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Volume 1 Chapter 6 – Big Academy, Big Differences
After several days on the road, the Ouyang siblings arrived at the country capital one day in advance. After resting for a full day at the inn, they arrived at their destination on the second day —— Augustus Magical Academy of Advanced Studies.
The Academy was not located in the city but on the outskirts. It was more than ten kilometres away from the city. Once they left the city, there were not many vehicles on the road. The sides of the road were wilderness. There were neither villages nor were there crops. This made the road seem even more deserted.
According to the driver, the large plot of wilderness belonged to Augustus Academy and was actually a training area located out of school. However nobody knew its actual purpose. After driving for about another hour, the silhouette of Augustus Academy finally appeared in their line of sight.
The Academy appear to be much different from their imagination. From far, the whole academy looked like a gigantic fortress, surrounded by thick and tall walls. It was impossible to see what was inside. Slightly in front of them laid a gantry blocking their path.
“I can only send you till here, someone will fetch you from here.” The driver stopped his vehicle before the gantry saying. Thus the siblings alighted and walked towards the gantry.
At the gantry, security was strict. There were twenty armed guards stationed there. The guard on duty approached and stopped the siblings as soon as he saw them approaching: “Stop! Display your credentials.”
This was the first time Ouyang Xue saw such a formation and she dodged back in fear. However, Ouyang Tao calmly took out the admissions notice and identification cards and passed it over to the guard: “We are new students reporting today. This is the recruitment letter and our magician license.”
The guard looked at the documents and pointed to Ouyang Xue letter asking: “Why was this piece torn?”
“Hehe, this…… I’m sorry. It was caused by our cat at home. This shouldn’t affect anything I hope.” Ouyang Tao fabricated a reason to trick the guard.
After repeatedly checking their documents and checking their names with the namelist, the guard returned them their documents and opened the gantry. “Welcome to the Academy. There will be a car in front to send you in.”
At this time, the sounds of a horse rapidly galloping became louder and louder. Soon, the figure of a girl riding a high-headed cyborg horse appeared in their vision. Seeing this, the guards in the gantry immediately tensed up and everyone gathered in front of the gantry. They stood in two neat lines, and stood as if they were welcoming her.
The riding girl just passed through the gantry without looking at the guards. It was as if it was logical for them to do it.
However, this caused Ouyang Xue to get annoyed. “Why don’t you need to check her identification?”
“That’s the daughter of Marquis Jacqueline, the prime minister.” A guard replied shortly. “Okay, the car to send you in is inside. Just go in.”
“Tch, she’s just nobility.” Ouyang Xue muttered softly.
“Okay, why get angry at such a small matter. Let’s go.” Ouyang Tao touched his sister’s forehead gently and smiled. He knew that his sister was extremely sensitive about the nobles and it could be said that she held a certain hatred towards them.
As the vehicle that drove the new students continued forward, Augustus Academy became clearer and clearer in the eyes of the siblings. Just like what they saw from far, the school was surrounded by walls —— no, they were thick and tall steel walls. On top of them were cannons and patrolling guards. It was indeed a big fortress, very different from the image of a school.
When thinking about this country being named the Principality of Ryan, it has always been called the “country without an army”. This was very different from what the siblings saw.
The Principality of Ryan was situated in the east. It was built during the chaotic times of war and conflict when migrants from the west escaped what was once a mythical era in the past. The country’s most unique point was that it did not have a peacetime defence force. Therefore it was always known by the world as the peace seeking “army-less country”.
In fact, the Principality of Ryan had a population of four hundred million people and took up a huge territory of nearly five million square kilometres of land. However, they only had light duty equipment for the thirty thousand armed police to maintain peace and order in the country and ten thousand for the allied magic squad to uphold peace and do their missions. Therefore they were a one of a kind country in the world.
As a result, the sight of the school’s great fortress caused Ouyang Tao’s heart to shudder with unrest.
After passing through the walls, they entered the main part of the school. The view that was presented to them was completely differently from what they saw outside.
On the two sides of the road were young growing trees and a flat grassland. It made a person feel comfortable and relaxed. Following the path were buildings and laboratories of different styles. Students in different uniforms who carried books would be frequently seen. Further down the path were a row of neatly arranged student dormitories
“Wah, how amazing! Like my imagination…… No, even better than what I imagined.” These facilities were what the seaside village could never ever possess. Thinking about the fact that she was going to study at a place with such advanced facilities made Ouyang Xue unable to conceal her excitement.
Ouyang Tao however, felt a strange sense of familiarity towards his surroundings. He felt as though he had been here before.
Soon, the car arrived at a small field in front of the administrative building. This was the reporting point for new students. The various faculties of the school set up their reception point there. Soon the siblings found the elemental department counter —— it had the longest queue among all the faculties.
At the corner of the field, there were three new reception point that were exceptionally vacant. They were the Mechanical Engineering department, the Magical Sword department and the Blacksmithing department.
Seeing the situation at hand, Ouyang Tao decided to accompany his sister’s queue first. They handed over the deposit fee, completed the administrative documents, obtained the student pass, school badge and other necessities. Ouyang Xue was then led by the staff to her dormitory. After that, Ouyang Tao procceded to the Mechanical Engineering department’s reception point.
After completing the enrollment procedures, a staff wearing a name tag brought Ouyang Tao to his dormitory.
The student that led the way wore thick square spectacles. He was slightly short and appeared thin and weak. He gave off the feeling of a weak bookworm. Although he was most likely a senior, he seemed much younger than Ouyang Tao.
After walking a few steps, Ouyang Tao found that the direction in which they walked in was strange: “Eh? Sorry to bother you, but isn’t the dormitory at that side?”
“Ah, that’s the normal students dormitories, you belong the the Mechanical Engineering dormitory located at the other side.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is……” Bored at having nothing to do, Ouyang Tao started a conversation with the student leading him. “Why does the Mechanical Engineering department and the other two department seem so empty?
“You don’t know? Mechanical Engineering, Magical Swordsmanship and Blacksmithing are the three special departments. The only admit a maximum of ten people each year and only accepts the best of the best, even if it meant that they would end up without anyone to teach.
“So strict……” Although Ouyang Tao realised that the entry criteria was strict when he took the examination, he didn’t expect this unexpected degree of strictness.
“Of course; speaking of which, you didn’t know of all that?”
“Uh…… Hehe, truthfully speaking, I’m not very clear about all this.”
“Ahh, I know!” The leading student looked as if he had a sudden revelation. “It couldn’t be that you are the legendary student. The only commoner student to be admitted into the Mechanical Engineering department in close to fifty years?”
Truthfully speaking, Ouyang Tao felt that although the student bore no enmity, the emphasis of the fact that he was a commoner…… made him uncomfortable. If his sister was here, she would probably stomp away.
Ouyang Tao simply just smiled: “This…… Yeah, it’s probably me.”
“Woah, pleased to meet you.” The leading student’s attitude suddenly became more serious and he bowed in respect to Ouyang Tao.
“Don’t…… Don’t be like that, I feel embarrassed like this.” The leading student’s reaction caused Ouyang Tao to be at a loss, and he quickly helped the guy up. “What’s more, I wanted to ask since just now, you’re my senior, why are you always using a respectful figure of speech?”
“That’s because you are from the Mechanical Engineering department. There are still places in the future where I need your help.”
“That…… Ahh, Okay, just tell me if you need help.” Ouyang Tao replied with good manners. Thinking about it, Ouyang Tao felt that their role in the conversation was reversed.
This also made Ouyang Tao feel that his future life in Augustus might not be as simple as he thought…
Both of them were in that place when they took their entrance exam for the academy, weren’t they? It was even mentioned specifically in a previous chapter.
Yup it was but that’s not why he thought it was familiar. My bet is that he was here as a child before the accident where he lost his memories