The man sighed in resignation whilst stroking his thick beard. “If that is what you wish to do, then there’s nothing I can do. For now, it will be better for you to return and keep that design. We must find another apprentice wizard to present in the contest to take your place.”
Max’s eyes widened upon his words. “Am I… d-disqualified from participating in the competition?”
“There’s no helping it. Since you have no intention of presenting that design, there is no other choice but to have another candidate to present in the contest.”
“If I start making a new magic spell n-now…!”
The man’s bushy eyebrows furrowed. “You shall not be greedy. The honor of Gnome Hall is at stake in this competition. A magic spell prepared haphazardly in such a short amount of time won’t make the cut. It’s either you present that magic formula that creates golems or renounce your participation.”
Max bit her lips. As she recalled the countless nights that she didn’t sleep to prepare for the contest, she couldn’t utter a word to describe the disappointment she felt. She blamed herself, her eyes lighting up with anger and disappointment as she pondered on why she didn’t reflect deeply on whether the magic she made would be against the doctrine. However, as Landon said, she shouldn’t be stubborn and insist.
Max’s head lowered weakly. “I’ll give up… on the competition.”
An apprentice wizard named Armin Dolph was the one who participated in the competition in her place. He was a 25-year-old young, good-looking, and tall man from the Umli tribe. Although he was quiet, Armin was intelligent, which earned him a good reputation among the trainees. He looked in confusion at Max as Landon told him he would take her place, but soon snatched the opportunity presented to him with his characteristic calm expression. Max could only sigh bitterly. There was no one else to blame but herself for her lack of judgement.
“Just what in the world happened? Was there something you did that caused Landon to reject your formula?” Annette asked as she came up to Max.
She could only mumble roughly with an awkward expression on her face. “There was a fatal flaw… about my magic formula. After consulting with Professor Landon, I decided to give up on the competition.”
“Your skill in designing magic is the best among all the apprentices. Just where in the world did it go wrong? Let me see it, I’m sure it’s a mistake that can be remedied.”
“N-no!”
Annette’s eyes widened at Max’s defensive response, who tried to disguise her composure by her lack of sleep and swept her frizzy hair aside.
“I have already thoroughly reviewed it with Professor Landon. I wish not to… talk about it anymore.”
Annete’s cheeks twitched, then turned around and walked away with a swish: she appeared to be hurt by her words, but Max couldn’t even afford to calm her own mood.
Max then left the common laboratory to attend her next class immersed in her thoughts. Her mind was in chaos, she wondered what she could do from that moment on since she needed to gain excellent academic records to graduate early. The best way to achieve that was to prove her skills in the Urd magic battle competition, which happened every two years. The presentation contest had already disappeared into thin air and entering the battle competition when she was vulnerable to magic attacks would be out of the question for her. She bit her lips anxiously, she had to somehow find away.
“Max, what happened? Is it true that you won’t be participating in the contest?”
As she entered the first-floor hall in Urd, Sidina, who was just descending the stairs, ran over to her and asked. Max awkwardly laid the same excuse she said to Annette. The girl appeared unconvinced, but she didn’t prod further upon seeing her heartbroken face. However, the other trainee wizards were more prodding. As Max entered the classroom for her lectures, dozens of students asked her how she was eliminated from the competition over and over again like parrots. She was exhausted from all the fuss that the people were making.
She was relieved when the professor finally entered the classroom and began the lecture. She began jotting down notes of the lecture on a small pad, trying to concentrate on the voice that resonated amidst the quiet classroom. However, she felt so anxious and troubled that she was hardly able to focus on the lecture. She misspelled half of the things she was writing down, clearly unable to listen attentively. She had the sudden violent urge to throw her notepad against the floor and tear the pages apart. She questioned why things had to go so awry. All the efforts she had poured over her magic formula for the past 6 months became completely useless and now, she felt like a complete idiot who couldn’t even keep up with the classes.
When the professor had finished the lecture and left the classroom, Max trudged out of the room in a completely depressive mood. A few students tried to talk to her, but she didn’t feel like dealing with them. She responded somewhat bluntly to their questions and walked past them, quickly making her way down the hallway. As she went down the stairs and was just about to exit the building, a crowd of apprentice wizards looking out the garden caught her attention. She nonchalantly looked, to see what the commotion was about, and noticed that five men in black robes were walking in a row across the desolate yard filled with red fallen leaves.
Max squinted her eyes and observed carefully. They were wearing their hoods all the way over their heads, so she couldn’t identify them clearly, but they all appeared to look like outsiders. Some of the trainees who were watching them muttered among themselves.
“Are they new student wizards?”
“They must either be wizards or merchants who came by to purchase magic tools.”
“But it’s not even the schedule for the ships to arrive, it’s strange.”
Max soon realized that all their guesses were wrong. She recognized the silver patterns embroidered on their robes, she remembered seeing that pattern before. It was a mark granted only to the Holy Knights.
‘How did the Holy Knights enter this island?’
There were countless secrets in the World Tower that had to be hidden from the church. In the library alone, there were several magic books that could be classified as restricted and there were also books from the southern continent. The laboratories were dotted with experimental instruments that could give a suspicious impression. Max watched them, thinking that it was impossible that they came here to inspect The World Tower without permission from the church. However, her thoughts quickly dissipated upon seeing the Urd wizards welcoming them, the wizards greeted them calmly, as if their arrival was anticipated. Although her worries had gone away, another question arose in her head. She wondered what their purpose was for coming to the World Tower. On top of that, what were the wizards of the World Tower thinking allowing them to visit?
‘…it’s none of my business, I shouldn’t care about it.’
Max let out a bitter sigh. She was in no place to worry about that when she had her own matters to solve, the future of the World Tower would be handled by the senior wizards. Max took her gaze away from them and then headed towards the dormitories. Time passed like flowing water, the season of rest already approached. She began to feel more and more anxious. As her plan to showcase her skills on the presentation failed, Max then went to the laboratories of the senior wizards to volunteer as an assistant. However, unfortunately, she wasn’t the only trainee who was eager to catch the eye of one of the senior wizards and she was put out of the options as she hardly got the chance to show off her skills.
All that she could do now was put faith on Landon’s recommendation letter. However, excellent trainee wizards who had applied to be assistants filled each tower. She wondered if it was possible for her to be chosen as an assistant with only a recommendation letter from the headmaster and then graduate within a year, when all the trainees were just as anxious as her to graduate and receive their attributes early.
During the ceremony of attribute awarding, a magic spell would be bestowed upon them, helping them achieve at least 5 to 10 times more magical power than their current body could do. It was not just that, the magic that they had previously learned only through theory could now be used without restrictions and their status in the World Tower would be established. Because of that, most trainees were eager to become official wizards of the Tower as soon as possible. In order to beat all others, having just good records would not be enough. How in the world would she be able to catch the attention of the senior wizards of Urd?
Max watched the blazing flames in the furnace, thinking deeply. If she didn’t come up with a solution by the time of their attribute awarding ceremony, she would have to spend another year on the island with nothing else to do. She was about to go crazy just imagining that happening. The following spring it would be exactly three years since she had arrived there to that island.
‘Enduring those three years was extremely difficult, and spending another year waiting…’
Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes and Max hurriedly wiped them away from her face with her sleeve. She wanted to see Riftan so badly that she couldn’t bear it. She missed the feeling of being embraced tightly in his wide arms, his low voice that sounded a little husky in the morning, the texture of his smooth, voluminous hair when wrapped around her fingers, and the gentle caress of his hands against her back and her face. She was dying to see him, even if she would be met with his angry face.
Max sat down in front of the furnace with her reddened eyes and buried her face against her lap. At that moment, a loud voice called out from behind her.
“Max!”
Note – LF: Am I the only one who got giddy thinking Quahel is on the island? hehe
