Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy was located on the western coast of the Sorcerer Continent, and its west was cut off by Chains Mountain, the one that provided the gateway to the academy. Beyond the Chains Mountain was the Jewel Sea. Miles eastwards from the academy was the famous Holy Tower of Seven Rings, but to get there, one had to go through the Bramble Forest.
It had been fifteen days since Grimm was admitted to the academy, and he had grown familiar with the academy's layout. All the academy buildings centered on the over-a-hundred-tiered Black Tower, the lowest seven floors of which were accessible to students and apprentices while the higher stories were reserved only for sorcerers. And the three major public places for the sorcery-learners were lecture halls, a library, and a common house.
It was the first day of the new term today and also the day on which all sorcery academies' new term on the Sorcerer Continent commenced. Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy enrolled new students only once in a decade. Theoretically, each academy had their own sphere of influence and would select students within their boundaries. Apparently, Black Isotta Academy had breached limits and ransacked Kyrie and Brianna.
Heralded by the second-year students, apprentices from the human world poured into a grand square. They were all admiring the architecture and facilities around them and some had been inspired to declare that they would be the greatest sorcerer in sorcerers' history.
The members of the Death Sail League were among them and they behaved much reserved, because it seemed that they had grown too mature to care about such vague and insubstantial things.
In about ten minutes, nearly two thousand kids had been lined up on the smooth granite floor. In front of them, a dozen sorcerers were sitting before a long board. The pupils had to hold their heads high to look at them, because the long board was placed on a trestle that rose high into the air. The sorcerers wore loose robes and were invariably staring at the board as if it held a huge secret.
There were barely any formalities to go through or etiquettes to follow, unlike the human world with nobles and commoners.
Time in the Sorcerer Continent was measured in hourglasses and natural days. There were also places where time was measured using mechanical clock hours and minutes.
One natural day was twelve hourglasses of time. Compared with the time measurement unit at the Eastern Coral Island, one hourglass was roughly two mechanical clock hours.
For three-quarters of an hourglass, a dozen sorcerers introduced the general rules of the academy, and the tasks and tests that sorcerer apprentices had to accomplish in the pursuit of knowledge and a three-year span of preferential treatment.
With that and the incident at sea, the Death Sail League no longer had any disillusionments regarding Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy.
During the preferential treatment period, pupils would receive two magic stones as a monthly allowance and would have no compulsory missions for the first three years. After that, the First-Years Sorcery Test would be held, in which many apprentices would die or be kicked out of the academy.
As for the exact use of magic stones, Grimm had learned from Chris and Nina that they were sorcery money. And according to the talking sorcerers, magic stones were needed to borrow books or even take a lecture. It would cost one stone for borrowing a book for a week from the library and half a stone for a lecture given by a sorcerer! The sum of stones that all sorts of experimental materials would cost varied significantly. With enough stones, you could even purchase Magical Tools, like the one Lefay had been using to conjure up vines. Stones were also required by pupils if they wanted to ask questions to a sorcerer.
The last speech-giving sorcerer on the trestle was talking eloquently, and he concluded his statement with a positive note:
"But there is good news for you. You each will be given a crystal ball and seven lectures on sorcery for free, a reward from the Holy Tower of Seven Rings."
Everyone broke into a rapture, although most of them had no idea what the Holy Tower of Seven Rings represented.
~…~...~
Three days had passed. It was the first official academy day.
Grimm, Chris, Nina, and Robinson had settled themselves in a front row of Lecture Hall Nine. The hall was packed, but they scrambled and scored the seats.
"Let me tell you a little secret. I bet you must have well observed the owls that whiz around the academy. They are actually spies working for the LET. I overheard it from a senior," Robinson who was sitting behind Grimm chattered.
Robinson wasn't on Grimm's team back on the ship, because he had made some new friends and ganged with them. But, he had been hanging around with Grimm ever since they set foot into the academy.
"And it's said that there are two places you are strongly advised not to go. One of them is the "Wildness Yard". It is a duel arena where LET regularly come to collect the dead bodies of the losers." Robinson licked his lips in a proud air.
"The other one is a place I bet you would never go. It is the water tower in the furthest south of the academy. Weird things happen in there. If you go there by yourself at night, you might be lucky to catch sight of one." Robinson enticed Grimm by giving him a nudge.
Grimm pouted disapprovingly, contemplating that the weird things in Robinson's eyes might just be tricks of sorcery.
About a quarter of an hour later, the Hall had been crammed to the walls, and no unoccupied seats could be found. Robinson was still gossiping about academy news when someone grumbled in a piercing voice:
"Not a single seat left! Why did you tarry on the way here?"
The one who came into view was a browned-haired girl with bangs who was wearing a black dress, in stark contrast to her white skin. She walked into the hall in a dignified manner. A circlet of pearls on her hair was gleaming after reflecting the lights, adding to her graciously tender figure.
The boy who was being berated became embarrassed for he had miscalculated the availability of seats. However, he did not have any intention of displaying weakness in front of the girl he fancied. Instead, he turned to Chris and Nina, who were in the front row, and yelled at them to give up their seats, and in the meantime, he gestured to several pupils in the back rows to come for help.
As the helpers were forcing their way to Chris and Nina, Lefay who was in the row behind Chris', pounded the table in her wrath and rose up abruptly.
"You sure you are talking to us?"
At the time, Grimm also stood up to pitch in for a stronger lineup. After a month of life or death battles together, the group had developed some sort of unbroken bond of friendship. But, one couldn't rule out the probability that Grimm did that solely for Lefay. And Chris himself bickered back.
The student who was sitting next to Chris scooched two seats away from him as if to draw a line between Chris and him. A girl in the forefront, who had turned back to relish in a quarrel, suddenly covered her mouth with her hand in a panic, when she saw Lefay acting defiantly against the notorious seat-seeker.
The girl's eyes were nervously dilated as if to say "Lefay is a goner now."
The seat-seeker quickly noticed that the group were all dressed in a manner that was setting off a vibe of "peasants" except for Lefay who was, in his opinion, less lousy.
"Yes, I am asking you b*tch to take a roll! Now get out of the way, or I swear you will die in less than half a year," the boy threatened as he overlooked Lefay.
"Trust me. I will definitely ask a senior boy to teach me sorcery and I will then get them!" the boy said triumphantly to one of the pupils who had squeezed their way before him.
"Hah? Less than half a year! Then I will wait and see who survives whom." Lefay's anger not abated, she pounded the table again and watched the boy provocatively.
"You wanna play with fire. Let's-"
The tough words didn't have the time to burst out before the boy was slapped hard on the face by somebody that no one in the hall could have expected as the perpetrator.
It was one of the seat-seeker's men who had slapped him.
"What were you doing?!" He raged so much that the veins in the front of his neck could be seen swelling.
"No, I-I didn't mean it! I didn't k-know. I was controlled by something," the slapper stammered.
"What are you talking about?" The seat-seeker's face was twisted in pain.
"Haha! He is talking about hypnotization and mental control. I am the Mind Caster. The Death Sail League is establishing its turf."
