4 Chapter 1 (3/7)

"No, Jaane. I have heard members of the Mage Guilds have to go fight monsters of the Dryardian Empire. I heard that those Demi-Humans are very strong. Just please stay inside the capital and learn magic, okay? We will send more monthly allowances to you if needed."

"But mom..."

"No! Now go out there and stop making your father wait any longer."

"Yes, mother."

Jaane Almos hugged her mother before carrying the backpack outside where her father was waiting next to a horse cart.

"Father, I am ready to go now." Jaane respectfully said.

"Uhm... here is some money for you to use at Nosh. If you need more money to buy any magic equipment, just send letters to let us know. I will try to find some more side jobs to make extra money." Jaane's father said while patting her on the head.

"Father..."

Jaane cried and hugged her father one last time before starting her journey to the capital city. Jaane knew her family was very poor. For her father to be able to give her a pocket containing ten silver coins like this, he must have been working multiple jobs for at least three years. Holding the money pocket in her left hand, Jaane cried even harder thinking about all the time she blamed him for not being home with her. Jaane now knew why her father kept being absent regularly at night.

"All those nights when you left, I..." Jaane thought to herself while tears continued to run down from her eyes.

Seven years ago, after Jaane's parents found out that she possessed an Earth Soul. They have been working extra hard to save enough money to register her for the Mages' Academy of Nosh. Nosh is the capital city of the nation named Commonwealth of Krorg. Jaane still remembered how her parents were so excited that they did not even let her walk by herself because they were afraid something bad might happen to her.

Not just her parents, but the whole village was so happy about it. It is very rare for any magic caster to be born in a small village like this. The day Jaane graduated from the Mages' Academy, will be the day her village receives tax-free for three years. After that, they will only have to pay fifty percent tax annually for as long as Jaane is alive. Even the Baron was showing respect toward Jaane's parents after finding out she had an Earth Soul. Who would be stupid to upset a magic caster? A Novice Mage still has a higher social status compared to a lowly Baron.

After saying goodbye to her father, Jaane walked toward the Baron and the Village Elder. She bowed at them to show her respect and said, "Baron, Village Elder, please take care of my parents while I'm gone."

The Baron smiled and said, "Jaane, no need for you to be formal with us. You don’t have to worry about anything. Your parents can always come to ask me for help. I will not turn down any of their requests."

The Village Elder nodded and said, "The Baron is correct. Jaane, all you have to do is focus on studying to the best of your ability. If you manage to graduate as an Intermediate Mage, then all the Kings and Queens will surely seek a chance to employ you."

"Yes, I understand."

The Baron said, "Uhm... No pressure though, but the future of your entire village will depend on you. Please take care of yourself, Jaane."

Jaane thought to herself, “Seriously? Why don’t you ask me to be on top of my class as well?”

Thinking that, Jaane said using a respectful tone, “Thank you, Baron. I will do my best.”

Jaane bowed at the Baron and the Village Elder again to show her respect toward them. She then turned around and saw her parents were looking at her with tears running down from their eyes. Jaane ran toward her parents and hugged them one last time before she got into the horse cart.

Inside the horse cart, Jaane shouted, "Mages' Academy of Nosh, here I come!"

The horsemen warriors escorted Jaane by directing the horse cart heading for Nosh city, capital of the Commonwealth of Krorg.

Ten days later, Jaane arrived at Nosh safely without encountering any bandits. Even if there were bandits, the horsemen warriors could surely protect her from any harm. She was greeted by a city guard that escorted her to the Mages' Academy to register. After the registration process was over, Jaane was escorted to a dorm room where she shared with five other girls. Jaane was afraid at first because she didn't know how those girls were going to treat her. However, all the girls were friendly and introduced themselves upon seeing Jaane come into the dorm room.

"Hi, my name is Adela Hindergrass."

"I'm Rosa Drumwind."

"Golda Coldshore."

"I am Ana Roxley."

"And I'm Calley Astorio."

"Hi everybody, my name is Jaane Almos."

Jaane was very happy because all of her roommates were nice and friendly. Together, they toured the Mages' Academy while telling each other about their Elemental Souls. Adela possessed an Angelic Soul. Rosa possessed a Fire Soul. Golda possessed a Thunder Soul. Ana possessed a Wind Soul. And Calley possessed an Ice Soul. Jaane told them that she possessed an Earth Soul.

Adela said, "In the future, we can form a team and go hunt Demi-Humans. I can be the main healer."

Calley said, "I can be the scout."

Rosa said, "I will be the main damage dealer."

Golda said, "Thunder is stronger than Fire. I will be the main damage dealer."

"Hah? Fire is stronger!"

Adela said, "I agree with Golda, Thunder is stronger. But Fire Magic spells have a much larger area of effects. In a large-scale battle, a Fire Mage is stronger compared to a Thunder Mage."

Jaane said, "I... I can be the protector and side healer. I heard Earth Mage can heal as well."

The team goes on and on to talk about how they are going to dominate the Demi-Humans to protect the Commonwealth of Krorg from their invasions. They suddenly came to a stop leaving Jaane confused and asked, "What happened?"

Adela explained, "Oh right, I forgot today is your first day here. This is the dueling ground where Student Mages can legally duel each other. Any students who have disagreements can solve it out at the dueling ground. The duel has to be registered for a week ahead so a professor can be placed to watch over their duel to prevent deadly accidents from occurring. If the duel gets too dangerous, the professor will announce one of them as the winner and stop it from getting out of control."

Jaane looked over to the dueling ground and saw two boys older than her staring angrily at each other. One of the boys appeared to be around sixteen years old and he was arguing about something while the other boy was just standing there calmly. The other boy appeared to be around thirteen years old. The older boy activated his [Demon Anatomy III], level 10 Black spell to transform into a giant demon and ran toward the younger boy.

Jaane turned toward her roommates and saw they were covering their mouths in terror. Golda accidentally whispered, "Arthur..."

Jaane does not know who Arthur is. But by watching the reactions of her friends, Jaane could guess it was the younger boy who was about to be attacked by the giant demon. This was the first time Jaane saw two magic casters duel with each other. She kept her eyes wide open as she did not want to miss any second of the duel.

The giant demon threw a powerful fire punch at the boy. But before the demon's fist could touch the boy, a Skeleton Warrior appeared in front of him to block the demon's attack using its shield. The giant demon laughed out loud, picked up the Skeleton Warrior with his left hand, and slammed it down on the ground, breaking it into over twenty pieces. The demon once again ran toward the boy and stomped at him using his right foot repeatedly. Five seconds later, the demon then lifted his feet and saw the boy was unscathed. The boy then slowly faded away while the demon started to look around in confusion.

[Shadow Clone], level 5 Conjuration spell. The caster became invisible for a short period of time while placing a clone to trick the enemy. The clone can speak and move like a real person until receiving damage then it will fade away shortly after that.