CHAPTER 04: FIRST STEPS

10:15 AM, in Dawnchester, at the Jadar Library.

The Jadar Library revealed itself as an underground kingdom carved from stone and light. From the entrance, vast arches sculpted with ancient symbols stretched towards a ceiling so high its limits were barely distinguishable, drowned in a golden glow from luminous orbs floating weightlessly, a place where knowledge transcended time. In this colossal space, the silence held a particular majesty: it was not empty, but filled with an ancient breath, an invisible presence that seemed to watch over the premises. At Jadar, books were not merely consulted. They waited to be awakened. The only ones with access are the royal family, the Adnachiels, the Daimyos, and the professors and students of the city's university.

A mage student was fully concentrated on his reading in the Hall of Contemplation when suddenly his colleague surprised him, slipping a small paper object into his left ear to break his concentration while reciting a poem: "The little solitary hummingbird found a way to escape the frog, it went in and discovered..."

"Heyyy, in GOD's name, LUC! What the...?"

"What, have you seen yourself? You've been glued to your books... and by the way, how long have you been here?" Luc asked him.

Raum explained that he had been there since opening, around 6 a.m.

"And when were you planning to finish?" Luc insisted.

"I don't know, I haven't finished my research topic yet."

"Let me see what you're researching," said Luc, taking a look at the volume. "Hmm, it's about ANIMA? Isn't that a bit too complex a subject?"

Raum defended his curiosity: he wanted to understand why some soldiers, even after mutation, suffered rejection from arcane stones and that putrefaction after multiple uses of magic.

"Stop! Isn't that a bit too much for someone your age? You're 17, you should be enjoying yourself, you reached majority a year ago, I remind you. And besides, you should take a break," Luc retorted, ruffling his hair with a mocking but good-natured smile.

"No, I have to wait for the professor, he's not even here yet."

Luc then informed him that not only the professor, but all the other students would be absent, as the professor was supervising the preselection for the Arcane Tournament, which Dawnchester was hosting this edition.

"What???" exclaimed Raum, disappointed.

"He'll be busy for this entire month, and today is the last day of the preselections for the 3000 candidates."

Raum's face panicked. The last day? And Luc was only telling him now? He hurried to gather his books.

"I'll remind you that if you hadn't spent all your time reading your books, you would have known since the beginning of the week," Luc retorted.

"LUC, let's go! I don't want to miss this."

"Hey, don't forget to take off your robe, it has to stay in the library."

"Ahh, we don't have time for that, I'm going!"

Our two young students left the library and headed towards the preselection test site. On the way, they noticed the city was buzzing with the effervescence of the festival.

"SAT'GALA, don't eat me, please! I haven't done anything, you see? Run!" a mad beggar was shouting along the way.

"Someone help that person! He is both pitiful but also dangerous to leave in public like this," Raum said, indignant.

Luc explained that the fault lay with the government: to institutionalize a person with dementia, even a former soldier, you had to pay a fee.

"That's so ungrateful, he served the nation after all," murmured Raum, thoughtful.

"Yeah, our system annoys me. But we should also pity his family. If he's here, it means they didn't even want to acknowledge him and help him."

"Yeah... and hey, I bought some fruit, grapes."

"You know you have that intolerance to seeds."

"Oh, don't worry, it's still early in the day, and it won't cause us as much trouble as you think."

"Well, you'll have only yourself to blame."

"Oh, we're almost there. Are you going to have some? Otherwise, I might finish it all."

"Alright, alright."

Arriving in front of the building where the preselection trials were taking place.

"Hey, you there! You are not authorized to pass unless you have your participation badges," a guard thundered.

"Badges? What's this about now?" Luc wondered.

But Raum, quicker, introduced himself as Mage Kleon's substitute, claiming to be there at his request and brandishing his student badge.

"Oh, you are Sir Kleon's apprentice? Sorry, you should have said so earlier. Sir Kleon has been here since this morning. Fortunately, today is the last day of the preselections," the guard apologized.

"I recognize that, he always wants to be on time and often leaves late. But me, I had to get my cup of coffee around here," Raum improvised.

"No problem, please enter."

"Thank you, my good man."

"It's my job, young substitute."

"Alright, see you later."

"Oh là là, how did you do that?" Luc marveled once inside.

"Trafficking influence, and we can say thanks to the robe I brought. It made me look even more like an intellectual."

"Well, for once, I agree with you."

"Look, look! There are the candidates from all over the world!" his friend enthused.

On site, Sir Kleon was examining the candidates in a strict, military manner.

-SIR KLEON: "So, sir, your attributes, physical skills and magical skills are exceptional. Good luck for the next part, all you have left is to give me your name and inscribe it in this Talisman Badge, which will automatically act as your ticket for the subsequent trials you will have to undertake, and also to register your DNA by touching it with any of your fingers."

-"My name is FERAL GREED and I must touch this badge?"

-SIR KLEON: "Indeed, sir."

-FERAL: "It's done."

-SIR KLEON: "Thank you and congratulations, see you at the second test."

-FERAL: "Thank you."

-SIR KLEON: "Next candidate, please step forward!"

"I am here."

"Please give me your name," asked Sir Kleon.

"HIRUKO KOSUGA."

"Hey, he looks like the candidate who's too enthusiastic about taking the tests without knowing they're dreadfully difficult," commented Luc, sitting with Raum in a corner of the room.

"He'll pass, you can see it, I can feel it," predicted Raum.

Sir Kleon asked to see the candidate's attributes for physical aptitude.

"Go on, I'm waiting, what should I do?" launched Hiruko, confident.

Without a word, the second examiner created a stone golem measuring over four meters tall that stood before Hiruko.

"Alright, try to destroy it in less than 30 seconds," ordered the examiner.

"A golem already? I think his enthusiasm annoyed the second examiner. Normally, it always starts with awakening the arcane stone," Luc whispered to Raum.

"He's weird, that man," murmured Raum in return.

"What, a golem already? I expected it, and I don't intend to fail right at the start of the trials!"

Hiruko thought back to the conversation he had with Casper a week earlier.

-CASPER: "So HIRUKO, tomorrow is the day that marks the start of the trials."

-HIRUKO: "So it's good, I have to go register then."

-CASPER: "No, you'll be disqualified immediately."

-HIRUKO: "Immediately? But I trained hard to participate!"

-CASPER: "Indeed, but your knowledge in the field of magic and magical creatures is limited, I would even say your level is average on the tests I gave you, so to be brief, you're a 5/10 and that's far from sufficient."

-HIRUKO: "But I think it's fine, I avoided failure."

-CASPER: "You don't understand, you idiot, in the selection you plan to attend, there are at least over 3000 candidates, all with formidable levels, and you plan to stand out just by being average in everything?"

-HIRUKO: "Sorry."

-CASPER: "So you'll have to do everything to have this catch-up session with me on your compatibility with ANIMA as soon as possible if you don't want to be rejected on the first day."

Regaining his senses in the face of the obstacle, the young Hiruko was motivated.

"I couldn't dream of better! Let's go, you filthy golem!"

Our hero charged at the golem and jumped onto its left leg.

"He's fast!" exclaimed Luc, Kleon, and Raum in unison.

The golem tried to crush Hiruko in its fist, but everyone thought he had been crushed; he freed himself and severed one of the creature's fingers.

"He's weird, this boy," repeated Raum, intrigued.

Hiruko continued to pummel the golem with blows so powerful he broke its knee. The golem retaliated with a punch that threw Hiruko to the ground. Just as everyone thought he was finished, the young man stood up and began to concentrate his magic. Sir Kleon interrupted him immediately.

"But why did you stop my test?" protested Hiruko.

"Young soldier, can you tell me what is the first step to using arcane magic?" Kleon questioned.

"Uh... we must first wear our equipment called ANIMA after infusing it with arcane energy. Thus, it will boost and circulate the energy throughout our entire body."

"And where is your armor then?"

"Uh well... 'Damn, how could I forget to use my strength without having put on the Anima? I got so carried away...'" Hiruko grumbled internally.

"I asked you a question, young man. Can you explain what just happened when you destroyed this golem's arm and knee without wearing any ANIMA?"

"Uh, I beg your pardon. Since my birth, I've always had superhuman strength. So, I got carried away by the heat of the action."

"But that's what I said! This golem is a level 02 transformation magic. Facing it without ANIMA is a feat. I don't understand how he did it," exclaimed Raum, raising his hand at the back of the hallway.

"RAUM? What are you doing here? Can't you see I'm busy? Who let you in?" thundered Sir Kleon.

"Uh well, we'll talk about that later, but I just noticed that this young man is a cheater and that maybe he's hiding his ANIMA under his clothes!"

"What? Me, you're accusing me of cheating?" Hiruko said, indignant.

"Are you sure of what you're saying, RAUM?" asked Luc, worried.

"Obviously."

"Hey, you, kid! It's not because you're dressed in a university robe that you're allowed to speak and even less to give your opinion here! Next time you intervene, I'll throw you out," growled the second examiner.

"Sorry, sir," Raum stammered.

"As for you, Hiruko, take off your top so I can see if you haven't hidden any ANIMA," ordered the second examiner.

"But look! I didn't cheat, there's no ANIMA hidden on me!" he proved after taking off his top.

"Hmm... His case is far too rare. But 5 years ago, Natch also displayed a similar case, and I was too lenient back then. For this one, I won't go easy on him," grumbled Sir Kleon. "Here, a test ANIMA. Put it on and try to awaken this arcane stone."

"Alright, I'm now facing the biggest challenge, and it's not going to be a piece of cake. But I trained during this week. Plus, I just have to activate it," Hiruko motivated himself internally.

Our hero put on the test ANIMA and tried to activate the stone's power. But a feeling of internal exhaustion overwhelmed him. He thought he had to force it, just to activate the stone and fight the golem without using it, but he failed.

"Stop!! You are disqualified. Come back in the next quinquennium," announced Sir Kleon.

"Please, let me try one more time, I was almost there!" begged Hiruko.

"It's still 11 a.m., and we have a whole crowd to examine. We asked you to do one of the most basic things for a soldier wanting to join the coalition army, and you failed," retorted the second examiner.

"But I fought the golem well! That should count too, right?"

"The decision is ours, not yours. Next!"

Hiruko left the room, his morale at its lowest, seeing his chances of joining the coalition reduced to nothing.

"He was unlucky, yet he seemed promising at first impression," noted Luc.

"No, something's wrong. I saw it with my own eyes... I know now what I have to do. I have to catch up with him," decided Raum.

As the second examiner called the next candidate, "Heung Cooper," Raum turned to Luc.

"Sorry, I have to find him. Continue without me."

"Uh, alright. I'll inform you of the results you missed."