"We're so proud of you, Cæ," Mrs. Selvig hugged him tightly while Mr. Selvig patted him on the shoulder.
"You are truly special, Cæ."
His words were solemn. "From helping us overcome the crisis with the restaurant and now getting into the top magicademy in the entire nation. You are truly incredible. I'm sure that you will achieve great things."
Cæ allowed himself a true smile. "Thank you. Thank you both for everything."
"We should be the ones thanking you." Mr. Selvig smiled warmly at him. "Now, you go and make sure that you make the best of this wonderful opportunity."
"I will. Then…" Cæ regarded both of them one more time. "Goodbye, I will be sure to visit and call frequently."
And thus, he soon departed in a magicar provided by the magicademy, transporting him to the Elendir Institute of Magic.
He had donned a crisp T-shirt with an over-shirt and new jeans to boot. Mrs. Selvig had insisted on taking him shopping, buying him a whole slew of clothing that he didn't have prior.
He heaved a deep breath.
He had to admit, he was a little nervous about his first day at the magicademy. It was going to be a massive culture shock for him. His schools and college were humble, and he simply had very little exposure to extravagance. In fact, he found the lifestyles of even those who weren't even considered rich to be ostentatious.
The Elendir Institute of Magic was far beyond anything he had ever experienced before. With an enormous campus that spanned an entire district at the center of the City of Colohen, it was the largest academic campus along with its twelve other peers in different cities around the entire world.
So much so that Cæ could see it even before he arrived.
The giant walls of the magicademy that brimmed with mana were truly heavy in their presence. So much so that they drew the eyes of everybody who passed by them in the streets. It didn't matter if one was busy commuting to work or engrossed in their own matters, they still stole longing glances at the magnificent campus that sparkled before them, reminding many of them of the dream that they harbored for much of their life.
On this particular day, the Institute was brimming with activity.
Numerous magicars, both private and that of the magicademy, were in flux into and out of the magicademy.
Countless freshmen wore expressions of excitement and nervousness.
Cæ observed them and how they interacted with each other while the magicars parked in the institute's parking lot.
His observations yielded several subtle nuances that one wouldn't learn by reading material on the maginet about the Elendir Institute of Magic.
First, he noted that even before the academic year began, many of the freshmen were not only familiar with each other but had also formed groups and little cliques with each other. Many other students acted the way one would expect students to act on the first day of school: self-conscious, nervous, and excited.
There were notable differences between the two groups.
Those who already had familiarity with some of their peers and formed groups and cliques came in their own private luxury magicars and were often escorted by butlers, maids, and even slaves. Their appearances were professionally groomed, and the clothes they wore, while not necessarily loud, spoke to the class they came from.
"I see…" Realization dawned on Cæ. "The students of the wealthy class have most certainly had more exposure to each other compared to those of the middle class."
Many students were in the same position as Cæ, not having a single acquaintance, much less a friend, among their fellow peers. After all, what were the odds that any ordinary person who wasn't rich would make the Elendir Institute of Magic?
Cæ heaved a sigh as he left the magicar, obtaining his luggage in the vehicle as inconspicuously as he could.
He failed.
He didn't know whether it was because the scars from his accident running down his face and neck were extremely eye-drawing.
He wasn't sure if it helped people remember his appearance.
Regardless, people stopped and stared at him alike.
"Look…"
"Rank number two…"
"He scored the highest aptitude after Lady Lisha…"
The wealthier students began murmuring to each other amid their cliques while the ordinary students stole pointed glances from him.
Suddenly, he drew attention from everybody around him.
He simply took his luggage and moved on, impassively ignoring all the attention that he had inadvertently garnered even as he walked among the scattered crowds of students heading into the expansive campus. Right upon entry, there was a massive board highlighting the results of the magic aptitude test.
It highlighted the rank one candidate in the entire nation, Lisha Pyrosche.
A picture featuring her elegant, groomed appearance, enhancing her natural beauty, was plastered above the rest. Her blazing red eyes and smooth, curly red hair caused the picture to be even more eye-drawing than usual.
Right below her at rank two was none other than Cæ himself.
His picture was smaller and the same as the following eight rank holders of the top ten. His picture, however, was just as eye-drawing as rank number one simply due to how distinct his scars were.
They warped the texture and the surface of his face, running down his neck. The injury that had given him those scars had even caused the color of his right eye to be a lot lighter of a shade iof gray than his other.
Admittedly, he didn't have the most approachable aesthetics in the world.
More importantly, he had been quite surprised when he didn't end up raking rank one despite scoring solidly high even among previous rank one scores.
Lisha Flamesworth had scored an extraordinarily high score that put her solidly in the realm of being a prodigious genius of magic, the likes of which had the potential to become an extraordinary asset to the entirety of the nation of Elendir.
Her score made her prone to attracting a dangerous amount of attention. She had been approached by the government, the mage association, and other even foreign powers from nations much, much more powerful than Elendir.
The kind that Cæ had purposely massively held back his prowess as a pure mage to avoid attracting because he didn't have the power to withstand it, and also because hiding his power would ensure that he would be more likely to overcome the forces that stood in his way.
He schooled his expression to prevent the envy he felt in his heart when gazing at her.
Even though he didn't have the power to withstand the dangerous attention he was experiencing, she did.
After all, she was the heir to a powerful magical family, the Pyrosche Family. A family blessed with the talent of fire magic and an extensive history of producing powerful fire mages.
Her family was not only extremely wealthy and politically influential, but it was also extremely authoritative, with many of its members occupying important positions in not just the mage association but also the government and the military.
She was blessed with tremendous talent, allowing her to flaunt her gifts all she wanted without experiencing any adverse consequences.
Cæ, on the other hand, had to hide most of his gifts, at least half, due to the absence of power.
Unfortunately, such was life.
It was never fair.
He heaved a sigh and moved on even as he simply drew more attention from his peers and his academic seniors.
"A filthy slum mongrel like you does not belong in this esteemed institute."
The air grew tense as everybody froze.
Cæ's eyes sharpened as he glanced at the source of the loud and bold male voice that had boomed from behind him.
Five adolescent boys glared at him with contempt and derision. Their luxuriously well-groomed attire and appearances spoke to their background, as did the little crests of their respective families shining on the chests of their shirts.
Cæ recognized only one of them at the very center of the little clique. A young man with sharp green eyes and flowing brown hair.
Silian Syvester.
He had scored rank five on the magic aptitude test.
While his family was not among the richest or even in the billionel net worth, it was certainly extremely rich and powerful nonetheless.
More importantly, the hostility in his eyes made it abundantly clear that he detested scoring lower than a 'filthy slum mongrel' like Cæ.
Cæ simply turned away and kept walking.
Making friends wasn't why he had joined the magicademy and escalating an antagonistic relationship by losing his temper and starting a fight was also a sub-optimal outcome. He didn't care to argue with a sixteen-year-old boy about the relevance of his background to his attendance at this academy.
Unfortunately, Silian didn't have the maturity to let things go.
Then again, if he did, he wouldn't have caused such a scene in the first place.
"You worthless mongrel, you dare turn your back on me?"
Cæ felt a hint of danger as the boy drew his wand, pointing it at Cæ aggressively while evoking a rapid incantation. "ᛞᚨᚹᚾ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛖ ᛊᚲᛟᚱᚲᚺᛁᛜ ᛊᚢ—!"
Cæ moved on pure reflex, he turned back, lunging at the boy with a swift charge as his kick flew faster than he could complete his incantation.
POW!
In a smooth motion, his kick knocked the wand out of his hand, disarming him of his magical conductor sabotaging his incantation with the shock it caused him. Cold fury flared in Cæ's eyes as he suppressed the urge to whale on the kid and beat him black and blue.
Unfortunately, he had no choice but to fear the consequences of his family taking action against their son getting assaulted, even if he deserved every bit of it.
And yet, that moment of hesitation slowed him down as Silian's lackeys leaped away, drawing their own wands and rapidly evoking their own incantations. Cæ's expression grew severe as he crushed the urge to deploy pure magic against them.
No matter how slight, it would not be missed.
He knew that all of this was being monitored and surveilled by the Divination Corps of the magicademy. If he showed his true power, the secret would be spilled forever.
And thus, he took a calculated risk.
He simply leaped away defensively while their incantations were completed and their spells activated.
A beam of light.
A wave of darkness.
A bolt of lightning.
A spike of earth.
WHOOSH!
They surged towards him, threatening to kill him.
And yet, they didn't.
BANG!
Cæ's widened as a magical shield of water spontaneously emerged before him out of nowhere, protecting him from the attack.
"What is the meaning of this?"
A powerful feminine voice from behind the four boys effortlessly cut through the tension in the air. The four boys froze as chills crawled across their skin at the tremendously powerful aura that erupted from behind them.
Her attire was comprised of a multi-layered raiment and a lengthy robe checkered with glowing runes, magically floating off the ground while she descended upon it. A glowing ring armed with mana crystals conspicuously occupied her ring finger.
A master mage.
A professor of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
One that Cæ recognized.
The wrinkles on her skin deepened under the disapproving glare she directed towards Silian and his cronies.
"Unauthorized magic from a freshman apprentice is strictly prohibited," her elder tone was scalding. "Not as much as lethal assault is, however."
Sillian gritted his teeth but lowered his head with a hint of fear under the heavy gaze of her powerful eyes.
The other four boys shuddered as she swept her attention to each of them individually.
"If you were under the impression that your actions would be without consequences because of your background…" she continued with a strict tone. "Or because it was the first day of your arrival to our magicademy, then I'm afraid you are mistaken."
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