The gate for the Blue Fire Academy or BFA was beautifully decorated with roses gate that had spikes at the top. The gate must've been a few meters high, nothing special for a mage, but even Lucas had to admit that the person who created it was someone quite artistic.
In front of the gate was an enormous queue for the new students, not many actually got to enroll in the school, but thousands wanted to give it a try. As long as you could withstand all the tests you were an official student and allowed into the school grounds. The first test consisted of magic capacity, many others came after that. Combat knowledge, the number of runes you know, pronunciation, knowledge of herbs and plants or metals. There were enough tests and depending on which ones you succeeded in you could enroll in different classes.
If all the tests weren't enough, the biggest reason why so few students actually enter is because of the enrolment fee, a single low magic crystal, which was asked in the very beginning. This was basic extortion from every potential student, but the governor of the city didn't do anything about it, so there was nobody who could do something against it.
Lucas was at the front of that very line, not because he waited as one should, but by skipping past everyone. He had been asked a question by the school's inspector and was chastised by one of the students, but neither he nor the inspector even reacted.
"I would like to enroll in this academy."
"That would be one low magic crystal, sir.", the inspector was polite, which irritated everyone in line. "But sir, he clearly skipped the entire queue, this isn't fair!", yet the inspector didn't even bother looking at the student. His arguments were sound, but that didn't mean that the inspector had to listen to him.
Lucas took the single crystal he had gotten from Freya to the inspector, sad to depart with it, but also excited at what it could bring.
"Thank you, sir, there's no need to do any of the tests. Here's a list of all the teachers you can choose. I don't suggest using the ones at the bottom, they have a few issues. Thank you for enrolling in our Bleu Fire Academy."
The students were dumbfounded, not a single person in the queue had been given a list, heck, they were forced through tons of tests, yet this man was immediately accepted?
"Sir, please tell me, why does this kid even deserve such privileges?"
"Are you a Rank 1 mage?", the inspector said with a tint of disdain, "I didn't think so, so keep your mouth shut! You will be rejected, NEXT!"
Just that simple gesture showed everyone how you were treated based on your achievements, not on your wealth or personality, pure power was the baseline. If you were strong you could skip the line and tests, if you were weak you could be immediately rejected. The students heart sank to the bottom, all his hopes and dreams were about to come true, yet now everything was lost due to a single critique.
"Sir! Please hold on, I didn't know about that mister, I swear I'll be more respe-"
"I said next! If you want to try again, line up at the back!"
"But I already paid my -", but the inspector was already busy with the next student. There wasn't any sympathy from the other students, they all looked at him with a grin. How stupid could you have been to interject between a conversation of mages? None of them knew that Lucas was a Rank 1 mage, but taking that risk was already dumb enough.
Lucas entered the school grounds and avoided any of the tests before searching for a quiet place to read his options.
'So in this school, we get to choose our own teachers apparently, or it's only for those who have already reached Rank 1.'
'How did he see that we're Rank 1 though, didn't we hide our aura?'
'Well yes, but I stopped it for a single second.'
'So then that inspector could gather enough information within that single second to measure your strength to be above Rank 1?'
Thinking that would be the most likely, Lucas sat down on one of the benches in the area. All the students were taking the tests, so none had the time to be resting. The list of teachers he had received was just that. Every teacher was listed with their number, profession and fee.
'The hell? We have to pay again! We already paid this stupid school!'
Part of Lucas really didn't like the fact that every teacher requested their own price as well. Yet his other half was more intrigued by the prices themselves.
'Participation in 5 experiments, a radiant blood gem, a herb of at least 100 years old, what a strange shopping list.'
'Can we at least pick teachers that won't experiment on us?'
Sadly, there were very few that didn't request experiment participation, and the few that didn't, asked for things Lucas had never heard of. There were only two exceptions, the ones at the very bottom. One asked for the body of a young girl under the age of 10, no matter the state, and the other one didn't state their fee, only that he would have to perform a request.
With no little choice left, Lucas went to search for the two teachers in question, he didn't know the school, so he could only aimlessly wander around until he found the signs pointing to the place the professor was meant to be.
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Micheal was a hard-working priest, always looking out for the next person he could lead to the light. Not just because he found the light, that everyone could on their own. He felt it was his duty in life to get people to believe in the Order of Light in order to bring happiness to the world. He had seen what an amazing difference there was between the followers and the outsiders so his empathetic nature forced him to help others.
Today was another day of hard work, he was the only priest that stayed at the church, his brethren liked to look for dissenters and evildoers, but Micheal believed that helping the common people was more important. He was only in the city of Avesta for a few days, yet he was already known among the people for his generosity and helpful nature. As the only priest keeping the church in order, he had a lot of tasks.
Since he was from a religion that was antagonized in Frigus, Micheal was worried he might not have many visitors, but like the goddess of Light had always preached. Patience is a virtue, interested people did enter the church every now and then.
Micheal was busy with preparing his report to the Holy Kingdom when a familiar couple entered the church. They were an elderly couple who ran a shoemaker shop down the road. The church was built in such a way that all noise from the outside was being held back, making the church have its own environment as if it was a different world.
"Ah, sir Trion and lady Agatha, what a pleasure to see you both again.", Michael was a handsome man with a welcoming demeanor. His blond hair helped his image even more as he always took great care of it.
"Ah, Micheal, how many times have I told you, we don't need the sir and lady, our names are enough.", the older man said.
"How could I do that sir Trion, I am meant to serve the people, without any titles how are we meant to distinguish the priests from the others?", he said with a blooming smile, inviting the couple to sit down on one of the benches with his hands.
"Hahaha, you are a good man Micheal, if only my son could be more like you.", Agatha said. "Oh please, I'm sure that Karst will become a fine man with time. He might have had a lot of hardship and some troublesome relationships, but that will only develop him into a bonafide man. If you want me to I could invite him to one of our praying sessions."
"Oh that would be lovely, Micheal.", the woman didn't have a lot of hope for her son who strayed from the righteous path, but perhaps the efforts of Micheal might be enough to change him for the better.
"By the way, sir Trion, how is your leg? Has it healed?", Micheal treated the man's leg a day ago, but warned the man to not strain his legs too much. "Of course! I don't know what kind of magic you use, but you have truly helped us, we thought we would need to close down our shop, but thanks to you we don't have to!"
"Hahaha, that's great to hear sir Trion, I'm glad the goddess has deemed you worthy of healing. You must be a good man at heart, thank you for coming to this humble church for our praying sessions."
"Oh, Micheal, please, it should be me who thanks you!"
While he was talking with the elderly couple, a bunch of children entered the church. "Brother Micheal, we're back! We want to play again!"
Micheal looked at the rowdy crowd of kids before letting out a small sigh and putting on a sad face, "I'm sorry Brian, but I need to start preparing our praying session now. Then I need to clean the church again before I can play with all of you."
"Then we'll clean the church brother Micheal, just like last time!", the children took their places on the benches in the back so that they could still talk and giggle without interrupting the ceremony.
Suddenly the church doors opened and a man started to run inside, although 'run' might be saying a lot. They were struggling to move forward, and the smell of blood started to permeate the room. The children looked a bit scared of who the man was, but Michael only saw an injured man.
"P--please,...help me.", the man was about 40 years old, but the grave wound in his stomach proved that he wasn't dying of old age. "Alright, calm down sir.", Micheals' soft-spoken voice forcefully calmed the man down, as if everything was going to be okay. His wound still hurt, but less now.
"Would you be willing to lie down for a moment?", the request made some sense to the man, so he almost collapsed on the ground before Micheal held him steady. "Now sir, I myself cannot use magic, but your belief can! As long as you pray to our goddess, I can connect the two of you and she will look at you before deciding whether or not you have been a good man or not. If you haven't performed any evil deeds then you'll be saved from this misery."
The man started to become scared, at first, his heart jumped at the fact that Micheal didn't know any healing magic, the one thing he was searching for. But now his fate was depending on his past actions, he quickly searched through his memories for any evil deeds he might have done. He started to panic for a moment, he lied every now and then, maybe he forgot some evil deed he had done way in the past, was he a good man?
The panic was clearly reflected in his eyes, Micheal couldn't help but chuckle at the man's behavior, "Don't worry dear sir, the goddess is benevolent and kind, as long as you haven't performed any grave misdeeds, she will find you worthy of salvation. Now please, pray with all your heart to our goddess, the Goddess of Light!"
Not long after a bright light started to shine from his body, slowly closing up the wound as if it had never even been there. The light was so bright that it enveloped the entire church, showing the outside world that another person had been saved by the goddess.
"There you go, wasn't that hard now was it?", Micheal had his signature smile again. The man on the ground stood up with his help before looking Micheal in the eyes.
He was convinced, the goddess was real, he felt her cleaning his body, closing up his wounds, and removing his stress.
"Tell me sir, what is your name?"
"My name is David...might I ask how much that is going to cost me?"
"Hahaha, oh sir David, you clearly don't know yet that the goddess is a benevolent being. Your cost for this will be that you will have to continue being a good man. Are you willing to join us for the ceremony, we're just about to start praying to our goddess."
The man was baffled, any healing magic costs about a silver to a gold coin depending on the wound. The fact that the church was so open in curing and helping others at no expense was so contrasting to the outside world that he felt he needed to give the priest something.
"Absolutely, I would love to join."