“Good morning everyone. I am the dean of this Academy, Edward Von Kalig. I am here to announce the beginning of the examination to select the future elite of society. I won’t waste anymore of your time and will tell you what each test will be about. Starting with the Alpha group, in order to select 30 people among the 261 candidates, each will be given a challenge card on which a number will be written. When you will arrive at the arena, a magic panel will display which numbers shall fight. Each of you shall fight 5 times. The top 30 will be selected. For the Beta and Epsilon group, there will be a writing test about a subject fitting your main course which I am sure you will love. Gamma and Delta will stay in the outer courtyard, teachers will come with the material to evaluate your actual skill and knowledge in a short moment. Each group only have 30 seats. Being caught cheating will disqualify the participant and prevent him from joining the Academy. With this I am done, and I hope you will all try your best.”

Edward Von Kalig. A powerful battle mage. He became the dean of the Academy five years ago, after retiring from the army. Due to some injury on the battle field he apparently can’t have children, which left many women crying. Though he is already in his fifties, he doesn’t have a shred of white hair. He had both blue eyes and hair. His angular face and piercing gaze combined with his height around 2 meters and his stylish clothes, made him look both domineering and manly. While everyone was gazing at him with eyes full of respect, Grey was just wondering about his own matters.

Hum… After this maybe I should make those two try my cooking. Though they’re not bad, if there is a tournament at the end of each month, I doubt that they can do well. I don’t know their stats but they are even worse than Sylvia…

For Grey, since he began to interact with other people, Bahus and Maya could be the first one he could consider as friend. Though he wouldn’t deliberately trust them, being able to ‘have fun’ like normal 15 years old teen, was something new to him. After interacting with them so much, and studying every and each one of their movements, he came to know that they were weak. Too weak. He couldn’t blame them, but he could help them.

While Grey was pondering about the best course of action he could take to convince them and help them, someone has been staring at him since he entered the courtyard. She was half a head smaller than Grey, her body was well proportioned, and her golden eyes with her silvery white hair gave her an unearthly beauty.

That girl was sending daggers at Grey. The reason, she was the little miss of the Headless guild. Their group was notorious through the Human Kingdom because they dealt with illegal traffic of weapons, beast core, and sometimes corpses. Since they had an assassination branch, some of their employers would sometimes request the corpse of their target. To do what? They didn’t care. Since their strength and their ability to accomplish their task without leaving any clues was recognized through the world, even kings and emperors wouldn’t want to offend them for no reason. And yet, a youth younger than her didn’t even blink before shaming her uncle.

After interrogating her uncle about what he saw, the latter just shivered and wept while saying ‘Please stop… Please stop…’. It took few days before they managed to make him calm down, and few more before he could talk about it without breaking down again.

When she heard her uncle story, she and everybody present felt a shiver crawling down their spine. Her uncle wasn’t the most powerful of the guild, but his strength was superior to hers. This was because he lived longer than her and trained more than her. Until now, she had never encountered someone her age, don’t even mention younger, that could be on par with her, let alone defeat her.

Her father decided to look for Grey’s whereabouts in order to recruit him. Though they had a little misunderstanding, this wasn’t something on which they couldn’t reconcile, otherwise, he wouldn’t have left her uncle alive.

So, when they found out about him and his plan to enrol in the Academy they sent her with the task to rope him in. However, she thought that he would apply for the Alpha group, and would use this opportunity to challenge him. When she saw him among the Delta faction, she became irritated.

You! Your place is clearly here! Why are you with those flies?!

In fact, the reason for her desire to challenge him wasn’t so that she could prove everyone that she was stronger, since she believed that he won against her uncle because he let his guard down, but it was to prevent her mother from spewing any more nonsense. When her mother heard about Grey battle capability, she said that he would be a great son in law. The place turned silent after she said that. And it became worst when her father said he was somewhat worthy. Her face turned ghastly pale. She didn’t want to be bound by some shitty love relationship, and even worse, to a stranger whom she had never met and called her ‘little girl’. Thus, she just became irritated by seeing his face.

However, that was what she wanted to believe. It would happen that she’d sometimes fantasise about a relationship similar to what her parents had. But she just couldn’t find the right person in who she could believe and depend on.

While Grey and this girl were occupied by their thoughts, Bahus was in heaven. In his line of sight was a kind looking goddess. She was the Hecht family first daughter, Milena Hecht. Her long curled gold hair and her gentle face, with her gorgeous body gave her the title of ‘The princess of Archon’. She was the Hecht family most important person. Her looks already made her worthy of her rank, but her talent was also frightening. Though she only had a single element affinity, which was nature, it was emperor grade. Her fame didn’t stop at Archon, even in the capital she was well-known. She was sixteen this year, and was betrothed to eldest son of the Bethel family: Kayne Bethel. A triple attribute and each of them epic grade man with the very rare class: Summoner. He was a prodigy. Among the younger generation, he was undefeated. With him, the Bethel family’s future was guaranteed. It is said that at their wedding, which is supposed to happen in two year from now, the king himself will bestow them a 2nd rank noble status. And this poor Bahus, was love struck at first sight. He could only fantasize about being with her If he dared to make a move on her, he wouldn’t even know how he died. Though she was also in his group, it was more of a curse than a blessing. This meant that he’ll have to keep his emotions in check otherwise he might regret it.

After a while, each group went to his its destined location. Since Grey and Maya belonged to the same group they stayed together and chatted while waiting for the examiners to come.

Soon enough, they arrived with dozens of boxes, which contained the materials available for the exam. After displaying to the participants what kind of material they could use, they made them form multiple lines before placing few a table and very few tools in front of them.

“The rules for this test is simple. You will each ask for some material in a certain quantity. All in all, you can’t exceed ten kilograms of material. You must show your ingenuity and display your crafting skill with them. You will have 3 hours to create your piece. Afterwards, we will call you one by one and you will explain how you created it, what is it useful for and its flaws. By doing this, we can examine both your experience and knowledge at the same time. Those of you who can show amazing skills might be selected as direct pupil of a teacher of the Delta department, thus, candidates do your best.”

An old lady came in front of our section and told her speech. When the other listened to her, you could see their fighting spirit being ignited, and it became the real deal when she mentioned about the direct tutelage thing.

Looks like being a direct pupil have some advantages… Should I aim for that?

If people could hear Grey’s thoughts, they would strangle him for being ignorant. When a student was chosen as a direct pupil, his graduation was only a matter of time and he could have access to nearly everything the school could offer if his teacher allowed him. And being bullied would be anything but something he will ever experience. Noble and wealthy family could throw their weights outside of the Academy however they pleased, but inside, the teachers’ words were absolute. This was only possible because Edward Von Kalig was the strongest man in the city, and no one would anger him just for his/her son/daughter mischief. So, being a direct pupil was the same as being a prince or princess of the Academy.

Those matters were things Grey would completely brush off. The only interesting part for him would be that if his teacher allowed his to have access to all levels of the Academy’s library, he could have access to knowledge which he wouldn’t be able to know of otherwise. Grey possessed few hints about the old-world technology. But he lacked many things to create them. His father could have given him pointers but aside from giving him his desert eagle, he never said anything about it. He just said that the old-world weapons could destroy cities at will, which is why God erased all knowledge about them in humans’ mind. But he failed to erase everything in his ancestor’s memory, which is why their family knew few things about it. Though Grey didn’t believe his father’s word about the beasts getting abnormally stronger, if he could recreate weapons which could destroy cities and countries in a blast, he could protect himself and those he cared about without much difficulty. At least, that was his thoughts.

However, he stumbled on a major problem. Mana. The old world didn’t have mana, thus, the laws of the world were different. Everything in this world was bathed in mana and reacted quite differently from what they used to. The best example would be his gun. In order to fire a bullet, he needed to give it mana, with or without attributes, in the array which will create a condensed mana bullet and at the same time he needed to fire a extremely strong explosion spell inside to propel it. Apparently, in the old world they would use something called ‘gun powder’. But, it didn’t work here. If you ignited ‘gun powder’ in this world, it would give a green flame which can burn for a long time while producing a bit of heat, no explosion. So, his gun needed to be solid enough to not explode each time he fired a bullet. However, he always kept few cartridges in his storage ring. One of the reason is that if he ever was lacking mana create more bullet, he just had to use the explosion spell and fire orichalcum bullets. The other reason… Just in case he happened to use his power.

Anyway, Grey needed to show his crafting skills. He asked for ten kilograms of common steel. When people heard him they though he was a fool, even Maya was doubting his choice. There were many types of things available: Black wood, silver wood, iron, steel, platinum, ebenium, and other things which could help you create complexes and powerful objects. Still, he just chose steel. The examiner asked him if he was certain of his choice, Grey just nodded his head.

They brought him a cube of steel which weighted ten kilogrammes. Grey though about what he was going to do for half an hour before he started.

Meanwhile, the old lady who gave the speech was facing the participants with her eyes closed. When she heard Grey’s demand, she just shook her head disappointment. When she arrived, and scanned the participants, he was the only person which she couldn’t appraise. She had this unique magic which could enable you to see a person status forcibly. However, when she tried to see Grey’s status, beside his name, everything was hidden. She could only see question marks everywhere. So, she decided to keep an eye on him, but his choice just disappointed her. This, was until she saw him starting to craft.

There were many techniques used to craft with metal. However, since the participants were provided with a minimum of equipment, their possibilities were limited. However, when she saw Grey’s method she was dumb struck. He enveloped his right arm in mana and plunged it in the block of steel.

The examiners beside her felt her body become stiff and looked at what could have provoked such a reaction. When Grey plants his arm in the block of steel, one of them nearly spat blood on the spot.

The fuck you’re doing?! You think this is a game?!

They wanted to strangle him for playing trick on them at this stage, but their thoughts came to a stop the next moment. The block of steel started to liquefy all impurities with it, leaving a ball of pure steel in Grey’s hand. And with a burst of mana the ball of pure steel covered his hand and forearm, forming a gauntlet. At that moment, the complexion of the examiners was like they just saw a shiny rare animal. Until it turned into horror.

Grey didn’t stop here, he carved multiple patterns inside the gauntlet to give it magical properties as well. And when he was done, he gave his creation another look, before rating it.

“Not bad.”

The participants who were near him nearly fainted when they heard him. Though they couldn’t tell that he created pure steel, the fact that he engraved an array on his creation in less than 5min on the spot made them pale in fear.

Afterwards, Grey gave a look at Maya’s creation and saw her forging a rapier out of ebenium. Ebenium was titanium imbibed of dark magic. Its solidity and resistance was superior which meant that forging something out of ebenium took more time and if a mistake was made while forging it would be very difficult to correct it without losing quality. Seeing her fully concentrated, Grey just closed his eyes and went to sleep until the given time passed.

Meanwhile, among the examiners, an uproar was occurring.

“This kid is mine, don’t even fight with me for him.”

The old lady’s voice was cold and decisive, leaving no room for negotiation.

“Old Chen, you can’t take direct pupil anymore. You are the head of the Delta department, you should let us younger teacher have the opportunity to guide him as it would be beneficial for both of us.”

A middle-aged man rebuked her. His arguments were logical. As the head of the Delta department, if she was to take a direct pupil she would have very little time to guide him and his position would be above other direct pupil, which often led those to grow arrogant. And having a direct pupil was an opportunity for both the teacher and the student, since the teacher could gain enlightenment while sharing his knowledge and experience with his student and progress together.

“I don’t care. If you want to fight me for him, please make your move.”

“Hugh.”

The old lady just didn’t care about whatever he said. Someone who could clear all the impurities in metals and force it to gain the form one wished and engraved array on it in less than 10 minutes. This was just a living freak. If she let him go, she would never forgive herself. Besides her reputation as a department head was already bad, why would she care about her face now? Shamelessness has always been her greatest weapon.

Meanwhile, Grey was sleeping on an ice chair he made. Like this, the two hours left passed by quickly.

“Everyone shall stop now. You will be called one by one, and present your creation to everyone.”

Very few participants hadn’t finished yet. The reason was that it was better to present a finished product which could testify your skills than present something on which the examiners could only speculate if you could manage to do it or not.

Each participant presented their production one after another. None of them really interested Grey, until it was Maya’s turn.

“This rapier that I forged out of ebenium has been balanced for someone who is used to weapon around 7 kilograms. The blade tip has been reinforced by me with fire attributes and sygmus pattern to amplify it, so that the user could ignite the tip to do additional damage to his enemy. To forge the blade, I used 9 kilograms of ebenium. I lost 2 kilograms in the heating and hammering process and managed to improve the purity by ten percent. And I used some left over of the ebenium with black wood to create the handle. If I were to tell its flaws, it is that against magical beasts with skin harder than the blade, its piercing ability could be greatly reduced, and my pattern is weak and can only last for two weeks if used regularly.”

A round of applause was hear when she was done. Forging and engraving on a weapon with an array which could last two weeks was something not many could do. And Grey clearly saw the eyes of an examiner shining when she was done, and breathed out a sigh of relief. If she didn’t pass, he was ready to use any way possible to let her attend the Academy. Now he just needed to pray that Bahus could pass as well.

When his turn came, many eyes were locked on him. Some filled with surprise, other respect and there were some with disdain. They just couldn’t believe that someone could forge anything great out of common steel in less than 10 minutes. They wouldn’t believe it, even if you beat them to death.

“This a magic gauntlet. To forge it, I used 10 kilograms of common steel. The reason for that is that in order to grant it all the properties I wanted I needed 6 kilograms of pure steel. Thus, I started by melting all the impurities in the steel block with my mana and then I used my mana to shape it to my will. Afterwards I engraved multiple arrays in it. I used a celenius and a myomus patterns and fused them together so that it can shape itself to the user hand as long as there is mana in the surrounding. I engraved a mana derivation channel composed solely of sygmus patterns. The channel is controlled by an elegius pattern to control the leaking of mana. Thus, with the help of this magic gauntlet, the user can cast offensive spells which will deal 60% more damage and will only have to use 12% more mana in the process. Furthermore, since it is made of pure condensed steel, it can be useful in close combat to protect the user. The arrays can last a year or so I think.”

Silence.

Everyone was thunder struck. There were 2 reasons for that. 1st: the object itself was way too powerful. Not that it didn’t exist or there wasn’t anything more powerful in the world. The problem laid in the fact that it was produced in few minutes and could do so much. 2nd reason: Grey talked about it as if he was describing a cabbage you could find in the street. Some of them heard him when he said ‘Not bad’, and they believed him somehow. But now, they just doubted his sanity.

Not bad?! Is my dagger garbage then?! The fuck is wrong with you!

Maya, on the other hand, was just shaking her head. She didn’t know what Grey was capable of. But after coming to know him a bit, she knew that common sense just didn’t apply to him. Though he looked like a normal cold looking young man, he was just a monster in sheep’s clothing when it came to knowledge.

On the other hand, the old lady had a smile planted on her face as she said ‘good’ multiple times. The examiners beside her just wanted to commit suicide. They had an idea of what he created but it wasn’t even close to this.

Was crafting that easy? Did I just waste 40 years of my life?

Seeing that no one reacted, Grey just placed his product in front of the examiner before turning to leave with the others.

“I don’t believe it! Show us! I don’t believe that you had the time to forge that!”

Someone in the crowd was completely rejecting Grey’s claims about his production and many nodded their head. The latter didn’t care and just waited with the others. However, the old lady did care. It was the production of her future direct pupil. How could she let some ignorant slander him?

“If you don’t believe him, then come here and try it. If it happens to be true, you will be disqualified on the spot for slandering a participant.”

When she said those words, those had doubts could feel beads of cold on their back. Though they doubted Grey’s skills, they wouldn’t risk their chance just because of that. However, the one who voiced his complaint didn’t falter and walked out of the crowd and came up.

“Dalien Gorg, I wish to test his production and do not believe he could have done it.”

When Dalien said his name, many whispers could be heard in the crowd. It was because the Gorg family was well known in the north of the city for their weaponry. Their reputation wasn’t bad, but it paled in front of the Bethel family.

Dalien took the gauntlet and put in hand in it. The next instant, the gauntlet shape changed and fitted his hand perfectly. A hint of fear appeared in Dalien’s eyes but he still didn’t sway from his belief. He aimed at the sky and casted a wind blast. The gauntlet’s pattern became visible and a huge wind ball surged from his palm before exploding in the air creating a shockwave.

The eyes of the examiners didn’t reveal anything. When Grey had put the gauntlet in front of them they already knew that he wasn’t lying. However, Dalien’s body started trembling. He knew that he fucked up. His father always said that in this city, no one could beat him in forging. And it wasn’t a baseless claim. He often challenged or was challenged by blacksmith or artisan in the same generation as him and always won. If someone absurd like Grey in forging was in the city he should have known about it.

While shacking nonstop he turned his head to face the old lady who was still smiling.

“Looks like we have one less participant.”