Mary chose the great horse, she had learnt how to ride with, she really liked the huge beast. Deciding what to take with her occupied her for weeks. There were several things that she know she would take, like her new sword, or the enchanted armor she got after passing her latest ranger test. Deciding on what to take otherwise was a chore though. Eventually she just asked dad, he would know as he had been an adventurer once.

With her father’s help she managed to select everything she would need. She bought an enchanted flask, that would distill water out of the air as long as it was supplied with mana.

She furthermore took enchanted cooking utensils with her, these would allow her to make a decent meal out of the stuff she found on the way. They used mana to heat up the food you put in them, so you didn't need a fire to cook anything really useful when you needed to avoid being seen. She bought an enchanted dagger as well, useful for a variety of uses.

Her father gifted her an enchanted bedroll that would keep her warm even in the most freezing of nights. Furthermore it provided her with protection from rain snow and storm, though she would be really surprised should it start to snow, after all the empire didn't have winters after all.

Most of her supplies were salt and other spices though. While she could find many of the common spices in all of the empire’s forests, and there were more of them in the hotter climate of the north, salt was really hard to come by if you were inland.

Furthermore she had a few sets of clothes and some other necessities with her. While she could of course pack way more, she didn't as it was better to travel lightly. Furthermore, should she be accepted, the academy would supply them with clothes they had to wear.

Early on the morning she would start, she had already said goodbye to her parents and Elaine. While she was waiting for their escort to arrive she couldn't help but feel small. She currently only reached one meter and fifty centimeters of height, so her mount’s back was higher than her head. She wasn't sure Elwood would even notice she was there, if she didn't direct him of course.

The older students arrived to the minute, their leader grinning when he saw her standing next to her mount.

“Don't you think that horse is a little too big for you, are you sure you can control him? Great horses are not for children like you!” Mary raised an eyebrow and mounted Elwood.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Valamin Iantoris had been elated when he was allowed to tryouts at Agora. As he was an elf, there weren't many magic schools in the empire that would even consider him.

Unlike the other races, all elves got lessons how to control their mana at a young age, if they managed, they were a sorcerer. The rest of the elflings childhood then was dedicated to finding the borders of the affinity.

To be honest he never really feared he wouldn't be accepted, as he had an extremely useful affinity. He was healer and wizard at the same time, and as he was an elf more powerful than any other race. When the students of the academy visited him a few months prior, he had been told to gather in front of the gates with everything he wanted to take with him.

He was now waiting for their escort with twelve other people about his age. That meant there were nine nobles among their group. That would get really unpleasant for him and the others, luckily he had yet to personally meet a noble, but the tales he heart from other elves didn't paint a pleasant picture of the empire’s high and mighty.

He just hoped he wouldn't have to do the test with them. While every single one of them had more resources than he and the others combined, they never had to work for anything in their lives. That meant they wouldn't be taking the test as serious as them, and as such everyone who had a noble was at a severe disadvantage.

After another thirty minutes of waiting the nobles finally came, accompanied by the team of nine that would escort them. Unlike the common people, every noble had his own mount and expensive clothes and weapons.

“Why can't we just take the Circles to the nearest city?” One of them grumbled, he was ignored by everyone.

Eight of the noble children were happily chatting with each other, and upon seeing them started to frown. Even though they were all very different, they just seemed to be one and not really different from each other.

The ninth noble really stood out though. For one, her mount towered everyone, Valamin was sure it was a great horse, an aggressive evolution of the common horse, commonly used by adventurers and the legions cavalry. Even though it was way more sturdy than normal horses, it didn't have to carry as much as the other nobles mounts. He was sure the girl could carry everything she had on herself. Her armor was made out of Bril leather and expertly crafted.

A really rare and high quality leather, Brils were monsters that gave silver ranked teams a run for their money. His father was a leatherworker and as such taught him some of his knowledge. The leather was perfect to conceal oneself in most terrains, the exceptions being high mountains passes or deserts. She sat on her horse with catlike agility, and by the way she moved, he could see she was a trained fighter.

The noble was the most beautiful human he had ever seen. She was on the shorter side for a human, only reaching one meter and fifty seven centimeters in height. She was athletic, with a slender form and skin slightly darker than average in the empire.

She had a really stunning face, the heart shaped face with high cheekbones and emerald green eyes sitting high in their sockets behind long lashes, excluding an air of curiosity and boredom at the same time.

Her eyebrows were an arch following the curve of her eyes. Her slightly upturned nose followed the curve of her face, giving her something special. Her natural full red lips were slightly opened, further increasing the feeling of curiosity surrounding her.

She had long midnight black hair, flowing over her shoulders, slightly reflecting the morning sun. She was a work of art really, and he couldn't help but stare.

“Alright assemble here people, I am gonna tell you the rules of our journey!” The leader of the team that would bring them to the academy yelled. They hurried to surround her.

“As you all know we will be escorting you to the school, we are students ourselves, and let me assure you we went through the same you will! In the next six weeks, we will cross nearly half of the empire. The first part will be east of the western mountains. We will pass those through an old road dating back hundreds of years. Afterwards we will cross the western plains. The academy is three days in the forest afterwards, where you will perform your tests.

Now there are some rules you will all have to follow! First of all, we are not allowed to help you in any way, we act as guide and protection from monsters, you are required to supply yourself with food and everything else you may need.

We are allowed to give advice but not intervene if you are not in serious danger. The academy provides a place in one of these wagons for everyone without a mount! Furthermore, don't kill and take care of each other, good luck!”

Mary sat on Elwood and observed the group she would be spending the next month with. The other nobles were all prime examples why she didn't like nobility, they looked upon their companions with disdain and seemingly found something to complain about everywhere. Most of them were obviously just joining in because the Son of a count they fetched last but that didn't excuse them.

The commoners seemed nicer, while they obviously were slightly intimidated by them, they didn't seem all that biased towards the elite of the empire.

The humans were boring, like some of the more colorful nobles she had met, only with less expensive clothing. While the academy presented itself as open and uncaring of the students upbringing, she saw no one really poor among those present.

After her short inspection of the humans, she turned to the dwarfs lizards and elves of the group. While she had previously met the odd elf on her ranger tests, these meetings had only been brief.

Instead of openly staring at them like one of the elves did at her, she observed everyone through Starshadow’s eyes from above, while looking around in apparent boredom herself. The group of twelve had all races living in the capital present.

On a first glance there wasn't anything interesting about them, sure the elves were slightly taller than the average human and had long pointed ears, but her family consisted of really big people and she had slightly pointed ears as well, so she was used to that. Likewise the dwarves were only broad, small humans.

Only the lizards were really different, tall and burly, with scales instead of skin, they looked really dangerous. Their faces, unlike humanones were more like the the face of a drake, with short snouts and big teeth. Differentiating between different faces proved to be harder than anticipated, she only managed to guess their gender based in their built.

The Lizardfolk were like spiders in that regard, the females being more physically imposing than their counterparts.

After inspecting all the faces, and counting their numbers, she noticed something entirely unrelated to her previous observations, concerning the setup of their group. Though it could be coincidence, she opted to pursue her hunch and find out more about everyone of her travelling companions in the coming weeks.

After laying down the rules for their journey and everybody had mounted and was ready they set out. After they entered the forest, Mary stopped her musings and sent Starshadow to watch out for danger.

They made their first break in the afternoon, when the other nobles looked like they would fall of their horses. They were allowed to wander around, if they stayed within hearing distance. So Mary dismounted as well, and started collecting edible plants that would serve as food for the rest of the day.

Last year, she invented a spell which helped her gathering plants. She only had to follow her spell to find the edible plants in her vicinity, decreasing the time needed to gather food significantly.

Out of their group, four others seemed to have some woodland experience as well, and started gathering food as well after seeing her to so. After that several others went over to them and asked to help, they were required to mostly supply themselves on the journey after all.

Mary went to a group that seemed at a loss of what to do.

“Do you want me to show you what’s edible and what not?” The entire group looked as if she was a ghost. “

You know the school doesn't provide food for the journey, if you aren't too tired you should really do it!” She continued talking like she didn't notice their unease.

She had noticed, that most males that weren't her family reacted to her in that way in the last months, she was really beautiful after all. They would only stop if she clearly showed she had no interest in them by ignoring all obvious hints or feigning to not notice them.

She looked at them expectantly. Finally one of them gathered his wits and managed to speak up.

“We would be honored if you did, my lady.” That wouldn't do!

“Don't call me lady, we will be travelling together for the next weeks, so call me Mary! What are your names?” Without waiting for their answer she continued.

“Follow me, I’ll show you the basics! You have to take care of yourself after all!”

Startled the group followed her, introducing themselves one after another while walking. For the next thirty minutes, Mary taught them the basics of foraging in a forest. They still needed experience, but the school didn't invite stupid people, so they would get it with time.

After the break, they continued for another five hours before their escorts called a stop for the day. They had stopped at a stream, so everyone could refill his wasterreserves. After she took care of Elwood, Mary helped a group to start a fire with a small spark of lighting.

The only real excitement was caused by Starshadow, when he landed on her shoulder. After the shock of a falcon diving down on them had died down, everybody admired the beautiful bird.

They were prompted to introduce themselves by their escorts so the journey would be more pleasant. The people on the wagons obviously knew each other already, but only the people from their wagon.

“I am Valamin Iantoris, I’m an elven sorcerer and skilled in wizardry and healing.”

“I am Fuhmen Casse and my parents trained me in firemagic.”

“I am Dehla, and am a melee fighter, my parents trained me to fight with my mana.”

“I am Mary Falconbridge and a sorceress with greater lightning affinity!”

That got her some jealous looks, as lighting was effective against every monster that didn't have thick hide or scales, furthermore as she had a greater affinity, she could use airspells as well. She and her father decided she would tell the world she had that affinity. Her affinity encompassed way more, but nobody needed to know that, lightning was rare enough after all.

She would have to make sure to inform dad about the elven boy though, he liked to hire rare talents like him into his services.

The lizard was really interesting as well, by the way she moved Mary could see she was a trained fighter, and her weapon fit perfectly for a lizards stature as well, adding to her already superior reach.

There were of course many more, but she had to admit she wasn't all that interested in them, most were boring, children of successful blacksmiths or other craftsmen and merchants.

After dinner she went over the the Lizardgirl.

“Hey, you want to spar?” She eyed her up and down, and shook her head with regret.

“I don't have any sparring weapons with me, and I doubt you do, my lady!”

“That's no problem, I bet the elf can make use something out of wood with his wizardry!”

“If you managed to get sparring weapons, I would be happy to.”

So Mary went over to Valamin.

“Hi, I just wanted to ask if you’d be able to create sparring weapons for me and Dehla there?” Of course Mary could theoretically do all that herself, but someone with lightning affinity starting to do plant magic would be rather suspicious. The elf seemed even more nervous than in the morning, he eyed her shyly and than nodded.

Ten minutes later Mary stood across the lizard, and could already feel her starting to circulate her mana in her body in order to increase her strength endurance and agility.

The others were all gathered in a circle around them.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Go!”

And the bout was on.

They started circling each other, Dehla testing Mary’s reflexes with a few quick stabs, trying to hook her in while returning her weapon. They were testing each other. In this fight, Mary had several disadvantages, namely her weapon her strength and reach. She was pretty sure she could outlast the lizard, her only way to win, as she didn't have enough reach or strength to break through the lizards guard. Luckily the weapon the lizard used helped her in that regard, she could stay out of the lizards way and tire her out.

Dehla had to admit the human was really skilled. When she had asked to spar, she had been inclined to refuse. But as the girl had the demeanor of a fighter, she had accepted ultimately. Most humans had severe problems when fighting someone of her race as her people preferred weapons like a spear, adding to their natural advantages when fighting humans. She for example, had found the halberd very early on, it was just the ideal weapon in her mind.

She had looked forward to give the noble a lesson to not challenge an obviously superior foe. The young woman lacked real life experience, evident by the way she fought, but she had a natural grace that supplemented her fighting style.

She knew the fighting style she used, it was ideal against her people, as the enemy concentrated on drawing out the fight and outlasting the opponent. Her mother had warned her people like this, you had to take serious risks fighting them. While her people would have superior stamina without using magic, they tired quite fast when fighting with magic.

She tested her once again, and had to admit the girls defence was rock solid. Dehla decided it was time to use a different tactic, her reach was no advantage in this fight, as her opponent was completely fine with staying out of reach. There was other ways you could fight with a halberd, you could, for example go up close and personal, and use it like a quarterstaff. Staffs were actually quite efficient against a sword, as they had more weight and as such momentum behind them.

Using her weapon as a staff was more exhausting as well but forced her opponent to expand way more power to defend against her attacks than she needed to perform them. Dehla slowly changed her grip and started advancing to closer range. After trading several blows with the human, Dehla started a combination of attacks, this time with three successive strikes. The first came overhead, with the halberds head. It was directed to the side, so she used the force of the block to redirect the lower part of her halberd at the girls feet.

That mistake that lost the fight for her, the girl jumped up, landing on her weapon and disarmed her. Surprising, but Dehla was no sore loser.

“I surrender! You really are a skilled fighter, my lady! Congratulations, I hope you are willing to do some more bouts in the coming weeks?”

“Call me Mary. And I would be glad, I feared the journey would be boring, and I’d have to train with myself. You are one capable fighter, that was some very smart thinking from you there, coming in close when you saw you would lose otherwise.”

“What do you mean, coming in close was the most stupid thing it did! You were on the defense the entire time beforehand!” One of the nobles rudely interrupted their conversation. “And you were?” The girl glared at the other noble.

“I am the Avington Beavergor, first son of Count Beavergor!” He declared with obvious pride. “Well first son of Count Fevergor, you have no idea how to fight!” That enraged the other noble, as he wasn't taken seriously by a noble of lower standing. The other nobles seemed more amused by their exchange.

“I demand a duel!”

“You don't have a weapon, first son of Count Cleavergor, and I doubt you can fight even if you had one!” The noble got increasingly enraged, Dehla could already see his head getting a slightly red tinge. He went over to the timid elf that made their weapons as well.

“You. You will make me a sparring weapon as well!”

The poor elf had no choice but to comply.

“Now I challenge you to a duel, you daughter of an upstart!”

“That's the best you came up with, that's really weak First son of Count Weavergor, but if you insist on a sound beating, come at me!” By now everybody had started grinning, the arrogant noble really deserved what was coming, he was even warned several times.

They once again cleared space for the fight, and the rules were set. The first to score a hit would win the bout.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“GO!”

Completely unlike before, Mary rushed in the moment the fight started, surprising her enemy. He managed to clumsily block her first blow, a simple cut from the left. Before he could recover again, the next blow came flying at his face.

The next minutes were brutal, Mary destroying the other noble. There never was a doubt who would win, he was just overwhelmed in every way. She skillfully attacked him in a way that allowed him to block every blow, but would knock his own weapon into him.

The farce continued for five minutes before one of the escorts intervened. “You can stop beating up the poor guy, we all know he never stood a chance!” Instantly after that, the noble suddenly had a huge hole in his defences and Mary’s sword mockingly tipped his head. “Congratulations, first son of Count Leavergor, you are officially one of the worst fighters I ever fought!”

She turned around, leaving the noble laying there. Humiliated by his defeat and the successive insults he yelled in anger and charged her retreating form. Without even looking at him, she deflected his blow and threw him to the ground in one move.

“That wasn't noble, first son of count Conceivergor!”