Cæ heaved a sigh of relief while the master mage professor chewed out his attackers in front of everyone.
He had taken a calculated risk that he wasn't in any actual danger. Among the many, many things that this magicademy was praised for was its ability to keep its students safe from themselves and one another.
Students who first entered a magicademy did not possess the discipline of a professional in regulating their power and acting in a way that was befitting of the immense power that they had begun wielding.
This meant that they would often use magic trivially and dangerously.
Thus, it was up to the magicademies to ensure that these juvenile and immature magelings didn't suffer adversely as a result of their own psychological inadequacies.
And this was something that the Elendir Institute of Magic was extremely good at. The esteemed professor intervened just in time to ensure that he didn't suffer one bit whatsoever.
"…And you, Mr. Cæ," her tone softened as she turned towards the victim. "Are you alright? Did you perhaps suffer an injury that I might have missed?"
"No, Professor Melinda," he replied with an earnest tone. "Thanks to your timely intervention, I managed to come away unscathed."
"That is good to hear…" She nodded lightly before directing her gaze at everybody else. "What are all of you gaping at? Kindly head to your dormitories immediately and sort out other logistics. This day is meant to adjust, not to stand around and jeer at drama. Off you go!"
She shooed the other students, who immediately rushed away from the scene.
Very soon, it was just Cæ and the five offenders.
She turned back to the five of them, who wore ugly expressions but didn't dare to utter a word in defiance.
The Elendir Institute of Magic was not a place where any individual party or entity could throw its weight around.
Because the magicademy was a joint venture of the wealthy private class, the elite magicorporate class, the government, the mage association, and other power blocs. No individual stakeholder possessed the ability to throw their weight around.
Thus, if they wanted to avoid a suspension or, worse, an expulsion, they could only pray and hope for the best.
Professor Melinda studied them with a sharp gaze.
"…Since this is your first time, I will let you off with a warning and merely a penalty of ten credits for each of you."
Their faces contorted with a mixture of relief and regret.
Relief that they weren't suspended.
Regret that they lost ten credits before they could even earn a single one.
A bare minimum number of credits was needed to pass the Apprentice Program and become a certified apprentice mage. And now, they had been set back before the race even began.
"Should such an incident happen a second time, you will be expelled from the magicademy," Professor Melinda sternly stated. "Is that clear?"
They nodded vigorously, finally having satisfied the elder professor.
"Off you go then."
The five boys scurried away even as Silian threw Cæ a dirty look as he ran away from the area that was now empty, devoid of any person.
"Not a single apology…" she muttered. "Tsk, these wealthy brats."
"It's alright, Professor," Cæ pacified her irritation. "They are merely hot-headed adolescents sheltered away in their pampered life. Boys of their age tend to be juvenile and immature, so it isn't particularly surprising."
She directed an approving gaze at him as her expression nodded. "That is remarkably level-headed and sober. You have been able to set your emotions on being attacked aside and are able to understand what happened from a more rational point of view. That is good. That is what the world seeks from its mages. As someone with gifted magic aptitude, you will come to wield great power over many years. And with that power comes corresponding responsibility."
Cæ nodded. "I will ensure that I act in a manner that is befitting mage."
"That is reassuring to hear." She nodded encouragingly. "I hope you will keep that attitude with you even as you grow to have more power. Note that nobody wants to work with mages known to be unstable. For the very power for which they were sought becomes volatile in their hands. Now then, off you go as well. You have a lot to do."
Cæ thanked her once before bidding her farewell and heading off to the apprentice dormitories. Although, he genuinely disliked the notion of living in the same dormitories with other teenagers, he knew he didn't have a choice, not until he graduated from the Apprentice program.
As much as he would have loved to have kept a low profile amid the students, he only drew more attention to himself. People murmured and whispered about the incident that had happened upon the arrival of freshmen to the academy.
He heaved a sigh as he finally made his way to the Institute dormitories that housed all students.
It was a massive complex of buildings that spanned a large distance, with different blocs for different programs divided between the two sexes. The housing amenities and facilities were known to be far beyond ordinary, and for Cæ, who had lived in the slums for most of his life and in the past half year, it was nothing short of luxurious.
Not only were the dormitories equipped with top-notch housing quarters and amenities, it was also equipped with swimming pools, gyms, and even a walking park that ran around the entire complex.
To say that it was extravagant was an understatement.
The Elendir Institute of Magic went above and beyond to justify the sheer amount of tuition fees that they demanded. Of course, they also received government funding, corporate sponsorship, and rich-class funding, which undoubtedly funded the extreme expenditure into the luxury of the housing quarters.
And even as he made his way to his dormitory block and room, he could feel the stairs of students, affluent and middle-class alike, staring at him with a poorly hidden gaze, whispering and murmuring to each other.
Their eyes reflected anywhere between contempt and disgust to amazement and admiration.
The former, naturally, were comprised of wealthy students.
Thankfully, they didn't make it his problem after learning of the punishment that was inflicted upon the boys who picked a fight with him and found themselves with negative ten credits even before the semester started.
Those who gazed at him with amazement and admiration, on the other hand, were not just of a humbler background but were also a little less reserved in his approach to them.
"Mr. Cæ, sorry for bothering you, but you were so cool when you kicked that wand out of that arrogant Sillian's hand!"
"You must be a great fighter!"
"And you scored the top score in our branch on the magic aptitude test. So amazing."
Several of his fellow apprentice freshmen mustered the courage to reach out to him when they spotted him.
Two boys and one girl, clothed in ordinary semi-formal attire.
"…" Cæ simply gazed at them with a stoic gaze, unsure how to respond.
Their demeanor and body language reflected their nervousness and anxiety. Part of it was definitely the nerves of their first day arriving at the Elendir Institute of Magic, undoubtedly. However, another part of it definitely was how intimidating Cæ's appearance and presence were.
The scars that ran across his face and his skin added a hint of menacing peril to his presence. Additionally, his unnervingly right eye, whose gray was a lot lighter than that of the pupil of his left eye, made his impassive gaze a lot more chilling than it would have otherwise been.
They nervously shifted where they stood while Cæ simply gazed at them.
"Thanks."
His tone was casual while his gaze softened, earning a smile from the three kids.
"And who might the three of you be?"
He tried not to speak to them like an adult speaking to children, especially when they were in the same program. He wasn't shameless to patronize them when he had absolutely nothing to justify such an attitude to them.
"My name is Kelton." The tall one grinned while his brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "I was really impressed by how swiftly you disarmed Sillian so smoothly and swiftly. My goal is to become a magetant, you see."
Cæ could tell from his body language that he had been in many fights. This was a skill he had picked up in his life in the slums, identifying who could and was willing to fight was nothing short of a survival skill in the slums.
"My name is Natana," the girl smiled sweetly. "As for me, my goal is to become an artificer, you see. My father owns a blacksmith shop, you see. My goal is to inherit it when I graduate and elevate the business."
The light calluses on her hands told him as much.
"My name is Sorenon." The other boy smiled sheepishly, adjusting his glasses. "I have not decided what kind of mage I want to be."
"The apprentice program is meant to serve as the foundation upon which you decide what path you wish to follow," Cæ calmly replied. "While it is good to have clarity this early, it is not a necessity and not something you should let bother you."
"Thanks, my family and my counselor have told me as much, but I'm still so tense about it."
"A man should become a magetant." Kelton asserted, slapping the smaller boy on his back. "Don't you dream of wielding great power to defeat your enemies?"
"What enemies…?" Sorenon muttered, adjusting his glasses. "Combat magic is the riskiest field. You might die, you know?"
"Hah! Don't be a coward."
"I don't have any interest in fighting. I will probably pursue something like divination or alchemy."
Cæ simply listened patiently as the three of them discussed their future in magic.
They were very different from him when he was their age. Their demeanor and body language spoke of optimism and enthusiasm, distinctly different from the desperation and resentment that he was filled with.
They spoke of lofty ambitions, of pursuing their goals in magic to achieve great success, while he had simply hoped for a decent life.
"What about you, Mr. Cæ? What are you aiming to become?"
Cæ stirred where he stood as his attention returned to the three teenagers standing before him.
"…My goal is to master magic."
They raised their eyebrows at his bold statement.
"That's… ambitious," Sorenon remarked. "Magic is an extremely vast and diverse field, you know? The only people in the world who can claim to have mastered it are the vaunted and legendary magi of the world. Does that mean your goal is to become a magus?"
Magus.
This was the title given to the highest rank of mages in the entire world.
They were mages who stood at the very pinnacle of the magic said to possess godly power the likes of which the world had never seen before.
"If your goal was always to master magic…" Natana carefully spoke. "Then, why did you enroll into a magicademy so late?"
Cæ stirred at her question.
"Ah… sorry, that was an insensitive question," she nervously apologized. "I'm sure you have your personal reasons and circumstances."
"No, it's fine." Cæ shook his head lightly. "It's a reasonable question, considering that I'm six years older than the average freshman of the apprentice program. The answer is rather simple. I simply didn't harbor any such grand ambition or desire for magic when I was younger. I hadn't even taken the magic aptitude test for this reason. This ambition of mine is somewhat recent."
"You didn't have any desire for magic when you were younger?" Kelton asked with a stunned expression. "But… everybody has a desire for magic! Especially when they are young!"
Cæ wasn't surprised that he wasn't able to even parse that someone might have never cared for magic. What these kids had likely taken for granted their entire lives was what Cæ had desperately dreamed of having for most of his life.
They couldn't even imagine what it was like to live in such shitty conditions that even a normal life was nothing short of paradise.
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