《Cultivating Elf》


 Prologue

    It was a stormy night as I waswalking back home from my friend''s house with an umbrella. The sound of the rain hitting against my umbrella and the road provided me a relaxing and calming mood as I paid attention to it.


    Suddenly, I hear the sound of two vehicle''s tyres screeching from the distance towards my location. I did not mind it as I knew that these people liked to have street races around the neighbourhood to determine who was the fastest driver. Just to make myself safe, I moved towards theinside of the sidewalk to make myself scarce from their path.


    The two vehicles appeared from the corner while drifting. As they were approached me, the car that was racing on my side of the road suddenly accelerated rapidly to leave the other one behind. It was a big mistake though as its tyres lost their grip on the road making itspin towards my direction. I watched in horror as the car camecrashing towards me, which was the last thing I remember.


    When I regained my consciousness,I found myself inside a dark space. "So this is what its like after you die" I thought. I was kinda dissapointed because I would be leaving behind my family and friends, and I had just finished my college as well. All that studying for the exams yet now I die right after finishing my education. I wish I spent more time to enjoy life by travelling and doing the things I have always wanted.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Guess there is nothing I can do about this situation now, lets wait and see what happens". I waited for some time where suddenly I see a bright light high above me. I found myself moving towards that light which strangely filled me with great anticipation for what lay beyond this pitch black place. It was about time as well cause I was feeling very bored. When I entered the light, the sound of a baby crying filled my ears. I tried to look around to find the source of the crying which was impossible due to my eyes strangely being very blury. My body also felt very strange as I could not move my muscles at all.


    I felt myself being hugged by someone when a female voice said "@#$ @#$ @#$@ #@$% #@4" and I couldn''t understand what she was saying as it was in a language I have never heard before. It took me a while to realize that the one who was crying was me and the person who was speaking was my mother. It seems I got reincarnated into a baby in a foreign land. That explains the language barrier and my lack of mobility.


    I thought "Since I have been given a second chance at life, I will live it fulfillingly by doing everything that I want that doesnt harm myself or the people around me. I dont want to feel the same regret that I felt when I had died last time".

 Off to the Academy

    10 years later


    "Catch me if you can,slowpoke!!" I said to the boy who tried to catch up to me as we headed towards the outskirts in the forest.


    It has been 10 years since I got reborn into this world. It seems I had been reincarnated as a female elf in the world called Effluomus. When I became old enough and understood this, I was really excited because this world had all the mystical creatures in it like Elves, Dwarves, Beastkin, Humans, and Demons. Each race had their own Kingdom. I was really happy as I was lucky enough to be born into a race which was talented in magic, and also partly because I had always wanted to one day become a girl as well.


    In this world, the various races mostly live in harmony with each other except for sometimes there would be self important rulers who would wage war with the other races for supremacy.


    There is an Adventurer''s Guild branch in each town and city across all the Kingdoms. The main branch is located in theKingdom of Aquieta located at the center of the continent, between all the kingdoms. There are other guilds such as the Beast Tamer guild, Healers guild, and Trader''s guild, each also having their main branch at Aquieta. For some reason, it never initiated any wars against other countries even though it always easily defended against invading Kingdoms.The Kingdoms who send their army there would find that their army would dissapear without any traces left behind at all. Despite that, people are able to go to and frofrom this country without any problems. As a result, the kingdoms began treating it as a neutral place where they would host negotiations between them in case of any disputes.


    "Tag, I got you, now its your turn" Theshout of a boy and his tap against my shoulder woke me up from my musings and I quickly gave chase to him "Hey! Get back here. I''m gonna get you for that". And so we played around like that till evening when we returned to our homes.


    "I''m home" I shouted as I opened the front door of my house. The house is actually treehouse build around the trunk of a tree. Its slightly elevated from the ground to avoid water entering into our house in case it floods. At the entrance, there is a plank from where people can use to have easy access to the door. Its a typical elven style to make their houses like this. It brings about a sense of closeness to nature and mysticism reminding me that I have somehow ended up in a fantasy world.


    "Welcome back dear, go wash yourself while I prepare dinner for us." my Mom said. I replied "Okay Mom" as I rushed into my room to get a change of clothes to wear after the bath, then I ran downstairs towards our comman bathroom. As I stripped myself of my clothes, I looked at the mirror. What I see is a beautiful elf girl staring back at me. The girl had long blue hair that reached till the middle of my back, pointy long ears, and blue eyes. Her skin tone was fair and smooth, and her figure was slender. I couldnt believe this was me. In my former life, I had always wanted to know what it would be like to walk up into the mirror and see a beautiful girl staring back at me. This was an answer to my wishes in my former life and I couldnt wait to see how I would look as I get older.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I quickly washed myself and went to the kitchen to help my Mom cook dinner for us. Tonight we had grilled chicken, stir fried vegetables and mixed vegetable soup. Despite popular beliefs, elves do not have anything against eating meat in this world. I was really glad because I did not want to eat only vegetables throughout my life even though I had nothing against it. The cooking was done over a stove powered by a fire type magical crystal. There are magical crystals of different elements namely fire, water, wind, earth, light, and dark. Different elements have different uses. The water I used for my bath came from the water crystal.


    As we finished cooking our dinner, we heard a man open our front door shouting "Honey I''m home". My Mom followed me as i ran towards him and hugged him,. "Welcome back dad" I cried cheerfully. My dad smilingly gave me a hug as well saying "How has your day been my little princess?" "It has been great Dad. I went out playing in the forest with Elwin" I said. "Oh is that so, Im glad you had fun" he said.


    "Honey, you should go and take a bath now before you have dinner" Mom said lovingly. In recognition, my Dad went to get a fresh set of clothes before heading to the bathroom to wash up. Now, my father was an adventurer when he was younger. His name is Estelar. Supposedly, he met my mother in the adventurer academy. After graduation they were in the same party as they went around the world adventuring, where eventually, they realised their love for each other as they decided to settle down in the elven kingdom. Now my dad works as a guard in our town called Faelar. My mom''s name is Chryssandra.


    When my dad finished, we all sat down at the dining table to have our dinner. Before eating, we would always say our prayers to the elven goddess ''Ellaine'' before having our meal.


    "So how are you feeling Aelene. You will be heading out for the academy in three days. I can''t believe you are already 10 years old. I wish you wouldnt grow up at all so that I can keep you by my side forever" my mom started crying as she reminded my about my upcoming departure.


    "Now, now dear, you still have me around when she leaves. Besides you cant keep her in the house forever, she needs to go out and experience the world for herself." said my dad trying to calm my mom down. I was really impressed by his supportiveness of my desire to become an adventure. Being an adventurer himself might have influenced it.


    To further console her, I added "Dont worry mom, I''ll definitely take care of myself properly when I''m away. Besides, the place Im going is the academy. There wont be any danger there"


    Feeling better my mom said "You''re right dear, I was just feeling a bit lonely at the thought of my only daughter leaving me. Take good care of yourself when you reach there". I replied "I will".


    The next two days were spent in getting ready for my departure. On the morning of the third day, my dad took me towards the Beast Tamer guild to rent a flying beast to take me to the capital of the Kingdom of Aquieta, also called Aquieta where the entrance examination of Kaishi Academy is located.

 The Journey

    The view on the aerial beast was incredible! All accross the land below lay a multitude of trees as we travelled towards the academy. According to my dad, it would take one week of travel to reach my destination on my hired beast. Apparently, it is called a Silverwinged Eagle. The name comes from the fact that it looks like an eagle but its feathers are colored silver.


    Occassionally we would pass by towns on our way, inciting within me a sense of wonder at how the people looked like ants. Although I have boarded a plane before in my previous life, I couldnt see anything except for clouds outside the window, and I was only a child back then.


    "Looking at your expression, this journey must be really exciting for you" Arnold the beast tamer said as he chuckled upon seeing me looking at the scene below in wonder.


    "Yes mister, this is my first time travelling outside my town, that too on an aerial beast" I exclaimed excitedly.


    "I''m glad you are enjoying yourself little girl. Wouldn''t want you getting bored while we are travelling" he said.


    "So mister, have you travelled a lot?" I asked him curiously. He seems like a guy who has seen his fair share of the world.


    "Yes I have little one. Want me to tell you about my adventures?" he asked, "Yes please!" I replied. So, we spent the rest of the journey with him telling me about his adventures around the Kingdoms, fighting monsters, and exploring dungeons.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    This most striking thing of all he said is about a dungeon named Mystica located at the Kingdom of Arwin, the human kingdom. He told me the name comes from the fact that the monsters who live inside that dungeon seem to be a lot stronger than any average monsters living in other dungeons. No one in recorded history has ever been able to clear this dungeon.


    Many adventurer parties have tried to conquer the dungeon, but ended up either being killed orforced to retreat. Thefarthestlevel anyone ever reached is level 10 by the greatest adventurers of today''s age, Edmund and his party. There were other parties in the past as well who have reached this level.


    Edmund, the leader of his party is a human who weilds a shield and a longsword, fighting at the frontlines as a tank. He is the one who comes up with most of the tactics when fighting enemies, and is adept at changing them according to the situation. His party membersconsisted of Rurgan, Luna, Felicia, and Marcus. Currently, he is the head of the Adventurer''s Guild.


    Rurgan is a dwarf who weilds a huge warhammer to smash his enemies with, He also takes care of the maintainance of the party''s equipment.


    Luna is an elf who uses a longbow when dealing with with enemies at a distance. She switches to shortswords as soon as they come near.She would act as support healerand mage when needed, prefering to leave all the magic work to Marcus.


    Felicia is a catkin who likes to hide in the shadows to ambush her enemies with her claws. Her stealth ability coupled with her agility made her the most suited for the job of a scout in the party.


    Finally, Marcus is a human mage. He is adept in the use of healing and offensive magic. He likes to use Area of Effect(AoE) spells to kill off a lot ofenemies together, and can use single target spells in case there is a single strong enemy.


    Listening to the stories from Arnold has sparked the desire within me to get strong enough to clear the dungeon Mystica and discover the mysteries hidden within it.

 Golden Egg

    We were about 10 minutes away from reaching the city of Aquieta.


    "I''m really gonna miss you Mr Arnold" I said, as I was feeling a bit sad that we had to part ways when we reach the Beast Tamer''s Guild. I became really attached to him during the journey.


    "Who said that I''m leaving?" He said with a smirk, looking at my confused face.


    "What do you mean?" I was confused to the point where I wouldn''t be surprised if I saw question marks hovering above my head.


    "Your dad has requested me to look after you until you sucessfully get enrolled into the academy" He said feeling pleased with himself with giving me a surprise.


    "You should have told me that earlier! I was feeling sad for nothing" I said, while glaring daggers at him.


    "Well, you never asked" he said with a grin.


    I felt like kicking him off of the Silverwinged Eagle so that he can plummet to his death. In the end, due to my spectacular upbringing, I decided to let him off and let go of my temper.


    "Whoa! Look at that!" I exclaimed in awe, while looking at the towering structure that lay in front of me as we were reaching our destination.


    "Awsome right, no one knows when this city was built. Historians believe that it was sometime the pre-historic era, but no one knows for sure how it was built, not even the citizens living there." He said, having a tinge of awe in his eyes as well, even though he must have seen this sight many times.


    I nod at his words. Truthfully, I can understand what he felt. Even for someone like me, who has come from the modern world full of skyscrapers, this city outshines it all. The city was actually build upon a mountain that spanned over several kilometers wide with huge city walls around it to protect itself. Even the height of the mountain itself was a few hundred meters above the height at which we were flying. Factoring in the fact that the Silverwinged Eagle can fly at a really high altitude, the height of the mountain is a lot.


    We eventually landed in front of the city gates where we could see a huge mass of people gathered in a line to gain entry into the city. At the end of the line, there were two guards stationed there with the task to inspect the purpose of the people visiting the city. There was no need to pay any taxes though. For those who wanted to leave the city, they had to undergo the same procedure as well at another gate.


    Mr. Arnold was taking me to a gate where there was less crowd. Confused, I asked "Aren''t we supposed to go to that line?" pointing at the line with a lot of people.


    Amused at my innocent and honest behaviour, he said "I got a special permit that would allow us to enter the city without having to wait in that line."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    In reply I just said "Oh" True to his word, we did not have to as much as what the other people had to before we entered into the city.


    Now, when we entered into the city, I was a bit surprised. I thought that since the city was built upon a mountain, the ground would have a slope to it. However, I was proven wrong as the ground was completely flat without even a single uneven surface. It was as if someone has cut this mountain like hot knife through butter.


    After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at the Beast Tamer''s Guild''s Headquarter. It did not take us much time to get here because it was located at the outer regions of the city, so that the beasts would have space to roam around. The headquarter was actually constructed into a pagoda with nine levels. Mr. Arnold had told me that each Guild''s Headquarters were made in the same design to show the close relationship between them. I was kinda impressed with that idea.


    When we entered the building, Mr. Arnold immediately went to a receptionist to update his mission and leave the Silverwinged Eagle to a caretaker to let it rest from the journey, I wandered around looking at the tamed beasts that were either playing or basking in the sun. Eventually, I returned to Mr. Arnold where my eyes were drawn to a golden egg that lay on the desk of the receptionist that Mr. Arnold went to. I was feeling some strange connection towards it.


    Suddenly, a burly man appeared behind me saying "What''s this, a young elf? Good, good, a very cute one as well."


    Startled by his sudden appearance, I fell on my butt. My cheeks immediately became red because of falling down and being called cute.


    Noticing the presence of this man, Mr. Arnold and the receptionist immediately greeted the man with a bow "Greetings Guild Master."


    "I see, so he is a guild master. That explains why he was able to sneak up on me without being noticed." I thought as I got up from the ground.


    Taking my silence as confusion, Mr. Arnold immediately introduced him to me saying "Aelene, this is the Guild Master of the Beast Tamer''s Guild Headquarter, Mr. Rudolf."


    In response, I introduced myself as well, "Good Evening Guild Master, My name is Aelene, and I come from the Kingdom of Rivendell"


    Stroking his beard, he replied, "I see, a polite and shy one eh, I like you, wanna...."


    Mr. Rudolf was interrupted with a smack on his head by Mr. Arnold "No you won''t. She is here to join the Academy, not to become your apprentice."


    "Oh come on, she can study under the academy and be my apprentice at the same time." whined Mr. Rudolf.


    While they were arguing, I turned to the receptionist. Noticing my look, she just said "They do this everytime." Heaing what she said, I started laughing at their antics.


    Hearing me laugh, both of them stopped arguing when Mr Rudolf came to me and said with a serious expression "I saw that you were staring at that egg a while ago. If you want it, you can keep it."


    I stared at him questioningly, "Can I seriously keep it?" Why would he suddenly give me an egg when we just met?


    He nodded at me saying "No one has been able to induce it to hatch before. Perhaps it was waiting for you before it hatches."


    I didn''t quite understand what he meant, but I was happy to accept the egg. "Okay Guild Master, Thank you for the egg" I said happily.


    With a smile he replied "Don''t mention it, plus you can just call me Mr. Rudolf. Go on now with Arnold, I''m sure you must be tired from your journey. You should find a place to stay as tomorrow is the day of the entrance examination."


    "Okay Mr. Rudolf, I will" I replied happily as Mr. Arnold and I went to an inn. There, we had dinner before retiring into the rooms we rented. I felt like we wasted money as one room would have been enough for the both of us, but Mr Arnold insisted on getting two rooms. In the end, I relented.


    In the morning, I woke up with a good night sleep ready to face the entrance examination for entering Kaishi Academy.

 Entrance Exam Part 1

    Feeling the first rays of the sun entering my room, my pointy long ears started twitching as I slowly regained my consciousless from my restful sleep. Finally sleeping in a proper bed has really helped me to aleviate the fatigue which was accumulating from the week long journey.


    I slowly got up from my bed and glanced at the golden egg that was placed beside my pillow last night. Still feeling some sort of strange connection with it, I began caressing the egg slowly in a loving manner. After five minutes, I put the egg down and went to the bathroom to freshen up.


    While gently reclining in the bathtub, I recalled the words that Mr Rudolf had spoken to me yesterday. What did he mean by no one being able to induce it to hatch? Won''t it hatch like any other egg in due time? Not coming up with the answer to my question, I put the matter at the back of my mind and proceeded to wash myself.


    After taking the bath and changing into a fresh set of clothes, I proceeded to pack up all my belongings including the egg into my backpack. I wasn''t worried about it breaking as Mr. Rudolf assured me that the egg wouldn''t break even if you hit it with a warhammer with full force. Just what sort of creature could lay such an indestructible egg?


    As I left the room and reached the ground floor where the dining hall was, I saw Mr. Arnold already seated at a table waving at me. I returned the wave and directly seated myself on the chair opposite his.


    "Good morning Mr. Arnold!" I said happily, feeling excited about the day ahead.


    "Good morning to you too Aelene, are you ready for the entrance examination?" he asked already guessing what my answer would be.


    "You bet!" I exclaimed. I really couldn''t wait to learn how to use magic and learn how to fight monsters so that I could go adventuring in this world. I never learned any magic at home despite coming from an elf family. My parents told me that I was too young to learn it yet.


    At that moment, a waiter came up to usand asked what we wanted to order.


    "Two sets of basic breakfast along with one glass of coffee and one glass of apple juice." replied Mr. Arnold for the both of us. I had told him during our journey here that my favorite drink was apple juice on our way here, so I did not mind him ordering for us both. My love for Appy Juice in my previous life somehow followed me to this world. I didn''t like the other drinks such as CocaCola, Pepsi and others that were carbonated.


    When the waiter left, I asked Mr. Arnold how I should keep the egg which I got from the Beast Tamer''s Guild.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    He replied, "Usually, the beast tamers infuse their mana into the egg to nurture the creature inside till it hatches. However, since no one has been able to hatch this egg till now, it must require a unique way to hatch it. You should infuse your mana into it everyday for the time being and see what happens."


    "Okay." I replied.


    The waiter returned to us with our food, so we set aside our conversation. The basic breakfast consisted of two slices of bread along with butter. The butter was given separately so that we could apply as much as we wanted onto our bread with the butter knife provided to us. Even though the breakfast was enough forme, Mr. Arnold found it insufficient for himself, so he ordered one more serving.


    After finishing our meal, Mr. Arnold paid the money to the innkeeper and we started going towards the venue for the examination.


    When we arrived at the venue, I was shockedat the sight before me. In front of me, there was a huge plaza.The plaza had an area of about two football fields combined. In it, there were at least 1,000 children along with their guardians or parents waiting there for the examinations to start. The number was clearly still increasing by the second. At the center, there is a stage set up which was probably going to be used for the examination.


    "I''m really going to get some serious competition" I thought to myself as I remembered that the academy only accepts 500 students each year.


    Mr. Arnold and I then went and stood in a line located at the entrance to get me registered for the examination. It did not take us long as there were 10stalls set up to make the process faster. During the registration, they used some sort of method to verify that I was indeed 10 years old before giving me a token with my registration number 1468 on it.


    When we were going to join the mass of people in the plaza, I heard a familiar voice calling behind me "Hey! Aelene! Wait up!"


    I was about to turn around to see who it was when I received a smack on my head.


    "Ouch!" crying out in pain, I looked at the jerk who hit me. I was surprised to see Elwin standing there with an annoyed look on his face. My surprise quickly turned into anger and I quickly smacked him on the head as well yelling "Why did you do that for? You jerk!"


    Replying angrily, he said "You''re the jerk, jerk. Who told you to leave without even informing me!"


    "Heh, why do I need to tell you everything that I''m doing?! Besides, what are you doing here? You never said you wanted to become an adventurer!" I shouted back.


    "What makes you think I need to inform you when you clearly did not inform me?" he shouted back. Both of us got angry and we began to fight.


    All the people present looked at us briefly before returning to what they were doing before. Some of them even had smiles on their faces. Both of us were obviously oblivious to this.


    At that time, Mr. Arnold failed to control himself and let out a few sounds of muffled laughter. Angrily, I stopped fighting with Elwin and turned to face him.


    "What''s so funny?! And why didn''t you stop him from smacking my head just now?" I shouted at him.


    "I thought it would be amusing to just stand and watch" he replied with a smirk.


    Exasperated, I turned around and walked further towards the center of the plaza, wishing I had thrown him down from the Silverwinged Eagle. Behind me followed Mr. Arnold and Elwin, one chuckling to himself while the other, fuming.

 Entrance Exam Part 2

    After waiting for a few minutes among the crowd, a few people went up on stage. In front of them stood an elderly elf. He looked to be around 60 years old and carried himself with energy and confidence in his demeanour. Of course, being an elf, he must be much older than that.


    "That''s the Headmaster of Kaishi Academy, Taegen Zylstina" said Mr. Arnold pointing towards the man on stage.


    I nodded in response.


    Mr Taegen, then came up to the front of the stage and announced "Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all today on behalf of our Academy for our entrance examination. We are quite honored to have you here as many have travelled far and wide in this land of Effluomus to enroll into our Academy. I shall now announce the procedure to be followed for this examination.


    Each candidate must go through a total of 3 round of tests, each testing them on differing areas.


    The first test will test the candidate on their mental fortitude. This test is the most important as those whose mental fortitude are not up to mark will immediately be failed from this examination." At this point, there were many who started protesting against this decision.


    Mr. Taegen continued with a louder voice, "Before any one of you ask, the reason why we are doing this is because being an Adventurer, you will be in many situations where you will put your life on the line. At that time, no matter how skilled you are, if you are unable to cope up to the situation mentally, YOU WILL MOST CERTAINLY DIE."


    The crowd fell silent. There were many children including me who began to shake in fear as well.


    Continuing in a softer voice, he said "The second test will test your affinities. Although most people only have one affinity, there are those who have more than one. With each additional affinity, the number of people becomes rarer with no body having ever had more than 4 affinities. Each person will have a different level of affinity as well even on the same element. So don''t get disheartened if you have only one affinity or get too excited if you have more than one.


    The final test will test will be on your mana capacity.


    The second test and the final test are less stringent as there will be no failing criteria. Those who pass the first test will go through both these tests. This is because we believe that the mana capacity and affinities are secondary for any adventurer. Through training, one is able to improve their physique, increase their mana capacity and use elements that are not of their affinity. However, it would be less efficient to use them.


    The results will be based on your overall performance in the 3 tests, with the weights given 50:25:25. The top 500 scores will get to enter the academy.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    We will now call out numbers. Those candidates who have the number on their tokens shall come up to the stage."


    I got scared when the Headmaster announced the part regarding the first test. However, as time moved on with my turn approaching, I started to steel myself. I moved closer to the stage to get ready.


    "Number 1468" The Master of Ceremony announced. I raised my hand and replied "Yes!" as I walked on the stage. There were 3 rows of 10 examinees to make things move faster. I stood in front of the one who had just finished with the one before.


    "Ready?" she asked.


    As soon as I replied with a "Yes", I felt an intense pressure pushing me down to the ground. The pressure was very intense as I found myself on the verge of collapse. However, I remembered the desire I had for the past 10 years to go adventuring and with all my might, I stood completely straight, not willing to yield to the pressure. The pressure gradually increased until I couldn''t handle it anymore, leaving me no choice but to say "I give up" through gritted teeth.


    "Very good, you pass" I heard the examiner say when the pressure on me was released. I took some time to catch my breath before I headed to the next test. I could see the examiner had an impressed look on her face as I walked through.


    I walked up to the second examiner. When I approached, he said "Place your hand on this crystal ball. It will determine which affinities you have."


    I carefully placed my hand on it. The ball started glowing bright green in color.


    "Wow, little girl, although you only have one affinity, that is in wind magic, it is very pure. It''s should be 85% if I''m not mistaken." The examiner said.


    "Thank You" I bowed a little before the examiner and went to the last one to test my mana capacity.


    As soon as I reached him, he said "Place you hand on this scale. It will absorb a few strands of mana from you. The denser those strands are, the higher is your mana capacity."


    I placed my hand on top of it. After 1 second, I felt something inside of me get absorbed by the scale. "So this is mana" I thought. The number on the scale started increasing and it stopped at 200.


    "Your mana capacity is quite good, however, for an elf, it is average. You need to work hard in order to increase it" the examiner encouraged.


    "I will" i replied softly to the examiner. I was a bit disheartened at hearing that.


    I went down from the stage and went to where Mr. Arnold and Elwin were standing and told them my results. Elwin said that his examiner told him he did great in his mental fortitude test. He also got 60% and 40% affinities in both fire and light, and mana capacity at 240. His mental fortitude test was also great according to the examiner. I was quite jealous that he got 2 affinities and higher mana capacity than me by 20%! To make myself feel better, I just stamped heavily on his foot.


    "Ouch! What did you do that for?" He yelled while feeling wronged.


    "Hmph! You deserve it! Who told you to get two affinities and more mana capacity than me!" I retorted.


    "You''re just jealous, na na na na na" he teased after sensing my jealousy.


    "Am not!" I shouted.


    "Yes you are!" he shouted back.


    "Am not!" I shouted angrily.


    Our argument quickly escalated into a fight between us. Mr. Arnold just stood at the side with a wry smile on his face. In the end, he had to separate the two of us from our fight.


    "Calm down now little ones, let''s go get some drinks to cool your heads down." he said, trying to placate us.


    "Fiiiiinnnee" we both replied still glaring daggers at each other.


    He took us to a nearby stall selling drinks. I ordered apple juice as usual and Elwin ordered Mango juice. Both of us were in bliss as we started drinking the drinks and soon forgot our fight. Mr. Arnold who bought us the drinks couldn''t help but give a wry smile upon seeing how quick our mood changed upon receiving the drinks.

 Making new friends

    The entrance examination took about four hours to complete. When it finished, an announcement was made requesting us to get into groups of five children so that we may board the flying beasts that would take us to the academy. Although the entrance exam was held in the capital city of Aquieta, the academy itself was not in the city. Instead, it was located on the mountain next to the one the city was on.


    Elwin and I turned to bid farewell to Mr. Arnold before joining the others to head to the academy.


    "Thank you Mr. Arnold for taking care of me for the past week. I wouldn''t have been able to come here without your help" I said, with voice full of gratitude as I bowed to him.


    "Don''t worry kid, it was my job to do so. Besides, your dad and I are good friends" he said while ruffling my hair.


    "Bye!" I said as Elwin and waved towards him while walking towards the rest of our new schoolmates, excitement burning within our eyes.


    Out of a total of about 3,000 children applying, only 500 had passed the exam. Since each group had 5 students, 100 groups were formed. We were assigned into group number 65 with 3 other students by the staff when we arrived. As a result, we had to wait sometime for our turn to board the beasts as the academy had brought only 20.


    Taking this as a chance to get acquainted with the rest of the group, I walked up to them and introduced myself.


    "Hi, my name is Aelene, and the one beside me is Elwin." I said with a smile. Elwin just gave a small nod in response. I shot him an annoyed glare.


    The dwarf among the group was first to introduce himself in response. "My name is Dekdras, nice to meet you." Dekdras was about a head shorter than me. Despite having a wider physique than the rest of us, not a trace of fat could be seen on his body. Instead, all of it was completely made up of muscle, probably having acquired it by forging metal since an early age.


    The next person to introduce herself was a beastkin. I got to know her name is Urea. She has a pair of fox ears on top of her head and a tail jutting out of her at the back. Looking at her, I had a desire to touch her ears and tail, however, I refrained myself from doing so as we just met.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Lastly, there was a human who had a haughty look on his face. Even though he was about 5cm shorter than me and had cute appearance, his eyes held a look of superiority on it, as if everyone was beneath him. Probably, he must have hailed from some rich and powerful family.


    Going up to him, I said "Hi, what''s your name?"


    He replied, "It''s none of your business."


    Flabbergasted that a kid would have this kind of attitude, I decided to just ignored him and went back to the rest of the group to get to know them better.


    "So, have you forged any metal before?" I asked Dekdras.


    He replied, "My parents had made me learn it from the age of 6. I have been practicing how to craft basic tools ever since then."


    "Cool! Then promise me you will forge me equipment when you get better" I said, giving him a pat on the back.


    He nodded.


    I then turned to Urea and said "Urea! Is there any hobby that you also have?"


    She replied shyly, "Y-Y-Yes. I-I like to play the h-harp."


    Her reply stunned me. It made me remember my past life where my hobby was to play the violin. I really liked to play it as it helped to heal my heart when I was depressed and overwhelmed by pressure to do well in my studies. Thankfully, I did well enough that my parents did not stop me from doing my hobby. Even though I liked this life better, I was a bit sad when I found out violins did not exist. I had wanted to make one myself but was not confident enough to do it. Now that the topic of music was brought up in front of me and having met Dekdras who despite being the same age as me knows how to forge, the same desire was rekindled in me to craft my very own violin in this world.


    Sensing my mood change, Elwin came up to me and asked, "What happened?"


    Shocked out of my reminiscence, I turned to him and replied, "I''m good."


    Urea had been panicking to herself when she saw me going silent thought she said something wrong and quickly apologised.


    With a smile I said, "No, I''m the one who should be sorry for making you worry. You did nothing wrong."


    She was relieved upon hearing that.


    Seeing her expression, I got the urge to rub her ears again, but I held myself back.


    After chatting for a while more, I got to know them a bit better. Dekdras had a polite and steady attitude. while Urea was very shy. I had to actively speak to her to get any replies. As for the human, he was just in the sidelines minding his own business. Soon, our turn came and we got on our flying beast and headed for the academy premises.

 Roommate

    After 15 minutes, we could see the Academy in our line of sight. It was very big, occupying an entire top half of the mountain. It was a very magnificent sight, befitting of the world''s number one Academy. Soon, we arrived at the Academy''s front courtyard where we were told to register ourselves for our dorm rooms.


    I bade farewell to Elwin and Dekdras as Urea and I went up to the girls'' dormitory section with Urea to register. After I finished registering, the clerk gave me a key and told me my room was in the second floor, room number 212. After I finished registering, Urea went ahead to register as well.


    When she finished, I asked her, "So which room did you get?"


    She replied skyly, "Um, my room is in second floor, room number 212."


    "Wow! That means we get to share the same room together. I also got the same room, let''s help each other our when we need it!" I replied excitedly. I noticed that she stopped stuttering when we spoke to each other along the way. I was really happy as it meant that we were getting closer together.


    "Let''s go to our room now." I said with a smile.


    She nodded.


    We proceeded to climb up the stairs of the girl''s dormitory. It was really big, housing all the female students in the Academy. I was feeling excited, albeit a bit nervous as well. It was my first time in both my lives to live in a dormitory, that too in a girls'' dormitory.


    We soon reached our room. I inserted my key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. As I opened it and entered, I was surprised to see a beautiful human girl about the age of 15 sitting on a bed, reading a book while facing the window. I turned to see the signboard on the door again to make sure we entered the correct room. What greeted me was the number 212, which meant we arrived at the currect place.


    The girl noticing the noise we made while opening the door turned around to see who it was. Noticing us, she beamed a smile at us saying, "Hi! My name is Rosalind. You two must be the new students arriving at the academy this year. It''s nice to meet you! My friend Celia and I will be sharing this room together with you from now on for the next year. Celia has gone out at the moment so you will meet her tonight. So may I know what your names are?"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Surprised as I was at hearing their names, I quickly recovered and introduced myself saying, "Good morning senior, my name is Aelene. I will be in your care for the coming year." After finishing, I turned to Urea to indicate to her to introduce herself as well.


    Noticing my intentions, she stuttered, "Good-Good morning se-senior. M-my name is U-Urea." When she finished, she hid behind me with her face flushed red. Seeing this, I really felt like petting her...


    Rosalind laughed for some time when she saw her behaviour. Finally recovering herself, she beckoned for us to enter the room and choose our beds on the right side of the room to place our belongings.


    The room had a total of four beds, two on each side with one on top and one at the bottom. I chose the top bed because it would be more fun on top while Urea chose the bottom one. There was a window at the center of the room draped by orange curtains. Between the beds, there was a table large enough for 4 to be used while studying.


    I quickly unpacked my belongings which are not much. Just two sets of clothes for the day and two sets for the night. While unpacking, I thought about the two seniors with whom I would be rooming with together. Their names remind me of the two characters ofWilliam Shakespeare''s "As You Like It" in my past life.If she finds out about my thoughts of the possibility that she might crossdress, I wonder what her reaction would be. Although I prefer her not to as it would waste her beauty.


    When I finished unpacking, I turned to Rosalind and asked, "Senior, how come you are in the same room as us?"


    Understanding my confusion, she said, "Well, it''s one of the Academy''s policies. The seniors have to take care of the juniors. Since I''m in the most senior year and you are the youngest, we were given the same room."


    I nodded in understanding. So the 1st and 6 year will be together, 2nd and 5th together, and 3rd and 4th. This system will allow for the elder student to help the juniors in the Academy while slowly letting those in 4th grade and higher to gain experience by first looking after those wiith only 1 year age gap, then slowly increasing it.


    At that moment, my stomach started to growl. An awkward silence pervaded the room between us three as I covered my face in embarrasment.


    Thankfully, Rosalind quickly stated, "Shall we go to the cafetaria to have lunch?"


    I looked at Urea and we both nodded our head in agreement. Rosalind then guided us towards the cafetaria to have lunch. It was located at the fifth floor between the boys'' and girls'' dormitories. After getting our food, I noticed Elwin and Dekdras sitting on a table with their food. I was about to head there when I remembered Rosalind was also with us. Therefore, I asked her whether she wanted to have lunch with my friends.


    She replied, "Sure, the classes are due to start next week so my friends are not yet back,"


    We approached them and I said, "Mind if we sit here?"


    Looking up to see it was me, they agreed. After sitting down, I introduced Elwin and Dekdras to Rosalind and vice versa.