Joxar and I left the plaza, heading towards the Student Affairs Buildings. On the way there, I found an increasing number of students, most of them were wearing a blue-colored robe, while very few wore a violet robe. I was told that the robe color indicates mage realm, while circles indicated the corresponding tier; mages robe is blue, and wizards robe is violet.
I nodded, already expecting that this would be the case, realizing that Kyra being a tier nine wizard at her age must be a great accomplishment. No wonder that she is respected wherever she goes.
Eventually, the Student Affairs Building appeared in the horizon, approaching, we saw four square buildings connected with a bridge, a building for each of the Disciplinary Hall, Treasury Hall, Guild Hall, and Quest Hall. Joxar found it as a suitable opportunity to open his mouth.
“You’ll be visiting the Guild Hall as a freshman and junior the most. Individual quests are hard for you, thus, doing guild quests will be the way to go.” Joxar said, pointing at a building, “There are many guilds in the academy, one of them will be your home.”
I nodded, finding it reasonable for the academy to do that to show the value of teamwork. During my stay at the Mul Adventurer Guild branch, I interacted with a couple of adventurer parties, noticing that it is one of the most important aspects an adventurer needs to have.
Smiling, he pointed at a different building, “As for that building, it is the Quest Hall, there are some interesting quests there, but they are not easy. You can also post your quests there and assign rewards, pretty convenient to avoid wasting your time.”
“It won’t be able to complete them anytime soon,” I said, looking at him from the corner of my eyes.
“You’ll do them with your guild; that’s what it is made for.” He said dismissively, pointing towards another building, “That over there is the Disciplinary Hall, let us say that you should not enter it if possible. The building ahead of us is the Treasury Hall, our destination.”
I looked at the four buildings in front of me, feeling empty. I always wanted to enter the academy, but for some reason, I was unable to feel excited about it. Sighing, I continued following him as he led the way.
Entering the treasury hall, I was shocked to find that it was extremely simple, devoid of decorations, only a couple of illumination orbs and counter in the front with the symbol of Glattia Kingdom carved on the wall, giving me the feeling that whoever created this kingdom was a lazy person, not bothering to do anything.
Standing behind the counters were workers and students lining up to receive their admission rewards. A glance would tell that these workers were ordinary citizens of the empire.
Jaxor took me to the second floor, where a couple of people were standing in front of the counter to receive their rewards, Juan Peyton was one of them. Jaxor saw a girl, he told me to join a line and then took his leave, proceeding to flirt with the girl. Noticing that, I decided to leave him be and went to stand a girl.
The girl I stood behind was the same age as me, standing straight. She had red hair and perky bottoms attracting my gaze. Sensing my gaze, she turned her head, I saw her green eyes, thin eyebrows, straight nose, and oval face. She was beautiful and her rosy skin gave her an irresistible charm. I glanced downwards, noticing her flat land and couldn’t help but smirk, gods do give something but take another.
Her lips twitched noticing my smirk, noticing her gaze, I stood straight and crossed my hands, emphasizing my chest. I saw veins popping on her forehead, she then turned back with a harrumph and ignored me.
Looking at her rewards, I noticed that she did not receive [Hollow Artifact] or [Growth Mana Artifact], but two bottles exuding medical fragrance, it’s smell was nauseating, forcing me to cover my nose. She turned her head and looked at me with a weird expression, putting the bottles in her spatial ring, she turned and left.
Realizing that she had a spatial ring, I knew that she was a noble, or at least well off, thus, It was expected that she did not want the artifacts.
Standing in front of the counter was a middle-aged man with average facial features, he wore a shirt embroidered on it the symbol of the kingdom and black pants. It was the outfit for the workers in the academy.
“How can I help you today?” he said with a polite tone.
“I want to take my admission rewards.”
“Can I have your badge, please?”
I extended my hand and gave him the badge, he placed it on a socket in the counter, and it suddenly lit up, words appearing on a rectangular stone slab in front of him.
“So it is Miss Cassandra,” he said, continuing, “Your rewards were adjusted by one of the elders, please wait a moment while they arrive.”
I was confused by his words ‘wait a moment while they arrive’, but suddenly, intense light sprang from the stone slab, subsiding, it revealed a snow-white orb and a bottle exuding a medical fragrance. Smelling the medicinal scent up-close made me feel dizzy, unable to hold it, I threw up all the contents I ate today.
Joxar looked at me, smiled and bade farewell to the girl. He took the bottle from the counter, placing it into his dimensional pouch, It was inferior to spatial rings, but was plenty enough for students. Holding the snow-white orb in his hands, he walked towards me.
“Come, let us get you to the healing room,” Joxar said, smiling mysteriously, “You have yet to recover from the demonic energy.”
I did not understand what he meant by those words, but it seemed that realization dawned on everyone, some looked at me pitifully while others ignored me, but they went on and proceeded with their own business.
We left the treasure hall, stepping outside, Joxar gave me the orb and said, “The principal expected that might be your reaction. He wanted to meet you if it happens, I hope you don’t mind.”
I shook my head, saying, “I want to meet the President to ask him something,” finished speaking, I bound the orb, absorbing it into my body. I then took out food to eat from my spatial ring while following him.
Walking through winding streets and half an hour later, we arrived at an archway. It was plain white and without any decorations, Joxar retrieved his badge and imbued what I assumed to be mana. It shone with a blinding light, condensing into a key that entered the archway, disappearing. Dense runic lines lit up, and a portal slowly formed.
Stepping inside the portal, we arrived at an office seemingly carved into a mountain, illuminated by flying butterflies. Shelves holding books with chains, seemingly caging them while scrolls littered the ground. A desk with an old man sitting behind it, two small bottles were placed on it, covered by a transparent membrane.
“Master, I have brought Miss Cassandra with me,” Joxar said, bowing.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Good work Little Joxar,” Principal Azahl said, “You can take your leave, I want to speak with the little girl alone”
“I understand,” Joxar said, handing him the mana bottle before leaving. President Azahl placed the bottle on a stone slab beside him, sinking and disappearing from view.
“I apologize for leaving you on your own without notice.” President Azahl said with an apologetic tone.
“I understand, it is not normal for a president to accompany someone during the test,” I replied, continuing, ”I wanted to ask if Kyra say anything before leaving.”
“No, she was waiting for you to finish your test, but upon receiving a message, she left in a hurry.” President Azahl said, his eyes narrowing.
Noticing his expression, I did not press the topic. As far as I remember, Kyra was a laidback person, something that will make her leave without even leaving a message must be serious.
“Miss Cassandra, we want to do a little test, hope you don’t mind,” a voice jolted me out of my reverie, “I already told Kyra about it and she agreed.”
I looked at President Azahl and noticed his smiling expression, a chill ran down my spine, giving me a foreboding sensation. Since Kyra agreed, I could not object. Forcing a smile, I said, “What kind of test does Principal Azahl want me to take part in?”
“It is very a simple one. You see, the bottle you were given is highly-concentrated pure mana, it is used by new students for rejuvenating the veins used to circulate mana due to its docile nature. It saves you quite a bit of time and helps you start taking mana pills earlier,” President Azahl explained, twirling his fingers, both bottles covered by the membranes floated in the air.
“There are two known types of mana, Pure and Demonic,” he said, “Pure mana is used by enlightened races, while Demonic are used by the Monsters and Demons, it also gives birth to them. Cases of enlightened races absorbing Demonic Mana are recorded, but I never saw one personally.
“Now, the reason for this is to determine the type of mana you are able to absorb. In case that you are able to absorb demonic mana, the academy will need to tailor a system to be able to develop you.”
“Tailor a system to me?” I asked, unsure of his meaning.
“You see, demonic energy gets purified during the usual alchemical concoctions as people cannot absorb them. So there only exists pure mana elixirs and pills in our inventory. If you are unable to absorb pure mana, then most of our current resources are going to be meaningless to you. Even if we disregard the elixirs since it’s only used at the beginning, we will need to concoct pills specifically for you.
“Thus, we need to confirm whether you can absorb pure mana or demonic mana and act accordingly,” Azahl said.
“I see,” I said, “Then what am I supposed to do?”
He said, “The blue bottle over here is pure mana, while the black bottle is the demonic mana. You will try absorbing pure and demonic mana. Whichever assimilates in your body will show what energy you can absorb.”
I couldn’t help but ask, “What if I can’t absorb both?”
“You will suffer to practice magic in this world. Let us not waste more time, try absorbing pure mana first.” Waving his hand, the membrane covering the blue bottle dissipated, landing on my hand.
My mouth twitched upon smelling the fragrance, clenching my teeth, I opened the bottle. A single drop of clear blue liquid exuding a fragrant scent appeared. I felt losing consciousness, biting my lips, I forced myself to stay awake.
I propped the bottle on my mouth and drank the drop of pure mana. The moment it traveled down my throat, I felt the world freeze. When I regained clarity, I saw President Azahl finger placed on my forehead, a drop of pure mana was surrounded by a membrane in his hand. It seemed as if it did not diminish in the least, I couldn’t help but look at it in horror.
“Drink this, it will calm you down,” Azahl sighed in relief seeing me awake, giving me a bottle with green-colored liquid. Taking a sip, it tasted like strawberries. I felt my whole body relax soon after.
I looked at the bottle and asked, “What is this liquid?”
“A special kind of juice,” he said, smiling.
I drank the whole bottle, letting out a contented sigh. Principal Azahl mouth was twitching seeing me gobble the entire bottle, but I did not care, it felt good seeing him like this.
Coughing, he said, “Now that you relaxed, it is time for you to test the demonic mana.”
“May I know what happened to me?” I asked, curious.
“Mana is similar to medicine; cure to some and poison to others. If you absorb mana that is not for you, you may die.” He said dismissively, “Let us begin,”
I felt uneasy because of his words, but seeing him waving his hand, I could only swallow my emotions. The bottle flew towards me and membrane disappeared, I held my breath expecting a pungent smell, only to find my blood boiling and my pores opening, seemingly meeting a long lost friend. Taking a whiff, I felt happy, it was a pleasant smell similar to flowers at full bloom.
I looked at Principal Azahl, only to find his expression ugly, as if somebody farted on his face. Pondering, I thought that maybe it was because we smelled the mana differently. I took the bottle and found a drop of dark liquid inside. Swallowing my saliva, I drank the contents in one go
A warm feeling spread through my veins, it did not last long. The moment it ended, a moan escaped through my lips, white colored gas seeping out from the corner of my mouth. Principal Azahl looked startled, but he soon nodded his head.
President Azahl said, “It is good that you are able to absorb demonic energy, else, it’d have been troublesome. There will, however, be periodic checkups on you to ensure that it is not bringing you harmful effects. I hope that you do not mind that.”
“Is it due to injury or something else?” I asked.
“Judging from how your body rejected the mana when you drank it, I would say no.” President Azahl continued, his eyes narrowing, “You have alot of similarities to monsters, you should be careful of those who follow the gods.”
I couldn’t help but ask, frowning, “Is there a reason for that?
“We can say, they do not welcome those with similarities to monsters.” He said, seemingly not wanting to discuss it further.
It was the second time I heard someone telling me to be careful of the followers of gods. I decided that I should read more about history during my stay at the academy.
I looked at President Azahl, asking, “I wanted to ask, why do you bother to care about me that much? I believe it is simply because of my potential, as I did not display anything yet.”
Scratching his head and smiling awkwardly, he said, “Kyra told us to take care of you, she’s extremely talented so nobody wants to get on her bad side.” Pausing here, he continued, “That does not mean that I do not believe in you. In fact, I am interested in seeing what you will become, someone who got Kyras’ attention.”
Since I came to the capital, Kyra has always been helping me and I yet to know why, feeling that I am in the dark about something important.
“Since Kyra valued you highly, we can not let you disappoint her, hence…”
“Hence?” I repeated.
“We created a schedule for you, it is a little bit tight compared to other students. Starting next week, you’ll have to follow it, lest you want to visit the disciplinary hall.” Saying the last part, a smile blossomed on his old face.
The corners of my mouth twitched, I felt that this old geezer was doing it on purpose. It wasn’t necessary at all to say the last part, but he did so intentionally.
“You’ll be receiving the schedule within the next few days, it will be sent directly to your room alongside a bottle of mana for your use.” he said, his smile growing wider, “Alright now, you can take your leave, Little Joxar is waiting for you outside.”
I looked at the president waving his hand, dismissing me. I felt frustrated, but in the end, I had to put up with his act. Took a deep breath and bowing, I left the room, meeting up with Joxar.
He was leaning on the archway, seeing me frustrated, he smiled, saying, “It is getting late so I’ll show the way to the dormitory. By now, you should be familiar with the academy so I won’t be accompanying you in the days to come.”
He then handed me a paper talisman, “If you want to contact me, use this talisman and I’ll sense your location. It takes about a week to recharge though, so use it only for serious business that you can’t handle.”
“I’ll try to use it as little as possible,” I said, storing it in my spatial ring.
“Come, let us get you to the girls' dormitory.” He said, taking the lead.
Following him, walked through the academy, arriving in front of a mansion situated beside a lake. He said that he should not go any further. Bidding farewells, he took his leave.
I looked at the mansion in front of me, knowing that it will be my home for the next couple of years, I walked and stepped into the mansion.