27 Old Man Moo

After laughing about the scared boy, the three magicians that arrived quickly turned serious while they looked at the old man. It was still too early for the incoming students to arrive and he was the fastest examinators to come back. Trying to remember where he was sent and whether it was really possible to check all the children, they saw him grabbing something from the saddle. Soon, the big orb that was the main tool for that annual event was clearly visible and the former small crack grew a lot during the travel. Figuring out what probably happened, they relaxed and the atmosphere became more jovial.

"Who would have thought that it would be old man Moo that would encounter the first problem. The most serious teacher still managed to fissure an orb." The leading figure, a man still in his prime and a lot younger than the magician that traveled with Leilade, was smiling while saying that. Of course, the moment he said that name of the old man, the latter instantly entered a foul mood. Leilade was suppressing her laugh and showing nothing on the outside, but she clearly didn't expect the ridicule name of the mage. It sounded like the sound of a cow and it was apparent that the owner of that name hated it. It was also easy to guess.

"It's Oscar, teacher Oscar, young man. I still remember when you first came here and was crying while looking at the gryphons. In fact, you were not better than this young boy right here. So spare me your puny jokes and help me get a new orb." None of the three magicians were either mad or surprised by the harsh words of Oscar. His only default was his disproportionate anger when calling him by his name. Also, none of them were really in bad terms and that small discussion will soon be forgotten.

"Fine, fine. But you are still not showing enough respect to the magicians and the magus of the 4th and 5th Circle. Even if you are old and appreciated, calling me like that is still disrespectful. But let's not hold petty grudges and tell me exactly, what did you bring with you?"

The two following mages were two women both barely older than thirty years and were completely under the charm of the charismatic man. They were also very talented and managed to reach the 4th Circle at such a young age. They were also nobles and part of that faction inside the Academy, unlike the old man that was originally a commoner. Nothing was going overboard and no one would suppress someone talented just because of his birth. But past the initial teachings that all received equally, it was possible to receive the personal teaching of a magician. And in that domain, the nobles were only reinforcing their fellow mages.

Grumbling a little, the white-bearded human looked at the two children near him. The boy still hadn't recovered and was panting a little while the girl was impassible and likely unconcerned by what was happening around her. He still didn't know how talented she was, so he had no choice but to downgrade her potential.

"A future 3rd Circle mage and an unknown talent." The good-looking man was still smiling when he heard the first part but quickly stopped after the second. He looked intensely at old man Moo but the latter only shook his head. He truly couldn't say anything else.

"So, I guess she was the last that was tested when the orb stopped functioning. But why did you brought her here if she has an unknown talent? You can't save every orphan in this kingdom right?"

The tone was mocking from the beginning to the end but it was still a reminder of the rules. Only the talented will enter the Academy and no waste was authorized to stay there. If it was found out that the girl didn't have any talent, Oscar Moo will be punished and the girl sent home. So it was baffling for the old magician to risk that.

"Anyway, let's bring them inside and I will personally test her myself. Don't look at me like that, if she really has something, of course, she will stay. But don't get too much hope, it is too rare for a commoner to be talented and now the third child of Gwendhir entered the Academy. She has the best potential since centuries, maybe even better than the Archmage before the gift of the Gods."

Unfortunately, it was the sad truth. Most of the magicians beyond the 4th Circle were nobles while the majority of the magicians were commoners. Less than a 1% of the mages broke through that barrier and that was explained only by the talent. Luck blessed some families with a higher potential and with the years, all were given titles of noblesse.It was a circle, for some it was vicious, for others it was virtuous. But that gave full power to the noble families to run the Academy as they wished. Those disparities were only advantages for the nobility and never suppressed the commoners, that was the only order from the sovereign.

As the group walked toward the compound, they passed through the huge greenhouse. The travel was then punctured by the numerous shouts and exclamations of the little boy. All plants and flowers, stranger and weirder than his imagination were present. As he watched them, he noticed a small fly that was getting close to a beautiful purple flower. Right before he fly landed, a green liana suddenly grabbed it and shot it inside the mouth of another flower. The process was executed in an instant and the two flowers were peaceful once more. After that incident, no more sounds left the lips of the young boy.

The closer they got to their destination, the crowder it became. Most of the time it was only a small group of adults but several massive hordes of teenagers were seen moving as a pack. None of them really looked at the group strangely, all more preoccupied with their own business. The students still had to bow a little when they were close to the leading man and most of the magicians simply nod at him. Leilade figured that the position of a mage from the 5th Circle was clearly important, otherwise, those signs of respect wouldn't have been needed. Neither the remarks that the handsome man threw at the old mage.

When they entered one of the buildings, the leader of the group stopped and looked at the two children. It has already reached this point and he was glad to get rid of them. He rushed to personally be present for the arrival of the youngest daughter of Gwendhir but he only met two small fries. However, since he promised that he will personally test the little girl, he had to waste more time.

"Magician Oscar, please lead the little boy to the waiting room. Since you arrived so soon, he will have to wait a long time so just ask someone to take care of him. Then return to your examination site, I don't want to waste an additional day, with a little luck you will be the only one to have a problem. As for you little girl follow me."

As he talked, he waved his hand toward the two relatively young women, dismissing them. They only showed regret on their faces, to not be close to their idol a little more. The old man grabbed the hand of the little boy and began to explain to him what will happen next. Seeing this, the good looking magician turned around and swiftly marched toward a room farther away. He didn't even look behind to see if Leilade was following or not. After a minute or so, they arrived in front of a simple wooden door.

It was truly a wooden door, however, the number of magical inscriptions invisible to the naked eye was quite impressive. She noticed during the walk that most of the humble door were in the same case, but this one had the biggest amount of protection. She saw at least 6 different spells just on it and looking above she saw a gold plate with three words written on it. "Magus Alexander Arastil". She pondered a bit about why he was called a Magus while the old magician was called mage or magician. Probably a rank.

After the magus disarmed the door, the two of them entered and immediately felt that they were transported in another world. The inside was a lot colder than the warm temperature of the outside. The proof was that with a sleeveless dress, a normal kid wouldn't be cold except at night. But in this room, even with two additional set of clothes, one would still shiver. Only after walking a few steps inside did Alexander realized the problem and turned around to protect the child. To his surprise, however, the little girl didn't even grit her teeth and stood as always without moving. Even some students of the 2nd Circle that weren't good enough had a hard time standing in such a cold environment.

Nonetheless, he still heavily reduced the frost and soon, the temperature was normal. He didn't want to have a student getting her limbs frozen on the first day, without even knowing about her talent. He searched a bit in his desk and finally found a smaller orb. Unlike the other that was half the size of a child, this one was the size of the palm of an adult. He extended it toward Leilade and tried to sound a little bit apologetic.

"Sorry about the magic, it was not meant to be used on such a cute little girl. Anyway, here, take this." He never stopped smiling and Leilade had to admit that he was good at doing this. She couldn't pinpoint the issue, but this man was capable of transmitting the sentiment that he understood all her problems. It was completely impossible, but still, when he was not uselessly arrogant, his voice sounded nice. He will definitely the first to be killed if they attacked this place.

Grabbing the small orb, she immediately repressed the darkness inside her. This time, she won't make the same mistake and she manipulated the mana and tried to form the elemental orbs. At first, there was nothing but soon, she managed to form the orb representing the fire. With that as a basis, she figured it out the rest and soon the four elements were visible. At that time, she began to only examine the face of the magus and began to make the orbs grow. The moment she noticed a shock on the face of the man, she stopped.

For Alexander, however, that girl was a total mystery. He had never heard or seen someone whose talent was growing like that. At most, the test would be conducted in less than ten seconds, but for half of a minute, the orb kept changing the result. And in the end, the talent showed was as bright as the sun. it was even better than him and she would have no problem reaching the 5th Circle in dozens of years. With her and the daughter of the Sword Saint, the Kingdom of Massalia will rise again. But no one could know that fact, even that Moo was unsure otherwise he would have told him. Such a precious gem could be snatched and since she was an orphan, she still had no allegiance. Thinking about that, he looked in the eyes of the girl, asking himself if she will accept his proposal.