Silvia, too, found it somewhat hard to understand when the academy suddenly announced a one-day suspension of classes, and she could not help feeling faintly anxious.
What many outsiders did not understand was that though being an apprentice at Water-Drawing City Magic Academy appeared glamorous, it meant bearing academic and psychological pressure beyond what ordinary people could endure.
Yes, like many large academies of its kind, they not only had to face stringent graduation assessments, but also extremely difficult final examinations at the end of every term.
And once they failed more than two subjects, they faced two choices: either withdraw from the academy, or repeat the entire academic year.
The former meant that every investment a family had made up to that point would go down the drain; the latter meant paying costly tuition fees that had never been part of the plan.
For an "ordinary" middle-class family like Silvia's, after George's family fell on hard times, they ran that carriage shop in order to support her attendance at the magic academy. Aside from their regular monthly repayments to the Xia Lan Chamber of Commerce, more than half of their remaining income went toward her tuition and all manner of "miscellaneous fees," while the three of them scraped by on whatever was left.
For that reason, ever since she had honorably entered Water-Drawing City Magic Academy amid her adoptive parents' hopes, Silvia had faced unprecedented academic pressure.
The reason the academy dared call itself a magic academy stemmed from Kaierben's founding purpose: to cultivate more people who could contribute to the cause of magic.
Thus, even those without "magical talent" in the entrance examination could enter this academy through examinations and by paying an additional school-selection fee.
But that also meant that what you had to put in was