The air and atmosphere across the entirety of the City of Colohen were electric and exciting that morning. Just stepping outside Selvig's Ristorante exposed him to the tingling anticipation that had captured the entire country.
Today was a day that an enormous number of people had waited for their entire lives. One had to be at least sixteen to take magic aptitude tests. It was believed that prior to the age of sixteen, any magic aptitude a person might have had was still in too much flux to reliably determine their potential as a mage.
It was a day that would leave its mark on the lives of all those who took the test.
For Cæ, however, it was just the first step.
'I will get into the Elendir Institute of Magic,' his eyes narrowed with determination, 'and master magic to the greatest degree that I possibly can with the best of resources, the best of professors and teachers, and the best of learning environments.'
A lot of people would consider their lives set just by getting accepted into the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Cæ was not among them.
His ultimate goal was so absurdly difficult that even the prospect of getting into the best magicademy in the entire nation didn't increase his odds of succeeding by any noticeable degree.
And yet, it was indeed the best path to success that he viably had at his disposal.
"Thankfully, I don't have to go too far for the test."
Each district had its own center, and Cæ did not have to walk more than a several kilometers before he reached one.
He didn't even need a map.
He just followed the crowd.
By the time he got there, the size of the crowd far exceeded anything he had expected.
"I'm so nervous~"
"Hah, I'm definitely going to get into the top one percent! Both my parents are mages!"
"Move! The most important day of my life is here, and you fellows are blocking me!"
Cæ heaved a sigh of exhaustion at the sight of all the excited teenagers swarming the magic aptitude testing center and counters. Thankfully, more than a dozen testing counters had been set up precisely in anticipation of this.
It wasn't until an hour later that he finally got his turn.
"Please step forward and present your ID," the man at the counter instructed with a stern expression.
His robes were that of a mage.
In his hand was a wand, ready to be wielded at the drop of a hat should the need arise.
An apprentice mage.
This was perhaps the first time that Cæ had seen a mage up close.
Cæ adhered to his instructions, stepping before the little testing podium.
Before him was a table with two orbs glowing with magic. The left one glowed with a myriad of colorful dancing lights, while the other was simply transparent, almost invisibly so.
"First, we shall test your mental aptitude for magic."
That was the public name for the aptitude for eidos.
"Place your hand on the orb to your left and construct the most vivid image you are able to out of pure imagination," instructed the apprentice mage proctoring his test. "Do not rely on memory; the orb will be able to detect it."
Cæ closed his eyes before doing just as he had practiced for the last few months.
The task itself was not difficult. The real challenge was performing just poorly enough to be considered an average rank one candidate but not so poorly that he fell below rank one. However, having extensively dug up exactly how well those who ranked at the very top performed, he was able to know precisely how much to suppress his mind.
After all, the sheer amount of cultural and civilizational craze over magic meant that there was no lack of documentation on the matter.
He pictured a random landscape image, the kind that people were most accustomed to drawing. But he specifically went out of his way to get rid of most of the resolution, most of the detail. He purposely made it just a little inconsistent, blurry, and hazy while reducing it to two dimensions instead of three.
He needed to constrain an overwhelming majority of his imaginative capacity. And even then, the result shook not just the proctors but also everybody else who had come to participate.
The orb glowed with a blinding light brighter than any other that day, sending a wave of shock across all test takers, proctors, and security personnel.
And then, a number larger than any other lit up above the orb.
[255,145,659]
For a moment, everyone was frozen.
Not a single person could move.
They simply stared at the number in shock.
And then, all hell broke loose.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
"NINE DIGITS?! NINE?!"
"Wait a minute, that's higher than last year's top score! This guy… He's going to nail number one!"
Cæ heaved a sigh, removing his hand as he gazed at the jaw-dropped proctor.
It took a moment for the poor man to remember that he had a duty to do.
"A-Ah, next!" He cleared his throat. "Let's get to the mana aptitude test!"
This was a measure of how much willpower one possessed. For mana could only be moved with willpower alone.
"Please, kindly place your hand on the orb for as long as you are able to." The proctor's attitude grew more respectful.
Cæ did as instructed, placing his hand on the orb.
The very moment he did, he felt an instinctive urge to pull it away.
One that kept growing stronger and stronger by the second.
And yet, he resisted it rather easily.
An entire minute passed.
"One minute!"
"That's really impressive."
"I've heard your hand will reflexively move by the one-minute stage, and he doesn't even seem to be struggling…!"
A wave of murmurs washed across the crowd.
The spectators grew more boisterous by the time two minutes had passed.
"Huff…" Cæ heaved a sigh of exhaustion, lifting his hand away from the orb.
"Two minutes and thirteen seconds…!" The proctor gaped at the hourglass with shock as though skeptical of the simple device.
He scrambled to print out the results before stamping the paper firmly. "Applicant C-Caa?"
"Cash." Cæ's voice was cold.
"Forgive me. I shall be sure to remember it!"
It was an odd thing to say to a stranger.
Cæ simply grabbed his test results and departed wordlessly. The crowd of stunned teenagers and young adults automatically parted as he walked past them with a composed gait, heading towards the exit even though he knew that he would not be able to leave easily.
The moment he emerged from the shocked crowd of applicants, Cæ was instantly surrounded by scouting agents from various private and public magicademies.
"Mr. Cæ, I am a scouting agent of the National Magicademy of Elendir. I would like to invite you to join our magicademy!"
"Pay no heed to that ancient university and instead join our Holy Nest of Magic!"
"Join our St. Rogers Acade—"
"Get out of my way."
Cæ's cold voice effortlessly cut through paltry attempts.
Although the application process for magicademies was separate from the test-taking, it was a well-known fact that magicademies would begin fighting for the best applicants at the centers.
The best applicants were deeply precious, for they would go on to become some of the most powerful mages, and these were among the most potent and precious assets of not just the various power blocs and interest groups of the nation but also the nation itself on the world stage.
Thus, magicademies adhered to the saying, 'the early bird gets the worm.'
Of course, Cæ wasn't interested in the second-rate or even first-rate magicademies that had sent their grubby little scouts across the entire city or perhaps even nation.
No, he was only interested in the very best of the best.
RUMBLE…
Chills crawled across the skins of the many people gathered there as an oppressive magical aura weighed down on them.
It suffocated them.
The very fabric of the world began curving as space and time were bent.
Before him, a hole bore through reality.
Not a single person could maintain their composure as they witnessed a pinnacle in magic.
"Gate magic…!" A shocked whisper escaped Cæ.
Gate magic was a famous and powerful kind of magic, one that Cæ had run into very early on in his research into magic. It was a specialized application of space-time magic, which, in and of itself, was already an extremely advanced field of magic.
It was magic that connected two distant locations through space and time via a gate, allowing vast distances to be crossed in the blink of an eye.
Cæ watched as the gate grew larger and larger before stabilizing.
The pitch-black circle gradually lit up, featuring what was one of the most grand and extravagant campuses that Cæ had ever beheld in his entire life.
An enormous stretch of ostentatious and extravagant buildings and facilities stretched farther than the eye could see.
It was what those who yearned to become a mage dreamed of seeing when they entered their magicademies. And yet, it was a sight that very few people had the privilege of beholding and even fewer had the privilege of attending.
This was the Elendir Institute of Magic.
And yet, what drew Cæ's attention was the man who stood at the gate on the other side.
He wore a luxurious business suit perfectly tailored to his body.
His hair was combed to perfection.
His chest was puffed.
His chin was raised.
His smile was confident and proud.
"Good morning, Mr. Cæ." His tone was courteous. "I am Executive Neiman Niles of the Colohen Branch of the Elendir Institute of Magic. On behalf of the Elendir Institute of Magic, I would like to invite you to discuss our offer to you as well as your prospects of joining us."
A wave of murmurs broke out amid the envious applicants.
The other scouts gritted their teeth and clenched their fists.
They were hardly under-dressed or inadequate by any means, but before the sheer gravitas of the man before them who essentially had the same job as them, they couldn't help but feel profoundly lacking.
A small smile cracked at the edge of Cæ's face.
This was what he had been waiting for.
Every year, the top scorers of the magical aptitude test earned the honor of witnessing an extravagant and flashy invitation from the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Moreover, no two entrances were the same. The institute switched up its act every year as if to convey the endless mastery of magic that its faculty possessed.
Was it fancy and over the top?
Certainly.
And yet, it only increased the craze for the institute.
"I am deeply grateful and honored by your invitation," Cæ replied respectfully. "I accept your invitation and look forward to discussing my future at this esteemed institute."
With that, he stepped through the gate, instantaneously entering the magicademy campus and leaving the testing center behind.
WHOOSH
And just like that, the gate disappeared behind him.
"Welcome to the Colohen branch of the Elendir Institute of Magic, Mr. Cæ." Executive Neiman graced him with a perfunctory smile. "Congratulations on your score. I can assure you that you have a bright future ahead of you. At the Elendir Institute of Magic, we only accept the best of the best, and you stand among the cream of the crop. Come, let us discuss the many opportunities that await you in our academy."
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