Lucan angrily marched to the throne room.
"Father! What is the meaning of this?!"
On the other side sat a middle-aged man exuding a pressure tantamount to facing a demon from the Wastes.
However, for Lucan, it was no different to air just passing by. The academy master's aura was incomparable to this child-like intimidation that the man adorned with crowns displayed.
He was Emperor Philip Hermes, the 13th Emperor of the Morning Star empire.
Lucan's steady posture interested him, "Lucan, my child. What brings you here?", feigning ignorance.
"My title as a crown prince! Why was it removed from me?!"
To Lucan, the crown prince title meant his entire life. He was appraised to have a legendary magic root unseen for decades, and his magic aptitude was amazing as well.
For his father to take off the crown prince title from him, something must be going on.
"It was removed from you because you're an incompetent prince, dear brother.", a soothing voice insulted Lucan.
"Dexter, how dare you talk to your elder brother like that?!", Lucan reprimanded.
"How dare you talk to the crown prince like that?!", Emperor Philip interjected.
Lucan's countenance fell, "Father, you… passed the title to him?"
Emperor Philip lashed at him.
"What else do you want me to do? You damn son of a bitch keeps on making trouble for me now and then. Guess who cleans up your mess every time? Me! And now, the chancellors are protesting on my door each night, forcing me to renew the title of the crown prince because of how troublesome you are!"
Lucan slowly backed away, "Father… why?"
Emperor Philip dismissed him, "Enough. Go back to your room."
On his way out, Lucan received the contempt of the many. He thought that these people had always supported him. To think that familial blood ties were non-existent in the royal family.
'How dare you talk like I'm some trash!'
He swore that he would get his revenge and stomp these people with his domineering power. However, now wasn't the time. He lost all the support he had before and everyone turned against him.
Continuing to live in the Morning Star Empire would just prove difficult to him. He had made enemies from everywhere. They were bound to deal with him now that he lost his title as the crowned prince.
Lucan planned to leave as soon as possible.
As if knowing what was on Lucan's mind, the steward prepared his luggage alongside some other important things. He was about to go when he caught a glimpse of the envelope that teleported him to the Heavenly Magic Academy.
'That's right, there's still this thing. If I go back there with more respect to the academy master the second time, he might just change his mind.'
Lucan packed up and quietly went out of the Imperial Palace with the help of his steward. He now knew why the academy master sent him back.
'This is a test, Lucan. A little bit of patience wouldn't hurt you now, right?', although his ego was hurt in the process, Lucan understood that if he didn't fix this arrogant behavior of his, the academy master might just bar him from entering ever again.
At that, his last bit of hope would be gone alongside his life.
As for going into the other magic academies? Lucan had his fair share of ridicule. Many thought that his legendary magic root was a joke, accusing him of bribing the academy master and the wizards of the Morning Star Academy.
When he was tested on his mastery in spell casting, Lucan couldn't last for 10 minutes. The wizards remarked on his inefficient handling of mana since every time he casts a spell, his mana consumption increased as well.
The result was that he failed. This disappointed the academy master of the Morning Stary Academy, Emilia Kayle, who expected him to pass with a breeze. It also worsened the previous rumor Lucan had.
…
In a dilapidated house.
3 black-clothed men gathered on one side. Their cold eyes exuded an aura of dread. They were an assassin group known as the Sucarii, infamous in the Morning Star Empire.
Their leader sat on one end of a table, smirking at the person adjacent to him. His long hair fell on his face, almost covering the thin long scar that harrowed his beauty.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Prince Dexter?", he said in a mischievous tone.
Prince Dexter, who was the person on the other side, slid a large pouch to the man. The latter rummaged through it and inspected its contents.
"2 magic crystals. 3 body cultivation Pills. 1 core condensation pill", the leader retrieved one of the crystals and played with it, "I didn't know Prince Dexter was that kind of person."
Magic crystals were used by mages and wizards to cultivate, while the pills were used by the knights. Although the payment wasn't very high, the leader knew that he couldn't negotiate with someone like Prince Dexter.
Lucan already lost his title as a crown prince and made enemies before. He was just a rat running for his life. Killing him was less of a difficulty than killing the other members of the imperial family.
In fact, the leader was rather nervous deep inside, 'Prince Dexter's intelligence and ruthlessness are rather unusual compared to others of his age. He's bound to take the throne sooner or later. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts plotting against his father right now.'
"I want the body.", Prince Dexter implied.
The leader shrugged, "I can't promise anything, my prince. We're just humans, we're bound to make mistakes."
Prince Dexter snorted and abruptly left. He didn't bother to argue with them because he would be on the losing side if he insisted. The leader raised his eyebrows and signaled one of his henchmen to come over, "Make ready. A prince is about to die today."
…
Back at the Heavenly Magic Academy, Eluard sat at a high chair inside the headmaster room.
"System, I am confused.", he voiced out his opinion, "You said that I have to recruit 5 students. How am I supposed to recruit anyone if I'm going to reject them at the first meeting? Don't you know of the saying 'First impression lasts'?"
[ Dear host, students of the Heavenly Magic Academy are talented people. ]
[ The academy tests students not of their talents, but their personalities. ]
Eluard contemplated the system's reply.
'Now that you think about it, there's really no point testing their strength because they're already powerful, right?'
Just the requirement to apply to this academy discouraged many aspiring wizards and mages. What genius? A student with a profound magic root could be regarded as a treasure in Aludia but that was just the bottom of the rung in the Heavenly Magic Academy.
[ Heavenly Magic Academy inspires students to pursue the mastery of magic without any devious intent against the inhabitants of Aludia. ]
[ Violators are permanently banished from the academy. ]
In the system's defense, there was no point mentoring a talented student if they only wanted the world to burn in the end. Heavenly Magic Academy wasn't a righteous institution, but it wouldn't lead their students astray as well.
"Are you saying that that Prince Lucan has his problems?"
His question remained unanswered but Eluard understood a gist of it. Nevertheless, since the system scripted it that way, he would just go with the flow and see how it would turn out.
'Should I… invite another one again?', he hesitated, 'Ah, whatever. Let's do it.'
…
Volcanic Grassy Plain.
3 thousand kilometers east of the Morning Star continent.
A girl in red traditional clothes sat on the corner of the cave, shivering in the cold as the rain poured outside. Her cat-ears were down, and her soft tail coiled around the ground as if it was afraid of something.
Her honey-colored hair was drenched, despair present in her crystal-clear black eyes.
"Big sis Emi… why would you sacrifice for me like that…", her voice cracked as she cried.
Three days ago, some 'human poachers' invaded their hometown and kidnapped the demi-humans in there. The little girl, Emi, alongside her big sister, Akane, struggled to escape from the evil grasp of the human poachers.
Although they escaped, her big sis was injured on the way. They found themselves trapped on a cliff. Akane pushed Emi off the cliff before the human poachers could get to the two of them. Akane remained as her injuries were too grave for her to make the jump.
Emi, now in tatters, sobbed as much as she liked because she knew what was going to happen to her big sister once the human poachers grabbed a hold of her.
"It's my fault… It's my fault…"
Her crying was interrupted when an envelope fell to her feet.
"Wh-what's this? I-is this a trap?", she was wary. Emi developed trust issues after what happened.
She grabbed the envelope and the previous depressive atmosphere vanished. Something seemed to have cleansed her emotions just now.
"Heavenly Magic Academy? Channel your mana to the envelope to be teleported?", she doubted the words, not until she heard shouts resounding nearby.
"Where is that damn demi-human? She was pretty as hell like her sister! We could sell her for a lot to those royalties back at the capital!", followed by a devilish cackle from a group of men.
'Oh no! They're here!', Emi started to shiver again. If the human poachers found her, she would be sold as a slave to the human nobles. She didn't dare to imagine what would happen after that.
'The envelope! The envelope! I could probably make it out of here!', her last hopes were put into that small white envelope in her hands. She channeled her mana into it and prayed to the Morning Star deity that it was real.
'Please be real! Please be real-! Ah!'
She was teleported to the entrance of the Heavenly Magic Academy and fell to the ground face-first.