Meriel stood in a line in front of the academy, looking at the other students, and decided that he might have underestimated the average mage of this era after all. Not that his estimation of their capacities was high, of course, but he could only shake his head at the students around him.

  His third eye told him all that he needed to know about whether or not they could cast any meaningful spells.

  Barely any of them could. Their mana hearts were so unsaturated that he wondered how they are casting any magic at all. Yes, they were only entering the magic academy now, and Mary wasn’t that much better than them, but these were rich kids, nobles some of them.

  Yet, they barely moved any mana into their hearts—a tell-tale sign of them not being able to siphon it well. Most of them held weapons at the ready, and to his shock, Meriel had to admit that the weapons they held probably had more mana circulating in them than their owners.

  Ziggy and Mary stood at his side, looking around with wide eyes, and both of them looked as nervous as men on a first date would. The trio were probably the only ones without any magical weapons, of course, but hopefully they wouldn't raise any weird glances.

  Meriel still didn't understand why spell-swords became such a popular theme in the Mage Academy to the point where they were basically the only mages, but finding out would be one of the first things he planned to learn. The information about what happened to his former companions was still his number one priority, of course, but this would be one as well.

  The line dragged on in front of the Academy, and most of students looked to be about fifteen years old, though there were exceptions of course—he saw several students similar in age to Mary and Ziggy, but there were some older folks as well, the oldest probably about forty years old.

  All of them were wearing similar clothing, which made Mary and Meriel stand out a little, but it wasn't to the point where she grabbed the attention of every other person. It would be hard to keep a low profile with an elf on their side anyway.

  Slowly, ever so slowly, the line moved forward, and eventually they got into the academy proper. They had to show their entrance papers, of course, but that was a quick matter, and they walked the halls of the Mage Academy once again.

  Apparently, they were supposed to gather in a huge training centre, one of many of the academy, and that made Meriel guess what their first task would be. The halls they had to walk were as dull as before, but Meriel did his best not to focus on them this time.

  Even bigger was the shock then, once he saw that the training center was quite reminiscent of what the academy was before: beautiful colours, marble, and paintings adorning the walls. There were about ten instructors standing on a podium at the other side of the hall, looking the new students over.

  They didn't look similar at all physically. Three of them were women, and seven of them were men. What was similar was something else, though. They all had that air of danger around them, that feeling of ‘I know what to do‘.

  At least this let Meriel know that mage women were quite common in this era. Not that they weren't in his own, but it was quite a rare occurence before. Few women became delvers, and even fewer discovered their latent magic potential. They had just never gotten exposed to situations where they could discover the scope of their latent powers.

  Maybe the society changed a little, allowing them to pursue their magical talents more? Just another question for the future.

  The people continued pouring into the hall, and soon enough, there was barely any space to move in. Meriel clutched onto the shoulders of Mary and Ziggy, and looked around, trying to see if he would find anyone who would seem a bit more promising.

  Yet he found nobody. He did see the man who stood in front of the department head's office, the one who gave him such a hateful glare. The man wasn't looking at the trio this time around, though Meriel wasn't sure if that was because he didn’t notice or because he was over whatever plagued him so before.

  "Attention, everyone!" A booming voice reverberated through everyone present, and Meriel looked to the podium once again. A muscular man, maybe in his forties, stood in front of the small gathering, standing there with a magical sword in hand. His black hair was cut short, and his beard and outfit gave him more presence than to any of the teachers.

  Meriel quickly used his third eye to see what was happening and quickly realized it was just a voice amplification spell.

  Of course, most of the mana that sourced it came from the sword too. Was the spell itself imprinted onto the sword as well?

  "We are pleased with the attendance of this year," the older man said. "Many years have gone by since we've seen such a great number of potential spell-swords. You might be asking what is the purpose of your gathering here, on your very first day, and the reason is simple."

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  The man seemed to scan the crowd beneath him, letting the dramatic pause carry some weight, and Meriel did the same, but he found his eyes wondering back to the principal. Although the man did use a sword to amplify his magic, he also seemed to have a better understanding of how to manipulate mana than anyone around. The mana around him swirled too much, and he saw a good portion dissipate into his body and not only the sword.

  "Now, everyone. The purpose of you gathering here is to sort you into different classes based on your mana understanding. Those without a spellblade can borrow one from my colleagues here around me. We will call you by name, and you will have to show how well you can manipulate mana. I assume everyone knows the complete basics here, so you will be asked to show us some simple tests based on that." His calm voice finished, and then the man turned, his cloak swooshing behind him, and he walked back into the door behind the podium.

  A mana manipulation test was exactly what Meriel wanted to avoid. He squeezed the shoulders of his two protégés even harder and then steeled himself. He would have to suppress his mana heart a lot. He even considered grabbing one of the swords and pretending he accidentally grabbed one a smidge too potent, but he decided not to. Surely the teachers must have checked them several times over to not give anyone an advantage.

  A small space was created in front of the podium, the teachers asking the students to step back a little. Then, all of the students formed into lines, one for each of the teachers standing in front. There were a lot of people asking for a sword, of course, but Meriel stopped Ziggy and Mary when they stepped forward to grab one as well.

  "What is it, Meriel?" Ziggy protested, giving him a playful smile. "I want a sword."

  Mary joined in, jumping in place. “Me too, Mr. Meriel. Please?“

  "You don't need to rely on a crutch such as a magical trinket, Mary. You do not know how to manipulate mana well," Meriel said, "but remember what I told you about the whirlpool."

  Mary nodded and seemed to deflate when she realized she wouldn't get the sword after all. "What about me, Meriel?" Ziggy said provocatively.

  "Oh, Ziggy, you know how to manipulate mana well enough, don't pretend you don't," Meriel bit back, ruffling the boy's hair.

  "I've never tried spellcasting, though." Ziggy retorted, crossing his arms.

  "You know enough. You watched me through all these years. You’ll be fine" Meriel tapped Ziggy's shoulder. "Just follow your instincts and think on what I've done all those years." Ziggy was a magical creature with a mana heart instead of a gut, and that heart only kept growing. He’d hardly need training.

  Ziggy seemed a bit confused for a moment but finally nodded, and followed Meriel and Mary into one of the lines. Most of the people moved far too quickly to the front, and therefore Meriel had to stand at the back—probably forty people in front of him. He wasn't quite sure on what exactly the test would be or how long it would take, but he didn't like his chances of getting outside before sunset. Steeling himself, he crossed his arms and waited.

  For someone who spent decades waiting in a bubble of magic, Meriel found himself far too impatient. The line moved like a wounded Gruzb, and every step forward meant waiting for what felt like hours after. At least the tests, from what Meriel could see, seemed fairly straightforward.

  First, one had to show if he could manipulate mana into their mana heart, and then try to conjure a spell while using a spell-blade. The difficulty of the spells moved up and up. He hadn't seen anyone who would manage a spell that would make anyone even bat an eye. Far from it actually, most of the mages here seemed to be far too inexperienced.

  They had several techniques backwards, and they basically didn't know any spells that the apprentices of his own era knew to cast even had they gotten woken up at midnight.

  "Wow, so much magic," Mary mused properly for the tenth time in an hour. She looked at every mage in front of them trying to discern how they use their mana, and her eyes got all sparkly as she watched.

  Meriel liked her enthusiasm, but it was ill-fitted. This was unbecoming of the Mage Academy. All of these people barely managed what a six-year-old noble would a hundred years ago. Once again, his questions multiplied, and he found himself wondering on the source of all of this.

  They moved again.

  Finally, they stood second in the line. There was virtually no one in the training hall by now, just a few students who were too slow to step to the front of the line, just like he did. Therefore, several of the teachers were free from their burdens as well. Although Meriel expected them to walk out once done with their job, he had to admit he liked their professionalism, and all of them stayed put.

  One of them, a stocky man with burly arms, even gave tips to some of the students when they failed one of the tasks given to them.

  Finally, the boy in front of them got sent away to the first class. The boy barely could manipulate mana in his sword, and he could conjure no spells at all. Meriel only sighed.

  "So, who is it going to be first? You are some of the last entries today." The mage in front of them sat and looked at the trio. She was a 30 or so year old, white-haired woman wearing clothing not too dissimilar to Mary's, though it wasn't pure black—it was just dark blue, like from the depths of the ocean, just like her eyes were. Her hair was put into a ponytail, and she had dark eyeshadow. All in all, it gave her a menacing look, though not an unfriendly one.

  "You should go first, Mr. Meriel," Mary offered, nudging him forward with her hand.

  "I do not think so. I still am unsure about showing a bit too much," he whispered, hoping that the woman couldn't overhear.

  "Just go on, Meriel," Ziggy said, rolling his eyes. "It will be fine, just like it always has been."

  "You have been in civilization for five days, Ziggy. How can you know what will be fine?" He said, glaring at Ziggy.

  Ziggy, in turn, just scrunched his shoulders, giving him a mock smile. "Dragon instinct. What can I say?"

  Meriel smiled at that, cracked his fingers, and stepped forward for the first test in the academy.

  Followers (Bonus chapter: 1235/2500

  Ratings (Bonus chapter): 84/125

  Patrons (Commissioned map of the continent): 10/10!! Thank you! I'll be commissioning an artist this week!

  Patrons (3 more advance chapters) : 10/20

  Have a great weekend!

  Also, I'm a bit sick at this moment, so I'll see if I can push that bonus chapter next week, but I hope so.