Basic Magic Training - 1

Upon downloading the necessary information to his personal communication device (Holographic Information Multi-functional watch), He paid for the enrollment fees end headed towards the assigned building for his first class.

Xander only had two classes in the first semester, which was Basic Magic Training and Elemental Control, each class lasting 2 hours each day. The college educational guidance was quite lax as additional research and study depends on one's personal time use. The extra hours in the day can also allow students to request for consultation if necessary. It is after all expected that students going for higher education in Eta follow the rigorous path of a mage.

Once he reached the building, he flashed his watch at the scanner on the entrance of the building, allowing him entry. What was good with a personal communication device was that it functions as your identity card, your payment card, your phone, and your portable computer. The model Xander had was the latest and most expensive one, the S100 series, costing him 500,000 Etas. With some modification done by the system, it now had an unhackable software and hardware structure, as well as the capacity to go into the deep web and gain access to certain restricted sites available in the world, undetected and untraceable, obtaining some of the characteristics of the System.

Once he was in the building, he noticed that the whole building was the classroom, and the first 2 floors were merged into one, large room, with a projector board. There were seat desks placed in one side of the room, while the other side was covered with a mat, and had two arena-like stages. Upon going to the 3rd floor, he realized it was a personal canteen. Upon seeing the choices, even Xander can't help but salivate, as he had seen these exquisite dishes but didn't have the chance to eat them.

These exquisite dishes were different from regular dishes: These dishes were actually beneficial for anyone who uses magic! Not only is the dish imbued by magic by the cook, it also uses materials that can be considered extravagant, such as magical beasts meat, elemental herbs and spices, and the like. Although it doesn't let anyone rise in level, it increases the magic content in the human body as one continues to eat these dishes, permanently increasing their magical affinity and aptitude for the elements.

If he recalled, he only got to ate these types of dishes at the end of the year at home, during the celebration of the year's end. Another was when he went to the ancestral clan for the registration and meeting of the elders.

Looking closer, the menu in the canteen was divided into two: those that cost Etas, and those that cost school contribution points. School contribution points, or SCPs, are gained whenever receives a perfect examination score (ranging from 1-10 points), as well as doing certain tasks available at the School Bounty Board. The School Bounty Board basically holds missions entrusted by the government and the military to the school, and the difficulty ranges from F to SSS, with the rewards increasing as the difficulty of the mission rises as well.

SCPs can be used to be exchanged for Etas at a ratio of 1 SCP:1000 Etas, but to exchange Etas to SCPs, the ratio changes to 1 SCP:1,000,000 Etas, and that's on the individual sellers' preference. The school itself has no feature for the latter exchange type. Currently, he had 500 school contribution points; the specialized food costs around 5 to 50 school contribution points. He could only afford one specialized meal a day for one semester; that only includes lunch. Of course, the regular meals available in the campus were free of charge to those part of the advanced track program, but why should he settle for mediocrity? If he wanted more SCPs, he would have to either get it from other students, get it from the school for perfecting exams, or get it from the School Bounty Board.

He headed to the 4th and last floor of the building, in which he saw an extravagant lounge. He wasn't sure what this area was for, and no one was there at the moment, and after looking around for a while, he headed down to the first floor. Xander looked at the seats available and selected the one near the 2 stages. Since he there was no one else in the building, he decided to take a nap for a while, setting an alarm for half an hour.

30 minutes later, the alarm rang, waking him up. Xander looked around, and saw several students talking, with a few just sitting on their desk-chairs, playing around with their phones.

When he looked around, others were also looking at him, and some of them were even talking about him.

"Hey, is that him? That genius who was crowned as the top-scorer in the whole country?"

"Well, can you see anyone else who looks like a 7 year old kid here?"

"True. Wonder how strong he is... I want to challenge him!"

"You, challenge him? At least get to his level in terms of grades first before issuing a challenge, fam."

"Well, who knows? Maybe his combat abilities are significantly weaker than his theoretical foundations?"

"Pfft! How did you even get into this class? Such as muddle-headed person like you would not reach far in the path of magic cultivation!"

"What! Say that again Ambrose, and I'll…"

"You'll what? Use spells against me? Remember, Marley, you barely broke through to Elite class, and I'm already an Elite-2 mage. Our bodies' attributes are relatively the same as well."

"…Hmph!" Marley snorted, and turned around to talk to his newly-made acquaintances. Ambrose, seeing this, didn't pursue the issue further and continued to talk to others and Marley.

While they were chattering, Xander disappeared from his desk, causing others to be shout in surprise. But before they could even ask what the hell just happened, Xander appeared in front of the other students in less than a blink of an eye, making the students wonder if they were merely making up things. He eyed them curiously.

Xander was genuinely curious about his classmates, since he decided to skip grade school and high school. He already got the necessary information about his classmates with the help of the watch, and knew about their backgrounds, temperaments, and even their current career paths.

Majority of the students in front of him were no older than 18, some even at the age of 15. They were considered prodigies, but not as monstrous as Xander.

According to their reported magical level, the strongest among them was only an Elite-4, with the weakest at Elite-1. But these prodigies weren't as simple as that; they were able to challenge those above their levels like Xander.

However, they weren't as strong as Xander who could put up a fight 1 class above him and even win, however. After observing them for a few seconds, Xander gave them his most authentic smile.

"Hello, fellow classmates! I hope we all have a fruitful college experience together!" Xander said, as he bowed to them, causing the students be flustered and bow back as well as a sign of respect.

Before Xander could actually introduce himself to the students that were present, a loud, condescending voice sounded from the back of the room.

"Hmph, I don't think you should be here."

Upon hearing this, the other students who didn't care much about Xander looked at him and began observing the spectacle. Xander, however, didn't lose his smile and looked at where the voice came from. Upon seeing the origin of the voice, he recognized him from the information that he has about the students; it was the self-proclaimed genius from the Gamma region, Faris Cunningham.

"Oh, why is that so, Mr. Faris Cunningham?" Xander asked, his voice chilly despite his smiling face. The onlookers couldn't help but doubt their original impression of Xander.

"Why? You yourself should know why." Faris sniffed, as if disdained to talk about the matter. Xander was a bit bewildered; he didn't know anyone related to Faris that could have crossed paths with him, so why is he going against him, he wondered.

"Well, Mr. Faris Cunningham, rank 501 of the country-wide college examinations, I think I know why I should be here. What I wonder is how someone like you, someone who didn't even reach rank 500 or above, is allowed admission to the Grand Hyatt University's advanced track program? Could it be...?" Xander said questioningly, his voice pensive.

Of course, Faris, who was 16, may be a teenager but he wasn't daft. He knew what Xander was trying to say, and that made him not only embarrassed in front of the other students, but feel angry at Xander as well.

"Hmph! Obviously, someone didn't realize that one can enter the Advanced program track as long as your grades are above the rank of 1000, and as long as one has at least 2 recommendation letters from a personage higher than a Master class." Faris retorted, his face haughty. Xander rolled his eyes at this idiot.

"Oh, so you entered through recommendation letters... then doesn't that mean you entered this class by the back door? So tell me, Mr. Faris, whose more qualified to actually be enrolled in this class? Me, who topped the examination and was recommended by several members of the Office of Admission to join this class, or by you, who barely got by and bought… oops, I mean, got some recommendation letters from god knows who?" Xander sneered at Faris.

Even the other students couldn't help but visualize the scenario and come to a conclusion: Xander deserved to be in the class. Most of those that got in the class without external recommendation of a Master class and above were ranked around 50 to 300 in the examination. However, some of them who got recommendation letters from their families' seniors, or recent alumni graduates that they paid for, but Xander was the real deal.

"You...!" Faris glared at Xander, madly pointing at him. Xander was annoyed and with a wave of his hand the finger Faris used to point at him broke. Faris broke out a loud scream, and even the other students were shocked and eyed Xander, wondering what magic that was.

Was it wind? It wasn't visible, it only immediately broke Faris' pointed finger. No other external signs were seen except the unnatural bend the finger showed. Was it a subset of water element, such as the blood element?

Xander eyed them coolly before looking back at Faris, in which he took in an innocent look.

"Oh my, Mr. Faris, are you okay? Your finger looks quite broken. I reckon, the bones there are all shattered now! What happened?" Xander exclaimed, his voice tinged with surprise and worry, that if anyone who didn't see the previous actions done by him, they might have been fooled! Faris held back his mouth and glared silently at Xander, who just looked genuinely confused at what had just happened.

"Mr. Faris, I believe you should go to the infirmary, or better yet, go to the hospital and have it healed. Who knows, it might leave a permanent damage in your ability to cast magic!" Xander said succinctly, and those who were listening knew that was a threat towards Faris.

Faris, on the other hand, paled and hurriedly called for his driver and headed towards the best hospital he could afford.

The classroom was quiet after Faris had left; no one thought that things would develop in such a scary way. Xander shook his head and looked at the remaining students, who had faces of dumbstruck. He smiled and asked, "Now, what was I going to say?"