Days upon days on the road and they have finally arrived at the gate of Zelestria Academy. The gate was open and was guarded by two men. There were a handful of people going in and out of the entrance.
"This is where we will part ways young master." The elder spoke.
"Thank you very much for your company Elder Tharn. I wish you a safe journey back to the clan." He bowed to the elder before exiting the carriage.
He looked back as the carriage started moving and going back into the direction it had came from. Then Krios started walking towards the gate and he was met by one of the guards.
"What can we do for you young man?" The guard asked him.
Krios then showed them the pin his mother had given to him before he left.
"Ah, a legacy. Please approach that desk over there and show that pin to an attendant."
Krios nodded and finally went inside. He was astounded by the grandiose of the Academy. It had a huge main building with an enormous courtyard. The building was half the size of the Whiteflame palace. There were seven smaller buildings on each side of the main building. And together they all form a semi-circle surrounding the courtyard.
'This looks like a tiny town of its own.' Krios remarked.
"Excuse me, the guard by the gate told me to approach you. I'm new here so I really could use your assistance." Krios said to the woman sitting behind a desk.
"Oh hi, my name is Marina, do you have any recommendation letters, legacy pins, or the likes?" The attendant responded enthusiastically.
"I only have this." He showed here the same pin he showed to the guards.
"A legacy pin. Great! Follow me." Marina ushered him and they both walked towards the main building.
"That big building we're headed to is the administrative building. It's where the headmaster stays along with the other faculty and staff of the academy. At the back of it, we have the training arena. There we hold trainings, sparring session, and even tournaments. There's also a mini forest where mana beast trainings are conducted." Marina pointed to the buildings one by one while Krios listened intently.
"The buildings to the left of the main admin building are the classrooms and various learning facilities. While the buildings on the right are the dormitories." She continued
She continued pointing to various facilities and Krios just soaked it all in. She only stopped talking when they arrived at one of the many doors inside the admin building.
*knock* *knock*
"Professor Ashburn, another legacy has arrived!" Marina announced.
"Let them in!" The professor on the other side spoke.
Marina opened the door and ushered him inside, then she left.
"Good morning young lad. Can I have your legacy pin please."
The professor was a tall man in his fifties. He wore a blue robe that Krios assumed was his uniform which accentuated his height. Krios was unable to see his cultivation level which meant that the man in front of him was atleast as strong as his grandfather which shocked him.
In the place where he came from, people with this level of power were as strong as their sect and clan leaders, but here on this side of the continent, they were mere professors of an academy.
'Just how big is the power gap between our side of the continent to this side?' Krios wondered.
Krios handed him the pin and the professor placed the pin inside one odd looking machine and it started to blink.
"It says here that you're a legacy of a Goodwin." The professor said.
"Yes, my mother is Reah Goodwin." He answered, still confused about the legacy thing.
"Oh I remember her. She was one of my students when I first started teaching here."
'Wow, and now he gets to be my teacher too.'
"So you're her son huh? What's your name young one?"
"My name is Krios Whiteflame, professor."
"Nice to meet you Krios. And welcome to Zelestria academy."
"Thank you professor."
"Marina!"
The door opened and the female attendant entered.
"Get him tested so he can be sorted into a class. Then introduce him to his partner. You may go." Marina nodded then professor dismissed them.
But before Krios can walk out the door, the professor spoke again.
"Wait a minute young lad. How long have you been in the Core Reformation realm? If you don't mind me asking."
Krios looked back.
"I broke through about a month ago professor."
The professor's eyes went wide by what he said.
"You broke through the early Core Reformation realm a month ago and now you're in the late Core Reformation realm?" The professor clarified.
"Yes professor."
"How extraordinarily fast. Interesting."
"Okay, thank you for your time. You may now go."
Krios just bowed in confusion and he and Marina went out the office.
'I knew I saw something different in that boy.' The professor mused.
'But having that fast of a cultivation? Truly monstrous.' He smiled as he knew they had something special in their hands.
"What am I going to be tested for exactly?" Krios asked Marina.
"Classes in each level in this academy are always separated into five, where the most talented are admitted to the first class, and so on. Now this test is going to test your mana output and mana density to determine which class you belong." Marina lengthily explained.
'Wow, so they separate the talented to the untalented ones. How divisive.' Krios thought silently.
They arrived at a room where multiple similar looking formations were displayed.
"Go to one of those and place both your hands on the surface. Then release as much mana as fast as you can." Marina instructed him.
He quietly obliged and placed both his hands on the formation. After a month of training with his chaos energy and mana, he now is able to release any one of them in both of his hands, unlike a month prior where he had to release mana on his right arm and chaos energy on his left.
'I would probably score high on this test due to my Mana Core being strengthened and condesed more than the normal person can.' He thought quietly.
'I need to lessen my mana output so as not to draw attention for now. The less attention, the less trouble.'
He released only half of his total mana output and the formation glowed brightly. It lasted for a few moments and then it went dark once again.
"Okay. You may remove your hands now. You're a mage right?"
"Yes."
"You'll be in Mage Class two. Let's go, I'll introduce you to your partner." They both went out of the room and headed straight to the dormitories.
'I only released half of my mana but I still placed in class two.' Krios was pretty amazed by how high he still placed despite placing a handicap on himself.
They arrived at the entrance of the second out of the seven dormitory buildings and Marina went on to a formation at the entrance. She spoke into it then after a couple of minutes, a boy came running out if the entrance.
"Hi, I'm Loras, I was the one you summoned." The boy spoke.
Krios scanned him and was quite amazed by his cultivation level. He was already at the early Mana Condensation realm.
"Hi Loras, this is Krios. Krios this is Loras. He would be your partner for as long as you stay in this academy." Marina introduced both of them.
"Now Loras, would you mind taking Krios into your dorm room and filling him in with the ins and outs of the school?" Marina asked the boy.
"Not at all. Come, let's get you settled in." The boy ushered him in and they both bade Marina their goodbyes.
"Hi, I'm Loras Ainfield." The boy spoke.
"I'm Krios Whiteflame." Krios answered.
"How old are you Krios?"
"I'm fifteen, you?"
"I'm fifteen as well. Would you mind being friends with me?" Loras shyly asked.
'He's my age but he's about as strong as Keian. This place is full of strong people.' Krios thought to himself.
"Not at all."
"By the way, this will be our room for our entire stay at the academy. Your bed would be that one beside the window. And each room also has its own bathroom and meditation room so feel free to use those." Loras said as he sat down his bed.
Krios looked at the room and it was quite spacious. There were two beds, two study tables, and other furniture. The room felt quite cozy.
Krios finally settled in and took his things from his storage ring one by one and put them around his corner.
"Where are you from Krios? I'm just curious because I have not heard of the name Whiteflame around here.
"I'm from the south-west region, right below the Aldecian mountains."
"Woah isn't that quite far away from here?"
"Yeah. I had to travel for days on a carriage and use a teleportation portal to cross the mountain range. How about you?"
"That's tough. I'm from a neighboring city. Just a couple hundred kilometers west from here."
"By the way, how did they pair us up? And why?"
"The partner system is enforced so each student has someone to check up on them from time to time. As per how they pair us up, they choose to pair up students from the same classes."
'Oh so he's from class two as well.'
"How about the legacy thing? I forgot to ask about it earlier."
"You're a legacy?"
Krios nodded
"Wow, then that means that you are a decendant of someone who graduated from this academy. Is it from your father's side, or your mother's side?"
"Oh, okay that makes sense. It's from my mother's. Apparently, her family has a long history with the academy that's why she sent me here."
The two continued talking about the rules and other things regarding the academy that they didn't notice that it was time for dinner.
"Come, let's go get dinner at the mess hall."
They walked through hallways and arrived at their building's mess hall.
"Why are their so few students? Are the classes not starting soon?" Krios wondered as he saw just a handful of students while they were grabbing their food.
"Classes won't start till four days from now. Most of them would probably arrive tomorrow especially those of classes one and two because of the tournament."
They sat on one of the empty tables and started eating.
"What tournament?"
"The early ranking tournament. Classes one and two are required to participate in that tournament."
"Early ranking?"
"Yes. To determine the top ten strongest students of each year level."
"We're class two right? So I guess we're supposed to participate?"
"Yes. But don't worry, it's just for rankings. It won't actually matter in the long run. Or atleast I think it won't." Loras chuckled nervously.
'Oh god, it's going to be a hectic first week for me.'