Chapter 35

….

A whole week has passed since Alex entered Magic Academy, due to his knowledge, he had registered but he has spent all of his time studying and learning new spells.

Lily looks at him with a confused look on her face. "Alex… are you sure it's good for you to be missing your magic classes like this?"

"Hm?" Alex while sitting on his desk, turns around and looks at Lily. He is now wearing a pair of reading glasses. His eyesight is good, but the glasses are a magic item that helps him speed read through books. "Magic class taught by teachers that don't have my best interest in mind. What school teaches you is not brilliance or independent thought. It teaches you how to be a good worker for the big guys."

Lily cringes slightly as she hears that, she has had to go and get him food every single day since they have come here. Also, Alex was strict and told her to not interact with anyone, not even the 'poor' people or those that are 'begging for food'.

He knows best that people like that don't exist in Magic City. This place doesn't allow things like that to happen if someone needs to beg to survive. The Mages see that the person should beg for his life in the lab of a mage instead of the streets. That way he would at least do something for the 'greater good'.

Lily looks at Alex worryingly, she knows that he has a tendency to push himself… just like he did when they were in the airship.

"Okay, just don't push yourself too hard." Says Lily, knowing that life in this place isn't as easy as it seems. The other children that came with them, she hasn't seen any of them since they left the airship.

Alex had calmly explained to her that the city is big, and there is a rite of passage for the new children, done by their teachers. Some children disappear now and then. That is why there are no weak, naive, or stupid people in Magic Academy City.

The place is as lawless as it can be, if you kill someone, no official is gonna investigate. But if you do it publicly you will be executed. Every crime has execution as its punishment, from stealing, r*pe, etc… all punished by death.

There is only one exception to this rule, fraud/buying, and selling crimes. If someone sells you a faulty magical item then that is your fault for being dumb and not buying at well-known shops that wouldn't risk their reputation.

But there is also nothing stopping someone from talking bad about the shop. Whether that is a lie or not it doesn't matter, as slander isn't considered illegal at all here. The laws are very strange, they seem strict in some parts, but not so strict in some others. Also, the unspoken rule is that it's not illegal if you aren't caught doing it.

*knock* *knock* *knock*...

Alex frowns as he hears a knock that he has gotten very familiar with lately.

"I will open it." Says Lily.

She opens the door and a plan-faced girl with brown eyes and hair. If there was one word to describe this girl it would be average. She wouldn't stand out in a crowd at all. Though if she put on some makeup that might change.

"Heya~ Alex~ wanna go and exterminate some monsters together? I even picked up an easy goblin slaying quest." She is Ain, the mage who helped Alex and Lily deal with their professor in the airship.

"No, I am not doing that." Says Alex casually as he turns back to reading a book on wind magic.

"C'mon~ I need a party." Whines Ain, something that is very unbecoming of a Rank 2 Mage.

For a split second a glint appears in Alex's eyes, he doesn't trust this teen girl at all. He knows how mages are, countless mages seem polite but can't wait to stab you in the back. Most Mages follow the rule of looking out for Number One a.k.a themselves.

"Alex, you know I am a Water Mage, my Class is trash, I would lose against the goblins if a Hobgoblin appeared," Ain explained desperately, with tears appearing on the corners of her eyes.

"Well, at least you have confidence, for a Mage." Says Alex sarcastically, after that doesn't seem to pay any attention to her as he just writes down on the book.

"HEY~ PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!" Yells Ain in annoyance, Alex sighs and looks at her.

"Listen, I am a weak six-year-old. What do you expect me to even do?" Asks Alex, shrugging nonchalantly. "But if you want, give me a couple of thousand gold and I will think about it."

After saying that he goes back to writing. 'This woman is suspicious as hell. I have never heard of her from the game. And finding a Mage willing to go as low as she is quite rare. There are thousands of mages in this city who use disguise tactics. Yet... which one of them was I unlucky to meet. Or she could be genuinely like this and just have a powerful backing.'

Alex is even more cautious of Ain the more stupid she acts. He didn't like taking risks on things like this. But at the same time, he knows that he must take some dangerous actions. Someone like Ain should have been widely known around the Magic City, even if she wasn't strong. Especially the players would have loved a whacky mage like her. But there was no word of her in the forums from what Alex remembers.

'There are only two possibilities in here, one is that she died. Which there was a high chance of that, because water mages are a shìt class, she even used Ice Magic when she fought because the power of a water mage is too limited when in certain environments.' Contemplates Alex. Knowing best, that at the Rank 2 & 3 the Water Mage class was possibly the worst mage class. Right up there with Fighting Mage, a class that allows a mage to use mana to fight in close quarters and use weapons skillfully. It also allows the user to use weapons, imbuing them with mana better, and so on.

Now the class would sound good, but it's absolute trash in Alex's eyes. He knows that any Mage Fighter can be crushed by any warrior class that uses Ki… because while Mana has a softer, controlled, and more complicated side. Ki is very volatile, enhancing, and explosive.

In a close-up fight, a Mana user would never compare to a Ki user.

"Wah! C'mon Alex, I don't have that kind of money to pay the quest canceling fee." Whines Ain, once more. While this all happened Lily was just eating crackers by the side as she has an expressionless look on her face, looking at the interactions between Alex and Ain.

...

Lily found it weird as she saw Alex be even more relaxed once he had reached the Magic Academy… no, relaxed isn't the right word she would use to describe it. More like he seems more in his element like he was meant to be in this place.

Lily takes another bite off her cracker, continuing to stare at Alex and Ain as they argue.

'He is hiding something.' Concludes Lily, she can feel it. It's like a 6th sense. On the other hand, Ain truly felt like a very average human Rank 2 Mage. But of course, Lily has gotten to know Alex, she knows by now better than to trust a Mage especially one that acted so nice.

"C'mon~ you are being considered for the Hero Acknowledgement too." Says Ain suddenly, making his eyes widen at that.

...