The central Academy building was a bustle of activity. There was a variety of ages to be seen, but most people attending seemed to be in their teens or early twenties. Vitin was greeted by a lot of people as they made their way inside which Christopher found remarkable at such a large institution. She shared a few kind words with the people that approached her so it took some time to move through the masses.

Christopher took a good look around the stadium-sized hall. The Hall had a somewhat spartan design with few adornments and carvings within its confines. His eyes were drawn to remarkably large stone staircase in the middle of the space. The staircase that led downwards into the earth was processing a constant stream of foot traffic, both coming and going. A sign placed above the staircase listed a stunning number of destinations, suggesting an unseen world below.

The stairs were not the only part of the central building that attracted scores of people. There were large wooden boards filled with parchments, around which large groups congregated. The plethora of conversation across the hall created a somewhat pleasant ambiance. Most simply seemed busy getting to their next destination. Christopher was surprised by the sheer number of people; the Academy was larger than he had anticipated.

Vitin smiled at her surroundings, seemingly enjoying the atmosphere of the place as well.

“This is the main hall of the Academy. The rest of the Campus can be found in the surrounding area and also partly below ground.”

Christopher nodded attentively.

“You can enroll yourself for classes at one of the registries over there.” She pointed to some booths to his right that only had small lines of people waiting for their turns.

“The most popular classes will likely be full at this point or can only be entered by an invitation from the specific tutor. But there should still be plenty of decent classes with spots open.”

That adhered to his expectation, he was joining quite late in the semester after all. Christopher would be satisfied with whatever he could get at this point.

“Do you have any tutors that you recommend?”

“Hmm, what Soul Effect are you developing now?”

“I have been working on my Soul Light”

“Sorry, I’m not sure that I really have any recommendation there.”

“No worries, I can always just ask around or even just try out a few different classes.”

They walked to the left side of the hall where an enormous black metal plate was attached to the wall, drawing the eyes of numerous people there. white softly glowing letters covered the entirety of the plate, contrasting starkly with the deep blackness.

He read the letters at the top, which read out The Mage Rankings. Glancing at the small letters below he could make out countless names covering the rest of the black surface, behind numbers counting up to 200.

“Oh, they have rankings for the strongest mages too?” He asked Vitin with surprise

“Yes, the 200 most skilled Soul Mages of Lumen as judged by a jury. Points are rewarded based on the mastery of both lower and higher tier Soul Effects.” She hesitantly looked around for a moment. Softening her tone. “Honestly, most of the people on this list are pretty ancient, with quite a few of them teachers here. They get a stipend just like the fighters in the arena, although the money is only a fraction of what those on the Lumen Ladder get. Students like to maintain their own ranking of the most promising new students as well; those are published every two weeks in the Academy Paper. Unfortunately, those rankings are just as much based on politics than they are on skill.”

They sure adored their rankings here in Lumen, it was clearly a cultural thing where they very much focused on a person’s skills. Christopher liked getting competitive from time to time but this was kind of ridiculous.

“Are these rankings based on fighting ability as well?”

“Not at all. In fact, fighting techniques have somewhat gone out of fashion. Most people like to develop skills that are focused on economic utility. There is a bit of a stigma here that people who focus on developing it for fighting are wasting their talents. Those same people are now also denying the increased activity from the Blight.”

Christopher was not surprised with the disregard for the danger, it was prevalent everywhere in Lumen. It was a bit strange considering how many Kingdoms had already fallen, but a hundred years of peace could apparently placate people significantly. Unfortunately, it seemed clear that unlike the people here, the Blight had not been resting on their laurels.

As Christopher was looking at the names on the black plate, he recognized some of the names from the Lumen ladder. Anara, the number one of the Lumen Ladder, was only placed at number sixty-four here. He had kind of expected someone like her to be higher. Surely all of these people on this list would be useful in the fight against the Blight, even if most did not focus on developing their magic for fighting.

As Christopher was reading the list, they were suddenly interrupted by someone behind them.

“Vitin, what a surprise to see you here, I thought you would be practicing considering how the last combat demonstration went down.”

The speaker was an elegantly dressed young woman with auburn curls. Her eyes were hawkish as she stared down at them.

This girl’s tone of voice immediately pissed him off. She was clearly taking a dig at Vitin.

Vitin answered. “Thank you for your consideration Elle, but maybe you should focus on trying to get your own technique under control.”

“My control is impeccable I assure you. Unlike you I am actually making progress with my technique,” she answered haughtily.

Christopher stood there somewhat awkwardly at the interaction. A few other people had also taken notice of the interaction.

Elle noticed him for the first time. “And who is this vagabond, you always hold the most interesting company.”

Before Christopher could comment, Vitin spoke. “Christopher here is a new entry into the Academy, maybe you should not ruin his first impression of his fellow students.” Vitin looked increasingly annoyed at the interruption by the girl, at which Elle chuckled.

“My apologies.” she said sarcastically. “With you spending time on fiving guided tours, does that mean that you have finally seen the futility in trying to beat me in a match then?”

Vitin snorted. “Yeah right, if you don’t want to lose next time, then I suggest that you get some practice in instead of engaging in this riveting conversation.”

“Great same time and place then.” Elle said while waving a hand and strutting away.

Vitin turned towards him. The few onlookers losing interest. “See what I have to deal with, some people just take a rivalry to personal.”

“You have my sympathy.” Christopher answered. “So, people are actually allowed to have matches with their techniques here.”

“Kind off, but it requires a teacher to be present and the allowed use of specific techniques to be cleared beforehand.”

Christopher would love to see such a battle, spectating a Soul Force battle would certainly be interesting.

Vitin continued with the tour, explaining how the time and location of classes were scheduled. She also explained how the lower Academy was pretty easy to navigate once you got used to the marking system.

“Any questions?” she asked after she returned another greeting from a passerby. Christopher actually got some looks as well, maybe from being with Vitin.

“I was wondering where I can find the library? I have been hoping to visit it for a while now.”

“The library is below, although pretty much just straight down from here, the guiding system should be easy to follow. You so have to show your student pass to gain entry into the library.”

In that case, he was going below soon. He felt like information gathering deserved a decent portion of his time.

“Thank you, one more question. What is the best way to enter and exit the Mage district? I was told that there were tunnels.”

Vitin gave him some rough directions and on what to look out for. The tunnel leading out were apparently part of the Underground system. Luckily it seemed that one of the tunnels led to somewhere only a few minutes from his lodgings.

“Thank you, I should be able to manage now. I should probably register for some classes.”

“Good luck, I am sure that there are some good ones that have not been filled yet, there are always some hidden gems from new and unknown teachers.”

Vitin continued. “I guess I should hurry back, I don’t want to leave old man Ullu to fend for himself for too long. I am technically still on security right now.”

“Thanks again, see you around.”

Left to his own devices, Christopher started to consider what classes he should sign up for. What would be the most beneficial in the limited time that he had here. He figured that some more information would be useful, it would be a shame to waste time by learning from poor teachers, it might even be detrimental to his future progress. Therefore, he did something that was uncharacteristic for him. He left the registration section and started asking other students for advice. He carefully selected some people that seemed approachable. There were a lot of people here which felt rather pressing but he persevered. It was a bit awkward at times, but it got him some good information eventually, it eliminated some poor options and even got him a recommendation for an apparently somewhat monotonous but skilled Soul Light teacher.

Christopher got in line at one of the class registrations desks, only having to wait a minute or two. Christopher made two selections for now, he could join other classes after considering his option further. He had chosen a beginner class on the fundamental effects, as well as one specifically focused on Soul Light. He had asked for a class that taught more advanced techniques, but those were not available to him yet. He would need to get a permission slip from a certified teacher, which was probably impossible at his current level. The Manual had very much stressed on first learning all the basic Effects after all.

Before starting his search for the library, he first wanted to explore a bit more in the surrounding area. He came across some signs that pointed towards a number of training fields, which he gleefully followed.

He soon walked by a training field that was attracting the attention from spectators. On one side there were two people that were practicing a basic effect that he knew was called Soul Current. The two women were using a technique that jetted a small stream of water out of their hands. ‘Farming must really be a cakewalk in this world.” Christopher once again realized.

“What, is she taking a leak?” a spectator mocked the small trickle that was produced by the Soul Current users, which elicited some laughter from the small group.

However, the spectacle that was attracting the crowd's attention could be found on the other side of the field.

The puddles that were created with Soul Current were used for a Soul Art that was very familiar to him. An entire class stood together on the field, seemingly practicing their Soul Frost by freezing the puddles. A man that he assumed was the teacher appeared to be writing the result on a scroll.

“What are they doing?” asked Christopher to an older looking spectator on his side.

The woman took a quick look at him before answering. “That is the class of instructor Sulus. Just another competition that he is holding among his students, which is always great for entertainment. The top thirty get to be in his class, he only wants the best.”

Good god, the competitive spirit in this place was overkill. Well, his Soul Frost could probably use some more practice as well.

He kept watching the spectacle. Most only managed to freeze over a smaller section of a puddle, but there were also plenty that showed clear ability.

At the moment a young man in flamboyant red clothing and ink-black hair was impressively freezing over one of the larger puddles. Christopher was most surprised to see that the young man did not actually touch the water but held his hands a few inches above the surface. The blue misty Soul Force looked more concentrated as well. He had now seen this imbuing from a distance with multiple participants. Christopher had believed that you needed to touch the material that you were imbuing so this was a bit of a shock. A few of the spectators cheered at the young man’s accomplishment.

The apparent instructor called forward the next participant.

The teacher was a muscular man with neat black hair and a short well-groomed beard. He looked to be around forty years old. He wore what somewhat resembled a suit, although it also looked somewhat militaristic, with buttons and metal insignia. Two metal shoulder pads completed the ensemble.

Christopher was at least somewhat confident about his own Soul Frost. It was not as good as his Soul Heat, but maybe he should actually audition. He did not necessarily like the cutthroat method of selecting students, but clearly, there were plenty that wanted in, suggesting that there was some value in the classes. The line was winding down, so he would need to decide now if he wanted to give it a go. ‘Hell, why not.’

He somewhat hesitantly stepped to the back of the new short line of participants. Sulus was often silently noting down the names and performances on some parchment with a Red-beak feather, so the ranking was probably still unknown and left to be announced.

Christopher was somewhat unsure about his last-minute decision, but it was not as if there was much to lose. He was sure that there was still plenty to learn, even in Soul Frost. After observing the rest he believed that he should be able to finish within the top thirty. Christopher had managed to completely freeze over a bucket of water, so just the surface level of a smallish puddle should be something that he could manage. He had seen several people now that had not managed to freeze all that much surface area.

No more people joined the line after him so he was the absolute last.

“Alright move up, let’s see what you can do.” Said Sulus eventually. The instructor pointed to one of the many puddles remaning, this one decently large. He got into position, the others looking at him with clearly low expectations.

Most spectators were still around, probably waiting for the final results to be announced. He hesitantly walked up to his assigned puddle and stuck his entire hand in the water, which elicited some snickers and even a cough from the instructor. He did not have much occasion to unleash his entire Soul Force reserve in one go, but this seemed appropriate here.

He soon focused on stilling the movement of all atoms in the water and started infusing his Soul Force. It quickly spread outwards from his hand, the circle of ice growing steadily wider. It was a pretty large puddle, which meant that he had to almost use all of his Soul Force to reach the edges of the water, but in the end, he managed it just barely. Christopher wiped his now wet hand on his clothing. In his own judgment this feat was only replicated by less than half of the students. The regular clapping followed from the spectators at the result, a good sign, although some looked at him more hostile than others, clearly not pleased with the additional competition.

“That were all of the applicants it seems then” Instructor Sulus spoke out. “I have to say that I am disappointed in the level of Soul Control shown today, no student of mine should feel the need to directly touch the imbued object or material.” Sulus patted his beard before continuing in a almost cocky fashion. “Well, it is only fair to show all of you what you will be aiming for. Time for a personal demonstration.”

Sulus walked up to the largest puddle around, larger than the next two biggest combined. Christopher had a hard time believing that the man could freeze it over, it was a degree above anything else they had seen.

But soon it was proven that the man’s confidence had been well placed. Sulus did not even have to bend down, his hand was still a good meter above the water when he started imbuing his Soul Frost. Somehow, Sulus managed to focus his Soul Frost into the water from such a great distance. With startling speed as well, the almost ten-meter-long puddle froze over entirely, he would not have been surprised if the puddle was frozen through all the way to the bottom. Loud applause could be heard from the spectators, and he and the other student candidates clapped along. He was truly impressed and it was quite the impressive sight. Sulus had a wicked grin and gave them and the spectators beyond a theatrical bow.

That was a somewhat humbling demonstration and a sign that his Soul Frost had a long way to go still. His Soul Frost was not anywhere near his Soul Heat, but he had still felt pretty confident about his ability before. Now there were suddenly plenty of people that did it better than him. Maybe his scientific image could not lift all the work here. What would he be able to achieve if he combined his effects with hard work and dedication to improving every aspect of the process? The thought excited him.

Sulus soon started working on his list, probably working out the thirty highest scores. The other students looked at Christopher with some interest, maybe sizing up a new rival. He was really not desiring any such dynamics but realized that the culture here and the nature of this class would make it hard to avoid.

Soon Sulus started dramatically reading out the names, it appeared that he went from the highest score to the lowest, since among the first names were a few that Christopher had judged most impressive. He was starting to grow increasingly nervous as the names followed, wondering whether him not imbuing from a distance had cost him. He was soon able to stop worrying when he eventually heard his name at the eighteenth spot. ‘So, I am actually below average in this class?’ he realized, relishing the opportunity to learn more.

“Excellent work everyone, don’t hesitate to try out for the class next week, maybe you will make it then. There are always some spots that open up from people leaving towards other pursuits. To all that made it, let’s have an hour break before we start class. That should be enough time for everyone to be back up to full Soul Force.”

That was quick, they were having a lesson already. This should be rather interesting; this would be his first lesson at the Academy. Christopher hoped that he would be able to follow along.