“I’m exhausted.” Reynolds bent over, panting. “Linley, how do you have so much stamina?”

Linley had barely broken a sweat. “That little run tired you out?”

He had once run all the way from Wushan Town to Ernst Institute without feeling much strain.

“Put that over there. Yes, the box goes there. Set it down carefully—if you break it, you can’t afford to replace it!”

A boy’s clear voice rang from courtyard 1987. Linley and Reynolds exchanged curious looks, then walked inside. Several grown men were carrying boxes and furnishings under the direction of a lavishly dressed boy standing in the center of the yard.

The moment he saw them, the boy’s eyes lit up. He hurried over, beaming.

“You must be my roommates! I’ve been waiting forever, and I was the only one here. Let me introduce myself. My name is Yale, and I’m—more or less—from the Holy Alliance.”

“What does ‘more or less’ mean?” Reynolds pursed his lips. “I’m Reynolds, from the O’Brien Empire.”

“I’m Linley, from the Kingdom of Fenlai in the Holy Alliance,” Linley said with a smile.

They would be living together for a long time. It was best to start on friendly terms.

“Reynolds, Linley—great to meet you both.” Yale turned and shouted at his servants, “Hey! Put the training equipment over there.”

“Training equipment?” Reynolds blinked at him. “What do you need that for, Yale? Are you planning to become a warrior?”

Yale wrinkled his nose and grinned. “We may be noble magi, but we still need good bodies. How else are we supposed to charm beautiful girls? There are plenty of pretty female magi—especially at Ernst Institute. They’re beautiful and refined. Just telling people your girlfriend studies here would be something to brag about.”

Reynolds stared at him.

Linley was equally speechless. At first, he had thought Yale genuinely meant to train. Instead, all that equipment was merely there to help him attract girls.

“I’m eight,” Reynolds said, changing the subject. “How old are you?”

Yale was unusually tall. Linley was already over one and a half meters at nine, yet Yale stood half a head taller.

“Me? Ten.” Yale’s eyes gleamed. “That’s not so young. My older brother lost his virginity at twelve, so I need to prepare early.”

“What does ‘lost his virginity’ mean?” Reynolds asked.

“Yes, what does it mean?” Linley added.

Yale looked from one roommate to the other and found himself at a loss. Beside Linley, Doehring Cowart clutched his stomach and roared with laughter.

Grandpa Doehring, what are you laughing at? Linley asked through their mental link.

“Young Master, everything has been arranged,” a refined middle-aged servant said respectfully.

“Good. You may all go home. Tell my old man he doesn’t need to bother me unless there’s an actual reason.” Yale waved a hand, then added, “Oh, and remind him not to forget the annual transfer to my magic crystal card. You know how expensive a magus’s staff and gemstones can be.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Yale nodded and dismissed the servants.

“A magic crystal card?” Reynolds stared at him. “Only the Four Nations Bank issues those. I heard the application fee alone is one hundred Gold Coins.”

“Of course.” Yale clearly knew the subject well. “The minimum opening deposit is one thousand Gold Coins, but that probably wouldn’t even cover one month of my expenses.”

Linley sighed inwardly. He was standing beside a truly wealthy boy.

His father gave him one hundred Gold Coins for an entire year, which Linley considered more than sufficient. An ordinary commoner might earn only twenty or thirty Gold Coins after a full year of hard work.

“You really are rich,” Reynolds grumbled. “My father gives me only two hundred Gold Coins a year. He says I should focus on training and studying magic.”

“I receive one hundred,” Linley said. “It’s enough for a simple life.”

“Brothers, my money is your money. If you ever run short, come to me!” Yale declared. “We may live together for decades. What’s the point of drawing lines between brothers?”

Linley and Reynolds both paused.

“Decades?” Linley asked.

“Of course. Ernst Institute won’t let you graduate until you become a Sixth-rank magus. Magic gets harder with every rank. Most people need decades to reach the sixth rank.”

Linley frowned. Was his father supposed to support him for all those years?

Grandpa Doehring, why didn’t you tell me this?

Doehring’s voice sounded in his mind. Don’t worry, Linley. Ordinary people may need decades to reach the sixth rank. Under my instruction, ten years will be enough.

Ten years. Linley would be only nineteen. The tension left him.

“Is everyone here?”

Another boy entered the courtyard. He was about Reynolds’s height but carried himself with far greater composure.

“Hello. My name is George. I’m ten years old and come from the Yulan Empire.”

Yale, Reynolds, and Linley introduced themselves in turn.

The Yulan Empire was the oldest empire on the continent. In the first year of the Yulan calendar, it had ruled the entire Yulan Continent. Centuries of conflict and repeated division had reduced it to one of the Four Great Empires, but it remained the foremost economic power and produced many magi. Its academies of magic ranked second only to Ernst Institute.

“George, the academies in the Yulan Empire are nearly as good as this one,” Yale said. “Why travel all the way here?”

George smiled. “They are excellent, but still a step below Ernst Institute. If I’m going to study, I may as well study at the best. The journey was long, but it served as training.”

“You’re ten?” Reynolds asked. “You look about my age.”

George gave a rueful smile. Eight-year-old Reynolds and ten-year-old George were the two shortest members of the group. Linley stood half a head above them, while Yale was tallest of all.

“Never mind that,” George said. “While registering, I looked into this year’s one hundred new students. Every one of them has at least high-grade Spiritual Force and elemental affinity. I even found someone with superior grades in both.”

George clearly had a talent for gathering information.

“That’s normal,” Yale said. “No student at Ernst Institute is weak. My Spiritual Force and elemental affinity are merely high grade, which puts me near the bottom of this class. If my father didn’t have connections with the Radiant Church, I might not have been admitted.”

Linley regarded him with new surprise. A man who could call upon the Radiant Church was no ordinary person.

“Linley is the most talented student in our dormitory,” Yale continued, “but Ernst Institute has an undisputed genius. Have any of you heard of him?”

Linley and Reynolds shook their heads. George nodded.

“Dixie—the Institute’s foremost genius and the greatest magical talent of the past century. He is a dual-element magus with superior elemental affinity and superior Spiritual Force. In fact, his Spiritual Force is sixty-eight times that of his peers. Anything above thirty times is already graded superior. Sixty-eight should practically be a grade beyond superior, but superior is the highest category the test recognizes.”

Linley was stunned.

A dual-element magus. Superior elemental affinity. Spiritual Force sixty-eight times that of his peers.

Mine was only eighteen times. His is sixty-eight.

Ernst Institute truly gathered the finest magical talent from across the Yulan Continent. Here, Linley ranked only somewhere above average.

But behind Linley stood a Saint-level Grand Magus from more than five thousand years ago.