Graduation felt a little odd since Kal had barely turned up to school since it had been made optional for him.

  At fourteen, they were graduating the equivalent of what Kal considered high school. Students who were headed to a technical university could continue for another couple of years, but in a sleepy town like Ebenshire, many were moving on to apprenticeships.

  It was usually just parents and extended family who attended these things. But this year was different.

  A cheering crowd had amassed, waving and calling out Kal’s name. There must have been near a third of the town’s population in attendance, Kal thought.

  The town guard was even called in to escort Kal through the crowd as he stepped down from the podium.

  Two months left of this. Looks like I’m going to have to steer clear of town.

  “Damn brat, quite a fan club you got,” Yogi said as he led the guards escorting Kal.

  The people weren’t violent or anything. The guards were just there to make sure they didn’t get over-excited.

  “Jealous?” Kal replied.

  “Ha, as if. Although, I do spot a few pretty faces. Can’t say I would object to them clambering after me.”

  “Perhaps you should learn magic then.”

  “You’re testing my patience, boy. Don’t make me give you another hiding.”

  Kal smiled. He was going to miss the banter he had with Yogi.

  Since reincarnating in this world, Kal had his sights set much further than Ebenshire. He had lived a short but fulfilling life in the small town, and it felt strange knowing that he wouldn’t be here much longer.

  Ellie and Arix caught up as they passed where they stood, but the crowd cared little for them.

  News had already spread that both of the teens had awoken their cores, an impressive feat. On top of that, they were casting basic spells.

  If not for Kal, they would no doubt have been famous in their own right. Instead, their success was attributed to Kal. Rumor spread that he had been teaching them, and as such, people assumed—rightfully so—that he was the cause of it all.

  The situation caused Ellie frustration to no end. She had put so much work into learning what she knew, and having it all attributed to Kal only made her more eager to leave the town.

  The people of Ebenshire didn’t understand magic or what it took to learn. They knew Daedrik, and they knew he was from a long line of mages. Since Kal had been the first, and his lineage predicted his talent to some degree, nothing else mattered in their eyes. Kal even joked a couple of times that Ellie could be the next Archmage and that Kal would still be attributed to the achievement. The first time he said it, she fumed up, went red, and refused to talk to him for two days.

  Thankfully, seeing the stardom birthing around Kal, the mayor had declared the Jakari residence strictly off-limits unless invited by the family. He had even placed a couple of town guards to patrol the roads leading out to the house, though they rarely made the round. Still, having them nearby meant that they could call on somebody if a local’s fascination got the better of them.

  The town’s reaction to Kal might have seemed extreme to outsiders, but a town like Ebenshire was rarely home to such talents.

  Common born rarely awoke their cores, and even fewer became mages. Mage potential, more often than not, was dictated by one’s lineage. But more than that, it was extremely difficult to learn magic without guidance. So naturally, a town with near to no history of mage families was ecstatic when producing a talent like Kal.

  But it was more than just being a young mage that was earning Kal increasing fame in his hometown. Whispers that he had the potential to be the next Archmage were increasingly loud. Of course, there was a long way to go, and many towns and cities had their own prodigies who they believed would be the next Archmage. But none of that stopped the rumors from spreading through Ebenshire.

  The title of Archmage was the height of magery. Each of the great kingdoms and empires of Aeora had its own Archmage. The title was typically given to the most powerful mage in the land. But it was far more than just a title. The Archmage was the voice of the kingdom’s magic community and held a position on par with the kingdom’s councilor, knight commander, and royal steward. In fact, the only person of higher rank was the king himself.

  “This is getting problematic,” Kal sighed. “Way to lump expectations on someone,” he added as a few people from the crowd cheered, calling him the next Archmage.

  “Quit complaining,” Ellie hissed at his side. “The next time I hear someone call me the ‘Prodigy’s Mage Maiden,’ I’m going to hit someone.”

  “Hey, Mage Maiden! Make the Prodigy of Ebenshire proud!”

  “Calm down, Ellie,” Arix said. “At least you have a nickname. That’s cool, isn’t it?”

  “Hey, Squire!”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Huh?” Arix crooked his head. “Are they talking about me now?”

  “Squire to the Prodigy!”

  “Heh,” Ellie chuckled. “They tagged you Kal’s squire.”

  “Squire? I kinda like it.”

  “Damn it, Arix. You’re pissing me off,” Ellie huffed.

  “Come on,” Yogi waved them on. “You should be good down here,” he added, leading them to an empty alley that rejoined the street further to the north and would lead them back to Kal’s home.

  “Thank you, Yogi.”

  “Yeah, no worries. Just get going already. We’ll keep them here,” Yogi said, making a parameter at the alley’s mouth. “Alright, backup, everyone,” he told the crowd.

  ***

  The trio skipped right past Kal’s home and made for the burrow. They had two months of free time, but it certainly didn’t feel like it with what they needed to achieve.

  “What’s that smell, Wort?” Bougie sniffed the air as the trio entered. “Ah, humans. You lot are especially stinky today.”

  “The crowds, probably,” Kal said, brushing himself off.

  “Nasty,” Wort grimaced and squeezed his nose.

  “Like you two can talk,” Ellie said. “This place smells like fish.”

  “What did I say about eating outside?” Kal said.

  “B-but,” Bougie stammered.

  Scanning the chamber, Kal’s gaze fell on a pile of bone. “Bougie, Wort.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Bougie said, getting up and walking to the pile.

  “Told you it was a bad idea,” Wort said. “You never listen, Bougie.”

  “Anyway,” Kal exhaled. “Let’s get to training.”

  Kal had borrowed a book on Divine spells from Daedrik’s library and given it to Ellie. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help much more beyond that. It was hard to instruct someone when he completely lacked the ability to cast Divine magic.

  Sitting at one end of the burrow’s main chamber, Ellie practiced the Mana Constellation of the spell, Sooth.

  To help her, Kal had been filling up one of the spheres with mana, and he gave it to her to recover mana as she trained. But once she was set up, he turned his attention to Arix.

  Constantly channeling mana into Arix so that he could practice his spellcasting was exhausting, and effectively halted his own training whilst he was doing it. However, Kal was improving his Mana Bond.

  This became their routine. Both Arix and Ellie were up at the crack of dawn, meeting Kal behind his house to head out to the burrow to train.

  By now, their parents knew what they were up to—although they obviously had no clue about Bougie or Wort—but none interjected.

  Everyone knew that academy exams were coming. They knew that failure meant waiting four years to apply again. If you were capable of casting first-circle magic and wanted to be a mage, it made sense that you took the exams as early as you possibly could. So, none even considered standing in their way.

  Academy exams were only taken once every four years because the number of worthy candidates was relatively small compared to the larger population. It allowed magic academies to have classes full of worthy candidates instead of propping numbers up with lesser talents.

  Like any higher education, the kingdom didn’t need every magical talent to become a mage. There were endless jobs and opportunities for the less talented. Magic Academy was the upper crust of the gifted, and the exams were a way of filtering out the best of the best.

  Bougie and Wort were no magical scholars. Between them, they knew just one spell.

  Corrupted were, like they thought, their own specific Core type. Learning demonic spells wasn’t going to be any easier for Arix than learning human spells. So they decided to start with a Martial spell for him.

  Prior to being possessed, Arix had a Martial Core, so it seemed to stand to reason that it might be the easiest magic for him to learn.

  The spell was a simple yet effective spell used by many Martial casters. Empower.

  The spell wasn’t flashy. Empower did exactly what it sounded like: it strengthened something.

  Arix had taken to his archy club swimmingly and had gained a decent proficiency in the skill.

  His casting was costing far too much of Kal’s mana, but he could imbue his arrows with Empower, greatly increasing their speed and power when he fired them.

  Kal watched Arix training with his arrows silently. He had caught suspicious glances from Ellie as he helped Arix train. But while he was channeling mana into Arix, he just looked like he was meditating. There would be no way for her to know something was up, and since they had told her he had a Martial Core and was learning a Martial spell, everything should add up.

  One evening, after a long training day, Ellie’s hand brightened as she cast Sooth. It wasn’t the first time she cast it successfully, but it flashed with far more power than ever before as her mana burst into the spell, catching Kal’s attention.

  Turning away from Arix, Kal broke his mana channeling, fizzling his spell. His eyes widened as he watched her mana grow and immediately inspected her core.

  She actually did it! A wave of relief settled over Kal. Reaching Stage 2 effectively meant that Ellie should have a very good chance of passing the exam.

  Kal was also surprised to see that the mana boost she received from reaching her new stages was actually larger than his despite having less Mana Potential. But that could be related to having different Core types.

  “I feel different, Kal,” Ellie said, looking down at her hands as her mana dissipated.

  “Search within,” Kal replied, and Ellie closed her eyes.

  “M-my Core,” Ellie gasped. “It reached Stage 2.”

  “You did it, Ellie. You’ve got a serious chance of making it through the exams now.”

  “Good job, Ellie,” Arix said, but a nervous shiver lined his words that Kal picked up on.

  “Don’t worry, Arix. We’re not leaving you behind. I’m going to make sure of it.”

  Arix nodded, and Ellie raised a brow as she watched them. She knew something had happened between them that neither Kal nor Arix had been forthcoming about, and she wanted answers.