The young man who had entered seemed desperate and leaned on the podium at the back. It took him a long time to formulate his next words due to the pause.
"My name is Dion, and I am a second-class mage... Come get your manual and read it for about ten minutes." Dion's tone also lowered from enthusiasm.
But soon enthusiastic boys and girls approached to help distribute the manuals.
After Dion had his hands free, he recited an incomprehensible spell and made two gestures.
With a snap, the floor damage disappeared.
The new apprentices, who had already witnessed the process of a huge bear appearing out of nowhere, didn't show much panic at Dion's movements.
This made Dion, who originally wanted to show off, seem even more dejected.
The two children sitting to Adda's left also got up to collect the forms and brought copies for Damian and Adda.
Adda took it in stride, and Damian thanked her.
"Don't thank me; it's nothing." The wide-eyed boy was a bit surprised and now took the opportunity to say, "My name is Theodore, and he is Wade. We live in rooms 613 and 614, so we can study and discuss magic problems together."
If it were an ordinary school, Damian wouldn't bother with these friendship matters, but knowing that death could be just around the corner, now is a good opportunity to forge friendships.
But Damian didn't think that, as mage apprentices, they could learn together. After all, the elements they specialize in and the instructors they follow are likely to be different.
He looked at the form in his hand.
There are only five mentors, and that's all there is in this mage tower. There is a brief introduction behind each instructor's name, marking the types of elements they specialize in and their areas of expertise.
These tutors generally have one or two main elements and many more areas of specialization.
Damian saw Dom's mentor name at first glance, and the mentor's name next to him was Byron.
Byron, from what was written beneath his name, specializes in the dark element, and his qualities are the undead, ghost research, corpse preservation, limb grafting, and souls.
He excels in the realm of the underworld.
Damian thought again of Syndra's terrifying face. Honestly, he checked the box under Professor Byron's name.
After that, he took out the manual and briefly read it. It contained much more detailed rules than Dom had explained.
There had never been so many rules when he was a servant.
But it may be that servants have limited exposure to things and don't need to know as much.
At that moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw Adda frowning and biting the pen cap in her mouth.
"Is something wrong?"
Had Adda discovered something he hadn't?
Adda set aside the sheets that had been handed to her, turned to Damian, and said seriously, "The element I have the strongest perception of is the fire element, but there is no instructor specializing in this element."
Before Damian could say anything, she lowered her head again to look at the form.
"Maybe he died in battle; that says a lot about our condition."
"Should I focus only on learning to attack on my own? Damn it, I would be at a great disadvantage without an instructor to give me advice." When Adda said this, her frown loosened, and Damian wasn't sure how true or false her unwillingness was.
This mage tower is not a formal school; there are only five tutors in total. It's normal that they can't cover all the main elements.
Just like Damian's dark element, only Master Byron can master it.
Thinking of this, Damian's face became solemn.
Wait, how did Syndra determine that her strongest perception is the dark element?
Is all this a coincidence or an artificial arrangement?
Damian frowned as he looked at the information about Dom, whom he was interested in learning puppet control from.
Dion on stage finally recovered from the initial bad impressions, regained composure, and said kindly to everyone, "If you have any questions, you can ask me now."
Soon, someone raised their hand.
Someone asked about the rulebook, and someone had the same issue as Adda.
Just as Damian thought, the mentors of the missing elements died in the war against the demons, which is currently at its peak. As for what they could do, they simply had to improve on necessary aspects like magic control, spell manipulation, and defense. If they learned these traits, they could conduct their own research.
But attention must also be paid to other, more diverse elements.
Dion patiently spoke with everyone for half an hour, explaining in detail, even a bit annoyed, but clarifying every question.
Even if some questions couldn't be answered, he would explain what everyone should pay attention to.
Even Damian was fascinated and temporarily forgot about the hidden dangers this world had in store for them.
Suddenly, Damian felt a poke on his arm, glanced sideways, and found that Adda had just withdrawn her finger and indicated for Damian to look to the right.
Damian looked to where she indicated and found the boy in front of him staring back with some resentment.
Only now did Damian remember that brat who had glared resentfully at him during the apprentice test.
After the other party noticed Damian had raised his head, he looked deeply at Damian and then turned away.
"Who's that?" Damian leaned to the left and asked quietly.
Adda still sat upright.
"Luke, his best friend died on the way here. The second-class mage who was the guide refused to save him."
"What does that have to do with me?"
At that time, the mage mentioned that being so human is unnecessary and that his death won't be significant because there are many aspirants who could take his place.
Because there were too many people, the mage allowed those who participated in the test to die on the way.
As a result, during the test, it was inexplicably discovered that there were a few more people.
Damian turned his head silently and, after a moment, said, "It has nothing to do with me."
"Hahaha!" Adda laughed briefly, not knowing what she was laughing about.
The two continued to listen to Dion's explanation on stage, and no one mentioned Luke again.
"Don't worry about the war; we classified mages do everything in our power to keep those demons out of our borders. Even if they are getting closer each time, don't be afraid. All of you just learn so that, as soon as possible, you have the strength to fight for your own lives."
"In that case, as long as you dedicate most of your energy to learning basic knowledge, you don't have to worry about being a damn hindrance." Dion clasped his hands while smiling charmingly.
"Alright, I'm done speaking. That's the end of this explanation. Have you all completed the forms?" Damian looked at the expressions of many of the children and realized he had been a bit direct.
"Before collecting the form, I would like to introduce you to my mentor, Bernard. Yes, he is the first mentor on your form. His introduction is that he specializes in earth elemental spells and can also teach wood elements. But, in fact, Bernard researches both
water and poisonous elements."
Dion had a smile on his face. "You don't have to worry about the appearance of the instructors. After all, the instructors are classified as mages. There's no need to judge their abilities by their appearance; every year the instructors teaching here are getting younger due to how critical the front line is, but don't panic."
Adda was upset that they were talking about death so lightly.
Damian noticed that several people were immediately modifying their registration forms.
Even Theodore and Wade, who were sitting on the other side of Keli, were revising.
Even Wade leaned over to Damian and Adda and asked, "Shall we choose Dion as our tutor together? Seeing how enthusiastic that mentor is, he will definitely be willing to teach us in our studies. This way, we can progress very quickly."
"No." Adda was firm.
Damian also shook his head.
All these apprentices were brought from the outside world and might still have illusions about the people in the mage tower.
In Damian's impression, these mages and mage apprentices are always in a hurry and won't stop for trivial things.
If one day they stop in front of you, don't be happy that they paid attention to you; it's because they may need you.
As for the result of that...
Damian's left hand turned skeletal is a reminder of the value one has in this place.
He personally narrowly escaped death and could only do so by sacrificing his left hand.
But if he's honest, Damian isn't resentful about it; his bones became thicker, including his whole body. The weight of his body also increased, and his strength and senses were also heightened. Truth be told, it was a good sacrifice.
Dion finally finished talking about his mentor, and he asked everyone to submit their forms.
Theodore wanted to help Damian and Adda submit the forms again.
But this time, both decided to submit them themselves.
Damian glanced at Adda's form from the corner of his eye and was surprised she had chosen Dom, who had just arrived but had left in less than ten minutes.
He chose him as a secondary student; he wanted to learn about puppets to create incredible creations, so he wanted to learn more about them.
After submitting the form, Dion told everyone they could first return to the dormitory, and a servant would deliver some supplies to them.
Everyone was so excited that they bid farewell to Dion and returned one by one.
The large classroom on the tenth floor soon became empty and quiet.
Dion arranged the forms in his hands and carefully placed them on the podium.
"Hehehe..." Dion's kind smile turned into one full of cruelty.