Meng Lei was filled with emotion as he stood before the academy's doors, gazing at the highest grand hall of magic filled with ancient civilization and a long history.
From history's perspective, there wasn't a single school on Earth that could be regarded in the same light as the academy in front of him right now. After all, even the oldest academy's history on Earth didn't go beyond 1,000 years, whereas there were already more than 20,000 years of history to the academy in front of him!
The settling of time could be seen in every corner!
Every little thing fully exhibited the many vicissitudes of life!
What a wonderful magic academy!
There were guards on duty at the school's entrance. Each of them wore a suit of Fire Dragon armor and held flaming spears in their hands. With faces full of cold sternness, their sharp eagle-like eyes swept over all the passers-by!
New students reported today, and old students came back to school one after another!
There were joyous students, as well as agitated, proud parents!
It was extraordinarily bustling with activity outside the academy's doors. However, only students wearing the academy's badge could enter, while accompanying parents and other unrelated people were denied entrance at the doors.
One could tell from this just how strict Fire Dragon Magic Academy's administration was!
Meng Lei took out the academy badge and pinned it at his chest. Then, he followed the crowd and walked toward the academy entrance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The guards' sharp eyes shot toward him!
Then, an emotionless voice rang out. "New students reporting this year, please head to Saint Dragon Square to take part in the assessment for new students! Turn right after you enter, then go straight, and you'll reach Saint Dragon Square!"
"Thanks!"
Meng Lei said his thanks and walked through the academy doors. He followed the tree-lined avenue on the right and made his way to the "Saint Dragon Square" mentioned by the guards.
Big and tall sycamore trees lined the sides neatly and provided shade from the sun.
He reached the end of the avenue after a brief moment. Several expanses of gigantic statues entered his sight. These statues had varying appearances and sizes, and they numbered dozens. The big ones were as tall as 100 meters, while the small ones were only two meters tall. With both big and small sizes, there were a lot of statues!
The workmanship was detailed and elaborate, delicate, and exquisite. The folds of the dragon scales… looked vivid and true to life!
There were mighty and ferocious Flaming Colossal Dragons!
There were Thunderbolt Dragon People with wings on their backs!
There was also no lack of small and short human elites!
Stone tablets with inscriptions stood at the bottom of every statue. Dense and packed tiny texts were inscribed on them, recording the statue subjects' deeds and achievements from their whole lives!
"Isaac Flit, the 16th king of Fire Dragon Kingdom, the first president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy, and a great fire-elemental Colossal Dragon King!
"In Year 24,762 of the Heaven's Vault calendar, the Three-Headed Chimera, one of the legendary rulers of Magical Beast Forest, led a beast tide to invade Fire Dragon Kingdom. The great His Majesty Isaac led the troops to fight the beast tide and successfully killed the Three-Headed Chimera, thereby ending the beast tide!
"In Year 24,792, a great war broke out between Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire. His Majesty Isaac led the Fire Dragon Kingdom troops and traversed the Magical Beast Ridge to launch an ambush on the Titan Empire's fortress in the north. They killed the East Tiger King, one of the twelve pillars of the Titan Empire, and made the first decisive strike for Dragon God Empire's victory!
"In Year 24,850, the great His Majesty Isaac relegated the throne…
"Amos Kroc, the second president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy. A strong and powerful Saint Domain Dragon Person and a Saint Domain Magician skilled in both water-elemental and fire-elemental magic. He is the first Dragon Person to master Dragon-language Magic and is skilled in the research of magic. He invented a total of 189 water-elemental and fire-elemental magic spells and made an outstanding contribution to water-elemental and fire-elemental magic research!
"Adolf Holman…"
Meng Lei was rather astounded as he looked at each and every statue and browsed the statue owners' life stories. Everyone that qualified to be erected there was actually Saint Domain experts, and they weren't just any other Saint Domain, no less!
All of them were great and noble existences that had accomplished glorious achievements, or the older generation of teachers and seniors that had made outstanding contributions to the academy, or meritorious generals and officials that had accomplished illustrious military achievements in war!
Even if they were kings of Fire Dragon Kingdom, ordinary Saint Domains didn't even need to harbor thoughts of having a place here!
"Every one of them is an outstanding existence among the Saint Domains!
"Saint Domain…
"Can I… reach such high heights?"
People moved about here and there in the public square. Most of them were like Meng Lei and were new students here to report to the academy. However, with no exception whatsoever, every one of them was awed by the statues and looked quietly with reverence at the Saint Domain experts' glorious deeds!
After Meng Lei browsed through the statue owners' life histories one by one, he arrived at the assessment site. As it just so happened, there weren't that many people waiting to be assessed, either.
Thinking about it again, this was normal, too. After all, Fire Dragon Magic Academy only recruited a maximum of 100 people per year. It was naturally impossible that long queues like those during the magic assessment, as though it were the spring festival, would appear here!
"Old bro, are you one of the new students from this year, too?"
Meng Lei had only just stood still when someone patted him on the back. He turned to see a little fatty with a chubby face and dressed in brocade robes looking at him with a smile.
The little fatty was shorter than 1.6 meters, but his waist circumference was horrifyingly big. He looked charmingly naive when he smiled as if he were a Laughing Buddha. His eyes, which were small to begin with, were already close to becoming slits!
Duh, can't you see that I'm queuing right now!
Meng Lei mentally criticized him but kept a smile on his face. Most of the people going to and fro here were Dragon People, including even the teachers in charge of the magic assessment. Seeing a fellow human did make Meng Lei feel rather amiable!
Yep, even though this fellow human's a fatty!
"Wow! You're a human?"
The little fatty looked at Meng Lei in great astonishment. His tiny eyes widened into mung beans at once, as though a tortoise's eyes. He said, "All the humans that qualify to be admitted into the academy are geniuses among geniuses. Old bro, you're no exception too, right?"
"I'm just average, I guess!"
Meng Lei scratched his head. He wasn't very sure how his talent fared among the new students this year, either. But thinking about it, it shouldn't be that bad?
"Average?"
The little fatty blinked.
"Fatty Hart, why are you here too?"
At this moment, a piercing and unpleasant voice rang out behind them. Meng Lei turned to see a Dragon Person that was green all over, had a horn on his head, and a long tail at his bottom, walking over. With a fake smile on his green face, he looked right at the little fatty.
The green-skinned Dragon Person stood tall and straight. His muscles bulged, and he gave off a strong and vigorous aura all over. He was much more handsome and imposing than the little fatty.
The chubby flesh on the little fatty's face trembled, and he said with a snort, "How is it that I can hear that unpleasant chicken caw-like voice of yours everywhere I go? Are you annoying or what?"
"You scum of the Dragon Person community, are you looking for a beating?"
The green-skinned Dragon Person glared at him and balled his hand into a fist, ready to strike. The little fatty was so frightened that he cowered and hid behind Meng Lei. Then, he shouted, "Lance, shouldn't you take a look at where you are? Are you really thinking of putting on such atrocious behavior here?"
Lance, the green-skinned Dragon Person, froze, and he turned and looked around. When he saw that no one had their attention on them, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately shouted, "You'd better watch out, Fatty Hart! The next time we go out of school, I'll definitely beat you up so bad that you'll be looking all over the floor for your teeth!"
"Hohoho! Beat me up now if you have the guts, you trash!"
Upon seeing that Lance didn't dare to hit him, the little fatty became proud and arrogant at once.
"We'll see!"
Rather outraged, Lance glared viciously at the little fatty. Then, his eyes fell onto Meng Lei, and a hint of mockery appeared at the corners of his lips. He said, "Fatty Hart, you're truly a disgrace among us Dragon People. To think you're actually hanging out with a cheap human! I really grieve for Duke James for having such a useless son like you!"
Upon hearing what he said, Meng Lei couldn't help but frown. The little fatty snorted angrily and said, "Lance, he's a human friend that I just made. You're not allowed to insult him!"
Lance sneered and replied with great contempt, "Friend? Ha, only cheap trash with human slaves' blood flowing through their veins like you would treat a cheap human as a friend. The noble and elegant Dragon People have always found it beneath them to befriend lowly humans!"
"You—"
The little fatty was so furious that all the flesh on him was trembling. He said, "Lance, I've warned you before not to humiliate my mother. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise, what?"
Lance's expression was full of mockery.
"Otherwise, I'll beat you to a pulp!"
A sharp shadow suddenly flashed past. Right away, Lance saw a fist appear right in front of him. It became bigger and bigger, and then it made intimate contact with his nose!
Snap!
Terrifying power erupted instantly. As a crisp snap rang out, Lance's nose sunk in at once, and his entire self flew backward with a scream!