Chapter 8: I Got This House?

Arthur stepped toward the ancient gate with steady shoulders and an even stride. The confidence sat on him differently now. It was not loud. It simply existed in the way he carried his weight and the calm set of his dark eyes. A few girls in the waiting line glanced over and did not look away immediately. A couple of the boys noticed those glances and scowled.

He walked through the stone arch without slowing. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

For a full second the gate stayed dull and colorless. Murmurs started. Then the stone flared bright saffron, the warm gold-orange of House Dawn. The Rising Phoenix symbol burned above it for a moment before fading.

Most students and even some of the teachers on the stage treated it like a minor glitch. A Tier 1 with unstable channels, they assumed. The gate had simply defaulted. Only the silver-haired little girl in the center seat kept her red eyes on Arthur and the gate a few heartbeats longer than necessary. Then she popped another piece of cake into her mouth and looked away.

Mimi’s laughter burst inside Arthur’s head the moment he cleared the gate.

"Ha ha ha .... Ofcourse It couldn’t read you! The Eros Codex blocks that kind of deep scan. Your nature, your personality, even the book itself are invisible to it. So it cheated and sorted you by the leftover Flame mana still clinging to your channels. Stupid."

Arthur walked to the gold-orange section and took an empty seat. Around him students were already showing off their Grimoires Fire, wind, water, earth, even a few rarer shapes. The sorting clearly had nothing to do with elemental type.

The boy dropped into the seat beside him with a relieved sigh.

"Milo Sterling," he said, offering a quick hand. "Tier 5. I heard some of the others talking. You’re the Tier 1 from the Fringe, right? Don’t let it get to you. A lot of strong people started low."

Arthur shook the offered hand. "Arthur Vance."

Milo pulled his own Grimoire from his coat. A solid, well-kept volume with a faint silver crest of a knight’s helm. "This thing is already heavy. Yours looks... quiet."

They talked while the rest of the names were called. Milo was easy company, the kind of person who filled silence without demanding much in return. By the time the last student passed through the gate, the four colored sections of the colosseum were full.

The old bearded man stood again.

"Every house requires a captain for each year. The academy has already appointed the first-year captains. The decisions were made with the information available to us. Captains can be challenged and replaced later. Do not complain today."

He let the words settle, then continued.

"This academy is known across the empire for one reason. Students who survive all three years and graduate are directly commissioned into ’The Arcane Legion’, the primary protectors of the kingdom. That path is the dream of most of you."

Excited whispers rose immediately. For Fringe students and lower nobility alike, the Legion was the clearest road to real status.

The old man’s expression did not soften.

"Out of the two hundred who entered today, a maximum of fifty will graduate. That number is the absolute ceiling. In most years the actual number is lower."

The excitement died. Faces fell across every section. In the upper rows the senior students watched with the flat, knowing looks of people who had already watched friends disappear from the roster.

"Classes begin tomorrow at first bell. You are dismissed. Prefects will guide you to your dormitories. Do not get lost. The academy is larger than it looks."

Chairs scraped. Two hundred new students rose and began filing out through different exits according to house color. Arthur and Milo followed the saffron group. A tall third-year with a calm face waited at the exit.

Mimi’s voice was almost vibrating with energy.

"First time outside the Hall of Binding in centuries and I already like this place. So many channels. So many secrets. Master, we are going to have fun here."

The prefect led them across sky bridges and through open courtyards that floated between spires. House Dawn’s dormitory was a long building of warm stone and tall windows that caught the light. Inside, the prefect read names from a list and handed out keys. One room per student. No roommates.

When he finished the room assignments he gestured to a young man standing near the stairs. Broad-shouldered, short dark hair, a heavy Grimoire resting at his hip like a weapon.

"Your first-year captain is Julian Ironwood. Listen to him. Or don’t. The results will teach you either way."

Arthur recognized him immediately. The same student who had received a Mythic-tier 7 book in the Hall of Binding while everyone else watched in envy.

Julian gave the group a short, measuring look and said nothing.

Arthur found his assigned door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. The room was simple but clean. A proper bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a window that looked out over open sky. His travel bag already sat at the foot of the bed.

He closed the door, dropped the bag, and fell backward onto the mattress. For a moment he simply stared at the ceiling. Then the faces from the Assembly Hall returned. The princess with the unreadable eyes. Several other girls whose Tier 7 and Tier 8 books had drawn quiet respect from the crowd. Women who carried power the way other people carried coats.

A slow, lewd smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Mimi popped into existence at the foot of the bed, wings beating with open excitement, petal skirt shifting as she hovered.

"I saw that smile. You’re already thinking about them. Good. Very good. The academy is full of high-tier women with locked doors inside their heads. And you, Master, have the only key that works."

"Please let me watch this time."

Arthur closed his eyes, still smiling, and let the warmth of the Eros Codex rest against his side.