So Anna closes the door of their apartment and follows Miit and Adash. They're going to an in-person class. They walk along the large garden that separates the campus from the lecture halls. They enter the dome with a few hundred students.
Then, once seated, the students take out their study materials: quality paper provided by the academy, with the academy's and the empire's initials at the top. A fountain pen, a book: the school manual. All these materials are provided by the academy.
And since they're all of high quality, the girls are all amazed:
Miit:
― "The quality of these materials is too high. I'm scared. Am I really allowed to use this book? Can I write on this paper?"
Anna:
"Incredible. They copied the content with a spell. I'd love to tour the copying machine. I'm going to note that in my journal."
Adash:
― "I think Miss Anna's notepad paper is of better quality."
Anna:
― "Ah, they're homemade. Here, I'll give you one each."
Adash:
― "But miss..."
― "Stop with your 'miss,' I told you. Just take it and be quiet."
...
While the girls bicker, the other students notice them and talk among themselves:
― "Did I hear wrong, or did she just say 'Miss Anna'?"
― "There's no mistake—it's Anna Fort de Rush. She's the top scorer of the exam. Her name was first on the list."
― "She's still so young."
― "Yes, but... what is she doing here? She's a top-tier scholarship student. Top-tier scholarship students never go to basic classes."
― "If I could attend all the classes, I'd attend the upper-class ones—why come here?"
― "I was told she's a mischievous girl who takes pleasure in breaking the classic codes. Do you know she's only about 13 right now?"
― "How is that possible? You have to be past your 14th year to go to the academy."
― "Special favor from the headmistress herself."
― "That girl must be going to the academy just to have fun."
...
But even as the voices still circulate, the class begins. Nothing very different: just a long two-hour lecture on history. At the break, Anna takes the girls to the cafeteria. She wants to grab a snack before the next class.
Anna:
― "Hey, why aren't you eating, Adash?"
― "Miss, I'm perplexed—this meal is very expensive..."
Miit:
― "Stop thinking, Adash, please, and just eat."
But Adash still takes a minute of reflection before taking the first bite. She takes another, just as delicately. She's careful with her behavior compared to Anna and Miit, who are content to devour the pâté bread they have in hand.
And suddenly, Anna hears a voice:
― "Hello, Miss Anna. It's been a long time."
Anna lifts her head and is surprised to see Metany.
― "Hey Metany! Since when do we act so formally with each other? We practically played together. How are you?"
― "I'm well. And regarding the formalities—sorry, but your title is now too high for me to speak with you casually."
Anna's face stiffens a notch. She really can't do anything about it. It's society. It's their age increasing.
― "And so, my dear friend, may I ask for advice as an elder?"
― "Of course. I'm not skilled enough to earn a top-tier scholarship like you, but... perhaps, join our sorority."
― "Ah, you're in a sorority?"
― "Yes, you need one to build your future."
Metany lets out a slightly sarcastic laugh. Then she continues:
― "And also a sort of pride—but the sorority covers you, helps you, and gives you a certain authority in the academy. And our sorority is one of the best in the academy."
― "That's very interesting. I'll think about it. Thank you, elder Metany."
― "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Anna. If you'll allow me, I'll be on my way."
Anna watches Metany cross the crowd. Metany keeps sinking further away. At one point, she stops in front of a door, looks toward Anna, smiles at her, and enters.
Miit:
― "It's weird seeing you talk so formally."
― "Yes. Even I found it weird."
Miit:
― "I think it's better for us to get back to class—it's going to start in five minutes."
...
And so, the girls find themselves in the magis class. The applied magis class is a bit different. Since only girls take it, the number of students is considerably reduced, but on top of that, the girls are divided into four groups randomly. So much so that even top-tier scholarship students get caught in this filter.
And this time, Anna's group ends up splitting apart. Miit and Adash are still together, but not Anna. Anna finds herself in the section with Kristal. And precisely, upon seeing Anna, Kristal shouts her name:
― "ANNA!!!"
Which turns the audience's attention toward Anna once again.
― "Ah! ... Anna, I can't believe you and I are in the same section. I'm so happy."
― "Sorry, but I'm not."
― "Come on, Anna. We nearly died together, after all. Be a little more flexible with me."
― "You and the girls practically shattered my quiet student life."
Following Anna's remark, Kristal looks around her and finally realizes that she and Anna are drawing too much attention. She even hears the murmurs:
― "Look: it's the first and the fifth of the exam."
― "Anna really is as young as the rumor says."
"Oops," Kristal says to herself.
― "Sorry, Anna, but we didn't see you in class. I missed you a little. Besides, why don't you come to class?"
― "What are you talking about? I'm always present in class. I've run into Dijiid and Sheyes and the other scholarship students, but never you."
― "Well, I attend all the classes with my roommates."
― "Wait, what?"
― "Hm... what?"
...
Fortunately, the teacher begins the session.
―"Girls, I bring you this magical object. It's called the quantium magna."
It's a crystal ball with magical circles written on its surface, and magical circles on the ball's stand.
― "We try to measure magna by comparing it to the minimum magna. It's a tiny quantity of magna that the sages of the Istar era call: 'atao.'"
The assistant who had accompanied the teacher places her hand on the crystal ball.
―"A normal adult woman of 18 possesses on average a quantity close to 11 million atao."
And the ball really rises to a number close to that figure. Then, another number: 1.098001.
―"And the number you see there is the conversion of her magna into a human unit called 'ina.'"
A student raises her hand.
―"Yes?" the teacher asks.
―"So that means 1 ina = 11M atao, if I understood correctly?"
― "Yes, indeed, you understood the conversion correctly."
Then the teacher takes the center of the room and tells her students:
― "I want each of you to measure your magna reserve on the ball. Knowing your exact limits is always an advantage in the field."
As the girls line up, they measure themselves one by one. And the values are seen to differ greatly from one another: 0.9988; 0.9507; 1.0010; ...
On average, the students score 0.97, which is already slightly above their age. Which is quite normal for academy students.
―"She talks to us about knowing these limits when we all know that in the field, whoever has a higher reserve always dominates."
― "It's so outdated. It's ridiculous. Look, Tophet de Malone just showed a reserve of 2.1001. What can a normal girl do against a reserve almost double her own?"
― "And here comes Kristal de Krispet right after. She places her hand on the crystal."
― "Nooo... That's incredible. She has a reserve of 2.8902. That's the highest so far."
― "It's chilling. My poor 1.2131 that makes me so humble in the face of that."
And suddenly the room becomes increasingly tense. There's too much of a gap between Kristal, Tophet, and the others—it all becomes so boring to watch.
And Anna feels the audience's eyes pressing on her. She moves forward in the line without daring to look at those who have already finished. Everyone is curious to see what she's made of. Everyone wants to see how many ina can beat Kristal's reserve. Even the teacher and the assistants wait impatiently for Anna's turn.
―"Move along, we want to see Miss Fort de Rush's magna reserve."
And in the most total and silent suspense possible. The attention is concentrated on Anna.
She places her hand on the crystal:
0... 7... 9... 2... 4...
― "Miss Anna. Please, don't play with the magna quantium. Don't hide your magna reserve from us."
― "But ma'am, there's no way to corrupt the magna quantium technology."
But the teacher didn't want to listen to her assistant.
―"Please, Anna, start over and don't cheat this time."
And Anna starts over. She's disarmed. She's ashamed, but she obeys, that's all.
0.7924 comes back.
Even Kristal is shaken.
―"Anna, I mean Your Excellency, please, don't play with our curiosity like that. That you manage to fool the magna quantium, that I can understand. But that we get the same number, that's..."
― "Don't tell me Miss Anna gets to choose what to display."
Anna is red with shame. She can't find anything to say. She passes and stays in her corner, eyes full of tears. 0.7924 isn't even close to the average of the girls found at the academy. It's slightly less than the average of girls her age. And to think everyone expected her to have an exceptional reserve. Even Anna herself wanted to believe it with them, but it's the sad reality: Anna Fort de Rush was never exceptional.
The last girl to measure her magna is a commoner. But surprisingly, it's her reserve that won the little contest.
With a good measure of: 5.3899.
She's the third top-tier scholarship student in their section.