when faced with his endless positivity. Following his cue, I made toward his group, unsure about how I was supposed to behave before members of the noble class.

He grinned. “Told you you’d get in! Bet you gave them a good showing of what your ontomancy could do, didn’t you?”

It’s only a B+. More than likely, somewhere among this bunch of students, there were several A’s, A+’s, or even the elusive S rank.

“Let me introduce you to these bunch,” he said, dragging me over. “These are Claire and Clarence Rhogard, the Rhogard twins. Everyone, this right here is Taelin Korr.”

There was a slight resemblance in their appearance, now that it was pointed out to me. Their hair was the exact same shade of dark auburn, that matched their brown eyes. Claire was the taller of the two by several inches, but that was not the only difference between them – she had the same energy of excitable mischief that Rennir had, making a loud ‘oooh’ at Rennir’s introduction while Clarence was more reserved. Even earlier, when I’d been observing the different groups in the paddock, he’d been content with remaining mostly quiet throughout their conversation.

“Hi,” I greeted. “Nice to meet you.”

“And she’s Alondra Lamanie,” he introduced the girl I had seen on the day of the interviews. At Level 29, she was the second highest in our cohort; second only to a boy that belonged to the other noble group. She had the blonde hair that frequented most of the higher noble class, tied into a neat bun.

Rennir pointed at the Rhogard twins. “Their father works under my mother –“ Then, he gestured at Alondra. “And my mother works under her father.”

Hmm… if the twins’ family were of the lowest noble title – a barony – then that put Rennir’s mother as a viscountess, and Alondra as the daughter of an earl.

“Eh, who cares about that?” Claire voiced out, impatiently jumping into the conversation. “We’ve got a Level 16 over here! In the Arcanum! In this day and age! Mind if I take a peek?”

“I told you, Claire, I’ve already had a look at Taelin with the extended framework, and –“

I felt a wave of cogniturgy magic brush past, and I knew at once that Claire had taken her own inspection. The magic felt different, however – it wasn’t the same matrix that marked the variant that Rennir had used on me. There was something else there, something like –

“Arcana?” She made a face, as though catching a whiff of something particularly revolting. “Phooey. And what’s with these hobbies – reading? Geometrical constructions with compass and straightedge?”

I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks, embarrassed. There were, technically, an infinite number of ways that one could have a System displayed through cogniturgy, and the advanced method she had utilised weaved in elements of the traditional Detect Thoughts to incorporate information on one’s likes and hobbies, it seemed.

It was impressive, though. I was no slouch with cogniturgy, but I couldn’t replicate that same feat. It relied on both external and internal cogniturgy – the former, to have a glimpse at the thoughts of others, and the latter, to coherently synthesise the multitude of data being caught by the pulse of magic.

“Hey, you’re a fanatic for competitive snail racing, you’re not one to judge Taelin for his interests!” Rennir argued.

“I’ll have you know that snail racing’s a real sport and a rigorous competition of talent in augmentation across all the core traditions,” she fired back without hesitation.

The lull in conversation was just slightly too long for comfort before Rennir spoke. “Arcana, though?” he questioned. “Are you taking that as your major option?”

I nodded. “Ontomancy, arcana, and minors in transmutation, enchantment, and negation.”

His face brightened. “We’ve got negation and enchantment in common! I’m having elementalism as my core, evocation for my major, and negation, augmentation, and enchantment for my minor options!”

“Cogniturgy and augmentation; and then enchantment, conjuration, and transmutation for me,” Claire said.

I blinked. Cogniturgy and transmutation? That was a strange combination – transmutation was typically performed either to turn one entity to another, or to alter one property in different ways. How would cogniturgy fit with those disciplines?

She didn’t explain any further, however. She elbowed her brother in the side. “Oi, Clarence! Your turn!”

“Ontomancy and major conjuration; minor arcana, enchantment, and augmentation,” he said, somewhat annoyed with his sister.

Another ontomancer! I sorely wished to have a look at his statistics to compare them to my own, but this probably wasn’t the best time. At least I knew that he was Level 24.

“You’re up, Alondra,” Rennir said, when she didn’t make to join in.

She didn’t reply immediately. Was I simply too far beneath her station, that she was weighing whether or not to associate herself with me? Was this a thing that nobles did?

Finally, though, she acquiesced. “Primaturgy for my core, and augmentation for my major. I shall be reading arcana, conjuration, and negation for my minor options.”

I had at least one subject in common with each of them, it seemed. Whether that would prove to be a good or bad thing still remained to be seen.

The last of the students were finished with formal matriculation to the college at this point. The Master returned to his personal Sanctum, and we were led by Florian Rhones to the next item on the day’s agenda.

It was – to be honest – the one I was most looking forward to.

Dinner!