Middle-aged Guy with a Blue Robe

Aeon approached the pointy eyebrowed man and the two walked side by side towards the corner of the open field. They entered an alley between two classrooms before stopping. The man turned towards Aeon and extended his right hand forward, "My name is Montis Leroux, one of the judges in the individual battles. Nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan."

Seeing the man's friendly demeanor despite being a judge, Aeon decided to drop all formalities. He reached for Montis' hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Leroux."

Montis Leroux nodded, satisfied by Aeon's behavior. He had always hated formalities, being called "judge" or "sir." He then became rather serious. He was there to meet Aeon for academy concerns, after all, not just for idle chatter.

"You should know why I called you over," Montis said while reaching inside his robe. He took out a piece of rolled paper that was kept intact by a red ribbon and handed it over to Aeon.

Aeon promptly received the paper then examined it. By the corner of the paper, the symbol of Fria, a white Phoenix, was embossed. He did not know what receiving such a paper meant or signified, but, surely, it should have contained something important. Aeon untied the ribbon and began reading it. Montis Leroux observed quietly from the side, not uttering a single word.

After Aeon finished reading, he looked up towards the tall judge and smiled, "This makes sense. I couldn't agree more."

Montis was taken aback by Aeon's reaction. He expected the boy to complain or haggle, at least. He reached for his pocket to summon a pen then handed it over to Aeon. The latter signed it without a moment's delay. Montis watched as Aeon rolled the piece of paper and tie it with the red ribbon. Aeon returned the roll of paper that looked as if it weren't touched.

The two bid each other farewell.

Montis went deeper into the alley while Aeon returned to the field.

When Montis reached the end of the alley, he heard a familiar voice, "How did it go?"

Montis looked towards the man who was leaning on the wall. "Smoother than expected."

The man who previously spoke straightened up and started walking away. "That's good."

As Montis looked at the man's back, he suddenly thought about something. Montis called out to the man, "Klaus…"

The man stopped. He turned around before replying, "Yes?"

"How do you feel about me mentoring the boy?" Montis said with a flat tone.

Unexpectedly, Klaus replied immediately, "Why not?"

Klaus turned around and resumed walking away.

….

Aeon patted Suri's shoulder as he rejoined the crowd. The latter stared at him curiously. It was obvious that he had noticed Aeon's absence.

"Where have you been?" Suri asked Aeon.

"I had to pee," Aeon replied without thinking.

Suri recalled that there really was a comfort room near the field, so he immediately dropped the matter. He filled Aeon in on the details that he had missed while he was gone. Suri was a man of few words, but he did not think that should stop him from telling people important details. He spoke a lot without feeling any unease.

Aeon nodded from time to time as Suri spoke, but in reality, he was thinking about something else. He was thinking about the text in the piece of paper.

There was a bunch of mumbo jumbos written on the paper but the gist was that if he failed to awaken his magic within a year, his qualification as a student in the academy will be considered null and void as the Academy would not invest on some unawakened mage. It was still being discussed whether or not his qualification would be renewed if he awakened later in his life. Also, for him, all classes that required a specific element were changed to combat training.

What the letter contained was truly logical. Knowing that Aeon would not discover something about the secrets of awakening from element-specific classes, he had no reason to disagree regarding the changing of classes.

More combat training? Sweet.

Suri had stopped talking long ago, but Aeon was still nodding his head, like a chicken pecking on rice. Realizing that the latter was not listening to his narrations, Suri could only sigh. He shook his head and left as the administrators had told them that they were dismissed. He also told Aeon about that but...screw him. The musclehead would not listen anyway.

Aeon only realized that the people were already leaving when a familiar man passed by him. It was the earth mage from the competition, the one who trapped him on the path towards the plateau. Unlike Levi, the man did not have any reactions as he saw Aeon looking at him. The man grunted and walked faster towards the exit.

Aeon was not affected by the man's rude behavior, though. He also walked towards the exit where a lady patiently distributed a map of the academy to the new students who were already leaving. Aeon thanked the lady as he received his own copy of the map.

Now that he got a clearer view of the area, Aeon realized that Fria's Bed lay at the center of the academy. Towards the east of this open field was the area where they were toured around. To the west was the place where Korona was toured around in, the area where Remorans took up most of their classes.

When Aeon got home, he encircled three words using a pen: Fria's Bed, Hall of Enlightenment, and Hall of Opportunities.

The day passed by in a flash.

….

The next morning, classes had officially started.

Aeon entered the academy and headed straight towards the Hall of Enlightenment, a large room north of Fria's Bed.

The room was semicircular with a podium at its center. The ground level grew deeper and deeper as it got closer to the podium to allow better visibility to all students. Long, semi-circular tables curled around the center for the students to take notes.

Since the subject they were about to take in the hall did not require a specific element or class, it was expected that all 51 of them would be there. Aeon estimated that more than 40 had already entered. Despite this, however, the room still looked empty.

Isn't the room too big for only 51 students?

Aeon shrugged and looked for Suri and Korona. After seeing them at the left side of the room, he hurried over and took his seat. He noted that the class he was about to take was equally important as combat training so he decided that he would drop his usual carefree demeanor. He told himself that he would listen intently to the lecture.

After a few minutes, someone walked in. The person was quite young, maybe in the middle of his thirties. He carried a large book using both his hands and laid it down onto the podium. Without dallying, he immediately opened the book on its first page.

The professor did not greet the class, nor did he ask to be greeted. Instead, he went straight to the lecture. The first thing he talked about was the source of all magic, the heart of Hecate. Of course, his lecture coincided with what Aeon's father had told him in his stories. The stuff he already knew, he told himself.

The next topic, however, was more interesting. The professor discussed the different ranks of spells. It was classified into Ranks E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS, from weakest to strongest. The intriguing thing about the grading system was that it was relative to the caster. For example, an expert mage could cast a simple ice shard, a typical E-ranked spell for newly awakened water mages, but demonstrate a power level of a Rank B spell.

The topic after that was also good, but it did catch Aeon's attention as much because it hits his sore spot.

Similar to spells, mages also have their own ranks. The classification was still the same, from Rank E to Rank SSS. The only difference was that the ranks are gauged according to the mage's magic power threshold. Some tests could be done to determine your rank. For example, if the mage could continuously cast a Rank E spell 50 times, he could be considered as a Rank D mage. It goes without saying that if the mage is capable of casting one spell as strong as 50 Rank E spells, he should also be considered as a Rank D mage. However, that is not an easy feat.

At the moment, all of the students were still Rank E mages.

Except him!

As the lecture proceeded, Aeon realized that he was getting sleepier and sleepier. The man had such a robotic voice as if he was just reading out of the book! If he asked the students to go and take a nap as a joke, they might really go and take one. Who would stick to some mechanical class that does not relate magic to their daily lives as mages? Lectures such as the one they were currently having were the worst. Practical application? Screw that! Here's just a bunch of information for you to process on your own!

Aeon looked closer at the man and confirmed that he was really just reading!

What a letdown.

Aeon slowly went to sleep.

….

Aeon woke up after who knows how long as his drool spread on the table. Beside him, he saw both Suri and Korona's head bobbing up and down. Even the two were not able to resist the boredom.

The class was still ongoing but most students were either already asleep or doing something else. The professor did not mind at all, though.

After a few minutes, the professor carried the thick book and left.

That's it?

The students who were still awake were stressed. Probably only a scant few of them learned something new from the class. Probably, 90% of what the professor had said was common knowledge. It only served as a refresher for the students.

The famous academy should not be like this, no?

They did not know! Heck, it's their first day of class!

The students slowly left the room and those who were dozing off were woken up by the other students. Needless to say, a lot of them felt dejected. Did they set their expectations for the Academy a bit too high? Hopefully, the next class would not be as boring. The students headed to Fria's Bed which was relatively close.

When they got to the open field, the Remorans separated from the Serans as they still had other classes to attend.

Aeon and Suri were at a loss. They did not want to talk about the previous class as they might fall asleep again. Yeah, that might be how their bodies would naturally react. Hearing the same words that came out of that professor's mouth, they might immediately snooze. The two patiently waited for the instructor.

They did not know if the academy was trolling them or not, but when the instructor came, they swore it was the professor that taught their previous class.

Middle-aged guy with a blue robe. That is how the students called him since he did not even drop his name earlier.

Many of the students cursed their luck. They thought that the academy must have deteriorated to the point where many professors and instructors left. That is why they had to send the same person for two classes straight. Moreover, those classes were complete opposites of each other! One was theory and history while the other was a practical application.

"Okay listen up!" an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke.

The Serans all looked towards the front, mildly shocked and confused.

The voice came from the middle-aged guy with the blue robe? What? How?

"My name is Bell, and you all should call me Instructor Bell from now on."

The man stepped forward with his hands folded behind his back. He looked like a completely different person. In the earlier class, he could be described as a zombie. But now, he really did look like an expert instructor.

"For Serans like us, our main asset is our bodies. Today… no... The entire week! We won't have any combat training yet. We'll measure the limits of our body and seek to raise the cap." The man tossed his robes to the side and showed off his well-toned body.

Woah...

All of the students gaped in awe, even Aeon and Suri.

….