Magic Assessment Part 1

Unedited

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The next morning, most of the adults were hung over but they remembered what happened because they made sure to drink responsibly. Still, Everet and Mirabelle were a bit too tired to go to the academy with their kids, so they saw them off at the front door.

After that, they went back to their room to rest.

As for Cyrus and Atlas, they were taken to school by Sirius and the family’s driver.

Though they didn’t arrive at the same time as Sophie and Ronan, the two were waiting for them at the gate of the Imperial Academy. Cyrus and Atlas were not that early because of the hung-over adults who moved slowly around the estate.

Sophie greeted them with a smile. “I knew you two would pass, but why are you late?” Over the years, she learned to talk more comfortably when the four of them were together.

Cyrus gave an exhausted sigh. “All the adults drank a little too much last night while celebrating our scores on the assessment. We almost didn’t have breakfast to eat.”

“We didn’t really eat enough but I brought some snacks with me!” Atlas cheerfully said while taking out some breakfast muffins he saved the other day because they were delicious.

He had other snacks that he could eat when he was hungry, but he didn’t want to share everything in case he ran out of food without any time to replenish his stock.

Cyrus looked at him like he wanted to say something but in the end, he didn’t. Atlas was a growing young man and needed a lot of food. That’s what he had to keep telling himself.

“We should probably get checked in for the last two assessments.” Ronan coughed to get everyone’s attention while staring at Atlas munching on his muffin. Atlas was the type of eater who tried to shove as much as he could into his cheeks before properly chewing his food, so every time Ronan saw him eating, he found it cute and funny. He could never grow tired of watching him.

Cyrus and Sophie also saw how Ronan was staring at Atlas and Cyrus almost rolled his eyes. The look on Ronan’s face was so obviously doting that he was sure others could see it from a mile away. They just had a conversation about Ronan’s true feelings for Aster but Ronan still hadn’t said anything to Atlas about it.

Well, he decided that he would let Ronan deal with it himself. It wasn’t his business or his right to say anything to Atlas when it came to someone’s romantic interest in him…

The four of them made their way to the staff that were sitting at the desks in front of the auditorium once more. They followed instructions and lined up accordingly. This time, they were separated into two groups, Cyrus was with Sophie and Atlas was with Ronan. They planned to meet up after getting registered and waited in line properly.

Ronan saw that he had some alone time with Atlas and unconsciously noticed the size difference between them. He was taller, but Atlas was buffer than him… Hmm… Did he need to work out more?

Atlas saw Ronan staring at him strangely. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Ronan saw the confused look on Atlas’ face and smiled. “I was just wondering if I can gain muscle like you do.”

“Why would you want to do that? I think you are fine the way you are.” Atlas knew that Ronan was strong, especially because he was half-dragon. Plus, it wasn’t like Ronan didn’t have any muscles. Ronan was just leaner than he was. Atlas’ body grew vertically and horizontally almost at the same pace.

As Atlas grew older, he would be considered a bear! Well, that’s if he kept up with how much he was eating and training… Maybe he should cut back on his food? But food was good and he was always hungry… He was a growing boy it should be fine!

The two continued talking about Atlas’ eating and training habits and how it was just his bone structure that made him like this. They were still teenagers though so Atlas was still growing.

Some students who had seen Ronan before felt they were disillusioned about their previous impression of the prince. Cold? Unfeeling? Disinterested in everything? Why was he doting on Atlas and even teasing him from time to time? Was this real?

When Atlas saw someone he knew, he was excited and couldn’t help but chat with them. As for Ronan, his face turned expressionless when these people came by. That expressionless look was the one everyone was used to.

All the students, regardless if they knew him or not, concluded that Ronan was only expressive when it was just Atlas…

As for Atlas, he didn’t notice what was going on with Ronan and happily got his ticket.

This year, 250 students passed the assessment, which was quite average for the Imperial Academy. His ticket number was 36 while Ronan’s ticket number was 62. As for Sophie and Cyrus who met up with them, their numbers were 23 and 57 respectively.

This would be the order they went in for each test.

The magic test was first because it was the quickest to do. For the magic test, a student will go into a room with the magic instructors and test their magic attributes on a giant crystal orb sitting in the middle of the room.

This orb would give estimations of how much magical power the student had and their best magic attributes. After that, the instructors would ask the students to give a demonstration of their best magic spell. That would then determine what class they would go into.

This took only a few minutes.

Plus, there were six magic instructors, two for each grade, and they were split up between three rooms. Even going through 250 students wasn’t too difficult for them. A lot of the new students were just beginners at magic, so it wasn’t too hard to assess them.

Of course, some noble children were on the stronger side, but that’s not all of them.

The students were guided to the magic classes’ training grounds where they could sit and talk with other students until their numbers were called. Cyrus, Atlas, Sophie, and Ronan sat together because they were childhood friends.

They talked about random things like a recent restaurant or what magic spell they were going to use.

In threes, the students were called until it was Atlas’ turn.

“Don’t break anything.” Ronan was the first to say.

Next, it was Cryus who said something. “Try to hold back a little bit.”

“Be sure not to use too much magical power on the orb or none of us can use it.” Sophie finished off.

No good lucks, just making sure Atlas didn’t break anything…

“I know! I will be quick.” Atlas grinned while waving to his friends.

Atlas followed a volunteer to one of the testing rooms and was greeted by the third-year instructors. The instructor with dark brown, short curly hair, and dark skin was named Darius Feron. The other instructor was named Ciaron Eleyver. He had orange-red hair and light blue eyes. His skin was also incredibly pale.

Darius had a broader physique while Ciaron looked like he could be snapped in half by the wind.

“You must be Lord Atlas, it is an honor to finally meet the apostle of the Dragon God and the God of Light.” Darius greeted Atlas and then introduced himself. “My name is Darius Feron, but you can just call me Instructor Feron. I am one of the third-year magic instructors. The Feron family is a small noble family, but we pride ourselves in taking care of the Guardian Dragon of the South.”

There were a lot of noble families who kept up with the abodes of the Guardian Dragons. The Guardian Dragons did not need to eat food, but they went long periods hibernating, so their place often gets filled with dust if no one is there to clean it.

Only families who were accepted by the dragons were allowed to go into their abodes.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Instructor Feron.” Atlas gave a polite bow in return.

Ciaron also greeted and introduced himself. “Hello, Lord Atlas…” His voice was very soft and quiet. If other people talking, no one would be able to hear him. “It is an honor to meet you. My name is Ciaron Eleyver… You can call me Instructor Eleyver. My family is from the north… We are commoners.”

He was talking so slowly, Atlas thought if he had Ciaron as his instructor, he would be sleeping the entire class time…

“He talks like that, but when it comes to class time, he talks much faster and passionately about magic. Anything outside of magic and he is like this…” Darius explained as best as he could. He knew what his work friend was like and he didn’t want Atlas to get the wrong idea about him or his qualifications.

“That makes sense. It is a pleasure to meet you too, Instructor Eleyver.”

With the introductions out of the way, Atlas’ magic test officially began!

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Grandpa Marky: Hey everyone, sorry for the late-ish update. I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Actually, I haven't been feeling well all week. For those of us living in the U.S., y'all get what I mean. The election results were a doozy. I'm preparing to move and save my novels onto a hard drive just in case. If Trump successfully becomes President (he's under investigation right now), it will be a tough time for us BL writers and readers who live here... I will probably have to stop writing my novels and go the hetero/no-romance route which I don't want to do.

Urgh, it's stressful to think about to be honest so I am going to end my rant here. Thank you for reading and being patience with me! I will see you all in the next chapter. Have a lovely day/night my beautiful grandchildren!