Fuck. Why does this always happen to me?

Just as I was about to leave this godforsaken country for the first time on a ship, the traffic controller stopped it. He let all the other ships pass. But this innocuous little merchant ship, he had a problem with.

Anyways, I had no reason to be nervous. It's not like I had done something wrong.

The traffic controller who was wearing a large, yellow overcoat, came into our hall with two of his followers, which I assumed, judging from their condition, were the interns. The various government departments recruited from all the main universities. Some privileged people even got to intern during their breaks. Of course, most of these internships paid in 'exposure'.

After all, the plight of interns is universal. I'd have also been like one of these guys, had I decided to stay and enroll. But no, I'd rather take risk and seek new adventures than be another mediocre magic technician. Sigh, if only I had a little more magic power..

Anyways, the intern guy assigned to our row asked the person sitting in front of me for his identity.

"The fingerprint device please, I can't use magic", the guy answered.

Apparently, it was not only me who was surprised, because the guy totally looked like a mage. Most people living in the country couldn't tell you that mages looked very different from normal humans, because normal humans were rare in Mythilia. Most people could go about their whole life without seeing one.

Though the guy did not say he was not a mage; he said he couldn't use magic. Also, he was familiar with the procedures here, because he knew about the fingerprint device.

"Josh, here please."

Our intern called the other intern.

The guy named Josh threw a small black box. I stretched my neck as I looked over to see what the fingerprint device looked like. It seemed vaguely familiar to me as I was experienced in handling devices used by humans, but from the looks of it, people around me were baffled.

When my turn came, I extracted a bit of energy from my non-magic-university-eligible, third-grade, pitifully-weak magic core and directed it towards the input port, where the fingerprint device was connected earlier.

The intern seemed perplexed as he read my information that came up on the portal.

"Can you input it again, please?"

Sure, my guy, I got your back. They didn't even provide interns with decent working equipment, how sad was that?

I didn't say anything and once again accessed my non-threatening, barely-better-than-bottom-tier-trash, magic core. The guy again checked my info.

"Sir, I'm gonna need you to come with me for a moment."

Aw, shit.

'For a moment' - yeah, you say that now, but people - especially those with a non-substantial, puny-little-feeble magic core, disappeared awfully fast in this country. Though I'm sure if uncle Hestian was alive he'd say it's better than living as a literal slave in Xenria.

"Yeah, sure."

Not like I had a choice.

It's because of how I looked, wasn't it? You know, I had faced subtle discrimination all my life, from the very moment I came to this country, but I did not think that one day, it would be this overt. But I preferred this. Yes, let me know you hate me, announce it directly, none of those pussy-ass attempts at putting me down covertly, look me straight in the eyes like a man and...

"Sir, it says here that you have received an invitation from the B.R. Tuffel School of Magic Technology."

...say what now?

"I'm afraid the university students are not allowed to leave the country without approval."

The B.R. Tuffel School of Magic Technology was one of the 13 Magic Universities established by the government of Mythilia after the world war to nurture young magic practitioners. Well, that, and control them, but that's beside the point. I was pretty sure I failed the university entrance exams this year too.

Why else do you think I was on this shitty merchant ship? I had turned 19 yesterday and was no longer eligible for the exam. Even if I were, I didn't know what else I could do to increase my magic power, besides joining the military.

No entrance exam meant no university, and that meant no way to become certified as a magic practitioner. You sure there was no fault in that little device of yours, intern?

"Can you show me the portal?"

The intern turned the projection towards me.

Name: Neal

Age: 19

Status: Resident -> Citizen

Designation: Student (!)

I focused on 'Designation' and it expanded.

Student:

Invited to the B.R. Tuffel School of Magic Technology as a Grade B Reserve.

Holy shit.

It was real.

Now, I was absolutely, massively, without a question, fucked.

To understand why, we had to go back a bit.

***

"Yo, Gary"

I greeted the guard as he let me through the barrier. I was done for the day and was going to the equipment room to remove the gear.

"...it is a sad day today for the people of Mythilia as after an illustrious career spanning over three decades, Tocho Rina has decided to hang up his gauntlets..."

Some news show was streaming on the large portal in the equipment room. Apparently, a famous Gliball player had retired. I was never really interested in sports, so I didn't know much about it, but the guys were very passionate.

"My dad used to watch the game with me. We used to have a single cell portal back in the day. No matter what the situation, if Tocho was on the crease, we knew it was fine. Oh Tocho.. "

Tears fell out of Hados's eyes before he could continue.

I had always been uncomfortable with strong emotions, especially the ones I didn't understand. I looked at the old man Jin standing at the side and walked towards him.

"It's really a big deal, huh?" I asked old man Jin.

"You wouldn't understand Dreggo. When Xenria invaded Nico Islands, there was chaos and panic everywhere. Nobody knew if they'd be alive tomorrow. Men - young and old were escorted in droves to the front-lines. But it was the same year Tocho Rina made his 19-0 streak. For five, six hours a day, Tocho let Mythilians forget that we were going to war."

Dreggo - a derogatory term for people like me was somehow a term of endearment when it came from old man Jin.

It would have been poetic, considering the fact that the day Tocho announced his retirement was also the day I quit my job, but I was not even one percent the legend he was. In fact, in the whole organization, barely five people knew my name. After all, I was just labor - the lowest rung in the ladder.

But I had enough money to last me for the next two months, and in about 45 days was the 16th National Entrance Exam for Magic Education.