{Main Entrance, Mage Academy of Efthimia, Kingdom of Solovok}
The selection ceremony lasted until late into the afternoon. The sun was beginning to go down. If it were Earth, then I wouldn't hesitate to guess at least what time it was. However, the disadvantage of being summoned into a new world was that you couldn't take everything for granted. Thankfully, having some broken set of memories made it a bit easier to resolve some of those issues.
The sun, the primary star of this planet, is called the Solovok. Our kingdom was apparently named after it. The name is also synonymous with Life and Health. I looked at the pretty little ball of fire that should have a lot more to it in this world, considering it is a magical world.
"Hey!" Alex's shout interrupted my ramblings as he hurried behind me. I slowed down unconsciously, noticing that this small interaction had gathered quite some attention. With a quick sweep, I could tell who the guys who were keeping an eye on us right now were, without a doubt, members of the noble houses.
'Hmm, they already have an eye on him...' I thought as I replied to Alex, "Hey, how's your faction treating you?"
"Pretty good, actually. I already have a couple of friends, and there's this girl. I think she might have a thing for me," Alex grinned. His words caused me to stare at his face. From my memories, I know Alex was a little dumb, but not this dumb, surely, right?
"Well, that's good. Don't fall for her just yet, though. We have 4 years in the academy. Don't want to get tied down so soon, yeah?" I hinted. Hopefully, he'll be okay. A betrayal or two would make him wisen up quickly as well, and the earlier that happens, the better.
His story still didn't make sense to me. He's supposed to be the son of just another merchant from a small trading town. From the glimpses I had seen of his father, I saw that he was a trader who dealt with selling and buying weapons. That's how we initially met as he was browsing the wares in our family's shop.
'From what I can see, either he knows nothing about it, or he does not want to talk about it. In both cases, I might have to find the answers myself.'
"Alright, I'll see you in class tomorrow," Alex waved his hand as he walked over to the couple and to another group, the ones who were wearing red robes.
'Right, he chose Vulcan, right, the fire faction.' The faction system didn't make sense to me since a mix of different elements would surely perform better in a team. If you start by segregating students, then there might be a little difficulty in integrating opposing factions into a team.
In addition, there were 2 more kids in our batch with Tier-5 affinity. One of them joined the Wind Faction, also known as Aeirs, and the other joined the Water Faction.
As we arrived at an intersection of hallways, the group started getting thinned out. I followed behind one of the guys who was supposedly in charge of showing us the ropes. His name was Leon Nikolaos, and he was a second-year student at the Mage Academy. While quite a few of my classmates clamored to ask questions, I remained silent and listened to his explanations.
"So when do we learn magic?" A blue-haired boy asked.
"Tomorrow, though, it will take time for you guys to learn actual spells. First, you need to learn how to control your mana, and then you can focus on learning actual spells." Leon replied.
"Do we share classes with other factions? And if we do, we generally don't get along with any Faction?" A pink-haired girl asked. Her long hair seemed vaguely familiar.
"Normally, you would share a class with one or two other factions. As for friction between factions, it changes every year and depends on how the custodians like each other..." Leon hesitated for a bit before he added, "This year, our main opposition will likely be lightning. Not only is Earth a little weak to Lightning and Wind, but Custodian Grigoris and Custodian Dareia never got along with each other."
The topic then dissolved into more niche topics like food and other meaningless stuff, so I focused on my surroundings. Now that only Gaia members were around, I noticed that Leonidas and one of his lackeys were around me. I was somehow assimilated as a part of their group as we walked.
'Might as well see if I can get something out of it.'
"So-" I turned to Leonidas and asked, my voice lowered and my intent obvious, "-what level is your Earth Manipulation at?"
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
My question did seem to take him by surprise, as he raised an eyebrow and said, "Why do you want to know?"
"I already heard about the tier differences between our affinities, not to mention we have someone who is Tier 5 amongst us. What I want to know is the advantage before we even begin: what does a powerful background get you." I shrugged at the end, not wanting to seem too invasive.
Leonidas pondered over my question for a bit before he nodded, "Level 3. My Earth Manipulation skill is at level 3."
There was a brief pause in my footsteps before I resumed walking. I looked at the blond from the corner of my eyes and sighed, "If you have Level 3, then I'm assuming she is at Level 5...6?" I thought aloud.
"Well, it depends. If someone was there to teach her, then sure, she should be around Level 4 or 5. It also depends on how much natural mana she has and how much time she dedicates to practice," Leonidas replied. We shared a look before we turned back.
By the time our brief chat finished, I noticed the change in decoration. While most of the castle was covered in green frosted decorations, the theme slowly changed to brown as we turned around another hallway. The size of the castle meant that it would take quite some time for me to get used to it and not get lost, but at least from the decorations, I could tell that these dormitories belonged to the Gaia faction.
"Each of you will get a room unless you get appointed for a special role like the Custodians. Your room will not change throughout your stay in the academy, so you can freely decorate it as you like. However, any spells or runes classified above Tier-1 need to be reported to a professor. Anyone will do..." Leon spoke. He had been chattering about some mundane stuff before when he suddenly switched the conversation and returned to lecture mode.
"Each of you will have a name etched onto the door. The door is supposed to only open based on your mana signature. Your cloaks, dresses, and timetable will be in your room, along with anything you require. You are free to explore the castle as you want. Your only obligation is to reach your classes on time. Too many demerits would result in you being thrown out of the Academy." With that final ominous warning, Leon waved at us before he sank into the ground.
...
I blinked as everyone around me started oohing at the display of magic. Even after spending a whole day in a magical world, my first view of actual magic came from an upperclassman who was just a year ahead of me. While it was a little daunting, it also showed that if we try our hardest, then we might be able to do something like that in just over a year.
I walked away from the group as a couple of them started tapping their feet on the ground, trying to see if there was any trick to it. The hallway was long, with several rooms on both sides. Thankfully, it seems that the names were etched according to our order of acceptance in the faction, or it was by a complete coincidence, but my name was first.
My hand curled around the doorknob as I pushed the door open. The room was quite large compared to my dorm room in college. Considering that I was supposed to share even that small room with a roommate. It was prudent that we both rented a flat as soon as possible.
'This will do, though. There is plenty of space here... for doing something, I guess.'
I walked over to the only window in the room. The outside view was a lawn with grass and a small tree, and the sun was setting in the distance. 'Maybe I should stop referring to it as the sun, as it was called something else entirely in this world.'
The room had a basic theme, with wooden floors that looked clean, at least for now. The bed was quite large. A dim yellow luminous light came out of the ceiling above the bed, and there were lamps, five of them illuminating every corner of the room.
'That's interesting. Does this world have electricity? From Emilios's memories, all the lighting they had in the trading town were candles and oil lamps, but these look different.' My interest was aroused as I walked closer to one of them. It was a traditional lamp, with a white lamp shade, and the yellow color of the room was attributed to the glowing yellow crystal in the lamp.
'Interesting. So there is no electricity from what I can tell, but if the laws of physics remain the same, then I surely would be able to generate electricity if I wanted magnets rubbing together and whatnot.'
I had read the basics of physics in order to get into a good college. And while I was pretty sure I could create electricity by rotating a magnetic field and changing the flux on a conductor, storing said electricity was an entirely different matter. I had no working knowledge of batteries or capacitors that seemed applicable, so the whole research process and getting rich stuff in a new world would quickly become a dud.
'I might have to plagiarize something else for a quick buck.' My interest in the glowing crystal remained steady, but I refrained from tearing up the lamp.
'The room is not bad, the bed looks nice, there is a table for studies and a wardrobe. But where does that door lead to?' I moved toward the door, a quick push, and I walked into the small bathroom. There was what looked like a working shower, a toilet, a washbasin, and a mirror. Similar yellow lighting illuminated the room as it was etched onto the ceiling.
'Maybe a rune for light or something. It is better than wasting electricity, I guess.' I closed the door and walked back into the room. A sigh escaped me as I wanted nothing more than to fall onto the bed. The whole journey had been a little tiring. Plus, trying to act calm when I wanted to freak out a lot of the time hadn't helped, even though I have a lot better control over my emotions than from what I could remember.
Instead, I walked over to the lamp and looked for a switch. There was nothing in the front, and a twist revealed that it was the same on the back. I frowned as I picked the lamp up. My eyes took in a similar set of runes etched onto the bottom of the lamp, in a language I can't read and interact with, thus leaving me in quite a predicament.
'I can't turn these off, not without guaranteeing that they will not blow up or something...'
...