Chapter 13: A Gathering of Geniuses
Ernst Institute, the number one magic academy on the entire Yulan continent.
Ernst Institute was located in a wooded area over twenty li south of the holy capital, Fenlai City. Funded and built by the Radiant Church, it was naturally wealthy and expansive, covering nearly ten square li. An academy this large was almost comparable to a city.
Outside Ernst Institute, there were no settlements—just a stretch of empty mountain forests.
Service establishments like restaurants, clothing shops, and taverns were all located within the academy itself. It could be said that the students of Ernst Institute lived entirely on campus.
“Quite impressive.” Linley stood at the main gate of Ernst Institute, unable to help but sigh in admiration.
The main gate of Ernst Institute was a full fifty meters wide. Above the gate was a massive crescent-shaped structure, adorned with all kinds of profound magical runes. Just from the complexity of it, one could tell that the magic array on the gate was a large-scale spell.
At this moment, the gate was fairly lively. A row of administrative staff was present, and a young boy was holding his admission letter and identification documents, beginning the enrollment process. Linley immediately took his own admission letter and identification documents and went to handle his registration.
“Official classes start on February 9th, and today is February 8th. According to the notice, I have to arrive before February 9th. The boy ahead of me is also just now enrolling today, so he must live relatively close to Ernst Institute,” Linley mused to himself.
The boy in front of Linley, to be precise, could only be called a child. He was half a head shorter than Linley, and beside him was an elderly man accompanying him.
“Hello, I’m Reynold from the O’Brien Empire.” The boy handling his enrollment ahead of Linley suddenly turned around and greeted him warmly.
When Linley heard that the boy named Reynold was from the O’Brien Empire, he was startled. “The O’Brien Empire?”
The O’Brien Empire was one of the four great empires. It was well known that the four great empires were located east of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, while Ernst Institute was west of it. To reach Ernst Institute, one had to go around the northernmost or southernmost tip of the mountain range. After all, aside from rank 9 experts or Saint-level experts, few dared to cross the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts directly.
The mountain range stretched over ten thousand li.
Traveling from the O’Brien Empire all the way here, the distance alone was estimated at nearly twenty thousand li. If one came from the eastern part of the O’Brien Empire, the journey would be even longer.
A journey of twenty thousand li would take roughly a full year of travel.
“I’m Linley, from the Fenlai Kingdom.” Linley spoke politely to the boy named Reynold.
Reynold blinked his big eyes and sighed, “The Fenlai Kingdom? That’s convenient for you. It took me a full year to travel from home to the Fenlai Kingdom. Your travel time must have been very short, right?”
“Yes, it took me half a day from home to get here,” Linley answered honestly.
“Uh…” Reynold’s expression was quite amusing.
One person took a whole year to travel, while the other took only half a day.
“Student, hurry up,” the tester over there urged.
Part of the enrollment process included retesting the student’s abilities. After all, Ernst Institute had to guard against someone stealing an admission letter and impersonating another.
“Coming.” Reynold immediately went for the test.
But when he saw the test results, Linley was quite surprised.
This boy named Reynold had an elemental affinity rated as high-grade. As for his spiritual energy…
“Reynold, eight years old. Spiritual energy is thirty-two times that of an average peer. Super-grade.”
Linley’s eyes widened when he heard the tester announce the number, but the staff on site showed no surprise, their expressions completely flat.
“Linley, what’s wrong? Surprised already?” Reynold said nonchalantly. “This is Ernst Institute. Every year, only a hundred students are recruited from the entire Yulan continent. Which one of them isn’t a genius? My level is only average among the students here.”
“But Ernst Institute’s recruitment favors the Sacred Alliance. It takes fifty students from the Sacred Alliance, while the four great empires and the Dark Alliance together only get fifty. That’s really unfair,” Reynold added with a sigh.
Linley smiled at that.
Ernst Institute was founded by the Radiant Church, so of course it favored the Sacred Alliance.
“My turn.” Linley went for the test as well.
Reynold wrinkled his little nose. “This Linley is from the Sacred Alliance. He has a much easier time getting into Ernst Institute than I do. His talent is probably not as good as mine.” Reynold was quite confident.
But when the tester announced Linley’s data, Reynold was stunned.
“Spiritual energy: high-grade. Elemental affinity: super-grade. And dual-element—earth and wind?” Reynold was completely speechless.
Having a super-grade elemental affinity for a single element was already extremely rare, but Linley had two elements, and both were super-grade. That was true genius, and even a bit stronger than Reynold himself. After all… dual-element mages were very powerful.
“Reynold, stop staring. Let’s go,” Linley said with a smile.
“Oh.” Although Reynold was only a year younger than Linley, he looked two or three years younger.
Linley and Reynold received their student ID cards for Ernst Institute and also picked up their dormitory keys. At Ernst Institute, regardless of wealth or status, everyone had to live in the dorms. Both tuition and accommodation fees were completely waived.
But…
“Huh? You have to pay tuition?” Linley was quite surprised when he saw the elderly man beside Reynold paying a fee.
Hillman, standing next to Linley, laughed. “Linley, Ernst Institute waives tuition and accommodation fees only for people from the Sacred Alliance. For everyone else, they have to pay a hefty fee.”
Reynold nodded in agreement.
The elderly man beside Reynold smiled kindly at Linley. “Yes, it’s not just Ernst Institute. Even the continent’s number one warrior academy, the O’Brien Academy, does the same. It waives fees for its own country’s students but charges a high fee for those from other regions.”
Linley wasn’t stupid; he understood after a moment’s thought.
“Linley, my young master has the same dormitory key as you. You two should be in the same dorm. I hope you can help each other out in the future,” the old man said amiably.
Reynold said impatiently, “Alright, Grandpa Lumu, you can go back now. I’ve already arrived at Ernst Institute.”
“Uncle Hillman, you should go back too. I’ll take care of myself,” Linley said to Hillman with a smile. Hillman nodded reassuringly. “Linley, I’ll head back then. Work hard.” Hillman encouraged him.
Linley grinned and nodded.
“Linley, let’s go.” Reynold grabbed Linley’s hand enthusiastically and dashed into the academy.
“Goodbye, Uncle Hillman.”
Hillman and the old man watched the two children enter the academy, staying for a long time before leaving.
After saying goodbye to Uncle Hillman, Linley and Reynold stepped into Ernst Institute. Inside, the academy was shaded by green trees, with lakes, stone bridges, and ancient academic buildings… An air of antiquity rushed toward them. Just looking at a tree that would take seven or eight people to wrap their arms around, one could imagine its age.
“It’s really different. Not like those newly built academies that show off. This is what true heritage looks like,” Reynold said, his big eyes curiously scanning everything around him, sighing as he spoke.
At Ernst Institute today, there were various signposts indicating routes to different places. Clearly, they were set up for the new students.
“Reynold, let’s go to the dorm,” Linley said, pulling Reynold along as they headed for the dormitory area.
Dormitory number: 1987
Linley and Reynold had handled their enrollment procedures one after the other. Typically, four students lived in one dormitory. When Linley and Reynold arrived at the residential area, they couldn’t help but marvel. Row after row of single-unit courtyards stretched out before them, numbering in the thousands.
In addition to these thousands of single-unit courtyards, there were also rare two-story small apartments.
“1987, 1987…” Linley and Reynold followed the numbers, running southward.
The residential area was numbered very systematically. Starting from 0001, each row had 100 single-unit courtyards. When Linley reached the 20th row, he saw 1901 and then ran eastward. Reynold was panting heavily from the run, and only then did the two arrive in front of the single-unit courtyard numbered 1987.