Chapter 5: First Year of Studies at the Academy

Chapter 5: First Year of Studies at the Academy?

The teacher introduced himself without further ado when everyone was quiet and sat.

"My name is Julian Roth. I am the teacher who will be in charge of your group for this year.

For those of you who have siblings at the Academy of Stars, you may already know how things will be. But I will say this before we start the class for those of you who are not yet aware of our activities.

I will teach you some basic subjects, among them the history of Polaris Realm, specifically that of our state, Seidel Kingdom. We will also study our language, Telean, and last but not least, economics."

There wasn't much need for 5-year-olds to learn more than that in this society.

In economics, they learned the basics of the mathematics developed in this world and about the histories of currencies and trade.

In the study of the Telean language, they would finish learning their native language, one of many in Polaris Realm.

Later in their journey, they would study other languages. Yet, first, they had to develop their language skills in Telean as much as possible in their first year at the academy.

Also, because of the magical talents existing in this world, learning a new language became easier when people reached their 14th birthday and went through awakening. Thus, it was best left to learn other languages besides the essential ones at that time.

As for Telean, this was not a difficult language, although it was composed of symbols rather than letters, like some of the oriental languages on Earth.

Finally, in history, these youngsters would learn not only about the past of their kingdom and continent, but they would also see a bit of magic!

Since it was not the focus of this academy to teach about magic, they merely lectured about this possibility for the youngsters to learn about the basics.

Julian quickly explained this to his students, always speaking in the same tone while looking at them seriously.

In the middle of this presentation, Ian said to Rory and Vice. "We were unlucky... Professor Julian is one of the most demanding. I hear he is very strict in his classes."

"Is that so?" Rory asked, worried.

Having heard of this man from his sister, Vice already knew this and said, "We'd better not talk too much now, or we'll be the first examples he'll use..."

Professor Julian continued his presentation. "Finally, you will be taught self-defense and the warrior path. But I will not be the one to teach you, but Professor Lane.

You will meet him later, so keep this information for now." He said, walking across the room, his arms behind his back.

As he walked between the students' desks, he looked intently at some of these young people, noticing who was talking or paying attention to his words.

As he walked through his class, he would merely stop next to those most active in their conversations, making them stop talking.

After he finished introducing himself, he climbed the small platform at the front of the room. There he made a few hand seals, and the blackboard in front of those children began to change.

When they saw that, even those talking stopped what they were doing to pay attention, seeing the teacher already starting the lesson using magic.

"Let's start with the most important. Magic!" He said as the blackboard glowed, showing various pictures and words in a way that held the attention of everyone there.

"As some of you may already know, magic is the refinement and application of magical power.

But it doesn't come from nothing. It depends on some crucial elements.

They are:

1. Mana, related to your genetic heritage.

2. Magic Gem, related to your awakening," he said, pointing to the green triangular stone in the middle of his forehead.

3. "Magic attributes, which are related to the types of spells that we are compatible with.

4. The variables related to luck and perseverance."

After those words, a table with two stages and their sub-levels appeared on the blackboard.

"Apprentice and Acolyte are the two stages most Polaris Realm beings are at. They will probably be the limit for almost all if not all of you, so we won't talk about what lies ahead.

However, know there are more stages for a magician to pursue and become stronger!" He said in a solemn tone, for even he, who had formidable talents by the standards of this village, was limited by these two initial stages of the magical journey.

The students listened to him and paid attention to the graph presented, where Vice discovered the beginning of the magicians' ranking in this world, which began with the Apprentice stage and had three sub-levels.

They were: Junior, Intermediate, and Senior.

The second stage, Acolyte, had five sub-levels, from the 1st to the 5th Triangle.

What were these triangles? He didn't know.

"... For the 2nd magic stage, the sublevels have these not-so-good names, but they describe what happens in the stage, so even today, those names are kept.

However, as you travel around the kingdom or even Polaris Realm, you may come across people designating these sub-levels differently.

Very often, people will call an Acolyte with the 1st Triangle formed a First Level Acolyte or even a Level 1 Acolyte, so don't be surprised by these ways of speaking..."

The class continued as the young people paid attention.

Eventually, the professor stopped talking about magic after telling these young people about the beginning of magical cultivation rank.

There were many essential things for him to teach them, such as the elements, how they would influence their spells, awakening, the Magic Gems, artifacts, professions, etc.

But they would learn this throughout their first year at the Academy of Stars and their journey to their 10th year.

Then after a few minutes of talking about magic, he would follow with the beginning of the history class, which would take up much of their study time along with the Telean classes.

But these youngsters only studied from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., when they had a break for lunch and then physical practice, where they would learn to fight and handle weapons.

Before 3 p.m., their school day would end when most would return to study at home, and some would accompany their parents to start learning their professions.

This would be Vicente's routine for the next few months until he reached his 6th birthday and a new school year began a few weeks after his birthday.

Like on Earth, there were summer vacations in this world when students could spend more time with their families and friends. These were great opportunities for children to play and build friendships beyond the academy gates.

When his vacation began, Vice took the opportunity to further improve some of the relationships he had started within the academy.

During the school year, they had little chance to develop their friendships. Still, during the vacations, he would make the most of it to get even closer to Rory and Ian, getting his first friends in Martell Village.

But he would also end his first year of studies and vacation with some disaffected classmates whom he had not had good relationships with.

And then, on the eve of the beginning of his second year at the Academy of Stars, his second sister was born!