KRIS' POV

“-THERRR!!!!” A loud voice shocked Kris awake as a heavy object landed on his stomach, making him belch. Straining his eyes open, he saw an angry Claire on top of him.

“Brother! At last! Do you know what time it is? Mom is getting angry!!” She said as she darted her eyes towards the door and back to Kris. Kris shook his head as he carried the flailing Claire and sat her down on the bed.

“What’s wrong, Claire?” Kris scratched his head and squinted as his eyes adjusted with the brightness.

“Mom said to wake you up because you’re going to be late! She's been trying to wake you hours ago.” Claire stood up as she pointed towards the door, her face flushed with worry.

“Late for what?” Kris asked as he shrugged, still feeling tired and reluctant after last night’s experiment.

“To school!!!” Kris bugged out his eyes as he jolted and immediately ran towards his closet, looking for any appropriate clothes.

“Tell mom I’m coming, Claire!” Kris shouted, panicked while rummaging for clothes.

Claire did a childish salute in acknowledgment before running out of the room.

Greattttt.

Inside the carriage, Kris wanted to sink in his seat as his mother crossed her arms while tapping a finger. She had a disappointed look on her face as she frowned. Kris just wanted to run.

I’m not a kid, dang it! I’m Rizale, mom! Have you forgotten?!

He wanted to say that, but his mother's sharp gaze cut him off before he could find the strength to do so.

After what seemed like an eternity, and Kris feeling guilty about putting Kane in a similar, albeit, deadlier situation, his mom sighed then spoke.

“You do know what the tests are going to be about, right?” Marian reproached.

“Ugh…” Kris couldn’t reply.

A vein popped on Marian’s shoulders as she tightened her fists to stop herself.

“Kris… Honey,” she said as she smiled through her anger. “You didn’t even bother to ask Jack about it?” Marian said.

“I thought that you were going to… tell me about it as we went there,” Kris excused.

Marian gulped. Her expression made Kris wince and turn his head away.

“Kris. Why would you not ask the person who recommended you about what to expect. Are you that confident because of your age-old past?” She was fuming. Kris didn’t find the bravery to reply. Truth be told, a test was something that was totally out of Kris' sights. How could he fail a magical test?

Mothers are the same anywhere!

Marian slouched as she seemed to give up admonishing Kris.

“What you should know is that there are three parts to the exam,” Marian touched her forehead, probably feeling for a vein.

“Three parts, you say?” Kris was still feeling a dark atmosphere inside the carriage that emanated from his mom, but he decided to at least genuinely ask and hope that his mom forgave him. He still wasn't the least bit worried about this so-called exam.

“That’s right,” Marian straightened her posture as she bit her lip. She then raised a finger. “The first part is just an overall investigation of your mana capacity and its most suitable attributes. The secon-”

“Wait!” Kris raised his hands and cut her off, aggravating Marian. Marian waited for what Kris was going to say before realizing why Kris was so panicked.

Kris then immediately felt Marian’s mana enter his body and he allowed them passage without fail. Marian’s first bugged out her eyes, before she scrunched her brows and opened her jaw.

“What’s wrong?” Kris asked as he also immediately inspected his mana.

Holy…

His mana felt different. If it was chaotic before, now it was still. Deathly still. It wasn’t tranquil like the other mages which still flowed smoothly and swirled inside the core, and it wasn’t a ravaging cluster of mana that didn’t know what to do with itself, but it just felt, still.

Kris in his panic, looked at his palm and then directed the still mana in his core to his arms. Suddenly there was movement, and the mana gathering on his arms felt similar to the ambient mana around him.

He summoned a small flame and noticed no changes, apart from how it was subtly easier to meld his mana without the power from its chaotic past reduced.

Kris shook his head and looked over to his mom who was as confused as he was.

“What happened to you, Kris?” Marian asked.

“Ugh, I don’t know. Oh wait!” Kris closed his palms as he felt for the spirits that disguised themselves as ring. As usual, their manas felt chaotic, the both of them, but Kris felt like he naturally draws some mana from them equivocally and he didn’t have to think about it. He tried casting another small flame and proved it to be true.

He felt for his core again and noticed that his capacity had been replenished overnight. There were no big differences aside from the stillness of his mana and now that he thought about it…

It’s as if my mana is part of my body now.

Innate mana, chaotic or tranquil, always felt like a collection of energy inside the solar plexus. Mages didn’t consciously think about it, but they could always feel the weight of the mana inside their bodies.

Right now Kris didn’t feel that weight. In fact, unless he tried to actively feel for his core, he couldn’t feel his mana.

“Mom, how does my mana feel to you?” Kris asked, this time excited.

“Well,” she rubbed her cheeks with the back of her hand. “It feels different. But my shock was largely due to the fact that it doesn’t feel chaotic anymore. Strangely, it also doesn’t feel... no actually, it doesn’t feel anything,” She shook her head as she sharply inhaled.

“I could gauge your mana capacity and the overall quality of your mana, but it doesn’t feel anything that’s similar to an emotion. It’s just a blank canvass,” Marian raised her arms, given up for the second time this day.

“I see. Would people notice this during the first phase of the exam?” Kris nodded, slightly anxious about the coming exam.

Marian shook her head.

“I don’t think so. The main difference in the feeling of your mana is that it doesn’t have any attribute that clings to it,” Marian nodded as if to reassure herself.

“Previously, before this change, your mana had no attribute, too. Back then though, it felt really sinister, so I was worried but…”

She leaned forward as Kris felt more of her mana enter his body. “I don’t really know the specifics, Kris. But I’m sure the academy won’t be bothered by it too much as long as you can utilize magic. They might ask a few extra questions though,” Kris nodded.

“Mages of our time have mana that all feel tranquil, but there’s always an attribute attached to it. They’ll just simply think that your mana doesn’t feel like anything simply because there’s no attribute to it,” Marian concluded.

Kris breathed some air of relief.

“Well, they’ll probably turn their eyes toward you for the second and third exams. Speaking of which, the second exam is a practical test where you demonstrate some of the magic you could do. So it’s not really a problem for you, though…” Marian paused again and it made Kris anxious again.

“Why didn’t you ask Jack about this Kris!?” Marian shouted and startled Kris.

“About what? I thought you were going to tell me!” Kris shouted back, his anxiousness warping his tone.

“The third exam is… a panel.” Marian hunched on her chair as her face paled.

“A panel?" Kris furrowed his brows.

“You’ll have to tell them why you want to join the academy, and what you want to work on during your stay for your thesis.”

“Oh, that.” Kris laughed until his jaw dropped slowly and stuttered his laughter.

Marian looked hopeful at first, but Kris’ twitching mouth made her body drop like a puppet in disbelief.

After rapidly exchanging some crude ideas about what Kris could say for the panel, they arrived at the academy and were forced to separate. Kris was really late. He looked around and saw many candidates reading pamphlets and leaving the academy.

Most of them had a satisfied glow around them, but there were a few straddlers here and there that were the epitome of gloom. Kris imagined him becoming one of them and failing, and just the sheer thought made him bolt across the large open field with a few scattered small gardens and marble shelters.

There were a number of large trees by their lonesome at various distances from each other around the field as well.

And large this open field was. The gates were situated far away from the actual building, and he learned that at an even walking pace it took at most 15 minutes to make it from one end to the next.

He ran on a paved, creamy pathway. It was wide enough to fit two carriages side by side that headed straight to the academy’s main section. On occasion he also passed by some benches and magic lamps situated around the pathway.

To the distance, he could finally make out the shape and appearance of the academy’s main building. It was a large octagon shaped building, roughly half the size of the inner wards. It was painted in white, glittering stone as a faint outline of mana traced its edges.

Eight, round towers decorated its corners. These towers seemed to at least be five floors in height, with the main building at roughly three floors in comparison. These towers were connected by walkways, with six passages allowing access to each tower.

There were small closed windows around its walls that copied the building’s octagonal shape, as well as a blue flag bearing this shape that fluttered at the top of the towers.

After a few minutes of running at full speed, he was finally at the entrance of the academy. A man in casual attire noticed him and signaled for him to come close. Kris stopped a few paces away from the man.

“Where you off to?” The man asked as he sized up Kris.

“I’m here for the exams,” Kris said.

The man stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.

“When you enter, turn left and then you’ll see a reception desk. Just approach the woman over there and tell her your name.”

Kris nodded and promptly entered the academy and turned left.

He saw a black-haired girl stand up from a seat with a practiced manner in front of the reception desk, and another woman smiling at the girl. The woman from the academy had an anxious look and was shaking a bit.

The girl had a lavish looking white dress with ruffles on its sleeves. She was accompanied by two powerful looking guards in uniform. The guards had a red cape that bore the crest of Dragnir which was a red star with eight points.

They wore tight plate armor made of some kind of violet metal. The lower edges of their breastplates were decorated with neatly placed blue-colored feathers.

As that peculiar entourage left, Kris slowly walked towards the reception desk. He saw the woman sigh as he approached.

“Hi,” Kris greeted as he smiled nervously. “I’m Kris Raven. I’m here for the exams.” The woman blinked rapidly before recalling something, making her jolt.

“Oh, so you’re Kris Raven? We thought you would never make it.”

“Sorry,” Kris scratched his head. “I kinda messed up earlier this morning,” The woman chuckled as she nodded.

“Who was that girl from earlier?” Kris asked.

“Who..? Oh!” Suddenly, the pitch in her tone dropped as she realized something.

“I’m afraid we can’t take anymore applications. She’s a bit special you see, and she was scheduled to be the last one we examine when all of the others are done. We didn’t expect anyone would be late,” she admonished.

“I would let you take the exam, but since the Princess has already agreed to begin, I’m afraid it’s out of my hands now. Once the examiners are done with her, they won’t accept anymore applications,” she shook her head as she lamented.

Kris arms dropped to his waist as he stared at nothing in particular, dumbfounded.