It was a long walk into the heart of province zero of the continent Lee thought. He had passed through town by town over the last 3 weeks. Sometimes able to hitch a ride on a horse cart, but often just forced to walk. His parents were only able to give him 3 gold coins to use on his trip. They were poor farmers and he was grateful for anything they could give him, but still it was barely enough for food.
Comfortable lodgings were rare on his journey and often he slept in the woods or in a barn. The morning before arriving to his final destination he changed into the only decent clothes he carried. He also took a swim in a nearby river so he would look presentable for the entrance exam. He was afraid if he looked too unkempt he might get turned away before ever given a chance.
The smell and dirt had come off and his clothes looked in good shape though slightly worn. He knew he would look out of place with those nobles, but once in the academy he would get to wear uniforms like all the rest and receive free food and room. The continent paid for it all and was happy to do so.
They wanted to nurture young wizards to strengthen themselves against other sections of the continent. but most of all out of fear of a 2nd demon invasion. It's true the demons took very great loses during the first invasion but the scars from that still existed in the hearts of those old enough to remember.
He went through his pockets and found only 3 silver coins left. In this world it is important to note 1 gold coin is worth 10 silver coins and 1 silver is worth 10 copper coins. It was enough for a decent meal so he stopped at a nearby inn to sit down and order a delicious dish of spiced boar soup. It cost a full silver coin but it was worth it.
Soon with his stomach full he stepped out and looked at the clock tower at the very top of the huge academy. It was 30 minutes before noon. He'd better get in line and register himself. As he got in line behind other commoners such as himself he was perhaps still one of the worst dressed in the bunch.
As he stood waiting to speak to the guard up at the front by the large metal gate, a beautiful red headed noble girl, in one of the most beautiful and expensive blue dresses he had ever seen, walked out of a carriage and slowly went to the front of the line.
“Hey, no cutting!” Someone in front of him yelled
"Nobles don't need to wait on the likes of you! If you don't like it, leave!" The guard came up to him and yelled.
The young voice didn't speak up again. It was so quiet after that he could even hear the girl at the front of the line.
"Name, Age and former school?" the guard asked more politely than he did to anyone else so far.
"Mary Saint Cloud, 16, Great Arts Jr. Academy" The girl answered.
"Nothing less from a Saint Cloud! The great hall is right there; your test will begin soon" the guard told her. She walked away without saying anything else or looking back.
This was not a single occurrence. More and more nobles arrived now and simply were moved to the front of the line. Most of them were either from the Great Arts Jr, Academy, The Phoenix Jr. Academy or the Dragon Jr. Academy. A few of the nobles were from none of these but listed famous magic tutors and were ushered in.
Some nobles were kind but many were rude and entitled. The worst of all was a tall skinny black haired youth by the name of David Rain. He went so far as to push a commoner out of his way who didn't move fast enough for him. The guards didn't say anything but it was clear they found that unusual.
Soon it would be his turn to see the guards at the front. The requirements to get into the school were simple. You just had to pass the test they assigned and be 16 or younger. You also had to reside in the 0 territory. The continent use to have 10 territories 0-9. However 9 and 8 were now behind the barrier and completely cut off even from being able to see what was going on inside.
So for now only 0-7 existed and each had their own magic school for advanced youngsters. Soon it was River's turn.
"Name, age and former school?" The guard said giving him a dismissive look over.
"Lee River, 16, No magic school or teacher in the registry."
"Okay, in that case go to the training area, Next!" the guard didn't even bother to look at him again. He just pointed in the direction of the training area and moved on.
He noticed the nobles were taken to the great hall while most of the commoners were motioned to the training area on the other side of the school. He walked through the doors and took his seat. Beside him sat a smaller boy with glasses, blond hair and a nervous look about him. He fidgeted for a while nervously.
"Hey, any guess why they told us to come here?" the boy finally turned to asked Lee.
"They probably want to test us separate from the nobles before the main test. I assume they figure it will speed it up and most of us won't pass in any case." Lee sank back in his chair tilting his head back and closing his eyes. He said this still leaning back and not moving.
"Another test? That lowers our odds of passing even more!" The young boy beside him fretted He buried his head in his hands. Lee could tell this boy was the type to not have confidence in himself.
"I don't think so. It probably won't be that difficult and if you have the talent to pass the other test this one is likely just an extra pain to deal with but doesn't decrease you chances" Lee said.
"I suppose so. I'm Derrick Hill by the way the way. What's your name?" The boy looked a little more revealed and he held his hand out to shake.
"Lee River, pleased to meet you!" Lee smiled for the first time since he got in line for this place and shook his hand. Lee liked how all the commoners had practical last names about actual real world things. He felt it gave them more weight than fancy noble names.
The idea long ago was thought that commoners should have names that signify the world they live in. They can't touch the high above nobles. Nobles tended to have names like Sun, Cloud or Eagle; generally anything high above the land. The practice was old and nobles no longer controlled everything in the continent they were still rich and powerful existences. Most of them still thought little about commoners and there was little the commoners could do about it. River and Hill talked more until it appeared everyone was here and the test was ready.
"Okay” the teacher said “first I would like to welcome you all to the Academy and wish you the best of luck. For those of you who don't know; the entrance ceremony of the academy consists of 2 test. The written and the match tournament. You need to score an average of above 45 between the 2 test to pass. Of course only the top 100 in the matches get points. The highest gets 100, the 2nd highest 99 and so on.
The top 10 in the matches will pass of course no matter what but we do want our students to do their best and not slack on the test even if sure of their strength! That being said you can still enter the school if the head master believes you showed sufficient magical talent in the matches and got a 90 on the test or higher! It is tough but very possible.
However, before we get to all that we want to do just a quick little magic test find if you have a sufficient magic ability; so we know you are not completely defenseless at the matches. Please one by one quickly come up to this orb and cast a level 1 elemental spell and touch it. If it glows you can move on to the other 2 test. If not, we will thank you for your trouble but ask you to leave. We have no time to waste so let’s begin immediately".
She immediately pointed to the people in the front. They came up one by one and had 10 seconds to cast a spell that reached level 1 grade magic. Lee saw why they did this test. Many of these people could do magic but it wasn't often even powerful enough to be grade 1. Many must have studied as best they could but came here with mostly just hopes and dreams.
It was failure after failure. However, a few did pass. A cute looking brown haired girl, he thought he heard her name was Clover when in the line. A young boy named Root and another girl named Meadows. He guessed there were 9 failures or more for every 1 that passed about; maybe less. He saw Hill sitting next to him and his nerves were worse than ever.
"You can't get all nervous. It only makes it harder to do magic." River told him. Hill heard his words and calmed his heart.
"Which of the elements are you best at? Wind, Earth, Fire, Lightning or Water?" Lee asked.
"Water" Hill replied.
"Good, now just picture in your mind the stillness of a lake of water. Be calm and flexible like it in your thoughts. I can sense a good level of magic in you. Just relax and you will do fine” Lee told him.
"You can sense magic?" Hill looked at him strangely. River realized he said something strange it seems. Rivers thought a moment of what to say next.
"I mean, I have the feeling you are a strong magic user is all, haha" he lied. Suddenly only those at the back were left. Hill was pointed at to come up first. River sitting next to him would be next.
Hill calmed down and touched the orb with 1 hand and the other he held in the air. River saw the water start to appear swirling. To others it appeared like the water just begin existing from nothing. River however saw the familiar pull that existed around magic. Of space and substance in the air being sucked in and transformed into water. The Orb showed .75, .83 .96 then 1.04 and even went up all the way to 1.45.
"Well done, one of our best scores today!" The teacher gave him a pat on the back. Hill looked relieved. Next she pointed to River. He put his hand on the orb. He didn't raise his other hand but left it by his side. No one else did this. The people who were left who passed started to chuckle as well as those yet to take the test. It just looked so silly.
"Would you like to raise your hand in the air young man?" The teacher asked.
"Why should it matter where my hand is?" The teacher was a bit stunned by Lee's comment. Most everyone naturally raised their hand up or away when using magic. River decided to summon wind magic. He got a scratch on his ear and took his hand off the orb to get at it.
"There will be no extra time stalling. I suggest you get your hand back on the orb." The teacher said in an annoyed voice. River simply put his hand back on the orb once he was done and it read 1.00 and held there steadily.
The teacher was surprised. River had gathered the power of wind, she could tell, but this is all he could do? Yes, it was passing but just barely. By his side she saw a fairly feeble wind element swirling. It appeared well below level 1 and weak but the orb made no mistakes.
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"Okay, you pass, over there with the others" she ordered.
He walked over and sat down. Soon it was over and after the hundreds of commoners who showed up only 24 passed. River had the lowest score of them all. They were told to go to the great hall with the nobles who were admitted in already. It was clearly assumed this would be not needed for the nobles but River wondered if all of them would be able to do level 1 element magic, probably not.
"Don't worry what anyone says! Passing is passing and that is all the matters. Once in the academy we will all be the same." On the way the the hall Hill tried to cheer him up. He was happy now having finished as one of the best. River's instinct on him was correct. He clearly was a good person who didn't look down on anyone.
Once in the hall all 500 of the students were welcomed and told how glad the teachers were to have them here. They were told that if they didn't pass the entrance examine, but they showed well here, the teachers would give them a recommendation for one of the other less elite magic schools in area zero. He wished them all the best and then had guards hand out test to every student in the hall.
The test had 10 questions on it about magic each worth 10 points. River was very confident there was not a single issue he would have with this. That was until he saw the test. He realized not a single question made sense to him.
He looked over question 1. An attacker 50 away is summoning a level 5 fire Golem with level 3 water resistance. How powerful of a water spell should you summon to counter it?
That simply made no sense. No one would summon a Fire Golem or any Golem of high grade 50 feet away from you. Summoning is one of the most time consuming spells to cast and uses a lot of mana. Surely you should just run up and attack them before it is summoned to conserve mana right? He thought to himself. There was no way that was not the right thing to do. He wrote it down.
He was the first to hand in his test with all 10 questions answered and did so in 10 minutes. This made the teachers very curious and excited. When they reviewed his test they shot him dirty looks. Many thought he was a waste of time and just made up answers cause he couldn't answer the question properly. How could this student not prepare for such an illustrious exam?
After everyone handed in the test results were posted. Very few managed to score 100 but a few names he recognized were Eagle, Cloud, and Clover among a few others. Hill looked to have gotten 9 of 10 securing his spot in the academy. Most got 8 or 7 with a few with 6 and 5. 4 Was thought to be extremely bad and embarrassing. No one here got a 3 2 or 1.
Only River got a 0 and everyone whispered about it. They all thought it was a joke and he simply should not have shown up just to embarrass himself. To pass he would now have to finish in the top 10, obviously lacking knowledge about magic.
The top 10 were almost always held by high born nobles. Only very rarely would a commoner get a spot. The passing depends on the average points between your match ranking and test; no one has ever passed before scoring less than a 5 of 10 on the written test. Most of the people who scored that low are very bad at magic though perhaps a few were just horrible at taking test and were nervous.
The principle of the school told them the matches would now begin. Obviously they would need to be held in various spots as there were near 1000 to get to. The top matches would be held in the training room which was now being turned into a grand hall so spectators could watch. A few of the top ranked tested students got a bye to make the matches single elimination.
All the students who got all 10 questions right were able to get a bye, Hill also got one luckily. The rest of the students would start their matches immediately by random draw. Generally a teacher took 32 students and had them fight in a tournament in one of the smaller training rooms. The winner would then move on and the fight in the main matches. A few notable nobles were in his group and it was assumed one would rise up from that bunch. The teacher named Leaf told all the students to come with him to a training room.
"Okay!" He said "My name is Peter Leaf. Welcome to the training matches. Let’s get through this as quickly as possible. Waiting is one of my dislikes. Just do your best even if you don't think you can win. I'll be watching and taking notes so do your best and it could impress me." With that he pointed to River and another student who was also a commoner. River assumed he wanted him out of this as fast as possible but didn’t want to give him an opponent who would be too dangerous.
"You two get into the ring. Listen to the rules everyone cause I will only say it once. Repeating myself is one of my dislikes. You may use any magic you wish to beat your opponent. The only issue is no killing is allowed. If we believe you are trying to do so I'll stop you and you'll be disqualified and expelled immediately! The fight is over if I rule it is or the other person gives up or is knocked out. Don't worry, every one of the teachers instructing the matches can use healing magic.”
He stopped to see if there would be any questions. No one had any so he simply stepped out of the ring and pointed to the River and his opponent.
"Begin!" Leaf said. He was looking closely waiting to stop the match once River was in trouble.
River's opponent looked at him and smiled thinking this was just as good as a bye. He began to summon fire element. Once you summoned magic you had to mold it by chanting a spell and then you could cast it. The higher the level and the more control and focus of mind you had the more power the spell you could summon.
"Oh fire of the dragon! I ask thee, give me your mighty fire bolt so I may dispatch thy enemy and AUGHF-" he was soon falling to the ground. As the student was focused on chanting his spell River ran across the short ring and simply punched him in the face. It was a pretty hard punch too. Did he cast some kind of spell on his hands?
"No fair! Hey teacher, he hit me!" the student complained. The teacher didn't say anything but just looked on a bit amused and gave out a laugh.
"No fair? This is a fight. Are you serious? The teacher said we can use magic to fight. He didn't say we had to. If you plan use that long incantation with only 20 feet between us and leave yourself wide open then how am I not supposed to hit you?" River said standing over him.
"Hey, is this legal?" The commoner said looking to the teacher.
"Well, I didn't say it wasn't strictly... going by the rule it's about who wins the fight in the end. Most people just use magic cause it is more powerful but you don't have to I suppose. Also, you should be looking at your opponent, he was kind enough to stop but the match is still ongoing" Leaf said.
"You cheating son of a ARFGH-!" the student tried to say to before River struck him again.
"Give up, I don't want to hurt you but I am not going to lose either” River said while kicking him on the ground.
"Oh fire of the Drag-" the student was punched again and again trying to say his long spell. Finally he tried to hit back but it was easily blocked and countered. He was beaten and bleeding on the floor
"Okay! I give up!"
"River advances! Let this be a lesson to all of you. Just because you use magic, your opponent may not. Be it sword, arrows, fist, rocks or a pillow, the fight is decided by who wins. Be careful before you decide to use a spell and remember your enemy will not care how you want to fight or what kind of fight you consider fair" Leaf instructed the other students.
With this River took a seat and relaxed. He looked at his fist and saw a few bruises and figured it would be good to wrap it for the next match. He had no idea if his opponent would leave himself so open, but he didn't want to hurt his hands if he could take advantage again.
Soon the other matches were over and there were 16 students left. River was picked to fight again this time against a noble. He stepped into the ring and the noble had a bitter smile on his face.
"You cheating bastard. At least you made my job easier. I'm not going to fall for your dirty tricks” the student told him with smug confidence. River simply stretched in the ring and waiting for the start of the match.
"Begin" the teacher said. The noble quickly backed up and summoned earth magic. He gave a short chant
"Oh earth I ask thee, show your might!" Earth was then formed and made into a ball shape and shot at River.
River dodged to the left. Again the noble used the same spell. His idea was keep a distance and use a quick spell so River would not dare close the gap. River knew this spell and the issue with it. It was fast but it was simple. Once launched the earth could not change directions. Summoning earth was one of the more mana intensive spells as it was so solid and heavy.
Generally one should use earth for defense though it can be powerful offensively in the right situations. He continued to dodge and soon the floor was covered in dirty and rock. Mana is energy in the human body mixed with your spiritual awareness of magic in nature. There are no free rides. Magic just like running is a form of spending energy. Everything must come from something.
He remembered all the running he was made to do. He thought he would go insane and hated every second of it. However he knew without energy there is no magic. Dodging a few paces here and there was easier than casting a spell.
"You Damn cockroach. All you can do is dodge." The student said this breathing hard and tired. River decided he had a great chance now to attack. He ran straight at his opponent.
"You think I'm too weak to cast my spell? You fool!" He cast his spell at River again.
To this point River has dodged only to the left and right. This time he dodged below and picked up a rock throwing it towards his opponent. His opponent was stunned that River threw the rock. The teacher was alarmed. This was very dangerous. His opponent put his hands in front of his head to block. The rock didn't connect. It sailed past him. He moved his arms away from his eyes.
"Owe my eyes! I'm blind!" The student yelled. River had dirt in his other hand and tossed it into his opponents eyes the moment he left his arms down.
"Think carefully before you use a spell. If your opponent is clever he will use it against you" River told him.
"You commoner scum!" the noble yelled. He cast his spell again where he heard River's voice but he only heard it cut air. River knew he might do that so moved right after speaking.
"Commoner scum?" River asked. He didn't ask his opponent to yield this time. With a right hook he knocked his opponent out cold.
The teacher was speechless. Perhaps 1 match without using magic but 2? He declared River the winner. As the arena was being cleaned up he walked up to him.
"Well that was interesting River. I just want to check, you can use magic right?" Leaf asked.
"Of course, I had to pass the magic test to get in right?" River laughed.
"So why didn't you use it? Did you not think it would work or it was too weak?" Leaf asked him.
"Well, it's hard to say what magic is strong and what is weak. It's all relative really when you think about it. If you are asking if I think I could have beaten my opponents with magic then yes. As for why I have not; magic requires mana. Dodging and hitting requires less and frankly a lot of students here don't seem to understand that even as a wizard you must be prepared for any and all attacks. An arrow can kill you just as much as a powerful spell" River stated flatly.
"So you're doing it for their benefit?" Leaf asked.
"If it benefits them that is good. That is not my main concern though. I simply want to win and move on and study here to see what I can learn." River answered.
The matches continued. He had equally strong if not stronger opponents in the next 2 fights. They were aware he liked to hit and use close combat to fight; even knowing that they seemed to have no answer for his attacks. He made the boy in his 3rd match give up after beating him up and the girl he made her give up after putting her in a submission hold.
It was now the final match until they got to the main event. This was a very well-known noble and the one everyone thought would come out of this tournament as the one to represent this group. He had won easily so far with overwhelming and quick magic. He disdained the way River had won and planned to humiliate him badly before he let him forfeit.
"You think you can win without using magic this time?" The match started and River after observing his opponents matches decided to run directly at him. The arrogant noble by the name of David Rain laughed as Lee ran towards him.
"Probably I can" Lee said.
The noble began to summon his lightning element. It can strike fast and is powerful but you must be precise to use it as the area it hits is small and is easy to miss without good control. Right before he was about to cast his lightning right into River he felt his foot slip.
Something was pushing against and pushing it forward. He was being taken off balance and fell on his back. His lighting magic flew out of his hand and up towards the ceiling. River struck him on the ground and he was soon spitting blood.
"How? what happened? Did you get someone to cheat for you from behind?" David asked.
“Just cause an opponent is in front of you doesn't mean the attack will come from there. Yes, magic must come from my body but if I just use a little misdirection it is easy to make it slip behind me and go below the ring and pop up behind you. Wind magic can be very hard to see if you don't look carefully. That was your mistake."
"Impossible! I would have heard you cast it! You did it before the match! That's cheating." He kept spitting up blood.
"In a real fight an opponent won't just do things in front of you. They might have prepared something beforehand; it is good to keep that in mind. That being said; I didn't cast this before the match. It was cast before I ran to you. I simply didn't use a chant to do so" Lee told him.
"What, no chant?" David was shocked.
"Correct, chants exist to help the mind focus the spell. Strictly speaking, they aren't needed if one focuses correctly." Soon his opponent gave up. The teacher was in shock. Not many can cast a spell without chanting. Particularly not young wizards like these often.
He could only do it for a few spells himself and he was one of the most powerful wizards at this school. This also made him one of the most powerful wizards in the zero province.
"Well, this might be an interesting freshman class after all." Leaf smiled to himself and said quietly