Hey guys and gals.

It has been a while since i posted a chapter since they are getting longer and harder to write.

Next, i received a lot of questions regarding some of the finer details of the story, the maid thing was a big hit for some reason, so from now on i will start being really detailed.

I am a big fan of the concept of negative capability, where you ignore some details to give way to the readers' interpretations, but this is not for me to read, so what you want is what you get.

anyway enjoy.

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Leaving the assembly hall, the students were directed to the next hall where they would receive their schedules. The students were then instructed to remain in their respective lines at which point staffers from the Academy will give them their individual Schedules.

The whole procedure was not too complicated, the student will present their identification tablet to the staffer, then the staffer will pull out a corresponding sheet of paper from a box in front him and proceed to the next student.

Wesley was standing near the back of the line so it was almost thirty minutes before he  reached the staffer and had to present his tablet. The staffers were all wearing blue robes similar to the ones the elders wore, however, their robes looked less impressive than the elders'.

The staffer in front of Wesley was a young man, in his early twenties. He looked at Wesley's valiant appearance and with a spoke with serene clear voice:

"Identifications Tablet please."

Wesley immediately handed over his tablet to the young man. The young man looked at the tablet for a short moment then pulled out a sheet of paper from the box. He then spoke with again:

"Here's your schedule. You will proceed to your first class immediately. But before you go there are a few more questions I must ask you."

'hmm, I didn’t see him asking the people in front of me any extra questions. Odd.'

"Of course"Wesley's reply was short and to the point.

"Since you are a swordsman, we had no way to ascertain your affinity during the entrance exam, so we would like you to submit to a test."

'An affinity test, I wonder why.'

"Why do I need an affinity test since I am a swordsman?"

The staffer was quite for a moment as if he was pondering something, then he spoke again in his clear voice:

"The test is to better determine each student's abilities so as to decide which method of teaching best suits them."

'Something seems off.'

"Is the test mandatory?"

Wesley was unwilling to submit to an affinity test. It is impossible to test someone's affinity without their permission when they are older because the mana that builds up in their bodies over the years repulses the testers mana, so if one wants to test a person, the  person must suppress their own mana to allow the testers mana access to the core of their mana pool that contains their affinity. Wesley knew he couldn’t be tested against his will, he was just worried that he'll have to give up on the Academy.

"No the test is not mandatory. However, you will be listed as without an affinity, and your ranking In your class will be dropped to the bottom."

'Good, it seems my admission is not dependent on this test.'

"That is acceptable. Is there anything else."

Wesley's words caused the staffer's face to turn into an expression of surprise. He really hadn't expected that someone would forsake their rankings as simply as Wesley just did.  

"Are you sure. Rankings are hard to gain and this will put you at the very bottom of your class."

'Ramkings? I couldn’t care less about such things.'

'Yes,I am sure. Now is there anything else."

"No that is all. Please proceed to the interior of the Academy and head to your first class."

"Thank You."

Wesley immediately walked passed the young staffer into the door that was behind him.

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A little while later, in a large rectangular office located at the fourth floor of the Academy's staff building, three blue robed elders were standing in front of a desk currently occupied by a white robed, white haired old man.

The three blue robed elders were the same elders who presided over Wesley's second test, while the white robed old man was the Academy's Headmaster. The Headmaster stared at the middle elder and spoke in a soft but rigid voice:

"Speak."

"Headmaster, we tried figuring out his affinity, but he refused to submit to a test at the cost of being dropped to the last spot in the rankings."

The headmaster had a thoughtful look on his face as if pondering a complex problem.

"That Rale said in his letter to simply teach the child well. Surely there is something besides his identity that makes him worthy of Rale's attention."

The left elder immediately spoke up:

"Headmaster, that kid was very proficient in the Silent Techniques that Rale was fond of in those days. Maybe he just inherited his sword techniques."

"We all know where Rale's true strength lies. Those sword techniques were but a childish hobby of his." The right elder chimed in with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Headmaster, this kid is no doubt talented in swordsmanship, I think it is highly unlikely that he could be this proficient in sword techniques if he was a dark mage like Rale."

The headmaster still had the look of thoughtfulness on his face. He then simply shook his head and spoke in a resigned voice:

"Considering how rare a person with a high affinity for darkness is, this child is most likely not a dark mage. However, we can't completely disregard the possibility. So for now, we will just keep a close eye on him. The moment he exhibits even the smallest hint that he is similar to that Rale, then we'll expel him."

"Yes Headmaster" The three elders responded.

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Wesley walked through the hallways of the academy's main building searching for his first class. The first class on his schedule was History. Wesley searched for the room number for almost ten minutes since the academy's halls were almost made like a maze, but eventually, he found it.

Wesley immediately walked into the class. The room had three columns of seats arranged in five rows. The rows of each column were paired in twos. Wesley immediately noticed that the class was almost entirely filled safe two seats at the very front of the room. He also noticed that most of the students in that class all wore shirts and trousers and all had swords.

'This must be one of the favorite classes for soldier types.'

Wesley was not completely wrong. Since most students at the academy were mages they preferred magic classes, however, the academy also accepted non mages, so these students took classes like this since there was no point in taking a magic class.

Wesley immediately sat in one of the open seats at the front. He was reluctant to sit there but there were no other open spots. Moments after Wesley sat down, another person sat in the spot next to him. This student was burly with excessively bulky muscles and was almost half a head taller than Wesley. He carried a giant four feet long great sword on his back which he set next to him when as he sat down.

'This is that guy from the exam. The one with the graduation question

This burly student was one of the few who left a favorable impression on Wesley during the entrance exam. He not only exuded an air of martial prowess, but seemed to be more mature than the other kids there. It was not very easy to be recognized by Wesley since he viewed everyone who is the same age as him as children, but this burly youth seemed to have plans for the future.  

While Wesley was thinking about the youth next to him, a door opened at the front of the class. A blue robed old man who seemed to be in his late eighties with a hunched back and drooping eyebrows walked in. He walked in a slow pace with a cane in his right hand and his left hand behind his back. His slow walking pace made it look like he would keel over any moment and die, but he eventually reached teachers desk at the front of the class and immediately sat down. The old man then sighed loudly and spoke while sitting down, his voice almost whisper like:

"I am the Eighth elder. I will be your History teacher for the year. Start introducing yourself to your classmates. You begin."

The elder pointed towards the burly youth next to Wesley with his cane. The youth immediately stood up and spoke in a deep clear voice:

"My name is Kellan." He then proceeded to sit down without another word.

'haha, what an odd guy. A nice to meet you wouldn’t kill him.'

"You're next."  

The elder pointed his cane to Wesley. Wesley stood up as well and spoke in a stoic clear voice.

"My name is Wesley, nice to meet you."

The introductions continued for five more minutes since there were around thirty students in the class. Once all the introductions were done, the elder slowly nodded his head and spoke:

"Good. Now that were are done with the introductions. Let us talk about history. History is perhaps the most fascinating of the social studies. Imagine living the lives of the greatest people in the world, imagine living the most profound and historical moments of our world. History is one of the only classes where you escape from the shells of your existence and look back into time to learn from it, to understand how and why we are here, what caused the things...."

While the elder was ranting about the greatness of history, some students in the back started whispering and giggling, and then one of them spoke in a not so whispering sound and said:

"Haha, this geezer is so excited about a useless class like this it is almost heartwarming."

Everyone, after hearing the student's words looked towards the elder. The elder who was talking about  History in an excited voice, but he suddenly stopped. The moment the elder stopped talking, an eerie silence descended upon the classroom. After a short moment of silence, the elder started laughing amiably and spoke:

"Haha, a useless class indeed. But would you like to know a fun fact?"

The elder directed his question to the student who spoke out while laughing. Then all of a sudden, his laughter died out and a tremendous pressure emerged from the elder as he looked towards the student who spoke.  

Wesley and Kellan who were sitting closest to where the elder was immediately jumped out of their seats and away from the elder while drawing their swords and taking defensive stances. The other students, however, were stuck in their seats barely breathing from the deathly dreadful pressure that the elder was emitting. The elder didn’t even pay any attention to the two who bolted out of their seats as he kept staring at the now sweating pale student at the back of the class. He then spoke, his voice now more vigorous than before:

"You might believe that my class is useless. But if you ever speak again while I am speaking then......"

The elder didn’t even finish his sentence, he didn’t need to. Everyone understood the meaning behind his words, considering his pressure, they all truly felt that they would die instantly is this elder desired them to. The pressure immediately disappeared, and the elder spoke with his original whisper like voice:

"Now, let us continue. You two, put away those dangerous things and return to your seats."

Wesley and Kellan looked at each other, their faces full of sweat. They then proceeded to sheathed their swords and reluctantly returned to their seats.

'Damn this place. I don't even think I'll live long enough to graduate.'

The class continued as the elder continued talking about the things they would learn in this class. The elder continued his speech about History as if nothing happened, but the students were all pale from the experience. None of them dared speak, in fact none of them even dared to breath too loudly lest they offend elder.

After an hour of listening to the elder's excited speech, a loud ringing reverberated throughout the academy. This signaled that the period was over and that students should head to their next class. However, no one in the classroom dared to move. The elder stopped his speech and spoke:

"That is all for today. Remember that you must attend class at least once a month."

With that all the students hastily left the classroom with some of them vowing never to return and others vowing to return daily so they don’t offend the scary elder.  

Wesley started walking around the hallways again searching for his geography class, fortunately for him some of the students from his history class, specifically Kellan, also had the same geography class as him, so it wasn’t hard to find the classroom this time.

Unlike the history classroom's unadorned walls, the geography classroom was far more vibrant with charts and maps lining the four walls. The seating arrangement was set up the same as the history class and the teacher was already sitting behind his desk when the students walked in.

Wesley and Kellan almost simultaneously sat towards the back of the room. Neither of them was willing to be too close to the front this time around and it seemed that most of the students were also reluctant to sit in front but some eventually sat there since all the back seats where occupied.

The geography teacher was much younger than the history teacher. He seemed to be in his early forties or late thirties and his face contained laughter and friendliness as he looked at the students silently. He wore the standard blue robe of the elders but his robust well built body made him look heroic. After everyone was seated, the teacher simply stood up and started speaking with an ordinary calm voice:

"Welcome to Geography. I am the seventeenth elder. Now let us do some basic introductions to get to know our classmates a little."

After everyone introduced themselves, the elder once again started speaking again:

"Good. Now, as you all no doubt know, Geography is one of the less popular subjects in the academy. However, always remember that it is no doubt one of the most essential. We live in a world of magic and mystery, and although it might seem powerful and random, but there are far more powerful natural laws that govern this world. Geography is the study of these laws. It is important that we know the world we live in so that.........."

The elder's speech continued till the end of the period at which point Wesley and the students headed to their next class. There was no incident like that of the first period but all the students behaved themselves nonetheless as if they all went through the same experience in their respective first periods.  

Wesley's next class was strategy and tactics. The class was similar to the geography class in seat arrangement and in that there were maps on the walls, only these maps were clearly meant for military use. The instructor was a giant burly man who had scars all over his face. He seemed constantly agitated and spoke in a low growl like voice:

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"I am the ninth elder. This class is to study and learn how to apply the principles of war. You will learn everything relating to war, from its conduct to its history. That is enough talking, open the textbooks inside your desks to the first page, we will start."

'What a diligent and straightforward teacher.'

Wesley was surprised that they would immediately start learning, since in all his other classes. Introductions and speeches took the whole period. For the next hour, the teacher continued speaking about what war is and its many different forms from civil wars, offensive wars, defensive wars and so on.

The hour went by rather fast since it wasn’t spent listening to long speeches. After the ringing sounded throughout the academy, Wesley immediately felt excitement well up in his heart. The two classes he was most interested in was Light magic class and swordsmanship, and the next class was Light magic.

'Finally, It is about time to test my theory.'

Wesley concluded beforehand that if there were no dark magic classes, then his next best option is to learn the opposite magic and see if he could improve his own magic. It is not uncommon knowledge that opposite affinities restrict one another, so by observing his natural oponnet, Wesley hoped to learn how to better counter it.

Wesley Found the Light magic classroom with relative ease. Walking in, he immediately noticed that the seating arrangement was different. There were only chairs no desks, and the chairs were arranged in a semi-circular pattern facing one chair. There were eighteen or so seats and all but one were currently occupied by blue robed students.  

The moment Wesley walked wearing trousers and with a sword on his hip, all the other students were confused. Why would a swordsman attend a magic class. Wesley ignored the confused stares and sat in the one unoccupied seat at the far end of the semicircle. As soon as Wesley sat down, the student next to him turned his head and spoke with a disdainful smile on his face:

"Are you lost friend? This is the light magic class."

"So?" Wesley really didn’t want to chat with this guys since he felt the disdain in his voice.

The youth's brows twitched alittle at Wesley's uninterested tone but he still maintained his smile and spoke again:

"Are you a Holy mage or a swordsman. I thought you were a swordsman from how you dressed and your sword."

'Holy mage? What a condescending name. What is holy about light magic I wonder.'

"Yes I am" Wesley's response could only be considered mocking since it didn't answer to the question he was asked at all.

Hearing Wesley's mocking response, the smile on the youth's face disappeared and as he was about to explode at Wesley, a blue robed elder walked into the classroom.  

This elder's face was emotionless without a single discerning feature. He walked slowly towards the single seat opposite the semicircle of students with his hand behind his back. At first glance he appeared to be in his late thirties but with a closer inspection, one would notice that his mostly grayed hair was indicative of his old age.

The elder sweeped his gaze over the students, his gaze resting on Wesley for a moment then looking away monechallantly in disinterest. The moment he reached his seat, he simply sat, then after a moment of silence he spoke in a slow and lulling voice that was almost enough to cause people to fall asleep.

"I am the third elder and this is light magic studies. Please raise your hand if you can perform light magic"

'hmm, it seems that last part is for my benefit.'

Wesley instantly realized that the question about ever having practiced light magic before was directed at him since he clearly didn't belong, however, he wasn’t alarmed since all students were allowed to take whatever classes they want without restrictions.

Everyone in the class immediately raised their hands, everyone except for Wesley who only sat there unblinking as if this whole matter didn’t even concern him. The elder seeing this simply nodded and continued speaking:

"I see. Hmm. Well, Welcome to light magic studies. As you all know, light is the strongest and noblest of the affinities, and its practitioners are also the strongest and nobles. Light magic is also the most versatile and adaptable magic. There is one thing you should know about this class: I will not teach you any advanced spells, every holy mage applies their magic differently so it is hard to teach one's spells to another."

'Strongest and noblest? I wonder if there is a limit to the narcissism of light mages.'

"Now, light magic has three basic spells used by all holy mages. This class will be focused on improving and expanding your understanding of these three spells. These three spells are not too powerful on their own, however, the higher your understanding of them, the more applications you can think of. Take for instance the spell Holy Jump, that enables us to teleport to another place as long as it is within our line of sight, however, this can be a slow process, but if your understanding is sufficient you can....."

The elder who was speaking in a lazy tone while sitting on his chair suddenly shone in a bright light and disappeared from his seat. He then reappeared near the entrance behind the students and continued speaking as if nothing just happened:

"decrease the time it takes for the spell to be invoked or alter it completely. What you just saw was my version of Holy Jump called Holy Port. Unlike Holy Jump which requires time of be invoked, Holy Port is instantaneous albeit with a range of thirty feet or so."

Wesley was really surprised. This Holy Jump was similar to his Dark Warp, but that Holy Port was unlike anything he has ever seen or heard before. To be able to teleport instantaneously is no small matter.  

"I wonder if I can modify my Dark Warp to do something like this.'

The elder lazily walked back to his seat. Of course he continued lecturing while he walked back.

"Do not for a moment think that the fact that there are only three basic light magic spells makes holy mages inferior to other mages. The fact that there are only three basic spells is precisely what makes light magic the strongest. It has unlimited potential, you can apply it in multitudes of ways, come up with multiple spells and so on."

Wesley was immersed in his thoughts so he didn’t even pay any more attention to the teachers lecture anymore. The one hour period flew by in an instant and Wesley was aroused from his thoughts by the ringing that signified the end of class.

'haha, It was a good decision to attend this class. I'll have to see if I can replicate that so called Holy Port.'

Wesley immediately stood up and was about to walk out when a voice called him from behind him.

"You with the sword. Stay behind."

Wesley turned around immediately and saw that the one who called him was the teacher. Wesley immediately walked back towards the teachers location. As soon as he was within five feet, he slightly bowed and spoke in a respectful voice:

"Yes Elder."

The elder looked at Wesley with eyes that seemed to have just been woken from a deep slumber. But Wesley noticed that behind the hazy sleepiness in his eyes, a deep light that hinted at his wisdom shone in the elder's eyes.

"Are you able to practice light magic."

"No Elder."

"Then why are you in my class?"

"Elder, I needed an extra class to take. And since I have no elemental affinity, I wanted to at least have a glimpse of the strongest magic, so I chose this class."

'I hope a little flattery is enough to appease his curiosity.'

"No affinity. I could have sworn you were a mage with your physique."

The elder looked at Wesley with suspicion. His assumption was not off mark since mages often have slender bodies while those who rely on the sword are often burly and muscular. Wesley's face didn’t even have a hint of a change as he responded.

"Elder, I am a practitioner of the Silent Techniques. My physique is necessary to be able to practice these techniques."

"Is that so. Hmm, Well get going then or you'll be late for your next class."

"Yes Elder."

Wesley curtly bowed and immediately left the classroom. The Elder's gaze was still on his back as he walked out but the suspicious look seemed to have lessened.  

Wesley's third class was Swordsmanship. This was one of the two classes, besides light magic, that he actually looked forward to. Since Wesley depended on his Silent Techniques rather often, he wanted to improve his mastery of them so that he could at least convince people that he was a genuine swordsman.

Wesley reached the swordsmanship classroom after a while since the class was held in a building that is located outside the main school building. Wesley walked in and noticed that there were no chairs or tables anywhere inside the open interior of the classroom. This classroom was five times the size of the other classes in the main building, and there were training dummies lined up around the circumference of the room.

There were currently fifty or so students standing randomly around the classroom, each of them with swords. Wesley immediately noticed that Kellan was also standing amongst the students alone, so Wesley headed towards him since he was the only person he recognized.

'This Kellan and I share three classes, it shouldn’t hurt to get to know him.'

"Hey Kellan, I am Wesley." Wesley spoke in a friendly voice with a smile on his face.

Kellan turned his head towards Wesley and looked at him with a confused look. He was used to most people avoiding him because of his temperament and appearance since he always looked so imposing, but this slender youth actually approached him with a smile.

"Uhm, Hello." Kellan spoke in a more friendly voice than his usual growly voice but it sounded rather forced.

'Haha, this Kellan seems to lack basic social skills. What an odd fellow.'

Wesley was about to say something to Kellan when the entire bustling room suddenly quieted down. Wesley looked around and saw that everyone was currently staring back at the entrance to the classroom.

Wesley immediately turned to look at the entrance as well, however, after seeing the blue robed silhouette with the almost closed eyes and short stature, his face turned ugly as he felt his heart almost stop.

'This old freak again. Is he appearing in front of me on purpose.'

This was indeed the second elder that conducted Wesley's first entrance test. He left a lasting impression on Wesley when he caused him to feel an incomparable dread and fear. This was one of the few people Wesley wanted to avoid at all costs.

The elder looked at the students' faces, and then he noticed the look on Wesley's face and proceeded to flash him a reassuring smile. This smile seemed friendly but to Wesley it resembled the kind of smile a devil would have before he claimed your soul, he was not comforted by it at all.

The elder walked all the way to the front of the class, then he simply faced all the students and spoke In his always amused and amiable voice:

"Haha, hello again. I am the second elder and I will be your swordsmanship instructor. I believe you’ve had plenty of chances to introduce yourselves to your classmates in other classes so we won't bother with that. Now, this class will be a little different: since there are too many styles of swordsmanship out there, it is impossible to teach each one of you the same thing, so this class will focus on building your bodies and foundations. Of course there will also be a lot of sparring, because we can't grow without testing ourselves constantly against others."

Wesley didn’t hear a single thing the elder said. He really was too traumatized by this elder last time, so the moment he laid eyes on him he started planning his escape.

'Dark Globe should slow him for a second and a Dark Warp should get me away. I hope.'

"....now, line up in two lines, the first line is for those who use agility based techniques, second is for those with strength based techniques."

'Huh.'

Wesley was instantly aroused by the elder's last words. Why are they dividing into lines based on their technique types. But Wesley didn’t think too much about it and immediately joined the agility based line. After the everyone joined their respective lines, the elder spoke again:

"Good, now I know what methods of practice each of you should do. Now I should tell you some regulations of my class. First, you must attend every class, no exceptions. Second, you can not injure or kill sparring partners. And third, you must under never let me see you without your swords."

The smile on the elder's face vanished and a cold light flashed across his eyes as he continued speaking:

"It is common for people to look down on swordsmen since they are not as flashy as mages. But, swordsmen don’t run out of mana, their bodies are stronger and their abilities are their own, not just borrowed powers. If I ever see any of you hide his sword because of shame from being look down upon, then you have no place in my class. Any questions."

The elder still had the rigid expression on his face as he waited for someone to ask a question. Suddenly a hand shot up from the back of the room, a tall youth with an arrogant face spoke up:

"Elder you tell us that we must never walk without our swords, but how come you don't carry one yourself."

The youth's tone contained a hint of condescension, but the elder only looked at him, then the rigidity left his face and smile crept in as he spoke with a hint of laughter:

"Haha, good question. My sword is always with me, only I don't need to carry it. Here have a look..."

The elder removed his right hand from his back and extended it forward, then after two breaths, a long sword, at least five feet long, materialized in his arm. The scene of the sword appearing from thin air left all the students slack jawed. This elder clearly wasn’t a magician so how in the world did he manage to make a sword appear out of thin air. The elder simply laughed at the surprised expressions of the students and spoke again:

"When you reach a certain level you will be able to bond with your weapon and keep it within your body. You don't have to worry about that for now, only I want you to remember that swordsmen are not inferior to mages, we have our own techniques and methods."

'What an odd technique. I felt minute mana coming from his body, but not enough for a spell. Odd'

Wesley really was interested in that technique and wanted to ask what it was but he still harbored some fear for the elder in his heart so he didn’t dare ask anything. In fact he really wanted to leave this classroom. Fortunately for him, the remainder of the class went by pretty fast, and soon a clear ringing sound reverberated in the ears of all the students marking the end of the day.

"Good, that should be all for the day. Remember, you must come to class everyday. Now get going."

Wesley didn’t need to be told twice as he immediately left the classroom with haste.  

'That should be it for me. From now on I will attend light magic class, and...swordsmanship.'

Wesley really didn’t want to attend the swordsmanship classes anymore, but he had to for two reasons. One, he needed to get his Silent Techniques to improve, and Second, he was really scared of the second elder and since the elder said that he must attend daily then he'll attend daily.