"The streets are packed with people," John said as he breathed in the chilly air.
"What did you expect? Everyone wants to enroll in the academy as it is better to gain experience in fighting against beasts and monsters before conscription," Leilani said.
"There is a lot of people," Vincent said while looking at the thousands of people around his age standing in front of him. "I wonder how long it'll take for our turn to arrive."
"From the looks of it, it's gonna take a while." John said, "Sigh, I even missed breakfast to come here early."
On Earth, the entrance examination of the military academy is held only once every two years, on the second day of the second month of every even year. If an Earthling happens to miss it at the age of sixteen then there was no hope to ever enroll in the academy. It was no wonder why the streets were packed with people.
A lot of boys and girls stood in the open streets located near the front entrance of the tower of clouds. A huge stage with three chairs could be seen in the center of it all. A lot of testing booths draped with a piece of dark cloth were established all around the stage. An examiner sat inside each of the testing booths.
"Hey guys, move your eyes to the left side of the stage! The famous angelic medic of the military academyy had appeared at that place!" A boy said while pointing at a gorgeous woman with long and wavy golden hair and blue eyes, who walked up the stairs and sat on one of the three seats placed on a giant stage. She was wearing a white fur coat, a half sleeves T-shirt, skirt, and knee-high socks that exposed some parts of her smooth and supple skin. She looked like a cute and holy angel.
"Since Miss. Kyle's is here, Alex the Alchemist must also be around."
As soon as a young boy said those words, a middle-aged man with black hair, sharp and scholarly features, and rosy lips walked up the stairs and sat on an empty chair placed beside the chair in the center.
"Damn! How come your guess is correct?!!"
"It wasn't a guess. Haven't you heard that they are like lovebirds? It's a confirmed rumor that you will find Alex wherever Kayle is."
In the military academy, Alex was the instructor in charge of professions related to alchemy. While Kayle was the school nurse. They were dispatched here with the instructor in charge of combat classes in the academy to conduct the entrance exam. But, they couldn't start the examination as that person was also their immediate superior. So they waited for him to arrive.
Standing inside of the tower that reached the skies, Theodore glanced in the directions of the boys and girls through the glass window.
'Ah! The two discarded children of the great royal families are here. It's as I expected it to be. I hope Nevis Truemight and Varth Hollow will live up to my expectations.'
In this day and age, streams of stars are inhabited by humans, demi-humans, and their creations such as sentient robots. The planets are connected through worlds connecting expanses. The royal families and their subsidiaries such as guilds rule these planets. On the other hand, the noble families rule over a tract of land on the planets ruled by the royal families.
Although there are a lot of royal families in this day and age, most of the planets are ruled by the Four Great Royal Families. However, being born into a great royal family isn't considered a fortune for most of the people who are born in one of them. After all, the descendants deemed useless are discarded, removed from the main family grounds for simple reasons, and transported back to Earth. The discarded include children born out of wedlock and those who failed to live up to the expectations of the family elders and family head.
There were two descendants of the great royalties among the many candidates that were here to participate in the entrance examination. They didn't need to serve military time as they were royalties, but they were still here. Theodore could guess their reason somewhat. The academy was a wonderful opportunity for many discarded royalties to show their worth and earn the attention of the main family.
1. Truemight Royal Family – Nevis Truemight.
2. Hollow Royal Family – Varth Hollow.
His gaze lasted on them for only a few seconds and he then looked away from them.
"Well, where's the kid that garnered my attention?"
Theodore's gaze swept across everyone as he tried to find a boy he recently gained interest in, but it was kinda hard to find the one he was looking for in the sea of people.
A few seconds later, his lips stretched back to expose a smile.
'Oh, he is at the end of the line.' Theodore thought as he stared at Vincent who was standing at the very end of the line with Leilani and John.
'Hmm, he has grown stronger compared to a few days ago. He must've had quite the fortunate encounter to raise his strength so quickly. Seems like he is quite the lucky fellow. Well, luck is also a part of a person's strength. No doubt about it. Besides, the demi-human lass and lad standing beside him aren't shabby either. Though the lad will suffer a bit until the ability affinity test.'
That was the end of his evaluation. Only a few among the lots of them garnered his interest. After all, according to him, the rest will either fail the examination or score pretty badly.
He took a step forward and seemingly teleported to the huge stage that was dozens of floors away from him.
The thousands of boys and girls began to mumble as he suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Huh? How did that person suddenly appear out of nowhere?"
"Who is he?"
"Must be a bigshot."
Theodore walked to the chair in the middle of the stage and sat down on it, legs crossed and hands intertwined. He was wearing all-black boots, pants, and a military jacket zipped halfway to expose a pendant with snowy patterns and a black shirt, and a pair of aqua blue sunglasses that hid his eyes from the world.
"Silence! The examination is about to start."
Alex's voice spread throughout the streets as it was amplified with battle energy. As soon as he said those words, silence replaced the bustling streets.
"After you," Theodore said to Kayle.
"Okay," Kayle nodded, and her gaze then swept across the streets.
"The entrance examination is divided into several assessments. We'll keep it simple and explain the rules of the several assessments one by one if you by chance manage to pass the previous assessment."
Theodore wanted to know how well the people who have garnered his attention will do. So, he didn't waste time and immediately began to explain the rules of the first assessment of the entrance examination to the young ones.
"The first round of the examination is to determine your level of sensitivity to energy in the surrounding. In your case, it'll be magic power. The higher your sensitivity to magic power, the greater your talent. We only accept talented individuals. Naturally, it doesn't have to be heaven-defying. You only need a grade-3 energy sensitivity to pass the first examination. After that, we will take the students who passed to the second round of the examination."