I sat there at my desk staring at the sword my father sent home for my coming of age. It was tradition for nobles to recieve swords after becoming adults. However the father typically presented them to their sons personally, mine was otherwise occupied in the capital.

The four foot blade was made of a blueish silver metal which I recognized as Mithril. The cross guard was steel with inlaid gold in a spiral pattern. A black leather grip with a gold lion shaped pommel. It was a LARPer's dream weapon. I personally found it a bit tacky but it handled well and Mithril happened to be the easiest metal to enchant.

I learned enchantment magic when I was fourteen and mastered it a month later. As I sat and looked at the blade, I wondered what enchantments a Mithril longsword would be given. Enchanting swords was not common, weilding a sword typically meant a person's magic was lacking. So what use would enchanting it serve? With no magic control an enchanted sword was as useful as an enchanted Sprite can.

Magic users preferred to use staffs for aesthetics and wouldn't know the ass end of a sword from the business end. So enchanting swords was typically done by sword trained nobles who excelled in magic as well.

I decided to put a conductivity enchant on it. As well as unbreaking and sharpness. Mithril was the hardest metal, and it magically inhances the qualities of was crafted from it, so unbreaking and sharpness was overkill. Conductivity allowed the flow of mana through an object and is most commonly used on staffs. I just wanted a flaming sword in homage to my first sign of magic.

Once it was completed, I sheathed the sword and attached it to my belt. I started packing my clothes in a travel bag. The journey to the capital would take two or three days. it was 60 miles away, on earth it would take one or two hours to go that far. I wasn't looking forward to the trip.

After I finished packing I said my goodbyes to mother, I won't bore you with the details it was a typical "I'm going away for a few years" goodbye. She gave me a hundred gold for the trip (which is about a thousand sliver and twenty thousand copper. Ten silver to a gold and twenty copper to a silver. Either way it a ridiculous amount of money for a two day trip.) She also gave me instructions for the family bank account for when my small fortune of pocket money ran out.

The trip was equally uneventful. I sat in a carriage for two days reading magic books and wishing this world had smartphones. In fantasy land bandits were usually a problem. Always robbing those unsuspecting caravans carrying important people. But in reality, Doltia had military patrols along all main roads to the capital, keeping bandits from all roads that nobles travel.

When I finally reached the capital I tipped the coach 1 gold even though my mother only payed five silver for him. He left me outside the walls as per my request.

The guards saw my nice clothes and heavy money bag and let me through immediately. As I stepped inside, I saw exactly what I expected to. A sprawling medieval type city. Buildings built attached side by side with stone walls and clay roofing. Streets made of stone and roman concrete and sidewalks full of people going on their day to day. The people were a lot cleaner than I expected and their clothes less disheveled. Perhaps it was because I was in the capital or because the poor district was not near the city gates. These commoners were the middle class neither poor nor rich. They had access to public baths but not the fancy ones reserved for nobles.

As I also expected, there were slaves too. Dog and cat eared demihumans and scaly lizard folk too. Not that I particularly approved of slavery but there wasn't much a single nobles son could do to end a thousand year old system of human supremacy. I did think it was ridiculous that the humans in this nation would enslave a race of human just because they had a little extra on top. It didn't surprise me, humans back in my old world enslaved people that were basically the same in every way.

I went to find a nice inn. After my trip I still had ninety two gold. My exploration of the city took half a day. It was about four in the afternoon by the time I found the inn. The person at the counter was young. Around my age maybe a year or two older. She had long brown hair and a pretty face. She was definitely beautiful for this world but she wasn't my type.

She looked at me with her deep brown eyes and smiled a smile that would melt the toughest man's cold stone heart.

"Welcome to the Brooksbury inn," her voice was high and cheerful, "how may I help you?"

She was obviously at the counter to attract customers, though it was the nicest looking inn and it was close to the city square so I doubted they had trouble getting customers.

She may not have been my type but a virgin is still a virgin. I had trouble speaking to any woman. And I was fifteen years out of practice.

"Um... I'm here to book a room." I said almost in question form.

"Are you asking me?" She looked at me with those brown eyes like she was staring into my soul.

I felt my face go red. "No," I asserted in what I hoped was a firm fashion, "I'm here to book a room." This time my words were clearer.

I was beginning to get used to being social again. I also remembered my own name so.... progress.

"How much for your finest room?"

"Five slivers a night." She squeaked cheerfully.

The exam was in three days but results would take a further three to be announced. It would take four days to be allowed to move into the dorms.

I brought my bag up to the room after paying the five gold. It was as nice as my room back in the mansion and I was accustomed to it by then.

The days went fast. It was time for the exam before I knew it. I paid a carriage to drive me to the academy grounds. They were located half a mile away from the capital walls. It took thirty minutes to get there by carriage.

The academy was almost as sprawled as the capital. Many different buildings and towers spread across a distance that of a major university. The staff had tables spread across the back field of the campus. It was a sea of teenagers, lined up one behind another. They were writing their names and the identification number that they were handed upon reaching the front of the line.

The lines were so long that I knew I was late. Even though the exam wasn't for another four hours everyone seemed to have shown up five hours early. I took my place in line and began the mundane task of standing in line.

I finally reached the front of the line and received the number 15642. I took the pen and wrote the name Alfred Von Earlheight in perfect Doltian cursive ( a form of cursive taught only to high class noblemen and royalty to avoid any identity fraud). I slid the wax tablet the woman in front of me, an old woman who reminded me strangely of Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter. She looked at the pad over her glasses and grimaced.

"Are you aware that impersonating the headmaster's son is not only a criminal offense but it won't grant you you free entry to the academy?" She growled sternly.

Unfazed I responded. "Check the signature again."

She studied the tablet more intensely and gasped when she realized that it was legitimate.

"I apologize for the suspicion. I was not informed that you would be attending the entrance exam."

"Neither was my father. I wanted to pass on my own merits. Not by arrangements made ahead of time."

She stared deeply at me. As if penetrating the very essence of my soul. "Your father would not give you preferencial treatment because of family ties."

"I know that," I said impatiently, "but I didn't want him to make a big deal about it."

After another long, soul penetrating look, she accepted the registration and called the next in line. I turned and proceeded to the waiting area. The central courtyard was packed with people and I could barely make out where I came from. I sat on the ground and waited for the exam to start.

There were so many of us that they decided to do a test to eliminate the least qualified applicants first. It was a general knowledge magical theory test. Since half of the applicants were self taught, magical theory was not something they saw fit to study. Out of the twenty thousand of us only ten thousand passed. Then in the basic application five thousand could only perform support magic ( the academy required at least basic attack magic).

So by the end of the preliminary exam, three quarters of the applicants were disqualified. Then the real exams began.

I was brought to a back to the fields behind the school with a group of ten others. Our magic skills were tested rigorously. Having to perform each of the spells three times each. I thought I did well enough although I was the only person who didn't drop out when another element started to be tested.

The instructor ( a short bald man) continued to look more and more flabbergasted as I continued to do each and every spell with unfaltering proficiency and quality. The other examanees began whispering when I was the only person who remained standing as he tested darkness magic (a rare form of magic used to summon animals. It was only tested as a tradition because summoning animals to fight for you was considered a cowardly way of fighting). The examiner didn't give me a spell to cast. He only told me to summon whatever I could. I decided to go small and summoned a boar.

Finally the first phase was over and the examiner pulled me aside.

"You know how rare it is to be able to use every element? Are you by any chance related to our nations founder?" He asked.

I wasn't trying to be accused of using my influence to intimidate the examiner. So I said "What if I am? Would that make a difference in the results of the exam?"

His face flushed red. "No of course not. Your results are your own and your family has nothing to do with it, but I was just curious because the only other person who could use all elements was related to the Eric I." He was talking fast and bowing to me. To any onlooker it would appear as if he was deferring to me.

"Of course. I am aware that my grandfathers uncle was also able to use every element. But I wished not to appear as though I used my influence as the headmaster's son to pass the exam." At that he stopped his apologies and straightened, still looking red and uncomfortable.

"Of course," he calmed his voice and steadied himself. "You would certainly be shunned socially by those who think you cheated your way in. Especially since the exams are so difficult."

"Such claims are inevitable, but even more so if they appear to have merit to back them up."

"Indeed. I should take the next bunch of examinees now." He said, getting my point.

"Good choice." I said

He hurried away. Giving a worried glance behind him. My lack of social skills was really starting to make me look like an asshole.