In a forest near Heartstall Imperial city, a vague blur could be seeing as it passed the trees. As it passed by you could identify a 3-meter-tall blue spotted black jaguar with a young man in his back and little boy right beside him.
The Young Man was wearing a green mage robe, his usual haircut of a swoop and a tousled head of brown hair had been swooped by the wind, coupled with his green eyes it gave him an aura of a free spirit. The boy had short disheveled straight white hair, a deep blue tunic and gray pants, his eyes where closed with some tears flowing out as he grabbed tightly from the jaguar they were riding.
"AHHHHHH BIG BROTHER JUN PLEASE TELL YOUR MOUNT TO SLOW DOWN!" cried the little boy as it struggled to grab the fur of the jaguar while avoiding falling off.
"HAHAHA, what didn´t little Xol said we should hurry." responded the young man turning his head with a smirk on his face.
"SORRY FOR WAKING YOU UP!" Xol replied.
"Alright, we almost exit the forest either way." said Jun as he commanded his mount to stop and signaling Xol to jump down.
"At last, how I missed the stable ground." Xol commented while sitting in the ground.
"Don´t be so dramatic, not everyone can say that they rode a Nightflash Jaguar." Jun replied instructing the Nightflash Jaguar to enter his life ring. "Come, once we exit the forest it should be a 20-minute walk till we reach the Imperial city".
Just hearing how close he was to his destination made Xol´s indigo eyes to recover that curiosity and excitement he usually had in them. Seeing his reaction Jun just smiled at his excitement and pondered if the last 2 hours of travel on his mount were real or not.
"Okay, I know you´re excited since we almost arrive so let´s review some basic of the academy and advices for your life in it" Jun spoke as soon as their exited the forest.
"Un." Xol nodded his head.
"Once you pass the initial trial and enroll in the academy, you have 4 years to master two mana attunements and reaching level 30, usually student achieve this in 2 years or less depending on the student capability and the teachers they chose for their attunements. My personal advice for choosing a good teacher is the stricter requirements for his class, the better teacher he it" Jun commented while continuing in the original direction.
"Why the stricter requirements, the better?" asked Xol while turning around his upper body and glancing at Jun who was some steps behind.
"Mana manipulation is a complex study, due to this, every researcher has experienced many hardships, pouring blood and sweat till achieving breakthrough in their research. They have harsh requirements to know if one is qualified in learning their research before teaching their hard effort to the next generation." Jun replied as Xol nodded.
"Then what if nobody manages to fulfill those requirements?" Xol while furrowing his browns.
"Then they will continue polishing their techniques and skills, not because they don´t have students means they're going to slack in their research, after some polishing or simplification they could lower those requirements. Also, they could simply record their skills or spells, leaving them with a close friend, family, or sealing in a dungeon trial if they wanted to pass their wisdom." Jun finally said after some pondering.
The duo continued their discussion about the life in the academy and after some time they finally arrive to the Mana Academy gates.
'Finally, I´m here' Xol thought while looking the gates with a gleaming anticipation on his future life.
Jun smiled seeing his face and quickly guided Xol to the area for enrolling. Following Jun, Xol could quickly see some teens coming in the opposite direction, some with disappoint in their face others trying to hide their tears, some of them had their guardian consoling them saying that there were still other academies or reminding them to work hard and return next year. Hearing all that Xol unconsciously started scratching the skin next to his fingernail of the right thumb with his index finger.
"Feeling a nervous?" Jun raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, a little" replied Xol as he glanced back at those teens.
"Don´t worry, you have already entered dungeons of higher levels and your performance was good, trust my instinct as a former student from he academy." Jun patted Xol hearing his answer.
"Beside I think uncle Elyon wouldn´t mind having you another year helping in his tavern." Jun added with a smirk on his face hasting his pace a little.
"Hey, who said I´m not going to pass!" Xol replied as he catches up to Jun and hit him on his arm.
"HAHA, good with that attitude and reflexes you already passed" Jun laughed seeing Xol reaction.
Arriving at a courtyard, Xol quickly saw a queue of people leading to a desk where some staff members were gesturing the aspirants to go with the aspirants' group on his right after some questioning.
"I will wait for you there as you queue and take the test" Jun pointed to a waiting area "Good luck, I´ll wait the good news."
"What is your full name, where are you from and have you learned the basic observation skill?" asked the staff member to Xol when it was his turn in queue.
"Xol, Caveshore town and yes I have learned it" Xol replied.
"Okay, place you hand on the tablet and let me verify if you have the academia requirements on age and mana" continued the staff member as he pointed on a stone tablet next to him.
Seeing the stone tablet with an incrusted crystal that staff member was pointing at, Xol took a breath of air and placed his hand. After some seconds passed the tablet started glowing and the staff member instructed Xol to remove his hand, taking his hand away Xol could see some words appearing in the tablet.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Age: 12
Level: 10
Current maximum mana: 1500
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Good, you passed the initial requirements, please hand in the 10 mana crystal for the inscription fee and take this jade token and join the group on my right, once there are 20 aspirants my partner will guide you to the test area." Stated the staff member as he filled a form with Xol´s information.
Taking out the mana crystals and paying the fee, Xol grabbed the jade token the staff member handed in and proceeded to the group of aspirants. Counting the other aspirants Xol figured he was the number 18, with nothing to do as he waited for the last aspirants to join the group, he observed the jade token in his hand.
[Initial trial Jade Token (Necklace, Cyan)
A Jade Token made by the Professor Izuriel for the initial trial of Mana Academy, unbound.]
Remembering the item color ranks, blue -> cyan -> green -> yellow -> orange -> red -> black -> silver, Xol pondered what made the item special enough for the cyan rank.
"Everyone follow me, I will now guide you to trial area." the staff member said seeing the last aspirant for the batch joining up.