Arnold

Ernst Academy, the number one magic academy on the entire Yulan Continent.

Countless youths blessed with magical talent dreamed of entering Ernst Academy, yet it admitted only one hundred students each year!

Across the vast Yulan Continent, Ernst Academy recruited only one hundred students a year. What were the odds of that? Thus, youths with magical talent but poor aptitude need not even dream of entering Ernst Academy. Every student it accepted was a genius among geniuses.

On the 8th of that month in Yulan Calendar 9991, Ernst Academy was about to welcome the first term of the year.

Ernst Academy was located amid the forested hills more than twenty miles south of the Holy Capital, Fenlai City. Funded and constructed by the Radiant Church, it covered an enormous area, nearly ten miles in every direction.

Standing at the entrance to Ernst Academy, eight-year-old Arnold sighed inwardly. What an impressive sight!

Ernst Academy's main gate was a full fifty meters wide. Above it stood a large crescent-shaped structure, carved with all manner of mysterious magical runes. Judging from their complexity alone, one could tell that the magic formation above Ernst Academy's gate was a large-scale spell formation!

Thus, when Arnold, who had left the countryside for the first time and come to Ernst Academy, saw the gate, his heart surged with excitement.

After calming himself slightly, young Arnold took out his admission letter and identification documents and headed to the entrance to complete his enrollment procedures.

When he reached the enrollment line, there were only two people ahead of Arnold.

The youth at the very front was half a head shorter than Arnold and appeared to be younger. An old man stood beside him.

The youth currently handling his enrollment suddenly turned around and warmly greeted the youth in front of Arnold, who was accompanied by a middle-aged man.

"Hello, I'm Renault from the O'Brien Empire."

Hearing the words "O'Brien Empire," Arnold could not help but feel startled.

The O'Brien Empire was far from the territory of the Holy Alliance. It lay east of the Warcraft Mountain Range, which stretched from north to south across the continent, while Ernst Academy was west of the mountain range. To travel from the O'Brien Empire to Ernst Academy required taking an incredibly long detour. They might have set out half a year ago, or even earlier.

Thinking of this, Arnold felt a little sympathy for the youth in front of him.

"My name is Linley. I'm from the Fenlai Kingdom," the youth in front of Arnold politely replied to Renault.

They had deliberately spent more than half a year traveling to study at Ernst Academy. Arnold greatly admired them, so after Linley introduced himself to Renault, Arnold spoke up as well.

"Hello, I'm Arnold. I'm also from the Fenlai Kingdom," Arnold introduced himself to the two of them in a friendly manner.

Hearing Arnold's voice, Linley turned around to look at him.

Arnold's clothes were very plain. One glance was enough to determine that he was a commoner. However, since he was here, he had surely been selected by Ernst Academy for his exceptional magical talent. Linley did not look down on Arnold because of it.

"Hello!" Renault and Linley greeted Arnold as well.

Renault blinked his large eyes and sighed. "You two are both from the Fenlai Kingdom! You have it so easy! It took me a full year to travel here from home. You must have taken much less time, right?"

"Yes, it took me half a year to get here from home," Linley answered honestly.

"One month," Arnold answered succinctly.

Hearing their answers, Renault's expression became quite colorful. One had spent a year traveling, one had spent only half a year, and the other had spent only twice half a month...

"Student over there, hurry up." The examiner urged him impatiently.

One of the enrollment procedures was to test their abilities. After all, Ernst Academy had to guard against people stealing admission letters and impersonating others.

"I'm coming." Renault immediately went over for the test.

When they saw the results, both Arnold and Linley were greatly surprised.

Renault's elemental affinity was high-grade, while his spiritual essence was...

"Renault, eight years old. Spiritual essence thirty-two times that of his peers. High-grade."

Linley's eyes widened when he heard the number announced by the examiner. However, the examiner showed no reaction, and neither did Arnold.

"Linley, what's with that look? You're surprised already?" Renault said indifferently. "This is Ernst Academy. Only one hundred students are admitted from the entire continent each year. Which one isn't a genius? At my level, I'm only average among the students. Look, Arnold didn't react at all."

Looking at Arnold beside him, Linley found that his face truly showed no expression. Yet Linley thought to himself, Could Arnold's talent be even greater than Renault's?

"But when Ernst Academy recruits students, it favors the Holy Alliance. It takes in fifty students from the Holy Alliance alone, while the four great empires and the Dark Alliance combined only get fifty. That's really unfair!" Renault sighed again.

Hearing Renault say this, Arnold and Linley exchanged smiles. Ernst Academy had been founded by the Radiant Church, so naturally it favored the Holy Alliance.

"My turn." Linley ran over for his test as well.

Renault wrinkled his nose. "This Linley is from the Holy Alliance. Ernst Academy's admissions give him a much bigger advantage than me. His talent is probably inferior to mine." Renault was extremely confident.

When the examiner announced Linley's results, Renault was stunned.

"High-grade spiritual essence, high-grade elemental affinity? And dual affinities in earth and wind?" Renault was completely speechless.

Having even a single elemental affinity reach high-grade was already extremely rare. Yet Linley had dual affinities, and both were high-grade. He was clearly far stronger than Renault.

"Then it's my turn." Arnold ran over for his test as well.

"This time, his talent can't possibly be that good, right?" Renault said weakly.

When the test results came out, Renault was shocked once again, while Linley was also somewhat surprised.

Arnold's elemental affinity was high-grade as well. His earth elemental affinity was high-grade, his wind elemental affinity was upper-grade, and his fire and water affinities were low-grade. As for his spiritual essence, it was sixty times that of his peers, also high-grade. Arnold's fire and water elemental affinities were low-grade, so his achievements in those elements would likely be limited, but his earth and wind affinities were both excellent.

Of course, Arnold's results were slightly inferior to Linley's, but he was still stronger than Renault.

Renault was speechless for a while. He had just entered the academy and already encountered two people stronger than him. Fortunately, Renault was not the type to be particularly jealous.

Next, the three of them collected their Ernst Academy student badges and received their dormitory keys. All Ernst Academy students had to live in the dormitories, and both tuition and accommodation were completely free.

However...

Arnold and Linley did not need to pay tuition, while the old man beside Renault paid the fees for him, leaving the two of them rather surprised.

At that moment, the middle-aged man following Linley smiled. "Tuition and lodging are free only for people from the Holy Alliance. Everyone from other regions must pay expensive tuition fees."

The old man beside Renault smiled kindly at Linley. "That's right. It isn't just Ernst Academy. Even the number one warrior academy on the continent, O'Brien Academy, is the same. Students from its own country have all fees waived, while people from other regions must pay costly fees."