At the sight of the man, the students all felt insignificant, like ants in front of a god. Although they were only just starting their paths as mages, they could tell the gap between them and the man in front of them was bigger than mount Tai.
The man's voice bellowed out in the very next moment.
"Welcome young mages, I would like to be the first to welcome you to the military advanced mage's academy. Our goal is to develop the ultimate soldiers who can turn the tide in battle. As you all know, our neighboring continent, the Lusitania continent, declared war on our Raetia continent 50 years ago. It has been one of the longest wars in history as well as the war with the most casualties."
His face darkened as he spoke and lots of the children also reacted the same way. 'The Great Magic War', it had started 65 years ago, the Raetia continent's neighboring continent, the Lusitani continent had declared their intent on uniting the two continents and making it whole. At first, the Raetia continent didn't take it seriously, but the Lusitani continent was known for its technological advances which ranged all over the world. Their strength on the other hand, compared to the Raetia continent which was full of mages, was subpar.
What stunned the Raetia continent was when the Lusitania continent had advanced on the Rateia continent's largest city in the west, Desolate Valley city. Although its name was strange, its power was no joke. Their name stemmed from the great mage Austin Whyte, he had earned the rank of a nine-circle mage and was anointed a title, 'The Supreme Mage of Earth'. Although the earth was a very broad term, in this case, it meant the element. During a fight against a foreign enemy he had used a spell that had created a large valley in the ground, the valley was filled with beautiful ores and waterfalls.
Near the valley was an abandoned village, its residents had died due to famine and it was as good as a ghost town. The Supreme Mage rebuilt the city with the valley as its core, the city could depend on itself due to its highly valuable minerals and pure water. In memory of the desolate and abandoned city though, the Supreme Mage named it 'The Desolate Valley'.
It was known as the Raetia continent's biggest source of minerals and home to many dwarves and blacksmiths, its nickname was the 'Forge Of A Thousand Smiths'. And was a highly valuable city.
At first, people thought that the city could hold its own, it was one of the most powerful cities in the Raetia continent after all. Unexpectedly, it had only taken the Lusitania continent one week to conquer Desolate Valley city. The reinforcements sent by the neighboring cities were too late, not to mention cities on the other side of the continent.
It had taken the Raetia continent three whole months to reconquer the Desolate Valley, only to find out its ores had been looted and many dwarves enslaved. Of course, the ores would grow back due to the abundance of mana but it would take a long time.
Enslaving dwarves was only one of many atrocities the Lusitania continent took part in. As they conquered more cities and lost some of their own, they would enslave every higher species they could find. What happened to those beings once they reached the Lusitania continent was absolutely disgusting. Especially the elves, who had gone into hiding out of fear. They were now as rare as a blue moon.
**
Seeing that the students understood what he meant, the man continued.
"At first both sides were quite evenly matched and the war was brought to a 20-year halt. Today marks the 15th year of our 20 years of peace. Through various methods, we have discovered that the Lusitania continent has been nurturing a group of young geniuses who will have the power to tip the scale of the war in their favor. They are young prodigies that the Lusitania continent has spent the past 15 years nurturing and developing to be great powerhouses and are rumored to have reached five rings, nearing six."
"With that, they developed an advanced unit for these children called the 'Imperial Soldiers', they are directly under the king's command and their power is nothing to laugh at. As we are now, the Raetia continent stands no chance against them. Although we have quite a few powerhouses ourselves in the older generation if they are given 5 or 10 more years they may even be able to battle against our powerhouses on an even ground. Or worse, win"
Astonishment exploded on the faces of all the students present, they could never imagine that children similar in age to them would ever be able to contend with such powerful beings. If what they were hearing was true, wasn't the war already lost?.
They knew that it was a long and arduous task to increase mana circles, mages who reached nine circles were bestowed titles while mages who reached six circles before the age of thirty were seen as geniuses worth nurturing. The average circle of a royal bodyguard was about five, some even reaching seven, even then, if they all came together to attack a nine-circle mage only one thing awaited them. Destruction.
'Is the Lusitania continent truly going to win the war? We won't just sit back and let it happen right?'
Thoughts like this surfaced in the minds of countless students. But even if they thought this, what could they do? They were too weak to make a change. Ultimately, Power is everything in this new world.
The man paused to let his words sink in. The children could feel the disparity of the situation and many of their faces turned gloomy and dark.
"In light of this, I was tasked with making a group of prodigies who have the power to stand up to the Imperial soldier's might. All of you who are here are the first batch of students that I have accepted. Be it due to familial background, strength, or talent, you all are people who have the potential to reign supreme."
"We will be spending the next five years nurturing you to the best of our abilities, our hope is for you to be able to reach six circles.
"What!?" A student subconsciously blurted out at the man's words and many other students began to follow suit.
Becoming a six-circle mage was no joke, it could take people seen as geniuses 8 - to 10 years to become a six-circle mage from the fifth circle. Although the Lusitania continent could do it, that did not by any means mean that the Raetia continent could. Especially mere students that filled the room.
Although dozens of children were denying the possibility of becoming a six-circle mage in 5 years, there were also a few children who didn't react at all. The two girls Owen saw before being one of them, and he also.
Owen smirked and thought to himself.
'If I could somehow reach the sixth circle, I could join the frontlines and finally begin regaining our family name! This challenge of denying all common sense, this challenge to become a monster among monsters. I accept!'
A bright gray color flashed in the depths of his irises as he steeled his resolve, determined to become a powerful figure.
"Quiet!"
One word from the man was able to shut them up immediately. They turned to look at him to see his brightly burning eyes, full of passion. It was clear he was determined to go through with this. Not knowing why, when they saw the man's blazing passion, they couldn't help but feel a fire in their spirits, thinking, 'Can I really do this?'. Moments later the man's passionate eyes appeared on the faces of a lot of students who sought to become powerful, renowned throughout the continent as one of the world's strongest. A genius, a prodigy, as heroes.
"I believe that we can nurture prodigies, monsters, and heroes. The training you will be put through will be very tough and you may feel like giving up multiple times or even worse, die, but, if you can make it through, believe you will be able to call yourself one of the strongest people in the continent. If you feel that you cannot be one of those monsters I seek, stay behind after this and the military will pay the fees for your trip here and send you back or send you to a lower level military.."
He said with his hands crossed behind his back, his passionate eyes still shining brightly.
With that, he turned and walked away, it was strange, he was walking towards a wall. Although most of the students didn't notice it due to them being deep in their expectations and dreams when he had turned to face the wall he had disappeared.
Owen noticed this though, and his eyes widened in shock.
'A spatial element!'