A few students still sleeping awoke to find wolves gnawing at their limbs. Other students who were already alert drew weapons and chanted spells.

The hall lit up, colors exploded as spells crashed into the pack of wolves.

Alric drew his Terrier Blade from his dimensional ring amidst the chaos. For someone like himself who had spent the last few years fighting wild magical beasts, a few shadow wolves felt like child's play.

Alric gracefully stepped away and slashed as the wolves jumped to attack him.

The wolves realizing the futility eventually scattered and started surrounding the more vulnerable students. The wolves were cunning with their attacks, as soon as a student turned their backs to attack a wolf another would jump at the exposed back.

The more the students fought the more wolves would surround them waiting patiently for the point of exhaustion. Meanwhile the nobles, or those that were prepared for the attack, laughed at the flailing of exhausted students. They had already teamed up to cover each other's backs.

It was a smart move, however looking closely these wolves were not so ordinary. When one was slashed or blasted, instead of blood and guts they faded into a thin shadow that separated among the remaining wolves. This cycle of death and dispersal continued.

At this point the hacking and blasting had slowed down and the number of wolves had diminished considerably. However, seemingly to make up for the lack of numbers, the wolves that remained were growing larger in size with the more of them that fell.

-

The girl that laid collapsed behind us had used the last of her magic to blast three wolves simultaneously, in return Lloyd and myself promised to protect her, but that was before.

Before our arms started to shake, and our clothes felt like led, and every breath felt like a fight within itself to keep. Our bodies felt as though we were fighting in thick jelly.

This was our limit, I took one look at the now giant wolves that were staring us down. Lloyd behind me, as though signalling his agreement, dropped his sword.

That was when we felt it, a magic so unique it almost fully invigorated us. Our muscles that before felt as though we were swimming through jelly suddenly felt as though we were feathers floating through the wind.

One of the wolves pounced, its movement seemed even slower than before. Lloyd with a new spark in his eyes swiftly picked up his sword and rolled forward at the pouncing wolf, slicing its abdomen wide open.

Meanwhile I myself with new vigour slashed and hacked at the two shadow wolves until they dispersed into shadows and divided among themselves once more.

When the last of the wolves that surrounded us fell, we felt the invigoration that hovered over us subside. We looked over and saw a boy who was about our age.

His obviously over worn clothes screamed peasant however his stoic posture and graceful movements as he walked over towards us was uncanny to say the least.

His eyes a deep abyss of black, his hair although black shined with a purple hue, I gulped as he extended his hand towards us.

“Hey I’m Alard, you guys alright?”

“We are now. Thanks a lot, you’re an enhancer right?”

“Yeah, but I’m more of a fighter than an enhancer.”

Alard was a little on the short side but his presence felt like it could swallow everything. Our introduction was cut short by another group of shadow wolves, with Alards enhancement we repelled them a lot easier. Alard with his strange bone like sword effortlessly parried the wolves attacks.

-

The fighting continued for the next hour. The mages were out of mana and showing signs of mana deprivation. While the warriors who weren’t already collapsed were exhibiting signs of dyspnea.

Despite this the fight was not over, before the group of participants was one last wolf.

Due to the constant cycle of death and dispersal this shadow wolf was over two meters tall.

The participants gulped at the site of the wolf. The giant wolf was slower than its predecessors so when it pounced despite their exhausted states the participants had time to drag their bodies away. However when the wolf landed the shadow energy swelling from it erupted and blasted them back.

Alric had stayed in the shadows the majority of the fight and had evaded and killed the wolves that managed to cornered him.

Alric was never interested in pointless fights or tests of strength. The majority of the students grouped up to form teams; he stayed in the outer regions of the hall observing the students.

“Surround him! Let’s attack him from all sides at once!”

The rag tag group of participants that remained, which was a little over twenty, followed their self elected leader.

He was a brash young fellow, he wore golden gauntlets that glowed brightly and his sword was imbued with two crystals. He did not wear much in terms of body armor however amongst the group he seemed the most composed.

When this young man gripped his sword and swang, his gauntlets glowed and the edge of his sword erupted a golden light that rushed at the surrounded giant shadow wolf.

“Holy Strike!

Ha! That’s the Raizer family's artifact strike.”

When the wolf saw the golden light rushing towards him, he leaped up and left the encirclement. Dodging the attacks and biting participant after participant and throwing them across the hall, the wolf appeared behind the young lad that unleashed the golden light.

The youth was paralyzed as he felt the foul breath of the shadow wolf at the back of his neck. The wolf swang it’s claw and in an hasty reaction he raised his guard but due to the sheer size of the wolf he was sent flying back and rolled on the floor a few times.

He lay there still sprawled on the floor. He looked at his gauntlets that were now destroyed by deep lacerations.

The participants were feeling depressed. They had put all their last reserves in this encirclement and followed Marcel’s orders but still could not stop the giant wolf.

Despair swallowed the participants as they looked at the wolf ready to pounce once more. However this time when it jumped its ascension was euphemized to more of a hop than a pounce, the shadow wolf flashed its head at the strange occurrence.

“Melee fighters! make two semi-circles and close in.

Magic users fall back and charge up your spells!”

The remaining participants would have ignored this voice regardless of how loud or domineering the voice was however as he spoke they felt a lightness cover them, they no longer felt like the would turn over at another step in fact their weapons felt lighter and the air felt as though it was no longer a fight to move through and it flowed smoothly into their lungs. The refreshed feeling enthused the group and they charged with new vigor.

Alric joined the front of the charge as they all swang their swords more assiduously. The wolf, unable to jump, was forced back step by step until he was forced into a wall.

“Fall back all the fighters!”

Once again, when this dark purple haired fellow spoke they felt some unknown force nudge them slightly as though indicating which was to go. When the fighters all jumped back the mages filled the gaps.

The mages now having been given enough time to gather mana were able to each fire their most powerful spells. When the barrage of spells subsided The shadow wolf was smoking, bleeding profusely and shaking.

The shadow wolf fell and the group of participants all breathed a sigh of relief before they all fell to the floor in exhaustion. Alric, still left standing, walked over to the collapsed wolf.

Alric drew his sword and attempted to pierce through the wolf’s forehead, however the wolf at that moment turned into a shadow and disappeared.

Alric’s eyes twitched as he saw this. He was disappointed not to be able to finish the shadow wolf. His encounter with the terrier badgers had taught him to always finish off his enemies, and this wolf was no exception. Watching it flee perplexed him somewhat.

Shortly after the shadow wolf disappeared the hall was flooded by teens dressed in white robes. their palms glowed with a white light and they rushed over to the unconscious applicants and those with injuries.

The light touched the wounded, and injuries began to vanish. Some of The applicants regained their consciousness while some regained their vigor.

After all the unconscious applicants were woken up he headmaster returned to the stage and spoke.

“Congratulations, all of you are now accepted into the Red Phoenix Magic Academy, your grades for the entrance have been tallied and each of you will be placed accordingly.”

The headmaster turned to step down from the podium before being stopped by the group of angry students.

“Accept my ass! what about the fact that you just tried to kill us?”

The headmaster sneered at the new student who made such an outburst. He was a young lad with bright green hair; he barely sat up while holding his shoulder looking at the headmaster expectantly.

“Do you want some milk and cookies?”

the headmaster rhetorically asked then continued.

“Today, two hundred and seventy applicants were attacked by a one commander ranked monster. None of you were killed and none of you lost any limbs. This creature was one of my contract beasts.

He was fully under my control the entire exam period. This part of the exam was to test each of your combat levels under the pressures of battle because that is the only place when and where combat abilities matter.

This test should show all of you that in the midst of a dire situation, your nobility, money and family names mean nothing.

Only the strength you can muster, either from yourself, from the others around you or from your surroundings truly matters.”

The hall fell silent, each of them looked around as the healers continued their healing.

The headmaster was right, a beast did not care for lineage or where you started.

The green haired youth bit his tongue after receiving the scolding of the headmaster in front of all the new students. He did not like it but it was true.

He was the son of a very wealthy merchant, while he might not have had a noble title he had better magical trinkets than the majority of the students. However in the face of the onslaught of the shadow wolves he still ended up as one of the unconscious with a deep bite mark in his shoulder.

-

The new students after all being healed were all led to their new dorm.

Red Phoenix Magic Academy had three main dorm buildings, one for each year group.

The first year's dorn building was the largest with three floors, the rooms on the first floor each housed three students. The rooms were mostly in shabby conditions and only had three beds with three night tables.

The majority of the new students were placed on this floor, about one hundred and twenty out of the two hundred and odd students.

The rooms on the second floor were well kept, each room had a closet and a small bookshelf along with two beds for its occupants. A little over sixty students were led to their rooms on this level.

Alric was amazed by the sheer size of the building. As the crowd of students thinned, he noticed that the majority of the students that remained were those who had participated in the last half of the fight against the giant shadow wolf.

The last set of students totalled to sixteen. When they arrived on the top floor it was flushed with a lush red carpet, each room large enough to hold three students but only one large bed filled the room. A chest was at the foot of each bed, it’s design lined with magical runes clearly made it a dimensional item. The rooms had bookshelves filled with books, while the walls were marked by a magic circle.

“These are the rooms for those who scored the highest on the entrance exams. The shelves are filled with diaries of past students who lived in these rooms, most of whom eventually moved on to become famous in their own ways.

The walls are built with magic gathering arrays that help in magic recovery, magical meditation and cancels all noises. If you accept one of these rooms then you automatically accept that the school has the right to any autobiography that is written by you.”

The guide spoke as she led each member of the group to their rooms. Alric was the last person left, his room was on the farthest end of the hallway.

When they arrived, his name was hung on a piece of finely written wood.

Instead of feeling proud, Alric clenched his fist in slight anger because the name that hung on the door was not his. It was the name he was forced to take in order avoid the genocide of his household.

He had sworn that someday he would revive his family name and let fear consume all those who played a part in its extermination.

“Alard, this is the best room, which means you must have scored the highest out of all of the first years.”

The guide spoke, her voice shook Alric from his stupor. He entered his room, his room unlike the rest of the rooms on the floor, had its own bath and a door to the back.

The wooden door was covered in runes and had a golden knob.

“This door connects to a dimensional space, not like a storage space though, more of a training space. It’s normally as big as it’s initial mana input which means it's not very big. The last top student said his space could only fit a small bed.”

The guid seeming to lose her composer, went off on a ramble explaining the space.

“And time passes faster inside space, well that's what he said at least. Also only you can access this area using either the door or the necklace that it creates. Even when you finish the academy it will still only be accessible by you.”

Alric observed the ruins on the door as he listened to the guide explain. After finishing her tour she bowed and left the room.

Alric looked at the door and smiled as the young lady left. He did not have any clothes to unpack, since he kept the majority of his personal things in his dimensional ring.

Alric walked over to the magic door. however instead of injecting it with his mana right away, he sat in front the door and meditated.

He tried to gather magical energy. Alric's eyes were closed however what he thought would take an hour took five minutes. The magic circles in the room glowed slightly and sent magic rushing towards him, before long he was bathing in mana.

He opened his eyes and with his body overflowing in mana he touched the door and injected it with his mana. The runes on the door glowed and sucked the mana from Alric.

Alric gave every drop of mana he had stored in his body. After finishing his own reserves he poured the magic from his kluddes contract into the door as well. When Alric finally released the door’s handle his face was pale and he looked as though he had not eaten in days.

He collapsed onto the floor the moment he released the handle.

When Alric awoke it was close to midday, under normal circumstances he should not have woken up until three days time however due to the magic circles on the walls constantly pumping in mana he recovered from his mana deprivation in record time.

This time when Alric held the door handle a necklace made of chord materialized around his neck.

He stepped through the door and he was astonished. Before him laid a grassy plain, it was not endless; it was about one thousand square meters.

Its center was a wooden cabin and three trees stood tall behind the small wooden cabin already bearing fruit. Further behind the trees was a small pond that had no fish.

A dome covered the space, it seemed to shine slightly to indicate the time of day. The dome covered the one thousand square meters all around cutting off this space from the outside world.

Alric spent time examining the world his mana had created until he felt satisfied and night had come within the space. In order to exit the space he had to either squeeze the necklace which would send him back to where he had entered from with it or he could walk through the door at the back of the cabin.

When Alric returned to his dorm room he looked at his dorm room’s clock and only an hour had passed, this was the most staggering of revelations.