‘Minjun, have some breakfast before leaving!’ I heard my mother screaming from downstairs, wondering why she was even awake this early in the morning.

‘Okay!’ I answered back distractedly as I put on my white loafers, checking once again in the mirror to make sure they went well with my white half-sleeved t-shirt tucked loosely into my blue fitted-jeans. While I would have normally accessorized a little bit, tying the outfit together with earrings and a ring or two; today my slightly messy chestnut bangs and golden-brown eyes would have to be enough. After all, if candidates were allowed to wear accessories on Magiharu, who knows what kind of magical equipment they might smuggle in for the tests. Giving myself one last look in the mirror, I made my way to the dining table, surprised to see that the entire family had congregated for this six-a.m. breakfast.

‘We just wanted to wish you luck,’ my sister smiled shyly, as if she’d read my mind.

‘You guys are making me more nervous than the actual tests,’ I replied cheekily, taking a seat and grabbing a croissant from the bread basket.

I couldn’t believe a month had already passed since my discovery that I was actually a dual-elemental capable of using the rare lightning element in addition to my existing fire element affinity. The days had passed by like a blur as I had spent the entire time sneaking into the Serpentine Forest everyday to train. Since I was already quite familiar with the fire element, I had spent most of the last month practicing lightning magic, and honestly, I was surprised at my own growth. Since this new element came so naturally to me, I had learned to use it adequately in a variety of ways, ranging from short- and medium-ranged ‘spells’, to body enhancement. 

After the first few days familiarizing myself with lightning magic, I’d stepped my training up a notch, routinely battling against and defeating small groups of E, D, and C-rank mana creatures in the outskirts of Serpentine Forest all by myself. I wasn’t quite sure how to rank myself, since I had no frame of reference for a lightning elemental, but if I’d been ranked as an E-rank fire elemental with my fire element, I felt I should at least be a B-rank lightning elemental at this stage. Still, a mage’s rank took into account all of their abilities, so overall, I wasn’t sure how I’d fare.

It didn’t matter anyway, since I had already made up my mind not to reveal the fact that I was a lightning elemental publicly as yet. I had surmised that with the scrutiny and attention this would bring upon me and my family, it wasn’t worth it at the moment. For one thing, if it was revealed that I was a lightning elemental, the powers that be would probably force me to attend Misandew Academy, the world’s greatest magic academy located near our kingdom’s capital city, the floating city of Haneul. But I wasn’t interested in leaving my family behind and going to study half way across the world; after all, I had just gotten my sister back, and wanted to spend the next two years living with my family in Seoul. 

Also, I had experienced first-hand the frightening power of an S-ranked mage, and I knew being ‘discovered’ as a lightning mage would put me on a lot of important people’s watchlists; and not all friends. While I would have to step into the reality of the world around me sooner or later, I needed to get stronger first so I could at least somewhat hold my own against the human-faced monsters out there in the world. And last but not least, somehow, I was already unnaturally talented in the use of the lightning element, so it would be more beneficial for me to spend the next two years at a magic academy as a student of the fire element, so I could develop my expertise as a fire elemental as well. Only then would I be able to call myself a true dual-elemental.

‘Okay guys, it’s about time I head out. It’s an hour’s drive to the test center so Fang’s family insisted they would send a car to take me there,’ I announced, coming up for air in between long gulps of water gushing down my throat.

‘Yes, his father telephoned me last night. It was a nice gesture so I didn’t see any issue with it. His parents have invited your mother and I to dinner this weekend as well,’ my dad replied, almost sounding excited.

I was happy that a prominent family like Fang’s had finally decided to get on better social terms with their son’s best friend’s family, although I figured it had more to do with my sister’s talent as a healer rather than my relationship with their son. Still, I was grateful. My parents, being non-affinates, needed all the allies they could get in this world.

‘Hey, hurry up we’ll be late!’ Fang gestured for me to get in as I walked up to the driveway after hearing a car honking repeatedly. I didn’t expect him to come as well, only their family’s driver, but then I remembered that Magiharu is a day off for all magic academies since professors have to be present at test venues as invigilators and for security purposes. Quickly waving goodbye to my family who had come to the door to see me off, I joined my best friend in the back seat of his family’s luxury SUV. Although the magitech powered cars in the Kingdom of Haneul were decades ahead of the old electricity and sometimes oil powered cars in other kingdoms, this particular luxury vehicle was even more top-of-the-line, and probably cost more than my entire house!

Fang must have noticed me fiddling with the dozens of internal controls because he soon put his arm tightly around my neck, declaring, ‘Cool isn’t it?! I had to practically beg my dad to let us take this car. After all, my best friend has to leave a good impression at Magiharu. It’s basically your debut as a mage!’

‘Leave an impression for who though?’ I asked innocently, easily freeing myself from his clinginess.

‘All the young ladies at the test venue of course! You never know how many of them will end up at the same academy as you,’ he shot back with an over-sized wink.

‘Please stop, you’re embarrassing me…’ I said innocently, even the driver giggling at my abrupt dismissal of young ‘Master’ Fang from the prominent House of Aria, as he was often referred to by his household staff.

Although the word ‘house’ didn’t necessarily symbolize a blood relation in this world, Fang was in fact the actual son of the leader of the House of Aria, which was one of the top fifty houses in the Korean peninsula. After the establishment of the protective barrier surrounding Seoul more than a decade ago, Fang’s family had immigrated to Seoul from Singapore, where they had been a prominent merchant family. Although the frequency of immigration had declined since then, the open-border nature of the provinces in our kingdom meant that prominent families with enough resources, had the option of choosing the safest cities in the kingdom as their new home, regardless of their geographical location. I didn’t think that was a bad thing though; this phenomenon had led to Seoul becoming one of the world’s leading ‘international’ cities, making it a way more interesting place to live than before.

Generally speaking, however, a house was more like a group of mages which had come together under the leadership of a particularly talented mage or a prominent family of mages. Although I had heard of some mages who had never associated themselves with a house, normally, a mage would either become part of a house or if they were talented enough, create their own house, after graduating from a magic academy. 

Being part of a house had numerous benefits; most operated like a sort of extended family, sharing knowledge, information, social capital, and wealth. The more powerful the mages in a house were, the more prestige it garnered, to the point that prominent houses held covert influence over dozens of institutions ranging from local government to corporations to even the military. Although the official system of governance in the world still leaned towards democratically elected officials working in the name of the kingdom’s monarch; in reality, the thirteen kings, along with the houses they favored, made all the important decisions for the world.

‘You’ll do really well, don’t stress okay!’ Fang’s words snapped me out of my thoughts as we arrived at the test venue I was assigned to. Although it differed for each city according to the population of candidates each year for Magiharu, Seoul had always had three major test venues, each to be overseen by one the chancellors of the three top magic academies in the city. Since Seoul’s top magic academies were also the province’s top magic academies, and chancellors at a particular test venue were able to approach talented candidates first; this method ensured there would be no complaints later by the top three magic academies, namely Ashford, Cromley, and Filar.

‘Thanks, I’ll do my best,’ I replied shyly, secretly happy that my normally dismissive friend was being so supportive. Although I was technically lying, since I wasn’t going to actually try my best today, at least not in the practical test.

As I entered the test venue, I kind of understood what Fang had meant, as dozens of girls as well as a few guys started staring at me intently as I walked up to the registration desk. I had always been a little bit popular in high school, but I had never experienced this many interested gazes before. Perhaps something about me was different now, although this wasn’t exactly the best time to figure it out. After I registered myself as a flame elemental, I was given a number tag and asked to wait in the lobby with everyone else until I was escorted to the first test. The test venue, which was basically a domed stadium, had different rooms within its circumference for the various tests that candidates had to go through, along with a large open battle stage in the center where the final test took place.

After a few more minutes dodging stares from the other candidates, I was escorted by a staff member into a large hall for the written exam, along with about fifty other candidates. As I sat down on the station, placing my hand on the virtual screen in front of me to active the sensory array, I noticed cameras placed strategically all around the room to discourage cheating. Of course, as I looked towards the front of the room, I knew the cameras were mostly for show; the real threat was the woman in indigo robes silently meditating with her eyes closed. Anybody who had prepared for Magiharu would know that this attire was a symbol of the House of Oculus, which was infamous for only allowing mages with an exceptional mana sense into their ranks. I quickly surmised that anyone channeling mana in this room would quickly be detected and escorted out. And with that surety, I quickly turned my attention back to my work station.

‘You will be given ten minutes to familiarize yourself with your work station and its controls,’ the other invigilator in the room announced, his voice carrying an air of authority, even though his simple black suit and short stature might have indicated otherwise. While some candidates rolled their eyes at the announcement, eager to get on with the written test, others like myself quickly did as we were told, playing around with the work station’s controls to familiarize ourselves. After all, while candidates from well-off families would surely have used these high-end work stations before, for most, including me, this would be our first time; although I had played around with a previous model of this work station at Fang’s house before.

Once the actual test started, time flew by, and when I was finally done answering the last question, I realized I had finished with five minutes to spare. Since the test consisted of multiple-choice questions about our recent history, the basics of mana arts, along with mathematics and the scientific method, there was really no use in rechecking my answers now, having forgotten most of the scenarios already. I simply made sure to check if I had answered every question, and that my biometric details in the virtual device had been entered correctly, before submitting. As the bell indicating the end of the test sounded, we were quickly escorted by the short statured invigilator back into the lobby. Catching a glimpse of the woman in indigo on my way out, I was surprised to see not even an ounce of sweat on her forehead after having maintained an active mana sense for two hours. I surmised she was at least a B-ranked mage, if not higher.

After a few more minutes of waiting, a staff member called out my name and escorted me into a smaller room for the practical portion of the day. This smaller room was about the size of a three-car garage, but completely empty, except for my figure standing alone in the center. After a minute or so, a doorway opened up from within one of the room’s uniform white walls, as a peculiar looking woman stepped out. As I examined her tall figure from head to toe, taking in all the details of her attire from her elaborate olive ‘headpiece’ twice the size of her head, to her flowing gown of the same color, intricately dotted with gold leaf patterns, I could already tell. 

I mean, if the clothes hadn’t given it away, the tall birchwood staff with a single purple mana stone at its peak, which she held in her right hand, would have. This woman was an archwizard. Archwizards were quite rare in this world compared to the other comtypes, with the exception of perhaps the hidden trinity, i.e. Blood-demon, Shadow-wielder, and Soul-seeker. This was because unlike for instance elementals, who awoke to their comtype early on in their lives, an Archwizard, who specialized at casting grand, world-defying spells, could only ‘awaken’ once they had accumulated enough knowledge to actually be able to cast a spell of that magnitude.

To think that I would be randomly assigned an archwizard as my test supervisor, I wasn’t sure if I was fortunate or just the opposite.