The Spire Mage took the ether crystal and said, "Go on in. Don't waste my time."
The Mages went first, the apprentices following close behind, every eye and every heart strung tight with nerves. When Adam, last in line, set both feet inside the teleportation formation, the runes blazed with silver light; the light gathered into a protective layer over each apprentice. Then Adam felt his body twist toward the center — a misery beyond describing, as though his whole body were being crammed by force into a tiny hole.
The next instant brought another sensation, and his body went through the same torment again, except now it was being dragged back out of the hole.
Several of the other apprentices began retching violently; even Adam could barely hold the urge down.
When Adam's sight returned, he was somewhere else entirely. Mage Irene waved a hand and scattered a fine mist of water that seeped into everyone's bodies, and the sick feeling eased a great deal.
"That is the reaction to teleportation that a fragile body cannot withstand, and also the reason we did not bring you straight from the deserted island to the Mage Continent," Mage Blake said. "We have now arrived at the Mordo Elemental Tower. Shortly, you and the other apprentices of this batch will take part in the entrance ceremony together."
"The Mordo Elemental Tower?" William repeated the name in confusion. Wasn't it a mage academy?
Mage Blake explained flatly, "That is correct, the Mordo Elemental Tower. The academy is merely something the tower's master established at the request of the Mage Council. That will be explained later."
Mage Blake paused, then went on: "Seeing as we have gotten along reasonably well along the way..."
The apprentices cursed him silently. Pleasant company built on death?
"I will give you one piece of advice: be very careful before you make your choice. Once a contract is formed, you will have no chance to take it back. Oh, and one more thing — until you have mastered enough knowledge, try your best not to come into conflict with the native apprentices."
Following the Mages out of the room that housed the teleportation formation, they found themselves in an extremely vast hall. A few scattered passersby moved about, their gazes carrying something the apprentices could not read.
"Do not let your eyes wander. The interior of the tower is where Mages make their homes. If you carelessly anger some Mage, no one will be able to save your lives."
Everyone's heart clenched, and they hastily reined in their curious glances. From Mage Blake's words they understood that the academy was no blessed land either — as apprentices, they really were not much of a scarce resource.
Soon they walked out of the hall, and only when they looked back did they realize they had emerged from a giant tower suspended in midair. The tower was immensely tall; from its cloud-piercing spire poured a torrent of energy, invisible to the eye yet easy to sense, and that energy circulated through the entire structure, so that the Elemental Tower looked less like a fixed building than like a rocket waiting to launch at any moment.
Below the Elemental Tower lay a sprawl of rather ordinary-looking buildings arranged in a ring around it. Adam noticed groups of newcomers like themselves emerging from some of them, gathering under the Mages' leadership toward an appointed place.
Native apprentices? Adam said to himself. Every native apprentice wore an expression of the most extreme arrogance, and when their gazes happened to slide across the island apprentices, they showed undisguised contempt, like looking at country folk who had come to the city for the first time.
The native apprentices' clothes were far finer than theirs. Adam noticed that every one of them carried some magic item or other, and their total spiritual power was stronger than the islanders' as well.
Is it because they've lived in a high-magic environment all their lives, so they understand magic better?
The crowd finally converged on a plaza. It was paved with some unknown material — pitch black yet translucent, and it looked like obsidian.
There were over a hundred apprentices in this batch, and apart from the six of them, every one seemed to be a native apprentice. The two groups stood in sharply divided positions, betraying a very obvious mutual rejection.
The Mages no longer led them, but walked instead toward a raised platform at the front of the plaza, where three Mages already stood, all in black robes. After the guides climbed onto the platform, the leading Mage gave a light cough. Adam felt an oppressive force descend, instantly crushing all conversation, and the plaza fell utterly silent.
The black-robed Mage nodded in satisfaction and said, "I am Victor, headmaster of the Mordo Mage Academy. First of all, welcome to Mordo."
The apprentices remained utterly silent. Headmaster Victor clearly did not care whether they responded. He continued, "In the first year you will receive a free education, covering basic courses such as rune knowledge, element knowledge, potion knowledge, alchemy knowledge, and body-refining knowledge. Within one year you must choose the direction of your future research."
"From the second year onward you have two choices. The first is to sign a contract with the great Transdimensional Mage of Mordo. The contract stipulates that after becoming a full-fledged Mage, you will follow the Transdimensional Mage of Mordo on three planar campaigns, or serve three hundred years as a tower Mage. In return, you may continue to enjoy a free education in knowledge."
"The second is to study at the academy as a free apprentice. You must pay sufficient value to obtain knowledge, and the fee is set by the instructing Mage. Your movements are your own, and once you become a full-fledged Mage you may choose at any time whether to leave."
"Of course, all of this presupposes that you can become full-fledged Mages. During the apprentice stage, you must obey orders and fulfill the duties that are yours to fulfill."
After Headmaster Victor finished speaking, he left directly. The other two black-robed Mages then went through some minor details — including the fees still payable during the free first year, among them lodging fees and library borrowing fees — and laid out the areas where apprentices could move freely and those they needed to apply for permission to enter.
Among all this was one piece of news that was fairly kind to the island apprentices: of the magical beasts the apprentices had killed aboard the Mordo Academy, after the portion handed over to the guides and the cost of ship maintenance were deducted, the remainder would be converted into energy stones and returned to the apprentices to cover their most basic living expenses.
With that said, the Mages all went their separate ways. Some senior Mage apprentices took over the work and led them toward the dormitories they had been assigned.
Along the way Adam carefully analyzed the Mages' words and found their terms were not harsh — there were no unacceptable conditions; he simply did not know whether any verbal traps lurked in them. Still, given the Mages' pride, they probably could not be bothered to deceive apprentices.
The six from the deserted island all breathed easy. Money was what they had been worrying about all along. Apart from William, whose apprentice father supported him, and Ophelia, who had half a small energy vein, the rest were flat broke. Being able to obtain knowledge for free simply by signing a contract was unquestionably a good thing.
A native apprentice nearby saw their expressions of relief and let out an undisguised snort of derision. The sheer malice in that laugh instantly enraged Landi; this pauper apprentice from the deserted island had grown extremely sensitive about his pride since entering the academy.
"A hick is a hick," the native apprentice said, ignoring Landi's glare. "So you think the academy's terms are pretty good? Ha, listen up — those are for full-fledged Mages. You actually think you can become Mages? Ridiculous."
"What did you say, you bastard!" Landi roared, and heedless of everything tried to use magic to teach the native apprentice a lesson.
The native apprentice disdained Landi's threat, not even bothering with a defensive stance. "Seems you still haven't figured out where you are, idiot," he said, in an even more contemptuous tone.
William hurriedly grabbed the nearly irrational Landi. He had already seen the displeasure on the face of the senior apprentice leading them; causing trouble before they had even figured out the situation was plainly unwise. He said to Landi, "Landi, calm down. You absolutely cannot make a move right now. I will explain in a moment."
Seeing Landi still seething, the native apprentice raised a contemptuous eyebrow, drew the edge of his hand across his throat in a cutthroat gesture, and walked off with his head held high.
William said quietly to Landi, "If you had attacked him just now, you would certainly have died. In front of everyone, attacking without first issuing a challenge counts as a sneak attack — the others would not let you off, and no one could save you."
Landi calmed down. With no outlet for his fury, he turned his resentment on Adam. "All you know is fighting your own kind — pfft," he said, in a voice deliberately made low, yet pitched so that Adam could hear it perfectly.
Adam felt not the slightest ripple, and even wanted to laugh. To him, disputes started by people plainly on the same rung of the ladder, over laughable reasons like where someone came from, were idiotic. Landi was like that, and so was that apprentice.
The senior apprentice showed no reaction whatsoever. He had seen this sort of thing too many times; so long as it did not get in the way of his task, it made no difference to him whether the newcomers beat each other to death. All he needed was to deliver them to the dormitory area.
Apprentice rooms were all doubles. Thanks to Adam's dismal popularity, no one was willing to share with him — even William, whose attitude was ambiguous, would not go against the will of the group at a time like this. Adam did not mind; living alone was obviously better.
The senior apprentice said coldly, "The fees will be deducted from the energy stones converted for you." Then he looked at Adam. "As for you, you pay double."
Adam nodded.
Having said his piece, the senior apprentice turned and left. Everyone went to their own rooms. The rooms were quite good; the academy was not stingy with the apprentices in this respect. Adam paid no attention to any of it — he was turning Headmaster Victor's words over in his mind.
Planar campaigns. Transdimensional Mage. Those two terms were what Adam cared about most. So Mages really are beings who transcend dimensions? To be able to launch wars against other worlds on their own initiative... then transdimensional must be a rank above full-fledged Mage — does it mean breaking free of the shackles of dimensionality?