The credit union was an enormous multistorey building, just like the library.
There were numerous buildings surrounding the Main office such as the Auction House, Golems Service, Alchemy Section, Students Market and the Trading area.
Lukas sighed at the sheer size of the crowd as he walked across the platform.
He could already see many people of his age, queuing up one by one to receive their tokens after verification.
Senior students wearing deep blue serpent badges, third-year students, were making sure that no one skipped the queue.
With nothing to do, he waited at the end of the long line.
"Please do not tell me that I have to stand like this again when we get our badges!" Lukas cursed, realizing this.
Students were given four different types of badges. The first and second years were issued blue badges.
The third years receive a deep blue badge featuring a serpent.
The fourth years receive a purple badge with a wyvern on it.
And lastly, for those who got their official magician certificates and still wish to study, The cadets, they get a deep-crimson badge with a dragon engraved on it.
After what felt like an eternity, his turn finally arrived. He remembered to bring his identification, which was his family's badge.
According to the receptionist's instructions,he placed it in the holder. It glowed before he took it and it shone with green light before a palm-sized circular token with the Academy's logo on it popped up.
And, just like that, he had his credit token.
Every new student receives one thousand free credit points and will receive one hundred credit points per month going forward.
He quickly left the place and headed towards the library.
The two huge statues came into view again.
And as he predicted, the library was also crowded with people were entering and exiting constantly.
He stepped into the library after a senior entered.He didn't make the same mistake this time. He stepped in and stood aside for others to step in. Then he glanced at the huge library.
Rows after rows of bookshelves stood organized. People of various ages can be seen standing and inputting mana on the small crystal inscribed on the book to get a demo of the sigil.
Lukas looked right and left before finding the receptionist's corner. He wanted to ask some questions about where to get the books he wanted.
But seeing the huge crowd already asking for directions, he realized he wouldn't be able to ask them. They themselves were quite busy.
'I will look for it myself then.'
Eh?
-Bam
Someone slammed into Lukas and fell on their butt.He looked down to see who he had run into.
Lukas found himself locking eyes with a girl who was slightly older than him,holding a stack of books. She had vibrant purple hair and was wearing a purple badge.
"I'm very sorry about that" Lukas said, assisting her in picking up the books that had fallen.
"I didn't mean to run into you."
"Eh, yeah. N-No worries, I was too focused on something and didn't see you properly"
After collecting all of the sigil books, she gave him a look and saw no badge on him.
"A new student?" She asked.
Lukas nodded his head."Yes, I just arrived today. "
"I am Lukas."
" Oh, that's good. You're here on your first day?" She spoke taking the books from his hand.
" Well, Yeah"
Seeing the opportunity, " Senior sister! Can you recommend some of the good ones with earth element?"
" Earth element, huh? I am not very familiar with that. But I can show you where they are kept" she muttered before moving to the left side.
"Yes, thank you!"
After walking past a few sections, they came to a halt in front of a large section with a yellow spiral-shaped logo on the shelf.
"I may not be an expert in earth elements, but this section should contain some useful resources for you."
Lukas surveyed the massive rows of books. His eyes lightened up, just seeing the name of the sigils.
Seeing this, she remembered her own past when she was enthusiastic to learn magic.
"I don't know any specific stuffs about earth element, but I recommend you to choose earth volt before anything else" she spoke while taking out a big thick book named " Earth volt pack" and handing it to him.
Lukas nodded, looking at the book. He had also decided to buy it. He then looked at the person who wrote it.
And as he expected, it came from a famous magician named "Alisha Wainwright."
" Good, It seems you aren't that clueless. Take this book. Many of my friends still use it. But I have to remind you that you need enchanting type sigils for it to be effective "
Lukas listened attentively, grateful for the senior sister's guidance. "Thank you so much for your recommendation. Enchanting sigils, got it."
With the "Earth volt pack" in hand, he felt a rush of excitement for his magical journey to the Owls Academy. "I appreciate your help. By the way, what's your name?"
She smiled, "I'm Elena."
"You have one thousand credits, correct? How much are you prepared to spend?"
For a moment, he was unsure of how much he should spend. He has to save some for the Tower as well.
"About 700 of them?" Lukas said uncertainly.
"Not bad! You are willing to spend most of them here. Good choice."
"It seems that today is your lucky day. While I still have some time, see if any other pique your interest. I will recommend some additional ones for you. "
Lukas' eyes light up. This was really a good opportunity. He wasn't familiar with magic so having someone experienced recommending him some is without a doubt a good thing.
"Thank you senior sister. I will be quick" he muttered, looking through the books one by one.
"Hmm, take this one too," Elena said as she took out another small book Titled "Sigil of Solidness"
"It thickens the conjured element. This is not particularly good, but it is very useful for beginners. I am also using this."
Lukas nodded while talking about the book and checking the price tag. Which was 60 credit points. As for the last one it was about 80 credit points.
As he was looking at the new book. A cheerful voice sounded from the side.
" Senior sister! Please help me too. I am also a new student," a girl said while coming from the side.
Lukas turned around. It was a girl slightly shorter than him. Her long ears peeked through her short pink hair.
" Senior can you recommend me some too?" She brushed past him,grabbing Senior Elena's hand with sparkling eyes.
" Eh, Yes sure sure. Which one did you pick so far? Let me see." ,senior Elena spoke, looking away.
(Too close)
Lukas sighed seeing such genuine excitement. Compare to her, he was still somehwhat calm.
Shaking his head, he started looking at the shelves. Trying to see if he could find any familiar ones from his past life.
" Lukas, don't look for those. Those are for higher circle. Only the ones on this section are for first circles." Elena spoke out, seeing him looking at the upper shelves.
Lukas nodded and started looking for the ones which he can use.
Couple of minutes passed by.
After seeing lukas struggle about which one to choose, Elena helped him.
As for the newcomer, her name was Ama from the Delma kingdom. With the help of senior Elena, she also chose three seals like him.
As for him, he chose Earth Bolt Pack, Sigil of solidness and another one called Earth Cover with Senior Elena's recommendations. The last one being worth 200 credits. And the total cost being 340 credits.
"Hey, what else have you awakened? What group are you in?" Asked Ama curiously beside him.
—_—
Yes, for some reason she was quite interested in him.
" Not telling"
"Hey hey, why not? People who take magic seriously on the first day are rare. Why can't you tell me?" She said sulkily.
"Hey, you two, stop. I don't have much time. Follow me." Senior Elena spoke quickly, leaving them quite far behind.
Lukas also sped up, completely ignoring Ama. He caught up with Senior.
Pouting, Ama also followed him.
The Auxiliary section was quite far than he expected. Finally after walking for couple of minutes, they arrived on the section. One could imagine how big the first floor was. One had to consider this just the first floor. While he was entering the library, he didn't forget to count how many floors the building had.
The building had more than five floors.And considering the entry fees, not anyone can enter.
The entrance fee of the second floor cost a whooping 2000 credit points.
Lukas sighed, thinking about just how big of a collection the academy holds.
The Auxiliary section was somewhat crowded. Among the crowd he even saw cadets. It was a woman with her ears peeking out of her smooth white hair.
Lukas was somewhat shocked seeing a cadet from the renowned "Heavenly fox" race.
In his past life, despite being compared to the strongest aura user, facing a real magician he was extremely weak. If he was to measure his power, he was around the same power of a regular peak grade cadet. That's how weak he was.
Realizing that he might also become a cadet in just a couple of years and far surpass his old life within that time, he had mixed feelings.
"Hey, are you there?" Ama whispered in his ear, hoping for a response,when she saw that he wasn't responding.
Lukas snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at senior Elena, who was browsing through the books on the shelves.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Lukas said with a smile, unaware of his own expression, before turning around and walking ahead.
Ama was lost in a daze as she watched him walk away. "He's quite attractive," she thought to herself, her ears turning slightly red as she began to follow him, keeping her gaze downward.
" This section along with enchanting section is the most basic for a magician. You have to visit this section again and again untill you memorize everything, of course only untill you reach the 2nd circle"Elena spoke, looking at the shelves one by one.
Lukas and Ama nodded and also started looking at the Sections.
Lukas already found some of which he wes familiar with during some of the clash and missions he had to take in his past life.
" Here, take this both of you" As they were looking, Elena handed them two of sigil books for each of them.
" Sigils of Sharpness" And " Sigil of spiraling coil"
Lukas muttered their names.
" Yeah. This things add sharpness and flexibility to a spell. Without this, your spell is nothing but energy beam so..."
She was short of words as another person bedise her started speaking
" Oh, New students"
Elena turned around. It was a simple looking person. But the moment she looked at his badge.
" Nice to meet you senior. Ah yes, they are new student. They were asking for help" Elena spoke respectfully.
As the person was wearing a wyvern badge. Meaning he was a fourth year student.
"Yeah. Good good, senior students should always help their juniors" He spoke with a smile.
" Yeah, Senior"
As they were speaking,
" Hey, are seniors really that friendly?" Ama whispered in his ear.
Lukas didn't respond and looked at the senior after a slight delay.
" Yeah, it seems we are lucky" he spoke. Giving the senior another gaze, thinking the opposite.
" A human faced mask"
With the experience of his old life and how sensitive he was to an expert with Mana. He could clearly see the face wasn't normal.
At most the ones using this type of things aren't good nor friendly.
" Oh, you two are the new comers. Nice to meet you all" He spoke with a smile on his face.
" Nice too meet you, senior." Ama was the first one to speak out, attracting the attention of some people near them. But giving them a glance, they continued what they were doing.
Lukas also greeted, "Nice to meet you, senior"
" Good, Good. As a senior I should give some gifts"
He spoke while taking out two books from the shelves and swiping down his credit token on the book before giving it to them.
Elena envied seeing this. It was the facility available to fourth years. They can pay for anything without taking the huge line with their modified tokens.
Lukas looked at the sigils book. " Pathwave sigil"
" Think of it as a gift for our meeting. We will meet again if fate allows" Seeing their eyes glued on the book, he smiled before leaving.
" Thank you, senior!" Ama spoke out.
He waved his hand, saying it was nothing.
Lukas looked at the book and then looked at him walking away confidently.
" Ok, that's it then. For you guys I say, focus on these things first before getting more" senior Elena spoke out.
Lukas also nodded and bowed down a little " Thanks again, Sister Elena"
Waving her hand, " Heh, it's nothing much, I should also give you something but I'm out of credit at the moment"
" No,Senior Sister. The help you gave was already more than enough" Ama spoke out.
Lukas nodded in agreement.
She smiled thinking how they might shine in future.
" Ok, let's go. I have to pay for this too. Let's go together" She spoke showing the books she was buying.
And thus, the trio headed for the credit center where reciptionsts were one by one scanning the books and deducting credit points from the tokens.
And once again, which felt like eternity, they all completed their transections. Senior Elena said good bye, leaving him and Ama alone at the entrance.
[ To be continued...]