Xuencer set down the oversized duffel bag he had been carrying on his back.
And finally took a moment to sit on the edge of his cot for a brief rest.
But before he could fully catch his breath, the door to Room 7 of Building Thirteen creaked open once again.
Another groundskeeper stepped in—eerily similar to the one who had brought Xuencer earlier—and launched into the exact same speech:
"This little common room is Room 1.Room 2's the bathroom.Room 3, storage.Room 4, the study.And the last two are your bedrooms."
Then, without waiting for a response, the man dropped off another new student—who, like Xuencer moments earlier, stood blinking in confusion—and left.
This newcomer was quite different in appearance from the tall and broad-shouldered Xuencer.
He was slender and delicate in build, with a refined, almost scholarly air.
But his luggage?
At least twice the size of Xuencer's.
Strong guy, Xuencer thought.
The boy spotted Xuencer and gave him a warm smile.
"Hi there! I'm Hanya. I'm a new student this year. Are you a student here too?"
Despite coming from a remote mountain village, Xuencer had been taught good manners from a young age.
He stood and replied politely:
"I'm Xuencer Waugh, also a new student this year. Welcome, Hanya."
Hanya dropped his bag onto the little square table in the center of the room and began unpacking a collection of strange wooden and stone objects etched with unfamiliar symbols.
As he organized his items, he chatted with his new roommate.
"Xuencer Waugh, which school of magic are you studying?"
Xuencer had no idea what all the odd trinkets were, but he answered honestly.
"I haven't studied any magic yet. The Academy assigned me to Class W-4."
Hanya blinked, surprised by the answer.
"Wait—you've never studied magic? Then how did you get into the Academy?"
Xuencer explained:
"I didn't take any exams. Our village chief said the government had some kind of scholarship policy. I was told to come here."
Then he tilted his head, curious.
"What are you organizing over there?"
Hanya paused and looked at Xuencer with genuine astonishment, as if confirming that Xuencer truly had no magical background.
"These are spell tags. You've really never seen one before?"
Xuencer's expression brightened as a vague memory surfaced.
"Spell tags… I think I've heard of them. Are they the things that store magical energy, and then release it instantly when triggered?"
Hanya nodded, impressed.
"That's one of their uses, yeah. I've been studying glyph magic since I was little. My old teacher said I already qualify as a Stone Sigilist. But according to Academy rules, all new students have to start from the beginning. Everyone starts as an Apprentice Mage."
Xuencer didn't understand all the fancy terms, but the phrase "start from the beginning" put him at ease.
"So Hanya, when you say 'start from the beginning,' does that mean both people who have and haven't studied magic take the same classes?"
Hanya smiled and gave a firm nod.
"Exactly. We all begin with the basics, Xuencer. You'll be just fine."
And so, on that first day, the "Arcwarrior of the Stormlands" Xuencer Waugh and the "Sigil-Spark Prodigy" Hanya spent their first hours as roommates in a shared sense of unfamiliarity and budding camaraderie.
------
The next morning, Xuencer was jolted awake by the Academy's morning wake-up bell—an advanced wind-thunder hybrid spell known as "Howlshock Roar." Originally designed to disorient magical beasts using powerful sonic vibrations, the spell had since been sealed into a crystal by Baslow Academy and was now repurposed as the Academy's rather... intense alarm clock.
As he sat up groggily, Xuencer suddenly remembered:He had no idea where Class W-4 was.
Recalling the method that worked yesterday, he stepped out of Red Building Thirteen and flagged down the first student he saw.
"Excuse me, I'm heading to class. Do you know how to get to W-4?"
The student, a solidly-built young man about the same size as Xuencer, gave him a curious glance.
"W-4, huh? We're in the same class. Come on, I'll show you. I'm Gene."
They walked together toward the classrooms, chatting along the way.
Gene: "So, what's your name?"
Xuencer: "Xuencer Waugh. Nice to meet you. What kind of magic were you studying before coming here?"
Gene (a bit shy): "I'd only studied a little—basic spellwork, really. Beginner-level stuff.What about you, Xuencer?"
Xuencer (embarrassed): "I've never studied magic before. I was sent here by my village—it's part of a public training program."
Gene was visibly surprised.
"Really? Well, don't worry. W-4 is a foundational class for battle-mages. We're all starting from scratch."
By now, they had arrived at the door to Class W-4. Inside, several students were already chatting and settling in.
As the two entered, a few classmates greeted Gene. That jogged his memory.
"Oh right—everyone gathered here yesterday after reporting in. You weren't with us then. Where were you?"
"I reported to the Internal Affairs Department," Xuencer replied, puzzled.
"I didn't see anyone from the class there. Did I miss something?"
"The Internal Affairs Department?" Gene gave him another wide-eyed look."Most of us reported to the Teaching Office."
Before they could continue the conversation, "Howlshock Roar" rang out again.
A middle-aged man in a flowing mage's robe entered the classroom.
"Good morning, students. Class W-4 is now in session. I am Barari, your homeroom instructor."
The day's first lesson was Magical Fundamentals, covering topics such as:
The Gathering and Classification of Magical Energy
Tier Systems for Different Magic Disciplines
Most of the students, already low-level mages in their respective fields, found the lecture basic and unchallenging.
But Xuencer sat upright, diligently taking notes and absorbing every word.
In the afternoon, the class moved to the Third Training Arena, which was protected by a containment barrier. Waiting for them was their physical combat instructor: Coach Sig, also known by his infamous nickname—Steelbone Sig.
"This may be a magic academy," he bellowed, "but you are W-4 students—future battle-mages! That means you'll be relying on both spellcraft and raw physical power. So you'd better take your conditioning seriously!"
He cracked his neck and pointed to the field.
"Now then—fifty laps! Move it!"
With that, Coach Sig took off running at full speed.
Naturally, no one dared to fall behind.
But the training field was a full one-kilometer circuit, and they were ordered to run fifty laps. For most of the beginner-level mages, this was pure torture.
By the halfway mark, students were dropping like flies.
Xuencer, however, was used to physical labor in the mountains.
Endurance training was one of the few things he might actually excel at in the Academy.
In the end, only four students managed to complete all fifty laps:
Xuencer Waugh
Gene
Colton
And—surprisingly—Carmo
Carmo, a noble with a proper Earl's title, was thin, pale, and quiet.
Gene once joked he looked like a melancholy kite—one gust of wind and he might float away.
No one expected him to make it to the end. But somehow, he did.
Coach Sig watched them with a wide grin.
"Not bad, this year's batch. In the last five years, only three new students ever completed the full run on Day One.You four—five hundred push-ups! Now!"
That was the beginning of the end.
Colton collapsed during the push-ups. Then came:
500 frog jumps
300 four-point kicks
500 horse-stance punches
As per tradition, not a single student left the field standing upright. This was how Coach Sig always conducted his first physical training class.
Gene's final words before passing out were:
"What kind of Academy is this, anyway?"
Coach Sig, however, was quietly pleased.
Maybe this year's battle-mages won't lose miserably at the freshman combat tournament, he thought.
Thus ended Xuencer's first day at the Academy—thanks to a brutal physical training regimen.
That night, according to his roommate Hanya's later recollection, Xuencer snored loudly while sleepwalking in place doing sit-ups.
"He kept muttering about frog jumps between breaths," Hanya grumbled."I couldn't sleep at all…"