After leaving his home hand in hand along with his mother, Vicente and his mother walked along some dirt roads until they reached the main street of Martell Village, the only road covered with cobblestones.
Fortunately, his house wasn't too far from the center of the village, so he and his mother didn't have to worry about the surrounding dust until they reached this area, which had the most picturesque scene in the entire village.
Here, Vicente discovered his favorite spot– the central square where the statue of the village's founder, Martell, stood. That was a place for children to play and for adults to chat around a beautiful garden.
In the cobblestone-paved square, there was no mud during rainy days, and on this sunny day, it was bustling with activity as people were walking past with some carriages occasionally passing by.
Some people who were along with their animals occasionally passed by as Vicente observed the area with keen interest, noticing a little more movement than usual.
However, it wasn't surprising that the movement there was much greater than usual. It was because today marked the beginning of another term at the Academy of Stars, where more than a dozen new pupils would begin their studies.
Therefore, several fathers and mothers were bringing their little ones to this place for their first day at the academy while some older students made their way alone to a building that stood at one end of the triangular-shaped square.
The Academy of Stars welcomes children up to the age of 10. Beyond that age, if any family wished their children to study further, they would have two options.
First would be to find a master for their child, from whom the child could learn a trade.
Usually, the parents would take this upon themselves and start searching for one on their own, but on rare occasions, highly skilled professionals or magicians would accept disciples, and a few would be fortunate enough not to follow the same path as their parents.
The second alternative was to send their children aged between 10 and 13 to one of the royal academies, where they could learn whatever they chose to study.
However, it was not cheap to get admission into one of the royal academies, and even wealthy families were not guaranteed to be able to get a spot for their children in it.
Few slots were available for new students than families willing to pay for their children's education in the royal academies!
However, for individuals like Vicente, who could learn from their parents, studying at one of these royal academies wouldn't give them much of a professional advantage. The primary difference between these places and others was the fact that if these young students at the royal
academies had good magical talents, they could receive opportunities to gain admission to the Seidel Magic College once they had passed their Awakening.
The Seidel Magic College was the premier institution for young magicians to learn and master their own skills and have chances to improve their standing, both economically and socially.
Through it, talented ones and graduates with outstanding merits could also have a chance of earning the title of nobility. But even if they were not the most excellent among students, the very fact of graduating from this prestigious institution would be sufficient to guarantee a life far above the ordinary.
Vice already had a basic idea of what the Seidel Magic College was like from one of the books he had read, but he had no intentions of ever pursuing that path.
His father would hardly want to put him in one of the royal academies, so getting a place in the acclaimed Seidel Magic College would be even further away from that.
However, he didn't care. He had no great expectations for his mana and the Magic Gem he would eventually acquire one day, so he was fully content to study at the Academy of Stars and learn from his father.
As he watched other children parting from their mothers or fathers to pass through the academy's main gate, Vicente felt anxiety wash over him as he pulled his mother's hand even tighter.
"Let's hurry, or I'll be late!" Vicente urged his mother, a sense of excitement coursing through him.
With a warm smile, she approached the railing surrounding that three-story building with him, which bore a design that reminded Vicente of gothic architecture on Earth.
"Hello, may I have the name of the student and family, please?" An academy employee stationed at the entrance stopped the approaching Kate and Vice and inquired.
"Hi, this is my son, Vicente, from the Fuller family. Today is his first day," Kate replied, her eyes filled with pride as she saw her son looking at the children who were walking up the front steps of the academy.
"Excellent, Vicente. You can look for class 1. Your classes will be held there," the man stated as he appraised the black-haired young boy before him. "Today is special, so the teacher will be 15 minutes late. But starting tomorrow, classes will begin at 9 a.m sharp."
With that said, Vicente received a kiss from his mother and finally ran to the gates of the academy. He headed towards the top of the stairs in front of him while holding the straps of his backpack tightly with both hands.
Due to the schedule, most of the students in the vicinity were of the same age as Vice or a year older at most. Therefore, he managed to avoid falling into the trap of older students and soon found his way to class 1.
Despite its three floors, the Academy of Stars building wasn't that particularly large. It housed only five classrooms, a library, the administration wing, a cafeteria, and a few areas for social and physical activities.
As much as this was a world dominated by magic, physical abilities could make a significant difference in low-level battles.
Since most of the people in this world were low-level magicians or simple mortals without the ability to use magic, learning how to fight and use weapons held great value.
The Academy of Stars catered to students from ordinary backgrounds, so naturally, it offered training about the types of weapons and the arts used to properly handle them!
Vicente already had gained the basics of this, thanks to his sister, and was eager to further develop and train his fighting and weapon-handling skills.
With all these thoughts in his mind, Vice finally arrived in front of class 1, where a few young ones had already gathered on the outskirts and inside.
As he walked through the door and entered the classroom, Vicente saw half a dozen students, divided almost equally between the two genders.
"Vice, you actually came!" a young man with blond hair greeted as he approached Vicente.
Upon hearing his nickname, Vicente immediately recognized that it was his sister's friend's brother, whom he had met on several occasions.
"Ian, we will be classmates from today on," Vicente replied as he smiled and made a greeting gesture that he had taught to this child, Ian, who was of the same age as himself.
"Hmm, I'm looking forward to martial arts classes... My sister keeps scaring me. I can't wait for the day when I get my revenge!" Ian said with great confidence.
"Good luck with that... But I'm also excited about the martial arts classes. Do you want to be my partner?" Vicente asked, aware that they would be learning in pairs.
"Sure." Ian nodded.
While they chatted, a new student they didn't know arrived and joined them, sitting down next to the two of them.
Ian had an easier time than Vicente at starting conversations, so he did, soon welcoming the newcomer, Rory, into their friendship circle.
Children indeed form friendships easily!
"Everyone, quiet down. The class is about to begin."
As the children chatted simultaneously, making quite a bit of noise, the voice of their teacher, who would be guiding them from that day onward, reached their hearts, instantly silencing the entire room filled with the chattering children.