Morgan, Jared and his two friends walked into the dorms. Without Morgan expecting it, the other dorm residents stood outside their room doors and bowed heads when Morgan arrived.
'They look scared when they see me,' Morgan said.
The young man turned his head to the side, glaring at Jared because he thought Jared had something to do with the other boarders' behavior. Noticing Morgan staring intently at him scared Jared.
There were fifteen people in the dorm, Morgan was the last to arrive. Of the fifteen people, ten were boys, while the rest were girls.
"I'm not planning to do the bad things like Jared did to you guys. I plan to make this dorm a champion in the first exam!" said Morgan, crossing his arms.
"According to the file, the First Exam will be held right after departure. That means we have one week to form small groups and practice as a team," Morgan explained.
Some other dorm residents looked at each other, curious about what Morgan would do as the new dorm ruler. A dark-haired young man in a T-shirt and trousers raised his hand, attracting Morgan's attention.
"I saw your fight with Jared and his friends. I'm sure you can help us pass the first exam," said the young man, introducing himself as Albert.
Albert and the other dorm residents began to think the same. Realizing that Morgan was the ruler of the dormitory made them believe he could help them all because Morgan's nature was far different from Jared, known for greed and arrogance.
"Alright. I need to know your identities, especially your Magic Arcana mark. If you don't mind, you can show them to me individually," Morgan explained.
They agreed not to argue. After all, there was nothing to hide from their Magic Arcana marks, considering all the dorm residents were Novice stage students.
[Managing a lot of people will trouble you]
'But it's the best so that I can pass the first exam,' Morgan explained to himself.
[So, you plan to make use of them?]
'It's more like building trust and establishing good cooperation,' Morgan replied.
[Tch!]
[One day, your naive thinking will affect you badly. The world is not as good as you think, boy]
Morgana remained silent again, not responding to Morgan's words. Morgan didn't care much. He didn't want to be a power-hungry bad guy. He wanted his power to help people and make himself useful.
As time passed, the boarders came to see Morgan and showed their Magic Arcana marks to him. There were 7 students with Magic Arcana one, 5 with Magic Arcana two, and 3 with Magic Arcana three.
Jared was a student with Magic Arcana Three, while his two friends were at the same rank as Morgan. Of the five girls, one student was at rank one, three were at rank two, and one was at rank three.
'The Magic Arcana rank will greatly affect their magic power. I had to put three students with rank three with the student with rank one, of course, to balance the group's strength,' Morgan explained.
'This is much easier than I expected,' Morgan muttered.
WOSH!
A slow burst of energy was felt on Morgan's body; Morgana also felt it. However, the other residents could not detect it due to their lack of abilities.
"This energy is pretty strong and coming from near the dorm," Morgan said, getting up from the edge of the bed.
"I'd better trace where this energy fluctuation is coming from," Morgan explained.
Two fingers of Morgan's right hand touched his forehead with his eyes closed tightly. Now, the area around Morgan became pitch black with an atmosphere so serene, Morgan entered the soul realm to detect the energy source.
Even if Morgan found it, it would take the person's shape as a blue mass of energy like a smoldering fire. Morgan felt a fluctuating pulse coming from the right and saw someone sitting cross-legged as if meditating.
Shortly after that, a small fox figure appeared hovering nearby and continued to walk around the person's body. Morgan gasped in shock, never expecting that person to be a beast tamer.
"Beast tamer? Doesn't being a beast tamer require at least Magic Arcana 7?" asked Morgan.
"This is really weird, I wonder who he is," said Morgan.
Morgan removed his finger when he realized the fluctuating energy of the person had disappeared. Morgan took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, knowing that performing tracking magic through the soul realm took up a lot of mana energy in his body.
"I have to be careful of that person."
***
The next day.
Tan's dormitory.
Groups had been formed according to their abilities, following their arcana magic marks. Now, Morgan was in a group with Albert and a girl from rank one, Lilia.
Five groups were established according to their needs. Luckily for Morgan, some people had a water element base and could use low-level healing spells. No one can use tracking except Morgan.
Now, Morgan's group was practicing near the coast. The exercise this time was useful to find out the capabilities of each group member, especially Albert and Lilia.
[Mid Magic: Natural Land Stomping]
Albert cast his magic, making rocky soil appear in the ground and lunged at Morgan. Morgan jumped back and dodged with a quick move. Elsewhere, Lilia was ready with her water elemental magic.
[Low Magic: Water Bubble Trap]
Lilia conjured up dozens of medium-sized water bubbles that flew towards Morgan. Morgan smiled; such weak bubbles wouldn't threaten him that much.
[Low Magic: Modest Wind Blast]
Morgan casts magic that creates a small wave of wind around him. However, it was enough to strongly push the water bubble back to Lilia. Lilia was shocked; she hadn't had time to dodge it and was already trapped in the water bubble.
"Ah!" complained Lilia, turning off her water bubble again.
Morgan smiled, focusing his eyes on Albert, who continued attacking Morgan with his earth elemental magic.
The young man was forced to run in circles, dodging the medium-sized stones aimed at him. However, Morgan's speed made it difficult for Albert to hit Morgan's body.
"Good. Your spellcasting speed is getting better," said Morgan, still dodging.
"Now, it's my turn to attack!" declared Morgan.
A magic circle appeared in Morgan's palm. The young man already knew what kind of magic he would come up with to attack Albert.
[Mid Magic: Wind Whirl Ball]
Wind elemental magic gathered above Morgan's palm, continuing to spin clockwise until it formed a ball about the size of a baseball. Albert was startled, switching his magic from offense to defense.
[Mid Magic: Multilevel stone wall]
A stone wall appeared before Albert, which was three meters in height and half a meter thick. Morgan nodded. The wall was indeed strong enough to withstand mid-magic attacks, but such an earth magic defense would leave open gaps on Albert's right and left.
"Alright. This might be a bit much!" insisted Morgan, throwing the wind ball forward until it crashed into the earthen wall.
Albert still stretched both hands forward, holding back Morgan's wind ball attack, which Albert had never expected to be so powerful. Albert assumed Morgan was behind his stone wall, but unexpectedly, Morgan drove to the right side, making Albert stutter in surprise.
"You released your magic?!" asked Albert.
"The gaps on your right and left are wide open." Morgan aimed his palm near Albert's face. The fight was over as Albert couldn't do anything else. He broke down the stone wall and acknowledged Morgan's skill and foresight.
"There's still plenty of time until the First Exam starts," Morgan explained, encouraging Albert to keep his spirits up.
Albert nodded in return for the handshake. Lilia also walked over to them, saying Albert and Morgan were good at their battles.
Three young men in black shirts arrived from the cliff in the middle of their talk. Morgan asked Albert and Lilia to take cover behind his back.
"Hmm... I didn't expect the strength of Tan's dormitory residents to be so pathetic," remarked one of the youths, the leader of the other group outside Tan's dormitory.
"Who are you?" asked Morgan, sternly.
"I'm Gerald. I'm from the Azure Dormitory," announced Gerald.
"Azure? That's the dorm with most third-level magic arcana students," Lilia whispered to Morgan.
'So, they are the best in the Novice stage. No wonder they can be arrogant like this,' Morgan complained.
"You'd better give up. There won't be a single student from your dorm who can qualify for the academy!" Gerald snapped.
"Really? You haven't seen what I'm capable of. What if we manage to pass?" asked Morgan.
"Haha, dreamers and daydreamers are the same thing. You're imagining things that you can't achieve!" insisted Gerald.
"Morgan, we should go," pleaded Lilia.
"No, we won't. We're not leaving until he apologizes," Morgan explained firmly.
"Oh, you dare to me, huh?" asked Gerald.
"I'll prove it to you!" said Morgan, taking a medium stance while ready to fight against Gerald.
[He's only a third rank; you can handle him]
'I know.'