Chapter Thirteen

Well, I made an error. Technically, I didn't; it was Mom. Longhorn's admissions didn't start until a month from now. Now I know that Mother never told me to pack my bag; that was my impatience. But she... She told me that...

Huh, guess it really was my fault. Mr. Vladimir was kind enough to offer me his place, well his servant's quarters, to stay for the time being on the count that I did the basic chores like feeding his hounds (I wish he'd told me that his hounds had a taste for human flesh). Also, his servants' quarters were amazing: a bed with a mattress. I wouldn't mind working here myself the food was on schedule though we had to finish in ten minutes and by 'we' I mean me and the other servants here.

Also, the woman or more accurate girl ,I don't know what I do know is that she was older than me by a lot, who gave me that brutal sidekick was Mr. Vladimir's niece, Sandra Flasinksi. She was a seventh-year senior at Longhorn, and she was the best in the combat classes according to Mr. Vladimir. Mr. Vladimir was also a professor at Longhorn, so that was how he knew. Also, note to self it takes nine years to complete the academy yikes.

Sandra wasn't too fond of me staying. How do I know? She said it straight to my face. So I tried to avoid her, which wasn't hard since the professor had a huge library where I spent most of my time after I had helped around. And if I wasn't in the mood to study, I spent the time exploring Rivendell.

A month passed by, and Longhorn's gates opened for the new students who were eager to join. The professor was kind enough to give me a lift on his carriage.

We were now at the second largest gate I've ever seen in my entire life. The gate was green in color, with carvings of vines covering most of it. In the middle of the gate was the school's badge: a griffin standing on its hindquarters, its front quarters formed in a way that it looked like it was attacking.

The griffin, bronze in color, was at the center of the logo. On the upper right of the logo was a black square with a carving of an eagle; on the upper left was a light brown square with a carving of a panther; the lower left had a yellow square with a carving of an angel, and the lower right was a green square with a carving of a snake.

The gates were slowly opened, and as the carriage got into the compound, my jaw went wide open. The pathway was made of chalky white stones arranged elegantly and uniquely. The sides of the pathway were neatly cut fields of grass, and in various spots of the field were a bunch of flowerbeds cut in different shapes. Some were spheres, some pyramids, one looked like a cylinder, and one even resembled a mermaid.

In the center of the entire compound was a fountain, a craving of a man with a huge beard. Since the stone used to carve was white, I couldn't really tell if he was old or middle-aged. The water was coming out of the man's hands as he stood with his arms stretched out. The buildings looked similar to the sketches of castles I've seen in books.

The compound itself seemed to be maybe ten or thirteen acres, assuming there was more land behind the building.

"It's grand, right?" Professor Vladimir said, snapping me out of my blatant gawking.

"Grand is an understatement," I said, now at the entrance of the building, where students were going to take the admission tests. From the looks, it seemed that there were five hundred scattered around.

The one thing that was unique was that the applicants comprised all the races: dwarves, elves, and humans. They sat in their own groups, not intermingling. Now, in terms of clothing, all of them were wearing the most expensive and stylish clothing I have ever seen.

Unlike most of the adult nobles I've seen who only dressed formally, the children's clothes were a mix of elegance, pizzazz, and style for the humans and the elves. The dwarves were dressed like me in poor people's clothes, as I liked to call them.

"Don't worry about them; in Longhorn, we take in talent, not money," Professor Vlad said, yeah right I couldn't tell over the fountain.

The carriage stopped just far away from the sights of the other students. I was grateful for that because I didn't want to stand out from the rest anymore. Judging from the way they dressed, I was the only commoner here, or at least the only poor commoner; if there were others, they must have come from well-off families.

What a surprise. No one tried to talk to me. Just humans; the elves and dwarves avoided humans, period. So I focused on filling my core and brushing through whatever I could remember in my head. A bald potbelly professor came out of the building.

"Good morning," he said, "My name is Professor Conroe. I teach biology in this fine establishment for the past years."

I felt like I should clap, but thank heavens I didn't because no one else did, and Prof. Conroe wasn't too pleased by that. Also, one thing I noticed was unlike my dragon tattoo on my neck, which was black, the dragon tattoos on the humans here were silver which either meant that they were nobles or residents of Rivendell, on the dwarves was a red dragon tattoo, and on the elves, green in color.

"Well, I've been instructed to help you find your way to the examination hall," he said before he moved aside and ushered us forward. As we got in, I realized something. Whoever was in charge of this school spares no expenses. The floors were made of marble, slightly slippery for my sandals, with mana stones on the walls and ceilings shining bright white light.

I couldn't see much of the classes since the glasses used on the windows must have been one-way mirrors, as we reached a big brown double doors he opened them and that led us into the hall. And at the front to the back were huge desks, arranged concave manner or like a half oval, looking like they could house all of us.

There was a woman waiting for us, dressed as the lady in the ticket booth from the train station in Lizon, holding a bundle of papers and booklets in her arms. Professor Conroe instructed us to form a line, and as we moved forward, we each took an exam paper and a booklet from the woman's hand.

"Sorry, but this school doesn't allow personal servants," the woman told me when it was my turn as she eyed me from head to toe. (Bitch, don't just assume shit.)

"Oh, I'm not a servant, so if you don't mind," I said as I took the paper and the booklet from her hands.

There were some light scoffs, a couple of eye rolls, and a few giggles as I moved to the far end of the room. I didn't see if it was all races doing this or just the humans, and frankly, I didn't care.

There was a pen at the edge of every desk. I sat down took the pen and opened the paper. The paper was seven pages long with five hundred questions.

"You have four hours to complete the questions, and after that, each of you will do another practical test," Professor Conroe said. "Now, begin."

As I did the test, I couldn't help but wonder why they made it so easy. Were they really being thoughtful to commoners? So, I finished the exam in three hours, and since I had an hour to spare, I set my paper aside and took a nice nap.

"Time's up!" Professor Conroe shouted, and his voice was loud enough that it echoed in my ear.

I jolted out of my sleep, with my paper stuck to my face. The paper I understand what I didn't understand was how the pen was also stuck on my face. I pulled them off and set them down, I left them there because they only needed the booklet once you submitted the booklet Prof Conroe would be outside showing the students the way to the practical exam.

*****************

I stood in front of a panel of professors. There were a total of fifteen professors, and at the center of the table was the old man whose carving was on the fountain outside and it was a truly spitting image of him.

"Name?" one professor asked.

"Raiden Ragnar."

"How did you hear about our school?"

"Oh, my mother heard about it from the place she was working at."

"Well, you see that dummy there? We want you to punch it with all your strength. Since you are a commoner, your strike should range from at least 400 instead of the usual 600." the lady finished

I reinforced my right arm with all the mana it could hold. As I walked over, I pulled it back and landed the strongest jab I have ever thrown in my life. The breastplate of the dummy caved in a little, and out of nowhere, a holographic screen shot from the dummy, showing the numbers 540.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" I exclaimed as I jumped up and down, forgetting where I was for a moment until someone cleared their throat.

"Mr Ragnar that was good enough, next!" the lady said