With the start of a new month, Merlin’s next stage in life also begins as she looks herself in the mirror ready to attend her first class in Mavis’ Institute of Magic.

Since the institute did not have any regulations regarding clothing, Merlin wore the type of clothing she preferred - a grey long-sleeved hooded robe under which she wore nothing, a brown ruffle miniskirt with black linings and black shorts.

Going downstairs, both her parents were sitting at the dining table waiting for her.

“Merlin! Excited for your first day?” said Nevil.

“I guess so, dad.” replied Merlin.

“Well come, food comes first.” said Nevil as he gestured his hand.

“So do you remember how the buildings are placed, honey?” asked Nenevi.

“Yes mom.” answered Merlin.

“Good, the property is rather huge so it is quite easy to get lost; so be sure to be careful.” said Nenevi.

“Sure.” said Merlin as she continued eating.

A few minutes later, having finished breakfast Merlin went outside into the garden and revised some of the things she had learned within the previous months.

“Water Ball.” casted Merlin as she created a ball of water in her hand.

“Bigger.” she thought to herself as she injected more mana into the spell, slowly increasing the ball of water until it’s size reached that of one with 29.5” in circumference with a diameter between 9.43” - 9.51” and then the ball dispersed, wetting her.

However this wasn’t much of a concern as within the past 3 days she had managed to learn a simple tier 1 spell called Warm Up which increased the body temperature just enough for it to dry the body of water/wetness.

“So, Warm Up works perfectly.” she remarked.

“Spark; Fireball.” she continued revising her learned spells; small sparks of lightning formed on her right hand and a ball of fire on her left. Her mana control had improved significantly within the past weeks with the guidance from her mother. Therefore she could now use dual casting without problem.

Next, she summoned her 3 summons - Leocarus(Unique Summon), Igni(Flame Cambion) and Rock Golem. The three of them had also, to some extent, gotten stronger than before. However before she could continue, the first bell of the Grand Magus’ Tower rang.

From inside the house, Nevil shouted “Merlin!, did you hear that? It’s time to leave.”

Hearing his father’s voice, Merlin returned her summons, went inside her house telling her parents that she was about to head out.

“Bye honey, go make some friends as well.” said Nenevi.

“Have fun Merlin.” said Nevil.

With both her parents send-off, Merlin waved her hands and left the house, towards the institute.

On her way, Merlin quickly bought Mr.Grimwald’s buns and continued towards the institute. A few minutes later, she reached the place and upon reaching the gate, she saw a bunch of people lining up near some sort of stall.

Going in, she also joined the line not knowing what the reason for it was; however since she could see an adult sitting in the stall, she knew it was something important.

After the 10 people in front of her had finished meeting the person in front, Merlin could guess what it was for. And now it was her turn.

“Name?” asked the teacher.

“Merlin.” answered Merlin.

“Full name?” asked the teacher.

“Merlin Lindwell” answered Merlin.

“Ok, wait a few seconds while I search for your name in the register.” said the teacher as he opened his register book, turning the pages.

“Hmm…… ah found it. So you’re Nevil’s daughter, eh? The names Martin, a friend of your father.” said the teacher. “Anyways, where would you like me to put this marking?” he continued.

“Marking?” asked Merlin.

“Yes; you see the marking is a sign that you are now officially a student of Mavis’ institute. It also functions as a threat detector for the Grand Magus who will know when you’re in danger.” answered Martin.

“Okay, here.” replied Merlin, putting forward her palm.

“So you want it in your palm?” asked Martin for confirmation.

“Yes.” answered Merlin.

“Sure, a little bit of this….. And done. Welcome to Mavis’ Institute of Magic.” said Martin, putting on the symbol of Mavis on her palm using a stamp.

“Thank you.” said Merlin as she continued onwards.

A few feet away from Martin was a board; as Merlin approached the board, she saw that the board highlighted the class distribution of the new students into 5 groups each consisting of 50 students.

As she searched for her name, a shy looking girl also approached the board.

“Umm, e..excuse me.” said the girl.

Hearing this, Merlin turned around and saw a long haired, blonde girl smaller than her.

“C..can you p..please search for my n….name as well?” said the small girl.

“Okay, your name?” asked Merlin seeing that the girl’s view was blocked by the other students searching for their name as well.

“Alice.” said the girl.

Hearing the girl’s name, Merlin continued searching for both her name and that of Alice’s’; and a few seconds later she saw both their names in group 3.

“Ah, both of our names are in group 3 in the Magical Block.” said Merlin to Alice.

“T..thank you. C..can I follow you?” asked Alice.

“I don’t mind.” replied Merlin as she walked towards the Magical Block with Alice following her.

Reaching the Magical Block, there was another notice board detailing where the new student’s classrooms are. Of the five floors of the Magical Block building, the new students were to occupy the first floor with the second year students.

Seeing where her room was from the notice board, Merlin went inside the building and headed towards her classroom, followed by Alice behind her.

Reaching the room, as she went inside there were already a couple of students inside; looking around she went to the back seat and sat down, Alice sitting next to her.

“S..so this is going to be our class.” remarked Alice quietly.

“Yes.” replied Merlin.

“Oh, t...thank you.” said Alice thanking Merlin for allowing her to follow her.

“No problem, now we just have to wait for the second bell to ring.” said Merlin.

A few minutes later, Xavier and Melos too entered the same classroom as Merlin and Alice.

Areti who was a part of the group had separated from the two as he was a part of the Physical Block, as such the two of them went towards the Magical Block. Entering the room, Melos saw Merlin sitting at the backseat; seeing the only female she knew being in the same classroom as her calmed her mind by a bit.

“Come, let’s go sit near Merlin.” said Melos to Xavier.

“Huh? Why?” asked Xavier.

“Because she’s the only one I know.” replied Melos.

Since Xavier knew no one except Melos and Areti, he decided to just follow Melos.

Reaching the backseat, Melos asked Merlin,”H..Hello Merlin, c..can we sit here?”

“Sure.” answered Merlin.

The two sat down near Merlin and Alice asked Merlin, “F..friends?”.

“No, just someone I met.” replied Merlin.

5 minutes later, the second bell rang and a minute later, the teacher/instructor for group 3 walked into the room.

Seeing someone come in dressed all formally, the students immediately sat straight up and were all silent.

Standing in front of the students, in front of the big writing board on the wall and behind the podium the teacher introduced himself.

“Hello everyone, I will be your main instructor/teacher for this year. You can call me Sir.Lucas and congratulations on passing the entrance tests. First of all, I would like to say that your first few days will be centered around general knowledge studies since our institute’s principle is that knowledge is power; keep that in mind. Also, although rare we will be giving all of you a timepiece so that you will be able to tell when to arrive at the institute which will be at 9 Moro everyday except the last day of the week starting from tomorrow. And finally your classes will be divided into three types - theory or informative classes, practical classes and sparring classes. That will be all for today’s class and now go to the Showcase Arena where the Grand Magus will be having a congratulatory speech. And before exiting the room come take your own timepiece from me.” stated Lucas.

The students hearing him immediately stood up and went towards Lucas to take a timepiece which they could call their own. The timepiece was made of metal with small gears moving the hands pointing to the time, it had a leather strap on it so that it could be worn by the neck.

Meanwhile, Merlin was still sitting in her seat not in a hurry to exit the room.

“W..when are we going to t..take them?” asked Alice.

“Let’s wait for them to lower in numbers.” replied Merlin.

“Y..yes.” said Alice.

“Come, let’s go take it as well.” said Xavier to Melos.

“Let’s wait for the others too.” replied Melos.

“Really?” said Xavier.

“Yeah, they’re still gathered around the teacher in a group so the fewer they are the easier to take.” said Melos.

“Okay then.” replied Xavier.

As the numbers started to dwindle, both Merlin and Melos stood up and went towards the instructor as they were both followed by Alice and Xavier.

“Hi, name’s Xavier.” said Xavier introducing himself to Alice.

“A..Alice.” shyly replied Alice.

Reaching the podium, they all took the timepiece and headed out to the Showcase Arena.

Although they didn’t know where the arena was, clear signs were put up guiding the new students towards it.

“Where’s your brother?” Merlin asked Melos.

“Ah, h..he’s in the Physical Block.” replied Melos.

“Oh,okay.” simply replied Merlin.

“S..so I saw your fight during the practical tests and you were really great.” recalled Xavier.

“Thanks.” said Merlin. “So are you also her brother?” continued Merlin.

“No no no.” replied both Melos and Xavier.

“We met in the city during the first day of the entrance test so we more or less got along from there.” said Xavier.

“Y..yeah who would want him as a brother anyway.” smirked Melos.

“Huh? What did you say?” replied Xavier.

“Nothing a guy like you should remember.” said Melos.

The two continued pestering each other on their way to the arena as both Merlin and Alice enjoyed the show put in front of them.

A few minutes later they reached the Showcase Arena where they saw Areti waiting for them near the entrance.

“You finally arrived.” said Areti.

“Y..yeah.” replied Xavier, exhausted from all the ‘small talks’ he had with Melos on their way.

“Ah Merlin, so you are in the same class as them?” asked Areti.

“Yes.” replied Merlin.

“Oh, that’s great. Please take care of my sister since you’re the only girl she currently knows.” said Areti.

“Okay. I will try.” replied Merlin.

“Now, let us also go in or we won’t get good seats.” said Areti as he went in, followed by the others.

It took a few minutes for the students to be properly seated and once this was complete, an instructor came out from the separated balcony above the others and clapped her hands releasing a flaming bird out of her hands.

This immediately caught the attention of the students who immediately sat straight and quiet in their seats.

“Now then, since all of the new students have arrived I would like to introduce the Grand Magus.” said Elfilna who was the one standing on the balcony.

Hearing Elfilna call for him, the Grand Magus opened a spatial portal in front of her and came walking out of it.

This immediately surprised the students who knew of space magic.

Coming out of the spatial portal that suddenly appeared was a young looking man with snow white hair and skin. When looked carefully the students could tell that he was a High Elf dressed rather casually for the occasion.

“Hello everyone, I am your lovely Grand Magus.” he shouted. “The reason why I called all of you here today is to congratulate you on entering this institute of mine. I hope that all of you will exceed our expectations and become widely known mages, fighters, and others. I know that all of you have been given basic information in your own classrooms. Like Mavis herself once said ‘Knowledge is power.’. As such you will be taught a wide variety of subjects which will widen your understanding of magic, mana and this world. Every year, there is a tournament called the Mavis Memorial Tournament held inside this arena you’re all sitting on where all the major institutes of Gaia face off to showcase their strength. When this event starts, I want all of you to carry the name of your institute with pride and show me how much you have grown. Until then that’s all I have to say so goodbye.”

Finishing his speech, the Grand Magus went inside the spatial portal and left the arena.

“Now, you heard the Grand Magus. Starting from tomorrow all you must try your best to not let him down, understand?” shouted Melfina.

“Yes!!.” the students answered.

“That will be all for today.” said Elfilna as she signalled for the students to leave the arena.

Outside the arena, Merlin and her group were discussing.

“So the Grand Magus can really use space magic.” said Areti.

“Yeah, easily creating a spatial portal like that and not even closing it before his speech. That was awesome.” said Melos.

“E..excuse me but w..what is space magic?” asked Alice.

“Space magic is one of the newest magic around. It enables users to traverse through dimension and use it as a weapon or as portals to instantly travel from one place to another.” said Merlin.

“W..wow.” said Alice.

The five of them went together till the City Centre.

“Let’s meet each other again tomorrow.” said Areti as they each went different ways towards their homes.