Chapter 21: Roc Airlines?

Morning came and the trio awoke, Fen was again drooling and gnawing on Malum, while Louis was already washing his face. Jay was still in a drowsy state, trying to get the little furball off his right arm. They had a simple breakfast of some type of large bird egg and a cup of pomum juice. The trio went downstairs, going to meet up with the group.

At the rendezvous point, several students were already there, including Arthur, Connor, and Freddy. Ten minutes later, they were going to leave for the exam. Everyone there was already suited up, wearing armor and carrying weapons on either their belts or on their backs. All the gear they had all seemed to cost them a pretty penny, so Jay was wondering where they got the money from. Intrigued, he asked Arthur about their source of money. "Oh, we each got a couple hundred gold coins from the king," said Arthur nonchalantly, he was staring at staircase, waiting for the others to arrive. He didn't notice the fire of envy that was burning in Jay. "I've worked my ass off for a couple of gold coins, but the king just gave them a couple hundred? That is so not fair!" he thought, completely ignoring the fact that most of the money he "earned" were just loot stolen from bandits. Louis was looking at Jay, easily reading his mind by just looking at him.

Bill and Turner came at the last minute, with Bill carrying his bastard sword on his back and Turner holding on to his staff. "Better never than late ," laughed Jay. Arthur lightly tapped Jay on the shoulder "No provoking, we are here to help each other," he said. Bill laughed at Jay, taunting him. Arthur appeared right behind Bill, repeating the same actions. The two stared at each other, trying to find a way to annoy the opponent. Seeing Jay's childish behavior, Louis pulled him back. "We will get him next time," said Louis, pulling him away. Arthur nodded his head, silently thanking Louis.

With everyone present, Arthur led them outside on to the plaza. There, several giant bird-like monsters were perched on train like carriages. "Appraisal," casted Jay, scanning the birds.

[Race: Roc

Lv.30

Rank:Colonel

Blessings: None

Name: None

Stats: Unknown

Skills: Unknown

Description: It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at leisure.

]

"Holy damn, Colonel ranks, and three in fact!" exclaimed Jay. Hearing that there were thee Colonel graded monsters, some students panicked. Arthur quickly calmed them down, perplexed by Jay's ability to cause trouble. Chase, the mole-like student pointed to a bunch of griffins flying towards them. "What are those?!" he exclaimed. The griffins landed in front of the group of students, scaring some of them. Several knights in shiny golden armor jumped off, instantly ending the commotion among the students. Jay and Louis were alerted by the powerful aura that they were emitting at first, but seeing that their fellow classmates were not afraid at all, they calmed down. Turns out that the knights were the thrid knight order of the Corinth Kingdom. Icarus greeted Arthur, and proceeded to explain the reason why the giant birds were here. "The exam will be held in another city outside the capital, so we'll be transporting you by Roc," he said, as the sides of the carriages opened up.

The knights lead the students into different carriers, about eighty to a hundred in one. Jay, Louis, and Fen got in one together, the interior was lined with cushions, with rows of individual seats. It was bright because there were windows made from transparent materials lined on the sides of the carriage, probably made from some monster's shell. There were also several artifacts that functioned as light bulbs on the ceiling. Fen chose a seat near the window, while Jay sat in between to Fen and Louis. Once every student was seated, the knight inputed some of his mana into the side of the carrier. The lights lit up, door closed, and straps of mana wrapped around the waists of the students. "Holy cow! Magical seatbelts!" exclaimed Jay.

After ten seconds, Jay could feel the roc lift off, ascending into the air at a really fast speed. Jay had been on airplanes before, but this was not exactly close to what he had experienced back on Earth. Airplanes would ascend in an angle, because they needed to generate enough speed to generate lift to push the plane up, but the roc didn't need to. With a flap of its wings, it took to the sky. The change of pressure was enormous, everyone felt a weird sensation in their ears. It was annoying for everyone at first, but gradually it subsided. Fen was excited about being in the air. He kept pointing at the scenery outside the window, tugging on Jay's sleeves. "Look! That is where we slept last night!" he exclaimed loudly, pointing at the hotel. But the most excited part for Fen was when they soared through the clouds, being on top of the clouds was a like a dream for Fen. He always thought that the clouds were soft and fluffy. He was a little sad when he found out in reality they were just small drops of ice and water, but the experience was still magical for him nonetheless. They soared through the sky for about an hour or so. They could feel that they were nearing their destination when the roc started to slow down. The roc started to descend in a angle. Because of this, the weird sensations in the students' ears wasn't so bad this time. They landed without any accidents, the mana straps disappeared once they landed. The doors opened, revealing a large city.

"Welcome to Akademia, the city of knowledge," said Icarus. The architecture was completely different from the capital, with large Gothic styled buildings. All the citizens seemed to have a good amount of money, with most of them with clean clothes and smooth hair. They were also not the only group of students that came on rocs, next to them landed several rocs, and more teenagers stepped out. "They are other children participating in the exam also, so be sure to beat them," said Icarus, as he led the students to a large castle. The students entered after showing their tickets, which acted as a temporary identification. They were lead to an auditorium, on the stage was several powerful looking people.

"Welcome fellow students, we are the principals of the seven academies of Akademia," said the old man in the middle of the stage. "I am Merlin, Principal of the imperial academy," he said as he unsealed his mana. A strong wave of mana assaulted the students, some even trembling from the pure power. Jay shielded Louis and Fen with Telekinesis, the mana shook his barrier but the barrier holded on. Some professors on the balcony began to take note of the teenagers' actions, crossing some off on a board. By using mana sense, the professors could tell who the students were by reading the unique mana codes emitted from each ticket the students have. They found some people they were interested in and many that they didn't want. The principals on the stage also mentally took note of the more impressive ones, such as Arthur, who blocked a large part of the mana wave by activating his Heroic Aura. Another student who was clearly a noble also exceeded the principles' expectations. She unleashed her cold mana, creating a large chilling mana barrier around herself. Turner, who shielded himself and Bill with his scorching mana, also caught the eye of some people. About a fifth of the students were knocked out just by the aura. Merlin stood up, and with a wave of his hands he activated a spell, the unconscious students disappeared. "Don't panic, this old man just sent those who are uncapable of attending the imperial academy out," he said.

"This is not good," thought Jay. If this was only just the first part of the exam, how hard will the rest be?