A man who looked to be in his early sixties, with short graying black hair, sat in front of a line of seven-year-olds with a bored expression. He wore a white mage's robe which had gold sewn into the seams and sleeves, a two-headed Griffin was embroidered with the same gold thread over the chest area. The Griffin emblem showed that he belonged to the Royal Faction of mages who worked directly under the king. This particular mage was relatively powerful, being rank 5 out of the eight ranks mages were separated into, rank 1 being the weakest and rank 8 the strongest. There is also a legendary, insanely powerful, ninth rank, also known as the S rank but those mages are so few in number that the S rank normally isn’t included in normal conversation.

This past week this mage had been going around all of the South Sector schools testing the children's magical potential. It was just like him to lose a stupid bet with an old geezer resulting in his current predicament. A powerful rank 5 mage like him had to go out of his way for a bunch of children. But the mage guessed it couldn't be helped, this process was necessary for the Kingdom's future and required at least a rank 5 mage to do it.

His job was to take a sample of blood from all the children and determine its mana concentration. Those possessing an above average concentration of mana would be recommended to study magic and become a mage in the future as their bodies could absorb and channel more mana.

Others could choose to work on their physical abilities, becoming adventurers, warriors or martial artists or work on gathering knowledge, becoming scholars. There were also options such as an alchemist, a runesmith, a weapons and armorsmith or even if you just wanted to open or carry on a family business.

All the children still learned the basics such as reading, writing, math and history and would just take extra classes in their chosen special field. The children in the South Sector could only choose to take one class in a specialized field, while in the north, the rich children could study however many they wanted with much more experienced teachers giving an edge over the common people, keeping themselves at the top.

However, this process made sure that all the common people had a field of expertise, at least one thing that they were relatively skilled in. This enabled the kingdom to functioned more smoothly and efficiently and the common folk could find jobs and earn a living more easily. This also meant that teachers, who were few in number, didn’t have to waste their time teaching lots of people who wouldn’t end up taking their discipline.

Of course, the kingdom wasn’t so harsh as to say that a seven-year-old had to pick a discipline to take for the rest of their lives. The children would only be learning the basic lessons at first. When they reached thirteen years of age they would then trial all the disciplines and pick two that they most enjoyed. They would be tested in both these disciplines to find the one they were the best at. Of course for them to enjoy the discipline in the first place, they must have at least some proficiency in it. It is important to the kingdom that people enjoy what they do so that the citizens are kept happy.

There were special circumstances where people would be recommended to take a different discipline if they were especially bad but on the flip side some could pick a discipline from a younger age if they proved to be especially good at it or are sure of what they wanted to do for example if a child was definitely taking over a family business.

Mages on other hand were exempt from this process. As mages were so hard to come by, any child who had a high enough mana concentration would immediately begin their studies in magic. Most would want to do this anyway as mages were revered kingdom wide. No one would want to let their rare and innate talent go to waste.

There was also another reason for the current schooling system and that was to find and nurture outstanding individuals who could aid in the Kingdom's development and defenses against other countries and magical beasts. That was also why a visible effort was made to make sure as many children as possible had the chance to attend school or at least be tested for their mana percentage.

Of course, there were still children unable to do so, such as those who needed to take care of sick family members, were extremely poor or in the worst case, worked as slaves in secret for nobles or underground organizations.

The next child walked up to the mage.

“What’s your name?” the mage asked the child.

“Philip Thorn” the child smiled nervously.

“OK Philip, I’m going to prick your finger and then have a look to see how much magic potential you have”

Philip nodded extending his index finger toward the mage who pricked it with a small, sharp glowing needle.

The mage sighed inwardly as he closed his eyes and held his hand over the child’s finger.

“Six percent,” the magus said, “I recommend a non-magical route.”

Disappointed, the child nodded and shuffled away.

The percentage the magus spoke of meant how much of the child’s body could store and channel mana. Usually, someone with a percentage of thirty and over would be recommended to study magic and someone with a percentage around twenty could dabble in the martial arts. To become a rank 1 mage, one had to have at least thirty-five percent and it rose in five percent increments for each class so the strongest mages would have a percentage around seventy.

The reason for this classification system of mages is that at every multiple of five, a person's mana pool would increase by a whole level. So a mage with a mana percentage of forty would have a mana pool a whole size above a mage with thirty-five percent. The increase in the size of one's mana pool would open up more spells as well as known spells becoming more powerful. The highest percentage ever recorded for a human is seventy-five percent from an S rank mage. This percentage seemed to be the limit of the human body as no matter how much the S rank mage trained, he could not raise it any further. This limit is not as damning as it seems however, as in a thousand years they may only be one mage who even comes close. Years of training is required to increase one's percentage and break through to the next rank. The length of time and difficulty to do this only increases as you reach higher percentages. This is why an S rank mage is so powerful and would be able to wipe the floor with more than a hundred rank 1 mages.

The next child stepped forward and then next. The mage repeated the same lines and same movements over and over again.

None of the twenty children who he just tested had a percentage higher than thirty, that was to be expected from a South Sector school. There was, however, a girl at the twenty percent mark.

A cute kid with brown chin length hair, wearing a black pair of breeches and a white shirt stepped up to the mage.

“What’s your name,” the mage asked yet again.

“Ryuu Stein” the boy replied swiftly.

“OK Ryuu, I’m going to prick your finger and then have a look to see how much magic you have.” This was really starting to get old.

The mage pricked the boy's extended finger and held his hand over it.

The mage who was practically falling asleep in his boredom suddenly leapt to attention. [Unknown]. Unknown? What's that supposed to mean? No, it’s impossible the mage thought, there must have been something wrong with the spell.

The boy looked at the mage with a puzzled expression.

“Ugh, ahem. It seems my spell went wrong. May I have your other finger?”

The boy obediently provided his other hand. The mage took it and pricked the finger. He concentrated hard as he held his own hand above the boy’s.

But his magic still read [Unknown]. What? No, this is impossible he refused to believe what he was seeing. In all of history, he had never heard of anyone or anything that the spell [Mana search] had shown unknown for. Sure there was plenty of people and creatures who has a percentage of zero but never unknown.

The mage was still very confused but he couldn’t just sit there in a daze forever. He quickly contemplated what to say for the boy's percentage. Saying the boy's percentage was under thirty was probably the safe route but he was very curious to see what this 'unknown' meant if the boy was actually able to cast magic. If he said the boy's percentage was thirty, but it turned out the boy couldn't use magic he could just give the excuse that he was meant to say three percent instead of thirty or something along those lines. Knowing this, he resolved to let the boy try his hand at magic.

"Thirty percent, congratulations boy, you are able to become a mage."

Ryuu smiled brightly and nodded.

"Thank you uh..."

"T-Trey, my name is Trey" the mage replied surprised the boy wanted his name.

"Ok, thanks then Trey" Ryuu beamed, excited that he was able to use magic.

The magus named Trey watched the boy's back as he ran out of the room. Ryuu Stein, he would remember that name. For now, he would keep what he found to himself as there was a chance the boy could be useless at magic and was nothing special. However, he would definitely make sure keep a very close eye on the boy.

"I can't believe we can both use magic! I’m so excited to learn the cool spells that my dad can use! We’re in the same class too.” said a boy with short, curly blond hair smiling. He wore a green tunic, gray trousers and black boots.

"Well there is only one magic class" replied Ryuu matter of a factly, before laughing and elbowing Riley in the side.

Ryuu and Riley had been best friends since they were infants as Riley's father is also in the Adamantine Wolves adventurer team and their mothers are good friends. They often went round each other's houses to play together.

"What mana percentage did you get?" Asked Riley as they walked across a sizable open square area at the center of the school.

“Thirty, you?”

“Thirty-three.”

“Whoa, you’re only two percent away from being a rank 1 mage. That’s so amazing”

Riley looked shy for a second but then smiled proudly.

A short while later the two arrived back at the front of the school where their parents were waiting. The school was a large square building with a central courtyard and training area behind. It was one of many similar buildings in the South Sector.

"How was it son?" Ryuu's dad shouted as the boys got closer.

"Dad, Trey said I can become a mage! He's told me that my mana percentage is thirty!"

"Who's Trey?"

"Oh, he's the nice mage who found out my mana percentage."

"Ah I see. Ha ha, you've already beat your old man in terms of mana." Erwin laughed while rubbing his knuckles into Ryuu's head. Erwin was a primarily a warrior who utilized some martial arts so he didn't have, nor needed a very high mana percentage.

"Well done honey." Ryuu's mum said softly and bent down to kiss him on the cheek.

"This calls for a celebration. My boy's gonna become a mage!"

Riley had also finished telling his parents the good news, although it wasn't surprising that Riley had a high percentage since his father was a powerful combat mage for the Adamantine wolves.

The two families headed to Riley's house. Ryuu spent the afternoon playing with Riley and pretending to cast magic. In the evening, they ate a superb dinner prepared by the two mothers, loud laughter could frequently be heard at the table. The mood was joyous as they celebrated the rarity of both their children being able to use magic. On average only about five out of a hundred people had a high enough mana percentage in the first place. Riley's dad, Markus and Erwin drank late into the night, even when everyone else was already asleep. They seemed to be even more excited than the children.

-------Two weeks later

It was the first day of school for both Ryuu and Riley. They were both going to be studying and boarding at the Institute of Magic in the North Sector instead of going to a normal school. The Institute of Magic was the only magic school in the whole kingdom and was where all potential mages, regardless of Sector or class went to learn the magic arts. As you can imagine it is an extremely grand and well-funded establishment because of the high value of mages to the kingdom. The school consisted of classrooms, lecture halls, arenas, large training grounds and student accommodation. Despite this, the school is only made up of around a thousand students including those who traveled from the other villages, towns and cities within the kingdom.

The two, accompanied by their parents, arrived at the front gate. Ryuu stared at the gate amazed. It was very large, almost five meters wide but was all made from intricately carved, solid metal bars. The words 'The Institute of Magic' could be seen curved above the gate in fancy gold-colored metal. The school itself was relatively large too, spanning just under five hundred square meters in size.

Since non-mages who didn't work in the institute weren't allowed in the building Ryuu and Riley had to say goodbye to their parents outside.

"Good luck son, you're gonna do great. I just know it." Erwin said with a proud look in his eyes.

"We're going to miss you lots but you'll get to come back every weekend and during the holidays so it won't be too bad." Liane smiled.

"I packed everything you need in this bag. Here."

Ryuu took the large rucksack and looked from his father to his mother. He smiled confidently, excited for this new experience.

"Don't worry, I'll make you proud." He said with clear determination before embracing them both in a big hug.

Ryuu and Riley turned around, took and deep breath and headed beyond the gate.

"Stay safe!" Their mothers called after them.

As they passed the gate, a guard checked them against a list before allowing them into the school. The wide path they were on split into two, one led to the accommodation while the other to the classrooms and other learning facilities. Ryuu and Riley took the left path towards the residential blocks. Ryuu looked around, the buildings were very fancy and the whole place was bustling with activity. Many people like Ryuu and Riley had just arrived and were heading to their dorms to unpack. Some were rushing around to find their rooms while others walked confidently, presumably returning from summer break. After about fifteen minutes the boys finally found their housing block.

“Wait what number was our room again?” Ryuu asked.

“Umm” Riley pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Seventy-six.”

There were many different types of rooms to accommodate the noble children through to the less well off. There were huge luxurious single rooms and rooms shared by ten people. It all depended on the wealth of the occupant.

Due to the mages from all kinds of different backgrounds being mixed like this, there was a clear divide of class within the school even though the teachers tried to minimize it as much as possible.

Ryuu and Riley were able to get a double room to share between them since both their parents were relatively well-known adventurers. They walked down the hallway and soon arrived at room number seventy-six. Riley unlocked the door and entered.

“Shotgun the window bed!” Ryuu called as he entered the room too.

Riley rolled his eyes. “Fine whatever, I know you like being by the window, I don’t mind that much anyway.”

The room had fairly standard wooden furnishings and was a decent size with two beds, end tables, wardrobes and desks.

The boys started to mess around while unpacking before they realized they were going to be late for the headmaster’s welcome speech.

Ryuu and Riley ran out of their room towards the assembly hall.

“Wait for me! I can’t run as fast as you! Slow down!” Riley panted.

“Hurry up then. We still need to find where we need to go!”

As they neared the main school building, they saw many people rushing in one direction so they followed suit and arrived at the hall just as the headmaster was stepping onto the stage.

“Welcome to the Institute of Magic! For those of you returning from summer break, welcome back. I say this every year but you are the future of this country, we need you to work hard to hone your amazing magical talent. Many people would do anything to be in your place…” The speech continued.

A girl, red in the face and panting suddenly came and sat in the chair next to Ryuu in the back row.

“Yes, I made it. Well kind of.” The girl whispered, breathless from running.

“I’m Mary by the way, nice to meet you.”

Ryuu nodded back at her.

“Hi.”

Ryuu glanced at Mary out of the corner of his eye. She was very pretty, her petite features were sprinkled with light freckles and she had a slender body for her age. But what really stood out about her was her long, bright red hair which was swept into a loose braid.

Seeming to notice Ryuu looking, Mary turned around and winked at him. Embarrassed, Ryuu spent the rest of the speech staring straight ahead.

After the headmaster and the school captain’s speech, the students piled out of the assembly hall to their respective registration areas.

“Are you guys first years as well?” Mary asked Ryuu.

“Oh, you're a first year? Yeah, we are too. How comes you rushed in late though?"

"I wasn’t that late." She pouted. "Well, it's a really long story which may have started off with me not waking up on time. Okay, fine I just overslept, you happy now? I'm not proud of being late on the first day of school you know."

Ryuu laughed out loud. This girl if funny he thought to himself.

"First years come this way." One of the teachers hollered.

The ninety or so first years followed the teacher into one of the larger classrooms. The room was very well maintained and had white and gold walls, shiny wooden desks and large windows. A big blackboard was on the front wall behind the teacher's desk. The room had to be up to a certain standard because of the rich noble children who attended. However, it wasn't overly fancy as it was still fundamentally the classroom of a school

"Quiet down everyone. There are only three classes per year so I'll call out the names of the people in class A, B and then C. Don't worry, there's no difference in capability between the classes."

As it turned out Ryuu, Riley and Mary were all together in class B.

"Yay! I'm really glad they put us in the same class." Riley exclaimed happily to Ryuu.

"Hey what about me? Aren't you glad you get to hang out with me all the time now?" Mary chatted. Ryuu was about to reply but Mary continued.

"I'm joking, joking. We don't know each other very well yet, hope that will change in the future though." She winked.

After a few more minutes, class B left for their own classroom which looked almost exactly the same as the classroom they were in before, just smaller. They were told to pick seats and wait for their homeroom teacher.

The trio went towards some seats in the middle of the room. Ryuu was about to sit at a window seat when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I believe that seat is mine," demanded a boy who was almost a head taller than Ryuu. He had on expensive looking attire and a mean scowl on his chubby face.

"Why? The teacher said we can pick any seat and I got here first."

"I don't care what the teacher said, that window seat is mine."

Ryuu looked around, there were still plenty of window seats left.

"Why don't you sit in the seat in front? It's still by the window."

"I told you to move. Don’t you know who my father is?" The boy said with an ugly smirk.

"No, and I don't see how that matters."

The boy started to anger. "Look my father is rich enough to buy your whole family and make them my slaves, so I would move if I were you."

"No," Ryuu replied. He didn't see why this boy felt he was so entitled just because he was more wealthy than others. In this school, there's meant to be no difference between the wealthy or the poor. It's a community of mages, and Ryuu intended to keep it that way.

Ryuu watched as the boy went red in the face. Then he suddenly moved to grab Ryuu by the shoulders in order to throw him aside. However Ryuu didn't budge, he stood rooted to the ground with his arms crossed over his chest. The boy pushed, pulled and punched. When he realized he was unable to get any results, he grew even more angered. He turned and yelled at a couple of kids who had been following him around to help out. Before they made a move, Riley suddenly chimed in.

"Stop, the teacher's coming."

The boy was extremely enraged by this point but reluctantly let go of Ryuu.

"You're going to regret this." He exclaimed frantically. "I'm Max, it would do you well to remember that name."