We kept walking down the same large road of this Academy, passing next to a building which read 'Computer Rooms'. I wondered what that could possibly mean, since I'd never heard of a 'computer' before, and as I peered inside one of the windows of the building, I noticed there were several people sitting at desks, looking at a rectangle thing just like the woman from before that allowed me entry into this academy.
Were those rectangle things called computers? If so, then what use are they for? They must be very useful if this many people are using them. They could be a way to empower one's magic in some way.
Regardless, we didn't stop on that building, and Nicole didn't seem interested at all with whatever was going on inside, so I put it aside for now and kept walking with her to the building next to it.
It looked just like every other building we passed so far, about three or four floors high, depending on how tall each one was. There was a small line of people waiting by the doors—no more than five—so we got to it and stood behind the ones that were already waiting.
"Excuse me," Nicole called out to the young man standing last on the line. "What is this line for?"
"This is to sign up for the Institute. I recently awakened my magic and I want to see how well it really is!" the young man enthusiastically replied.
"Oh really?" Nicole replied with an amazed expression on her face.
"Yes! Yes! Check it out!"
As the young man continued with just as much excitement as before, he started creating a small blue light on his hand. I could tell it was just a small amount of pure mana; not enough to be able to do anything with it, but his expression showed how happy he was to be able to do that.
"Isn't that cool!?" he exclaimed after the small blue light disappeared.
"Is it?" another young man further in the line said with a mocking tone. "Here's what real magic looks like."
This one brought up his hand similarly to the other one and in his hand a similar blue light appeared. It was bigger, and I could feel that it had a stronger flow of mana, but so far, nothing too different from the last other one.
"Hey, that's not too different from what I—"
The young man who wanted to argue was shut down when the blue light in the other young man's hand turned to a steady ball of fire.
"How's that?" the young man said with a smirk, which was betrayed by the drops of sweat already forming at the side of his face and the fire in his hand losing stability.
"Oooh," Nicole exclaimed. "You're both pretty good already. I bet all of you will be able to have great stats!"
I couldn't help but turn to look at her with a questioning frown. How could she say that to people who could only do child's magic?
"Well… we shall see…" an older girl said.
She seemed to be around my current age, which is likely why she didn't put on a display of power like the other younger ones. As for the other two people, one of them had already gone into the building, and the other one remained uninterested in whatever everyone else was talking about.
* * *
A few short minutes later, the person at the entrance of the building finally called us in. He pointed at the side of the entrance, where everyone placed their ID cards and a small piece of paper was given to them from a similar artifact as the turnstile. I did the same as everyone else, and sat in a random chair inside the building, Nicole next to me.
"I'm so excited to be friends with someone like you! I really hope we can have some classes together," she said with a smile.
"Huh? Classes?" I asked, turning to look at her. I had never planned to take classes in this academy.
"Well yeah… aren't you here to join the academy?" she asked back, tilting her head to the side.
The only reason I ever wanted to come here was to know what was going on in this world, but after she mentioned it, I realized the best way for me to learn it all would be from an academy. So I guess that I should take up her suggestion and enroll on it, regardless of how annoying it could end up being.
I nodded. "Yes, you're right. I wish to learn as much as I can."
"Yay!" she cheered, clapping her hands in a quick and short motion, which hardly made any sound. "Hey, let's exchange phone numbers!"
I wondered if she was asking me about the same numbers that I learned from the ID card, but when I turned to look at her, she had pulled out her phone and activated the glowing painting on it. I saw that she quickly did a few movements on top of the painting, which changed at the same time as she moved her fingers, eventually stopping in a drawing that said 'New contact'. Under that it said 'Name', but as she quickly moved her fingers on the bottom part of the painting, a space next to it was filled with 'Althea' with a star before and after my name.
"Okay, which is it?" she asked without turning to look at me.
"Um…" I trailed off, not sure about what to give her, so I decided to go for the first number I remembered from the ID card.
She moved her fingers and the numbers I told her appeared under my name with the stars. After they appeared, she stopped for a moment and looked closely at the numbers I gave her. She narrowed her eyes and read them again and again. "Did you give me your ID card numbers?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
"No, silly!" she exclaimed, pressing a finger on the painting which immediately deleted the numbers. "I meant your phone number, phone number!"
I didn't know which one that was, so I pulled out the ID card and seriously looked it over. "Which one of these is it?"
She laughed out loud when I did that, which made the other people in the hall turn to look at us questioningly, making me feel awkward as well.
"I didn't know you were such a jokester! Come on, be serious now."
From her response, I could tell that what she wanted was not on the ID card, so I put it away. "I think I don't have a phone number."
"Huh?! For real?!" she exclaimed, looking at me with raised eyebrows for a moment before it changed to a nod. "Oh right, your Watch was broken, so if that was broken, then your phone probably is much worse," she paused for a moment and put on a thoughtful expression.
"Is that a problem?" I asked, worried that perhaps a phone number was just as important as the ID card number in this world.
"Not at all, but it's going to be hard to keep in touch…" she replied before she pulled out a piece of paper out of her bag. "I know. I'll give you my phone number, so when you get yours, you can call me or send me a message."
She quickly squibled her name, Nicole Lain, on it, followed by a different set of ten numbers, and then passed it over to me. I took it and looked at it for a while, trying my best to remember the new set of numbers that she gave me before putting it away in a pocket.
"So yeah, when you get that new phone, don't forget to—"
"Althea Sanctus!" a person sitting behind a desk shouted.
"Oh, well, there you go. I'll be cheering for you! Not that you need me to, heh heh," she said as I was standing up to go to the person that called me.
The man working behind the desk looked at me with the same expressionless face that every other person working next to him had. These people were likely trained specifically for this, which would make them an important person's retainers.
"Althea?"
"Yes."
"What can I do for you?" he asked while looking at me and not what I assumed was a computer in front of him.
"I wish to join this academy to learn," I replied, pulling out the bracelet from my pocket as I did. "I also found this, but it appears to be broken."
"Huh?" the man exclaimed, taking the Watch and looking at the glowing jewel. "A broken Watch… I'll hand it over to someone else," he put it away on the desk to the side, seemingly giving it no importance. "I'll need your ID to sign you up for the Institute."
I pulled out the card yet again. It seems like Salrak was right in that it was needed for everything, since everywhere I went, they would require me to hand it over. He started doing the same thing as the woman working at the entrance of the academy, by pressing a bunch of strange rocks, and looking at the glowing computer in front of him. This went on for a couple of minutes, until eventually he nodded and passed the card back to me.
"Everything seems to be in order, and I've already registered for you to be assessed," the man said, pulling out a colorful piece of paper and placing it on the desk for me to see, not quite handing it over. "First: you're going to get a physical evaluation by the Doctor to make sure you're fit for the next tests; don't worry, she's a gifted Healer, so with one look, she'll give you the pass or tell you to come again later, but she'll likely tell you to go ahead right away."
I looked at the colorful paper he placed in front of me, he was pointing at the information of a woman for me to take notice before he pointed at the next piece of information.
"Second is a Magic Power and Mana Levels measurement. I don't really know how that works, so when you get there, just follow the instructions given by the operators," he said with a bit of an apologetic smile, which was unusual for professional retainers to display. Regardless, he put it away quickly and pointed at the next set of information. "Lastly, you're going to have a practical test. As far as I know, you'll be thrown into a field where they'll put your powers to test with a simulated enemy. I've seen it plenty of times before and it's perfectly safe, so just try your best."
Once he did that he passed the piece of paper over. "Okay. Where do I go?"
"Just go over that door over there, where the young man is going, and you'll be called shortly," the man replied, pointing to the far side of the hall where the excited young man from before was walking by. "Oh and, you don't have to pay a fee for these."
I didn't have to pay a fee for all of this? This just made me wonder even more about the kind of powerful person that is running this academy. Usually nobles and royalty wouldn't miss a single chance to fill their coffers, so for them to pass off this opportunity, it could also mean that there's something else they're gaining from this. But I didn't have the mind to investigate that point for now, as I had to go over where the other people were going.
"How did it go?" Nicole asked, suddenly appearing behind me.
"It seems I have to take a few tests."
"Oh! I'm not going to miss it! The final test is truly terrifying, but I'm sure you'll ace it no problem!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to be waiting at the testing area in the meantime! Look for me when you get there!"
Before I could say anything, the girl turned around and left the building, going somewhere else at a brisk pace. I shook my head and kept going down the doorway into another waiting room, where the people that had been queued before me were already waiting.
Again, I chose a random spot to sit, and waited to be called as the others were called one after the other by a particularly beautiful woman with black hair, and a long white coat, who led them into a small room that read 'Doctor Vera'. They stayed there no more than two minutes before leaving and walking into another door on the far side of this room.
"Althea Sanctus?" this woman called out to me—the last person currently waiting in this small room.
I stood up and walked over to her. I took notice of her height as well, she was about as tall as me, which was rare, since I'd always been about as tall as other men, even before I started the proper Holy Knight training.
Once inside the room, she closed the door behind her, just as she had done with the other people and pointed at a certain spot of the room. "Please stand there for a moment."
I walked over to the seemingly random spot and watched her as she looked at something in a different kind of glowing painting in her hands that was larger than the normal phones. Likely a special kind for important people.
"Okay, now…" she said, lifting her eyes from the painting and staring at me.
It was then that I noticed that magic was being activated, which reflected in her eyes, turning them from a dark brown color to a glowy blue one. She was using a form of appraisal magic, something I was very familiar with since many people in the past—mostly enemies—would use it to find out any weaknesses in my body.
I instinctively started circulating mana in my body when I sensed what she was doing, activating mana defenses in my body that would block any form of magic that would try to peer inside me.
"Argh!" the woman exclaimed in pain, covering her eyes as if she had suddenly looked at the sun.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I also exclaimed, turning off the defenses, stopping the mana circulation, and walking closer to her. "I didn't mean to do that. Are you okay?"
She carefully opened her eyes, blinking several times before shaking her head. "Yes," she replied before turning a glare at me. "Please don't do that again. It was as if I had been flashbanged."
"I'm so sorry. I just didn't expect to be Appraised like that and reacted by instinct," I apologized, confessing that it had been an accident before walking back over to the same spot. "I'll try to keep my defenses down."
"Hmm, okay…" she said, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me. "I'll try it again…"
This time, she kept her eyes narrowed, ready to look away or close them in case that I activated my defenses. It was difficult not to do it, since after so many years of fighting and enemies trying to kill me, I was used to not giving anyone the chance. However, now that I wasn't the Hero of the Holy Gods, there was no need for me to put up so many defenses.
I could feel her magic passing through my body, which made me feel extremely uncomfortable, and caused alarms in my defenses to flare up, but I still made a conscious effort to keep them down, forcing any involuntary circulation of mana to stop every time it happened.
The couple of minutes that the Healer looked at me went by after what felt like hours, where a couple of times I almost let go and allowed my defenses to activate, but I managed to keep it down while she did her job.
"Phew," she exhaled once she was done. "I had never looked at someone like you. Nobody that comes into my office ever manifests their magic like that. And I could tell that you were trying hard to suppress it, which I appreciate."
"Yes, it was difficult for me as well," I admitted in an attempt to ensure that she didn't think I was an enemy. "What now?"
The woman sat down on her desk and started pressing the same rocks I've been seeing people press every time they sit by a desk. "I'll record my results into the system, but so far—besides the little incident with the mana circulation—you're healthier than anyone I've seen, so you can go ahead with the other tests."
"Okay," I replied and I started making my way to the door, stopping for a moment as I held the doorknob to look back at the woman. "Again, I'm sorry for causing you problems."
"It's fine, it's fine. If anything, you've taught me now that I should warn people when I'm going to look at them," the woman said without turning to look at me as she kept on pressing on the rocks.
It didn't seem like she was angry about that, so I quietly decided to leave the room.