Train Ride

Keiran's eyes instantly shot open as his arm reached for his phone as fast as he could to turn off the blaring alarm waking him up at 6.30 am. He wearily got up, still half awake even though the alarm had startled him badly. He wasn't used to waking up this early, but he was going to a new magic academy today, and he couldn't afford to be late. Keiran scoured through his clothes, which had greatly thinned in number over the week because of the packing he had to do. Very quickly, he found what he was looking for: the academy's uniform.

The actual name of the academy was the "Seraphic Academy". It's the undisputed #1 academy due to its accomplishments of having been able to create a time dilation chamber. What it does is self-explanatory, it speeds up time for the people inside the room, making time on the outside go a lot slower in the perception of the ones inside the chamber.

Keiran finished getting ready, carrying a bag with all of his necessities inside like his clothes, water bottle, toothbrush, tooth paste, and stuff like that. He went out of his room and down the wooden stairs that had been cleaned recently. His mother was in the kitchen sitting down, drinking a cup of coffee while looking at something on her phone.

She heard Keiran going down the stairs and greeted him warmly as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I've been feeling a lot better than usual lately."

"Wonderful! Have some breakfast, it's your first day at Seraphic Academy today, have you got everything you need?"

"Yeah, I think I do. Although I might've forgotten something, I don't think it would be anything too important."

"If you need anything, you can always tell me."

"Thanks, I'm going to the train station now. I know there's still plenty of time but I just want to make sure I don't miss it."

Keiran's mother chuckled and told him not to worry. Truth be told, Keiran was feeling very nervous right now. It wasn't something he could explain, it's just something you felt before a big change in your life.

He left his house, walking shakily in the direction of the train station. It was quite cold outside, and with the freezing wind blowing against his pale skin, Keiran couldn't help but shiver heavily, wishing for the warmth the sun gave to be focused on him.

'What kind of school starts in the Winter season anyway? I don't think I've heard of others doing that before.'

Still, he held on, the violent chattering in his teeth did not stop by the time he got to the train station, it was only 7 am right now, and there were still another 40 minutes before the train arrived.

'Maybe I should've taken my time.' Keiran regretted waking up early for the torture he was undergoing right now. He glanced at his surroundings, and there were plenty of first-years like himself, he also saw many students with the same uniform but a different badge on the collar of the blazer. The school's uniform consisted of black tailored trousers, with a plain, white long shirt, and a navy-blue blazer with golden inlines over the shirt. There was also a badge you had to wear on the collar of your blazer to signify your year.

Bronze colours were the first-years, silver colours were the second-years, gold colours were the third-years. It was pretty easy to memorize.

The second and third years were using some kind of magic to make the air around them warmer, which served as a brilliant heater. Keiran could feel the jealousy inside of him when he stared at how causally they were using magic. He hoped to one day also use magic like that to make his life a lot easier.

'Oh well, I'll learn that when lessons actually start.'

Keiran looked at the neon sign that updated the train schedule in real-time, trying to take his mind away from the frigid air trying to freeze him to death.

7.40 am - Ruptia

'Soon I'll be in Ruptia, the city with the highest density of mana in the air known, the biggest city in all of the continent. The train still has another 20 minutes to arrive, maybe I should try to strike up conversation to get close to one of the higher years with the warm air..'

Keiran looked around, trying to find someone who wasn't with anyone else right now. Sadly, he didn't have any luck as the other first-years also had the same idea as him. He couldn't bring himself to try to talk to any group, preferring to wait for the train instead.

The train finally arrived, and Keiran might as well be frozen to death by now. He stiffly entered the train, finding a compartment somewhere in the middle of the train with no people inside. Stepping through, he quickly took a seat and basked in the warmth given by the train.

Keiran reached into his pocket, taking out his phone and looking for any new webnovels he could read. He searched up multiple keywords looking for anything interesting, specifically a xianxia. After a few minutes, he found something interesting that wasn't a xianxia, but it still piqued his curiosity nonetheless. Starting the chapter, he quickly became enthralled in the story. The story was about someone who received an unexpected letter to an elite mage academy, and the main character didn't believe it at first, but when he tore through the letter, he got transported into a difference place for the entrance test.

The train stopped multiple times in different stations, bringing in many more people. The train was actually starting to get a bit cramped, and Keiran's compartment was the only one empty. It was a miracle that it stayed empty as long as it had.

Soon enough, while Keiran wasn't paying attention, someone else entered the compartment he was in. Taking a seat at the opposite end, the other person looked at Keiran, deciding whether or not to greet him.

Eventually, Keiran sighed and turned off his phone. While it was an interesting story, he didn't want to become too into it for fear that he would miss the stop he needed to get off at.

He looked up and his pupils shrunk a bit, clearly startled at the presence of someone else. Quickly shrugging off his surprise, he looked out the window and started to think about random thoughts.

'This guy is a third-year huh.. I should at least try to talk to him. It would be good to get some information out of him.'

As he tried to think of something to say, the third-year actually took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Hey, you're a first-year right? Did you hear about what will happen in the new curriculum for first-years?"

Keiran was surprised, but he regained his composure and started to talk with the third-year.

"No? What's happening?"

"Apparently, the academy had decided that they were going too easy on the first-years before you, and they're testing out a curriculum that's going to be way more challenging than before."

"Seriously? Even before this, I had heard that the academy was really tough on its students, but this is insane."

"Yeah, it's no joke at all. I was even contemplating leaving when I was in the first year... By the way, my name's Javis."

"Nice to meet you Javis. Can you tell me a bit more about the first year?"

"I can give you two words: extremely tiring. The classes themselves weren't that bad, but the work for after the classes were the WORST. One time, I had to PAY to get private tutoring even though I was low on money at that point. It cost 500 crystals! Can you believe that?! I almost coughed up blood when I heard that price. Luckily, the second year is a lot more chill."

"Oh damn! Don't suppose you could give me some tips on how to survive the first year? My confidence has been completely shattered."

"The best advice I could give to you... is probably to study and practice madly. Only the best will be tolerated inside the new first year curriculum."

"I've never liked studying.. but I'm guessing I have no choice in the matter."

"Yup! I wish you luck dude."

Javis went silent, but Keiran wanted to try his luck anyway.

"Think you could teach me some magic?"

Javis looked at Keiran curiously before laughing and replying to his question.

"Well, if it's only one spell, which one do you want to learn?"

Keiran was in thought for only one moment before answering.

"The spell that makes the air around you warm, like the people outside were using."

Javis shook his head: "I doubt you'll be able to learn it, in fact I don't think you'll be able to learn any spell at all. Do you even have any experience in mana manipulation?"

Keiran looked confused, and Javis knew the answer just by looking at his face.

Javis sighed, "Alright, I'll teach you about mana first, we still have a few hours anyway. Look closely alright?" He lifted his hand in the air and made his palm face towards the ceiling of the train.

"First, you'll have to learn how to sense mana. Place your right hand above my palm and try to sense the difference between your left and right hand. Oh, close your eyes so your sense of sight isn't distracting you."

Keiran nodded and placed his hand above Javis' palm before closing his eyes. Immediately, Keiran noticed a difference, but it was subtle. He focused as much as he could on that difference.

He realised his right hand could somewhat change the direction of the "mana". He pointed his right hand towards his eyes, and instantly felt as though his senses went through a change.

Keiran opened his eyes slowly, noticing the pleased expression on Javis' face.

"Good job! You are definitely talented enough for the academy, being able to sense it that easily."

Keiran looked at Javis' palm that was still facing upwards, and while he could not actually see the mana, he could feel it. It's like not being able to see a fire outside, but still feeling the heat coming from it inside.

He looked toward his heart, feeling a slight pressure there and the sensation of mana.

"Ah, you can feel that? It's as you probably guessed, your personal mana is stored inside of your heart. Nice work, you've completed the first step of sensing mana. I think we'll still have enough time to teach you mana manipulation."

"How long did I take?"

"About 20 minutes."

'It didn't feel like 20 minutes..'

"In case you were wondering, I sensed mana in about 5 minutes." Javis said smugly.

'WHAT!'

Keiran almost stood out of his chair, and suddenly felt a lot inferior.

'Even Javis thought it was difficult to get through the first year, and he seems to be much more superior to me. I'll need to work extra hard!'

Javis laughed, obviously expecting this reaction from Keiran.

"Don't feel disheartened, you're still a bit talented compared to the other people I've met. Now, let's start on mana manipulation. We don't really have the time to waste."

Javis taught Keiran about some exercises you could do with mana to train your control. The first one is to shape mana into different objects like a balloon, a water bottle, a bag, and more.

The second one he got taught was to condense your mana and use it in conjunction with the first exercise. Javis had more exercises, but he wasn't really happy with the level of control Keiran had. Javis would only teach more exercises once Keiran had met his expectations.

"Try to relax more. Being on edge can cloud your perception and mess up your control."

An hour quickly passed by, Keiran got more and more comfortable with mana and the exercises, yet he still hadn't met Javis' expectations.

Javis looked at his phone and sighed.

"What's up?"

"We only have 10 minutes until we arrive. I don't think you'll be able to master the two exercises in this time, so I'll just show you what level you have to get to."

Javis expelled mana out of his body, condensing more and more mana until you could see the mana and even touch it. He shaped it into a chair about the size of the ones on the train, and sat on it. The light-blue chair seemed very stable, and it didn't even slightly shake under the weight of Javis. Javis is a skinny guy, but you would expect something made in a few seconds to at least wobble a little bit under some weight.

Keiran's mouth was wide open, over the hour, he had come to realize just how difficult it was to condense and shape mana like Javis had done. He felt even more admiration for this third-year than he did before.

Javis threw a small silver cube towards Keiran.

"Here, when you've reached this level, put mana into this cube and I'll give you the next exercises. Don't say it was me that taught you alright? Just make them chalk it up to your own talent." Javis relaxed and closed his eyes with his arms over the train's seats. He had already dispersed the mana in the seat that he had made, so there was no more blue chair inside the compartment.

Keiran nodded, and for the rest of the 10 minutes, they sat in silence.

'Y'know, it's a bit odd. This compartment has been empty aside from me and Javis for a while now.. Oh well, not like I will complain about that. He's a pretty cool guy.'

Soon, the train arrived at the destination, and both Javis and Keiran got up, splitting off from each other as soon as they got out. He held the small silver cube in his pocket, being very careful not to lose it. There was a massive crowd, so it was not easy to get out, even worse was that most of them were going in a certain direction, so there was little to none of the crowds dispersing.

'Finally, I'm inside of Ruptia. The mana density really is very high now that I can actually sense mana, it was nothing like on the train. Alright, according to the map on my phone, Seraphic Academy should be in this direction.. The exact direction in which the crowd is going.'