There were two things that had superseded Robert’s impressions of the academy.

First, the size of the campus were bigger than what he had in mind. Midas Valley’s branch was said to be third in size in terms of areas occupied. If this was the size of a third place, Robert couldn’t imagine how big the second and first place could be. Honestly, Robert saw the academy as being needlessly large but in the end, this opinion of his irrelevant to his second impression— which was the welcoming ceremony for the new students.

Robert did not verbally expressed his opinions but this whole charade was less of a ceremony but more of a tedious lecture to him. The ceremony was just the headmaster, a few dignitaries, and the student representative, giving speeches after speeches on a grand stage. The contents were about the background of the academy, the basic rules, the expectations for the students, and the such. It was a coma-inducing experience to Robert. Without putting much effort in his glance, he could tell quite a few people also shared his sentiment. He pitied the ones who sat in front and were struggling to stifle their yawns.

Even though Robert didn’t paid much attention to the speeches, he inadvertently picked up on a few things. The academy was a prestigious institution that treats commoners and nobles with the same prejudice. Flaunting one’s status used to be illegal within the compound but pressure from the noble households made the academy come to a compromise that flaunting became simply unethical. Commoners who graduated with honors from this academy is guaranteed a position of nobility. Even just simply graduating allows them the opportunity to work for the nobles directly.

The tedious speeches continued on for quite a while. The saving grace for the continuous speeches, aside from the luxurious and comfortable chair he was in, were the eye-candies Robert managed to spot in the hall.

“As expected of a renowned institution, all the girls here are sights for sore eyes. Still, there are some who left much to be desired.”

As Robert scoured for more candies for his eyes, his gaze rested on a girl who had a plainer look than the other beauties he came across in this academy. Even with so much distance between them, he could tell the girl’s charm lied in her plain and natural face. Her hair was different. It was black and reaching her shoulders, neatly-combed but unadorned with ornaments, unlike all the other girls here. The girl was a commoner but had a dignity of a Highborn. He could also tell she wasn’t just putting on airs. This was her natural and default state. Surely she would become an object of envy for the noble and commoner girls alike. In fact, there were already a few envious eyes from the girls and longing gazes from the boy.

But what truly made her stood out to Robert was her Magic level. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say her Magic level is the highest among the new students. She was even doing well in suppressing it. Of course, she couldn’t hide it forever. Sooner or later, her secrets will be reveal by Magic-user of master level.

“Hang in there,” Robert sent words of encouragement in his heart and moved on with his gaze.

And just as the speeches had reached the final stages, two of the new students caught his interest.

The first one was a girl with short brown hair who was excessive in size. Although everyone was sitting down, Robert could still tell that the girl was considerably taller than even boys of her age. It wasn’t just her height, there was her weight too. She didn’t give off the feeling of being a noble nor a child of a wealthy merchant but even so, she was quite stout. It was rare to see an overweight commoner since they always only had just enough to get by. Which meant—

“Incompatible body with a high Magic level,” was Robert’s conjecture. Whether she was aware of her condition, Robert had no way of knowing. She also did not look like a tool oblivious of her surrounding and her circumstances. In fact, she seemed overly conscious and much too observant. Which was proven immediately when the stout girl turned and shot a gaze back at Robert.

Their eyes met. Robert could have swore he saw her eyes blazing with warning for him to back off. After a few seconds, the girl turned back to the front. Immediately, Robert begun weighing the pros and cons of inducting her into his cause.

While he was doing so, he didn’t forget about his second interest. A frail and thin girl sitting on the innermost left side of the hall. Going by the ornaments on her attire and finely-braided hair, this girl was definitely a noble. Her gaze were cast downwards ever since the beginning. The other noble girls sitting beside her would occasionally attempt a conversation with her but were met with rejection each time.

“She’s quite shy.”

Aside from her frail body and personality and her mediocre Magic-level, what caught Robert’s eyes was her shadow. To be precise, he could feel traces of lives coming from inside her shadow.

“Perhaps those things were the cause of current physical condition?”

Before his thoughts proceeded any further, the ceremony came to a close. Everyone was clapping as the dignitaries left the stage. Swayed by the crowd’s spontaneous reaction, Robert joined in.

Looking at the paper he had received beforehand from a beautiful clerk-looking lady, after the speeches, new students were to head to the open field behind the main building for something called, “Placement Test.”

His mysterious benefactor had somehow excluded him from taking the entry test. The bribe given must have been huge but even so, this placement test seemed to be an inevitability.

As Robert made his way to the open field by following behind the crowd of new students, he pondered on his near-future. No doubt this test served to divide the gifted and the mediocre, as the name of the test blatantly suggested.

“God, you are so slow!” came a sudden shout. “Move it, slowpoke!”

Some rough-looking students with brazen hair shoved the stout girl from before aside as if he was in a rush for nature’s call. Though evidently, it was just plain harassment.

Robert did not missed how the stout girl was quick to find back her bearings. Therefore, she wasn’t knocked to the ground. The delinquent was dissatisfied with the outcome with proof being him clicking his tongue. He looked to be trying for another chance but he backed off with a shriek and a color-drained face.

Noticing the delinquent last glance was directed behind Robert, he himself glanced back over his shoulder.

“Ah, that’s why,” Robert muttered in his heart as he found a professor of the academy walking closely behind him. A beautiful woman with long wavy violet hair that grew until her waist. He had guessed her identity by her formal attire. There was no official uniform for the staffs but there was a strict dress code. Although the woman’s attire was in no way revealing and yet, somehow, Robert also had the impression she would fit right into a brothel as a harlot. Maybe it was her well-kept hourglass figure, her unusual hair color, her suggestive gaze, or maybe all of them. And her glasses had only helped amplify her charm.

Perhaps noticing Robert was charmed, she smiled with a wink. And as she walked past Robert, she leaned in closed to his ear, “the garden behind the field, after the test,” she whispered.

Whether Robert was unfazed or simply stupefied, he did not showed it on his face. He only nodded, in a way the action wouldn’t look out of place.

The professor had also neither spare a glance to see if her message went through but her smirking lips were enough indication. After she disappeared into the moving crowd in front, Robert’s attention fell back to the stout girl.

“Hmm?”

The girl was peeking at him over her shoulder but quickly snapped back to the front when Robert noticed.

Seeing that, Robert couldn’t help but let his lips curled up.

He looked for the plain girl next but to no avail. Although he lost her in the crowd, her immense Magic level told Robert she was still nearby. As for the frail girl, Robert spotted her out immediately due to her ominous shadow. Now that their distance was closer, Robert was sure that somethings were lurking within her shadow. He had heard of Anima that summons their familiar through their shadow but this was the first time he saw it with his own eyes.

“She even has more than four,” Robert made a mental estimation. “She couldn’t be one of the anomalies, could she?” In his heart, he sincerely wished that this was just her own condition.

With such thoughts, his feet had brought him to the open field along with the other new students. Although the field was vast, the students were made to crowd together in one area. There were definitely more than a hundred students here. There was no shortage of people who desired a spot in a prestigious academy but only around a quarter of the new students were nobles.

“A quarter is still quite a major number despite being the minority.”

When all the new student had gathered in one area of the open field, as if she had waited for this timing, a girl of high standing clicked her tongue. “How impudent! Me, a lady of a noble house is forced to stand under the sun with a bunch of lowly individuals,” the girl spoke loudly. It was obviously meant to be heard by everyone considering the tone and volume of her voice.

A boy wearing fancy earrings let out a harsh and derisive laughter. “I can’t believe there are so many delusional commoners who think they would have a chance in this academy. Lowborn will always be a lowborn, no matter how hard they tried to delude themselves.”

“Save your breath, young lord. They are lowborn precisely they couldn’t understand their position. It’s funny to think that they believe entering this academy can help them,” a mob-looking noble boy chimed in.

And various other similar scornful comments can be heard, all made by noble students of the crowd. Obviously the farce drew a lot of hateful glares from the commoners but they could do nothing. Regarding if the commoners act first or second, the fault eventually fell on them. Such is one of the harsh and ugly truth of Midas Valley— or even the whole word in that regard.

It was unexpected and also unsurprising for Robert that the stout girl wasn’t minding those prickling words much.

“She must be used to it.”

But unfortunately, there was an unexpected collateral. It was the frail noble girl with an ominous shadow from before. Although she wasn’t part of the nobles who ridiculed the commoners, she still became a target of the hateful gazes.

For the plain girl, she did well to hold back her anger but not enough to went past Robert’s notice, especially when she had so much Magic and she was oozing out Aura.

The relationship between Magic and Aura was akin to fire and smoke. However, unlike smoke which is easily produced from burning flames, one needed to have a certain level of Magic to be able to produce Aura. To be able to emit Aura at just fifteen years old was nothing short of impressive. Not even Robert himself was able to emit Aura in his current condition.

As the bustling of the students continued, three professors stood before the crowd. They weren’t using any camouflaging or invisibility Magic but most of the new students were still surprised to find the three suddenly standing before them.

The three professors had purposely concealed just their presence with Magic and walked right up to the students before revealing themselves. It was one of the academy’s ways of testing the students. Robert had obviously noticed them but he decided to feign ignorance. Nothing good will come out of attracting the academy’s attention due to his circumstances.

“Silence!” a loud voice shook the field and as the voice itself commanded, silence ensued. The earth-shattering voice came from a man of a muscular build and stood over two meters tall, he was one of the three supposedly professors. Robert instantly recognized the man as Captain Collin Mills— well, ex-captain. A retired city soldier who had talent in Magic and numerous achievements during his service. Normally a war veteran like him would retire in peace but Collin Mills chose to take up the role of an instructor for the next generation.

The remaining two professors were a woman with violet hair in her late twenties and an elderly man with reddish brown skin seemingly in his sixties. Robert knew the female professor with violet hair. It was the same women who asked him to meet up in secret.

“I am Collin Mills and starting from today, you will all address me as Instructor Mills. And these two beside me is Lilian Soraes and Maleek Burgon. Since you all have already been briefed in the welcoming ceremony, I won’t be wasting time on the pleasantries. The test is not complicated. It will quick and just.”

“So her name is Lilian Soraes, huh.”

The three professors were definitely all master level at Magic but Robert’s worries weren’t on the suggestive woman nor the retired war veteran but rather on Maleek Burgon. Robert wagered Burgon to be from the south considering the color of his skin but for a southerner to become a professor of a prestigious academy was simply something unheard of to Robert. The southern regions were patches of dry lands. The scattered nations there were no different from lawless lands due to the high rate of corruption. To be able to become a professor of Mavern’s Academy, spoke volume of his competency and connections. Robert made a mental note that Burgon might be a person of high position or at least a backer with such background. Robert would have to be extremely wary of him

Continuing with that tremor of a voice of his, Mills shouted his directions. “For this placement test, all of you will be subjected to an extreme wave of aura emitted by the three of us here and you all shall try to withstand that onslaught. The last ten students who remain standing will be accepted into the elite class. Do not worry about the outcome and strained yourself, just do your best. We even have healers on standby in case anything goes wrong.”

Hearing the words, “elite class,” the crowd began clamoring but they were shut down with Mills’ roar. But for Robert, seeing healers stationed at the side for something like a placement test meant for students worried him more. If anything, this showed the severity.

“Without further delays, the test will begin in five, four, three,—” The three professors put their dominant hand into the air.

Sweat was pouring incessantly from the commoner students since this essentially played a huge part of the turnout of their future. However, the importance of this test was stressed by the commoners who desired fame and fortune. Most noble kids weren’t even perturbed as their future was secured regardless. They were set to inherit their household and even if they weren’t, they will still have countless options. Attending the academy for many of the nobles were no more than for the sake of appearance. Of course, there were a few nobles who wouldn’t be contend with just graduating. Power was addicting, after all. A single taste would only make one begging for more.

“— two, one, begin!” in an instant, the aura unleashed from the three enveloped the crowd of students. More than three quarters of the new students fell to their knees at once. The whimpering of the students echoed through the open field. There were even some who screamed.

The sensation was similar to having heavy weights shackled to every joints of their body. The method of this test should be relatively safe but excessive amount of anything had never been good. Even water becomes poison if drank excessively.

Robert was fine, naturally. His current Magic level shouldn’t be able to allow him to withstand the pressure from three masters. This was only possible thanks to his unique constitution but obviously, he wasn’t going to let that fact known. Robert knew better. The elite class was more a shackle than a privilege. And so, he “succumbed” to the pressure immediately after the unleash.

Many were persistence in spite of the contrary. Some even hurt themselves but that was what the healers prepared were for.

Robert didn’t overlooked how the stout girl also “succumbed” to the aura immediately. Robert could tell the stout girl was fine against it but she made the same choice as him. Blessed with immense talent and a wise mind but it was a shame the gods disregarded her figure. Shunned by many but Robert had a different idea, that is to polish the unrefined gem. Robert preferred to work alone but having allies was a must for his future endeavors.

For the frail noble girl, she was genuinely overwhelmed by the aura. Yet, her shadow remained calm like an undisturbed pond. There wasn’t even faint traces of ripple. This indicated the beings in the frail girl’s shadow had some degree of intelligence.

Robert was very intrigued but he also understood his priorities. His own personal interests will have to wait, for now.

A short period of time went by. There were now only thirteen students left standing but two of them fell mere seconds after. After about a minute, the eleventh student eventually gave out. Robert remembered the student to be the noble boy with fancy earrings who incited the scornful comments. Robert almost chuckled out of the irony fate had played out but he managed to hold it back.

Ten students were left standing and one of them was the plain girl, a commoner.

Robert was mildly surprised that the plain girl didn’t took a dive but he also understood her motives at the same time.

“She’s debuting…”

This obviously didn’t seat well with a lot of the nobles but no one dared to argue with the three masters of Magic of Mavern’s Academy.

“And this concludes the placement test,” Mills calmly announced without giving into the discontent stares of the nobles. “On the morrow and the next will be a holiday. During this short period, a letter will be sent to the new students’ respective residence. The letter will be detailing your class allocation. Rest assured, on the honor of Mavern’s Academy, the results will be impartial.”

Robert scoffed in his mind, particularly at the word, “impartial.”

A word can take on various meaning depending on the context. Mills neglect mentioning the context for a reason and Robert caught on to that.

“If my two associates have nothing more to add,” Mills looked to his two colleagues who shook their head, “then that will be all for today. You are all dismissed and released for the rest of the day.”

“Finally,” Robert exclaimed in his heart. It was a tedious experience as he did not came to Midas Valley to learn. He came here to hunt. He started thinking about his preparations but—

“Objection!” shouted the noble boy who was the last one to fall on his knees.

— his joyous moment was quick to be doused.