Everything has changed about my home city of Astris in the past 157 years, which is actually now Neo Astris. Of course, that was only natural—after the calamity, the entire city had to be rebuilt from the ground. Most importantly, there was now a massive tower sitting in the middle of it: the Ark of Passion. Furthermore, the state of technology has advanced much further, though I heard that the technological revolution only really began after humanity's resistance reached a certain point several decades after the end of the world. In addition, people around the world learned to incorporate the arcane arts into their creations, which dramatically increased the quality of life in many regions.
After deciding to enroll in the Nineheart Institute of Arcana, I contacted Heflin about it. He told me that the recommendation letter only gets me as far as the enrollment exams, which were beginning a month from then. I didn't want to explain to him my whole story, so I told him that I ended up with amnesia from completing the tutorial. In the weeks leading up to now, he's been personally providing me with resources to help me prepare.
Today is the day of the practical exams. With Heflin driving me through the city, I stared out the window of the car and watched as the buildings passed by. There were things like floating advertisement holograms everywhere, security robots patrolling the streets, and automated vendors. It was a sight to behold, especially since during my time we had only just begun to advance the artificial intelligence industry.
Before long, we arrived at the institute's campus, which was walled off by a long metal fence. The fence looked mostly ordinary, but I was told that it extends a massive spherical barrier above the school grounds. Heflin drove us to one of the entrances, where dozens of people were filing in.
"Welcome to the Nineheart Institute of Arcana," spoke Heflin. "Are you prepared?"
I nodded. I spent the last month doing nothing but preparing. It wasn't a lot of time, but I had a trick up my sleeve.
"Thanks, Heflin."
He gave me a thumbs up and waved goodbye as I exited the car. Without looking back, I followed a group of students into the campus, where there were a gazillion signs pointing examinees to their destination.
The Nineheart Institute of Arcana was divided into multiple sub-schools based on your field: magical engineering, combat, medical, and arcane research. The exams you take are based on the sub-school you're applying to. For me, that's the combat sub-school, Lionheart. There were written and practical exams, the former of which covering a large variety of subjects ranging from basic monster anatomy to arcane theory. The latter targets an arbiter's magical and combat capabilities.
Of the two types, I had already completed the written exams, which are actually administered by the Arbiter's Association. The last day to take them was exactly a week ago, which was when Heflin and a few other agents personally proctored my exam. In order to take the practical exams, you have to pass the written ones first.
My scores were slightly below average in every subject, but enough to pass. Of course, for most people, being able to go from knowing nothing to passing the written exams in a single month was impossible. That being said, I'm no genius.
[Just like when you first picked up the sword during the rite of passage and felt familiar with it, you will feel familiar with learning information you have learned in the past.]
This was Hela's explanation of my ability to quickly learn and retain knowledge. Naturally, I had to learn a great deal from scratch. According to Hela, there's a massive time gap from my last reset to my current one, which meant there was a great deal in every topic that I hadn't learned before.
To be honest, I was more concerned about the written exams than the practical exams solely because of that. Due to my mana reversion, I can't externalize magic, which means there's a decent chunk of the practicals that I'll automatically fail. However, I can make up for them in other categories, so it's not as bad.
Nineheart's campus was, simply put, incredible. Massive, well-maintained buildings; flourishing greenery; and paths paved with bricks surrounded me from all sides. I also passed by several open fields, which I believe are used for training exercises.
The shapes of the buildings varied greatly: some were your run-of-the-mill school buildings, some were tall and made of glass, and others were circular. The circular ones in specific were arenas designed for live combat exercises, from what I'm told. The bigger ones are used as tournament venues.
I followed some signs directing me to a large, white staircase with a big nameplate out front that read "Artio's Den". Up the stairs was one of the widest buildings I've ever seen. It was where the exams for Lionheart were taking place, and it was supposedly named after some bigshot in the institute's history.
As I walked up the steps to the entrance, I took note of the examinees around me. Nineheart was open to arbiters of all ages, but those around me didn't seem to vary too much. For the most part, many of them were around my age, but I assumed that in the past, the age range was massive because of the necessity of training people to fight against the otherworldly threat. I saw a few older adults here and there, but there didn't seem to be anyone much younger than me. Probably because nobody is sending their kids to such a high-level school at a young age.
Up ahead, I saw a group of examinees clamoring around a girl with distinct ginger hair. Not wanting to get involved, I lowered my eyes and walked past them.
"Sera, is it true that you're part of the adeptus program?"
"Wait, aren't you Sera from Viole Justiciary?"
"Dude, is that Sera Adelmann? I heard about her on the news."
I was planning on blocking them out, but the mention of "adeptus program" and "Viole Justiciary" caught my interest. I learned about the former when I was skimming a bunch of articles to catch up on current events. The adeptus program is a government-sponsored program that allows various guilds to select rising star talents and enroll them into Logias-Sova's most prestigious arbiter school, which was none other than Nineheart. Specifically, it was enrollment into the Lionheart sub-school.
Adepts receive special privileges, such as being able to freely leave the campus grounds without permission, using their abilities off-grounds to mobilize against crime or monsters, and not having required attendance for classes. They also get easy access to valuable learning opportunities that would otherwise be difficult for a student to get. However, they have to maintain top grades in their classes or risk being kicked out of the adeptus program.
Because some guilds are vastly larger than others, there is a limit to how many each can enroll into the adeptus program to encourage competition. Currently, up to four adepts can be selected from each guild, and there can only be one in each grade. That basically meant there was only one new adept from each guild every year.
With that being said, it's only the adepts from the bigger guilds that attract attention. Of course, that was only natural—being an adept from a large guild means that you have talents that are far beyond the average person, especially if that guild is one of the continent's largest: Viole Justiciary.
I didn't learn this until much later, but the woman named Irisviel that I had met after leaving the tutorial was the leader of Viole Justiciary. It wasn't too important of a realization at first, but I later heard from Heflin that he was against me joining the Arbiter's Association.
According to him, the Association is very strict on its arbiters. Although Gestalt, the Association's president, had a favorable opinion of me, he doesn't have the power to give me special privileges without consulting with the council first. Apparently, there's a lot of internal strife going on, which could negatively impact me if I were to join their ranks. He said it was important for me to join a guild that would strongly back me, even if it meant losing a valuable talent. I wonder if it's because he thinks fondly of me that he would say something like that.
In any case, I was surprised to see an adept in person. I was sure that adepts didn't have to go through the entrance exams, but I guess even they have to do them. Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was to encourage other examinees to strive for their level.
I made a mental note to try and look out for the adepts in my grade so that I can analyze their practicals if I get the opportunity to.
I was about ready to walk on past when I suddenly heard a loud voice from the group.
"Hey, isn't that the guy who got an administrator's mark from the Ark of Passion?"
Crap.
I didn't expect that there were still people who remembered me. While news of a new mark-bearer caused a stir in the media, it was hardly like I was a big celebrity. I thought all that had died out when I basically disappeared from the public. I carried around a perception-blocking mask for when I went out, but wearing it on campus wasn't allowed.
Almost instantly, a group began to form around me, with a number of them being from Sera's group. I turned to look at her and I was met with a fierce, competitive glare. I couldn't tell if she was upset that I had taken the spotlight from her or if she was interested in my capabilities.
I was bombarded with questions and remarks from all sides. Being the center of attention has never been my strong suit, and honestly, I don't even want to socialize with anyone at all right now. I was at a loss on what to do until a tall man with dark red hair and an eyepatch appeared.
"Alright, break it up, break it up. You all have exams to take, don't you? You guys can get acquainted after you pass."
From the way he acts, I can tell he's one of the faculty here, perhaps a professor. He had a strong presence that exerted an invisible authority over those around, which caused the crowd to reluctantly scatter. Still, they made eyes at me before walking off.
"Thank you," I spoke quietly.
"What's that? Speak up, kiddo. Lionhearts gotta be loud 'n' proud to succeed."
He gave me a big, toothy smile as he spoke. Although his demeanor was warm and amicable, there was something incredibly chilling about the way he analyzed my appearance with his vibrant golden eye.
"I'm interested in the bearer of Merlin's mark myself, but nobody knows for sure the real reason why you have that. Status won't get you anywhere in Lionheart. You'll have to prove your worth here, where people can actually see your merit."
He gave me a wink before walking off.
"What's your name?" I called out to him.
Without turning his head, he responded. "Tallion Alfred. If you become a student here, it'll be Professor Alfred." With a wave, he continued walking away.
Afterwards, I made my way into the building. I found myself in a large reception hall for checking in, with multiple lines stretching out from several desks. It didn't look like the line I waited in mattered, so I just went for the shortest one.
I was fully prepared to zone out when the person behind me randomly spoke up.
"How did you do it?"
It was a guy several inches taller with me with short black hair and a big, friendly smile. He was actually massive, and not because he was fat. His muscle mass was actually ridiculous. Compared to him, me and everyone else in this line looked small. He had such a well-defined body that I could believe he was on steroids. Then again, I don't even think the steroids I once knew are still around after their value plummeted when the arcane arts became widespread.
"Do what?"
"Get Merlin's mark, of course. I heard about you outside, so I became curious. How did you do it?"
I felt uneasy. To be honest, I didn't really know how to respond to this question.
"Luck, I guess. I didn't really do anything."
It was kind of true. I definitely did nothing noteworthy during the tutorial.
"Hmm... luck, I see. That's pretty cool in its own way."
He didn't seem put off by it. Instead, he actually looked even more intrigued. He extended a hand to me while smiling even brighter.
"I'm Callen, by the way," he said, introducing himself.
I awkwardly shook his hand. Despite his strong exterior, his grip was soft and delicate, much like his personality. For a moment, I thought he was going to crush my hand because of how big his was.
"Hope we can become good friends," he added. "We haven't done the exams yet, but I got a good feeling about the both of us."
A cold, indescribable sensation filled my body. I quickly retracted my hand and broke eye contact.
"That's... sorry, I don't know you well enough to be friends quite yet."
I glanced upwards expecting a disappointed expression, but he still had his wide smile. He put his hands on his hips and laughed.
"Of course! My fault for acting so close. Then, how about we get to know each other more?"
I grimaced. So he was the type of person to be positive about everything. Even in the past, I wasn't good at keeping up with the energy of this kind of person. Fortunately, one of the people manning the check-in booth called out to me.
"Sorry, but I gotta go," I quickly said before moving up.
I arrived at the desk, where a young man with glasses and blond hair greeted me.
"Hello! Can I get your name, please?"
"Ilyin Gray."
"Thank you. Just a moment."
He tapped away at a hologram screen, presumably looking me up and marking me as present. It was still a bit surreal to see this level of technology.
"Let's see here... Ilyin Gray, 19 years old, unaffiliated, taking the exams for admission to Lionheart, and group E2 Okay, looks like everything is in order."
He gestured to my right, towards an entrance at the end of the hall.
"Please head down that way and find exam room E2. There, you'll be taking your practical exam with others in your group."
"Thank you," I said before walking off.
I felt an intense stare on my back. I certainly wasn't omnipotent, but after getting used to the so-called "arbiter's awakened capabilities", I could sense things like this somewhat. I turned my head and locked eyes with Sera Adelmann, the adept of Viole Justiciary. It turns out that she also just finished checking in.
I quickly looked away and moved towards my next destination, almost speedwalking away. The hallway stretched out before me, with multiple doorways spaced out a great distance away from each other. It took me a long while to reach the room that was labeled E2, and it seemed that a number of other people were also bothered by the sheer size of the building.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. I stepped in front of the automatic glass doors, which quickly slid open as I approached. However, for a moment, I noticed a familiar gaze reflected in the glass.
Turns out, the adept of Viole Justiciary happened to be in my group.