Today, was the morning of the Knight Academy test. It was dawn when Will got dressed and went downstairs to sit at the bar. He had a cup of tea to wake up. After the first joyous sip, Will looked up and realized that many of the tables were filled with people his age eating breakfast.
Many of the boys and girls had swords attached to their waist, or spears strapped to their back. Many were animated and excited, some were visibly anxious.
Will groaned, seeing the nervous excitement annoyed him. He immediately questioned his sanity. 'Why did I agree to my parents' desire,' Will thought.
All, Will wanted was be to a merchant, grow his business, like before in his first life. But alas, here he was with the rest of these crazy high adrenaline people.
All the boys acted like Marcus, which did not help his outlook on the Knight Academy. He may look similar to these children on the outside, but he was an 80-year-old man with life experience. Life experience, that did not including pretending to be a swordsman or spearwoman.
He was wealthy enough to hire the best protection agency. Something he planned to do again.
Will made his way to the test site, after finishing, his tea, bread with honey, and bacon. He paid tab with silver coins he saved. The inn was close to the Knight's Academy, he arrived at the Academy gate in a short walk.
Although, by the time he arrived, there was already a long line outside the gate. Seeing the crowd, Will thought about joining the Mage Academy, until he realized that line was even longer. Even worse, some of those students played with fireballs. Will had even less desire to be hit was fire, than parry a sword. He groaned but stayed in line.
Outside the gate was an examiner. The examiner was a bald man who looked middle age, somewhere between 25 and 35 years old, and had scars on his face. He wore a military uniform and held a spear. He looked bored and angry at the same time.
"Hey you brats, shut up, you idiots can call me Marshall" he yelled.
"Listen closely to the instructions so I don't have to repeat myself. You ants will first put your hand on the crystal ball. You need a mana pool large enough to move on to the second stage.
The second stage is a written exam of the kingdom's history, magic theory, and enhancement techniques. If you score a 70% or above, then you can move to the final stage which is a sword competition," the Marshall explained angrily.
The crowd cheered after hearing about the mana requirement, booed when they heard about the written test, and cheered again when they heard about the sword competition.
The Marshall brought up ten people at a time to crystal. The people who passed were asked to stand on the other side of the gate, inside the Knight Academy.
The line moved, after an hour, it was Will's group's turn. The Marshall did not ask for names, he simply pointed and said, "you, your turn."
When Will placed my hand on the crystal, the Marshall said, "you passed, wait on the other side of the gate,"
In Will's group, another boy and girl passed the test along with him. He was about to ask, their names, when another person said, "there's no need to know someone's name unless you become cadent and pass all three tests." Hearing that the others nodded and remained quiet.
After the last group went, the Marshall led the people that passed inside the Academy to a large hall. Inside the hall were rows of desks. If Will had to guess, he would say close to 2000 people attempted the first test of which 1000 passed.
"Before you walk into the hall, please know we've placed an age limiter. Only those who are 13 can walk into the hall. If you are over 13 please leave now," the Marshall said.
No one left, but as we walked into the hall, Will heard a boy scream behind him as he tried to enter.
"There's always a least one person dumb enough to think they can fool us," grumbled the Marshall as he sent the guards to throw the person out of the academy.
"You have two hours to complete the test," said the Marshall.
The test consisted of two hundred questions. Will was surprised to see questions on the theory of 'Advance Body Enhancement.'
The more predictable questions asked about the kingdom's history. The test asked in-depth and minute details about magic theory. Will thought those were the hardest questions because understanding mana and mana manipulation were the most abstract.
Will began reading books about mana manipulation few years ago. However, Will was able to answer all the questions in an hour and a half, and spent the rest of the time checking, and rechecking his answers. When the time was finished, we were asked to stay seated until all the tests were graded.
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It only took an hour for all 1000 tests to be graded. Of the 1000 people that took the test less than 50% passed. Will wanted to know how he did, but the Marshall did not post the scores, he simply told people who failed to leave the academy.
In the third and final test, people had to choose between combat, engineering, signal, or intelligence. Will selected combat and was asked to move to a coliseum.
The Marshall led the students, who selected combat to the coliseum. The large oval coliseum was massive and looked as large as a football stadium on Earth.
The Marshall was joined by other academy instructors, and the seats were filled with students wearing white uniforms, who yelled and booed as Will's group walked towards the stages.
The sword matches were random drawings. Will and the other hopeful cadets were each asked to pull a number from 1 to 30 with matching numbers battling each other.
'Shit, this is going to suck,' Will whispered to himself. He never enjoyed his sword lessons, although it had grown on him by the time he left for home.
Reaching into a bucket, Will pulled the number 24. There were 6 different stages, and six pairs battled at time. Winners kept fighting, losers were able to battle each other. The matches would end when there was a final winner.
After the matches, Marshall and the rest of the academy instructors would discuss the results. Jason had written in a letter and told Will this was an opportunity to be noticed by an instructor. Lucky applicants would be chosen as an apprentice, and be mentored. Those who were selected as apprentices would also receive resources and other benefits.
Will's first opponent was a young brown-hair girl with soft blue eyes. She had a pretty appearance but a ferocious demeanor. He felt her killing intent. This stunned Will, the goal was to win not to maim.
When the match started Will enhanced his body with mana, strengthening his body. But, Will did not enhance his sword with mana, because he could not do that for long, instead choosing to wait until he saw an opening.
Both Will and the girl bowed to the crowd, referee, and each other as etiquette required. Surprisingly to Will the match ended quickly because the girl did not know how to use body enhancing magic and after their initial sword strike and parry, Will hit the girl in her abdomen knocking her down and unable to continue. She stared daggers at Will, upset with her quick loss.
Will felt lucky to win, now he was ranked in the top 30 having won his first match. Once again students were asked to randomly draw a card from 1 to 30. Random pairings were asked to fight again. Will's next opponent was a tall boy with red hair and brown eyes.
After the duel etiquette was performed, both boys enhanced their bodies. Quickly Will's opponent began his attack with an overhead slash. Will parried the attack and returning with a sideswipe. His opponent jumped out of the way and grinned. This boy enjoyed having an opponent that could challenge them.
The boy quickly lunged ahead, aiming for Will's lung. It was Will's turn to dodge, he quickly spun around the strike and boy aiming to attack his kidneys. The boy was surprised, smiled, and blocked Will's attack. Seeing his attack fail, Will put some ground behind him and boy. With a gap, Will and the boy immediately ran towards the center of the stage to resume the match.
Will was not a battle manic but enjoyed this chess match. Both boys seemed equally matched. When swung his sword over his head, enhancing his sword with mana at the exact time both swords met. The boys' sword snapped in two, with his blade falling to the ground. The boy was stunned and looked at Will, not believing what just happened. The referee seeing what happened called the match in favor of Will.
Now that Will made it into the final 15 he was sure, he felt he would be admitted into the Knight's Academy. The Marshall announced a break, before the continuation. Five of the six stages were removed. Now, there was only one stage in the colosseum.
After sitting for a while and resting, Will felt he regained some stamina. After the break, the Marshall announced all 15 students were admitted to the Knight's Academy. He also announced the top 10 would receive special privileges and benefits. He asked which of the 15 was interested in battling to find the top 10.
Almost instantaneously, all 14 raised their hands. The Marshall looked at Will curiously, "you're not interested, even with all the benefits?"
"No, I'm just happy to be admitted," Will replied.
Secretly, knowing that if I continued, I would lose spectacularly, and my goal was never to be number 1, just a cadet. Marshall also announced the top 5 that lost would be admitted.
"You cadet, follow this student to Registrar's Office and then get settled," said the Marshall. Will left with the student and walked across campus to Greek styled building with white columns and a dome roof.
The sign read, [Administration]. Will thanked the student and entered the building being greeted by a beautiful-looking woman with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her smile could warm a room on a cold winter night.
"Hello new cadet, my name is Vanessa Marquez. I'm happy to help you file your new student paperwork," she said.
Ms. Marquez asked for Will's name, parents' name, and other vital information. She asked for the first year, Knight's Academy fee. Then she handed Will my cadet uniform, a white waistcoat, and tight pantaloons, there was a black belt and leather boots, a large white cocked hat with a black cockade. On the waistcoat was a maroon stage pin.
She told me that I would room in the first-year dorm. She explained to nobles and commoners were treated the same in the eyes of the military. I had to live in a dorm unless I had a mentor. Next, she provided more information about the Knight's Academy and the four years of instruction before being promoted to Knight of Fermion.
The first two years, mostly dealt with history, magic theory, body enhancement techniques, and physical classes. At the middle and end of term, there would be a battle tournament. Also, each class would have an end-of-term exam, that cadets must pass to be promoted to the next year.
Ms. Marquez surprisingly told Will he scored first on the written exam and my answers in magic theory and history, allowed him to test out of those classes. This afforded me more time to invest in other areas of my academic and professional endeavors.
Finally, she said the third- and fourth-year fights were mock battles. And to be promoted to a knight, a cadet needs to lead his mock group to victory at least once. She mentioned there were still a few fifth-year students on campus.
She concluded by saying cadets were not allowed off campus except on the weekends, accepting a quest, or permission from their mentor or headmaster. Will bowed to Ms. Marquez and left. Will couldn't wait for the weekend when I would finally be able to join the Merchant Guild.