Ron was pleasantly surprised upon seeing his temporary home. It wasn't large by any means of the word, but it was also by no means small. It had a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living/work area, and even a small basement.

After exploring around enough to satisfy his curiosity, Ron hid his all-important papers under the bed for later use and then immediately threw himself at his newly acquired books with eagerness only matched by addicts who are about to get their fix.

Reading had always been one of Ron's favorite pastimes. While he did prefer fiction, he didn't mind reading these informative and well-written books at all. In fact, the more he read them, the more he liked it.

While the books didn't offer any secret information, it did give him information that, quote, 'every magus worth their spiritual force should or already does know'.

When night rolled around, Ron discovered that, somehow, the four 10-cm thick books that he'd planned on reading all through the month had all been consumed by him already.

"What the fuck?" He murmured to himself. Although he was fully aware of himself during the entire reading, he hadn't actually realized he'd read so much. Furthermore, he could recall every word on every page of the book. He silently repeated the entire first 5 pages with total ease, and he knew that he could finish it if he wanted.

"Am I even myself anymore...?" He bitterly said out loud, before sighing and flopping down onto the bed. It was far, far more comfortable than the one he'd had to live on for the entire trip to this place.

With a sigh, he closed the books and carefully put them away. Then, he opened up the wardrobe, originally intending to throw in it the clothes on his body and just sleep naked. However, he was dumbfounded to find several sets of clothing, many of which consisted of robes, all neatly laid out in his closet.

His cheeks turned bright red when he also noticed a very... low cut... skirt. Biting his lips, he tore his eyes away from the heretical clothes and instead carefully put his own clothes away.

Afterward, as he went to try out the bathroom, he was suddenly very, very glad this world was elitist. Having a toilet to do his business in was leagues ahead of just doing it every time on the side of the road. Also, the shower was very nice.

As the water ran down his body, cleaning all the dirt and grime that the sponge baths just couldn't get out, he was suddenly made once again very aware of the fact he wasn't much of a 'he' anymore.

Cupping his own breasts, he found them, well, lacking. With a self-deprecating smile, he reminded himself that he was only 9. They would, unfortunately, grow.

'Alright, let's be honest here, me. I'm in a land filled with people who can kill me just by breathing too hard. Whether you have a dick or a vagina really shouldn't matter.' He told himself.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down as he started rinsing his hair in the water. There was no shampoo, unfortunately, but that was okay. It had grown quite long since he didn't really bother cutting it through his journey, and besides, he quite liked the look of it on himself.

After drying his hair with a fluffy towel, and god did he miss these little commodities, he threw himself onto the bed. After a moment of thought, he sat down cross-legged and began to utilize the breathing technique.

After all, while knights were nothing but shit in front of a real magus, at least it was still something. Besides, Ron liked the feeling of calmness it brought him.

When it was done, he more or less fell asleep immediately, crawling underneath the covers for some warmth.

The next day, after eating a small breakfast consisting of soft bread that had appeared on the dinner table overnight, he dressed himself up with grey robes and a skirt with shorts underneath. He could literally feel embarrassment washing over him as he did so, but at this point, he really didn't have the time nor will to care about it.

Then, after confirming he looked nice and proper, just as Alice's father had taught him... her... to do, he picked up the books as well as his I.D paper and went back to the library.

There, the old smoking man was still there, reading just as casually as he had done the last time Ron was here. When he saw the young girl dressed in much better clothes than the day prior, he looked up at her.

"Should I... just put these back?" She asked quietly, looking anywhere but at his eyes. His lips curled into a smirk. "Have you finished reading them?" He asked instead of answering her question. She looked up, a nervousness in her eyes that was quite rare amongst those wishing to become academy students.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Y-yeah..." She answered in a whisper. "I read all of them" She continued after a moment, some confidence returning to her.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the girlie. Usually, he wouldn't give a rat's ass about some random, useless brat coming in, but considering she was a peak grade 5 talent, he was quite curious. "Oh, really? Then do tell me what happened in the year 3619 that was considered important?"

She looked up at him, her blue eyes narrowing. After a moment, she responded. "The first war between light and dark magi." She said, confidence beginning to shine in her eyes.

"Indeed. What about..."

As the man asked question after question, making them increasingly harder, he was secretly dumbfounded. The girlie never answered wrong to the questions that had answers within the books she'd taken, even some of the more complex questions were easily answered by her.

After a while, she began to ask questions of her own, which he answered. Soon enough, it had turned into an impromptu lesson.

By the end of it, when the time for lunch was beginning to roll around, Ron had found himself seated in front of the old man as he kept on talking about various topics, jumping from one subject to the next. Ron had very little problems keeping up, and when the man wrapped up his lecture, he looked at him with a strange eye-smile.

"You know, kiddo. If I wasn't so old and weak, I'd have thoughts about taking you as my own student. It's a shame that I probably would get murdered if I did." He said, letting out a sigh.

"Murdered? Why?" Ron asked, curious. The man just laughed at his question. "I'm but a newly-advanced magus in terms of strength despite my age. It's why I'm stuck in this god-forsaken shithole. You're practically guaranteed to become an official magus given a couple of years, brat. I wouldn't be surprised if even rank 2 magi would have their eyes on you."

"I... I see..." Ron muttered weakly. From what the man had told him, there was an immense gap between each rank. For example, even the weakest official magus, a.k.a rank 1 magus, could slaughter countless acolytes with ease. The same held true for rank 2's, as in they could easily slaughter rank 1 magi.

Although the books had been helpful, the old man's insight and his views had really opened up Ron's eyes to the reality of this world. It was obvious from how he spoke that death and murder were practically an every-day accordance, and from him subtle warnings, Ron knew he would have to be especially careful, or he might just find himself a slave or worse.

He stood up, bowed deeply to the man before retreating from the library after gathering up some suggested books from the old man.

He'd laughed when Ron asked if he knew what topics the academies covered and if he should get a head start on them, before promptly telling him that he should wait for the harder topics until he actually arrived at whatever academy he chose.

Choosing to heed the old man's words, Ron left alone topics like spell theory and other such topics, instead simply learning magi history and customs. For the following two weeks, Ron's life revolved around reading silently in the library, occasionally training as a knight in his lent home, or just sleeping.

It was very relaxed, in Ron's opinion. Every topic just sort of came to him very easily, and he had to put extremely little effort into actually learning. Of course, that didn't mean he slacked off. Far from it.

In fact, the more he learned, the more fervent he became. Not because of any noble reason, but simply because the more he understood, the more he knew just how dangerous magi truly were. It was basically the law of the jungle on steroids.

Finally, on the 21st day of his stay at the camp, the academies started to arrive. Or, well, their representatives did.

The old man, who still hadn't told Ron his name, listened as Ron laid out his concerns.

"The lady at the talent examination said my best affinity is with fire, followed by a large shadow affinity, and then a little bit of earth. Therefore, I'm not really sure which academy would be better, Flame Mausoleum or the Underground Labyrinth Academy," Ron explained. He'd naturally long since understood that it would be better for him to go to an academy that matched his affinities, but he hadn't yet found one that had both shadow and fire.

"Don't ask useless questions, brat. It's obvious you should go to whichever academy gives you the best conditions!" The man answered, not beating around the bush at all. Then, he turned and glared at a couple of 12-years olds that had gathered nearby, listening to their conversation.

People had started to arrive now, and while it was far from crowded, it didn't feel like a ghost town anymore. Ron didn't say anything about the man's treatment of the kids, as he didn't really care.

With a sigh and a nod, Ron gave back the books he'd borrowed the previous day. Then, after bidding the old, grumpy man a farewell, he headed back to his home, lost in thought.

Wherever he walked, the students would all stop whatever they were doing and whisper to each other about him. His knight's hearing allowed him to hear some of what they said, which usually consisted of things like 'Wow, that's the young genius everyone is talking about!' 'She's so young though!'

It wasn't pleasant. In fact, Ron hated it. He hated the attention, and he hated people talking behind his back, but there was very little he could do about it.

With a huff, he shoved the door close, escaping from the curious or calculating gazes of the other student-hopefuls. Then, he sat down on a chair in the living area, silently pondering over his plans.

'Thanks to the old bastard, I basically already know the basics of how things around here work, which definitely gives me a leg up over the competition. Still, I haven't gone to look at any of the academies yet, which I probably should have done...' He grimaced at the thought.

'Whatever. I just need to narrow down my choices as much as possible, since it's basically guaranteed whatever academy I choose will accept me.' He thought to himself as the small spark of pride in his heart that had been growing ever since finding out just how special he was only continued to grow.

He carefully read through the description of each academy, crossing out those that were either too weak in terms of prestige and power, and also those that didn't match either of his affinities.

By the end of it, he was left with four choices. Giving each one of them a look-over, Ron smiled slightly. The names of this world were really... something.

'Flame Mausoleum? Underground Labyrinth Academy? Shadow Palace? Vulcan's Temple?' He silently repeated the names in his head. They all sounded so lame...