Chapter 66 - Academy

What waited for me behind the huge gate was a single concrete road. From my earlier scouting I knew that this was the main road that led to the main building of the academy and branches from this road led to the other parts of the academy.

The road went through gaps between different mountains and in some places it looked like certain parts of mountains were destroyed to create a path. From the sky I could not judge the heights of the mountains properly so I did not expect the way towards the academy building to be a mountain trek. I could see the academy building from here since it was on the tallest mountain and I knew I had to climb quite a number of steps to reach it.

I don't know how Aryan reached the gate in such a short time to welcome me. There were anti apparition wards on the academy with only one place which I ȧssumed was the apparition spot for travellers being the only exception so he could not have apparated to the gate. With his back turned towards me I activated my mage sight so that I could judge his strength. I was under the wards so the wards did not affect my mage sight anymore.

What I saw with my sight was odd. His magic core did not look like the magic core I am used to seeing. It did not have a definite shape like the sphere I am used to seeing inside the other wizards. I couldn't compare his strength with others due to this but from the aura around him I could guess that he was stronger than Snape but weaker than Dumbledore.

Before I could think about this further, Aryan turned towards me and said, "This will be where I will be leaving you. You have to make your way towards the Elders building on your own. Its located at the end of this road. I will wait for you there. This is the first obstacle everyone has to pass before they are allowed to take the test before they are accepted. You have to be there in 20 minutes or you will be kicked out."

Then he turned around and flew into the air towards the Elders building without even asking if I had any doubts. Well that explained how he reached the gate very quickly to welcome me. It was not too surprising since I was expecting the Chinese and the Indians to know how to fly due to reading a lot of martial arts fictions in my previous life.

I now regret not trying to learn how to fly using Voldemort's memories since it would have made this test a piece of cake for me. I could not use my animagus so now I had to run fast to make sure that I reached the building in time.

Deciding to leave my other thoughts for a later time, I started my trek. I planned on jogging during the whole trek since I had confidence in my stamina. The daily jogs from a young age had made me physical fit and it was time for me to test the fruits of the many years of hard work.

So I jogged the whole way. Many ups and downs of steps later I reached the base of the mountain on the peak of which the building was situated. It took me about 9 minutes. Due to the high altitude I had some breathing problem but the jog did not make me tired at all. I did not pay any heed to the different braches towards the other parts of the academy the road had. One thing to note was that I did not see anyone else during the whole trek.

Now standing at the base of the mountain I was ready to face what I ȧssumed was tje most difficult part of the test. In front of me were countless number of steps that led to the peak of the mountain. This was going to really test my physical fitness. The time was ticking so I started climbing the stairs.

7 minutes of gruelling climb later I was at the peak of the mountain. On reaching the destination, I relaxed and instantly fell down on my back on the concrete road. My legs were killing me. There was no problem with my endurance since my breathing was still normal but my body was aching like crazy. I started using magic to soothe my pains. I was really thankful for magic at that moment.

While I was healing my legs, I heard Aryan's voice and looked up. I saw him smiling at me and walking towards me.

Aryan "You have managed to pass the preliminary test in 16 minutes Charles. Congratulations. I was not expecting that from a European. In fact you are the first European in two centuries to pass this preliminary test. I heard that European wizards do not pay impotance to physical exercise hence the failure rate."

He then handed me a red coloured potion in a small vial and said "Drink this potion. It will restore your stamina and heal your injuries. You will need to be in your perfect condition for the real test. I will wait till you are ready and then take you to the Elder. You can ask me questions while we wait."

I drank the potion which looked like an improved version of the pepper-up potion and also smelt like it. Instantly I felt a soothing sensation flowing through my body healing all my muscle pains. While this was happening, I decided to ask the question that had been on my mind for the last two days.

I asked "What is the name of this place?"

He smirked and replied "So you were unable to make sense of the words on the gate. I did not expect you to since it was written in a language called Sanskrit. It looks like Hindi since Hindi and many other Indian languages were derived from it. The name of the place is *******. I am sure that you did not understand that since it is Sanskrit. It means the Holy centre for learning."

I nodded and asked another question "Are there many foreigners presently inside the academy who have passed the test and have been allowed an opportunity to study here?"

Aryan replied "Many people have come here to study from all parts of the world over the years. Mostly from Asian countries Only a few foreigners are present inside the academy right now but many of the past student do come by and visit every now and then. None of them are from Europe though. We have not had a European student in nearly 3 centuries."

Before I could ask more questions I heard the sounds of other people talking and saw some people coming out of the building. Aryan went towards them to chat with them. They too had the weird magic cores that I had seen in Aryan but I could sense that they were weaker than him which was good since high disparity in strength between the European and Indian wizards was not good.

I used the free time to take a good look at the Elders building. It was big, bigger than the Black castle but not as big as Hogwarts. I could not judge the number of floors from the outside due to the peculiar structure of the building which was similar to the Chinese buildings I had seen in Mangas but my guess is it has 5 floors. The walls of the building were made up of marble and hence the building was in white in colour. The white building surrounded by snowy mountains gave it a unique beauty and made it more attractive than the Taj Mahal. The building also had similar decorations that were seen on the academy gate which added some extra attraction to the beauty of the building.

While I was admiring the beauty Aryan returned and said "It seems you are are all healed up. Lets go."

I stood up and followed him into the building. It was time for my test.