Chapter 6 - Magic Academy Test

As I have mentioned before, everyone in my army can cast magic with Leon as the only exception. But among my army, these 5 with me excel by a large margin in magic casting. So I decided I will also allow them to register at the Magic Academy together with me.

After we arrive at the Magic Academy, I immediately go into noble only designated registration, pay the registration fee, and wait until my name gets called.

Next, we are called into a small tent where there is a crystal ball placed in front of the examiner.

“Mr. Emilio Stadford and his escort? Please put your hand on the crystal ball”

Touch the crystal ball, eh? Is this perhaps the affinity detector magic item? I never tested my affinity so this will be a surprise.

I touched the crystal ball and the crystal ball started to flash in rainbow color and finally stopped at black.

Just pitch black.

“Uh, Mr. Emilio Stadford, congratulations, you have a pure darkness affinity”

Eh? Pure darkness? But why can I still cast magic from the other elements? This is troublesome, There were no in-depth studies about the darkness element back on Earth. I only know that darkness is just a condition where light is absent.

And the darkness element is also infamous as one of the darkness element's most well-known studies is the school of necromancy. Fortunately, I heard that the Magic Academy does not put prejudice towards those with darkness affinity which is a relief.

Although I am dumbfounded, I still move away to let my followers check their affinity too. I can somewhat guess their affinity from their favorite magic. It should be water, light, nature, and 2 earth.

“Congratulations, earth affinity”

“Congratulations, light affinity”

“Congratulations, nature affinity”

“Congratulations, ice affinity”

“Congratulations, metal affinity”

Eh? Ice and metal affinity? I heard from my magic teacher who only taught me the basic mana training and some magic knowledge that Ice and metal is like the advanced form of the basic elements which are water and earth. And if I have to nitpick, nature should also be an advanced form of a basic element but it somehow becomes a basic element here. Well, who cares which one is basic, and which one is advanced, one just needs to use them correctly.

“Hahaha, someone with darkness affinity? He should just quit while he can. Darkness is useless if he does not learn necromancy, but if he does, the church won’t let him live. Although I have to admit that he is quite capable of finding servants”

Oh well, here comes an antagonistic young master.

“Hahaha, why did I hear someone with mouth affinity? He just needs to keep his mouth shut and he won’t get into too much trouble”

“What did you say you filthy darkness user”

“I see. Someone with mouth affinity but lacks brain and ear affinity. Do I need to remind you that we are still in the entrance test? Stop making troubles if you still want to enter”

“You… Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care. Everyone, let’s go to the next test without wasting our time”

“You will regret this”

I just ignore him and leave. It's just another fat blonde guy with an ugly face because he is fuming from my insult. He also brought 3 lackeys with him who also tried to defend their master but the fatty stopped them and only glared at me while I went to the next test area.

I already commanded my followers to stay silent to avoid trouble. I want to avoid trouble too, but I think letting others mock me openly like this is bad so I retaliate. I need to show some dignity to my followers after all. It is hard to be a leader.

Well, I'll just leave that matter behind and focus on the next test.

I arrive at the next test which is located in a training ground. I can see some dummies set on the opposite side and there are 5 examiners sitting on the side.

I can see one of the examinees is casting fireballs at the dummies. His magic is quite weak. He might still be a tier 1 mage. But the examiners are passing him so I guess the test is not that difficult.

That blonde fatty seems to be finished checking his affinities and going this way. He still seems to be unable to let go of that small altercation before as he still glares at me. Sigh, I just came and already got someone troublesome having his eyes on me.

Not long after my turn to take the practical test comes.

“Mr. Emilio Stadford, darkness affinity. Please destroy the dummy with your magic”

Destroy? The students before me can get a pass even when their magic just barely hit the dummy and this examiner told me to destroy it? Well, not a problem though. I am not a tier 3 mage for nothing.

I casually cast a condensed spinning fireball to the dummy.

BOOM!

Whoops, I put too much power into it. The adjacent dummies also got destroyed by the explosion. Now what is the verdict?

“No Mr. Emilio Stadford, you have darkness affinity. You must use darkness magic to destroy the dummy”

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“Isn’t casting magic from another element besides your affinity considered to be harder? And isn’t most darkness magic just meant for control, not for destruction?”

“Do not question me! Do what I have told you or I will declare you failing the test!”

And here I got another antagonistic teacher. What the heck dude, did I owe you money or what?

I look at the other examiners but they don’t give much reaction. It seems that they just adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

I’m in trouble. I don’t know any darkness element magic. As far as I know, in most fantasy stories that I’ve read, darkness magic is mostly only for control purposes. There are curse magic series like blind, weakness, and slow. There are also mind magic series like terror, fear, and domination. All the attack magic that I know is mostly using darkness like a physical object to hurt others.

Yeah, just like that ninja using his own shadow to physically bind and hurt his enemies or that blind assassin using his shadow to form blades, spears, and drills to fight. That blind assassin can also cover his own body with his shadow to fly for a while. Well, thanks for the inspiration I guess. Gotta return to the basics.

“Why are you staying still? Quickly destroy the dummy with your darkness magic!”

“Darkness magic is useless anyway. Why don’t you just declare him failed in the test instructor?”

Oh, mouth element fatso is here again. Here goes nothing then.

I lift my right arm at the dummy and my shadow starts to elongate toward it. Success! Thankfully my basic mana training is good enough to control my shadow. Good. Reach the dummy, my shadow!

I have pictured it in my mind. My shadow will reach the dummy and then bind it. Then I will strengthen the bind to crush the dummy. Easy-peasy.

My shadow finally reaches the dummy and it is about to bind it. But on contrary to my command, it is not my shadow that goes up to bind the dummy. Instead, tentacles started to come out of my shadow and smacked the dummy.

SMASH!

“Impossible!”

“That is intermediate-level magic!”

“Using his own shadow as a medium to cast melee range magic. That is an interesting concept”

Now the other examiner starts to give out comments. Well, even I am surprised by a sudden tentacle. Just act normal, getting in the school is my main objective now.

“So, how is that, examiners? I have destroyed the dummy with my darkness magic. I should get a pass now, right?”

“It is indeed a worthy show of magic. You pass young students”

“He cheated! There’s no way a 15-year-old kid could cast an intermediate magic like that!”

“Did I cheat? Examiner, that is a slander. If you are saying that I am cheating then what is the proof? I can accuse you of slandering a noble”

“You!”

“That is enough, instructor Boris, this man here is a tier 3 magician already in his age. He is far more than sufficient to become our student. He could even be a teacher here if he wants to”

“But he did not use any chant in his magic. And the way he cast his magic is also unorthodox. I suspect that he is connected to the demons”

“Excuse me but instructor, do you have a personal grudge against me? The students before me were judged in quite a flexible manner but you got so strict with me. It’s like you are purposely aiming for me. Are you jealous of me? Is this how the magic academy does their things?”

“You!”

“Instructor Boris! That is enough. And you too young man, it would be best for you if you tone down your accusation towards the academy. You just entered adulthood but are already talented like this. We from the magic academy would definitely be happy to accept you as our student.”

“Thank you, instructor. And I am very sorry for my slip of the tongue. I am still an inexperienced youth that needs guidance after all”

“Accepting that you are making mistakes is the first step in bettering yourself. I hope you can become a great magician in the future”

“Thank you again for the guidance instructor. I will have my leave then”

I walk to the accepted door and wait there a while for my followers. I ignored the antagonistic instructor and the fatso. I have other more important matters to deal with after all. Namely my curse.

My followers also pass the test with flying colors. They are close to becoming tier 2 mages after all. Even the one with light affinity could melt the dummy with concentrated sunlight magic. For the metal affinity one, he just borrowed weapons from the other 4 and controlled those to destroy the dummy.

Maybe I should explain a bit about the difference in magician tier. Tier 1 is when someone manages to cast magic. Tier 2 is just a stronger version of tier 1. Tier 3, like myself, could cast intermediate magic in theory. I guess we can dish more magic in our output which is the requirement of intermediate magic. And then there’s tier 4.

There are a total of 10 known tiers in both magician and knight classes. And with every 3 tier increase, people will enter a new realm. Tier 1 to tier 3 is beginner realm, 4 to 6 is intermediate realm, and 7 to 9 is master realm. The last tier, tier 10, is more of a myth nowadays as no one knows whether it is possible to reach it or not.

I still don’t know much about the details of the rest of the tier beyond tier 3. But I heard that starting tier 4, mages could use mana shields and in tier 7, mages could fly. That’s all.

Yes, I don’t have much information regarding mages. Even the private tutor that my family hired for me was just an apprentice back then. And that tutor only teaches me the basics. He didn’t even teach me how to cast magic.

According to him, it is bad for children to be taught magic because their body is still too weak. The perfect time for someone to learn magic is when they reach 15 years old. So before they reach adulthood, they can only learn the basics to strengthen their foundation.

Well, what he said is acceptable logically so I didn’t rush to learn magic immediately but I started to strengthen my foundation first. Mana sense, mana control, and my own body. There are stories that say hyperfocusing only on one aspect like in online games is impossible. Real life needs balance and you need to be able to play multiple roles unlike in MMO games.

Anyway, all of us got accepted in the end. The instructor responsible for delivering the news also told us that we can get a dorm inside the academy and that the academy would start next month which is a week from now.

I rejected the dorm because I already have my private home but I ask my followers to register for a dorm. It was just a whim. They might get a nice dorm mate and can become good friends. Who knows? And if their dorm friends turn out to be assholes, they can stay back in my villa.

This world's aging system is like Korea. You will have your birthday in spring. So technically, I was already 15 last year but because of the system, I can only become 15 by spring. Most of the academies in this world also take advantage of this system and set their new student recruitment to be around that time.

So yeah, this month and next month will be the recruitment time. Transportation in this world takes a long time after all so most academies will tolerate 1 month in case any of the new students are still stuck on the road.

Now that we have succeeded in entering the magic academy, I can start wondering about some troubles that surfaced during the test.

First of all, that tentacle came out on my 2nd try in the practical test. Wasn’t that the tentacles from the inside of the black stone? Am I still under the influence of that wannabe god? Well, I can’t really answer this. But as I am now a student at the magic academy’s student, I might be able to answer that question. And the way to do that is by reading the books in the library!

It is time to gather more information about magic. We still have a week so plenty of free time. My army won’t accept me helping them work and I also don’t feel like that is the correct thing for me to do. My responsibility is to get more knowledge so I can deal with any situations that could happen.

My 5 fellow students will also join me in going to the library. They will focus on different things according to their affinity. It is good that I can divide some labor.

Other than that is the people antagonistic to me.

The blonde fatso might not be a big deal but at least I need to know who he is and what family he came from. So I know how far I can go when retaliating against him.

The dangerous one would be that instructor. If the fatso was just an arrogant boy, this instructor seems to have his agenda for antagonizing me. And the only thing that might be the reason for him doing that… is only because I subjugated the bandit group. Nothing other came to mind.

Although there’s a chance that because I have darkness affinity or because I am a Stadford, the chance for that is slim.

We might need to watch for him. Time for Jane to work I guess.

Might as well hit the books immediately. Who knows what I might find there.