Chapter 20: The royal academy

The main hall of the royal academy was filled to the brink with students. It was a beautiful hall held in white marble with gold patters woven through. Pillars of the same pattern went from the main doors to the two stairs that led in an arc to the right and left up to the platform that the principal was now standing on. Hidden from view behind those two staircases were the ways to the various lessons.

Argus von Hohenturm was quiet excited. This year his academy had gained some excellent students. He of course would always check on the results of the first testing. And what he saw pleased him to no end. Of course her highness Theresa was obvious that she would be formidable. But the degree of her cultivation was a pleasant surprise for him. But what excited him even more was this mysterious young man. It is very rare that head examiner Gorum would come personally to deliver the results but this time he came with an excited face. Argus remembered back a few hours.

Gorum came running into his office with a look of pure extacy on his face. “Principal! Principal! It is amazing.” Argus looked at him with one eye brow raised. His bushy white eye brows were amazing and the principal was quiet good at using them. A short white well cared for beard and his mentioned impressive eye brows were the main features dominating his older but wise face. Quiet short with only 170 centimeters but his presence made more than up for that. More curious than annoyed he said: “Calm down old friend. What has happened?”

Gorum took a deep breath: “Principal it has finally happened. We have a student with an innate magic level of ten! And even though he has only affinity for wind, even that is of the highest level i have ever seen. And as if that wasn’t enough with an age of fifteen, he has already cultivated to the liquid sixth rank!” Thinking back to that short conversation Argus eyes were still shining when he stopped onto the platform to address the students.

It was not very hard to find that mentioned young man. Most of the students had formed small groups that were chatting happily but that man clad in black was leaning against a pillar, eyes closed. He held himself with a dignity that was hard to grasp. No one seemed to want to approach him but to Argus it seemed as if that suited this young genius just fine. Interesting, very interesting. Argus used a slight amount of wind magic to increase the volume of his voice. “hm. hm.” he cleared his throat. Immediately the noise in the hall went quiet. So he started his speech:

“Welcome, welcome. All you young aspiring mages let me warmly welcome you into our family. The royal academy has been part of this empire since its founding and has always been the backbone of our dear country especially in holding back the demons. I expect great things of this new generation of students! After we are done here please head to one of the instructors present who will guide you to your appropriate class. Yes we start with classes immediately! Time is not to be wasted especially in the studies of magic!”

In the short break he took in his speech six instructors, clad in: Gold,yellow,red,green,blue and brown, went took a step forward so the students could see them.

“After class your teacher will show you where you will be living. You live on campus! No exceptions, because in the studies of the arcane, we don’t need unnecessary outside influence. Of course you can leave on holidays but leaving freely will only be possible again when you graduate! With that said: Put in all your efforts! For yourself and our beloved empire! Head towards the instructor of your main element please. For those who don’t know: Gold represents light, yellow represents lighting, green represents wind, red represents fire, blue represents water and brown represents earth. With that said: Good luck, may the goddess of light’s blessing always shine on you.”

Thunderous applause started throughout the hall. Argus smiled and waved and finally backed off. That went well!

Finally that long winded speech was over. Seriously why do humans always have to talk so much? That thought made me smile. Back in my world i was famous for talking way too much sometimes. Well times do change, don’t they? Anyway the instructors finally came down the stairs. So i headed to the instructor clad in green.

He was rather young, I’d say around thirty, plus minus 3 years. The students all parted ways whenever i came along. Made me laugh inside. Whelps. Well i was not planning on associating with them anyway. The plan was pretty simple: Find out how to break that annoying magic construction or if that is not possible wait for an opportunity when the principal leaves the academy.

But for both I needed to be present here so I might just as well at least learn how humans use magic. To counter it of course. So i arrived in front of the instructor who had brown hair and a short brown goatee. All the other students lined up behind me. With a meter distance to me. Well i had suppressed my aura as much as possible but it was very difficult to suppress all that killing intent i felt towards that principal. That despicable human who killed my master. Calm down. A deep breath and I looked at the teacher.

When our eyes met he became slightly pale. Is there any human with some decent willpower? Seems not likely. But surprisingly that instructor caught himself quiet quickly. Well gotta revise my opinion a bit, not too shabby. He cleared his throat twice and then said:

“Seems like everyone arrived. Please follow me to the west tower. The west tower is designated to study the mysteries of the wind magic. The living quarters are behind the academy and I will show you the way there later. Now please follow me to the classroom.”

So we went behind the staircases and through a double door. “This hallway goes around the great hall. The corners of this corridor lead to the four elements: fire,water,wind and earth. The stairs you have seen earlier if you follow them up there is a door leading to the lighting classes.”

With that he lead us towards the west exit. One young girl asked from the back: “Sir, what about the light classes?” The instructor stopped, turned around and looked at the girl with a serious face: “Do you have the light affinity?” She answered a bit taken aback: “No Sir.” Without another word he turned around again and led the way. I threw a glance to the back and saw the girl turn red. I shake my head in my mind. The message was clear: Don’t ask questions, you know you don’t need the answer to.

We arrived at the door leading towards the west tower. A short corridor after and we arrived in front of a wooden door. It was kind of a tower inside the tower. The door lead into the inner tower while to the left stairs wound around that inner tower. So you either went inside the door or you went up. The instructor stopped and explained:

“On the ground floor is the classroom for basic lessons. When you advance in rank you will gain access to higher floors and therefore to advanced lessons. The library is on the second floor. All wind related knowledge can be found there but what you are allowed to read also depends on your rank. And I am not talking about your cultivation rank. That doesn’t matter, what matters is how well you can control your element. There are monthly tests to discern a students rank. They are not mandatory but every student who wishes to advance should take part. For now I will hand out one green stripe. You are allowed so sew that onto your robes. Your robes will be ready at your living quarters so do not worry. Now form a line, take your stripe and sit down in the classroom. We will start immediately.”

With that we formed a line and I took my stripe and looked for a seat in the back. The classroom had a height of about 3 meters and was setup similar to how universities set up their lecture rooms. Pretty normal: A desk in the middle with a big black board and rows of seats, with every row being a bit higher than the row before. I took a seat in the back on the highest row and as expected to my left right and even the three seats in front of me were empty. That actually made me smile a bit. Well let’s see how humans teach magic.

First chapter of the day, 21 and 22 will follow in like 2-3 hours for 21 and ~6h for 22. Enjoy :)