"Listen carefully. From today going forward, you're Michael Wraith. You graduated from The Spire Academy of Magic with decent grades—not enough to stand out, but enough for you to graduate, okay?"
Valric's words were stern as he handed Michael a certificate from the Spire Academy recognizing him as a graduate. Alongside the certificate was a letter with the Headmaster's stamp of approval.
"How'd you get this?" Michael's eyes lit up with awe. He couldn't believe that his name was actually on a certificate. Yeah, it was fake, but it was something. He held it up and looked at the ink with overwhelming intensity.
As soon as they had talked over the plan yesterday, they set Luke's body ablaze and spread his ashes over the mountain landscape far from the city. It wasn't easy, but it was something.
"I'm glad to see that you like it, but it won't mean shit if you can't come back from the Red Circle boot camp. There's a total of five Knight Orders that belong to the Red Circle, including mine.
Every year, there's a boot camp that prepares the recruits of every Order to become knights. It's not gonna be easy, and if anyone finds out you're a fraud, we're gonna be in deep shit. So, you're gonna have to sell this performance like your life depends on it—because it does."
Michael's heard rammed his chest rapidly. Under Valric's unwavering gaze, he could tell that the man wasn't joking.
"From what I've seen, it seems you have an elemental domain. And a fire one at that. That's not bad, but it's not good either."
Amongst nobles, elemental domains were rare and under appreciated.
Valric took out a small white stone out of his pocket and placed it in Michael's palm.
"Try focusing all your mana into that stone."
The mana stone sat perfectly still in the middle of his hand. It was cold to the touch; it was like holding ice. Michael looked at it and formed a fist around it with his hand.
He waited for a few seconds as he focused everything he had into that one point, before a soft, dim light escaped the holes in his fist.
After waiting a little more, the light from the stone didn't grow brighter or dimmer; it remained the same.
"That's not good. Your mana pool must really be small."
Michael said nothing. His smile disappeared and concern grew on his face. He walked to a small window in the hotel room that Valric had booked him and looked out over the city. It was a first, being inside and not outside. It felt different, for a change.
"Grab your things and let's go. We don't have much time. You'll sleep in the carriage if you have to."
◇◇◇◇
The road was a long one indeed. Even in his sleep, he could hear the wheels of the carriage grinding over the dirt. He finally let himself go, entering a state of deep sleep. Unbeknownst to him, time moved a whole lot faster as he let his body rest; after all, things had been really hectic the past couple of days.
Within a few hours, he heard the soft chirping of birds outside, accompanied by the sound of mother nature. When he opened his eyes and came to, light coalesced outside the carriage, forming a warm, soft set of translucent rays pressing against him. It was breathtaking.
When he stepped outside the carriage, he was faced with a massive camp, with sleeping dorms on the far left, an arena in the center, and a training course on the far right. Other recruits were already walking in, and some were just arriving.
Michael looked around, trying his best not to seem impressed. Valric threw him his bag filled with his belongings.
"Listen up, brat. You're on your own for now. Let's hope when I come back at the end of the week, it's not to collect your corpse."
Valric gave him a nod before closing the doors of the carriage, and resuming his travels.
Michael stood as he watched the carriage disappear into the horizon. He then walked through the gates and headed to the arena for the welcome ceremony. The place was packed; according to Michael, he had never been in a crowd of people such as this one.
"Welcome to the Red Circle Knight camp, where 1% of you will get the privilege of being groomed into recruits befitting the mantle of knight. The other 99% who fail to impress will get the privilege of going back to their ordinary lives."
The counselor's words struck a chord in every recruit present in the arena and planted the seed of fear in Michael, who stood at the far end of the assembly.
"You may find your way to the dorms. You're excused."
All the recruits began heading toward the dormitory area of the camp.The counselors responsible for the dorms waited until all recruits where accounted for.
"You know the drill. If your name is called, you step forward and head to your respective dorm. Boys go left and girls go right. Insubordination will not be tolerated."
"Luke Bram!"
A boy with short blonde hair approached from the crowd. He radiated nervousness, from the way he walked to everything else about him.
"Room 352. Next!"
A few more names got called, and the recruits went to their respective dorms. Most of them were girls and a few were boys. The conversations within the crowd died down as the process resumed.
"Michael... Michael Wraith!"
The silence of the crowd made walking upfront, all the way from the back more nerve wreaking.
Michael kept his composure and walked foward.
"Room 352. Next!"
Michael froze. He remembered hearing that number; he just couldn't put his finger on who it was called for before him.
He grabbed his things and headed inside, looking for room 352. After walking for a while, he found himself face-to-face with the metallic badge of the door, with the number 352 written in bold.