My family and I left the carriage where it was as we wouldn’t need it any more. We then started making our way towards a large building which was designated as Draconis Transfer Station. The building had the large line I had seen previously coming out of it, however, due to the angle I couldn’t see what was moving atop the line. We continued on and made our way through the entrance of the building.
Inside the building were several counters which had labels on them such as “Single Use”, “One Week”, and “One Month”. We made our way to the single use section and my father took out three silver coins and gave them to the person behind the counter. In return they handed him 4 pieces of paper. My father then gave us all a piece of paper each and told us to take care of it. I looked at the paper and on it was written “Child: 50 copper”. There was also a strange pattern on the paper which seemed to slightly glow. I asked my father what it was and he simply looked at me weirdly.
After receiving this weird paper we made our way to a strange carriage. It was long and clearly intended for over a thousand people to travel on it at once. At the front sat a large lesser dragon. These lesser dragons, while still strong, were considerably weaker than their true dragon cousins. The lesser dragon was attached to the long carriage with an extremely thick and sturdy rope. The carriage itself had large windows covering the sides and I could see inside rather luxurious cushioned seats.
At the door of one section of the carriage we were required to show our piece of paper. After we showed it to the person inspecting it they touched a stone to the paper and the pattern stopped glowing. I once again questioned my father on the nature of these strange patterns but he looked at me with an expression of confusion. We agreed to ignore it and we continued into the carriage.
We sat down in a simple seating section which was composed of four seats surrounding a small table. The seats were the best I had ever sat on. The cushioning felt incredibly pleasant and left no trace of the wood underneath the seat. I then looked around and noticed many different types of people. There were tall people with very little presence and tiny people with a tremendous pressure originating from them. The diversity was quite simply amazing and was already an excellent introduction to the capital.
After some more ogling the carriage left and we started moving up towards Draconis. Due to it being night I thought I wouldn’t be able to see much yet outside was surprisingly light. I could see below me the strange border of ice around the volcano. I could also see numerous large magical beasts resting on the sides of the volcano. These beasts were most likely incredibly wise and old. I also noticed a strange house on the side of the volcano. It appeared ordinary except for the fact that it was supported by a bizarre metal structure which allowed it to hang off the side of the mountain.
After a rather short time the carriage arrived at the top. Up here was considerably less busy than the bottom was, however, the appearance was much more grand. There were large statues of various important figures surrounding the carriage exit. Among the statues was a statue of the founder of Kunnana Academy. His name was Somon and he not only founded the academy but also furthered magic by centuries in a single decade. He supposedly died after a large battle involving another continent.
We left after my parents thought we had seen enough. Apart from the statues the building was almost the same and I found it uninteresting this time. As we exited the building I started to realise how grand the capital actually was. Many buildings appeared to have at least 10 floors and the streets were wide and open allowing people to flow through like a raging river.
My parents seemed to know where they were going as they started moving down the street at a somewhat quick pace. We continued at this pace without conversation until we reached a somewhat rundown building. It didn’t appear too terrible yet compared to the rest of the buildings it was not at all pleasant to view. My father started to explain that this was were we were staying and that we shouldn’t complain. I heard Jörg complaining but I realised the futility.
After giving some time to Jörg we entered the inn and booked 2 rooms. Our rooms were thankfully just down a corridor as I was starting to feel rather fatigued. When we got to our rooms my parents explained that the door would unlock when it detected our mana signatures. They told me to try it so I placed my hand upon the door and it started glowing in a strange spreading pattern of squares. When the squares reached the end of the door it finally opened and I could enter.
In the room were two single beds. The beds were against opposing walls yet due to the rooms small size they were still quite close. I lay down on the bed to the right of the room. I wanted to start thinking about these strange glowing patterns I have been seeing on presumably magic items but I couldn’t concentrate due to my exhaustion. I eventually gave up and fell asleep.
When I woke up I found Jörg sitting on his bed peacefully. He was quite clearly waiting for me to awaken. I greeted him drowsily and sat up too. We both knew we would need to go to Kunnana Academy today but we had no clue how to go there. I then walked over to my luggage and opened it. Inside the vyrum was sleeping. Happy with seeing my friend for the day I left to go see my parents.
When I arrived at their room I did not see any sign that the room had been lived in. When I knocked repeatedly I was given no response. After what must have been 5 minutes of waiting I noticed Jörg walking out of the room. He appeared confused as to why I hadn’t come back with answers. He then realised that my parents weren’t actually here. He suggested that we see the receptionist.
The receptionist appeared pleased when he saw us. He immediately told us that our parents had never stayed and that they had left a note for us. He handed over an envelope which I assumed contained the note. I thanked him and returned to my room so that I could read the letter in private.
In the envelope was a folded piece of paper and some well packed coins. The paper had written on it, “Dear Fanur and Jörg, go to Kunnana Academy as soon as possible. They will ask for money for your enrolment which is why we have packaged money within this envelope. If you are curious as to where Kunnana Academy is then you should know that it is located on the large detached island. We hope you get on well in your new school.”
Jörg and I were rather shocked by this message. Nowhere on it was their location or their plans. Their reasons too were not on it. We now knew that our only choice was going to Kunnana Academy. I never expected to go there, yet to go there with reasons such as this is not what I was hoping for. When I looked at Jörg I could see that he was quite clearly having thoughts of a similar nature.
After a moment of gathering our thoughts together we both grabbed our things and left. We made haste towards the side of Draconis where we had seen the island. Along the way we saw a colossal auction house which seemed to tower above the rest of the buildings. It was most likely split into sections for each wealth category. Inside they probably sold low class items like basic weapons and they also probably sold magical artefacts that would go for millions of golden coins.
After an incredible amount of running we reached a building marked as Kunnana Enrolment Station. This was most likely were we would pay to enrol into Kunnana’s junior section. The building itself wasn’t too impressive and was clearly overshadowed by even the normal buildings surrounding it. When we entered we also noticed that apart from staff the building was completely devoid of people. We decided to make our way to the desk closest to us.
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As we approached the person behind the desk immediately asked if we wanted enrolment into the junior section of the school. We both nodded and he appeared greatly pleased. He explained that he would check our basic abilities and then if we met the requirements we would be allowed into the junior section of the school. I was quite excited about the tests but Jörg appeared rather anxious.
We followed him to a small side room. In the room were various pieces of equipment which would be used to test our abilities. Along the equipment were the same patterns which I had been seeing everywhere. I then realised I was in the room with someone who was most likely more experienced than my father so I decided to ask him what the strange lines and patterns on objects were. He looked at me with an expression of extreme shock. He carefully explained that I have the ability to see mana which is something humans usually can’t do without extreme effort. He then asked when I was able to start seeing these lines. I told the story of how I had underwent my families awakening ritual and that it left me with some strange effects. I also explained that I had absorbed a strange white orb after the ritual which caused me to experience a sensory overload.
The examiner appeared more confused than when we started talking. He mentioned that the fact that my family has an awakening ritual is incredibly bizarre as the top ten families of Draconis are known collectively as the dragonbloods because of the fact that they are descended from dragons. Jörg interrupted at this point to ask if the orb was possibly concentrated beast souls but the examiner dismissed that theory because the effects were far too bizarre. He said that he’d ask all the top people in the academy for information regarding my visualisation of mana.
After that small amount of excitement we continued on to our testing. He explained that we would first do a magic power test. We would simply place our hands onto a stone plate and our magic power and magic purity would show itself on the stone. Our second test would be a magic proficiency test. This test consisted of us placing our hands on a clear orb and different colours of sparks would appear inside the orb determining what types of magic that we could use. Our third and fourth tests were basic physical fitness but it wasn’t necessary to be fit as physical strength can be beaten by magic the majority of the time. Our fifth test was a magic control test. It was after the physical activity so that he could know whether we could control magic in a tiring situation. He then said that he wouldn’t tell us what the sixth test was just now to save us from confusion.
After this explanation we walked over to the stone plate which would measure magic power. The examiner explained that the average person would have a power of 10. A normal magic user would have a magic power of 1000 and a talented magic user might have a power of 5000. Magic power would increase if we consumed special items but other than that it was a set value. He then continued by saying that a standard purity for a beginner is only 1% and that someone who is talented might get 2%. Purity is what really separated the strong and weak. With low purity spells would take many times more magic than what someone with a high purity would use. Their spells would also be a lot weaker.
Jörg went first and got 2000 magic power and a 2% purity. The examiner was very pleased at his results and said that as long as he trains he will be able to get a spot in the school’s older section. After his remarkable score I went. I was amazed as soon as I saw my results. I had 15000 magic power. I looked at the examiner and he too was amazed yet he seemed confused at the same time. I looked back towards the plate and I noticed that I had a 0.5% purity rating. Despite my high magic power I would still only have around the same amount of spell uses as a talented person. The examiner took a small book out of his pocket and made a small note.
We continued on with the testing despite us all being confused. We walked over to a rather large orb which was hidden in a corner. The examiner then explained what we would see when we placed our hands upon the orb. A number of different coloured sparks would appear with varying brightness. These would have different colours depending upon what element they correspond to. The colours were pretty easy to know. Light was white, space was black, earth was green, fire was red, wind was yellow, water was blue, and a blue/purple colour was the energy element. The space and energy elements were the rarest and were also arguably the strongest elements. These two elements were notoriously hard to control too. Many of the users of these elements died due to improper preparations while spell casting.
Jörg again went first. When he placed his hands on the orb a beautiful fiery red spark appeared and started moving around the inside of the orb. After a moment a slightly less powerful yellow spark appeared inside and started moving too. The examiner didn’t show any signs of shock this time. He said that although two proficiencies were good they didn’t mean much in this school of geniuses. After that disappointment I placed my hands upon the orb and the most beautiful sight appeared within. A magical flower composed of the seven different elemental colours appeared within the centre. It had six petals of white, green, purple, yellow, blue, and red. These petals surrounded a solid black core which seemed to prevent all of the petals from moving and becoming free. Unlike Jörg’s mine did not move around and instead remained stationary within the centre. I looked towards the examiner and he just stood there unmoving for a whole 10 seconds. He slowly turned to face me and slowly explained that I am the second person in the school to have seven proficiencies. He also said in an extremely careful manner that the orb should not have allowed the sparks to be pulled into a shape like that. Once again he pulled out his book and made a note.
Finished with his note writing the examiner led us to a special wall and a strange raised platform. He started by simply telling us to punch the wall. Jörg looked unsure so I went first. I punched the wall with my full force and to my surprise it didn’t hurt when my fist landed against the wall. I looked to the wall and on it was simply written “Below Average Strength”. Jörg then went and he surprisingly got above average strength. The teacher wasn’t too surprised by our results but I wasn’t happy with mine. I asked if I could draconify. The examiner appeared surprised but he still allowed it. I concentrated and turned my arm into a dragon’s. With my arm now draconified I could most likely use more strength. When I punched it this time I could feel the difference and it indeed did make a difference as I noticed that it said that I was above average with my draconified arm. Once again the examiner took a note.
While we waited for the examiner to write his note I let Jörg see my arm. He had never seen it before and wanted to view it in greater detail. He carefully viewed the large uneven scales and he touched my large claws with his fingers so he could feel their sharpness. When we stopped we saw the examiner standing there somewhat awkwardly while smiling at us.
The examiner explained that the raised platform was a running machine. We were to run on it and it would slowly increase in speed until we couldn’t run any longer. He also said that I should draconify the first time that I do it. Jörg volunteered to do it first. He stepped onto the platform and the surface of it started moving beneath his feet. It started off so that he would need to walk slowly to keep up with it but gradually it sped up until he was sprinting with full effort. It eventually reached a point where he fell because he couldn’t keep up with the speed any more. The teacher was quite pleased with the performance that he had just viewed.
After Jörg was me. I started off by trying to draconify my lower body and to my surprise it worked. The teacher was shocked from what I could see and Jörg was looking behind me in amazement. When I turned around I saw that I had grown an extremely long, thick tail. Along the back of the tail ran a line of thicker sharper scales which appeared like spikes running down it. At the end of the tail four large, sharp, glowing scales grew out and extended beyond the tail itself which meant that the tail could probably be used as some form of stabbing weapon. I then looked at my legs. On my knee there were particularly tough looking scales which overpowered the presence of all of the other scales and my toes were now large claws which rivalled the most vicious predators.
Convinced that I was now able to perform to the best of my ability I began running on the platform. It started off incredibly easy and it continued being easy up until the point where Jörg failed. I continued on though and I managed to stay on until the speed was about 50% more than Jörg’s. The examiner was pleased with my performance and quickly took a note as always.
As I was about to revert to my ordinary form I realised that my trousers were now ripped and that I would most likely expose myself if I were to transform back so I simply remained in this form for now. The examiner realising my situation advised me to research basic materialisation magic.
We then continued on to our fifth test. This test was rather informal from the way the examiner explained it. We just needed to form magic power in the shape that he requests. It is mostly to see if we are suitable for sorcery but it also makes wizardry easier too. We both went together for this one so we both saw it as a chance to prove who’s better at magic.
We were first asked to make a cube. We both succeeded with no problems. Next was a sphere, then a ring, then we started getting into bizarre shapes such as weapons, armour, and musical instruments. Even throughout all of these shapes we both made them to perfection. The examiner was immensely happy that we had done so well at this. He explained that he was a sorcerer and because of the danger of the profession it was slowly dying out. We felt rather shocked at that statement. We both knew it was unpopular but we thought it was primarily sorcerers who wanted to join this academy. Now that I knew I could become a sorcerer I would gladly take the opportunity.
After the examiner calmed down he led us to another room. In the room was a bath filled with a liquid similar to the one I had been submerged in during my awakening. Seemingly feeling my confusion the examiner explained that this was different. He stood in front of us and said in a well practised manner, “This pool not only awakens those of pure blooded lines such as yourself. This pool awakens those with only partial blood. These people are frequently unaware that they have such power with their veins. This is why Kunnana Academy is frequently called a school of monsters.”
Jörg was elated. He probably never thought about being able to awaken his own bloodline. When I looked at him I could see his mind racing through what bloodline might be his. The examiner grew tired of this and grabbed Jörg to throw him in the pool.