21 days later, I was standing drenched in sweat in the training room and couldn't help but think of my progress since the awakening.
I have learned a lot over the last month by focusing on earth spikes and creating jagged terrain. One of my goals was to master them to the same extent as my earth wall. Now I have the ability to create earth spikes within a 50-meter range. The earth spikes are around 4 feet long, and the maximum number I can create at one time is two. I am not able to split my focus beyond that point due to my current level of mana control. The ability to create an earth spike within a radius of 50 meters took me just over a day to learn since it is significantly easier than the earth walls I have been building, but being able to create two simultaneously took me about ten days to learn even. splitting my mind to give my mana two simultaneous instructions was not easy. Creating the terrain I've been calling the jagged terrain only took about 3 days to learn. For the last 7 days, I have been working on creating the rock armor Dennis showed me, but I am still a long way from being able to use it in a fight. I can now create a complete set of rock armor. But it takes me about five minutes to make, so if I used it in a fight, I would have died 100 times by then.
As I was thinking about my progress, I heard two sets of footsteps approaching the training room.
the footsteps turned out to be a guard escorting Lena. As the guard approached he cupped his fist and bowed and said "your highness Miss Lena has arrived with your token so I escorted her to you".
I nodded as the guard handed my token back to Lena and left.
"Lena is everything alright," I asked.
Lena pouted as she replied, "o Michael, I didn't know I could only look for you if I was in trouble. Are you that reluctant to see me?".
I just gave Lena a confused look.
After noticing, Lena thought to herself, I guess not having emotions will make someone extremely dense. I guess what they say about the royals is true. Lena spoke again, "nevermind, I just wanted to know how your training was going".
As I nodded and turned to her, I replied: "ok, give me a few minutes for my core to fill back up enough, but in the meantime, let me see what you've accomplished".
She smiled as if she was waiting for those words before creating a jagged terrain of about 60 meters around her that is a good bit larger than mine.
After the room reverted, she turned around and asked "so how cool was that I'm pretty great aren't I?".
As I stood up, I showed her my wall, double earth spikes, jagged terrain, and a 50-meter radius, then the room reset.
Lena was pouting before muttering "it's not fun competing with a monster".
I wasn't sure what to do when called a monster so I just smiled since I've learned over the years that people generally respond well to a smile.
Lena's weird expression got my attention so I thought I should be spending more time with people to blend in better without sticking out too much so I asked: "Are you and your dad interested in traveling to the academy tomorrow with me?"
Lena pondered this for a moment before saying, "It'll save my father some money to not rent our own carriage, so I'll be here at 8 o'clock."
We discussed our experiences in training mana before Lena told me she had to leave so I escorted her to the stables and ordered a carriage to take her home.
After Lena left, Sam emerged from the shadows and told me "your highness, I have recommendations for you". Then he handed me a stack of 10 folders. Sam faded back into the shadows after I accepted the folders.
When I got back to my room, I opened the folders on my desk and began to read them. I was surprised to see that Lena was one of the ten files, which was good since I'd already promised Dennis I would accept her.
Reading the file on Lena, I learned a few more things that might be useful to know, such as that Lena's mother died when she was a child. there wasn't any information on how she died but that wasn't surprising since the shadow guards could only follow each new student for about two days before moving on to the next target. Dennis is a class 5 mage with a C grade mana core, so he's already at the limit; he can't progress without an elixir to improve the quality of his mana core, something I'm sure his family can't afford. As Lena has already agreed to join my team, I have to choose three more people from the stack of nine files left.
Two of the 9 were actually twins, which I found interesting. Sarah and Mariah were twins of common birth, and by looking at the photos you can tell they are both poorly nourished, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, but it is hard to tell if they will ever be attractive due to their lack of nutrition and dirty and worn-out clothing. Although they looked the same, their personalities were very different. Since they had no one but each other from an early age, they are very loyal to one another. Mariah was quick to anger and very brash while Sarah was very quiet, but she was smart and sly. They have worked odd jobs to survive since their parents abandoned them, and even though they are both malnourished and need food, they share the little food they can buy with a sickly girl named Bella who lives in the broken-down shack next door. The only downside is both sisters have only C grade cores. Sarah has started working on-air magic while Mariah is working on fire magic -- which is a good thing since we already have two earth mages on our team. Plus I thought Sarah would make a good strategist with her sly nature. By doing enough missions at the academy and winning a few tournaments we can easily gain the funds to upgrade their cores well before we leave the academy.
I had only one more teammate left to pick after going through my files one more time I chose Charles Everwood he's the firstborn son of James Everwood whose family governs Fraford City which is the closest city to the capital and comes from a family of life mages. To follow in his family's footsteps, he's studying Nature magic, which is often the gateway to life magic. It appears that he has a friendly and kind personality, and the report says that he treats the common people just as respectfully as nobles, which is good since my team already consists of three people of common birth, and he has an A-grade mana core.
I went to bed as soon as I decided who I would pick for my team if I finished in the top 10.
Getting up at 7 am and seeing the sun rising, I knew Lena and her father would be waiting for me near the stables at 8, I got up and changed clothes, then packed up the clothes I bought without my family crest and grabbed a few pouches of money from under my bed, each containing 100 copper, silver and gold, plus my father's stone of gluttony. Upon leaving today, I knew that until I graduated from the academy, I would not be allowed back to the castle. So I didn't want to leave anything I might need behind.
I went to the dining room to tell my father that I was leaving.
As i arrived I could see my father sitting at the table waiting for me it seems he had just finished his meal. As I sat down to wait for my food from the maids, my father reached out and placed a ring on the table in front of me; I immediately recognized it, since it looked similar to the ring on his hand. When i picked up the ring, my father said "I gave you the same funds that I gave your brother when he left for the academy. I'll see you in four years." before standing up and leaving without even waiting for me to reply.
After my father left, I pricked my finger and let a tiny drop of blood fall onto the ring before checking the contents. Five thousand pieces of copper, silver, and gold were found, as well as one emergency talisman.
If I were ever in danger and my shadow guard couldn't save me, the talisman would find the highest-ranking mage nearby. Putting my own coins, clothes, and the stone of gluttony in the ring, I slipped it on my finger. After the maid brought my plate of bacon eggs and toast, I ate quickly before heading down to the stables to meet Lena and Dennis.