Another stupid teleport. Well, better than walking by foot I guess.

Night shook his head. What's with magicians and teleporting? I mean, I know it's fast and all, but can't they make portals where we can see where we're go-

He stared forward. Oh shit.

It was massive. No, massive wasn't the right word.

Gargantuan.

Before him lay a polished white-stone bridge, shimmering under the sun as it disappeared into the dark crevasses of a pair of looming gates. Did I see those in a postcard before? In the distance, a towering castle rose high, its spires stretching into the sky like antennas to heaven. Each of the five towers loomed large, almost like they refused to let the landscape show it's own beauty.

"You made it!"

Spinning around, Night saw Art shooting up off a nearby bench and leaping towards him. "Oh hey!" He made it? Of course he did. He's definitely not evil. Right?

He cleared that thought out of his mind. Nah, he's not. "What is this place?" He glanced at the edifice. No way that-

Art gave him the 'what the heck?' look. "Mate, that's Valour!"

Night looked at the castle, then to Art, then back at the towering structure. "...Nah."

Art threw his hands up. "Yessir! Jeez, being here in person is AWESOME! Y'know, sometimes when I look at massive buildings like this my heart beats really fast for no reason, but it stops really fast so-"

Night flicked his gaze toward Art. "You mean palpitations?"

Art stared blankly. "Palpa... Yeah! Yeah, that."

Night couldn't move. He had heard about places like these where the super-rich went to study, but he had thought those pictures were just false adverts to get more people to pay up. How much magic did it take to make... "But seriously. What kind of school is big?!"

His friend rolled his eyes. "First, it's an academy. Not a school. Schools are for no-magics. What were you studying at your old-"

"Economics."

"...What?"

Night turned away. "I was studying economics at my old school. Also a bit of literature. And some math. Y'know, regular stuff. But mainly economics." He sighed. "Well, before it got blown up."

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It took a full ten seconds for Art to process this information and run back to Night, who had walked quite a distance away. "Wait, so you're telling me, you've never studied magic-"

"Nope."

"What about combat? Surely-"

"Nada."

"Weapon handling?"

Night threw a look at him. "Weapon handling? Doesn't that fall under combat?"

Art rushed in front of him. "So... Y-you're telling me... You're going to the most prestigious, competitive, biggest-" He pointed, "Academy in the continent, and you haven't been in a fight before?"

Night flashed a sad smile. "Well, my brother used to beat me up a lot so-"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!"

Night winced and tilted his head this way and that. "Eh... Effectively, yeah."

Art took a deep breath. "Okay... Okay. Well- Yeah, I guess... Maybe you could get away with being a... Scribe? No combat for you, definitely. I mean your magic type... Oh yeah, there's that too. Hopefully... Perhaps..."

Night just stared the whole time. "Are you okay?" I think I broke him.

"Yeah! Just thinking." Art shook his head. "Anyway, about your magic type, what did you get? Okay, first, what took you so long?" Art changed his tone. "I saw a massive queue behind the reader you were at."

"Well, the statue was..." Night coughed. "Broken."

"Broken?" Art gaped. "What d'ya mean 'broken'? They're literally living things!"

"Are they?" After seeing the other's furious nodding, Night turned around and continued to walk down the endless bridge. I hate it when they make long-ass bridges like this. "Well, it just, um, stopped working."

Art threw his hands into the air, opened his mouth, closed his mouth, waved his hands about, before shaking his head and following Night. "Okay. Well, what magic type are you?" Art was beaming. "I'm a creation user!"

"Creation?" It was Night's turn to be perplexed. He paused, confusion knitting his brow as he gazed ahead. A creature soared in the sky, its massive wings rivalling the size of the castle walls themselves. Was it a dragon? He couldn't tell.

The beast danced through the air, spiralling around the towering spires, diving sharply before climbing again in a graceful arc. So... Nobody's gonna say anything?

"It's self explanatory." Art walked a bit faster to get in front of Night, before walking backwards so he could face the no-magic. "Creation lets you, uh, make things!"

Didn't really answer my question. "Like, what kind of things?"

"Y'know, walls, swords, stairs, anything! But the bigger the item, the more energy it takes, obviously." He looked about, before sliding closer to Night. "My parents were kinda expecting this, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah! My grandfather was a creation user, my mom's a creation user, so we kinda figured it would get passed down or something."

"So your dad also had magic?" Night wondered. But this doesn't make any sense! If neither of my parents had magic... How did I get anything? Well don't know that yet, but... "I mean, neither my parents were-"

"What?" Art chuckled. "No, my father doesn't have magic. He's a regular guy."

"What does he do?"

"My dad was a toolmaker!" Art replied. "So anyway, what did you get?"

Seems normal enough. Night shrugged. "No idea."

"Ha! Ha ha..." Art faltered. "You're messing with me, right?"

"Mm, no, actually. They literally said I have to ask the damn-"

Art's finger shot up. "Language!"

"-Teachers what type I am."

Art stopped short in front of him. "So let me get this straight."

"Yeah?"

"No knowledge of magic."

"Yeah."

"No combat training."

"Yeah."

"No magic type, yet. And even if you get one, it's probably something you can't use to help you because all the other kids here are more experienced than you."

Night shrugged. "Well, yeah. But there's over two hundred documented magic types, and the vast majority are combat-based, or orientated, so maybe I'll get one that helps me get through this-"

"You're so cooked."

"...Yeah."