Graduation

As of this moment, despite all his efforts, Leo was only able to learn two Advanced spells. Even more unfortunate, he sometimes can't draw out the full capacity of their effects.

"They said that demonstrating any Advanced spells can win you bonus marks." Leo said before shaking his head, "I'm just going to do it the normal way."

After they were done talking, they then focused on the work they had on the table.

Austin had a bunch of special materials and ingredients by his left side. In front of him, was an open book he was carefully reading and an empty cauldron. At his right were the tools he was using to handle the ingredients.

He only had to memorize the texts for his last exam. However, Ms. Oakshield suggested for students to experiment the theories in the book as a method to help improve their studying.

Opposite to him, Leo was concentrating his mana. He soon started to activate his spells.

[Earth Creation - Metal]

A solid block of metal the size of a large textbook immediately appeared on the table.

Seeing nothing wrong with it, Leo smiled in satisfaction. He then carefully started shaping the block of metal. Taking a deep breath, he hurriedly continued casting.

[Material Molding]

[Strengthen Material]

Two spells were sent out almost simultaneously.

Leo precisely timed his spells so that the object would not break as it was changing shape. He had to quickly mold it first while it was still not too strong before immediately hardening it so there would not be any tears after molding.

[Weaken Material]

Seeing that the surface was smooth and without any marks, Leo then made it more malleable again.

The block of metal was now in the shape of a long sword's blade. It currently did not have a handle.

Looking at it, Leo then practiced different methods of enchantment.

When it came to the basics of enchanting, one must practice the ability to both balance different enchantments on an object, so they do not conflict with each other, as well as adding as many enchantments as appropriately possible.

Thinking for a bit, Leo decided to first practice balancing different enchantments first.

Some enchantments are naturally harmonious with each other. For any beginner, these things were easy to recognize and use. But to truly master this art, one must be capable of having all kinds of enchantments exist cohesively together.

This was a sufficiently difficult task to accomplish for most students. Even so, Leo can definitely tell that this will be included on the examination.

'It is already easy for me to add half a dozen... I can even do ten if some of the enchantments are harmonious with each other.'

----------

A few days later, the last exams were almost finished.

Leo walked back from his Elemental class with a slight frown on his face.

When it came to basic element casting, Leo was actually capable of utilizing all the elements of air, water, earth, and fire, something most students would struggle on. But when it came to the specializations of element casting, the situation was reversed.

Leo was more naturally rounded in this subject, and wasn't as well suited when it came to specifically focusing on any particular element.

'Well, I always knew I would struggle on this one,' Leo inwardly sighed, 'But do the marks earned for specializations have to be so high? I feel like this might be one of my worst tests.'

While feeling down, the situation wasn't too grim. The next exam was finally Enchantment, one of the subjects that Leo most enjoys.

"Not a bad way to end the day." Leo said to himself while walking into a lab room.

Inside the lab, each student was given a table of their own.

Mr. Jones was the supervisor here.

It was also very dark.

"Uhmm… The lights-" a student said.

"Got it." Mr. Jones quickly replied without the slightest change in his expression.

Leo smiled as he looked at this familiar scene.

'I'm going to miss this place...'

----------

After two hours, Leo walked out refreshed and joyful.

He had finished with time to spare.

Feeling happy now, and forgetting about his previous exams, Leo quickly entered the school library.

He and Austin both agreed to meet up there after he was finished.

Passing through, he could hear many people chatting about the end of their exams. Since the students had finished with their studies, the rules of silence in the library were temporarily cancelled.

He soon met up with Austin at a table and saw that he was alone.

Austin was currently reading a book he had bought in the past with some pocket money. It was a part of a novel series that was currently popular with the times.

"Have you waited long enough?" Leo asked, startling Austin from his reading.

"Ah, so you've finished early?"

"Of course."

Austin had already finished the day before and was happy to enjoy more time with his friend now.

"How well do you think you did?" Austin asked.

"Better than I expected, actually." Leo said with pride, "Mr. Jones had set up a bonus test where students can try to enchant both light and darkness affinity on a small necklace. I was only half confident when trying, but I surprisingly managed to achieve it."

"Really?" Austin looked astonished, "Isn't that one of the hardest things you can do in that class?"

Although he had never taken the course, he had heard from Leo how enchanting opposite elemental affinities onto an object is one of the hardest things you can do in that class. He was also told that the smaller the object, the more precision and steadiness must be applied.

"Guess all my practicing really helped me out." Leo shrugged while smiling.

Truth be told, he had attempted many experiments involving similar scenarios on different objects. While he has guaranteed success on large objects, he was only forty percent certain on smaller ones.

Among his class, only Mr. Jones had ever demonstrated enough skill to accomplish this every time.

"So it's done then..." Austin breathed out.

"Hm."

Leo looked around at the chatting students. He then saw Jeffrey walking over, waving his hand.

"Hey guys!" Jeffrey excitedly greeted, "I got some nice candies from home," he took out some sweets from his pocket, "Want to celebrate the end?"

After thinking for a moment, both of them agreed merrily.

----------

"So the day has come..." Principal Lewin Brionne spoke in his office to no one in particular.

A bright flame suddenly appeared above the desk he was sitting near.

"Stop trying to be dramatic," his phoenix said, "You say this every year..."

"Not every year," Lewin annoyingly corrected.

"By the way," he then asked questioningly, "Where exactly were you today? I haven't seen you since this morning."

The phoenix that was floating in midair suddenly turned its back to its master.

"None of your business," it haughtily replied, "Now where are my seeds? I'm hungry."

It casually flew towards one of the cabinets in the room and opened its door.

Watching the spirit animal rummaging around, the headmaster was quite speechless at the bird's behavior.

Suddenly, he noticed something strange about the phoenix's tail. It was hard to spot due to the phoenix constantly appearing to be on fire.

Lewin frowned as he observed closely.

'One of its feathers is missing?'

----------

In the main hall, many students marched inside in large groups.

The day of graduation has finally started. It was currently the afternoon.

Unlike last time, where there had been a banquet, the main hall was now arranged with hundreds of seats for the students and teachers to sit accordingly.

Every one of the people in the hall was wearing a patterned robe. This robe was given by the school as a part of the ceremony to congratulate the students.

All their exams have been marked and sorted into their grades. It was now time for them to say goodbye to Halo Academy.

"I'm really going to miss this place."

In the crowd, there were many boys and girls who spoke these words with the people next to them. Melancholy was in the air.

Leo looked at the stand that was set up in front of the crowd.

'My time here is over,' he thought, 'There is no use dealing with any regrets or longing. I have to prepare myself now for what awaits.'

After a few seconds, the ceremony finally began. The headmaster teleported near the stand and prepared his dramatic speech.

For the graduation, once the speech is over, the students will have to walk to the stand one by one to receive a scroll from the headmaster. Then, they will have a quick party in the school's garden before going back to their rooms to pack up their things.

----------

A few hours had passed by.

Walking down with his friend for the last time in this dorm, Leo came to the front of his room.

Both of them took a deep breath as they stood side by side before entering.

"This will be the last time." Austin said with heavy emotions as they stepped through their doorways.

Once inside, Leo quickly packed up as many things as he could. He held a bag with straps in one hand to help him take everything that was not originally part of the room.

He didn't have too many possessions here, though. Leo had always tried his best to be a minimalist when going to other places.

After taking all his possessions, he headed to the doorway before turning his head back to get one last look.

Nearly everything looked tidy. There was no stain and damage to the furniture and walls.

However, the bed did not look properly set up. The blanket was sprawled quite messily on the mattress.

"You finished?" Austin called outside.

"Oh!" Leo jolted in surprise, before turning around, "Just a second, I need to fix the bed."

"Huh?" Austin peered into his room and saw the messy blanket, "Won't the school take care of it? It's not like it will be a hindrance for them."

"I know but..." Leo began.

"Ah, it's okay. Go ahead if you want." Austin waved his right hand as he took his bag with him, "I'll wait for you at the entrance, alright?"

When Austin walked away, Leo hurriedly went forward to clean up the mess.

In all honesty, he did feel a certain nostalgia.

'If I'm going to leave, then I at least want to get one last good look at everything first.'

Viewing the blanket as an imperfection to his room, Leo took his time to neatly spread it out on the mattress.

As he did this, he suddenly noticed an orange glow inside one of the folds of the blanket.

"What the?!" Leo became shocked as he quickly prepared a spell in case it was a fire.

That would really ruin his day.

But as he stopped and looked closer, he noticed that the blanket was still perfectly fine. The source of the glow in the bed appeared to be from a luxuriously patterned feather.

Leo exhaled as he realized what it was.

"Did a phoenix just visit here?" he asked himself.

It wasn't uncommon for spirit animals to go wherever they wanted. It also wasn't uncommon if they left stuff behind.

'Shou-should I take it?'

After weighing the pros and cons, Leo cautiously decided to touch the feather before slowly removing it from his bed. Seeing that nothing was wrong, he decided to keep it in his bag.

Leo then finished his tidying and walked back to the doorway.

Taking one last good look at his room, Leo walked out the door.