Chapter 132: Before the gate

“Chirp…”

“Someone looks tired.”

“Chirp…”

One one side was the master and the party who, quite literally, were shining right now.

Be it their skin or their hair or even the way their eyes shined, it seemed like they had become younger than they already were.

It was quite something as they stood in a crowd of hundreds of people who were standing before the gate of the Academy.

-Shaaaaaa…

-Oooooooong…

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.

The winds blew all around them as an instructor stood before the gate along with glowing balls of light all around him.

He was an academy lecturer, here to guide the new students inside for the mandatory ranking test of Stanox.

“Do you wanna go inside and rest for now?”

“Chirp?”

“Yes, it’d be perfectly fine. I will call you if you want, alright buddy?”

Sam did not know why Nyx seemed so tired when he had never seen this bird, even a little exhausted until now.

He was strong and his stamina was a phenomenon that should be studied. But if he was tired for whatever reason right now, then Sam did not have to keep him outside.

The rest of them had a great rest.

Felix’s new fur hair was tied in pretty braids by the fairies, and aside from Rainin and Lexie who had a time of their lifetime in that place, even Art was happy thanks to all the fun things she got to see in that place.

The fairies were very good at taking care of a spiritual creature like Art. She looked a lot healthier as well so, the one who did not get to enjoy all the fun things that they had done in their break time, the little white bird, certainly deserved some time for himself.

“Chirp…” Nyx didn’t complain either and happily went inside his essence card as Sam stored it in his bond mark.

After then, looking around himself at the people who were whispering about them, as well as glaring at a few who were staring at Lexie for looking so much more attractive right now, he focused his attention back at the front stage.

The others weren’t important right now.

This test was far more important to them than dealing with some lustful high society brats from around the world.

The instructor, a high grade mage, spoke to the people present in the common tongue.

He did not use any specific tone or nature in his voice. For him, the people present here were all the same so even though there were many non-human individuals in this batch, his attitude towards them all remained neutral.

‘This reminds me of the last time…’

In his previous life, the time he came to the academy was a few months earlier than this time.

Back then, he had been just like the children and older people who were currently staying at the very back of the group right now.

They had torn clothes and they did not look anything like the rest of them either: Well addressed, well slept eyes, clean hands… It was tough for many of them.

Some of them had arrived here just now as well. And while they had the chance to rest until the next time, they could not afford to do so.

For most normal people who come to the academy to find a chance, time matters far more than being in a good shape.

They would rather challenge the trials of the academy than staying put.

‘I was like that as well…’

He looked back to those days and then he looked at his own hands right now.

He had good shoes, great shoes in fact.

The clothes he was wearing were layered with more features than any armour the people around him had on them.

Their positions were different and yet they all stood before the same door with the same wish: to get into the academy as a student.

‘But that is not enough.’

The academy test isn’t just an entrance test. It has always been known that all humans are not equal.

Some are better than the others and some are not as bright as the others.

With that as the foundation, over the past many generations, the academy system had been perfected to give a certain chance for every single person.

Equity not equality.

The academy does not test everyone from a standardized stage from the get-go. The forest test presents to the test takers with a certain task that they can most certainly overcome.

Most who could not do even that are either too mentally unstable to handle Stanox’s environment or would prove to be a disturbance to the entire internal academic system.

‘And there are a lot of people like that.’

Still, the test that they are giving does not stay the same even if they face it once.

The next time they have prepared themselves for it, the academy’s system will go through the process they went through to get over the original problem and create a more difficult one that they can still pass.

Everyone receives a chance to enter the academy. The question is: can they take this chance or not.

And, since the inequality is evident, it also gives a chance to those who have more to show than the rest: the so-called cream of the crop.

The second test will also filter out the stronger from the strong and the strongest from the stronger. That would be the first standardized test to determine where the individual stands on the most fundamental statistical levels.

The academy is divided in ranks: the ones who pass the first test are all the (Students) of Stanox.

These students are divided into three distinct groups: Freshmen-grade students, Sophomore-grade students, and Graduation-grade students.

If someone is already above the graduating class, through the third test qualification, they can become An (Assistant lecturer) that can learn by a lecturer’s side.

Those who do actually get to teach officially, are a level above them, the (Post-Docs) or as we call them, the Scholars of academy.

But they are still not at the level where they get a general class of students.

Only those who are at the (Lecturer) rank can teach a normal class within Stanox, and these are some of the best ‘teachers’ that have the qualities to do so.

‘The criteria to become a lecturer isn’t that simple.’

But it is also an honor that one carries all around the world. They are an honorary noble anywhere they go in this world.

Starting from (Senior lecturer) position, a shift is seen from the teaching to furthering the current knowledge base.

The senior lecturers are the big names of the academy, people who have made significant contributions to the world’s foundations.

‘And after that, comes readers and professors.’

The ranks that you either only ever see in old books or in the everyday newspapers.

‘One can either stay a reader for a few months or for decades or centuries. The line is very thin between these two ranks in the academy.’

Those who do cross over to the rank of a professor become as important as the kings of nations or a superpower.

‘The current people with the rank of a professor can be counted on two hands.’

It is the highest honor one can receive in a mortal lifetime. But existing beyond that are ranks who represent the different schools themselves: the (Head of a School) and the (Deans).

It is not something that one can achieve in a hundred years or even a millennium. The set criteria itself is too ambiguous.

Even Sam could not cross over to that line despite being the only non-tamer professor to ever found a new school of taming.

The gates slowly opened as a bright beam of light exploded all across the area.

What opened before them was a giant door of light leading into the unknown.

The instructor had done his job here. So now, it was all up to the rest of them.

The test or the rankings… if they want it, they must seize it all themselves.