Ernst's New Students

Yulan Calendar, February 8, 9992.

Outside the main gate of the Ernst Institute, carriages stretched into a long line. The boys, accompanied by their families, were there to register. I stood in line and looked up at the imposing entrance—a fifty-meter-wide gate topped by a semicircular structure covered in magical runes, its surface shimmering with a pale golden sheen in the sunlight.

"The continent's number-one magic institute." I repeated the words to myself. "It's certainly impressive."

"Hey, you up front! What are you spacing out for?"

A voice behind me urged me on. I turned and saw a boy half a head shorter than I was glaring at me, with a kind-looking old man standing beside him.

"Sorry." I stepped aside to let him go first.

As he passed me, he glanced back and grinned. "I'm Reynolds, from the O'Brien Empire. What about you?"

"Aikesi Yan, from the Fenlai Kingdom."

"The Fenlai Kingdom?" Reynolds's eyes lit up. "Then you didn't have far to travel from home, did you? I've been on the road for a whole year!"

A year.

I remembered how Reynolds had been described in the original story. As a noble boy from the O'Brien Empire, he'd traveled across the Magical Beast Mountain Range to reach the Ernst Institute. It really would've taken about a year.

"It took me half a day," I answered honestly.

Reynolds's expression froze.

The line to register moved quickly. When it was my turn, I handed over my admission letter and identification, then followed the instructions to take another test in the examination area, to make sure no one was impersonating me.

I placed my hand on the crystal ball.

A brilliant red glow flared, brighter than it had during my first test. I could feel the Fallen Heart Flame inside me quiver slightly, as if responding to the fire energy.

"Superior fire affinity," the examiner reported flatly, then added, "Mental strength: twenty times that of your peers. High."

The admissions staff member beside him nodded and stamped the form.

"Linley Baruch." A familiar name sounded from behind me.

I turned and met Linley's eyes. He wore a gray linen shirt and carried a small bundle on his back. A small bulge on his shoulder was where Bebe was hiding. A sturdy, middle-aged man stood beside him, likely Hillman.

"Fancy seeing you again." I smiled at him.

Linley nodded, a flicker of surprise in his eyes as he seemed to try to remember who I was.

"The Church of Light, on testing day," I reminded him. "Aikesi Yan."

"I remember." Linley smiled politely. "You were the one with superior fire affinity."

We chatted briefly. He went to register while I waited nearby with my dormitory key. When the examiner announced Linley's results, his voice rose slightly. "Superior earth and wind affinity. Mental strength: eighteen times that of your peers. High."

I looked at him and thought to myself, So this is the protagonist. Even without Grandpa Doehring, his natural talent is top-tier.

"Dormitory 1987." I held up my key for Linley to see. "What about you?"

Linley glanced at it and took out his own key. "Same."

Reynolds had finished registering by then. He came over to look at our keys, then cried out in delight, "I got 1987 too! The three of us are roommates!"

A coincidence of fate.

Or perhaps the result of my own deliberate choice. When I registered, I'd made sure to join the same group as Linley. In the original story, Dormitory 1987 housed four people: Yale, George, Reynolds, and Linley. Now there was one more of us. I wondered what would happen.

The dormitory area was even larger than I'd imagined. Row upon row of detached houses stood neatly arranged, numbered from 0001 onward, with a hundred houses in each row. We ran to the twentieth row and found number 1901, then continued east. At last, panting, we spotted the plaque for 1987.

"Whew... I'm exhausted..." Reynolds gasped, hands on his knees.

I looked back at him. The kid was already panting after a short run. His physical fitness really was terrible.

"Already tired?" Linley asked, a little surprised.

Reynolds rolled his eyes and was about to reply when a clear voice came from the courtyard. "Put it over there! Yes, set the box down carefully! Gently, gently! You couldn't afford to replace it if you broke it!"

The three of us went in curiously.

A lavishly dressed boy, half a head taller than Linley, was directing several burly men as they carried things inside. When he saw us, his eyes immediately lit up. He hurried over, taking three steps at a time. "Haha! You must be my roommates! I've been waiting ages for you to show up!"

"I'm Yale, from the Holy Union!" He enthusiastically held out his hand.

I shook it. "Aikesi Yan, from the Fenlai Kingdom."

"Linley Baruch, from the Fenlai Kingdom." Linley introduced himself too.

"Reynolds, from the O'Brien Empire!" Reynolds puffed out his chest.

When Yale heard "O'Brien Empire," his eyes lit up even more. "Wow! You came all the way from that far? I'm impressed! Come on in and sit down. No need to stand around by the door!"

His enthusiasm left the three of us a little flustered. The courtyard was piled with all sorts of things, and several servants were busy sorting them. Yale told them to carry on, then ushered us into the living room.

Four chairs had already been set out, with fruit and pastries on the table.

"I knew my roommates would arrive today, so I got everything ready in advance!" Yale said proudly. "Come on, eat and chat. We'll be brothers for decades!"

Decades.

I repeated the word to myself. The Ernst Institute required students to reach the sixth level of magic before they could graduate. Even the most talented students needed more than a decade, and taking several decades was perfectly normal for those who were less gifted.

"How old are you?" Reynolds asked Yale.

"Ten. What about you?"

"Eight."

"Linley? How old are you?"

"Nine," Linley answered.

Yale looked at me.

"Nine," I said.

"Perfect. I'm the oldest!" Yale slapped his thigh. "That makes me the eldest, and you're the second, third, and fourth—wait, there are four of us now. How do we rank?"

"By age, obviously," Reynolds said nonchalantly. "You're ten, so you're the oldest. Linley's nine, I'm nine, and Aikesi is nine—"

"No, no." Yale waved a hand. "You're all the same age. How do we rank you? Maybe by who enrolled first? Or by strength?"

"By birthdays," George said from the doorway.

We turned to look. A boy who seemed much more composed walked in, followed by several servants carrying things.

"I'm George, ten years old, from the Yulan Empire," he said with a smile. "I heard you arguing about the order outside. Birthdays would be the fairest way."

"You're ten too?" Yale's eyes lit up. "Then we're the same age! What month were you born?"

"September."

"I was born in March!" Yale was thrilled. "I'm older than you!"

George laughed helplessly. "So we're ranking by age, with the older ones first?"

"Of course!" Yale said, as if it were obvious. "Wait, no... Then how do we rank the three nine-year-olds?"

All four of them looked at Linley, Reynolds, and me.

"I was born in March," Reynolds said first.

"November," Linley said.

"August," I said.

And so the final ranking was set: Yale, ten years old and born in March, was the eldest; George, ten years old and born in September, came second; Aikesi Yan, nine years old and born in August, was third; Linley, nine years old and born in November, was fourth; and Reynolds, nine years old and born in March, was the youngest, fifth.

"Fifth!" Yale hooked an arm around Reynolds's neck. "You're the youngest now. All the dirty and tiring jobs are yours!"

"Why me!" Reynolds cried, struggling to get free.

I sat to one side, unable to keep from smiling at the sight.

This was Dormitory 1987. In the original story, the bond between the four roommates ran through the whole book. Now I was part of the group too. I wondered how things would turn out. But watching them fool around, I felt something stir inside me—

Before I crossed over, I'd been a programmer who worked overtime until late every night. I had few friends and practically no social life. Now, all of a sudden, I had four people my age to live and study with. This warmth... It felt pretty nice.

"Hey, third brother, what are you thinking about?" Yale came over with a plate of pastries. "Eat up. Don't be shy. I brought them all."

I took one and tried it. It tasted good, sweet but not cloying. It must have been expensive.

"Thanks, big brother."

"Just call me Yale!" He waved a hand magnanimously. "Forget about eldest, second, and all that. We're all brothers now!"

Just then, Linley's clothes suddenly rustled.

"Squeak—"

A tiny black head poked out, two round, bright eyes curiously surveying the room.

Bebe.

"What is that!" Reynolds cried first, eyes wide.

Startled by the shout, Bebe ducked halfway back inside, then poked his head out again and bared his teeth at Reynolds, as if to show his displeasure.

"He's my companion, Bebe." Linley lifted Bebe out and placed him on his shoulder. The Shadow Mouse sat obediently, though his eyes continued to sweep over us warily.

"A Shadow Mouse!" Yale leaned closer in surprise. "Linley, you tamed a magical beast?"

"More or less." Linley smiled without elaborating.

I looked at Bebe and marveled to myself.

"Third brother, why are you staring at him?" Reynolds came over.

"Nothing." I looked away, picked up a pastry, and tentatively offered it to Bebe. "Want some?"

Bebe cocked his head at me but didn't move.

"He's shy around strangers," Linley said. "He'll warm up once he gets to know you. He likes roasted meat best."

I pulled the pastry back and took a bite myself. Bebe stared at it for two seconds, then turned his head away, as if to say he didn't want it anyway.

"Quite the character," I said with a laugh.

George spoke up. "I asked around when I registered. There are a hundred students in this year's intake, and they're all very talented. One of them, Dixie, is a dual-element mage whose mental strength is sixty-eight times that of his peers."

Sixty-eight times.

The figure made me draw in a sharp breath too. Dixie, the greatest prodigy in the original story, had become a fifth-level mage by the age of twelve. His younger sister, Delia, was one of Linley's love interests.

"Sixty-eight times?" Reynolds's mouth fell open. "Is he even human?"

Yale, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. "What good is talent if you don't work hard? You'll still end up useless. My mental strength is pretty average, and I got in, didn't I?"

"How did you get in?" Reynolds asked curiously.

"Pulled some strings, of course." Yale admitted it without a care. "My family has connections with the Radiant Church. A little money, and they let me in."

George and I exchanged glances and laughed.

Yale really was... refreshingly straightforward.

"By the way, third brother, how talented are you?" Yale suddenly asked.

"Superior fire affinity. My mental strength is twenty times that of my peers," I said.

"Twenty times!" Reynolds cried again. "Why are all of you so ridiculous? My mental strength is only thirty-two times that of my peers!"

"Thirty-two times is a superior rating, isn't it?" George said.

"What good is a superior rating? Linley has superior affinity for two elements and eighteen times the mental strength. You have superior fire affinity and twenty times. Dixie has sixty-eight times. How am I supposed to compete with you?" Reynolds said with a pout.

Linley smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Talent isn't everything. Hard work is what matters."

I nodded in agreement.

No matter how talented you were, it meant nothing if you didn't work hard. Linley's rise from a boy in a small town to a Dragonblood Warrior hadn't come from talent alone. He'd trained diligently for more than a decade.

"Enough with the speeches." Yale stood up. "We just got here, so let's explore the institute first. I'll treat you tonight, at the Wald Hotel!"

"You have money?" Reynolds looked at him skeptically.

Yale pulled a golden card from his robe and waved it around. "A Magic Crystal Card from the Four Nations Bank. There must be at least a few tens of thousands of gold coins on it. That'll keep us fed for years."

Tens of thousands of gold coins.

I did the math to myself. Though the Akes Family was wealthy, I only got five hundred gold coins a year in spending money. Yale could casually throw around tens of thousands. As the young master of the Dawson Chamber of Commerce, he really was in a different league.

At dusk, the five of us walked along the Ernst Institute's tree-lined paths. The setting sun filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Ancient buildings stood in the distance, while students walked by in groups. Now and then, an older student flew overhead on a magical beast.

"So this is the Ernst Institute," Reynolds said in awe.

"We'll be here for decades," George said.

"Then decades it is. What's there to worry about when we've got our brothers?" Yale slung an arm around my shoulders, then around Linley's. "Third and fourth brothers, we five are one family from now on!"

Linley smiled without speaking, but warmth shone in his eyes.

I felt the weight of his arm on my shoulder, and my emotions suddenly grew complicated.

After crossing over into this dangerous world, I'd only wanted to keep a low profile, develop safely, and live a peaceful life. But now, somehow, I had four brothers. Somehow, I'd become the "third brother." The feeling of being accepted...

It felt pretty nice.

"We're here! The Wald Hotel!" Yale pointed to a three-story building ahead. "Tonight, we drink until we drop!"

"You're eight. What are you going to do with alcohol?" George teased.

"Juice works too! It's the atmosphere that matters!"

We laughed as we walked into the hotel.

That night, when we returned to the dormitory, the five of us gathered in the courtyard and chatted late into the night. Yale told stories about his amorous exploits back home, Reynolds bragged about his travels, George shared gossip from the empire's magic institutes, and Linley occasionally chimed in with amusing tales from his hometown.

I leaned back in my chair, listening to their voices and watching the stars in the night sky.

At some point, Bebe slipped out of Linley's arms and curled up beside a rock in the corner of the courtyard, gazing at us with his round, bright eyes.

[Beep—detected current scenario: sharing a dormitory with the protagonist of the original story.]

[Hidden sign-in condition triggered. Sign in?]

The system's voice rang out without warning.

I froze, then silently thought, Sign in.

[Sign-in successful.]

[Reward received: Fire Magic Insights (a Saint-level fire magus's cultivation notes, including detailed explanations of fire magic from levels one through nine and the principles behind some forbidden spells).]

I took a deep breath, suppressing my excitement.

Fire Magic Insights—a Saint-level magus's cultivation notes. This meant that starting tomorrow, my progress in fire magic would far outstrip that of anyone at my level.

"Third brother, what are you spacing out for?" Yale called.

"Nothing." I gathered my thoughts and looked at them. "Go on. What were we talking about?"

"We were talking about a waterfall behind the institute!" Reynolds jumped in. "How about we go take a look tomorrow?"

"Sure."

I smiled in agreement, my gaze passing over Linley, then Bebe, then the four friends I'd only met today, who already felt like family.