Far away from any civilization, there was a dungeon. The entrance had long since collapsed in on itself. As such, it had been years since the last time its inner chambers were disturbed. Within its deepest room, floating spheres of purple flame were all that provided light in the darkness.

In the center sat a skeletal pile. Tiny insects crawled around, moving in and out of the small burrows they had made inside the bones. Inside the skeleton’s dark, empty sockets, a blue glow steadily sparked into existence. A pale string of light traversed through the bones, each one beginning to shift as they were touched by it.

The skeleton slowly became animated once more. The quiet stillness of the chamber was filled with clicks and scrapes as the being rose from the ground. The monster stretched its vast wings of bone, but did nothing else. For it, today would be like any other.

It would feed off the deaths of all insects and small creatures that had died since it had last awoken. After that, the undead monster would return to being dormant. For many years this had been its regular pattern, for it had nothing else that it truly could do. Powerful forces had ensured that it would remain here, trapped and bound to its tomb.

Alterum, last of the dragons, could do little about its imprisonment. But it could gather tiny bits of power through the deaths of bugs. Individually, each one was barely a mere drop in the ocean of negative magic Alterum had at its disposal.

But perhaps, if given a few more centuries, enough power could be saved up to free itself. For now, however, it would simply have to wait and bide its time. Or maybe, the tides of fate would move things in a different direction.

Meanwhile, in First Light City

“How long have you been at First Light Academy, Emil?” The professor asked, her hands clasped together on the desk.

The two of them sat in a small office, a clock ticking in the background. The walls were lined with shelves filled with books. All around them, papers, quills, and ink levitated around. In the air next to the professor, a quill and notebook were writing down their conversation as they spoke.

“It’s been two and a half years now, Miss Carlota.”

“Meaning you’ve been studying at this institution for ten entire terms now, correct?”

“Yes ma’am.” Emil glanced away as he responded, fidgeting his fingers.

“I see, so…” She leaned back into her chair. “Well, I’m sure you are already aware of the reason why I called you here today. This school has a reputation for being amongst the best and brightest in the nation, if not the entire world. As such, to preserve that image, we must keep our expectations strict with our student body.” With a wave of her hand, several papers floated to the desk.

“You barely passed the entrance exam, but the review committee believed you showed promise in certain areas. As such, you were allowed in. You did then make some growth and improvement during your first year. However, in your second, that growth stagnated. And now, in the first half of your third year, you have fallen greatly behind your peers and failed multiple exams. As such, consider this your only warning. We have begun the third quarter for this year, if you fail to show proof that you’re committed to improving and meeting our standards, then expulsion is the only fate that awaits. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes… I understand,” he said, looking down with clenched fists.

“Good. Then you are dismissed.”

“What do they know!?” Emil slammed his hand into the brick wall. Outside the administrative office building, there was nobody around to hear him. The majority of the other students had already left for the winter holiday. And as snow piled on the ground, most of the school faculty spent their time indoors. It was just him and the cold breeze. Blinking away the tears, he stuffed his hand into his coat, and began the walk back to his dormitory.

‘Of course I’m falling behind! No matter what I do, or how much I practice, nothing works! I can’t level up my spells, pick up new ones, or increase my mana pool. I’m not some genius that can just teach myself complex magic just by looking at someone else do it. And I’m not rich enough to be able to buy a skill book and learn it the easy way. So what do they actually expect me to do, pray to the gods for a miracle?’ he internally ranted to himself.

As far as Mages went, he wasn’t necessarily bad. At a C+ grade, Emil was actually above average. If he had gone to any of the lower schools, he would have done quite well for himself. And that would have been enough for him to make a decent living after graduation.

‘But nooooo, I just had to get into one of the top academies. Because if a few cousins could do it, then I could too, right?’

As the oldest sibling of five, it had always been his job to set expectations and be a good example. If even a couple of members of their clan were able to make that achievement, then he had to show his little brothers and sisters that their family could as well. And now, Emil was on the brink of returning home, where he already knew that he would be considered nothing more than a failure.

Fingers already numb from the cold, he reached into a pocket for his keys. After entering the dorm building, he rubbed his hands while walking upstairs to his room. Every student was given their own unit to live in while studying at First Light Academy. Magic allowed each one to be fully refurbished to match the tastes and aesthetic desires of its occupant.

Emil’s was cozy and nothing too fancy. His space had a bedroom, living room, bathroom, and study corner. Almost everything was themed around maplewood, because he liked how it looked. In one wall of the living room was a constantly lit fireplace. To which he now sat in front of, so that he could warm himself.

After a few minutes of that, he stood up to go to his room. Emil opened the chest in front of the bed, and began to rummage around inside of it. He pulled out a scroll and spread it out against the bed. Grabbing a needle, he pricked a finger and let three drops of blood fall onto the parchment. The aspiring Mage wanted to see what his Sheet currently looked like, to see if there was anywhere he could possibly work on and improve.

‘Welp, Intermediate Summoning did go up a level after that last exam. So if there’s still room for me to work with there, maybe I can go all-in? If I just forget about everything else and focus on only that, I could be allowed to stay in and specialize in summoning magic.’

It was a glimmer of hope. He knew that for it to work, even while failing everything else, he would likely need to be number one in the school for that category. Or at the very minimum, somewhere in the top five. But now there were two, what could he do to get it up higher? And what levels were the current top five amongst the third-years?

Emil closed the scroll and put it away. The weather was beginning to get worse. So to answer the second question, he would need to wait until it cleared up. But as far as he was aware, that wouldn’t be until the middle of the night. So tomorrow morning, he would check the academy rankings to see how high he would need to climb to reach the top.