Schools in Arran kingdom were divided into two categories, normal schools for inepts, those who weren't gifted with magic, and magic schools, for magicians.
Arran kingdom was a middle sized kingdom, its territories spanned for thousands of miles and across it laid hundreds of different magic schools.
Among all of them, the Royal Academy was, without a shadow of doubt, the best one.
It was run by the royal family itself and received much support from both them and other power factions within the kingdom.
You could receive the best education possible, have access to numerus resources and facilities, and enjoy many other benefits in terms of both power and status by studying and graduating from there.
There was a catch here though.
Anyone who graduated from the academy was guaranteed a successful future.
But not everyone could study there, only the brightest talents of each generation were eligible to be students.
To do so, they had to pass an entrance exam.
Anyone could participate in the exam, noble, commoner, male, female, it didn't matter as long as they were below the age of 14.
So, thousands upon thousands of people participated every year for a chance to get into the kingdom's most prestigious academy.
But only 250 of them passed each year.
Out of thousands of people, only 250.
125 knights, and 125 mages.
The Academy could only accept a limited number of students every year so it wouldn't come as a surprise for their test to be strict to filter out untalented people.
The entrance exam was broken into two parts.
The first part was where the examiners graded your talent.
The grade of your talent represented your potential, and it was made up of numerous factors.
Your age, cultivation, element, class, level of affinity with your element, grade of your mana channels/pathways, quality and quantity of your mana, and numerous other miscellaneous factors that could determine your potential as a magician.
Talents were divided into four grades, from lowest to highest, 4th grade, 3rd grade, 2nd grade and 1st grade.
You had to be at least a first grade talent to pass the test, with the exception of some people.
So where do the exceptions come from?
It comes in the later parts of the test.
In the second part, you have your abilities tested depending on your class.
Both knights and mages will have their physical abilities, combat abilities, comprehension level and intelligence quotient tested.
Each person however will be graded differently based on their class.
For example, physical abilities didn't matter as much for mages as they did for knights.
Or the IQ bar, which is less important for knights but more important for mages.
The third part is where where you showcase any special talent you might possess, or mastery in a specific field of magic. anything to score you extra points and increase your chances of acceptance.
However, normal exams weren't the only way of getting in.
Emil was in a hall with a series of other kids his age.
49 of them to be exact.
They were all wearing specially tailored clothes, probably not something a commoner could buy even after working their entire lives.
Special badges were adorning those clothes.
Those badges each represented a noble family or a powerful faction.
There was not a single commoner in that room beside Emil.
And probably, no one else who was nearly as anxious as him either.
The situation still felt surreal to him.
Right now, he was in the academy's special admission test.
Special admission was just a figure of speech.
Everyone was aware that it was nothing but a backdoor.
Emil, having only awakened a few days ago, with no apparent special talent in magic, as well as a broken arm, had subzero chances of passing the normal entrance exam.
The only way a person like him could get into the academy was through the special admission test.
But even that should've been impossible for someone like him.
Like previously mentioned, the special admission was a backdoor.
There were 50 spots, divided by mages and knights equally, made specifically for those who didn't meet the criteria for passing normal admissions.
Why did such system exist? The academy could use those 50 spots for more talented people, wouldn't it be a waste of resources otherwise?
There were two reasons.
The first reason that came to mind was funds.
You had to 'donate' insane amounts of funds to get in through special admissions.
This system lessened the financial burden on the royal family and allowed them to put more resources into nurturing their students.
Only the wealthiest factions in the entire kingdom could afford the donation fee.
But money wasn't all.
If money was the case, there were plenty of wealthy individuals who'd bid to enroll their children into the academy each year.
You also needed a special recommendation letter to be eligible for the position.
Special recommendation letters could only come from figures of authority, governors and rulers of the land.
The real reason behind special admissions wasn't money no, it was to help powerful people stay in power.
Children of powerful figures weren't always born talented.
An untalented successor or offspring could be the downfall of an entire power faction.
Their lack of talent would lead to difficulties in inheriting their predecessors' positions, leading to the faction's fall in power, through the generations.
If an inheritor's talent was lacking, the best way of nurturing them would be to send them to the Royal academy.
No matter how low their talent, they were bound to become successful figures as long as they graduated.
The royal family was aware of this fact, hence why it instated rules that fovor those in authority.
To control the kingdom's powers, they needed balance. But balance couldn't be achieved if the powers were to rise and fall each generation.
All participants present right now hailed from powerful and wealthy families or were the offspring of some figure of authority, that was the only way for them to get through the backdoor.
The question was, what was Emil doing here?
He was but a servant of the Burton mansion, with no talent, riches or background.
The other examinees took notice of this too as he was wearing commoner clothes and didn't have a badge to showcase his origins, not to mention his broken arm, panda eyes and sickly figure.
Murmurs sounded out as the other examinees conversed with each other and occasionally threw glances towards Emil.
Before the conversations got too heated though, footsteps approcahded the hall.
Five men approached from behind, shutting up any sound emanating from the examinees as they went by.
They didn't need to speak, just their presence was enough to make everyone's hairs stand on ends.
The examiners were here!
Four of them took seat behind a table not too far from the test instruments while another one stood in front of the students.
He cleared his voice and started speaking, his voice not loud but clearly ringing like a bell in everyone's ears.
"The Special Admissions Exam will officially begin now."