Violet Academy

Aige knew that a long-abandoned mage tower stood in the middle of Elwynn Forest. It was said to have been built to fight the ancient creatures that often appeared in the forest. It had won great renown in battle and become a legend in its day. But after the tower's master, a powerful mage said to have reached the level of a magic god, fell, the tower had gradually fallen into disuse... If he got the chance, Aige wanted to explore it. As a fellow mage, he might find something worthwhile. He had a strong premonition about it...

For now, though, his headache was figuring out how to find his destination among these jumbled, utterly incomprehensible buildings! And why had they even done away with the road signs here?

As he stood there hesitating, he came face-to-face with three girls traveling together...

The three pretty girls wore standard apprentice robes, making it clear that they were students at Stormwind City's Violet Academy-and senior students at that! In the Mage Quarter, Violet Academy was responsible for teaching most of the magic apprentices. The academy could be said to carry the hopes of reviving both a profession and a kingdom. It selected promising candidates from across all humanity and taught them free of charge. Anyone found to have a talent for magic could attend for free and receive a little spending money each month.

The academy's course lasted five years. During those first five years, all expenses were covered by the kingdom, and it never interfered with an apprentice's freedom or forced him to enlist... But there was no such thing as a free lunch. If the kingdom went to war, the academy was obliged to send magic apprentices into battle when necessary. Of course, even ordinary people should join the fight at such a critical time.

In fact, the kingdom placed great importance on mages. The fact that an entire quarter of Stormwind City had been set aside for them showed the determination of those at the top. The profession was rare and powerful, with demanding requirements for talent. Every mage was a precious asset to the kingdom. Unless there was absolutely no other choice, the kingdom's leaders were even less willing than the academy's administrators to make use of students who had yet to graduate.

If a commoner wanted a higher status and was lucky enough to be found to have a talent for magic, that door would open wide for him... Once they graduated from Violet Academy, as long as they were willing, they would have no worries about status or wealth. Departments throughout the kingdom, military units, and even the great nobles would compete to recruit them. They could become court mages, army mages, or even family mages...

Of course, some chose otherwise. They could strike out on their own and find a place to build a mage tower. Once a mage established a tower outside any family, it meant he was a free mage, independent of the three kinds of mages mentioned above. But it also meant he had to cover his own expenses and pay for his own ideals and research... Most of them were exceptionally gifted, or else unwilling to be constrained by others, and even more likely had personal ambitions. The prerequisite was that they had to be at least a Grand Archmage.

A Grand Archmage was qualified to take on disciples, so many promising mage towers could recruit magic apprentices from Violet Academy or elsewhere and were obliged to help them advance further along the path of magic. But until they completed their training, their masters held the power of life and death over them... If they wanted to learn, they had to pay a price.

Judging by the three girls' clothes, the marks on the upper arms of their robes were five-leaf clovers. The clover represented their status as magic apprentices who had not yet graduated. The five leaves meant they were in their fifth year, but also that their strength was close to that of junior mages. After all, no one could simply loaf around at Violet Academy and expect to graduate.

There was a corresponding assessment for advancing from each year. Pass, and an apprentice would move up to the next year and add another leaf to the mark. Fail, and they would have to repeat the year!

Note that the first five years were free, not that tuition was free forever. If, unfortunately, you failed to advance to the next year within five years, you would remain a one-leaf apprentice and have to either leave the school and make your own way or pay enormous tuition fees to continue your studies... As for the price, I don't think you'd want to know. After all, Violet Academy was unlikely to keep wasting its teaching resources on an apprentice with very poor aptitude.

One more step, and a five-leaf apprentice could graduate, become a junior mage, and be welcomed as an honored guest everywhere...

"What level of assessment are you taking?"

One of the long-haired beauties slyly avoided answering Aige's question directly and asked him one of her own instead.

"I'm here for the junior mage assessment! Which way should I go?"

All three beauties were startled. At first, they had thought the boy had only come for the most basic trainee mage certification. If he had good aptitude, he could enter Violet Academy and enjoy five years of free education, becoming their junior schoolmate. That was why the long-haired beauty hadn't answered directly. She hadn't expected him to be here for the junior mage assessment... Almost everyone understood that people generally wouldn't request an assessment like this, which determined their rank, unless they were confident in themselves. It wasn't mandatory, so they only took it if they were confident; otherwise, they wouldn't go looking to humiliate themselves.

As a result, the success rate for such assessments was over ninety percent. Most of the remaining ten percent simply performed below their usual standard and could generally pass a retest... It wasn't because the assessment was lax, but because those who requested it should already have reached the required level. And, incidentally, the assessment cost money. Who would waste it when they knew they couldn't pass?

"So you're a junior mage, sir. Please forgive us sisters for being presumptuous! You can go straight this way, turn left at the next intersection, then turn right after two more intersections. You'll see a small square with a tall tower beside it, with a staircase spiraling up its exterior. We took our trainee mage assessments on the first floor once. In your case, you can go straight to the second floor."

The girl at the front gave Aige a standard mage's salute. Things were simpler in the world of mages: ranks were rigid, and strength decided everything. The girls still had to pass the final test at the end of the year to graduate. But the test was strict, and those lacking strength would have trouble passing. In past years, less than half of the five-leaf students had passed. Whether the three girls would graduate was still uncertain... From that perspective, Aige's status was already a rank above theirs, even though he hadn't yet passed the junior mage assessment.

"Thank you! May you soon grasp the true essence of magic!" Aige offered the pretty girls his blessing. That was definitely more practical than something like "May the Holy Light fool you."

Following the five-leaf apprentice's directions, he easily found the building, the Mage Quarter's landmark... the Tower of Trials! Receptionists were always on duty here, and every one of them was a real mage.

"Excuse me, I'd like to take the junior mage assessment. Where should I go? What do I need to do?"

Aige politely gave a mage's salute and asked the mage at reception. Even this young woman sitting at the front desk was level 18, a whole tier above Aige at the moment.

"New mage? I don't recognize you. Haven't registered before?"

The girl fired three questions at him in rapid succession, and all Aige could do was nod, nod, and nod again!

"So you're here for the junior mage assessment. I'm a junior mage myself, but I'm not qualified to assess you. Please take the stairs straight to the second floor. There's an intermediate mage there who will tell you what to do. Good luck with your advancement!"

"Thank you!"

"People who come for an assessment of their strength are generally well prepared. My requirements are simple. In a moment, I'll use an item to summon three low-level Murloc illusions. You need to kill them within ten minutes. Or be killed by them... Heh heh heh, just kidding. They're illusions; they can't kill you. But if they really push you that far, your ten-silver assessment fee will have gone to waste. And you won't be allowed to apply again for three months. There's one more requirement: demonstrate at least one junior control spell. A mage without control can't be called a true mage."

The level 26 intermediate mage, a middle-aged man, gave these instructions and added, "You have ten minutes to prepare! I'll start summoning in ten minutes."

"Thank you, sir! Your time is valuable, so we can start right away. I'm ready." Aige had a good impression of the middle-aged man, who wasn't as solemn and stiff as ordinary mages.

"Good, you're confident! Then let's begin!"

The intermediate mage took out an accessory and activated it with magic. A flash of white light followed, and three low-level Murlocs appeared out of nowhere in the spacious trial arena...

"Frostbolt!"

"Frostbolt!"

"Frostbolt!"

"Fireball!"

"Fireball!"

"Frost Nova!"

After firing a Frostbolt at each of the three Murlocs, Aige calmly cast Frost Nova as they approached, freezing them all in place. To be honest, if he hadn't been required to demonstrate at least one control spell, he wouldn't even have bothered with Frost Nova. Let alone Polymorph... That was an absolute god-tier skill. Aige believed that not only the intermediate mage before him, but even many Archmages might not know it. Not every mage on the continent had such a complete system of magic, and there was no need to show his trump card so readily.

After taking his time to put some distance between them, Aige resumed casting a straightforward combination of Fireballs and Frostbolts, picking off the Murlocs one by one. Frost Nova had frozen them for eight seconds, and before long, all three low-level Murlocs had turned into white light and vanished...

"Congratulations, Junior Mage Aige! You've successfully advanced!"