Academy of Legends [A LitRPG Harem Adventure]

“So, you think anyone from our class is going to hit an elite?” Iris whispered.

She’d never been good at keeping her voice down, so her conspicuous whispers drew glares from the students waiting around us.

Graduation from the preparatory university that sat between high school and the rest of our futures had been six months ago, but today was the day that really mattered.

Until the age of 20, all of us with potential to scale the Towers were given careful education and training. Now that it was over, we would undergo a final set of exams before our bodies could finally be fully awakened.

Afterwards, the academies would pick and choose from our number. Most would go to a regular magical academy, their preparation serving them to be a solid mage and potential Climber. There were many who wouldn’t get selected at all, though, which almost universally meant deployment to the front. It wasn’t mandatory, but the military mage academies were the only open ones besides the privates, and they were always accepting.

It spoke volumes that they still had so few new recruits. Everyone knew how brutal the Demon War was. Many Climbers often chose to serve—but that was only after they had made a name for themselves and gathered a party.

I had never been a fantastic student, so I had made peace with the possibility of going to war. My parents had lost their lives doing the same, though they had been Climbers, so the reality of our kingdom’s situation was more apparent to me than most.

The last group, of course, were the ones who got selected by the elites. Three academies—technically four, but the fourth was special—that only took the best of the best, accepting less than a hundred students from across the kingdom every year. Elite Climbers were the best of us. The people who went to those schools often became legends.

I didn’t need to become a legend, though. I just wanted to finally be able to live.

“Alice did, didn’t she?” I said to Iris, whispering at an actual quiet volume.

“Alice doesn’t count,” Iris said. “She’s Marked. I mean anyone who just happens to have talent.”

“Hey, you could be Marked, too,” I whispered, placing a finger over my friend’s lips to quiet her. “Gods know you’d be insufferable about it.”

“Maybe…” she trailed off wistfully.

She seemed like the right type to be as well, but I didn’t mention that. Marked were all larger-than-life personalities, at least from what I’d seen, and Iris absolutely was. There was a certain intensity to her that every other Marked I’d encountered had. To be fair, I had only ever seen two Marked, Alice included, and the other of them had been from afar, but the books said the same.

Alice had gone to that fourth school. Ascension Academy was one meant only for the Marked, with all faculty bearing a divine Mark of their own.

That also meant it was an all-girls academy. In the five hundred years that our records covered, only one man had ever been Marked.

The reason for that had something to do with how our mana cores worked, but since I had figured it wouldn’t apply to me, I hadn’t paid much attention to that lesson.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” an announcer’s voice screeched into our ears. “I am happy to announce that your exams have all been processed. Please stand and prepare for the second stage of the selection process!”

The rustling of uniform cloth filled the room as our graduating class of five hundred all rose, looking around to see what was next. Conversation broke out, everyone apparently taking that as their notice that speaking was allowed.

“Well then,” I said. “Tell me if your four finds an elite, will you?”

“Oh, you’ll know,” Iris said. She winked, her captivating red eyes flashing with excitement and a hint of nervousness.

“You’re going to do great,” I assured her, patting her on the shoulder.

She took that as an invitation to wrap me in a crushing hug, chest very noticeably pressing against me. “Tell me you’re going to be okay, En.”

“Of course I will,” I lied, hugging her back. “You should let go of me before we start getting stares.”

“Oh. Of course.” She let go, finally letting me breathe.

The magic propelling the announcer’s voice flared up again at our ears. “Please turn your attention to the stage, where there will be a brief address from one of your very own before the selection phase begins.”

We all turned towards the stage where the examiners had been seated before curtains had fallen at the end of the test. They rose, revealing a dozen closed doors behind them—and a single, easily recognizable woman. Short blonde hair fell loosely down to her shoulders, blowing about in a nonexistent breeze. She wore our school uniform, but she looked distinctly uncomfortable in it.

“It’s Alice!” Iris practically squealed. “Oh gods, I have to talk to her after this!”

“I’m going to keep this short,” Alice said, her voice projecting over us with an intensity that rivaled the announcers even without a visible microphone or amplifier. “Awakening changed my life. It’ll change yours. The next hour will be the most important moment of your life so far and the least important moment of the rest of it. Don’t be worried about what you get assigned. Everyone finds their path.”

Easy for the Marked girl to say. I could see that thought rippling through the crowd. She’s got everything.

“Now, please refer to the postings above each door and find yours,” she said.

That triggered a flood of students rushing forward, but I hung back, avoiding the crush of people. It would be annoying to get trampled here, and we were all going to have the opportunity to be awakened anyway.

Iris, of course, didn’t wait a single second and started running forward, doing her best to avoid shoving people out of her way but still carving a path through.

I chuckled, shaking my head. She’s got a bright future ahead of her.

Not only was Iris a great, driven student, she was from a Climber family—a good one. She was practically guaranteed entry to an academy. To be honest, I would have been surprised if she didn’t get elite.

Part of the reason I hung back was to avoid the rush, true, but the rest was because I didn’t want her to feel bad when she saw where I ended up. There was no way we’d end up going to the same place with the difference in our abilities.

Eventually, all the students formed something approaching lines. I was behind door 7, which put me at the end of about a fifty person queue.

We’d been extensively lectured about what would happen on this day. Four at a time, we would be led in and awakened, at which point we would immediately be selected by a panel. I did not want to see my grim fate be chosen in the same room as three others, but it was how things had always been done.

Eventually, the lines thinned until there were only four of us left. I recognized two others—Seth, an asshole bully who nonetheless had decent marks and Ryan, a soft-spoken nerd who was sure to go places if he ever got any self-confidence. The last introduced herself as Ashley, but didn’t say anything else.

The awakening room itself was larger on the inside than it seemed, and it was busy. The last group had just moved on, and we were led to four plush seats in a rough square.

A masked officer walked in briskly, presenting us with a tray with four flat tablets atop them.

“These are awakening stones,” he explained. “You have been briefed on this process already, so I won’t stay on it for too long. Each of you needs to hold these. You will feel the system integrate into you, and you will see a message. This will take a different amount of time for each of you, and this is normal. Once you are awakened, you will be selected. Are there any questions?”

Seeing none, he handed each of us a stone, then stood at attention not too far away.

Next to him was a long table with what had to be fifteen officials sitting behind it, each of them representing a different academy.

I hadn’t realized they’d be in the room with us, but whatever. There was a layer of thick force magic blocking us from them. Bad experiences in the past, I’m sure.

The tablet was cold and hard. When I touched it, my body felt oddly warm, but nothing else changed.

That was to be expected. We were going to be here for a bit.

Ryan was the first one to awaken. About two minutes in, he shot up in his seat excitedly, practically jumping with joy.

“Ryan Neumann,” the masked man said. “Fire and ice affinity. Two starting spells.”

One of the officials behind the table raised his hand. “Tenet Academy is willing to accept Ryan Neumann.”

Another followed shortly after, then another.

Three hands, notably, never even came close to coming up.

Ryan ended up selecting Tenet, which he seemed to have been set on from the beginning. Good for him.

Ashley was the next. She stood up slowly, looking stricken.

“Ashley Rieheart. Death affinity. One starting spell.”

A lot of hands shot up at once, voices overlapping.

Then, a single voice spoke over the rest authoritatively.

“Selene Academy is willing to accept Ashley Riehart.”

An elite.

Ashley’s jaw practically dropped.

As she was opening her mouth to accept, though, Seth awakened.

Unlike the other two, he didn’t seem to react normally. He rose, and somehow, he seemed to be taller than before.

With an angry growl, he charged Ashley.

Snapping to attention, I leapt out of my seat and threw my tablet at him. It bounced off him without doing anything, but it drew his ire.

Most of the people in this university had never been in a real fight. They’d led privileged upbringings, brought here because their parents had been able to afford it.

I, on the other hand, had been raised by the streets and the Towers. I knew when to let instinct take over reason.

My logical brain knew that he was awakened now. He had his magic—probably a rage proficiency or something of the sort—and his physical body would have been augmented. Even before that, he was taller and heavier than me.

The part of my brain that made decisions, however, just acted.

I tackled Seth’s legs, catching him by surprise and knocking him to the ground. His rage-fueled strength was incredible, though, and he shoved me off, launching me into the air. I caught myself with a stumbling roll, but now I was facing off against a very angry mage… and Ashley didn’t seem to know what to do.

“YOU,” Seth half-growled, half-roared. It didn’t sound like a human noise.

Blood and adrenaline pumped in my veins, heat filling me. Too much heat.

Shit. Was I awakening? If that took me out for a moment, I’d be dead meat.

Screw it, I thought, and I charged.

Seth took a massive swing at me, and I ducked, sliding under it and sweeping a leg out.

My leg caught his ankle, but he didn’t fall. It was like kicking a wall.

And then I was staring straight up into a very angry freshly awakened mage’s face.

“Aw, shit.”

Before I could turn and run, though, Seth froze.

“My apologies for the wait,” Alice said, emerging from the door we’d come in from. She had a staff in her hand now, the pink crystal in its tip glowing with energy. “This is the third berserk incident we’ve had in one day. That can’t be normal. Officer, why didn’t you handle this?”

“I’m a trainee,” the officer said, which was how I noticed that he had gone and hidden in a corner.

Alice sighed, fanning herself with her off hand. She was sweating, I noticed—she must really have been exerting herself. “At any moment, he’ll…”

The frozen Seth suddenly slackened, then unfroze, collapsing to the ground.

“Yeah, there we go,” she said, wiping her brow. “He won’t do it again.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

“My pleasure,” Alice said, turning to leave. “Good reaction. You’ll do well wherever you go.”

“That’s nice to hear, especially coming from a Marked,” I said. “But my tablet is on two pieces on the floor.”

That heat within me hadn’t died down yet, which I assumed that had something to do with.

Alice froze.

“Wait. You didn’t finish awakening yet? The text hasn’t come for you?”

“Nope,” I said.

“Okay,” she said after a long pause. “Come find me after you awaken, then. I need to talk to you for my after-action report.”

“Sure thing,” I said. More opportunity to talk to a Marked was good, and it didn’t hurt that Alice was insanely attractive even in our school uniform. “Uhh, about the tablet?”

“Ask the officer,” Alice said, already walking away.

I turned to see that the officer was already presenting me with a new one.

“…thanks,” I said, accepting it and settling back into my chair.

It really was too hot.

I sat there. Then I kept sitting there. All the while, I kept on getting hotter.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.

The officer tilted his head, looking at me. “That’s weird.”

Thirty minutes passed.

“Officer,” the guy representing Tenet Academy said. “This student does have mana, correct?”

“This should be correct,” the officer said, clearly frowning behind his mask. ”But—“

Finally, the warmth reached a peak, and a line of text scrolled across my vision.

Welcome to the system.

Name: En Ward

Age: 20

Proficiency: ???

Spells: ???

What the hells?

“En Ward,” the officer announced slowly, apparently not quite understanding what his reading device was saying. “No proficiency. No starting spells.”

There was dead silence from the academy officials. They just stared at me like someone might look at a lost puppy with three legs.

I huffed out an annoyed sigh. I didn’t need more pity. If they weren’t going to take me, then I would go. To be honest, I didn’t know what was up with this, either, but I wasn’t going to find out just by looking at people looking sadly at me.

I left the same way I’d come, no letter of acceptance in my hands.

The auditorium had almost completely cleared of people by the time I’d left, but there was at least one.

“Hi, Iris,” I said, forcing a smile.

“En!” Iris beamed. “En, I got into Selene! Selene! How—“

She must have seen something on my face, because she froze, her expression falling. “Oh. I’m—I’m sorry. I didn’t think—“

“It’s okay, Iris,” I said. “Seth went berserk. I need to file a report or something before I leave. I’ll let you know how it goes after, okay? You should go and celebrate. Selene! That’s amazing!”

“I know you’re putting on a brave face for me, En,” she said softly, cupping my cheek in a soft hand. “We can talk more about this after. I promise that you’re going to be alright.”

“Always so considerate,” I said, smiling for real this time. “We’ll talk after. Now go. You should be out partying right now.”

“Will do,” she said, though she only actually left when I physically gave her a light push.

I realized shortly afterwards that Alice hadn’t actually told me where to find her, so I spent some time wandering around until the stage curtains closed.

After another half hour or so, I concluded that she’d forgotten and made to leave myself. I needed to get home. It was going to get dark soon, and I didn’t want to make that walk alone.

Rapid footsteps behind me stopped me just as I reached the auditorium door.

“Sorry I’m late,” Alice said, out of breath. “I just had the longest meeting.”

I turned to greet her, but my words caught in my throat.

Her uniform was practically soaked through, and she’d unbuttoned most of it. She still had her staff, which was glowing with power even now.

Most importantly, the look on her face belied her tone. It was dead serious.

She took a deep breath, then spoke again, matching that gravity.

“You need to come with me.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said. “Isn’t that what we said earlier? About the report?”

“That was bullshit,” she said dismissively. “No, En. You need to come with me because—because you’re Marked.”