”You’re going to ignore that, or I am going to hurt you,” Ella told him directly, but Wolfe noticed that she didn’t let go of his hand.
“Ignore what? We should get going, or we will be late and end up either in detention or you two will end up standing in the back somewhere for the entire induction ceremony.” Wolfe suggested, helping both witches to their feet before putting his gloves back on.
Cassie fell in beside him, taking Wolfe’s left hand and swinging it as they walked to the auditorium, drawing curious glances from the older Witches and envious glares from the first-year Candidates.
“Look there, the rest of the students have just finally arrived,” Cassie called, pointing out a window with her free hand.
Twenty busses, accompanied by six heavily armed vehicles, had just pulled into the Academy compound, and a wave of students was pouring out. They must have convoyed here to avoid meeting whatever fate had befallen the burned-out car that Professor Ashcroft’s Personnel Carrier came across on their way here.
Instead of waiting, Ella pulled them to the auditorium and grabbed seats near the foot of the bleachers, right by the door where they could watch the new students come in.
“My senior, who was here a few years ago, told me this is the best spot. You guys showed up early, just like I did, but the others still have that clueless new student smell to them, fresh off the bus and adrift in the Academy without their servants.” Ella explained.
She wasn’t joking, the look on their faces, combined with the herd movement, as if they were all afraid of getting lost, made them seem somehow more vulnerable and weaker than the students who arrived yesterday.
They were ushered by a group of teachers, including Dean, the combat instructor, to the front of the auditorium where they would be the closest for the entrance exams but also on display for the senior students in the bleachers.
Once they were seated, the students who had been watching them arrive filtered in, and a middle-aged Witch with shockingly green hair stepped to the podium.
“Welcome everyone to the Academy. As you should already know, I am Headmistress Peach, and I will be overseeing your education for the duration of your stay here.
It is Customary for the Examinations to begin immediately after the introduction of the new servants, but as we have forbidden them this year to help you focus on your coursework and not work on getting pregnant, we have only one new staff member. Wolfe Noxus will be our new hall monitor and the Practical Skills Assistant for First Year Class A.”
Wolfe stood up and waved to the assembled students as the Headmistress finished her speech, then took his seat again when she stepped aside without even bothering to explain the new rules or the reason for them, and Professor Ashcroft took her place.
“We will begin our examinations the same way as always, first with an aura scan and then with a potential reading. Ladies, all you need to do is place your hands on the device and do your best to activate it. If you can cast a spell, please do so. It will absorb almost all types of magic at the level that you can muster.” Professor Ashcroft instructed the Witch Candidates.
For most, this was an impossible task. Witches couldn’t use their powers before adulthood, and they were sent here right afterward, so none of them had more than a year to prepare, with many being shipped off right after their eighteenth birthday, even if they didn’t show signs of having the gift.
The Headmistress spoke up again after Professor Ashcroft gave the instructions. “First up, we have Christa Abilene. Lady Abilene, please show the new students how it is done, and say hello to your mother for me the next time you talk.”
If her mother rated highly enough for the Headmistress to defer to her this way, maybe Wolfe shouldn’t have beaten her brother so badly. Hopefully, he didn’t hold a grudge.
The pretty blonde Witch strode to the podium in her new school uniform and delicately placed her hands on the aura measurement device.
[Age 19. Pure Blood Witch. Aura strength 50 Units.] The device reported.
That seemed to be good, going by the look on everyone’s faces. Then she stepped to the second device, and a crystal ball turned from clear to jet black when she put her hands on it. Wolfe couldn’t tell what sort of magic she was using, but he could feel the flow of mana from her aura into the ball.
[Potential, Rank A]
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm
There were two sets of waiting areas for Witches. One with padded wooden chairs and a much larger one with long metal benches. It wasn’t hard to guess which was which.
The examinations went smoothly, passing through the rows of candidates without issues, but the further they went, the more concerned the teachers seemed to be. They were in the last of twelve rows of floor seats, and only eight of the twenty Class A seats were filled.
That was giving hope to the remaining students, who had heard rumours and gossip from their older relatives that the top twenty of them would be joining Class A, the same as most other years.
But one after another, they failed to make the cut. Even the haughty daughters of high nobility, which should have a powerful Bloodline, failed and were assessed Rank B and even Rank C potential, despite being among the few who could activate the aura machine.
Finally, the floor seats were empty, and the Headmistress looked into the bleachers straight at Cassie and Ella.
“Ella Mariel, you’re next. Do your best.” Professor Ashcroft called to them.
[Age 18. Mixed Blood Witch. Aura Strength 41 Units]
[Potential, Rank A]
That made her second in the class for strength so far and only the ninth Rank A potential for the year.
“Our final Witch Candidate is Cassie Noxus. Perhaps the Crime Families of the middle floors can show us a bit of potential that the others have squandered in search of wealth and fame?” The Headmistress asked the room.
Oh, she was big mad. Wolfe was surprised that she hadn’t set anyone on fire or stormed out of the room yet. Just the fact that they only had ten witches out of hundreds that could actually make the cut for Class A was enough to very nearly put her into a rage.
From her words, it was clear that she blamed the situation on political marriages diluting the Witches’ bloodlines, since marriage to someone with purely mundane human or a mixed Magi lineage would do them no good in their efforts to rebuild their strength. In their pure form, neither of those bloodlines produced women who could use magic.
Cassie quickly made her way to the exam station and placed her hand on the aura tester, with the other hand up her sleeve, holding her wand.
[Age 18. Mixed Blood Witch. Aura Strength 147 Units]
The room was stunned to silence, and Professor Ashcroft lifted Cassie’s sleeve to show the room that the heirloom she had brought was an Aura Wand, which would naturally increase her score for that portion of the exam.
The Professor didn’t say anything about her having made it on the way here though.
The score was also almost three times the next candidate’s, putting her at a huge advantage over her classmates.
She stepped to the second machine and placed her hand on it gently, smiling at her small victory over the snobby Nobles.
[Potential, Rank A]
The room breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, she had a very strong aura, but she wasn’t some Rank S wonder child who would draw more attention than she was comfortable with.
“I see the Noxus Family didn’t disappoint us. I knew one day your family would rise up. After all, I went to the Academy with your Grandmother for all four years.” The Headmistress informed the shocked crowd.
The Nobles had never heard of House Noxus before, which meant that despite making it to graduation, something had happened that prevented Cassie’s Grandmother from becoming a Noble.
That helped their pride a little. They could now say she was of noble birth but a fallen House without a title. That indirectly meant that Wolfe was likely also one, as they assumed the two were brother and sister or possibly cousins from their close interactions on the way into the auditorium.
This led to the question of how he managed to get a job here, when the Academy turned down all of their House’s attempts to embed servants for their children.
That made a total of ten students in year one Class A, half as many as expected, and half as many as had returned from Class A for years two and three. There were also a lot more failures to activate the aura device than Wolfe had expected, and he wondered what the first-year dropout rate was.
He knew a lot of Candidates failed, but unless a lot of Witches also got their aura working and got themselves on track to building a strong foundation, this was going to be a very small graduating class.
“If the first-year Class A students will please follow your instructors out, we will begin class announcements for the remainder of the student body.” The Headmistress announced, bringing the small elite group, totalling only ten women, to their feet.
“I will see you this afternoon. Save me a seat.” Wolfe whispered to Cassie, then gave her an encouraging thumbs up as she moved to follow Instructor Dean out of the auditorium.
Murk, the Student Council President’s assistant, motioned for Wolfe to follow him out of the room as well. He expected to be led to a classroom, but instead, they went to a storage room with guards on duty at the entrance.
“State your name, and you will receive your allotted additional personal items, training weapons and armour based on your fighting style and duty rotation.” The storage room Guard informed them.
“Anything I should know before picking out personal items?” Wolfe asked.
“Yes, a simple hex from a second-year Witch Candidate hurts just as bad as any weapon, even if it doesn’t leave a mark. Pain tolerance is an essential skill of all employees.” Murk told him, and the men on guard duty nodded, having been cursed by Witches more than once before. More than once that day, in fact, since they weren’t allowed to dispense anything to the students before the assembly.
And that was one of many reasons why Wolfe didn’t want to stay here forever. Too much drama and danger.
“Now, head back to your room, sort your new clothes and toiletries, then meet the ladies of First Year Class A after lunch. They’re not holding a proper class, but it will be good to meet them all, as well as the Practical Magic teacher that you will be working under. I will also warn you hygiene is far more important than you think.
Get used to washing multiple times a day during training unless you want to be ridiculed and isolated by the Witches. The more powerful they get, the more sensitive their noses become.” Murk instructed.
He should have warned him not to pick products with strong scents, Wolfe thought, but the big man was very much a live-and-let-die sort of person. It wouldn’t be an issue for Wolfe anyhow. With the increased sensitivity of his own nose, strong scents were already excluded from his list.