Zenith of Sorcery

On the day of the judging ceremony, Julia and the others were woken up by their teachers early in the morning and led to a large training hall near the center of Adria. Unlike their cramped, dismal tower, the Great Sea Academy had actual training facilities for occasions such as this, and there would be no need to make an improvised trial ground. It was a big place with several rows of stands for the spectators, and a large flat area in the middle, suitable for both physical and magical demonstrations by a large number of people. Of course, facilities like these were more important in a highly populated area like this than they were in the middle of a forest, as disputes were more likely to crop up in Adria than in their little corner of the woods.

Their teacher set off towards their destination at a relatively fast walking pace, and his students followed after him like a line of ducklings trailing after their mother. Julia wondered what would happen if some of them fell behind or got lost, but after some thought, she decided he would immediately notice the issue and move to correct it. Their teacher often looked as if he wasn’t paying attention to them, but every time it mattered, he showed incredible awareness of his surroundings. Supernaturally boosted senses? Spying spells? Whatever the case, he clearly wasn’t as oblivious as he appeared.

Julia had to admit, she had been harboring many doubts about their teacher for a while now. His appearance and attitude back during her own judging ceremony was very mundane and underwhelming, and he rarely demonstrated any amazing magic around her. The tower he had them repair was not really a dwelling of a master wizard, either. And finally, while she was not a material girl, the fact that he had never provided them with any expensive supplies, potions, or powerful legacies was a bit disappointing, and made her wonder if their teacher really was as powerful as people said he was. Half the point of having a powerful teacher was that he could provide you with resources that would speed up your training and growth through the ranks, no?

The fight between him and the unknown mage had put all her fears to rest. While she only caught glimpses of their clash, it was enough to realize their teacher’s might was absolutely awe-inspiring. No wonder Headmaster Titus had so much fear and respect for Marcus! Great Tree held regular battle demonstrations to raise morale and give younger mages some perspective, and nothing Julia saw in these events could compare.

In the end, her teacher was not a fraud. He was just eccentric.

That was a relief. Julia could deal with eccentric.

And speaking of their teacher being weird, he was clearly intending to repeat his actions from the previous judging ceremony and just walk into the room looking like a wandering pilgrim. Did he enjoy sowing doubt about his own abilities or was there some higher goal to his actions?

The trip through the city was not eventful, and soon they entered the training hall, which was already quite packed by the time they arrived. It was hard to tell how many hopefuls had showed up to participate, since it wasn’t just them present, but also their parents and relatives, who would be watching the whole thing from the spectator seats. However, if she had to guess, she would say there were about two hundred hopefuls scattered about. Strange. That wasn’t so much more than at the judging ceremony she had gone through. You would think that in a big city like Adria, the number of candidates interested in being taught by a spirit rank mage would be much higher.

After discussing something with a nearby guard, their teacher sent them to one of the spots in the front row where a number of seats had been reserved for them. He then left to organize the judging ceremony, while they were left to their own devices. Julia was a bit annoyed with this, since they had never established a leader amongst themselves, so if any of them decided to act out or make a scene, who was supposed to establish order and take responsibility?