Michael followed Gilrine while keeping an eye on the half-elf. The walls above the corridors were filled with dancing plants and talking portraits. The closer he got to the oak door at the end of the corridor, the louder the students began to chit chat. They were clearly more excited than Michael.
Under different circumstances, Michael would have enjoyed spending his time on Mazeroth. The third persona problem of his prevented him from appreciating the life around him.
"What's behind this door is the heaven kids" Gilrine grinned ear to ear before opening the oak door. And just as Michael expected, the hall reminded him of Hogwarts great hall. Each specialization class was called a house. The house tables were as follows from left to right; Warriors, Runemasters, Blacksmiths, and Alchemists. Each long table was designed to resemble their houses. The table of Warriors looked like a long sword, the Runemasters table was etched with countless glowing runes, and the Blacksmith table was made of metal rather than wood like the rest of the tables. Finally, the Alchemy table had veins coiling around and little sprouts were sticking out from within the table.
The five pillars drew Michael's attention. They were situated just before the staff table. Each pillar contained a glowing rune except for the pillar in the middle. The two pillars left to the center pillar had a crimson red sword and navy blue chakra on top of them. The pillars on the right had a silver anvil and an emerald green tree etched onto them.
Only the girl sitting at the far end of the staff table was young and the rest of the staff were mature and older. Everything seemed in order, the little children who were in the first years murmuring excitedly and enjoying the magical atmosphere, the staff wore warm smiles on their faces and the throne in the middle of the staff table remained empty. Only one professor who was in complete black robes was yelling at a student with a bloody face.
The professor kept slapping the boy despite the wounds on his face. Eventually, the professor noticed the new students and let go of the student with a final slap to the back of his head.
"Students, please be silent" one of the professors who wore a pointy hat on her hat clapped her hands. Her clapping was as loud as thunder. The great hall immediately became silent.
Gilrine walked towards the staff table to take his seat beside the youngest professor at the table. Headmistress Kayla stood up to welcome the new students,
"I am Headmistress Kayla Martin and before we begin the feast, we will conduct the sorting ceremony. Please step forward and place a drop of your blood on the center pillar"
The first years were curiously looking at them to see who was going to end up in their house. They were even betting on them as though Michael and the others were racehorses.
"You will receive your student id after you're sorted into one of the four proud houses, Warriors, Runemasters, Blacksmiths, and Alchemists. It's forbidden to use your real identity while you're studying in Mazeroth, your student number will be your identity for the next eighteen months" Professor Kayla explained,
Michael sighed and relaxed inside. With this rule, he could hide his real identity rather easily. Also, if someone messed with him, he would be able to beat the crap out of them without worrying about the consequences for once.
"Now step forward one by one"
She returned to her seat as the sorting ceremony finally began. The first one to step forward was the elf who bitched about Gilrine being late. With his chest puffed out and head held high, he made his way towards the center pillar. Rather than using a dagger to cut his palm to shed blood, he cut his palm using just his delicately pruned and manicured nails. He touched the pillar with his bloody hand. The blood was instantly absorbed by the pillar and the glowing runes on the pillars lost their glimmer. The next moment, the center pillar began to vibrate.
Want to see more chapters? Please visit p a n d a -n o v e l .c o m The pillar with crimson red sword rune glowed brighter as the first-year students sitting on the warrior house table cheered thunderously. The elf grinned arrogantly. Soon, a cloud of smoke emerged from the center pillar forming the number '23'.
"Humph" he snickered at the others for no reason before walking to the table of warriors.
Following number 23, many of the elves were sorted into the house warrior. Some of the elves ended up in the house of runemasters. If the elves were warriors, the dwarves were blacksmiths. Unlike the elves, every single dwarf ended up in the house of blacksmiths. There was not a single elf sitting on the table of blacksmiths.
To Michael's surprise, when someone sorted into the house of Alchemists, the entire hall was rather silent. Even the students sitting at the house Alchemists table did not cheer for the new additions to their house.
Michael did not know the reason for this exactly but he deemed the Alchemists were considered inferior compared to the rest of them. As a 5-star Alchemist, he felt offended by the thought.
One by one everyone got sorted into their houses. Nothing interesting happened until a red-haired girl touched the pillar. This girl went after the girl who talked to him back on the train.
When the girl touched the pillar, both the pillar of warriors and the pillar of runemasters let out a blazing glow. Even the proud elves were stunned beyond words.
"Number 34" Headmistress Kayla stood up from her chair. As a Headmistress of Mazeroth, she had seen many students with more than one specialization, she even saw a couple of students with three specialization talents. Every time they admitted new students, they would see one or two students with two specialization talents.
"You can choose either Warriors or Runemasters, the choice will be yours and yours alone"
Everyone stared at Victoria for her answer. While they were looking at Victoria, Michael was searching around to see her familiar because the girl didn't seem to have one on her. Only a couple of students remained without having a familiar and she was one of them.
"Professor, I choose Warriors"
The moment Victoria chose the warriors, the students of Warrior house let out thunderous cheers. They were excited to welcome such a talented person to their house. The more talented students they had, the higher the chance to win the house cup at the end of the year.
Eventually, Michael's turn came as he stepped towards the pillar. Although the students had seen numerous students before him, they still had the same excited look on their faces as they had for the first student.
"System, you know what to do" he willed the system in his mind as he cut his palm with a dagger. He simply placed the bloody palm on the pillar and then, the pillars began to vibrate.
The half-elf was rather curious to see the human's specialization. His curiosity was soon answered when the rune on the Alchemy Piller shone.
As usual, the students looked bummed after he was sorted into the Alchemists.
Michael on the other hand was glad and in fact, he was the one who ordered the system to manipulate the pillars. He did not want to draw attention by showing his true powers. If the system hadn't intervened, both the Alchemist and Warrior pillars would have lightened up brighter than Victoria.
If that had happened, even Kayla would have been stunned because in the history of Mazeroth, only once did the Alchemy pillar and the Warrior pillars light up at the same time. It was by the Supreme Guardian Andreas.
"Number 66"
Michael was given the number '66' as his student number. Eventually, after an hour, the sorting ceremony came to an end. As expected, Wilkas, the half-elf was sorted into the house of runemasters.
Unfortunately for Wilkas, there weren't any half-elves in the house of Runemaster, and in fact, there was not a single half-elf other than him in the hall.
Michael noticed not only elves and humans but everyone isolating Wilaks at the table. Only a couple of orcs remained still without moving away from Wilkas.
Although Wilkas seemed to be used to this treatment by everyone, Nightmare could see the pain and anger in his heart through his eyes.
"I can turn this hate into loyalty," Michael said to himself, sitting on the Alchemists' table.
After the last dwarf got sorted into the house of Blacksmiths, the sorting ceremony finally came to an end. The throne at the center of the staff table remained empty to the end,
Headmistress Kayla yet again stood up from her chair with a wine glass and a silver spoon in her hand. She tapped the glass with her spoon,
"Students"
The entire hall went silent,
"Let the feast begin"
The golden plates and goblets on the tables were instant loaded up with delicious food. The new and the old students alike dug into the feast, devouring everything before them. The food could be on par with Raylene's cooking. Hence, even Michael was unable to resist the mouth-watering deliciousness in front of him.
Everything in the cooking book could be seen on the table. There were roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, joints, steak, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips, pudding, peas, and carrots. The desserts such as blocks of assorted ice cream, apple pies, chocolate gateau, treacle tart, pumpkin tart, chocolate éclairs & jam doughnuts, trifle, and strawberries were served for the students who craved sweets.
After the last student licked his bowl clean, the food on the table magically disappeared as the table became empty once again,
"Now the students can take some time to bask yourselves in the beauty of Mazeroth. But remember, the forest to the west is forbidden for the students" Headmistress Kayla's words piqued his curiosity. If the forest was forbidden, he knew there must be some secret hiding within the forest and that secret might be the dark elf he was looking for.
"Follow him or I'll bite your head off" Nightmare threatened Wilkas when he tried to walk in the opposite direction of Michael,