It had been two weeks since Ren and the party had meet and they had finally reached their destination. During that time the four of them had slowly came together as a group and eventually friends. Two weeks of traveling together, far from and town or city and battling monsters and beast along the way can bring a group together or break it apart, game or not. Though talks around the campfire and just conversation on the road Ren learned a bit more about his three companions. According to Lixiss, she and Azriel are childhood friends. They became friends with Powell in the game but they’re all seniors at the same high school, though they never said were it was. Ren also told them more about himself, he left out the fact that he was in the hospital of course. During their trip the other three told Ren more about why they were going to an academy in a game. They said that by going to you can learn thing about the world that otherwise be harder to learned and you might even pick up some skills and a quest or two. The best part was that you could stay as long as you wanted to and could leave whenever you wanted. The more they talked about it the more interested Ren became, though he still didn’t think that it was for him.

It was late in the morning on their 16th day of travel when Lost Brigade reached to top of a hill and saw the neutral city-state of Crale, home to various guilds like the craftsmen's guild, and home to the Medonia Academy of Combat, Magic, and Adventuring Arts, the number one magic school on the Igane continent. Crale was a large city. It was in fact one of the largest cities on the continent. Crale had four gates, one for each cardinal direction, and was split into five districts: The Military district, the Industrial District, the Commercial District, the Residential District, and the Academy District, which was at the center of the city. In Crale there are no nobles or royal family controlling the city. Instead it is run by a council of administrators from the cities districts with the academy’s headmaster having the final say on decisions.

Ren and the rest of the party stopped at the top of the hill to admire the view of the city and surrounding landscape.

Ding!

System MessageBecause you stopped and admired a beautiful view Art has increase by 1

Ren waved the message away as he didn't really care about it. The party made their way down to one of the gates and got in line to enter the city. They waited in line for almost an hour before reaching the gate. There was a guard sitting at a table next to the gate with a stack of paper on one side of him and a money box on the other. Copying those before them, the party stepped up to the table.

"Names" the guard asked

"Krono"

"Powell"

"Lixiss"

"Azriel"

"What's your business in the city?" the guard asked next

"I wish to find master craftsmen to learn from." Ren Replied

"What craft do you have in mind?" the guards asked, a little curious

"Any of them and as many as I can manage." Ren said.

The guard, who hadn't looked up at them yet, looked at Ren and examined him with an interesting expression on his face. After a moment he turned to the others. "And you three?" he asked them.

"We wish to enroll in the academy." Powell told him

“You’re all together right?” The guard asked

"Yes." They answered.

“Alright. That’ll be 5 copper each.” The guard said, pushing forward the money box.

They each payed the toll and were about to leave when the guard stopped them.

“Wait a moment.” The guard said

He takes a piece of paper from the stack next to him and writes something on it before folding it and sealing it with wax, than handing it to Ren. "The academy entrance exams are tomorrow morning, if you take the main road to the edge of the Academy District you'll find an inn called Lazy Angel. Give this letter to inn keeper, she'll set you up for the night.

The party of shocked by the guards generosity but didn't want to question it in case he decide against it. They thanked the guard and entered the city. They walked through the massive gate into the city and were awed by what they saw. The main street was as wide as a six lane highway and was lined with shops and colorful stalls selling all sort of merchandise, the stall owners yelling out prices and deals to those passing by. Merchants were everywhere. Selling wares, trading with other merchants, and buying good to sell at other cities. The largest number of people in were adventures and the city residents browsing the stalls and shops for various items.

It took a while for the party to reach the Lazy Angel Inn as the inn was a good distance from the gate and, even though the roads were wide, the crowds made it hard to navigate. They entered the Inn and saw that, while it was on the smaller side, it had a clean and welcoming appearance and a friendly atmosphere. As they walked through the door they were approached by a rather tall, and still fairly attractive woman. She was probably around 5'10" or 5'11", had light brown skin, long and curly, brown hair, and she carried herself with confidence.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"What can I help you with?" She said when she reached them.

"Would you be the innkeeper?" Ren asked

"Yeah," She said, "Why?"

"I was told to give you this letter." Ren said, passing her the letter the guard at the gate had wrote

The innkeeper took the letter and read it quickly before folding it back up and putting it in a pocket and examining them before speaking

"Welcome to the Lazy Angel, I'm, Rione, The owner of this inn." She said, "I understand you four will be taking the Medonia Academy entrance exam tomorrow?" Rione asked. Powell, Lixiss, and Azriel said yes but Ren asked a question instead.

"Not to be rude but what's so good about this academy?” Ren asked. While the others had told him about on their way here, Ren still wanted to hear about it from someone that lived in the city.

“Oh?” Rione said, “Did you not come here to attend he academy?”

"I came here for the craftsman's guild. I'm trying to find masters to learn from." Ren replied

"You're better off going to the academy if that's your goal. The guild has masters sure but, while they are skilled and deserve their titles, the ones at the academy have been handpicked by the headmaster himself from all of the masters on the continent for being the best in their craft. I don’t know why the headmaster went through all of that trouble though, there aren’t many people how attend that care about making things." Rione said

"That's good to know and all but you’ve yet to tell me anything about it. If I’m going to attend I doubt they’ll let me just spend my days crafting so knowing more would be help full." Ren said, slightly annoyed about not having his question answered.

"Well the academy -" Rione started

"I believe I’d be more suited to answer that." said someone, interrupting her. "No offence intended." they said as they walked towards the group. The person walking towards them looked was a human male of average height with lightly tanned skin, short brown hair, and brown eyes. He was wearing a knee length black jacket that had a portion in the front from the waist down removed and a slit of the same length was cut in the back to allow easy movement. The edges of the cuffs and collar were lined with gold trim. The Jacket had a breast pocket and two pockets at the waist. On the breast pocket and both shoulders was an emblem of an orange sun set on a field of yellow, black, and red. He was wearing black pants and you could see the collar of a dark crimson shirt peeking out from behind the collar of the jacket. He had a saber at his hip.

"My name is Leonardo Bartlett though please just call me Leo, I don't really care for formalities." He said, introducing himself, "I'm a second year combat arts student at Medonia Academy. To answer your earlier question, Medonia Academy is a school that teaches its students how to survive in the world, whether they're exploring dungeons or navigating politics. They offer a wide variety of subjects for their students to learn and the only restriction on age is that you must be over 10 years old. There's also no restriction on social class or wealth. You could get the child of a poor farmer working with the crown prince of a country on a project for one of their classes." he said, "Is there anything specific you want to know?"

"Yeah," replied Ren, "Can I just learn crafting skills there?"

"No I don’t believe so. From what I know, all students have to study either the magic or a combat arts. The crafting classes are seen as a way to learn a hobby or to take care of your equipment though if you asked I’m sure the instructor would teach you more."

"How expensive is it?" Ren asked. He was a little disheartened hearing that he couldn't just learn crafting skills but if it was cheap enough he might still consider entering the academy if the crafting masters were as good as he was told.

"For a new student that depends on how well you do during the entrance exam, for current students it depends on how well you do in your classes. The academy recives many donations in the form of money and materials so they can get away with allowing some students to attend for free. If you do well enough you could be one of them, of course if you fail the entrance exam or fail any of your classes no amount of money can get you a spot at the academy. They really do only want the best they can get their hands on"

"What do you have to do during the entrance exam?" Ren asked

"It can change from person to person but you'll usually have to spar with an instructor or cast some spells." Leo replied

Ren fell silent, thinking about what he wanted to do. After a couple minutes Lixiss spoke up.

"You should go for it if you're not sure. If you get accepted to don't have to go and you can leave at any time if you don't like there so it couldn’t hurt to try"

Ren thought for a moment before deciding.

"Alright,” Ren said, “I’ll give it a try.”

"YES!" Lixiss shouted, jumping up and down.

“I look forward to seeing you around.” Leo said as he left the inn.

"Remember, the exam is tomorrow morning. You don't want to be late." Rione told them before going back to serve the other customers.