Nik, one of the receptionist wizards at the 3rd Magic Tower, stood at the front desk with a nervous expression.
Unable to contain his anxiety, he shifted his feet and let out a few coughs for no reason.
He had no choice but to be nervous because a group of guests were going to visit the tower today.
Reynols Great Forest!
Guests that hailed from the lands of the Elves. Those who came from the Great Forest were of course Elves.
And the Dark Elves were known to have the smallest population.
A long time ago, the Elves and the Kastkau Empire signed a mutual non-aggression agreement which later became an alliance.
Of course, there were some people who criticized this alliance. After all, it was not easy to tear down the racial wall.
Nevertheless, over time these stereotypes and prejudices began to fade away.
At least the humans living in the empire no longer considered elves to be strange or hostile. Nevertheless, there was still a sense of awe.
Their life spans, physical capabilities, breathtaking beauty and natural talent with spirits completely overwhelmed humans.
And recently, the Elves had grown interested in human magic. That was why they would sometimes send their people to human countries like this.
The group of elves would stay at their 3rd Magic Tower.
By order of the Imperial Family, they were to ensure that the Elves lacked nothing during their stay as they were here to learn magic.
"Ah!"
At that time he spotted a group of people wearing maroon robes in the distance.
Nik was able to realise right away that they were elves.
Firstly their average height was much taller than that of humans.
The men easily passed 2 meters and the women were only a head or so shorter than them.
"Are you the group from Reynols Great Forest?"
"…"
The Dark Elf at the front stared at Nik with cold eyes, causing him to sweat slightly.
His eyes were ferocious. Hidden by his robes were muscles that were lithe and firm.
He appeared to be nothing like a man from a race of gentle forest lovers but instead seemed to be a warrior who had seen many bloody battlefields.
'I-, Is it true that Dark Elves are an arrogant and aggressive race?"
The gaze seemed to give his brain the same flight response that he would get when he encountered a monster.
At that time, a male elf, who appeared to be shorter than the others, stepped forward.
"That's right."
His tone was a bit awkward and rough, which proved that he was not used to using the human language.
"We-, welcome to the 3rd Magic Tower. May I see your identification?"
The man took out a ruby from his breast pocket. After he received the ruby, Nik also took one from his breast pocket.
It was almost identical to the one that he'd received from the elves.
When the two gems faced each other, a small resonance occurred.
Woowoong.
Nik observed the lights coming from the gems for a moment before returning it to the elf.
"It has been confirmed. How many people are in your group?"
"11 people."
Nik counted the elves one by one before nodding.
"It has been confirmed. I will now show you to the rooms that you will be staying in in the tower."
Then the small elf at the front spoke once again.
"I heard that you have to do some tests before you can enter the Magic Tower."
He didn't know where he had heard it, but Nik still nodded because
it was true.
"In principle yes, but our Dark Elf guests do not need to do it."
"I would like to try."
"Yes?"
"I said I would like to try. Can I do it?"
"Uh…"
Nik rolled his eyes, not knowing what he should do in this type of situation.
At the same time he felt a little resentful to the short elf.
Why couldn't he just stay still?
Of course, the ferocious eyes and aura around the Dark Elves made it so that he did not say these words out loud.
"Okay. Then I will carry out a simple and concise test."
"Liamson, why are you creating more trouble?" A cold faced elf woman shot him a glance as she asked.
The short elf, Liamson, only responded with a smile.
"Aren't you curious? How accurate the human tests are and what our current stages are."
"Our state is about 5 stars. That's what the wizard from the empire told us last time." "…!"
Nik was inwardly surprised by the conversation between the elves.
Were all of these elves 5 stars?
Even in the tower there were not many 5 star wizards.
'Then there's only one test.'
He thought that he would just do something simple because they wanted it but now he realised that there wasn't much that he could test them on.
With his innermost thoughts hidden, Nik guided the elves to the training ground on the first floor.
It was the sturdiest and most spacious room in the tower.
"The test is simple. Make an energy ball."
"…1 star spell energy ball? Is that a test? It's too lame."
Liamson looked disappointed, but Nik shook his head slowly.
"If you were only making energy balls yes. This test is not just about the spell….I'll give an example. Energy Ball."
Woowoong.
An energy ball appeared about Nik's right hand. It was about the size of a human head which was the normal size.
Nik narrowed his eyes.
Tsutsu.
The energy ball began to get smaller and smaller.
A drop of sweat rolled down Nik's face.
By then the energy ball had been compressed to the size of an adult male's fist.
"…Whoo! You have to compress the energy ball to at least this size before you would get accepted into the tower."
Nik raised his chin proudly, but Liamson let out a laugh.
"So it's compressing the Energy Ball. The size decreases, but the power increases. It is not that difficult."
"T-, this is the historical test of the Magic Tower, it not only tests one's understanding of mana, but also their sense of distribution and their ability to make adjustments."
Liamson ignored Nik's words and instead made an energy ball.
His mouth didn't even move which caused Nik to be surprised at the wordless casting which he did easily.
Tsutsu.
And he was even more surprised when he saw what happened to the energy ball.
"Huk…!"
The energy ball that Liamson had made had been compressed down to the size of a human's eyeball!
Nik knew that there were probably no more than 10 people on this floor who could compress the energy ball so much.
'Th-, there were rumors that Elves had a terrifying understanding of mana, it seems that they were true…'
The other elves also tried the test.
A feeling of emptiness seemed to flash within Nik as he witnessed this scene.
It was not only Liamson, but all the elves who were able to perfectly pass what he considered a challenging test.
"The human wizard's test doesn't seem to be much."
The tall elf spoke indifferent. There was no ridicule or amusement in his voice.
His voice was calm as though he was only stating a simple truth.
Still, his gaze was locked onto Nik.
Nik bit his lower lip but he couldn't say anything.
'I can't believe that they came the day that I had to work."
He could tell just from looking at those eyes. The elves now looking down on him, no.
They were looking down on all humans.
He really wanted to tell them no. That he was the only one who was inferior and that they should not look down on humans.
However he couldn't open his mouth.
Nik had never been so upset and helpless because of his timidity.
It was then.
"Is that the test?"
The pronunciation was fluid so it wasn't an elf.
Nik raised his head and at the same time the elves turned to see who was talking.
Standing there was a man with white hair.
"You are?"
Frey spoke calmly.
"I would like to join the tower."
* * *
"P-, please wait a moment. After I'm finished guiding them…"
"We are fine. We'll wait."
"Yes?"
"Did you not understand? We'll wait here. Until that man is tested."
Liamson said it one more time, slowly and carefully as though he thought his words were not clear enough.
Of course, it wasn't that Nik didn't understand what he was saying. It was that the statement was so unexpected that he had asked before he himself had realised.
"V-, very well."
They said that they would wait so there was nothing more that he could say.
Nik turned to look at the white haired man in front of him more carefully.
'He's young.'
He was 20 years old at best.
His appearance was a bit strange for his age but for some reason it seemed to suit him.
"If you reduce your energy ball to the size of my fist, then you'll pass."
Frey knew what the test was because he had been following the elves since the beginning.
'It's a simple and efficient test.'
If a person with a good eye did the screening then they would be able to have a rough idea about the examinee's capabilities.
Frey looked at the elves with an interested gaze.
Elves learning magic, that was quite unusual.
At least 4,000 years ago that was not something that he would have even been able to imagine.
Magic was exclusive to humans and the ancient, proud and noble elves had intentions of learning human skills.
And now even Dark Elves who preferred to fight with their bodies had decided to learn magic.
Frey shook his head slightly then muttered.
"Energy Ball."
Woowoong.
An energy ball appeared in front of him.
Frey immediately compressed it down to the size of a fist.
"It is stable. You've passed."
The energy ball disappeared faster than it appeared.
Nik was disappointed.
This was because he'd inwardly hoped that Frey was an excellent wizard.
'If so it wouldn't squashed those elves' egos.'
It was only his delusion.
He remembered from their previous conversation. All of the elves were around the 5 star level.
The young man in front of him wasn't their match.
If he was truly talented then he would've gone to the 1st or 2nd Magic Towers instead of coming here.
"You will need to fill out the paperwork. Please wait at the front desk. I need to guide these…" "Hey."
It was Liamson's voice.
Nik shuddered subconsciously because the voice was very sharp.
"Ye-, yes?"
"Not you, you."
He was pointing at Frey.
Only then did Frey turn to look at Liamson.
"Don't you have the ability to compress it even more?"
Frey raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you think that?"
"Just a feeling."
The idiotic answer actually made him smile. It was actually the first time that he'd encountered a Dark Elf.
4,000 years ago, the ones that he dealt with were usually High Elves. These guys were more like warriors than people of the forest.
"Compressing an energy ball to the size of a fist is the condition to pass."
"Show me more. I want to see just how far you can compress the energy ball."
"Don't bother me. I have to go do my paperwork, so get out of the way."
Frey frowned as he looked at Liamson sharply.
Liamson observed him for a moment before stepping aside.
Nik could only look at their conversation without being able to do anything about it.
Frey's words seemed to have awakened his nerves although it seemed that he hadn't realised that all his hairs were standing up.
"I-, I'll guide them to their rooms before returning. Please wait at the front desk."
Frey nodded and Nik began leading the Dark Elves up the stairs.
"Hey, human."
Liamson called out again.
Frey responded without even turning his head.
"It's Frey."
"Frey, are you staying in this tower too?"
"That's right."
"…"
Liamson threw another weird glance at him before heading upstairs, leaving Frey alone in the training ground.
He made another energy ball.
"…smaller."
Shuk.
The size of the energy ball gradually reduced. The size of a head, the size of a fist, the size of an eye.
The energy ball continued to shrink until it was almost invisible to the human eye.
"It is pretty efficient."
Frey's voice rang out in the quiet hall.