Chapter 26

The incoming students of all three races that were cheering for each of the Student Council members fell silent when Arisu walked in. With her pure white hair swaying behind her as each of her dignified steps echoed throughout the silent auditorium, she single-handedly changed the atmosphere inside this entire building.

As she bowed and tucked her hair behind her ear, a roar of applause erupted as both males and females alike cheered with admiration. I thought the cheers would last a lot longer but as soon as she started speaking, it was as if each of the students in the crowd covered each other's mouth so that they could hear her voice.

"My name is Arisu Watsken, and I am honored to stand here as this academy's student council president."

Murmurs started after the crowd once again cheered for our beautiful president. Next to me, a scrawny human boy spoke excitedly to his friend beside him.

"That's the one in a generational genius, Arisu Watsken I was talking about. My older brother told me she will start formally attending this year with us!" He leaned into his friend so only he could hear but the volume at which he spoke betrayed him.

"Wait... she's only a first year and she's already the Student Council President? Is that even possible?" His friend, whom I couldn't really see, spoke louder and louder with each word, causing the neighboring students to hear as well.

"Yeah, I heard of her as well! She's supposedly a super-genius of some sort. Both in artificing and magical combat, right?"

"Why the hell is she so damn pretty when she's talented as well? This isn't even fair..."

"I wonder what I would have to do to get her to even look at me?"

The audience was filled with different talks about her but while, for the males, it revolved around how much of an unobtainable star she was, for the females, it was a mixture of admiration and envy. Sylvie was going crazy on top of my head, cheering for her.

"While I may be a first year as all of you are, having given the privilege to be inside the academy for a few months longer made it all too apparent to me that there is deeply embedded discrimination against the scholar mage students by the battle mage students. I, for one, will not tolerate any sort of aggression or bullying based on the trivial fact that one is a scholar mage student. I myself am a scholar mage, yet I don't see the reason for this discrimination." Her voice never wavered as she stood behind the podium.

The crowd grew a little noisy at this statement, as everyone present had heard rumors of the hardships one may face as a scholar mage student.

"Starting this year, while uniforms and the upper courses required may be different, for the first two years, general education, that contains a mixture of both scholar mage classes and battle mage classes will be mandatory, for better assimilation between the two different types of students. After the two years are up, one may choose to switch their education specialization by taking a test, although it will be quite a difficult one." This last statement drew in dissatisfied complains from amongst the students in the crowd. While both Elijah and I didn't have to take a test due to my special connection with Director Goodsky, most students, regardless of background, had to test for either a scholar mage or battle mage position.

To get in as a scholar mage, an incoming student only needed a basic foundation of magic, which was mana gathering. While they had to take a written exam to test their mental acuteness, the practical portion of the exam was much more simple. battle mage students, however, had a much stricter practical exam, and actually performed basic spells or techniques depending on whether they were a Conjurer or Augmenter. It may have seemed like a cakewalk for someone like Elijah, Tess, or me, but I admit it could be quite a challenge for someone who had just awakened.

The tall, stern-looking student stepped up next, silencing the crowd with a wave of his hand.

After that, Tessia walked forward, her gunmetal hair swaying in the air as she drew attention of multiple boys, "My name is Tessia Eralith and I am your Student Vice President. As the President mentioned, this year contains many changes. Along with the assimilation and freedom to move between the two student types, there will also be no limit on how long a student can attend this academy. While in the past, the professors here pushed students to graduate after four years, it is becoming more and more apparent that many graduating mages' capabilities are becoming less than satisfactory. Therefore, the Director has declared that instead of a time limit on graduating, in order to graduate from Xyrus Academy, one needs to fulfill a list of requirements and pass the graduation exam.

While the conditions to graduate have become many folds harder, the time limit to graduate has increased to ten years. In that time, we fervently hope to produce top class mages in both theoretical and combat fields. We welcome everyone here—humans, elves and dwarves alike—to this Academy." Tessia bowed, the rest of the Student Council following him.

The last part of the announcement wasn't exactly news for any of us. It was announced quite recently though, which made me think that it had something to do with the new Continent. Was this Academy being used to produce higher quality mages in case of a future battle against the new Continent?

> Flashback <

> Copy paste start <

The City Square, which was usually bustling with a lot of activity, was abnormally packed with both normal civilians and nobles alike. On the side of the large clock tower, there were four orbs creating a square while underneath these floating orbs, there were two artificers with their brown robes. The less-than-attractive clothing signified that they didn't do their work for glory and fame, but it didn't keep the mages from chanting with unnecessarily grand gestures, hands waving as if they were conducting a symphony.

Sylvie was fidgeting on top of my head, taking in all the sights and the huge crowd of people gathered. It was only Elijah, my father and Vincent that came with me, as the women in the house had other plans.

As more and more people gathered, a crackled image began forming with the four glowing orbs as its corners. Suddenly, the fuzzy image became clearer, the mirage of colors forming into the image of the Glayder Castle.

"The three Kings and Queens of the different countries in our beloved Continent of Dicathen have gathered here on this memorable day!"

I see a very fancily-dressed man with a thick grey beard announce to an audience that looked to be in the hundreds of thousands, judging by the space the people took up.

"Attention Humans, Elves, and Dwarves alike, I go by Blaine Glayder. While most of you know me as the King of Sapin, today I speak not as the King of Humans, but as one of the representative of the Continent of Dicathen!"

The hundreds of thousands of people all kneeled, some going on all fours in worship at the sight of the King. The blurry projection becomes clearer and zoomed in closer to the balcony of the Castle. There, I could see the King of Sapin in the front with the Queen of Sapin, Priscilla Glayder, seated behind him alongside a few other important-looking figures. My eyes widened as I spotted Alduin and Merial Eralith, the King and Queen of Elenoir, with Virion standing behind them with his arms crossed and his white hair tied neatly behind his pointed ears. Beside them are two representatives of the Dwarves, both lavished in extravagant clothing much too large for their compact figures; I assumed that they were the king and queen.

"Today marks the beginning of a new era in this Continent we call our home. I assume many of you are aware of the existing problems between the Humans and the Elves while even the Dwarves were considered just business partners. However, that is not the way we wish to continue. The representatives of all three kingdoms—your leaders—have met together many times over these past few years in an effort to unite our races. Two years ago, we had agreed for all three races to be able to become adventurers. It started out with just one or two representatives, but now it has expanded. It brings me a smile when I see parties with humans, elves, and dwarves alike, working together towards a common goal. Last year marked another big milestone where Xyrus Academy welcomed students from the Kingdom of Elenoir and the Kingdom of Darv so that the new generation of mages can make friends and memories with not just humans, but all three races. We all understand how difficult it may be for some of us to adjust after constant enmity between us. However, we urge you to let go of the past and the discriminations you may hold, and think beyond that, if not for yourself, but for your children and the future of this continent."

There was another big round of applause with a roar of worship and adoration accompanying it. King Glayder sat down and Alduin Eralith, the King of Elenoir and Tessia's father, got up from his seat and cleared his throat before speaking into this world's version of what seemed to be a microphone.

"It is an honor to speak on behalf of everyone here on this unforgettable day. As King Glayder so adamantly stated, I am also in agreement about the future of our continent. For some people, this may not hold much interest but for many who yearn for adventure and new places to visit, I can wholeheartedly say that this continent is filled with many unknowns. An obvious example is the very Beast Glades residing just beyond our borders. While an uncountable number of adventurers have ventured out into the Beast Glades, it is not an exaggeration to say that not even half of it has been traversed. While the mana beasts have not left the Beast Glades, who is to say that just because they haven't yet, they never will? Even in our own homeland of Dicathen, there are places so dangerous, no one dares to explore, but what if I were to say that even greater mysteries and dangers are out there?"

King Eralith paused for a brief moment while the crowd in Etistin and the crowd here in the City Square of Xyrus filled with the sound of murmurs.

"That's right! You have not heard wrong, fellow citizens of Dicathen. We are announcing today, February 10th of the 1005th Cycle, that we have found evidence of another continent."

The crowds erupted into a clamor of noises, some angry, some afraid, but everyone curious. Even my own hands shook in excitement as my father and Vincent looked at each other in shock.

> Copy paste end <

"So, it's finally time," I spoke to myself. The people of Dicathen had finally been made known of the existence of another continent. However, the kings and queens were already well aware of their existence.

Arisu's involvement as she secretly supplied information about the people from other continent was done many months ago. The fact that its being made public just now, raised a lot of questions.

However, one thing was clear.

The war was coming near.

> Flashback end <

After finishing up the ceremony, all the new students were dismissed to their dorms.

Outside, the trees arched over the marble walkways producing small showers of fall-colored leaves.

The students were all excitedly chatting amongst their peers, getting to know new people. I saw a few female students pass by me, doing a double take back and giggling with their friends.

"Look look, he's the one who almost crippled the examiner in his adventurer exam evaluation." One of them said.

"Not only is he strong, but he's so handsome, I might faint!" Another one said as I sighed.

(A/n suffering from success)

Suddenly, a loud explosion startled the both of us as well as the students walking around nearby. Something was happening at the end of the marble walkway.

"I don't see how a short-ass dwarf like you can even hope to be a proper Augmenter. Why don't you stick to forging some weapons for real warriors like me?"

"What da hell didja say? Who do ya think ya are, anyway?"

I stopped running a good distance away and shook my head when I realized what was going on. It was just stupid posturing between two students. The explosion had been made by the human, hitting his fist on a nearby tree with mana.

Looking at them, both the dwarf and human students had battle mage uniforms, but the human had two stripes on his tie while the dwarf only had one.

"My name is Nicolas Dreyl! Declare the duel, short-ass, so we can start! Or are you all bark and no bite?" the human smirked, placing his right hand on the badge pinned to his left breast.

"Tch! Yer gonna be sorry." The dwarf that was a head shorter than his opponent with a bulky build looked awkward wearing the blazer uniform but the way he carried his giant battle-axe with ease told me he was more than what the single stripe on his tie told us.

The metal badge on both the human and dwarf glowed brightly as the dwarf placed a hand on his badge and started chanting. "I declare a duel between me, Broznean Boor, and Nicolas Dreyl!"

"I accept the duel!" The two badges glowed different colors until they synced together, producing a loud 'ping' sound.

The badge on the battle mage uniform and the pocket watch on the scholar mage uniform acted as artifacts for the dueling system, creating a barrier around the users that could take a certain amount of force. When the barrier broke, the duel was considered over, and the other party the winner. It took around 24 hours for the artifact to charge another barrier where, during that time, dueling was prohibited. Mages of a higher level weren't allowed to issue a duel with lower levels to keep it fair, which was why the human had to taunt the dwarf to start the duel.

The human mage took out dual swords from his dimension ring and got into a stance as the people around start backing up to avoid getting caught up in the fight.

I studied the two augmenters and saw that the level two human was a red core stage mage while the dwarf was still at black stage. This should be interesting.

"HAAP!" The human student roared as his two broadswords glow a dim yellow color and the earth surrounding him started trembling.

"JAH!" The dwarf leaped up and propelled himself forward by pushing off of a nearby tree, charging his battle-axe as well with earth attribute mana.

"Tremor Smash!" the dwarf shouted, placing his left palm on the head of his axe and making the dull glow condense.

With a resounding boom, the power of the blow from the dwarf forced the human to skid back, even as he blocked with both swords. I could see his arms shaking as he grimaced.

The human boy lowered his two swords and dashed towards the dwarf who was already in a defensive stance. The dual swords scraped along the ground. As he got into range, he swung up, a trail of earth followed along, creating twin blades of earth after each sword.

"Earth Pillar!" Nick exclaimed. Following the upward swipe, he stomped hard with his leading foot directly in front of the dwarf, creating a pretty fragile column of rock from the ground that hit the dwarf squarely in the stomach.

"Oof!" The dwarf's body lifted into the air from the force of the blow and his shield broke with loud shattering sound, signaling that the duel was over.

Cheers went off from the humans that gathered but the dwarves amongst the audience groaned in embarrassment.

I saw a slight smirk on the human's face as he once again imbued mana into his two blades.

He was going for the final blow.

I wanted to see how far he would go, but looking at the situation I was a witness to a potential crime. The hate inside human for that dwarf was so much that he could even kill him. I could be questioned for not acting and not standing up to discrimination.

Looking around I saw no one willing to stop the human boy from acting.

"Guess I will have to stop him." I sighed.

Just as the twin blades got near the dwarf, I pressed the ground against my feet and dashed towards the human. Augmenting my hands in a thin sheen of mana, I gripped both of the blades. Using my right hand, I shattered the blade into pieces while I spun the other sword, twisting it out of his grip.

"Did he just use his bare hands?"

"How did he travel from there to here?"

Murmurs spread all around me as the human boy looked at me with hate and disgust, "HOW DARE YOU, YOU PEASENT. THOSE WERE MY FAMILY HEIRLOOM PASSED ON FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION."

I looked down at the swords. The quality was mediocre at best.

Of course.

There was no way his parents were going to entrust a family treasure to a weak kid like him. He was barely in red core stages after all.

"The duel was already over."

"That doesn't matter. Do you know how expensive those swords were?" He said with bloodshot eyes.

"A couple silvers, I reckon. It may look good, but the foundations are quite weak. The craftsmanship is below mediocre," I was interrupted as I ducked lower and dodged a punch at my face.

"Also, this seems like a replica of the exact thing," I said and dashed closer. My face neared his ear as I whispered, "A failure like you won't be entrusted with the real thing anyways."

The insult seemed to work as his speed faltered and I snuck my leg between his. He lost his balance and fell on his face, eliciting laughters from everyone.

He stood up, wiping his nose, "You dare—?"

Just as I prepared to shatter his face with my next punch, a voice stopped him straight in his tracks. It was the voice that all of the new students heard not too long ago, and the voice probably almost every male had fallen in love with. It was also the voice of the vice president.

"Do you dare?"

The face of the dual-wielding boy visibly paled as he froze at the unmistakable voice. I turned to see that the whole student council was walking towards us through a gap created by the students.

Taking calm but hurried strides in the front was Tess with Arisu just behind her, her pristine face had a teasing smirk over it while Tessia's doll-like face was expressionless. Behind her, I spotted Lilia, who gave me a worried look.

He stopped in his tracks and gave a respectful bow towards them, sweat beading down his forehead.

"Fufu, what might be cooking here, may I ask?" Arisu said from behind Tess as i felt a chill creep up my spine.

This certainly doesn't seem any good.