Time passed quickly, and before Kai knew it, he had spent two weeks in Henan. Most of his time was spent hanging around with Lance. The two boys were geniuses for their age when compared with other children. They did not play around with toys or picture books, but instead played around with spell books and spells. Although they mostly played with low level spells, it was still commendable.
Today, Kai was planning on telling Lance of his other friend that he had summoned from another dimension, Ryu. He was waiting for the merchant's son to come over to their house, as per agreed the previous day.
But before that, it seemed that Roland had a different plan. He knocked and pushed open Kai's door to see him laying on his bed with Ryu flying circles around him in the air. The shapeshifting pet made cute sounds as it flew around.
"Kai." Roland called out and Kai jumped up from the bed. He had not heard his father come in.
"Hi dad." He snatched Ryu from the air and held him in his arms.
"Hey," Roland smiled. "I popped by to tell you that the Imperial Academy will be opening session next week. We need to get you enrolled." He said.
"Oh!" Kai grinned widely. This was not news to him as Roland had told him this before he had left his mother and come here with him, but the topic had not come up again in the two weeks he had stayed in Henan.
"The enrollment test lasts for the first week of the session. New students will begin classes after that..." Roland gave a quick run down of what would happen. Since they were only applicants to the school, there would be no battle tests, but simple talent tests where the potential of the applicants would be tested before they would be split between classes.
By the time Roland had finished explaining all the necessary details to Kai, a knock sounded on the front door.
"That should be Lance. I will leave you two alone. I have a mission to take care of and won't be back for the next week or so. Estella will take you to the Imperial Academy on the day of the testing, but I should be back the next day. Sorry, kiddo." He patted Kai's head.
Kai looked sad, but simply shook his head. He understood that the work his father did was essential and was what put food on the table. He was just sad that his father would not be there to see him when he was tested.
Roland left the room and went to open the front door. Soon enough, Kai heard the familiar sound of his friend's firm steps on the staircase. His door swung open and Lance announced his presence with a yell and his hearty laughter.
"Miss me?" He asked as he bounced on Kai's bed. It took his another moment to realized that there was a living creature in Kai's lap, and when he did, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"AHHH! What's that!?" He cried out and distanced himself from the red dragon hatchling in Kai's hands.
"Oh, this is Ryu, my friend. Ryu, say hi." Kai calmly introduced Lance to his companion. The little spirit cooed at Lance cutely before flying over to hover in front of his face.
"Kyuh!" It blew out a puff of white, odorless smoke on Lance's face before flying back over to nestle in Kai's lap.
"He likes you." Kai laughed as Lance waved away the smoke from his face.
"He does? Wouldn't have guessed it when it looked like he was spitting in my face." Lance murmured and cast an uncertain glance at Ryu. His eyes suddenly went wide as he seemed to remember something important.
"I just remembered I have something to ask you. Are you enrolling in the Imperial Academy?" He asked. He had seen Kai's excellent skills for his age, and as they were friends, he naturally expected them to go to the same school.
"Mhm, my dad just told me that I will enroll there. Your sister will take me because he will be on a mission then." Kai told Lance what Roland had told him.
"That's great!" Lance was excited. He was happy that Kai would get to go to the same school with him.
"Did you bring the book you said you would?" Kai changed the topic. The prior week, Lance had said that he would try to get a rune spell book from his father. Kai was interested in learning more about magic, especially runic magic. So he had asked Lance if he could get any from Anthony, to which the boy had agreed to try.
"Oh, yes." Lance reached into the back he brought with him and pulled out a small book "It took a lot of begging to get father to give me this, but I managed. You owe me one!" The blond boy grinned as he handed over the book to Kai.