Chapter 14

84 day of Hanur, year 853 A.C.

Keronk (The capital of the magocracy)

The Aether academy is the greatest magical school on the continent. Located in the magocracy's capital, it benefits from the best teachers and the best magic technology.

The academy is composed of 5 main buildings and a few smaller ones. Each of the main buildings is designed to teach one of the five areas of magic: Arcane, support, enchant, alchemy and spirit.

Zephyr was waiting outside in front of the first building alongside with a few thousand of kids. Each of the buildings were having a few hundred of students in front of them, but where Zephyr was standing, were a lot more people. The reason was that the arcane magic was the most common type of magic.

After some good minutes of waiting, a man in a green robe came to the gate. The same thing happened at the other four buildings as well.

“Good morning small ones!”

“My name is Solomon Garrat. I'm the Great teacher of this branch.”

In the academy are a few tens of teachers, 5 great teachers that are in charge of the main five branches, 7 masters and one grand master which is the leader of the academy and one of the 12 council members of the country.

“If you are here it means that you wish to join our prestigious academy. Well, even if I'm happy to see so much young people eager to join us, I must tell you that based on the previous admission exams, only a quarter of you will be admitted.” His words made a little agitation but the crowd settled down quickly.

“There will be one test that you must pass in order to be admitted and another test which will decide your rank in the academy. The first test will start in a few minutes in the building behind me, so please follow me inside.”

The crowd of people started to move inside. After they arrived in a huge room, they received a ticket with a number on it. The numbers were from 1 to 2230 and Zephyr had the number 45.

“Let me explain to you, how will this test go.” Said the teacher.

“When your number is called, you will come here, put your hand on this sphere and you will pour all your aether in it.”

The sphere was in front of a wall with a few thousand crystals on him.

“In case that you don't know, this is a level measurement device. Depending on how many crystals light up, we can determine what's your true potential. This is why, you must pour all your aether into the sphere. The minimum level to pass is second tier.” Said the man.

Zephyr was amazed that the Magocracy could craft something like this. From his knowledge the only way to find out one's true level was to use a fifth tier spell.

The first kid stepped next to the teacher and put his hand on the sphere. He poured all his aether in the sphere and one by one, the crystals on the wall began to glow. Shortly after that, the aether began to return to the kid and the crystals stopped glowing

“55. He is a second tier.” Said one of the teachers that were counting the crystals.

Another kid stepped on beside of the teachers. He put his hand on the sphere and the crystals started to glow again.

“107. He is a third tier.”

They continued with the testing and the count reached 41.

“Please put your hand on the sphere.” Said the green robed teacher to the child before him.

The child was tall, had green eyes and brown hair. He was a pretty looking kid and judging by his clothes, he was a very wealthy person. He put his hand on the sphere and the crystals began to glow one by one until it reached 870.

The teacher seemed a little enthusiastic.

“Interesting… You are a forth tier. Pretty rare indeed.”Said the man.

“The boy walked away after the teacher noted his accomplishments. After another three kids that were first tier, It was Zephyr's turn.”

Since he saw how they are tested, he decided not to reveal his truth power. Not that he didn't wanted, but the teachers will start to ask questions that he cannot answer because he doesn't know the answers. Still he didn't want to show himself too weak, so he made a decision based on the teacher previous reaction.

‘That should do’ He thought to himself.

He walked beside the teacher, put his hand on the sphere and started pouring aether into it. He watched how the crystals began to glow and stopped when he became close to his target.

The teacher was even more enthusiastic.

Looking at the grind on the teacher's face, Zephyr thought that he has gone too far. But he calmed himself down when the man spoke.

“1150. He is a forth tier as well.”

‘That should be good.’Thought Zephyr.

After he left, the counting kept until all the participants were tested. The ones that failed have been already escorted outside. The teacher walked in front of the crowd and spoke.

“Congratulations. You have passed the first exam and from now, you are students at our academy. The next exam will start soon in the next room, so please follow me.”

After the first exam, 1730 participants failed. The ones who passed are listed by their level: 415 second tier, 78 third tier, 5 fourth tier and 2 of the fifth tier. This was one of the best year of the academy.

“The second test consist in controlling your aether and you will be parted in groups of 50. This test will decide what rank you will have in the academy. There are 5 ranks: Beginner, apprentice, medium, advanced, expert. .At the end of each year, you can give a promotion exam.”

In a short time, ten groups were lined up in front of the teacher. Zephyr was part of the first group.

The teacher made a sign and a few other teachers gave a crystal to every one in the first group.

“Those crystals are very special and we have only 50. Their special feature is repealing aether. So the test is simple; The longer you can maintain your aether inside the crystal, the better control you have over your aether.”

Zephyr started to pour his aether into the crystal. The problem was that the longer he tried to keep the aether inside, the harder became. In the end, his result were pretty amazing comparing with the majority of the students.

He maintained the aether inside for 5 minutes. He could have keep it more time, but decided that this should be enough. After his group finished, they passed the crystals to the second group and went in the next room.

The majority of the students managed to keep it for 2 minutes. The two fifth tier mages managed to keep it for 4 and a half minutes. There was one person that managed to reach five and a half minutes and that was the first fourth tier mage.

“Those who lasted less than three minutes will be ranked as beginners. Those under five minutes will be ranked apprentice. Those under over five minutes will be ranked medium.” Said the teacher.

“Those who need to apply to for a dorm please follow me. The rest of you are free to go home after you choose your classes. We will expect you tomorrow morning at courses.”

Zephyr didn't need a dorm so he headed directly to choose his classes. There were a lot of classes that he could choose. He can take a minimum of 4 classes at week or a maximum of 7 classes at week.

The first five chooses were of course the five magic types: arcane, enchanter, support, alchemy, spirit. Even if couldn't use all of the types of magic, not knowing about their potential and danger would be a mistake. The other two classes were magical technology and aether research. The latter one was a class that studied the last discoveries of the aether behavior.

After he received his uniform, Zephyr went to eat and then home. He was pretty impatient to start learning more about magic so in that night he fell asleep late in the night

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The next post will contain only information about the world.

Because I feel that the actual chapters are too short, the future chapters will have at least 2.500 words.