Mark, a young—well, not quite so young anymore—caster from Creekwood Town, Folen Territory, Iris Kingdom, arrived at Caster Association headquarters with a document bag to complete his onboarding procedures.
He was "the village's second college student."
After Jia Xiu, the undisputed "village's first college student," had achieved such success, the town had been waiting for a second one to emerge.
That wait had lasted several years.
Although the townspeople had placed great hopes on Mark, hoping he could follow in his "senior" Jia Xiu's footsteps.
Mark himself knew perfectly well that he could never catch up to his senior.
Having both gone to school was probably the closest thing they had in common.
Even that part was not quite the same. Jia Xiu had gone straight to Saint Dero and graduated in a single year with an efficiency so bizarre it bordered on the supernatural.
As for Mark, his path through school had been much more ordinary. He had first spent over a decade as an apprentice in a Mage Tower, studying from when he was a snot-nosed child until adulthood. Then, rather than gaining direct admission to Saint Dero, he first enrolled in a somewhat lesser academy in Larven. After studying there for three years, he was admitted to Saint Dero for further study, where he spent another seven years completing his education.
Under Saint Dero's evaluation system, students admitted through other schools as stepping stones ranked a level below those who had entered directly through the entrance examination open to all young casters.
Mark knew this very well. From what he had seen during his academic life, there might have been a few exceptions, but in most cases, there really was a gap in talent.
It left one feeling somewhat powerless.
But the good news was that he