Eira Lumi turned sixteen at the beginning of autumn, which in this world was the legal age to register as an adventurer. The registration took place inside the guild hall, a wide stone building with tall windows, polished floors, and crystal lamps lining the walls.
Young men and women stood in line, dressed neatly in their best clothes, whispering nervously as they waited for their turn. Each stepped forward to place a hand on the crystal ball, which glowed in different colors depending on the person's element and rank. Fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, and rarer branches appeared again and again, each confirmed by the examiner who read the glowing text that formed inside the crystal.
When Eira's name was called, and he placed his hand on the crystal, it glowed softly but showed nothing at all. There was no symbol, no element, and no text for the examiner to read.
The officials exchanged quiet looks, already familiar with this result, and after a brief discussion, they approved him only as a provisional E-rank adventurer, not because of his magic but because of his documented dungeon experience, monster subjugation records, and his unusual sword that carried mana even if he himself could not use it properly. Eira accepted the result without complaint, not because he was satisfied, but because at least it was not a rejection.
After sixteen, anyone with an adventurer's license could enter the academy as a transfer student regardless of background, origin, or past failures, as long as they passed the basic written and practical exams.
The academy existed less to teach greatness and more to prepare students for survival, because formal education ended at eighteen, and the final two years determined almost everything. Students worked to secure apprenticeships, guild recommendations, or noble sponsorships.
Some were trained to become royal knights or court mages, while others were prepared for trades like alchemy, medicine, jewel crafting, rune work, or agriculture. At the end of their education, a massive nationwide evaluation was held in a grand stadium attended by magic knight orders, guild masters, nobles, merchants, and envoys from other states.
They observed students and selected those with talent, offering contracts, positions, and training, while the rest quietly returned home to ordinary lives.
When Eira told his parents he intended to go to the academy, they were quiet at first but not surprised. His mother worried, his father smiled sadly, and both supported him without hesitation. Neo also passed her magic test, gaining water magic at a basic level, and she insisted on coming with him.
She studied hard, passed the academy entrance exam, and promised she would grow stronger, not only for herself but so she could stand beside him. They paid the academy fees using Eira's savings from years of adventuring and dungeon work, packed their belongings, and said their goodbyes to the village that had raised them.
Before leaving, they visited the forest where Neo had once fallen into eternal sleep, now healed and peaceful again, though the memory remained heavy between them.
The academy stood near a river beyond the hills, its white stone walls reflecting in the water like a mirror. Towers rose into the sky, bridges connected different wings, and the courtyards were filled with students training, studying, arguing, and laughing. It felt overwhelming and alive in a way the village never was.
Eira and Neo, registered as transfer students, were assigned small shared dorm rooms and placed into mixed classes with students from different regions and backgrounds. No one knew them, no one cared about their past, and no one expected anything from them.
For the first time in years, they were not chasing answers, monsters, or survival, but simply beginning again as ordinary students, even though both of them knew that nothing in their lives had ever stayed ordinary for long.