Welcome To Aviara (4)

But no matter how enchanted it is, new students still can't use their magic right away. So for the first 3-4 days, everyone was just going through their normal school activities. Chatting with other friends, sleeping in class while the teachers explain, and maybe listening to some splashy gossip as well.

Only after that, one by one, their bodies began to be polluted by the magical energy around them.

That's why one week after the initiation event, the first event the student council held for new students was a census of magical abilities. As the name implies, it is an examination of each student's magical ability.

This… Alisa has also thought about it seriously, but she can't seem to say that she is someone who has been able to use magic since she was 2 years old—because most of her friends don't seem like that, maybe. But since it was rumored that people who didn't have magic tended to get bullied by other students, it might be better if she still claimed to be able to use some magic.

So the question that remains is, which magic should she confess to?

"Did you know? I heard the record is 19." Mary said. "Though it's better not to hope that high because most students usually master 1 to 5 kinds of magic only."

"Nineteen…?" Alisa replied a bit pensive while starting to count the amount of magic she could actually use. I-I feel like I have less magic! She thought in shock.

Her grandmother always says that a magician's ability isn't determined by the amount of magic they have. But people who can use a lot of magic still means a lot. They're generally strong, smart, and very smart.

"I want to be an alpha. But I guess we need a lot of luck to even get to beta, right?" Mary added again. She's talking about the classification.

It's not exactly official. But in Aviara, there are some classification of magic abilities for everyone. Starting from 'omega', for people who can use 1 to 5 kinds of magic. Then 'beta' for 6 to 11 kinds. Until finally 'alpha', for people who can use more than 11 kinds of magic.

Alisa actually also knows about this classification because real wizards used this. But it was from a very long time ago, where magic was much more simple. But these days, even one element of magic could have so many sub-magic to it, so they don't really use it anymore. Seems like Aviara was much older than she might think.

"There aren't even that many of them in the council, you know. Usually only VIPs can use that much magic." Mary continued while taking a sip of her juice.

"VIPs…" Alisa repeated. All the new students have been talking about them for a whole week, and not one single of them is getting bored with it.

VIP members, the best wizards in school.

They are said to be a special group of council presidents, consisting of 3 or 4 people. Rumors say that they are scary. But the beautiful senior who spoke at initiation definitely didn't look like it, so who knows. It might just be gossip after all.

And regarding the census examination, it's actually not as formal as it sounds either. It's more or less just like an ordinary medical examination, which is then added to a special interview.

"How much magic can you do? Anything?" That's pretty much the standard question asked. Well, it makes sense. Even Alisa can't tell whether there are real wizards in this school or not. So specifically checking everyone's magic ability is also impossible.

Though, if there wasn't any special reason, it didn't seem like any students would hide their abilities anyway. Except if they're in the same situation as Alisa, maybe.

"I-I..." While avoiding the gaze of the boy in front of her, Alisa paused for a moment to convince herself first. But in the end she still answered according to what she had planned. "I-I can do telekinesis." She answered super nervously. Even though it's not a lie, for some reason Alisa is still afraid of getting caught.

And the reason she chose that magic was also because it was the most common and practical magic to use. So it should be the safest. She also didn't think she would need her other magic either. Maybe unless someone tries to kill her? But that's unlikely to happen anyway.

"Okay. Then try moving this." Said the senior while putting an empty can in front of Alisa. But after Alisa moved it a bit, he then asked her again to levitate it too. And after she did it, then she was told to move another three cans and crushed them .

'He's very meticulous…' Alisa thought for a moment while sneaking glances at the boy who was busy scribbling notes in front of her, Loki. The senior who examined her already looked scary from the start. But because of his thoroughness, Alisa even started to feel her hands trembling now.

'It feels like my magic character is also being checked--'

"I'm sorry. You must feel uncomfortable." Said a voice suddenly, which turned out to be another senior at the next table. It was the girl who last week gave a speech at the initiation, Hana.

Looking at her up close, the council president was truly a beauty! With wavy hair that flows beautifully, the dark brown color also makes her face look very radiant. Especially with those brown eyes and pink lips that curved kindly, Alisa had a wild hope that she was her real sister.

That's why while waiting for her turn, just like the others, Alisa also hoped that she could be examined by her. Because her bright smile definitely won't make her too nervous. But she wasn't so lucky, so Alisa missed one table from her.

"It's just that we have to check your magic character too, so we need to be a little detailed." Said Hana again. "Most students are not that aware. But some people could feel it sometimes." She added.

"Ah, i-it's fine." Alisa replied awkwardly, although hearing it did make her calmer a little.

On the other hand, Loki glanced at Hana a little confused when he heard her say that. "Can you just tell her like that?" He asked.

"If they look uncomfortable, it's okay to just tell them." Replied Hana.

"Is that so? Well, if you say so I guess it's fine." He replied. "Anyway, the examination is over. You can't do any other magic?" He asked Alisa again, and she tried to shake her head as normal as possible. And finally the boy put Alisa's examination notes into a pile.

Even though instead of directly telling Alisa to leave, he started to take something from the drawer. "Take this. Since you might be able to fly too." He said, and handed a small blue star pin.

Confused for a moment, Alisa took the pin and looked at it first. It didn't look like it was made of metal but rather some kind of wood…? "What is this for?" She asked.

"Think of it as a police alarm. So that you can't enter the restricted area." He replied. "You know where the restricted area is, right?"

Alisa tries to remember the school map that she has seen many times. "West area?"

"Yeah, smarty. You may return now."

And that's how Alisa passed her first examination smoothly and worryingly.

But after Alisa left, Hana sighed bitterly. "It felt a bit wrong giving that pin to her. She looks nice." She said.

"Well, what looks nice isn't necessarily harmless." Loki replied flatly.

But compared to the magic examination census which was half relaxed and half serious like that, the scale of council security was actually still more serious.

After a week, it started to become clear. As if trying to keep up with the increasing number of first grade students' magical abilities, the council members who were seen wandering around the school were also getting more apparent.

Not only in the main school building, but also around the sports hall, library, canteen, even in the dormitories, there are always one or two grade 2 students with a red Council pin on their lapel.

"Judging by the rules, maybe they're worried the students will fight using magic?" Mary said while chewing her lunch. Even earlier there was a fight in the cafeteria, and several Council members immediately split them up.

Alisa nodded silently confirming Mary's words. But when she caught other students playing magic with their food at the next table, she thought of something else. "Also, the pranksters look worrisome too." She said.

Like, high school students who just learned how to use magic yesterday are sure to really enjoy experimenting! Starting from the small useless things, until finally leading to a really negative one. As a result, students who are caught abusing their magic will be immediately dragged to the old student council office.

Council's main building is actually placed in the west area. But if they have businesses near the school, it seems they also often use the old Council office building which is not far from the main school building.

It's just, because it was mostly used to punish students, unknowingly since when, this building became famous as a punishment building.

"Smashed the classroom door… Clean the dormitory's floor."

"Next, disturbing the teacher during class… Clean the gym."

"Furthermore! Throw your friends 10 meters away, peel onions in the cafeteria!"

So like in previous years, at the start of the year like this, Aviara will have a lot of cleaners and onion peelers. It was even said that some were kicked out of the dormitory for several days and told to sleep in the forest--although Alisa hoped that was just gossip that Mary had exaggerated.

"Even so, that kind of punishment is still mild, you know." Mary added.

"There's still something worse?"

"Of course!" Seemingly pleased by the question, Mary widened her smile and brought her head closer to whisper. "If VIP members intervene directly, they say the punishment will be more severe. They even said they could use violence."

Alisa was silent for a moment. "But rule no. 1 is no violence… right?"

"Yes. But who made those rules in the first place?" Mary replied. "I mean, there is super powerful healing magic here. So they said that some people in the Council won't hesitate to carry out some extreme punishments."

"Ah, right. Especially the vice president!" Mary suddenly added.

"Vice president?"

"Yeah, everybody says he's more of a gangster."

"..."