There were 3 stations for registration just outside the stadium and 3 long queues already lined up neatly. Most of the participants were men, but there were a few women. Female knights are rare but held high positions in the ranks. Lately, the Kingdom has been trying to get more females to enter the military and the royal knights since they are valued.
I joined a queue, and the guy in front of me was a blonde male, much taller than me. He didn't even look like a teenager, but a grown man. His muscles were bulky and thick, his skin tan from training. I wonder how old is he? He moved in front slightly and I shuffled forward to follow the queue. Actually, there were a lot of strong looking males amongst the potential participants. Many looked older than their age. Compared to me, I was rather on the lacking side. I wasn't short nor skinny, and I wouldn't say I lacked in strength or sword skills but seeing these towering figures made me question myself.
Soon, I was at the registration booth and a black haired knight was manning the registration. There was a huge stack of paper, all registration papers of the participants name and particulars. The knight passed me a new sheet of form and an ink pen, which I filled.
Name: Alexander Black
Age: 16
Town of origin: Cuchne
There were 3 boxes next, indicating the field I'd want to be in, since the Royal Knights are split into 3 factions, the Sword faction, the Magic faction and the Sword Magic.
Magic is rare in the Earl Kingdom and only a few know how to, hence the Magic faction and Sword Magic faction is rather small. There are ways to learn magic (other than the noble schools that teach them to their students), which are books. Books, unlike common in the palace are a rare commodity in the commoner towns, especially the place I was living in where the standard of living is lower than usual.
I bore silver hair and blue eyes from my father, the greatest sword magic wielder in the world. All male in the Earl family knows how to wield magic, and so, when I was 12, I traveled to the neighboring town to a book shop and got myself a Basic Magic Spell book. It costed me my entire life's saving, and that was the only book that was in my possession. I would say I mastered all the basics, but that's it. I was no better than an elementary school child.
Though I had tried casting spells of my creations, they came out sloppily, sometimes the output would falter and whimper when it came out, other times it would be too big it took out my whole surroundings. Of course, no one knew that, especially not my adoptive mother.
I want to further my magic skills, and so, I ticked Sword Magic Faction.
"Ooh! Our first Sword Magic practitioner!" The knight finally took interest and exclaimed. The surrounding people started whispering amongst themselves.
"Is it rare?" I laughed, casually trying to hide my embarrassment.
"Definitely. Yearly, there are only 10 who sign up in that faction, and 1 that gets accepted!"
"Hey, don't you think he's bluffing?" A whisper came from the far back, a whole load of sniggering ensued.
"Good luck boy!" The knight took the sheet of paper and waved me away, not before passing me a few slips of papers about the competition.
I'm surprised, the stereotype of magic users being weak is rather rubbish, but is there not many people that can cast magic and use swords at the same time? Sure it was difficult, but I overcame that barrier in one day.
The logic behind magic is using mana from your body and exerting the mana, pushing it out of your body into a physical power— magic. You can ignite a tiny fire in your finger tips if you practice and push all your power into your fingertips but sometimes, the flow of mana is uneven and accidents can happen, thats why magic users use wands. A small magic tool that can help concentrate your mana and form magic at the tip of the tool. Wands come in different variations, some users use rings, some use sticks, others use necklaces, even gloves.
Sword magic is basically the same, but a mix of both swordsmanship and magic. The wands are premade mana collectors that helps the mana flow to the wand, but sword users have to physically move the mana to the sword which works as the wand for them. Magic sword users need to have good control of their mana, because other than that, they have to make shields from their magic while channeling their mana to the sword. The practices are tough, but how I imagine mana to be is like liquid, like the blood in my veins moving around, there are veins in my body filled with mana too. It fills tingly and warm, and when magic bursts from my fingertips, I could almost hear a pop. When I'm channeling it to my sword, my hands fill warm, and I feel the invisible warm mana travel up to my cold metal blade and burst out like fireworks. Everyone has their own way of interpretation and also different types of magic.
My magic smells like fire, burnt woods, and the color of my magic is almost a transparent blue. You normally can't see others magic users color, but you can see yours. Sometimes if its strong enough others can see it though.
"Hey, Sword Magic user!" Suddenly, someone called me from behind as I was about to walk away from the stadium.
I turn and it's a pair of siblings. I could tell since they look very similar, probably identical twins. Both of them have light blue hair, almosy neon, and hazel brown eyes. The boy who called me was wearing a plain white shirt with brown pants on, and the girl had a white frilly dress on. Both of them looked around my age, or maybe younger.
If I was Diamandes, I would be complimenting and gushing over the white frilly dress, perfect for the summer! It showed skin, but not too much, and the material was light and almost see through. The frills made her look so feminine, matched with her long straight blue hair accessorized with a dark blue ribbon.
Eleanora would never wear such a thing, so I could never see dresses that I missed so much.
"Hello," I smiled softly.
"I'm Ran, and she's Rose."
"Hi, I'm Alexander."
"I heard you were one of the Sword Magic users!"
"Oh, yeah, I'm okay at it, I've decided to try it out."
"But still you must be quite good at it to participate in the Sword Magic faction."
Rose hasn't said anything yet but was rather shyly hiding behind Ran. She gave me a nervous smile and hide her hands behind her back. I would have been so good friends with her in my past life, she is so cute!
"What about you two?"
"Oh! We're both in the Magic faction!"
"Ah, I see. Finally met magic users! From where I came from, there are no magic users!"
"Oh? Then how did you learn magic?"
"Using a book..." I laughed awkwardly. Would they find me lacking? Or laugh at my stupidity?
"That's unbelievable, learning from just a book is hard! I can't wait to see you in battle!" Ran held no tone of condescension or condemnation, making me smile at his truthfulness. He is definitely a ray of sunshine, I wish he passes the competition and gets into the academy.
"Mm! Me too! See you both on the competition day? Though it's so big we might not get to meet, so I'll wish you both good luck in case we don't see each other!"
"Thanks, good luck too!" Ran beamed, patting me on the shoulder in a friendly manner. My first real male friend I could almost cry.
"G-good luck!" Rose said behind Ran. I would have almost missed it due to Rose whispering, but I laughed and waved them goodbye as they walked away.