Lillian, having gotten out of the limousine that had already bid them farewell, gazed at the academy building through its golden gates. It was at least several stories tall and in the form of a castle.
'Guess the developers just wanted to breathe some medievalness into this modern world.'
"Hey! Are you two here for the entrance exam?"
Lillian turned her head to the woman standing behind the closed gates in quite professional attire. Lillian couldn't help but recognise her as one of the NPCs in the game.
'Teacher #56.'
The developer wouldn't pay much attention to any of the characters that aren't overly related to the story. Such was the reason most of the characters in this game were named like this.
"Yes, we are. Could you let us in?" Lillian walked over to the teacher, briefly glancing at Marionette, who just stared at the academy building with her headphones on.
"May I please see your ID cards?"
Lillian nodded and reached inside her blazer pocket. If she remembered correctly, this body of hers had been neatly tucked in one of her pockets.
That was, or so she thought.
'E-eh!? Where is it?!' She patted herself down, panicking inside. After handing her card to the teacher, Marionette raised an eyebrow at Lillian, who still had yet to find her ID.
"Are you not a student here?"
"No, no! I am!"
Marionette's eyes narrowed before sighing. She then turned towards the teacher, who was staring at her with a new respectful glint in her eyes as she held Marionette's ID.
"This... "Friend"... of mine is very clumsy. I can vouch that she is able to enter the academy's grounds."
"I see... as long as she is able to find it by tomorrow, I guess it's fine if you say so, Ms. Roselle." After saying that, the teacher rummaged through her pockets to pull out a remote that led to the doors opening by themselves.
Lillian breathed a sigh and thanked Marionette over and over again. The latter just gestured for her to stop before looking towards the teacher, who was holding out two bracelets for them to take. (10)
"Please take these. They're needed to enter the school grounds."
Lillian took one of the two bracelets from her hand before looking over towards the castle off into the distance with a smirk, 'How paranoid of them to create a dummy academy. Of course, with their history of getting attacked, I wouldn't blame them.' She chuckled to herself.
After putting over her wrist, she felt it prick her skin, causing her to wince at the pain. A second later, the bracelet then glowed a small azure light that eased the pain and even healed the small prick.
Lillian then focused on the bracelet, hoping that the system would do its thing again.
[Item Name: "Portal Entrance Bracelet"]
'It worked!'
She then began to go over its specifics.
[Item Type: "Accessory"]
[Item Rank: 3]
[Item Description: "Crafted by a manufacturing company that specialises in enchanting space-related elements. Created for the purpose of allowing the wearer to enter Louis Mana Academy's grounds after unconsensually binding their blood to the bracelet."]
[Enchantments: "Entrance Portal", "Blood Bound"]
"Are you two aware of how to activate these bracelets?" The teacher looked at the both of them. Marionette turned her head towards Lillian.
"Do you know how to use it?"
Lillian's lips curled into a wry one as she felt the gazes of the two women slightly taller than her. She kind of missed her tall stature, but what could she do?
'Slipping height boosters into my shoes is what I can do!'
"Uhm... you just infuse your mana into this bracelet, right?" She held out the hand that wore the bracelet in front of her. 'Now then... did the game ever explain how magic moved inside the human body?'
She knew it came from a source inside the body called a mana core, but the game didn't really explain; instead, it just put you through a mini-game.
'Or could it be through intent? Or maybe I should stop being dumb and check my memories...'
After scolding herself, she looked through her memories and figured out it could be manipulated through her intent. The bracelet glowed the same azure colour, which then shot out a blob of light that soon morphed into an elongated circular portal that was dark blue in colour.
Marionette watched this before attempting the same thing. She held out her arm and moved the mana from within her body and into the bracelet, causing it to shine a bright red light and spitting out the exact same thing as Lillian's.
The portal she created was of a vibrant yet dark shade of red.
The teacher clapped, impressed at the two for getting it to work on their first try. "Well done. After you two enter, please try not to get too overwhelmed by what's around you, and immediately make your way to the main hall."
Lillian nodded and entered through her portal, thanking her first before doing so, of course.
Marionette remained quiet; she nodded towards the teacher as her way of thanks before walking inside hers. She wasn't the type to converse unless needed to.
Perhaps that was the reason for her poor ability to express herself.
However, just before the two entered, a loud feminine appeared behind the gates. Lillian took a brief glance back before widening her eyes and quickly entering the portal.
***
"I'm not late, right!?"
The teacher, after seeing off Lillian and Marionette, looked back towards the gate before pulling out her phone to check for the time.
"You're currently not, but I suggest showing me your ID card, quick before you are."
The teacher told the girl, clutching the metal bars of the gate and watching them clumsily reach into their pockets, pulling out their ID card and showing them to the teacher.
It displayed the image of a beautiful girl with dark purple hair that reaches her shoulders and bright yellow eyes. The teacher then looked over the date of birth, ID number, and finally, the name that she had read out loud.
"Millis Vellen?"