Along a long quiet corridor inside of the academy, two men wearing robes—blue like the deep ocean, with golden ornate-stitched hems—stood in front of a large door, one of them scratching his head with mounting frustration.
Along the large door ran a complex seal, decorated with glowing runes and rows of inscriptions. With precise movements, the two men both moved a rune in a direction according to a predetermined order.
“Slide up, down, left… One. Slide right, down, down…Two… Three… Ahk! I don’t get it!” A soft whir echoed with every count, followed by the sound of breaking glass.
One of the two men complained, “Can’t we make do without all these locks next time? Having to repeat this every year is so tiresome!”
Each year, they would be tasked to retrieve and return an object within this meticulously sealed door. It was something required for the academy’s final assessment, hence the need for it to be brought out annually.
“Finally!” Completing the final step, the man who had complained brushed aside the dust-like residual mana floating in the air, before reaching for the door handle. He entered the room and came out shortly with a peculiar box in hand, the size of the length of an adult’s forearm.
Seeing him exit the room, his partner addressed his earlier statement, “You know why we lock it in there—we don’t want any of the students or anyone else taking it. Besides, there’s no knowing what’ll happen if it’s played with.”
“Hasn’t it already been studied enough? Worst case is we lose the theatrics for the final assessment.” The man threw his partner a mischievous nod and shook the box vigorously, its contents producing muffled rattling. “See? Harmless!”
His partner knocked his head with a fist and took the box. He said, “No. Worst case is that you drop that thing out of its container and the board throws us off the island.”
The two robed men left the door and passed through a certain shabby corridor on the way to the gymnasium. It was then that they ran into a group who were headed in the same direction.
“Good day, sir Noreau!” the men greeted respectfully. Ahead of the group they met was a professor of the academy board, as well as a reputable Luveris aristocrat.
“Carry on,” Noreau Philitte replied, allowing them to be on their way.
They gave a humble nod and left, but not before sparing a glance at the gray ties that the aristocrat was leading.
“What is it?” One of the robed men asked the other; the man carrying the box was scratching his chin, mulling over who he’d seen.
“There’s his son; the woodlands’ princess; that kid from Bellona district; and… another young lady? She looks quite dignified—is she another noble perhaps?”
“It’s likely, since it’s sir Noreau that’s escorting them. Let’s look forward to the assessment. I’m sure these four will put on a good show.” The two men went in haste.
Meanwhile, within Roa’s group, intending to separate from them later on, Noreau Philitte patted the shoulder of his son and said, “Novis, the board will be requiring my presence. I shall leave our new acquaintances to you.”
Novis pursed his lips, showing his unwillingness, but couldn’t go against his father’s wishes. “Yes, father,” he answered, while stealing a quick glance at the three behind him—Ariene, the fiery-tempered looking fae yawned and crossed her arms while Yuria, the quiet raven-haired beauty, walked with a distinguished stride.
Back on the kuujn, his father had filled him in on their identities, and what Novis learned of them left him quite humbled. “Hmm?” Among the three, however, there appeared an ugly duckling.
Standing five meters away, Roa Fariche, the unseemly boy from Bellona District flashed Novis a dumb smile, which caused the young noble to snort in reply and turn his gaze away.
Roa noticed Novis’ reaction and shrugged his shoulders. He thought, ‘We haven’t even begun to attend the academy and I seem to already have an admirer.’
Seeing that the young noble had occasionally shot him piercing glances, he wondered, ‘D-Does he perhaps know that it was me that stole his storage pouch? Even Noreau hasn’t caught me, how could he possibly have?’
Roa wasn’t certain, but he didn’t let the young noble’s ire bother him. Instead, his attention shifted to one of the two robed men that greeted Noreau, particularly the box that was in between the man’s arms, and the material it was made from.
‘Draumadite?’ —The most mana malleable material on the continent; the fact that it was easy to imbue with mana, made it one of the more valuable commodities available on the market. The box being made purely of the special mineral caught Roa’s eye.
Most cases, the box could keep anything from rotting inside of it almost indefinitely, or prevent powerful unexpected mana discharges from leaking to the outside.
‘A precious herb, a powerful arcane rune, a cursed artifact, or an avian’s—I can’t recall anything that the academy would keep contained so luxuriously…’ Roa eventually dismissed the matter.
Once they reached the training grounds, Noreau Philitte parted from them. Novis led them to the seats, and shortly after, he also left after parting with some harsh words.
“Listen! Your companions are one thing, but you? You’d best be aware of your own status, especially here in the academy. Lower your head if you don’t want any trouble. I’m saying this for your own good!
“Yeah, sure thing.” Roa replied with a wry smile. He was already numb to this kind of treatment. Although his curt answer raised even more displeasure from Novis, Roa didn’t mind. Rather, what the young noble mentioned raised a point of intrigue.
“My companions?” Roa snuck a glance towards the two seated adjacent to him.
Ariene was a given, seeing as she possessed a special status. But, Yuria? Was there something about her other than being a sack of potatoes he’d picked up in an alley?
They’d shared nothing more than a few casual conversations so Roa didn’t have much of a chance to dig up some dirt. His dear friend from the Spirit Domain, Lucas Hargan, didn’t provide him with much useful information either.
‘Good thing I asked Morrow to look into it. Her background might give me some clues on that idiot’s location,‘ he thought.
Anyways, finding Lucas Hargan wasn't a high priority. The man survived long enough until they met inside the spirit domain, so Roa didn’t feel too rushed.
‘No wonder it hadn’t started yet.’ A few minutes later, Roa watched as from a group of people seated atop a viewing stage built for the training ground, a mustached man carrying a cup of tea stepped forward.
It seemed Noreau Philitte would be the speaker for the assessment. Noreau took out a small artifact from his sleeves, and the sound of static echoed throughout the area followed by his voice.
“The final assessment will be a test to show you a suitable path to your growth, either as a swordsman or a mage. What you will see here won’t necessarily be a foretelling of your fate.”
“The amount of effort you put into carving your path could lead you to the highest of peaks, or to the depths of the abyss. Remember that it will be your own efforts that will shape your future.”
Noreau continued to give quite the speech. Up to this point, Roa was slightly captivated. He hadn’t had the chance to take this test in the past. —Effort? He was already putting it in. Knowing what he could already achieve even with various limitations, would this test do him justice? Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long to find out.
Noreau finished his speech and called up the first four applicants to take the test. Gray ties, faculty, professors—under numerous scrutinizing gazes, Roa unhesitantly stepped up to the platform.
Was it because they hitched a ride on his personal kuujn? Roa, Ariene, Yuria, and along with Novis, stood side by side as they were chosen to be the first ones to undergo the assessment.
“Novis, go ahead.” Noreau urged his son. Novis walked forward, unsurprised. It seemed he had already known they would be called.
‘Was this what he meant by lowering my head? Quite the attention.’ Roa thought, shrugging off another sharp glare from the young noble.
There were various runes and mana crystals set up around the arena where Roa and Ariene once fought, forming a defensive array around it. As soon as Novis stepped onto the array, a soft whir echoed out, and a curtain of mana around the arena solidified into a wall of transparent cerulean, capable of ensuring the safety of those outside the arena.
Noreau Philitte instructed, “In any way, shape or form, send a sliver of your mana towards the wall of mana surrounding the arena.”
The young noble, Novis drew mana to his right hand. Around his fingers, purple electricity crackled, while in his head, calculations were made to manifest a simple spell.
“Volt!” Novis yelled out, shooting purple electricity towards the wall in the form of a thin bolt of lightning.
‘Ooh, impressive!’ Roa clapped. Electricity required a more complex formula; Novis was setting a standard. The young noble was miles ahead of his younger self—at least, in terms of magic.
Ripples formed from where the lightning hit the mana curtain—as the reaction of a lake would if one tossed in a small rock—and at the epicenter, an odd thing emerged, reaching out from within the curtain. It was someone’s hand.
Roa widened his eyes, fully alert. His mind quickly focused, his breathing sharpened, and his right hand inadvertently moved to reach for the hilt of his blade.
Ariene, who stood right beside him, felt surprised by the sudden appearance of Roa’s bloodlust. The once small fear she had of him resurfaced as he had shown nothing this ferocious in their earlier spar.
Of course, Roa only ever showed aggression towards enemies. He would never do so against Ariene. In which case, what had emerged from the mana curtain, Roa deemed a target of his enmity. However, he soon lowered his guard when the hand emerged from the curtain entirely with its body.
“It’s not the same…” he muttered. The enemy that came out of the curtain of mana was not exactly the one he was familiar with.
Shadows of the deceased causing havoc within the Spirit Domain—the concept of a ‘Shade’ had not yet been born. Had they known, the academy wouldn’t have continued with this kind of assessment.
‘Producing a shade of someone who’s still alive? So this is how they conducted the test?’ Roa fell into thought. ‘They made use of a knock-off shade to predict someone’s future? Never would have thought of it—this is more of that guy from Abertein, his area of expertise.’
The young noble, Novis squared off with a mirror image—a rougher-looking doppelganger; easily distinguishable from the original by its ragged clothing, a slight increase in age, and the ominous dark haze surrounding it.
‘If this were an actual shade, it would even emit a more sinister aura…‘ Roa carefully scrutinized Novis’ opponent.
“Volt!” The shade fired off a bolt of thin lightning at Novis, and Novis swiftly countered with the same spell. A thunderclap rang in between the clash.
With no delay, another bolt came, and then another, and then another. Novis resisted with the same spell, again, and then again. He could hardly keep up.
Finally, a lull appeared between the shade’s quick casting.
Novis thought he could catch his breath, but was unaware of the dark clouds that had accumulated around him, crackling with purple electricity.
“It’s over.” Roa declared. The shade had summoned the Yellow Tier Area Spell—Nimbus, which was two levels above the Red Tier Spell—Volt.
The arena was soon saturated with arcing lightning, bouncing endlessly between the dark clouds.
Ripples formed wantonly around the mana curtain surrounding the arena, but it showed no signs of breaking; the mana curtain seemed to serve more than just the purpose of blocking the attacks from the inside.
‘It would appear that the academy has some countermeasures in place.’ Roa thought, as contrary to the ferocity of the shade’s spell, he noticed how Novis seemed to have only suffered minor injuries. The defensive array around the arena was dampening the shade’s mana.
After a while, the defensive array sapped whatever was left of the shade’s mana and the shade started to dissipate into its own smokey haze. On the other hand, Novis’ appearance was worse for wear, hunched over and heavily panting.
During that brief exchange, Roa gleaned a rough understanding of the defensive array around the arena.
‘Basically, whenever the student taking the test attacked, the shade would be fed mana, and the stronger it would become. If the student became incapable of resisting, the defensive array would begin suppressing the shade until it dissipated.’
Given a brief explanation, this was how the final assessment worked, Roa thought. However, he still felt apprehensive about the use of a shade. There was always some sort of unforeseeable danger that came when dealing with such malicious creatures.
While he was busy deliberating on the practicality of the assessment, Novis trudged out of the arena and the next person was called to take the test.
“Ariene Diadora.” The woodlands’ princess was set to enter the arena when Roa came over and held onto her arm, cautioning, “Ariene, be careful. Don’t go lashing your mana out against that thing.”
The future 1st, seat of Sirius. Ariene replied with silence as her hooded eyes raised with a look of skepticism.
‘If she went berserk and fed the shade enough mana…’ Roa would rather not see that come to pass. After all, facing the threat of that kind of shade once more wouldn’t be good for his heart.
—End of Chapter 7
