[New Content] | Chapter 36: The Assessment
The Academy was situated on a half-decimated plateau to the north. Honestly, it would be fairer to say the entire plateau had been terraformed for the sole purpose of training young ascendants. A thousand-metre ascent of reinforced stone stairs led Ember to the towering edifices that stood proudly upon the highland. At its centre sat a palatial Colosseum of black granite, where all challenges and duels were held.
As far as Ember had gleaned from Rain and Zephyr, the academy operated on a ranking system, at least for the preparatory school. They took into account Tiers, skills, proficiency in combat and mana, and various other utility skills to assign a ranking to every student. If someone performed too poorly, the academy would not admit them to its courses, even if they paid ten times the tuition fees.
That was to say, Ember's enrolment was not set in stone, even with his father paying all the tuition fees. He had to succeed in the assessment and rank above the cut-off mark.
Tier 4 was the bare minimum to undergo the assessment. Ember had barely reached it a couple of months ago, and although he had made some swift progress, he still had some reservations about his capabilities.
He didn't want to waste the opportunity his father had prepared for him.
The preparatory school had room for only twelve hundred plebes at most, and there were over ten thousand undergoing the assessment. Now that the coming class trial would vacate about six hundred of them, the academy once again opened its doors for new students to take their places.
Hopefully, my mana skill will distinguish me a little better.
Sunny had wanted to enrol with him as well. After all, he, too, had recently reached Tier 4. According to Aunt Zephyr, he might even make the cut, but she believed Sunny was a little too young to join the academy.
Sunny was actually a month older than Ember, but Ember could understand where his aunt was coming from.
"Nervous?" Zephyr asked as she led towards the academy tower.