"I lose again," Vega sighed after several defeats playing imaginary Rodarkh with his mentor.
"Practise several rounds of this game with some of your friends. After this, go to the mission hall. Pay attention to some of the tasks issued. You can join some clubs in the academy, you know." Looking at Vega judgy.
Vega scratched his head guiltily. He hadn't explored the academy much. The only place he frequented was the library. He spent most of his time there copying hundreds of basic books until his hand was numb. He repeated the same routines until he finished all of the books. He even offered his own private room after being there several days in a row. But that was the benefit of being accepted as a personal apprentice of an elder.
During a whole week in isolation, Vega learned many ways dubbed as mental exercises by his mentor. Of course, the first thing he learned was Rodarkh, but because he had learned it before, Professor Addilyn taught him to play it in his head without the actual stones slabs. But deep inside, Vega thought the reason was that his mentor had no stone slab available with her.
His mind felt exhausted. Like the first time he practiced swords with Dion, he felt drained. Everything needs practicing. In the morning, he had to play several rounds of Rodarkh. In the afternoon, he had to guess what musical notes his mentor played. In the evening, he discussed most of the things he had questions about.
His mentor patiently explained everything. Even the secretive nature of testing the initiates, the secret of how the academy developed many high-level apprentices. Most of the time, anyone accepted in the academy will advance to a high level. The problem was the time, some people could reach it faster, and some took their time. That was why when he brought the situation about school and Wyatt, his mentor, explained why some adepts benefited by taking over their own apprentice.
Adepts, apprentices, or even people in general, never had the same opportunity. Some adepts could also be stronger based on their preparation and their basic knowledge before advancing. After becoming an adept, one could not change anything else because their path was already set. Some could only continue living by giving lessons outside of the academy.
Vega thought back to the first time he visited the academy noticing many adepts spent their time teaching the apprentices regularly. He knew that he had to pay for it, but he didn't know the adepts were looking for magical crystals to develop themselves. He thought being powerful and being able to kill people without repercussion meant that adept also had their difficulty.
He also discussed about some of the places he knew in the academy. Turns out, as an intermediate apprentice, he had many benefits. One of them was to join a special apprentice club that focused on some skills. But of course, one was not perfect, so the academy gave them three clubs in total for them to join.
After getting out and bidding goodbye to his mentor until he was called, Vega joined the potion, formation, and elemental club.
Most of the time, it would take more mana to cast any spells outside of an individual's affinity. Unless the two elements were supporting each other like water and plant. Vega learned that in the elemental club. He thought shooting a fireball and creating a mass destruction scene was cool, but he only had five places for spell models, and he needed to choose carefully.
While taking the notes, Vega massaged his arms. Middle-level apprentices only got one free class, ' The Foundation of Three Dimensional Spell'. Vega thought it could be beneficial for him to master the foundation before attempting to breakthrough. He was overwhelmed looking at the three-dimensional diagram in front of him. The master didn't even bother drawing the diagram on the board. Instead, he traced it straight away in the air. Every time the master flipped the diagram to the other side, Vega saw a whole new model that Vega had to trace it again in his notes.
The class finally ended. Vega wiped his forehead from sweating too much. He heard several sighs from his classmate sitting there looking at their notebook, confused. Vega shared the same sentiments by flipping his notes several times to try to combine the ten separate diagrams into one three-dimensional model.
"Oh, this is crazy," said the boy sitting next to him, holding his head together.
Vega remembered the boy because he broke through at the same time and advanced together. "I know, right! Do you understand the whole thing?"
"Not really, no. You? Honestly, I don't understand half of the lessons, and I've been coming to class a lot." The boy chuckled at his situation.
Vega just shrugged and smiled and laughed. The boy joined him, laughing together about their incapability to understand the lesson. After several sliding chairs and their classmates were leaving the place, Vega and the boy he known more as Vino. Vino left the classroom before leaving his contact. Vega wondered how Vino reached the highest level of apprenticeship with little knowledge of magic theory.
Outside the classroom, he looked around wondering why Mayne was not outside asking for notes to borrow. When he still didn't discover the short apprentice which could make it easier for him to gain information, Vega asked around, and found out that Vino was famous. His father was a renowned brewmaster, and his creation was known everywhere. Even the guild imported most of their drinks from his father. With a strong money power, he can buy many potions to help him improve his mana. Rumours were going around the academy that Vino was the only apprentice who paid to get accepted.
Arriving at his little room, Vega closed the door behind him and hummed. Flopped his butt on the floor, Vega started to massage his forehead. He needed to wait for the three-dimensional spell models because the concept was too difficult to understand.
After advancing being an intermediate apprentice, his meditation exercise gave him a new spell called vibrational sequence. With it, he could improve the sharpness of his air blade. With it, he could also hear creatures approaching from far away from the vibration on the ground.
Looking at his books, which were now filled with a lot of information, he had gathered from everywhere. The three-dimensional diagram he had just learned crossed his mind. Suddenly, the letters on the pages danced. Vega looked and waited. But, instead of the normal paragraph, the book emitted a blue light and traced the diagram in the air. Vega gaped at the whole thing feeling that the picture he saw was the same as the one the master drew in the air. He then started his meditation and focused on visualizing the model.
Addilyn appeared and looked around. Her gaze landed on her apprentice's frowning figure and the strange book emitting light. She heard of some mystical items that had been created by fifth-level adepts but had never seen them firsthand. She was there when her apprentice discovered his first mana, sitting outside of his room. She saw similar light shielding Vega but didn't realize that a powerful artefact was the culprit. From the look of it, the book was much more complex than some information orbs she often saw in Oase del Mare, the haven of the sea.
She magicked a bell to surprise her apprentice. Looking at his expressions, she almost broke her composure but held it and coldly spoke, "I think you need to put something more appropriate."
Vega was startled, looking at his mentor standing quietly behind him. Realizing that his book still glowed, scrambling, he closed the book and tucked it under his shirt. "Why are you here? How can you get inside? You saw nothing, right? And--"
"That's okay. The principal called me before I left. I won't take your book. And for your question, every elder has the right to come inside the common area for security measures. As I was saying, you need to put something more appropriate."
"Why?"
"Vin broke through, and as my personal apprentice, you are also invited to congratulate her."
Grumbling, Vega stood up and looked for something cleaner to wear. The problem was he didn't have a clean shirt and grabbed his robe instead. He got used to wearing his casual shirts, especially living under the hot air.
"I'm ready," Vega said after covering himself under the clean robe that belonged to the academy.
Addilyn scanned him from the bottom to the top and added disapprovingly, "I think you need to dress better. You have a beautiful face, and that hair of yours had grown too messy." She then opened the door and led Vega to Vin's ceremony.
On the way, Vega felt self-conscious. He felt many eyes landed on him, and being under the scrutiny of many apprentices or even adepts was good for his mental health. He walked with his head down but felt the air push his head upright. Sometimes he also felt several poking on his back, adjusting his posture. He thought he fixed his posture by practising swords previously with Dion, but it turned out he didn't stand or walk straight enough. He saw his professor walking before him like an ethereal fairy falling from heaven. He pouted and walked straighter.
"I'm not a noble." Vega heard her mentor and felt shocked because no one would think twice, looking at her posture and walking straight like that. "But, because of my ability, I lived under many eyes watching me. A little mistake, they would stop my education and judge me for Krimitak's sin. I know people already forgot the events two hundred years ago, but you're still the only sound magic apprentice. People will watch you like ravens to their prey."
Vega finally arrived, noticing the huge statue of Mernoralin and the crowd in front of him. He saw about thirty people, not a huge crowd, standing quietly, looking at a podium. His mentor parted ways with the crowd, and Vega had never seen many people paying respect to one person. Either it was because they were scared by his mentor or because she was stronger than them. He noticed many simple robes belonged to apprentices around the crowd full of adepts. Like him, they also gathered together with their mentor watching the princess being congratulated.
The academy's principal, still with his scruffy beard, stood on the podium and congratulated Vin, "I hope the kingdom is proud of your achievement, no? Another genius gaining the adept level in two years."
Vega was too bored hearing the rest of the speech focusing on the spinning models he had in his mind. He thought his book would help him understand the spell faster, but aside from showing him the full picture of the diagram, he had to solve it himself.
"Vega," Addilyn poked her apprentice. "Let's go!"
His mentor led him to congratulate Vin, "Congratulation, mistress." Vega bowed to Vin. Using her new title addressing her was weird, but rather than saying princess, he felt it simpler. Princess sounded too conceited.
"Thank you," Vin smiled and, as a tradition, touched the boy's head in front of her. It was easy for her to get inside someone's mind weaker than hers. She was startled looking at the strong spell model inside but still transferred her understanding toward the plant spell model she used to break through.
Vega's head filled with new information that made him a little dizzy. The model that appeared in his mind was more complex than regular three-dimensional models. He could count around fifteen different diagrams before his head started to hurt. All the sound around him turned into a murmur. He only recognized his mentor's voice giving her own personal gift for Vin.
The only thing he remembered was sitting on the higher table with three other personal apprentices of the other elders. They all sat holding their head while drinking a smelly liquid inside their glass.
The older apprentice introduced herself, "I'm Nora. My mentor made this potion to make it easier for us to digest the information."
"But this is my second time, and don't expect that it would get easier." Said the burly boy wearing a robe that looked too tight for him.
"I'm Vega, I'm--"
"Yes, we know. You are the new apprentice who caught the attention of our professors. I'm Sein. I think I saw you before trying to pass the gate."
"You have to explain clearer, Sein. What he meant was we were having our usual gathering, and we saw you passing by the formations. You know, the one with the stone gate. Sein's mentor was the one in charge of formations. Professor Klover was someone with a genius mind in charge of all the formations we have in the academy."
Vega finally got all of their names. Of course, he knew Nora and Sein. The burly guy introduced himself as Philippus Goldenheart, or known as Phil, the burly guy. He didn't have to ask because, based on their names, he knew straight away that Phil was a member of the nobility. The way he introduced himself reminded him of the time Dion and Vin, Mistress Vin now, said their names. He spent his time eating and talking with the other three apprentices. They finally bid their goodbye and separated. Vega went back to his place while the others went together.
####
After bidding his last goodbye to his mentor, Vega joined his first meetings in the potion club. The first time he stepped his foot inside, he could tell that most of the members were nobles. Shrugging knowingly, he introduced himself and officially became a member.
Many apprentices brought their shiny potion set with them. Even one of them brought a golden set. Luckily, the potion club provided three sets of ingredients for their member to use, but after remembering his monthly fee for a magic crystal, Vega thought it was appropriate.
He asked for the simplest ingredients, ignoring the eyes staring at him, using his heart of illusion to repeat the same steps he had tried himself. So recalling all the steps, he tried making his first potion again.
The first brew smelled awful, sighing, he discarded the whole ingredients and started over. The second one was too hot, making most of the liquid evaporate and leaving him the dregs. Vega was still unsuccessful in the third one but finally grasped an important detail. After thanking his classmates, he bid goodbye and headed to the trading halls.
The trading hall was just like usual, loud and full of people. He ducked and passed several apprentices carrying several long wooden poles with them. A cart passed by him from the left and made him jump, avoiding it. Two cats stealthily approached a basket of fish. He felt the vibration of mana around the air and moved out quickly outside from the range of the spell. After avoiding many obstacles, he arrived at the stall showcasing many different herbs and plants. He exhaled, glad for finally reaching his destination.
"How much for this?" Vega gave the apprentice a list of ingredients.
The woman studied the paper and pouted, "Many of the plants won't be available until the situation calm down."
"Situation? What situation?" Vega spent his time busying himself with meditation and training. He sometimes even forgot to eat being too focused on doing exercises from his mentor. He remembered the first time he had to visualize a maze and kept his mentor from discovering his soul.
"You didn't hear? Some apprentices had gone missing again. Not because of the abominations, but something more sinister than that."
"How do you get your ingredients anyway?"
"Trader's secret. But if you go to the mission hall, you could issue a mission to find some of the missing ingredients from there."
"Thanks. How much for the other ingredients?"
"Two magic crystals, no less!" The woman stared at him.
"Okay, okay," Vega rummaged through his pouch and took two glittering stones with a pained expression.
After arriving at his place, he sighed, regretting his choice not to explore the academy further. He discovered that the mission hall had easier missions to gain magic crystals. His savings from the last mission killing the scarlings had almost depleted. Shaking his head, he was not surprised why most of the apprentices joining a club were nobility members, especially his potion club.