Chapter 42: The Primordial Academy
The carriage rolled through the gates of the Imperial Capital.
Caelus watched Eldoria unfold beyond the carriage window. The imperial capital was larger than he remembered. Its outer walls rose above the surrounding districts before giving way to towers, bridges, and streets packed tightly enough to force the carriage to slow.
The city had been preparing for the Primordial Academy.
Candidates were everywhere.
Carriages bearing unfamiliar crests crowded the road. Some were surrounded by enough guards to suggest their occupants were royalty, while others carried little more than a driver and a single attendant.
Merchants scattered across the streets nearest to the academy district, and several temporary stalls had appeared where there had been empty space before. Even the inns had replaced their usual signs with notices announcing available rooms, though judging by the traffic, most had little hope of keeping them available for long.
Conversations drifted through the carriage window whenever the traffic slowed.
"The first trial is supposed to last three days."
"That’s what they said last year."
"And half the candidates still died."
"Keep your voice down."
Caelus’s attention shifted toward the speaker, but the carriage had already moved beyond them.
He found the behavior predictable.
They were all doing the same thing in different ways.
The excitement surrounding the academy was difficult to miss. Caelus felt none of it.
He studied the carriages, insignias, and escorts instead. The differences told him more than the conversations did.
The way the crowds responded to each carriage revealed even more. People moved aside for certain crests before being asked. Others received only brief glances. Reputation traveled faster than any carriage in Eldoria.
The Vespera insignia eventually drew attention.
It was difficult to miss. The crest was displayed prominently on the carriage, as befitted a direct descendant of one of the continent’s established powers.
Heads turned.
"Is that the Vespera carriage?"
"I heard the third son was going to attend the academy."
"The one with D-rank potential?"
"I heard he’s C-rank now."
"That’s impossible."
"Not if the rumors are true."
"Which rumors?"
The other voice lowered.
"Contractor."
The word was barely audible.
A few conversations around them abruptly quieted. One group that had been standing near the street shifted farther away from the carriage. Nobody openly insulted him. Nobody was foolish enough to do that to a Vespera.
Near a fountain, several young nobles followed the carriage with their eyes.
"That’s him."
"They say he’s a Contractor."
One of them glanced toward the carriage before lowering his voice.
"Be careful what you say. He’s still a Vespera."
"If he’s corrupted, that won’t matter."
Caelus heard every word.
He leaned back against the seat.
The rumor had traveled faster than he had.
That was mildly inconvenient.
Mira had noticed the same reactions. Her expression tightened.
Her hands tightened around the edge of her seat.
"Young Master, wouldn’t it have been better if we brought knights with us? It’s dangerous for you to walk around like this."
Caelus kept his gaze on the city.
"Bringing knights would accomplish little."
"The Imperial Capital is monitored more closely than any other city in the empire. Anyone intending to attack me openly would be intercepted before they reached us."
Mira frowned. "And someone who can bypass that?"
"Would not be stopped by a few Vespera knights."
He finally looked toward her.
"If whoever is behind this rumor actually has the ability to move against me inside Eldoria, numbers won’t change the outcome. They will only make us more noticeable."
Mira reluctantly accepted the answer.
A carriage bearing an unfamiliar silver crest passed in the opposite direction.
Its occupants were elves.
Their pointed ears and silver hair made that obvious enough, but it was their clothing that caught Caelus’s attention. The embroidery on their coats belonged to an elven royal house he recognized from the original novel.
One of the young women inside noticed the Vespera crest.
Her gaze lingered.
She said something to the man beside her.
His eyes moved toward Caelus.
Neither looked away immediately.
Caelus memorized the crest before the carriage disappeared into the traffic.
The academy had barely begun, and already the continent’s major powers were putting their pieces on the board.
---
The examination was one week away.
Seven days.
Caelus ran through what he could realistically accomplish in that time. His rank would not change significantly without risking instability, and brute-force training would produce diminishing returns.
What he needed was refinement.
A spell.
Something that belonged to him rather than another Mage’s framework.
But before that, he needed somewhere to stay.
Their first stop was one of the more prestigious hotels in the eastern district.
The building occupied an entire corner of the street, its pale stone facade framed by tall windows and bronze lamps. Servants moved between the entrance and waiting carriages while well-dressed guests passed through the doors without being questioned.
It was exactly the sort of establishment a Vespera should have been able to enter without question.
The doorman saw the crest and immediately stepped forward.
"Welcome, Young Master."
His smile lasted until Caelus stepped out of the carriage.
"You are..."
"Caelus Vespera."
The doorman swallowed.
"Of course."
Caelus entered.
The manager arrived before he reached the reception desk. He bowed so deeply that it looked almost painful.
"Young Master Vespera, forgive us, but unfortunately we have no suitable rooms available."
Caelus glanced across the lobby.
At least four rooms were visibly unoccupied. He could see their keys behind the counter.
"You’re fully booked?"
"Yes."
The manager’s forehead had begun to sweat.
Caelus looked at the empty keys again.
"The Contractor rumor."
The manager’s face tightened.
"We would never presume to accuse a member of the Vespera family of anything."
Which was an elaborate way of saying exactly that.
Caelus turned toward the door.
"I see."
The second hotel did not bother pretending quite as convincingly.
The moment the receptionist recognized him, her eyes flicked toward the other guests.
"I’m afraid we cannot accommodate you."
"Why?"
She hesitated.
"It would create difficulties for the establishment."
A noble seated nearby quietly turned his chair away.
Caelus noticed, so did Mira.
They left.
At the third hotel, the refusal came before Caelus even reached the counter. The doorman recognized the crest, recognized the man wearing it, and politely informed him that no rooms were available.
Caelus almost found that impressive.
The rumor had reached three separate establishments in less than an hour.
By the time they returned to the carriage, Mira’s expression had fallen.
"They’re all afraid of you."
Caelus looked at her.
Mira lowered her voice.
"Why are they so mean? They don’t even know whether the accusation is true."
"They don’t need to."
She looked confused.
Caelus glanced back toward the hotel.
There was another option.
Incoming candidates were permitted to stay within the academy grounds until the examination.
Caelus had originally intended to avoid it. The private hotels offered better rooms and more freedom, and he had no particular desire to live among hundreds of competitors before the examination.
But three refusals had made the calculation simple.
He had seven days.
He was not going to spend one of them searching for a bed.
They reached the Primordial Academy.
It appeared beyond the next rise.
Caelus had written its grounds in the original novel’s descriptions, but the scale was different when standing before it.
The academy was practically a city.
Massive walls enclosed towers, training grounds, residential districts, lecture halls, arenas, administrative buildings, and roads wide enough to accommodate entire formations of students.
Defensive structures had been integrated into the architecture so naturally that it was difficult to determine where the institution ended and the fortress began.
Candidates streamed through the outer gates beneath banners from different kingdoms and noble houses.
As the carriage approached, the guards recognized the Vespera insignia and opened the gate without delay.
Caelus’s attention shifted toward them.
B-rank.
Every one of them.
He counted six along the immediate gatehouse, with more stationed farther within.
B-rank warriors serving as gate guards.
The academy did not need to advertise its prestige.
It simply staffed its entrance with people who could have been considered elite protectors in most noble households.
A young noble approached before they had gone far.
He wore an academy guide’s insignia over formal clothing and offered a practiced smile.
"Young Master Vespera, welcome to the Primordial Academy. I’m assigned to assist newly arrived candidates. If you require directions, registration assistance, or information regarding the examination facilities, I can—"
"Thank you."
Caelus continued walking.
The young man blinked.
"Ah..."
Caelus glanced back.
"I know where I’m going."
The guide stepped aside.
---
The reception hall was quieter than the streets outside, though it was no less busy.
Long registration counters divided the enormous chamber into orderly lanes.
Staff moved from candidate to candidate with the efficiency of people who had repeated the same process thousands of times. Information boards displayed accommodation assignments, examination notices, training-ground schedules, and restrictions for incoming candidates.
Caelus approached the nearest counter.
The receptionist looked up. Her eyes fell on the Vespera insignia.
She stood so quickly that her chair scraped against the floor.
"Young Master Vespera."
She bowed.
Her hands were steady when she reached for the registration documents.
They became less steady when she realized who she was processing.
Caelus noticed the slight hesitation.
"Relax."
She gave an embarrassed nod. "Yes, Young Master."
She completed his registration and handed him his accommodation key, academy identification, and the basic registration materials.
"One more."
He gestured toward Mira.
"She’s my personal maid."
The receptionist immediately prepared a second identification card and accommodation key.
Mira accepted them with both hands.
"Thank you."
Caelus handed her his room key.
"Take care of the luggage."
Mira looked at him.
"You’re not coming?"
"Later."
Caelus left the reception hall with his identification card in hand.
He needed something the examination could not predict.
His current abilities were useful, but relying on them entirely would make his fighting style predictable. He needed a spell designed around his own strengths, one he could control without depending on someone else’s framework.
The academy library was the obvious place to begin.
Caelus walked deeper into the academy.
Behind him, thousands of candidates continued arriving.
Ahead of him waited the academy library.
And less than seven days before the examination.