(Jason, 16)

"Found you," I say, and Alex looks over at me.

He stayed at my place last night since he didn't have a place to return to, and is dressed in the outfit he wore yesterday. My valet cleaned it and mended the couple of rips in it, so it looks almost as good as new. I secretly enchanted it with some defensive magics, though I'm not sure why. A spur-of-the-moment action, maybe?

"Where am I?" He asks as he walks over. "D-Class."

There are five 'classes' in the universities, each one based on how a student placed. There are no hard caps on how many students can be in each class, but they are generally consistent. Around three hundred for D-Class, around half of that for C-Class, half of that for B-Class, then around forty for A-Class and around twenty for S-Class. On average, the 'lower' classes tend to increase by one class-level in their time at the academy. Every year, the difficulty of being in a class is increased as well, as the students are better and more experienced, which is why it remains pretty consistent.

Even a D-Class student at a Royal University is among one of the top students of that type of school in Varil. They were in the top five percent of all applicants, and probably the top one percent of all in their year.

S-Class students are the ones who go out to make names for themselves in a way no other does. Each of the Sages were S-Class students at their respective universities, though they took it to extremes. They're also the hardest class to enter.

"You still made it," I point out. "Even if that's the lowest class you can be in at the Royal Knight University, you're still in. Don't forget, the end of every term has a review of skills and knowledge, allowing for movement opportunities. You're only D-Class now, but you managed that while living on the streets. Imagine what you can do with a term or two of training."

"Maybe," he smiles. "We already know what you'll probably be in."

"Perhaps," I shrug. "Let's get your uniforms, then head over and see."

I follow Alex to the Great Hall of the university, then to the D-Class section and stand beside him in line. He's looking around nervously, and I know that after yesterday's beating, he doesn't feel comfortable being here.

"If you're looking for those four noble boys who beat you after the exam yesterday," I say, making sure my voice is raised a little.

Some part of me wants to make sure that word spreads that he's not to be treated like trash and that no one will attempt to force him out of the university. I'm not sure where this is coming from, maybe my lack of experience with others and proper social ability?

"Then know that they have been banned from the universities," I finish. "When I rescued you, I took their ID's and gave them to a certain authority figure while reporting both incidents I came across. All four have been placed under house arrest by royal decree and forbidden from even setting foot on a university grounds by His Majesty. He values allowing anyone – even someone like you – a chance at improving their lives and becoming a better person and serving Varil."

Immediately, the conspiring gazes turn to glares. People are likely wondering who I am, now.

"Have you given any further thought to the offer?" I ask with a normal volume. "Jacob and Lina are both joining my training group. Even though I'm a magician, I will be teaching some martial arts and swordplay as well."

"Will I even meet the requirements to join it?" He asks.

"Possibly," I respond. "Your magical power level is middle orange, which is the minimum required for the training group. In addition to that, you need to be capable of performing at least one special-type spell and either manipulating a single basic element for at least two minutes without resting or sustain a three-foot barrier for two minutes while it suffers an attack at a certain power level every five seconds during it. I will be the one administering the test, and will use a force bolt if you go the route of barrier."

"Most warriors can't cast spells like that," he says.

"Which will cut down heavily on the number who apply," I state. "While it is true that a knight ordinarily would not cast barriers, but instead learn enhancement magic to bolster their defenses, force-type magic is the basic kind they usually go to, often for short-range."

"Oh," he says. "I can probably do the barrier, I have a high affinity for force magic."

"And a special-type spell?" I ask. He thinks for several moments, then nods. "Then you simply need to demonstrate those abilities. Once I learn which room we will be using, I will start taking applications. I will have one every day this week, then every Monday, lasting for thirty minutes."

"And what will the actual sessions be like?" He asks.

"The first part of each session," I say. "Will consist of magical control training. This increases both your control over your magic, the power of your magic, and how much mana you possess. The second portion will consist of either basic magic practice, enhancement practice, or physical training to strengthen the bodies and skills of the warriors and magicians who join the group."

He thinks that over as we continue to wait for his turn at receiving his uniforms. It will consist of brown pants and a grey shirt, his class stitched onto the sleeves of the shirt, just beneath the shoulders. The Royal Magic University's uniform for first-years consists of a red, black, and grey robe with our class stitched onto it in the same spot as this university's. Under that, we will wear black pants and a red, black, and grey tunic.

At both universities, D-Class and C-Class will have bronze badges for their classes, B-Class and A-Class will have silver, and S-Class will have gold.

After Alex hands the person at the table his ID, they verify its authenticity and link to him, then hand him a bag containing five sets of their uniform and his class schedule. After that, we leave the Royal Knight University and cross the bridge, where we enter the Royal Magic University and approach the boards set up in the Entrance Hall, where the class results are posted. Jacob and Lina are standing by the board for the S-Class, grinning, and I approach.

"Congratulations on making it," I tell Lina. "Barely."

"Congratulations on making it," she tells me. "Absolutely."

There are eighteen S-Class this term, it looks like, and she placed seventeenth, while I placed first.

"So, Jacob," I wrap an arm over his shoulder and start walking towards the Great Hall, Lina and Alex following. "How confident are you that you'll manage to pass my test?"

"You know that my bodyguards are wanting to rip your head off right now, don't you?" He asks.

I glance over our shoulders to see his bodyguards glaring at me, forcing their hands to not reach for their swords.

"Yeah," I turn my gaze forward again. "But what are they going to do to me? Punish me for being friendly with a friend?"

"Possibly!" He laughs, then pulls my arm off of him. "If you're too friendly with me, Lina might get jealous that her brother won't hang out with her because he's got a guy friend. She might sic her guards on you."

"Those ladies?" I give them a playful appraisal. "Nah, just like your guys, I doubt they could do much more than grab their swords before I sweep them off their feet. I think the shorter one would actually like me to sweep her off her feet, she blushed when I said it that way."

Her face turns redder and she averts her gaze, and I notice that Alex looks uncomfortable by that tease. Did I say something inappropriate or offensive? I didn't mean to, and immediately feel bad for making Alex uncomfortable. When I look at Jacob to see his response to my casual comment about a royal guard, he's giving me a smirk.

He's planning something, isn't he?

We reach the table for S-Class, and Lina and I step into the line. She goes first, handing the professor her ID, and after he verifies it and its link to her, he hands her two bags. The first has her robe, the second has her pants and tunics.

"Here you are, milady," the professor says. "Though please be advised that we cannot show any favoritism towards you while you are a student at the academy."

"I know and accept that," she smiles at him, then steps to the side so that I may take my turn.

I hand him my ID, and he drops it, staring in shock.

"Jeshema?" He looks at me. "As in the Jeshema?"

"Yes," I smile as gazes turn to us. "The Jason Jeshema who passed the exam and is waiting for his uniform."

"No," he shakes his head. "Not that. Jeshema… the home of the Sages? You're related to the Sages?"

Well, it stood to reason that someone would know about Jeshema already. Seems word will go out about me before I make the group, rather than after. I can deal with that, though, it doesn't change much.

"They're my parents," I tell him. "Do you mind handing me my uniform? I have a training group to form and need to find out where I will be hosting it."

"Y-yes, sorry," he apologizes, verifies my ID and its link to me, then hands me my bags.

"These are enchanted for some magical resistance," I say. "Due to the fact that we'll sometimes train in magical combat. Is there a rule against improving that enchantment?"

"Not for S-Class," he informs me. "Your uniform has a greater magic resistance enchantment on it, but S-Class students are permitted to change the enchantments on uniforms. Any damage to uniforms as a result of removed or altered enchantments will be the student's fault, and you will be responsible for the cost of the replacement."

"Understood," I nod. "Thank you."

I turn and walk towards the other end of the Great Hall, where the tables for the various study, research, and training groups that already exist are set up. It takes a few minutes to locate the one for forming new groups, and I step up to the table and hold out my ID.

"Jason Jeshema," I introduce myself. "I would like to form an unsupervised group for training in magical combat ability."

The professor takes my ID and verifies my identity and link to the card, then hands me a paper to fill out and asks me if I would like to use a lecture room, standard classroom, or training hall. He recommends the training hall, since we will be training in magical combat.

"A lecture hall is one with tiered seating and desks, yes?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "The majority of lectures you'll undergo will be in them as a member of the S-Class group. Training halls are used for training in magic and have enchantments to protect them against damage and deal with errant spells. Standard classrooms are level-floor rooms with movable desks and are often used for things such as enchanting and research."

"Can we change this later if needed?" I ask.

"You may change it once per term," he informs me.

I probably won't, my true training group won't even train at the university and for everything else, we can handle that in a lecture hall. From what Papa Samuel told me, the university's lecture halls have five rows of seats with ten seats at each, and the area they face is twenty feet deep, and the rooms are thirty across. That gives plenty of space for sparring and spell training on smaller scales.

If the group is too large, then I will simply rotate the groups training in the lower section.

"Okay," he says. "Now you need five students to sign up, and the group will be created."

"Would it be possible," I ask. "To hold applications for it first? My group has a pretty strict set of requirements to join, and I would prefer it if the founding members all met them."

"That would be acceptable," he says, then reaches into a box. "You can use Lecture Hall 17 until the end of Friday. If you have not found four other members to join as founders, you will no longer be permitted to use it."

"Understood," I accept the key. "Thank you."

I pause for a moment.

"How would we go about informing people to attempt to join the group?"

He directs me to another professor, who we give the purpose of the group to and the requirements to, then he says he'll inform anyone asking of groups that are not represented by the tables. If he notices the crowd of people watching us, he doesn't show any sign of it.

Alex, Jacob, Lina, and I make our way to the second floor, where Lecture Hall 17 is, and enter.

"Each of you must pass it as well," I walk over to the professor's desk and sit on it. "Alex, you go first."

Alex approaches, then generates a barrier of acceptable size of shimmering orange magic. Force magic generally takes on the color of the magical power of the person creating it, though with how translucent they are, judging which level of power in that color level can be difficult. The examiners probably only marked down which color they had because of that.

For two minutes, I strike at the barrier with force bolts every five seconds. I hold back a lot, as I know that as they are right now, even a tenth of my strength would shatter their barriers. It holds, so I ask Alex to use a special-type magic. He manifests a small pebble in his hand, then transmute it into a different type of stone, and I don't ever want to even think those incantations, because they sound ridiculous.

"Nice," I say. "I take it those are the limits of those two magics?"

"Yes," he nods.

"Alright," I say. "Work on not using an incantation, because they were just ridiculous."

He blushes.

"Sorry," I apologize. "I, uh, never learned to cast with incantations, only by visualizing it and shaping my mana into the spell. Now, hearing everything, it sounds a bit… weird. And ridiculous. Incantations are meant to help you visualize what you want to do, and to me, they tend to be on the ridiculous side."

"Okay," he says.

"You pass," I tell him. "Take a seat if you want, or do whatever. If you want to head back to my place, I told the valet to take you. You're welcome to stay there as long as you need to while looking for a new place to stay and a new job."

Those noble brats whose asses I handed to Uncle Zach apparently made sure Alex lost the job he had found to pay for the apartment as well.

"You two are living with each other now?" Jacob asks as he steps forward. "People might start thinking things about you two."

What kind of things would he be implying that would cause Alex's face to turn red? The only thing I can think of would be Alex working as a servant for me, but I don't think that would cause Alex to be embarrassed. It does bother me that it's made him uncomfortable, though.

"Do the spells," I tell Jacob. "And don't tease Alex like that, it makes him uncomfortable."

Jacob sighs and shakes his head, then opens a spatial storage, before creating several small stones and circling them around him for two minutes. Once he does that, I tell him to exert his magical power between his hands so I can see his color. Not that I actually need to, but it's probably for the best if I have them actually show me. He generates his magical power between his hands, creating an orange manifestation.

"Middle orange," I say. "A little weaker than Alex's. You pass the requirements. Lina?"

As Lina steps up, four more students enter the room, one of whom is wearing the orange, black, and grey robes of the second-years. They watch as Lina first uses a spatial storage, then manipulates the wind around her for two minutes. A weak spell with a ridiculous incantation, but it earns her a pass. I have her exert her magical power as well, then declare her accepted because it was yellow.

"I only care," I tell the four new students. "About the names of those who pass, as I will need them for the roster. Everyone else, I can learn your names some other time, should our paths cross again without me performing business."

The second-year goes first, and she passes. When we get to the third first-year who entered with her, there are six more students and no more passes. One of them couldn't use a special-type spell and the other couldn't manage either a basic elemental usage or 'decent' barrier for two minutes. The third first-year manages to pass, though I can tell she can barely use the speed enhancement she used.

After an hour of testing students, I have fourteen who have passed so far, eight of whom come from the Royal Magic University, the other four of whom come from the Royal Knight Unversity. I look at the royals' bodyguards.

"Are you four wishing to join?" I ask, since we have a lull in applicants.

I think a lot of people wanted to try just to see the 'son of the Sages'. Quite a few asked which Sages were my parents and left baffled by the answer of 'all'.

"None of us will meet your requirements," one of Lina's bodyguards answers as the other one blushes. "However, as our duties to the safety of their Highnesses are above such standards, we will be in on the sessions. While the universities may be merit-based for entrance and studentship, we are not students, we are guards, and the royals must have us at all times."

"They can have you guarding the door against people who would try to leech from the lessons," I state. "There are two of them, and four of you, so two to each door would be nice. Thank you."

"You cannot order us around," one of Jacob's responds. "And we are not to be too far from our masters."

"You can wait outside," Jacob snorts. "Jason, Papa's informed us of your magic's strength. Why don't you demonstrate it so they can see that if there would be any threat to us, it would be from you and not someone else? And that there is nothing you can't stop that they would ever stand a chance against when combined?"

I hold up a hand and summon a fraction of my magical power. I have upper violet magic, and it is only because I am containing its power in the manifestation above my hand that they are not being forced to their knees or the ground over the strength of the magic.

"See?" Jacob asks. "The strongest applicant in this room has yellow magic. He has violet. That puts him four grades of power above. Something like nine to twelve, if you factor in the level of violet and level of yellow."

You just want to get rid of them, don't you?

Jacob catches my look and smirks, and I know I correctly assumed that.

I look at the other students who passed to enter the group, all of whom have stuck around to watch the tests of others. Of them, one stood out to me, even though she seemed ordinary. Unlike most, she used a spatial storage. Only one other besides her, Jacob, and Lina did, and they failed to admit. Other than those two, everyone else did some form of enhancement, usually speed or strength.

I'm not sure why she stood out to me, but she did and still does. Her basic elemental spell was fire, and she stands with middle orange magic. Kayla, I believe her name is.

"Kayla?" I ask, and she gives me a curious look. "Is your sacred beast the Fire Elemental?"

"How did you know?" She asks with wide eyes.

"I'm not sure," I shrug. "Just a feeling I had. Mine's the dragon. Perhaps fire's like fire?"

"The dragon?" Jacob asks. "Which part of you is that describing?"

"I don't understand the question," though it's obvious several others do, based on the chuckles from some of the guys and blushes from some of the girls.

"Really?" He asks, then grins. "Hey, Alex, are you a dragon, too?"

"He's a Leviathan," I shake my head, though I'm not sure how I know that.

Instinct again, I suppose? It's possible my strong affinity for magic is granting me insight to these things.

"The sea serpent," Jacob's grin widens. "Also known to some as the dragon of the sea. It's rare to find an elemental leader. Only one in every million of each element is an elemental leader, and we have four of them here."

"Griffin and thunderbird," I confirm. "You and your sister."

"Wait, how did you-"

"Uncle Zach mentioned it," I tell him, then turn my gaze to the boy who entered. "Are you here to apply for the training group, meet the royals, or meet the son of the Sages?"

"To join the group," he answers. "If you three can be in it, then I can."

"That's not how it works," you're lower-orange, you won't make it. "Can you perform a special-type spell?"

"Yes."

"Then do so," I gesture, then wait. "If you want to join, you must past these requirements, which must be demonstrated to the group's leader. Me. Perform a special-type spell."

He glares at me, but opens up a spatial storage. I have to argue with him before he manipulates water for two minutes. Then, I instruct him to manifest his power.

"Rejected," I say. "That's lower orange, and the minimum requirement is middle orange."

"That is middle orange," he argues."

"Not even close," I say. "That's lower orange."

"This is middle orange," he scoffs. "You don't know how to read-"

I exert a portion of my magical power through the room, forcing nearly everyone to their knees. This 'applicant' completely collapses to the ground, barely remaining conscious under the force of violet magic. This was to make a point to him, but it's taught me something as well.

Alex, Jacob, Lina, and Kayla all began exerting their own magical power, and are the only ones who haven't dropped to their knees or fallen out of their seats as orange and yellow magic surrounds them, helping them to resist the fraction of my power I am using. They are leaning forward and clutching their chests, however. I only do this for a few moments, then release it.

"I don't need to see you exert your magic," I say. "To know which category you fall into. I knew the moment I saw you that your magic was lower orange. However, if you want to push things and claim that I'm lying, there is a definite way to tell."

I open up my spatial storage and pull out a rectangular crystal with a piece of obsidian set into each corner, then let it float over to him.

"Imbue your magic into that," I instruct. "And a number will form on it. It gives an accurate reading of your magical power in number form. Lower orange starts at thirty, middle orange starts at forty-five."

It takes him several minutes to sit up, and he grabs the crystal out of the air, sneering at me.

"You really think I would believe that someone like you would have something like this?" He asks. "This is a fantasy!"

I summon the reader back with a bit of force magic and push my magic into it, holding it with the front facing them so they can see it. Immediately, black numbers form on it.

112,471

"It works," I tell him, then toss it to Jacob. "Try it. The effect lasts for thirty seconds or until someone else pushes their magic into it."

Jacob pushes his magic into it.

47

"Barely," I say. "But still acceptable."

The reader is passed around the room, and everyone has an acceptable amount of magical power. Then, it's returned to the snotwad, who snatches it and pushes his magic into it.

31

"You're barely lower orange," I tell him. "You don't meet the requirement of middle orange. Period. Please return that and leave."

He smashes it into the ground, sending crystal shards everywhere.

"Not the brightest of ideas," I say. "By the crest on your belt and sleeve, you're from the Holdir Noble House. I will inform your family's head that you just destroyed an item worth one hundred thousand Varil varru in a fit of rage over not being accepted into a group with the item revealing that you did not qualify. If Lord Holdir refuses to believe it, the royal prince and princess were witness to the event."

"As if that piece of crap was worth that much," he sneers. "If that really did read magic power, I bet it was the only one of its type. I haven't heard of such a thing."

Most of the other students in here have probably figured out what me having such a device means. That a magical device capable of giving a read on magical power in numerical form rather than simply density of light and coloration of it would be the sort of thing the mysterious patent holder from Sageson Magical Technologies might carry around casually.

"Just because you haven't heard of it," I need to say something that dismisses that notion from their minds. "Doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It also doesn't mean the knowledge of how to create more wasn't lost just because it was destroyed. Sageson Magical Technologies is the producer of the new magical tech being developed. It is owned by the Seven Sages and their son. Who is their son?"

His eyes widen as he realizes just how much he screwed himself over with his actions. He destroyed the property of a foreign company, one that has been gracious enough to sell its products to Varil. If his father hears that and refuses to accept it, then Sageson Magical Technologies's owners, the Sages, will go to their good friend the king of Varil and inform him of what occurred.

"I wasn't aware that had been invented yet," Jacob answers as the snotwad scampers out of the room.

Everyone else looks like they're still recovering from my exertion.

"Sorry about that," I smile at everyone. "But the fact that none of you reacted the way he did proves you are middle orange. To drop to the ground completely and not even be able to stand, kneel, or prop yourself on your hands and knees under the light level of magical power I exerted means one doesn't have enough magical power of their own to resist without cloaking themselves in their own magical power. Good job, on the four of you for doing so. I will teach you an improved, more efficient, version of that if you make it into the greater group, though it likely won't be hard to figure out on your own. Training it would be something else entirely.

"As for the crystal plate," I use force magic to gather up the shards and send them into a spatial storage. "It was a prototype, and it's inaccurate. We believe there is a difference of roughly one to one and a half percent per color grade in the read, showing it higher. We think I'm around seven to eight thousand points lower than what it displays. For you guys, it would probably be only one to four points higher than displayed. The patent holder wants it tested on multiple people, so I brought it with me to check everyone who got accepted to help work on its accuracy and see how off it is."

"You're a violet-rank mage?" One of Jacob's guards asks.

"Yes," I say. "It looks like we're not receiving very many people, so I'll say this now, and I'll say it again every time we receive new members and again in tomorrow's session, even if we don't. This training group is not a place for disobedience. If I tell you to hold back, hold back. If I tell you to do something, do it. Do not give me attitude. The moment defiance is shown that won't go away, it will be removed. The advanced group within this group will be handling spells past normal levels, and there will be no tolerance for inappropriate actions. If you have an issue with this strictness, leave now."