The next day at the Ironforge Smithy, Cecil and Lucia were just about to head out to the Arks Royal Academy to register themselves. They left Silver behind and started walking down the road in the direction of the Arks Royal Academy's district. Along the way, Lucia was clinging tightly onto Cecil.

"Neh, neh!! Cel!!! Sorry, okay?! Stop ignoring me already!"

Cecil kept silent and turned his head away. After their mock battle yesterday, Cecil had begun ignoring and stopped talking to Lucia. He wasn't particularly mad though since he still won in the end because he kind of 'cheated', but Lucia, his best friend, had actually used him as a guinea pig to test her new spells. Not only that, she was actually ruthless enough to do so without any regard towards his well-being. There were even times during the battle where he saw his life flash before his eyes.

He was ignoring her in order to teach her a lesson since she really disliked it when he ignored her. Being physical with Lucia outside of sparring was a no-no, so he was waging war psychologically.

"CEL! CE~EL!"

Cecil didn't respond and only kept walking forward.

'Idiot! Who was the source of all my frustration, if it wasn't you! Hmph! Let's see if you still dare to ignore me!' Lucia let go of Cecil and stopped walking.

*sniff* *sniff* "Gusu..."

Cecil was just about to continue forward until he heard Lucia start sniffling. Cecil took a small glance behind him and immediately regretted it.

'Haaahhh... here we go again... she's 'crying' ...'

Cecil sighed exasperatedly and walked towards Lucia. He put his arm around her waist and said.

"That's cheating Lulu..."

Since she was caught, Lucia stuck her tongue out at Cecil and huffed, "Hmph, your fault, stupid!"

Lucia then started pinching his sides. Cecil continued walking forward with his arm around Lucia's waist, not minding her pinching. After a couple of paces, he lowered his arm and walked ahead while saying, "How's it my fault? I'm not the one who was trying to boil me alive!"

Lucia grabbed onto Cecil's arm and said playfully, "Like. I. Said! I was only testing out my new combo spell! You also agreed with it too~"

"Tch... I agreed to test your spell out, not to be boiled alive!"

"uhhh... Teehee?"

"Don't 'teehee' me!"

"Nahahaha~"

"Stop laughing already! My butt still stings!"

"NAHAHAHA!"

Although Cecil complained and told her not to laugh, he actually started smiling after seeing her laugh so brightly.

'Tsk, I should be angry. Why the hell am I smiling?'

Cecil started worrying if his orientation was shifting towards the 'dark' side. He shivered and threw the thought into the back of his head.

'Whatever, better her laughing than crying.'

As Lucia was laughing, she eyed Cecil's expression and found that he was slightly smiling. She breathed a sigh of relief and thought, 'Phew... good thing he's not mad anymore...'

Lucia normally didn't care whether she did anything 'bad' to Cecil since he would just laugh it off since he knew that she didn't mean him any harm. Even when he was ignoring her like this, Lucia would just make fun of him instead of trying to comfort him, but after the two went home yesterday, Mrs. Ironforge was patching up Cecil's injuries which were caused by Lucia during the spar and after he left, she said something to her which caused Lucia to start worrying about him ignoring her.

Mrs. Ironforge actually told Lucia that if she kept being so aggressive, Cecil might just run away from a violent girl like her. Of course, Mrs. Ironforge was only joking, but her words made Lucia start to worry. Since Cecil was seemingly really mad at her and ignoring her, Lucia started to really worry that he might run away from her if she didn't correct her violent tendencies towards him.

It's not like she could help it though. After half a year of trying to make her feelings obvious to that stupid muscle brained battle maniac, she gradually grew frustrated with him being so insensitive towards her. She even already told Cecil upfront that she loved him, but the idiot thought she meant she loved him the way a family member loved each other.

"I love you too, Lulu! After all, you're practically my sister!" Those words almost made Lucia snap right on the spot.

When all the frustration peaked, Lucia would sometimes randomly flare up at Cecil or even start firing spells at him with the excuse of having a mock battle with him. As for Cecil, he would always reciprocate the excuses without a second thought, but unfortunately not her feelings.

*Sigh* "Who cares, at least he's always with me!" Lucia mumbled softly.

"What's that, Lulu?"

"N-nothing, let's hurry already! We're going to be late!"

Lucia pulled onto Cecil's hand and started running along the road. It took awhile, probably around an hour or so, but Cecil and Lucia had finally arrived at the Arks Royal Academy's district. The area was surrounded by high ramparts, so this was actually their first time seeing what it was like inside the campus. They reported themselves and handed their recommendation letter to the old gatekeeper. The recommendation letter was penned by none other than Lucia's mother, Anna.

Mrs. Anna said that she was an alumni and was somewhat important to the academy since she was one of the few who were researching magic after graduation. The gatekeeper took a look at the letter and turned a surprise eye at the two. He eyed Lucia and was somewhat astonished. The gatekeeper quickly bowed and respectfully handed the letter back to Cecil and ushered them in.

"Okay... what's with that guy's attitude?" Cecil asked as he quickly took notice of this.

Lucia was similarly puzzled and could only reply, "I dunno, maybe my mom was really important?"

"Probably."

They headed into the campus and was stunned by the scenery they witnessed.

""Woah!""

On the main road that they were on, tall majestic buildings lined up on the sides of the road with trees and flowers decorating the area all around. This was how they both reacted when they first arrived at Angla City. This time around, however, they were surprised because this district seemed like its own city.

"It really is like a mini-city!" Cecil exclaimed.

The people that passed by them turned at his exclamation. Some scoffed while others laughed. Cecil was too fascinated with the scenery and atmosphere that he didn't register any of the reactions the people around gave him.

Lucia, however, did. She facepalmed and dragged Cecil away with her. He just followed along while keeping his eyes glued to their surroundings because everything was so interesting. She looked back at him and helplessly smiled.

'Just like when we first arrived at Angla City...'

Lucia giggled and walked towards a bulletin board by the side of the street. On the board there was a map and she looked for the building that handled any new students' registrations. She quickly found it and walked off with Cecil in tow after she memorized the location.

After they arrived at the center of the campus district where the main square was located, they took a left turn from the central plaza and soon arrived at a bustling road. The area just before the registration building was jam packed with people.

On the right side of the road, there were children of all ages accompanied by adults. They were all just idly waiting on the sidewalk, either sitting on the ground or on the benches nearby. On the other side of the road were children walking back towards the central plaza with their parents. Some were smiling happily, while others were crying or had grim expressions on their faces.

Cecil had already stopped letting his eyes wander when they got to the plaza. He looked ahead and whistled, "Sure is a lot of people here."

"Of course, today's the only day during the whole year where students can enroll into the academy!"

"Hmmm... it's gonna take a long while then."

"Not really. Don't you see how fast the line is moving?"

Cecil turned his head and observed the people on the right side of the road. They were supposed to be a line, but all Cecil saw was a jumble of people there and they were not idling around as he thought they were. The people were walking forward at a slow, but even pace.

"... well, that's fast I guess?"

"It's fast Cel... let's hurry up and line up with them."

"M'Kay."

Cecil and Lucia walked towards the end of the waiting line and lined up. In front of them were children or teenagers who had anticipating or worried looks on their faces. They had just lined up, but there were already many people lining up behind them. They moved at an awfully slow, but steady pace. They didn't make conversation with the kids or teenagers around them since the two saw that everyone was either too focused or worried.

Cecil only hummed and said softly to Lucia, "Welp, we don't need to worry too much. Let's just get this over with."

Lucia yawned and replied, "Yeah... I'm kinda hungry now too."

It took the two another hour before they finally arrived inside the building where the registrations were taking place. When they got inside Lucia and Cecil noticed that the long line branched out into 5 separate ones. Each line led to a desk with young adults dressed in uniforms manning them. They appeared to be taking down the names of the children who were registering as students as well as answering any inquiries the adults or children had.

After they jotted down the name, one of the people manning the desk would head into the room with the child or teenager who had just registered. The people looked quite young, probably only a couple of years older than Cecil and Lucia. Cecil guessed that they were the academy's staff.

"The staff from the academy are pretty young, don't you think?"

"Uhuh, they look old enough to be students to me...maybe because they are?"

"My thoughts exactly."

They randomly lined up behind one of the lines. It didn't take long until it was finally their turn. The person behind the desk was a male foxkin with glasses. He had sharp eyes and looked intelligent, from Cecil's observation he deduced that the guy was around 18-19.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

'Older than Matty, but younger than Ima.'

The intelligent looking foxkin looked up and saw that the two who were registering were also foxkin like him, one having silver hair and the other one black hair. He smiled amiable at the two and kindly requested, "Welcome, may I have your names please?"

"Cecil."

"Lucia."

The two promptly reported their names. Glasses foxboy noted down their names and began a lengthy explanation.

"Okay, Cecil and Lucia, my name is Gregory. I'm a 2nd year in the academy's Mage Division. Let me explain the registration tests for you. Here we have two types of tests, the Spell caster's test and the Fighter's test. You may choose to do both or just one of them. Spell caster tests are broken down into 3 sub-tests, namely, Magic Aptitude, Mana Stage, and Mental Capacity. Fighters are divided into 2 sub-tests, Mana Affinity and Mock Combat."

Cecil and Lucia were listening with rapt attention. Seeing as there were no questions, Gregory continued.

"For the Magic Aptitude, you will be tested on what types of elements you can properly wield. If you already know which ones they are, please notify the examiner at the beginning of the test. Every examinee will be required to use a basic level spell of the element they are most in tune with. The Mana Stage test, as its name implies, will be simply testing your mana stage's level. The Mental Capacity test will decide whether your talent as a spell caster is of an adequate level to be admitted to the academy. This test is the most important and failing the test will guarantee that you will not be enrolled in the academy regardless of whether you do well in the 1st two tests."

Gregory paused to take a breath and then he continued once again.

"Moving on, the fighter's Magic Affinity test will test an examinees magic affinity, which element they are in tune with and then the examinee will be required to use the most basic body strengthening technique of the element they have most affinity with. As for the Mock Combat, as the name implies, you will be having a mock battle with a C class monster that will be chosen at random. There will be an imposed time limit on the battle. The examinee can either defeat the monster or hold out until the time limit to pass the test. If you are incapacitated, fall unconscious, or if your life is about to be be in danger, the examiners will stop the battle and you are deemed to have failed the test."

Cecil and Lucia had gotten the gist of it. It was pretty easy in their opinions.

"Take note that the monster will only be a projection created by illusion magic, however, although it is only an illusion it's best to be careful. Any attacks you suffer from the illusion will hurt. Now, if there are any questions please feel free to ask me."

The two looked at each other and shook their heads. Gregory smiled and then said, "Since there are no questions, please decide which tests you are going to take."

Cecil and Lucia immediately answered in unison, ""Both.""

"Oh? Let me reconfirm... You two are taking both exams?"

"Ye~es" Lucia said with a laugh.

Seeing that carefree smile, Gregory asked again, "Are you sure you want to take both exams? The consequences of failin–"

Lucia had no doubts and was confident that she and Cecil would pass such an easy exam with flying colors, so she cut off Gregory before he could even finish his sentence, "Just sign us up already. I'm hungry from all the waiting!"

She was indeed growing hungry. After all, she had to wait in line for about an hour or so. She just wanted to get the tests over with and go eat with Cecil afterwards.

The two didn't care about the consequences of failing because they had full confidence in themselves that they wouldn't fail, so they didn't need to hear about. If their grades stood out, then they'll be placed in a top class in the academy which was something the both of them were aiming for. There was no need for them to lay low in the first place, so why not hurry it up with the test and finish with top scores? They were here to learn so why not compete to get better resources and attention from the teachers and instructors with their high entrance grades.

Gregory was at first offended with the careless comment, but when he was about to reproach them, the words that he was about to say got stuck in his throat. He didn't see any arrogance or ignorance from the two, but instead what he saw was an ironclad confidence.

"...Okay, examinee No. 1560 Lucia and examinee No. 1561 Cecil will be participating in both the Spell caster's and fighter's examination!"

Gregory gave the two a small number plate that had their registration numbers. After that, he turned towards the cat-kin female that was beside him and said, "Katka, lead them to the 2nd floor, room SF01 and SF02."

The catkin girl who kept silent the entire time seemed uncaring, but even she was astonished with the unshakable confidence that Cecil and Lucia exuded. She didn't debate and simply said, "Okay."

"You two, please follow Katka to your examination room."

The cat-kin, Katka, beckoned the two and they followed her up to the second floor. There were plenty of rooms at the 1st floor so it puzzled Cecil and Lucia that they had to have their examinations on the 2nd floor. The crowd of people who were lined up saw that a 2nd year student was leading the two towards the 2nd floor. It caused a small discussion between the people who were still in line.

"Hey, those two... are they taking the tests for both the fighter and spell caster divisions?"

"What? You could take both?"

"Hahaha, must be them not having enough confidence in clearing one of them so they decided to take both!"

The last comment caused a small uproar of laughter between the people in the lines. The ignorant laughed while others stood their deep in thought. A female lizard-kin with golden locks and horns looked towards Cecil and Lucia who were now walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor.

"Hmph... didn't think there would be others like me."

Other people would be ignorant of the matter, but not just anyone had the guts to take both exams. If you decided to take both exams, you could not fail in either one of them. If you fail in one of them, the academy would deny your enrollment, but you could still try again next year. However if you failed in both, then the academy would note you down and you would be barred from taking any future entry exams.

The discussions continued.

"Hahaha! I might as well take both too!"

"Hey... isn't there a rumor that if you take both exams and failed one, your entrance application would be rejected even if you passed one of them?"

"Huh? Then those two?"

"They're either stupid or they don't know this."

"Hmph... Ignorant fools."

The last comment caused a small commotion in the line. The bunch of ignorant gossipers turned towards the person who butted in on their conversation. One of them immediately flared at the small girl who insulted them, "Say that again pipsqueak!"

The person who insulted them earlier was the same lizard-kin girl with golden locks.

"Like I said, you're all ignorant. Only people with confidence would take both exams. Not like you fools who aren't confident enough with your own abilities to pass even one of the exams!"

"Grrr... why you!"

"NEXT!"

The girl with the golden locks stepped forward and reported her name to the student who was manning the desk.

"Elizabeth Arks. I'm taking both tests."

"A-Arks?!"

The student quickly became nervous and hurriedly jotted down her name and quickly went to escort her up to the 2nd floor.

"SF03, that's where you'll be taking your e-exam! Y-your hi–"

The girl quickly cut him off before he could finish, "Enough! Just lead me up."

"Y-yes!"

The people who caused a ruckus earlier quickly became silent.

"S-shit! She was a royal?!"

"D-damn... the princess actually came to enroll too?!"

"Ohhh shit man... you're so screwed!"

The earlier fellow who raised his voice at Elizabeth Arks quickly started sweating. He was scared that he might have offended the princess.

"NEXT!"

The uproar didn't settle anytime soon since everyone in line discovered that a royal was actually taking the exams with them. Even the students manning the desks were hyped up a bit and started working faster.

Cecil and Lucia were already at the 2nd floor and they ignored all the commotion downstairs. They quickly reached their individual testing rooms and entered.

"Cel! Finish quickly alright! Let's hurry up and go have lunch!"

"Yeah..."

Lucia quickly entered her room. Just as Cecil was about to enter his, he saw another person arrive on the 2nd floor. It was the princess, Elizabeth Arks. Cecil took a quick glance at her and thought, 'Oh... she's taking both exams too? Weird, she looks like a lizardkin but she has horns? Haha, cool, she looks almost like a dragon.'

Cecil thought that she looked really cool, so he brazenly kept his gaze on her for a bit before walking into his room. Elizabeth took notice of Cecil when she arrived on the 2nd floor. She also saw him sizing her up. The gaze caused her to pause and just as she was about to glare back, the foxboy unhurriedly walked into his exam room.

"...Hmph..."

She scoffed and walked into her own room.

Inside room SF02, Cecil took a look around and saw that it was empty. It was about 100 square meters in size which was pretty large and completely unexpected. He couldn't understand how such a large room was inside of the building, but after activating his mana eyes and looking at the various magic circles around the room, there seemed to be one that cast some kind of space expansion magic that made the room big for anyone that was inside of it.

It was a really interesting magic circle, so Cecil made sure to memorize it. While he was doing this, he noticed that at one side of the room, there was a long glass window with 3 people inside. He walked up to the window and waved at the people inside. The old lady who was in the middle spoke up and her voice rang in the room.

"Examinee No. 1561, Cecil. We will now begin your exam. The first exam will be the spell caster's Magic Aptitude test."