《World of Eliya》


 The childhood

    Thunder roared from the sky, rain was falling down on a cloaked figure in a dark alley of city of Hebatius. Blood was running down the forehead of this man.


    "Is my life going to end here?" his voice was weak and his breathing was heavy. Shouts could heard from outside the street, the pursuers were looking for him. One hand was broken while the other clutched some sort of gem.


    His body pressed against the wall he slowly sat on the ground putting his head down. "Where are you...Julien."


    .....


    .....


    Two children could be heard playing on the edge of the forest near their village of Pillu.


    "I got you Julien!" shouted Andre, swinging his wooden sword onto the head of his friend. Unable to put his own wooden sword up in time Julien was hit on the head by Andre, slipping and falling on the ground hitting the back of his head on a small rock.


    "I got you Julien!" not noticing his friend had injured his head, Andre poked him with his wooden sword. "Don¡¯t pretend like you hurt yourself Julien, I didn¡¯t hit you that hard!" poking him with wooden sword.


    "Julien?" reaching down he noticed there was blood on the back of his head.


    "JULIEN!!!!" panicking Andre ran back to the village to get help.


    Several days later Julien had woken up and Andre had immediately ran to his house down the street to find him after hearing the news.


    "Julien! i''m so sorry..." sobbed Andre as he walked into his room.


    "Where am I... who are you?" questioned Julien. His parents could be seen in the corner, mother crying while his father was giving her a hug.


    "What... what happen...what do you mean?" shocked and surprised he looked at the doctor.


    "I''m not sure but... he seems to be having some slight memory loss..."


    "It¡¯s all my fault... I hit him on the head..." sobbed Andre, Julien''s dad walked over and patted him on the head


    "It¡¯s quite alright Andre... it was an accident, I¡¯m sure Julien will recover in a few days..." giving him a smile that reassured the boy.


    "Now go home and get some rest, you can come back and play with Julien in a few days okay?"


    "Al... alright.. Thank you Mr. Li" and he walked away back to his home.


    Julien and I are both 10 years old, we both live in the Village of Pillu at the edge of the Ecclesia Empire, the year was 785 AC We are both at the age just before we can be tested for any magical aptitude, usually conducted from an Imperial Magus that travels from village to village giving children of the common class a chance of the good life. If the child of the family has a good aptitude for magic they can be brought to different academies around the Empire; after finishing their schooling if they are able to become a Magus their family could be brought up in status and moved into the large cities of the Empire. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Although it is not as simple as it sounds, many students don¡¯t have the full aptitude to become a full fledge Magus, many people just remain as a follower and assistants to the their Magus Teachers if they choose to accept them. Although life might increase slightly for them and their family, very few make it to the top. In truth the Magus of the empire gives hope to the lower class in exchange for their children in order to help with their research experiments. Many times not only do they never become anything more than just an assistant but most might die early from experiments from their masters.


    The village chief of Pillu had once been a Magus and had said that a few of the children in the village have a good aptitude to become a Magus which is quite rare in a village so far away from the Capital. In two years the Magus from the Empire will come test us, our families have great hopes on us, hopefully one day we can become a Magus and help our family having a wonderful life.


    It¡¯s been a month since Julien has woke up, and it feels like he has gone through such a change, not only have did not remember anything from his parents to his name and where we lived! I felt so horrible knowing that it was I who made this happen to him. Although recently his memory started to regain and he''s been reading books in the village library, hes begun to acknowledge me again.


    "Good Morning Andre!"


    "Oh! Julien how are you feeling today? Want to go and play swords again?


    "It¡¯s been almost two months has it not? Sure lets play!"


    "Really?! I¡¯m so happy... I almost thought you hated me..."


    "Of course not Andre, We''re best friends remember? I just needed sometime!"


    I was so relieved that he had said that, Julien was my best friend since our families moved together to the village of Pillu. Although our families were not much, Julien''s father had once been a famous knight in the Capital and my father had once been a well known Guild Leader. I heard that our fathers had once journeyed around the country but decided to retire into the countryside.


    "Alright Julien, I will go easy on you since last time I beat you, you fell got injured!"


    "No! Please try and come at me! I feel like I can take you on now!"


    "Hah, that will be the day, I don''t think you have ever beaten me even though your father taught you so much!"


    Our fight started out normal with me going at him with my wooden sword


    "In that case... HERE I COME!"


    Although we were just playing around, in reality we were both taught by Julien''s dad in some sword skills, he had told us although we have a aptitude for magic, we should always train our bodies so that we won¡¯t be weak physically.


    The fight continued for a long time, this was such a big change from Julien I could find no openings in his stance; in fact, he was pushing me back.


    "ugh... Julien have you been practicing?"


    "What are you talking about Andre, I¡¯v always been this good! I have just been hiding it!"


    "What are you two doing!" two young girls appeared out of the bushes.


    It was Bessa and Tilly our childhood friends. Both of them were the same age as us and was also tested by the Elder that they also have a good aptitude to become magus one day! Natural we became even more friendly from that.


    We stopped our fighting and looked up covered in sweat.


    "Julien JUST recovered! You two shouldn¡¯t fight!" protested in a sweet voice by Tilly. She was always the strong willed one while Bessa kept quiet.


    "We were just practicing Tilly! I was going easy on Julien!"


    "Felt like you were about to lose Andre" Julien rolled his eyes


    "Want to settle this 2 out of 3 then Julien?" Lifting and gripping my wooden sword.


    "Alright stop it you silly boys! Me and Bessa came to get you two because there''s word that the Imperial Magus will be coming to our village in the next 2 weeks! The elder wanted us to gather and give us some information."


    "Alright guess we will come back then" Andre answered happily, in truth he felt that if it lasted another minute he would have lost to Julien. What happen to him? Did he get stronger after he hit his head?


    The magus will be coming in two weeks! I hope we will all be able to go to an academy together...

 Aptitude Test

    The four of us had just recently become 11, and there was a small shock from the village since the magus has come early for the test! There has been rumors that the Empire has been looking for more young children with good aptitudes to become magus in the recent years, something must be happening in the capital.


    Gathered in front of the village chief''s house, a building that was clearly more superior to the rest of the village because of it was created using a reinforced metal called crystalmite, it gave off a small metallic shine. The elder being a retired magus was chatting with the Imperial Magus in front of the main entrance, almost as if they were old friends that have just met after many years of separation.


    The four of us was waiting eagerly for this test; while there were 10 more children near us waiting for this test, we were the most eager; even Bessa had a glimmer in her eyes that I have never seen.


    After sometime the elder had finally spoke.


    "People of Pillu, This is the Imperial Magus Tory! He is here to give the children a test of their aptitude for magic and hopefully they will be able to go to academies and gain an amazing education! Ah... I still remember my days... in the academy... You know... there was this.... and..."


    Seemingly the elder had started drifting off into telling everyone his school days which after 10 minutes the Imperial coughed and interrupted


    "Lord Magus Nepia ... I believe it is time for the test..." politely the magus had patted the elder on the back.


    "Oh yes... right.. the test... will the children that are of age 11 to 13 please come to the front?" Nepia finally said after coming back to his senses


    The magus Tory took out a crystal ball and had put it onto a table he prepared.


    "Alright children, first put your hand on the crystal ball and then look into it! What you see will determine your aptitude!"


    The first was a boy that was age 12 named George, his family was quite well off in the village and he had quite the aptitude according to the village chief.


    George had put his hand and closed his eyes, a faint aura had appeared on his body! After 2 minutes he had opened his eyes and told the Magus what he saw.


    "Very good George you have a great aptitude in Fire and Air Elements with a hint in nature! You will definitely be able to get into a good academy! Next!"Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    George was indeed very happy and even his parents were giving him big hugs.


    Slowly and slowly, it was our turn, Bessa and tess both had an aptitude of 7 which was very high! The rest of the village had an average of 5. The aptitude system was designed to see how much you are naturally able to grasp the magic in your body, 1 to 3 was a very low and people who had scored this most likely will remain as a student or an acolyte to their mentors and master for their lifetime; a simple assistant with a small increase in their life. 4-7 was quite good as they could one day become a Magus if they work really hard or have an amazing mentor to nurture them. 8-10 was considered geniuses and had the highest chance to become a full fledge Magus and more! The difference in these levels were to the extreme, as a 3 it might take you 5 years to fully control a spell while a 4 might be able to control it in 3 years. The time difference would cause the teachers to invest more into the students with a better aptitude!


    It was finally my turn and I placed my hand on the crystal ball, peering into this ball I saw a large cloud that was Red around the red cloud was shades of blue and finally a bit of black on the very edge.


    "What have you seen young man?" questioned Tory.


    "Lord Tory I saw a big red cloud surrounded by blue and black on the very edge!"


    "ho ho interesting... was there a lot of red and a bit of blue?"


    "it was maybe 65% red and 25% blue and the rest was black!"


    "Very good! You have a high affinity for fire and a bit of water element in you and some dark element as well! Your aptitude seems to be around 7 being able to see 3 different types of elements! Stand with the other children now!"


    "Thank you sir!" and I had skipped to the other children in happiness!


    It was Julien''s turn! I hope he will be able to get just as high aptitude as us and we can go together to school!


    Julien had walked up to the ball, an uneasiness seem to dawn over him as he placed his hand on the ball, it felt like an amazing aura had fell on him but after he spoke to the Tory, he seemed to only have an aptitude of 5. Although he was the only one out of the 4 of us with a lower aptitude we were all very happy! Although I thought I saw a smirk on his face when he had told Tory what he saw in the ball.


    Julien seems to be have the highest affinity to the dark element with some fire on the side and very tiny bit of water.


    "Good job Julien! We can maybe both go to the same academy!"


    "Sorry Andre, but my affinity is more to dark... and I am two aptitude lower than you... the chance seems to be slim"


    "No! I think we can be close!" Andre cried.


    Julien gave me a gentle smile "Ye..yeah.. I am sure we''ll be close!"


    "Listen up children!" shouted Tory " We will depart from the village Pillu in a month''s time! The convoy shall arrive and you will meet up with the other children with good aptitudes! Go and prepare yourself now! The journey will be long and quite dangerous!"


    After the aptitude test, we all celebrated in my house, our parents were quite proud of us! George was bragging about his aptitude being 8 and the highest among us all. He had kept putting his hands around Bessa which made Tilly very annoyed. Even Julien had joined in the fun, I was quite happy! It feels like my best friend Julien was back!


    The night continued until we were all quite tired and we all returned back to houses to sleep. In a month we will all depart on a convoy that will have many other young children like us, and our journey will be to a place called the Vikito Beach, where we will all look for our own academies and hopefully they will accept us.

 Departure

    A month had gone by quickly and we were all preparing to depart on our journey towards Viktio Beach where the academies has sent representatives of their respective schools. The teachers were all magus and would recruit the students they seem fit to enter their academies. Although many schools seem to take in as many as they can, seemingly needing bodies for experiments, many more famous and well known schools were more selective and chose their students with higher levels of aptitudes.


    The convoy of children were protected by many different knights as well as a few Imperial Magus. The village Pillu being on the outskirts of the empire was middle point for this journey; however, even if it is the middle it would take about half a year to even reach the Vikito Beach. The journey usually loses 25% of the children if not more, the road to Vikito Beach is not as simple as it seems as there are many monsters that jump out and feast on human flesh.


    Juliene''s father had given us both a pair of swords made of a reinforced steel as a departing gift. The departure was very sad for many families, as the likelihood of never seeing their sons and daughters again was very high.


    As it was time to go, Julien and I had boarded the carriage early while Tilly had joined another cart with Bessa and George, apparently they George can''t keep his hands off Bessa and she was too shy to refuse, Tilly had tagged along to keep an eye on them.


    "Didn''t you use to like Bessa, Julien?"


    "Hmm? Yes it was just a crush I suppose.. now I don''t really care about her that much anymore.." Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Haha we are moving on to bigger things now i guess... besides! Look at this caravan! So many other girls from other villages! I bet we can have our choice easily!" I laughed


    "ahh Andre always such a playboy!"


    At that moment two other girls and a boy had joined our carriage.


    "Hi! The other carriages are full... hope you don''t mind us bunking with you guys!" A beautiful girl had climbed on, with long silver hair and a body that seems too mature for her age.


    "Not at all! I replied quickly. "what might your names be?"


    "My name is Ruth! Nice to meet you!" Cheerfully answered the silver hair girl.


    "My name is Donny and this is my sister Beth."


    Donny seems to be a protective brother as his sister seems to be quite cute and shy! Almost as if it was another Bessa.


    "The names Andre! And this is Julien! Glad to have you with us!"


    After a short introduction, the carriages had begun to move and we were saying our goodbyes and we waved to our families good bye.


    Excitement and fear was the general feelings for the young adults on this trip. At the age of 12, we are considered young adults and is also the age of consent; although, it isn''t common many already keep each other company as a way to feel safe.


    As the journey had continued, me and Julien had learn that Ruth had the same aptitude as me while Donny and Beth only had a 4, which explained his overprotectiveness. It is quite common as anyone with a higher ranking will bully and most often people are unable to fight back. The strong rules the weak, and it is always shown in our lives. Whether it be the strength in our aptitudes, or our status in life, the strong will always rule.


    The journey had continued quite peacefully for about a month until we reach a part of the trip where the danger would start appearing, the death forest.

 Encounter

    The forest of death is exactly as scary as it sounds. Many times this is where the children would be killed, especially at night. More often than now a two tail wolf would come and drag one away, if not two. If you are really unlucky a devil bear could come and rip you in half in your sleep!


    Due to the dangers of this many had stopped sleeping outside in the tents and decided to sleep in the carriages. This was quite uncomfortable as the the carriages were not built to be slept in. There has already been 2 incidents where a boy had his head torn apart by a two tail wolf, and a girl only had an arm left in her tent. This has caused many to start hiding in the carriages; although, the knights does not seem to care as much as they should. Julien and I have noticed a few drinking from flasks in their poaches even on guard duty.


    It seems that we will be in this forest for a month and although there are dangers, me and Julien continue to practice our sword techniques.


    *Clang Clang*


    "Your movements have improved Julien!"


    "Father had taught me a few techniques to improve my body development!"


    The swords clashed under the moonlight; although the knights have to protect us as long as we did not stray too far from camp they could care less about us.


    As our swords had clash sweats rolled down our foreheads


    "Let me show you what my father has taught me during his years of being a guild leader!" Shouted Andre


    "Chain Sword Attack!"


    "Ku..." Julien blocked the sword technique perfectly!


    "And my father wasn''t just a knight for show! Hidden Blade!" although it was not perfect for a split second it felt as the blade had disappeared in front of andre and appeared near his arm!Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Andre had blocked it and the two swords that clashed caused a loud sound that resonated around the forest! The two smiled and took a step back.


    "Let''s take a stop for the night and go sleep Julien, that last clash has gotten me very tired."


    Just before returning back we stopped by a river to wash ourselves, and I had noticed that Julien had gotten much more muscle mass than before; although i''m not falling short of that but i remember previously he was not as built.


    "Are you into guys now Andre? quit your staring!"


    "HAH you wish I was into you! It seems you have really trained hard your muscles are really starting to show!"


    "Father had taught me a few techniques to increase my muscle power by using breathing and meditation techniques."


    "oh my father had showed me some as well! Although I have been practicing it, it seems I hae reached a bit of a bottleneck!"


    A knight had appeared out of the thicket at this point


    "what are you two doing! hurry up and get back to camp... I don''t want to have to deal with you two more dead bodies"


    "Sorry Sir Knight.. we were just washing we will be right back" Julien had said quite politely.


    The knight had grumbled and walked away while drinking his flask, while me and Julien had cleaned up and went back to camp with no troubles.


    The days continued although there has been less deaths since everyone had slept inside the carriages, it has not been a great time as the crowded carriages had taken a toll on everyone. we were just a day''s ride away from outside the forest when a high alert had been placed from the magus''s that sat on the carriages. It seems that there are a pack of wolves in the area and the knights had started being more on guard. The road was not small and was quite wide but being in the forest there were quite a few dangers lurking around every tree.


    "THERE!" Shouted a knight in the front. A rather large wolf with three tails were standing in the middle of the road with two wolves beside him.


    "It must be their alpha." The magus in charge quoted "Knight''s formation A defend the carriages while two of you and I will break through the front!"


    Julien and I drew our swords in excitement.


    "Can we help you sir knight!" questioned Julien and I.


    "sure hehe just don''t get killed! Stay back and protect the carriage! You will our last line of defense then!" the knight that drove our carriage gladly accepted our help.


    "Let''s do this Julien."


    "Don''t get carried away, these wolves are quite large and even though we have training we can still be easily killed!"


    Eyes appeared out of the forest like an evil presence as the convoy had slowed down.


    "Looks like it''s going to be a fun day" Smiled Julien.

 First Fight

    The convoy was moving much slower as the wolves came charging out of the forest. There was a total of 10 carriages with each about 2 knights to each carriage. Although each knight can fight against 3 wolves easily, these wolves were quite coordinated. Most likely they had planned ahead with the alpha wolf in the front of the convoy. Two knights were quite busy engaged in fighting the three wolves in the front; however, the magus seems to continue watching.


    The magus on the front carriages were patiently waiting for something, not making a move. Julien and Andre were located near the middle of the ready to fight. The knights here were holding the wolves at bay; however, there were quite a bit of screams.


    As Andre looked to the back of the convoy, a carriage could be seen being turned over with screaming children being chased down by wolves.


    "Please ! No! I don''t want to die!" screamed one of the girls running from the turnt carriage.


    Knights were too busy keeping the wolves back to save her and she could be seen tackled and her throat ripped apart by a two tail wolf. Blood had sprayed over the dirt road and screams could be heard from the other carriages.


    "Shall we make a move now" one of the magus''s asked another.


    "Not yet. This isn''t a danger level that we need to act on... the knights should be able to take care of it."


    The wolves number were slowly being cut down and they seem to be regrouping.


    "Watch it! We might have sent them back! But they''re comming in for another run!" yelled a knight that was covered in wolf blood.


    5 Wolves came running towards the cart of Julien and Andre.


    Two knight managed to hold back four wolves.


    "SHIT ONE GOT THROUGH... YOU TWO GET READY TO FIGHT."


    Clutching the swords Julien and me were about to face our first real monster. The wolf leaped while opening its massive jaws filled with sharp fangs ready to rip apart the two of us.


    "HIDDEN BLADE!" Shouted Julien, he almost seems like he disappeared but appeared near the wolf swinging the sword towards the wolf''s leg, cutting it slightly. As expected it has a tough skin underneth its thick mane. Yelping in pain the wolf fell and did a roll regaining its stance, growling before jumping towards Andre.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    My eyes glimmed and I took a deep breathe. "Billows Chain attack!" Running foward I used a four chain attack, dodging his jaws I slashed at the sides of the wolf dealing just scratches to the wolf.


    "Shit, how strong are these knights to be able to kill these wolves when me and Julien can barely scratch him!"


    The wolf fell on his paws and turned his head but at the same moment Julien had already stepped forward and shoved his sword into the wolf''s eye.


    "The wolf might have a strong hide! But the eyes aren''t!"


    The wolf yelped in pain, clearly pissed that his eye had a sword in it, shaking his head Julien was thrown away from the wolf. The sword was still stuck in this wolf''s eye.


    Seeing Julien doing something so amazing gave me the courage to continue.


    "Its my turn! Hidden Blade!" grabbing power in my right hand I swung the sword upwards towards the bottom of the wolf''s jaw. The sudden force knocked the wolf backwards and making it fall onto its back.


    "FLOWER BLOOM BLADE!" With two hands on the handle of my sword I jumped with the blade aiming towards its belly, stabbing the wolf with all my might. Shoving the blade deep into the belly, the wolf cried in pain but it was pinned to the ground with a sword in it''s eye. The blood had squirted out like a flower that had bloomed, with the wolf flopping around it had slowly died.


    "Great teamwork Andre!" pulling his sword out of the sword''s eye. "If these wern''t reinforced... they would have snapped so fast."


    A knight came walking by with a head of a wolf. "Great job you two. but its not over!"


    The three tailed wolf in front was the only wolf left from the pack; although, there were still many wolves, they were injured and chose to retreat.


    "ENOUGH!" shouted a magus standing up, a fire lance two meters long had appeared from its hand and it flew towards the wolf piercing the wolf''s body and setting it ablaze.


    "Let us continue, the commotion had caused me to lose my sleep!" and he put his cloak over his head and seemed to go back to sleep.


    The power of a magus is truly terrifying, as the wolf had already killed two knights there were fighting it but with a single spell, it was killed as if it was an ant. Truly the strong stands on top of the weak.


    As the convoy had started to move again, the carriage that had fallen was burned and the corpse''s along with it. The faces within the other carriages were filled with fear and sorrow, their friends were murdered in front of their eyes and they could not do anything to help them. But to me, this would not happen if you have power, the power to be strong, to fight back.


    The convoy had continued out of the forest into a small town, after resupplying we had already been on the move as our schedule was behind. Continuing for another five months we had stopped over four different villages and three towns, we had finally reached a the last leg of our journey. The carriages were down to seven from the original ten, more and more deaths had happen as our journey had been met with many different monsters but it seem to stabilize as the weak has all disappeared. Sadly even Donny had perished while trying to protect his younger sister, the only one that seemed to look after her now was Ruth. Beth was never the same again, her eyes seemed to have lost all life after seeing her brother get his body torn in half by an enraged Demon Bear; however if not for his sacrifice we might not have gotten away. Incidents like this were just too common, the weak will always be dominated by the strong and we were the weakest. If anything this journey should teach us all to strive for power, to never feel so powerless and weak ever again.


    We were about a two weeks away from the meeting point and we had reached the edge of Vikito Beach! Although a beach could be a bit of a stretch as it was more of a dessert leading towards the ocean.


    As we were descending onto the the sandy road Julien and I were in the front of the carriage beside the driver, bewilderment had filled our eyes. The dessert was quite vast, and the ocean could be seen and in the far off distance there were mountains with a snowy peak. The world of Eliya is truly beautiful.

 Different Schools of Magic.

    The final road to the Vikito Beach was the almost peaceful, a few sand worms had attacked us here and there but it was nothing compared to the deadly raid of the wolves. The death rates has gone done considerably as only a few died from walking away from the convoy to play in the sand, only to be swallowed up by a sandworm. These monsters of the dessert are not very strong; although, their main most terrifying ability is appearing right beneath you and swallowing you whole! The long final stretch was otherwise quite uneventful aside from socializing and gathering information about the upcoming academies.


    It appears that there are about 14 academies, with 4 prestigious academies that only accept magus applications if you have an a level 7 aptitude and higher! Each of these academies each represented the main elements of the world, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, 2 other academies represented the darkness attribute with 3 representing the Light elements and the rest had specialization in magic such as magical science, alchemy, potioneering, magic smithing, and finally magical beast taming. Each of these academies also had a dab in the other magical arts although the others would be able to provide more and better information.


    Having a good aptitude level of 7 with a good attributes in Fire, Andre felt that the best thing for him would be to enter the prestigious Phoenix Child''s Academy that specialize in all fire related magic while Juliene having a dark specialization and only having an aptitude level of 5 he felt that his only chance would to enter one of the darkness academies or join a magic specialized academy. Although these magic specified academies seem weak on the outside, they are extremely necessary and can be just as powerful as other magic academies.


    A great example would be potioneering; although the cost of ingredients as well as the apparatus''s to create a magical potion can be considered insane, the return for these potions are just as high if not more!These specializations are the best in making gold! As a magus, the ability to go through resources such as gold and magical ingredients is insane; without proper families and a reliable source of income magus''s can find themselves broke and unable to continue their research and themselves!


    A common currency that magus''s uses are magic gems that are slightly rainbow color if shined under sunlight, these stones emit a small dilution of mana and they help magnus''s with their development of mana. Although gold can also be used these gems are quite more expensive as a few of these gems can be only acquired through lots of gold and proper channels if one does not have a magnus in their families.


    Almost all of the children on this particular convoy had no magic gems as they were all from farmers or people that were able to live by comfortable; none of them could even imagine the possibility to get their hands on this magnus currency!


    As the journey had almost come to an end with a breather, few monsters had shown their faces. There were small groups that had formed after many days and nights of socializing as well. These groups usually branched off to people with high aptitude levels and similar affinities; while there were lower aptitude people with similar affinities, they were usually put with less importance and almost treated as inferiors! After all, what teacher would waste 7 years teaching one student when they could teach another in half the time! Although many magnus after reaching certain level of magic can attain longer lifespans, it simply is not worth their time; however, many do trick these lower aptitude acolytes as their lifelong assistants or just flat out guinea pigs. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Andre and Juliene had mostly still stuck together while traveling on different carriages like many others did. They had long since moved from the carriage with Ruth and Beth who had joined a small group that were aiming to join the academy of magical science and development, safe and reliable and many kingdoms would seek out these magical scientist''s in hope they would be able to achieve new ways to be stronger than the others, in other words; a government job that would have a steady life but almost no chance of truly become a great magnus. This job was usually taken by people who have low aptitude for magic but great intelligence overall but to be a magus not only would one need to have a high aptitude, intelligence but also wisdom and the desire to seek out all the mysteries of the world. The drive and passion is what seperates a normal magus to a great one. While the small group will most likely get into their field of magic; Julien and Andre had joined a larger general group that had average aptitude levels.


    They will most likely get into their desired academies; however, there might be some discrimination so it''s always good to make connections and friends as early as you can! The highest aptitude such as George had formed a small clique to discuss their magical futures although their attributes were quite varied almost no more than 3 had the same attributes and in some cases there were only 1 person with a specific attribute with a high aptitude!


    It was finally in sight, almost like a festival of some sorts there were banners and a large parking area where many carriages had already been parked, with tents, lodging as well as stalls that were selling food and other magical items such as textbooks and trinkets. The eyes of every young soon to be acolyte was filled with dreams and amazement as most of them had been raised in poor villages and medium sized towns, never would they imagine such a grand event to be in front of them!


    As the convoy of carriages had finally stopped and the disembarking was finally happening Andre and Juliene could hear a few magnus''s conversations.


    "How many deaths did you get on your convoy?" a magus was asking another with a grin on his face and a piece of paper that seem to mark different routes and convoys with how many casualties.


    "There were around 12 that didn''t make it, although i had a bet that we would lose twice as much! I''m surprised we only lost half of that amount..." a grey beard magnus had sighed.


    "Better pay up those 2 magic gems hehe" smirked another in the group. He seemed to be the magnus that had killed the alpha wolf in the forest. To think these magnus''s were betting on the lives of children and future acolytes is truly despicable.


    Andre and Juliene''s heart sank after hearing that, were their lives simply just up for others to bet?


    "Julien, let''s change this world, it''s absolutely disgusting and this is one of the reasons why my father had left the guilds... people like this!"


    "Andre I agree with you but in this world, I think Power is key, and that key rules all. If you hope to change anything you better become a magnus as soon as you can!"


    "That''s ... true... I guess i simply have to suck it up and learn as much as I can in the shortest amount of time! Look! there''s the tents for the Phoenix Child''s Academy, the line up seems super long... I''ll have to go line up quickly! Look for me later at the lodging area Julien!" Bolting off to the lineup hoping to beat as many people as possible Andre disappeared into the crowd.


    "Well.... I guess I''ll find the two dark attributed academies." Julien strolled off and looked into the skies, bright sun and clear skies, almost looking for something in the distance, Julien walked into the crowd towards the dark attribute academies.

 Magus and Magicians

    The big four academies that recruited youngsters had a huge space where many people would line up, doing aptitude tests, signing up and gathering information, there was even an area to meet certain famous magus professors! On the other side, the other academies had much smaller spaces, with a few people outside that would try and attract some aspiringing acolytes to their area of expertise.


    Julien had walked straight past various recruiters, to the near the edge of the beach near the water, he walked into a tent that was pitch black. Feeling as if the tent was probing him, seeing if he was in the right place. After a few seconds that seemed like minutes, the darkness was removed and appeared an old magus with a grey beard and wearing a dark color robed that had a few runes glowing on its shoulders.


    "Well well another one? This year seems to be good for us! Are you here to apply for the Endless Nights academy? The old man smiled at Julien like a dear old grandpa.


    "yes sir, through my journey here i''ve heard that your academy is indeed the better than the twilight academy in the dark attribute! I would love to apply!" Julien doing a small bow to show his respect.


    "Well! Please allow me to check your aptitude and your attribute to confirm you are eligible to join us!" The magus revealed a crystal ball and guided Julien''s hand to the magical sphere.


    The crystall ball immediately revealed Julien`s aptitude; although it was not great the magnus seemed satisfied and accepted him into the academy.


    "Thank you lord magus! I look forward to joining your prestigious academy!"


    "Now please sign this contract! After you sign it you may not change schools or you will be punished by paying a fine of 50 gems!"


    After signing, Julien had received a pass that showed that he is now part of the Endless Nights academy, and to report back at the tent in a two days for the departure to the academy!


    "Julien I recommend you go towards the free information near the lodging area, there is some information you young apprentices need!"


    "Thank you Lord Magnus!" Julien bowled politely and left the tent and headed towards the lecture area.


    The dark magnus lorded over the crystal ball. "Why do I feel like there''s such a hidden potential in that boy...? Although the ball only showed such low aptitude, It almost feels like it¡¯s wrong... Maybe it''s old age.. ho ho..."


    Walking to the lecture area, Julien had met up with Andre and followed the many others that were gathering around an old magus. Everyone had sat in a semi circle around a magus who was giving out information that commoners might not know. After all, many aspiring acolytes were from poor villages and their knowledge of the world is truly small.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Next is the topic of Magus and Magicians. Can anyone tell me the difference between the two?" a young magnus was asking the crowd. A beautiful girl with red hair stood up from the middle of the crowd and raised her hand.


    "I can explain Lord Magus!" bowed to the magus.


    "Please go ahead then young one!"


    "The difference between Magus and Magicians is the difference between how we use our magic! A magus uses Arcane magic while magicians uses Elemental magic!"


    "Very good! What are the difference between the two magics?"


    "uhm... well... I believe that Arcane magic is the balance of all elements with almost no ability to summon spirits of the elemental plane and the ability to reach into more complex magic that reaches into the soul... while elemental magic as it implies... focus on elements?"


    "Well done young one, you are almost correct! The elemental magicians are quite strong in a completely different way, through the ability to access the elements and summon elemental spirits, their fire element will always be 5 to 10 times stronger than our arcane fire spells! However! We magus are able to access different sources of magic such as chaos and light! These in itself are already extremely strong and the process of fusioning two of these powers together our magic is stronger than that of magicians! Each of you have different aptitudes and affinities to different elements, these decide your future!"


    "Excuse me sir but are you able to combine Elemental and Arcane magic together?" a bald boy in the front row had asked.


    "There has been cases of such however it is extremely rare and the time to understand only one of these schools of magic can already take many years, to have the ability to learn both will take a few hundred years! Although we magus and magicians are able to live many hundreds of years through magic, the people that have been able to combine two magic can be counted on your hands! These people are only heard of in stories and considered legends and myths! However, never stop pursuing the truth and always study to learn how to improve magic and benefit the world!"


    The crowd of young students had a sparkle of respect and passion towards this specific magus, he was very different compared to others, perhaps because he is a younger generation magus. The older generations believe in not only keeping their studies and experiments to themselves but to limit the young acolytes so they will never overtake them.


    "well Julien, don''t you think this guy seems to be quite different from the others? I heard he is one of the youngest magus''s to achieve rank 2 magus, and he''s from the Dolberk Academy of earth!" Andre said to Julien with a eyes of admiration towards this magus.


    "Yeah he is definitely different...but I think the other generations really dislike him for giving us this type of information! Look at the magus''s behind him with a bit of disapproval."


    "Hi Julien and Andre!"


    "oh it''s Ruth and Beth! did you two register for your academies already?"


    "Yes! we both registered to join into magic science academies!"


    Beth who was behind Ruth had a half smile on her face, the only smile the two of them had seen from her was from the start of the journey, but after the death of his older brother it is perfectly normal for her to have been extremely down. Her half smile also blushed as he looked at Julien.


    "Why don''t we all have dinner together! We want to thank you for protecting us during the way here!" Beth had suggested after feeling a poke from Beth, realizing her feelings.


    The four of them enjoyed a meal near the beach looking into the sunset, discussing different magic and talking about stories of their villages. After all many students will start departing for their academies starting tomorrow, it was a chance to make friends from different academies incase they meet again in the future. Although for these four it was simply just saying good bye after a small journey together. That night as they were leaving Julien and Beth disappeared together into his dorm.

 Seperation

    The recruitment was mostly finish by the second day and most a few academies had already packed up and went away with their new students. The way of travel to the different academies were all different, as many of the academies were spread out throughout the west coast of this continent as well as some on islands that''s a bit off the mainland; some even near the very south which would require a few months of travel!


    The academies that Julien and Andre were quite far away from each other, and as such they will finally be separated. The Phoenix Child Academy is located on an island a slightly off the coast, a small dormant volcano with its academy built around it. As dangerous it seems it is an amazing place for any magus or magician with fire attributes. Controlled by two Rank 2 Magus and two Rank 2 Magician, this volcano is almost their pet! The power of the four is considered one of the strongest powerhouses in the west coast. Meanwhile Julien''s academy, the twilight academy was located most northern part of the west coast, almost to the edge of the North frozen forests. The sun here is slightly blocked by the mana fluctuation in the frozen forest, as well as a small mountain range that separates the academy and the forest, known as the O''ltormea Mountain, creating a rather special pocket "twilight zone".


    The journey for Julien will be by airship while the Andre will be traveling on road back on the carriages. The journey will be very safe Julien and in fact very comfortable; however, Andre will have to travel through desert and forest into the dark fighting through monsters once again.


    As the students of Phoenix Child''s airship was descending onto the beach, the young acolytes were in awe, never seeing such an amazing thing in their lives. After all many of them lived a poor life, seeing such a feat even if they were to never to become a full fledge magus or magician would already be enough!


    "Julien, stay safe on the road to your academy, I hear there is quite a lot of dangers along the way.... I pray that you will make it safely and we can meet again soon!"


    "haha enjoy your airship, just remember Andre, the world favors the strong, watch me become stronger than you."


    The goodbyes between these two were very brief, without knowing they were childhood friends this goodbye almost seems cold! However these two seem to have an understanding that they will meet again in the future.


    The magnificent airship lifted off with Phoenix Child''s students and flew off into ocean gracefully. The trip will take a 3 weeks time to arrive; however, the airship is not only packed full of food but it has an amazing library as well as magus and magicians that give some basic information on magic and the schools.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Meanwhile Julien''s transport was gearing up, everyone was given a black cloak with a badge that has a snake that curled into an infinity on the shoulder. While there were only a about 30 students, it was considered a good year for the academy; not many people carry the affinity towards the dark elements. As Julien was boarding the carriage he had took one last look into the sky where the airships had left earlier, with a look of determination and a smirk on his face he covered his head with his cloak and entered the carriage.


    .....


    It has been a week since Andre had departed from Vikito beach on the airship towards the Phoenix Child''s Academy. While on board he had met two brothers with a high affinity towards the element of fire and a girl with an aptitude of 9, they all bonded over conversations in the food hall as well as having late conversations about their pass and the knowledge of magic and the curiosity of what is ahead of them. The two brothers that had high affinity towards the fire element were actually twins named Tom and Tuan, while the girl with an high aptitude of 9 was named Lisa. It was exceptional easy to bond as they were from the more rural areas of the kingdom and were all from poor villages. This was not only a chance to help their families but the once in a lifetime chance to improve their life!


    Andre had diligently been gathering information as much as he can from the magus''s that were accompanying them on this airship. The Phoenix Child''s Academy was established by a Rank 3 grand magus, during a fight against another Rank 3 grand magus he was gravely injured and had hid on the volcano island that is now the academy, there he had said he had met with a beautiful bird that was covered in a beautiful magnificent flame. It was said that this fire bird had sense this Grand Magus''s affinity towards his flame and had healed him by encasing the magus in an egg; an ancient spell that would heal any wounds and cure all curses and reborn you into the world 10 years younger as well! The magus however after waking up from this egg form had discovered the bird had disappeared and it had been over a year since he was encased, and on his feet were 3 small eggs that seem to be from the bird. The grand magus had decided then that he will stay within this island and take care of these offsprings the mighty savior had left him. Eventually he had created the Phoenix Academy due to the high source of fire affinity the island gave off. Later on people had named him the Phoenix''s Son and in the end Phoenix Child''s Academy.


    Andre was pleasantly enjoying his trip in his private room in the airship, although from the outside it seems to be rather small but the inside is actually enchanted with spactical magic! Spactial magic is extremely uncommon and to enchant such a bountiful space was done by a high ranked magician! There was even a small library with basic information for people to use, and here was where Andre had spent most of his time. As he looked out the window he saw only a beautiful blue sky and water that continued on and on and he could only wonder what his friend Julien must be experiencing.