Trundling along in a wealthy carriage, Fel contemplated his previous examination. Tresten was more or less as powerful as an advanced power armour unit with a standard pilot, if Fel didn't have his lightning, even with Siyla's help, the fight would've been far more challenging. When Fel asked what Tresten's combat ranking was, he said he was B ranked. If Fel compared the combat rankings with the United Front's, the nation of new humanity, pilot rankings, B rank should be about equivalent to an advanced pilot. Fel himself was an ace pilot.
Tresten's methods were strange as well. Circles of light that spawned… things, and a flexible arsenal of abilities. Pilots had to carry all sorts of grenades and ammunition to gain the flexibility to deal with different situations while Tresten had it all in his head. Fel salivated at the thought.
Although technology at the United Front developed rapidly as they possessed thousands of years of humanities knowledge. He doubted that they would discover this, even in the next hundred years. They took two centuries to manufacture the first power armour unit that ran on natural energy and another century to invent Evolved Power Armour.
Manipulating natural energy without, well, whatever medium they used here, was simply too difficult. Natural energy was tangible, yet intangible and was the source of frustration for many scientists. But enough of that, back to the present.
The duo was on their way to their assigned Magic Academy, Seven Element Valley. It wasn't the most renowned Academy but certainly wasn't the weakest. Out of the thousand or so Academies, it was ranked 20th. Its main strength was that it had a diverse range of courses which catered to a variety of Mages, but its weakness was that it lacked a course for the most numerous type of Mage of the 1st underground layer; the dark Mage. Despite its weakness, the place was perfect for Fel and Siyla.
"Siyla, are we there yet?"
"You've asked that seven times already, and no, it'll take five more hours."
"Whyy, it's so boring! We've been on the road for half a month already!"
"Quit complaining, you still haven't completed your daily energy exercise."
Grumbling, Fel moved into a cross-legged position and cycled his energy. The trip was indescribably dry. Their driver was as silent as a grave and the journey so far was… uneventful to say the least. Half a month of travelling with little to no occurrences resulted in an ever-drying pool of conversation topics.
Fel had been occupying himself by reading the books in his mind-space, but while he had learned a lot, the dense paragraphs and bland vocabulary were enough to drive any reasonable person away.
"If I was back at the Front, I'd be able to whip out my holopad..."
"What's that?"
Fel flinched, "Umm, it's a sort of… object that lets you do stuff."
"So descriptive."
"Well, it's hard to describe."
Silence.
"What happened to those void knights, we never met 'em again."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about them. I think the nurse said they were half dead by the time they got to the city so they were still in emergency care after we left the city. Guess the death energy was too much for their apprentice constitutions."
"Anyway, what Level are you at. It's been awhile."
"I'm almost at high Level 1, just need a large dose of metallic energy to break through."
"Maybe they'd have that at the Academy?"
"I hope so. It'd take another year to break through otherwise."
"How long does it take to advance anyway?"
"It varies significantly. The talented can get to Level 1 in half a decade while others could take half a century or more. There's a similar story with getting to Level 2. It takes some only a couple decades and other a century."
"For reference, how old are you?
Finding a long, silvery knife at his neck, Fel let the case go.
The driver's voice called out from the front, "Almost there, just another hour to go."
"Time flies doesn't it?"
"More importantly, he spoke!"
Siyla lifted an eyebrow in surprise, "And so he did."
A massive stone wall, over 50 metres tall, loomed ahead of the carriage. It looked as if it was made of a single block of stone and had deep runes and circles carved upon its surface. The carriage headed towards an entrance that lied on either side, built into the great mountains on either side.
They were stopped at the gate by half a dozen armoured men. After a quick exchange, the driver showed them a golden badge that depicted heater shield, with the image of an open book carved upon it, within a perfect circle; the symbol of the Association. A guard took out an identical badge and pressed them together. The badges emitted a crisp ringing sound and flashing lights before the guard handed back the driver his one and let them past.
After they passed the gate, they encountered yet another massive wall, but this time with a single gate in the centre. It was wide open and was of massive proportions, around 21 metres tall and 13 metres across, following close to the golden ratio.
As soon as they passed through the gate, the density of natural energy in their surroundings almost tripled. Fel had only felt such a sensation when he was in the river of light. It was very soothing. Almost every breath he made drew in large volumes of pure energy.
The driver chuckled, "Good stuff right? We're in the neutral zone so there's only pure energy, but there are other, more, specialised zones."
Fel whispered in Siyla's ear, "Isn't he getting talkative?"
"This part of the valley is rather small, only around 25km2, but the other zones are much more expansive. The earth zone is around 125km2! The entire valley is only around 475km2, but even then, it's large compared to other Academies, though not much of it is habitable."
They were moving through a densely populated town that seemed to be built in concentric circles. While the architecture of the surrounding buildings was nothing amazing, mostly simple stone houses around two to three stories high, the truly breathtaking buildings were in a far more interesting location. On the valley walls.
Marble structures protruded from the valley and were connected by thin, arched bridges. Unlike the torches that lit up the city below, the valley walls were lit up by large, spiky crystals that glowed blue under the radiance of the star-stones above.
Siyla noticed something even more interesting ahead of them. A pillar of blue light in the distance.
The driver noticed Siyla's amazement, "That's an energy pool. You couldn't see it from the outside because of the illusion spells. Every zone has one that corresponds to their main attribute. This one is a pure energy pool and the land around it is in high demand!"
"Why's that?"
"Hehe, you'll see soon."
The carriage encountered yet another wall though this one was only half a metre thick and only four metres tall. In comparison to the colossal walls from before, these felt like more of a formality than anything.
A pair of guards walked up to the carriage, and the driver pulled out a letter, handing it to them. The guards read through it and signalled to the men at the door who let the carriage through.
As soon as they passed through, the concentration of the surrounding natural energy skyrocketed, reaching around five times the concentration of the outside world. Fel felt his insides roil, forcing him into a state of deep meditation.
Siyla leapt up in worry but the driver extended an arm to stop her, "Don't worry, this is a good thing. He had some remnants of energy within him. This place only acted as a catalyst. It's not enough to allow him to break through, but it's certainly a boon."
The carriage continued on and Siyla noticed that the scenery around her changed. Unlike the packed town before, there were now grand mansions scattered about the place. Although they were spread out, Siyla saw that they followed a pattern, though she had no idea what it was.
"Why would fewer people be in this area? Wouldn't it be better if more people were in the place with a higher concentration of energy?"
"You'd think so wouldn't you. But you see, you have to share the energy. The energy outside is merely the remains of what comes from here."
"Who lives here to deserve such treatment?"
"True Mages and their direct disciplines."
"Ah, that makes sense." Though the system was unfair, to Siyla who grew up with the teachings of her mother, it was perfectly acceptable.
"So there's a lot more apprentice Mages than True Mages?"
"Yep, there are around 1,300 apprentices and 132 True Mages. So the ratio is more or less 10 to 1."
"That's a significant difference. How do they advance to Level 1 here?"
"Well, most Academies use this system so I guess it's okay to let you know. We inject a large amount of energy concentrate into the body. While we have a few special inheritances, only core members can access them."
"You would have to have at least an 85% concentrate to do that. I heard that stuff can buy cities."
"Oh, there's no way we could use that for everyone. We use a… special blend, though it comes with its side effects. But it's not like we have much of a choice. We can't entrust our secret inheritances to just anyone and it doesn't help that many inheritances were lost after the great war."
"Who are you anyway? You've been silent for the entire trip but are now very talkative, not mentioning how knowledgeable you are. I doubt you're an ordinary driver."
"Don't worry, your curiosity will be sated soon. Look, our destination is just ahead!"
They parked by a large, circular building that wrapped around the energy pool. The energy pool was rather large with a radius of around 25 metres, so the building, that wrapped around it, was nearly 200 metres long.
It was fashioned in a renaissance aesthetic, complete with gargoyles, statues and fountains. However, as Siyla looked past the windows, she couldn't notice any activity. For all intents and purposes, the building was empty.
"This is the administrative building of the neutral zone. It's run by an artificial soul to eliminate corruption and to streamline the system."
"So, why are we here?"
"There's a wing for foreign Mage recruitment. Usually only mortals or low levelled apprentices come, there are few loose Mages, so there are special processes we have to go through when a loose Mage joins. Mages are valuable you see."
Siyla nodded.
The driver parked the carriage before the building and hopped off. He was middle-aged with short ruffled hair and a neat beard. Walking around to the door, he swung it open wide, "If you will Madame."
"What about my companion?"
Smiling, the driver walked around to the other door and opened it before reaching out to Fel's forehead and tapping it. A pulse of energy rippled across his body, releasing the last vestiges of energy, allowing it to flood out and refine his body. The sudden burst of energy almost brought Fel's level to mid Level 1.
"Not bad, he just needs to culminate another bout of energy to break through."
Fel's eyes fluttered open. He looked around, disoriented. "What happened?"
"Check your body."
Fel closed his eyes and cycled his internal energy. The energy flowed more smoothly than before. When Fel walked out and tried out an exercise routine, he found that his body was tougher and more powerful.
"How?"
"There were a few remnants of energy in your body. Encountering a place with high energy concentration loosened them up."
Fel was about to question the driver's talkativeness but was interrupted, "Now, now, we have to do what we came here for right?"
The duo were hustled over to the entrance, "I can't go in, but you only have to walk straight ahead. The soul will help you with the rest."
He then bid the duo adieu and strolled over to the carriage.
The embossed doors opened by themselves, inviting them inside. Fel turned to Siyla.
"Let's go."
They strode through the doors into… a medium-sized waiting room. Fighting his disappointment, Fel continued his venture to the reception desk. Though no-one was there, Fel saw a silver bell lying to the side.
He tapped the bell, causing it to ring. A pleasant voice appeared out of nowhere, "Hello, how may I help you?"
Fel and Siyla were stumped. They had no idea why they were there.
"Uhh, we're the new Mages I guess?"
"Fel Evenstar and Siyla Coldwing correct?"
"Yes."
"Very well, the Academy master would like to meet you."
"Eh?" Siyla elbowed him in the side, "Oh right, sure!"
"I detect that you are confused. Do not worry. True Mages are well received anywhere they go."
"Thank you, so where do we go?"
A blue wisp sparked into being behind the desk. The voice spoke again, "Follow this sprite. Master is in the east wing of the building."
The wisp flew over the desk and drifted over to a door to the right of the waiting room. The door opened, allowing for the wisp to continue on its way. It floated upstairs, downstairs, took a few right turns, and a few left ones. Before long, the duo were completely disoriented.
"Why is the way so convoluted?"
The pleasant voice echoed out again, "Apologies. This building is constructed to optimise the flow of natural energy. Is part of the reason why we have this sprite here to lead you."
"Ah, if it's for that, then there's no worry."
"Thank you for your input. Your destination is to your right. I hope you have enjoyed your trip. Please leave a review and rating on your way out."
The wisp dissipated, leaving them to their own devices.
Siyla shrugged and took the lead, grasping the large door handle and opening it wide, revealing a large, neat office. A royal red carpet, complete with detailed golden decorations, donned the floor while ceiling height bookcases lined the floors. Further in was a long, mahogany table, and behind that, was a middle-aged man with short ruffled hair and a neat beard.