“Please stop jumping up and down like that, cousin. You must act in a manner that befits us, especially in the eyes of outsiders. Look, you’re even attracting attention from passers-by.”

I turned to my ‘cousin’ and raised an eyebrow in protest.

“I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want, got it? I am not letting you kill my excitement at starting school. Hmph!” I said, turning my head away.

“Is this about my appearance, Kiara? I told you before that our appearance is influenced by our attribute, and that there’s nothing I could do to make you look the same.” He said, sighing.

“I am totally not jealous of you getting a large, intimidating hunk of a body, Durreg, I am perfectly happy with my own. Not like I can blame you for the whims of the Anthromorphization Spell.” I said, grumbling.

As we were walking, the gates of the Kengir Academy were finally approaching.

“Really? You chose a name for yourself after hearing that my mother named me, chose to be female after hearing that I was male, and have been upset that I’ve been sent to the academy with you. And all of that conveniently happens after you see what I look like after the spell was cast on me. You’re not making a convincing argument, you know?” Durreg said.

“Okay, fine. I am the one who fought through a dungeon for most of my gods-damned life against monsters much larger than I am, and you’re the one who gets to be big?! Of course, I am upset! This isn’t fair, damn it!”

“You know, if it bothers you so much, then you could have chosen a class like Lady Azoth suggested. Maybe then your class would have helped influence what the transformation on you looks like.” Durreg said.

“I wasn’t happy with the options I had unlocked.” I shot back.

“You had a perfectly viable berserker class available. It was even a blue, which is practically unheard of for your first class!”

“And I told you already that I am not taking a warrior class! You’re welcome to go and get your brains bashed in by monsters, but I want magic!” I said, the frustration seeping into my voice again.

Durreg sighed.

“Well, we’ve had this argument many times before. It’s not like we’re going to reach a different conclusion this time. Anyway, we’ve arrived at our destination. Remember to speak only in Sumeran.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday; I know that already!”

“Yes, you were born a few months ago. And you know that because Mother and Lady Azoth drilled common etiquette into your skull for weeks.”

“Oh, shut up! Snitch.”

“Who’re you calling a snitch?!”

***

“Hey, kids! It’s your turn! Come over and give me your papers or scram!” said the irritated receptionist ahead of us.

“Sorry, we didn’t realize we were ahead of the queue!” Durreg said as we sped up to the counter.

“Here are our letters of recommendation.” Durreg said.

“Okay. Give me a moment.” The receptionist grumbled, turning away from us.

As Durreg and the Academy employee spoke, I took in our surroundings. Apparently, we’ve drawn quite a lot of attention towards us from the people in the lobby, and most of it was not good. People were giving us the stink-eye for some reason, so I stared at them back.

Some people looked away, while others just stared harder.

“Hey kid. What kind of document is this?!” the receptionist snarled at Durreg.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the papers?” Durreg asked.

“What do you mean, there’s no issue?! On the girl’s paper, it says she is both Arcane attributed and Atypical attributed! And yours is signed by Ighir, the Flame Dragon! Did you think you can come to the Kengir Academy with ridiculous forged papers like this?!” the man yelled, spit coming out of his mouth as he screamed at us.

I quickly turned towards Durreg.

“I told you we shouldn’t have had Aunt Ighir sign your paper for you!”

Durreg was quick to respond to me.

“Yeah, well, she said that proud dragons like us have no reason to hide who we are. If you were so upset about this, you could have gone to the Hebnopet Academy Headmaster to remove mention of one of your attributes!”

“I am not going to lie on my paper about my attributes! They would’ve figured it out soon enough anyway! And the headmaster isn’t someone I can just walk up to for another letter casually!”

“YOU’VE GOT SOME GUTS TO IGNORE ME YOU IMBECILES!” the receptionist yelled, getting up from his chair.

“Forging entrance documents to the academy is a crime punishable by death in Kengir!” his veins spreading in rage more than I thought possible on his bald head.

Durreg then turned towards the man and spoke in the same infuriatingly calm voice he always used.

“The documents are not forged, sir. I am indeed the son of Ighir, the Flame Dragon, and my cousin here is indeed both Atypical attributed and Arcane attributed.”

“Ha! And I am the firstborn of God-King Katu!” the man snorted.

Suddenly, a voice called out from behind us.

“Don’t worry about these clowns, sir, we’ll hold them down for the guards to arrive and take them to prison for forgery. I hope you don’t mind if we teach them a lesson while we’re at it!”

Suddenly, the temperature of the room chilled considerably. Durreg and I turned around as the receptionist narrowed his eyebrows.

“I did not ask for your help, applicant, so stay where you a-”

The receptionist was too late, as our assailants had already lunged at us. A warrior clad in steel plate and wielding a heavy war hammer charged at us, while a rogue was tailing right behind him and a mage was preparing to cast a spell. I quickly shared a glance at Durreg, and we moved, as everyone else rushed to get out of the way.

As Durreg rushed to meet the warrior, I prepared to cast a spell of my own. The warrior swung his hammer at Durreg, who let his body sink into the ground, allowing the hammer to sail wide above his head. His momentum unhindered by the ground as if he were wading through a puddle, he rose once more and slammed into the warrior’s chest with his shoulder.

The warrior was thrown of his feet, slammed into the rogue behind him, and they flew towards the mage in a tangled mess of flailing limbs.

The mage finally finished channeling her spell, then cast it.

[Vine Net]!

My counter-spell had been prepared just in time to intercept it!

[Mirror Space]!

As the large net rushed towards us and spread out, it passed through a block of shimmering space that seemed odd. Suddenly, the vine net was flying back towards the mage and her cohort that were on the floor, as if it was travelling in their direction all along!

“Wha-?!” her shocked expression did not stay for long, as the net covered all three of them, its momentum pushing them further back and slamming them into the wall.

An oppressing silence took hold of the room, as everyone around stared at the thoroughly trounced adventurers with shock evident in their eyes.

Durreg kicked up the hammer and the dagger that the adventurers were carrying off the floor, then caught them and turned towards me.

“Kiara, take these and try to swing them at me. If you keep at it long enough, you might get a good class out of it.” He said with a smirk.

“I told you; I have no intention of being a warrior! My froststone staff is good enough to cast my spells and to whack any moron who thinks me weak up-close! I wouldn’t trade it for garbage steel weapons like that anyway!” I said, irritation clear in my voice.

I glanced at the staff in my hand, made of wood from the Draconic Isles that was generously offered by Ighir, who got it from the gardens of the Life Dragon. Atop it stood the piece of froststone I carried with me from the third layer, cut into a perfectly spherical orb and enchanted by Azoth herself. The staff means a lot to me – not to mention that it is clearly superior to anything a common adventurer may have.

Shortly after, I began to glare at him again. As we began to bicker once more, the silence that took over the room was shattered.

“Unbelievable…” the receptionist said, sitting down and looking at the letters of recommendation once more.

“What is going on here?” a clear voice resounded throughout the room; not loud at all yet audible by all.

Everyone turned to the source of the voice, behind the receptionist. At the door stood a well-dressed woman with a disinterested expression staring at the scene before her.

“Headmaster Iltani!”

The receptionist immediately stood up and turned towards her. With a wave of her hand, a bubble appeared between the two of them, and their mouths began to move.

“A silence spell. Usually rude to cast in the presence of others, but I suppose these circumstances justify it.” Commented Durreg.

“Are we in trouble?” I asked.

“Well, we shouldn’t be. Besides, even if they did try something, the Draconic Isles will not just stay quiet if they so much as lay a finger on us. That's assuming we haven’t done anything wrong, and as far as I am aware, we’ve not done anything of the like.” He shrugged.

“Hmm.” I mumbled as the headmaster removed the silence bubble she cast around her and turned to look at us.

“Please follow me. I think it would be best for us to speak in my office. After the interesting first impression you’ve made, I intend to handle your admissions personally.”