Chapter 1453: A Test To Cross The Bridge
So... I’m not sure if I was mistaken in what I saw but I was granted permission to openly carry the egg around within the school.
That was a big deal for me because I’ve only been taking the egg out right before I go to bed for all this time since I was worried that people might find it weird or even try to steal it... And I have to say that I’ve started growing fond of the egg and it feels nice and cool to hug it.
My girls didn’t really mind its presence and even found it cute, though the egg always seemed to dislike them touching it and would shock them when they did.
The first thing I received was my own mage robes which were white in colour with the school crest emblazoned on both the chest and the back of the robe.
The robes were color coded to differentiate the seniority of the student from first years up to the sixth years. They start from white, then to sky blue, to emerald green, to crimson, to royal purple, and finally to black for the sixth year students.
For now, the only people who would receive these white robes amongst the newcomers would be the Special Class Students and myself, so when I went back to rejoin everyone that had gathered in the main building in front of the bridge, I stood out like a sore thumb.
That was already considering the fact that I had a gold armband while almost everyone around had a black one... And that I was carrying a big egg in my arms...
On another note, I was also told that the top one percent of the students in that year will get gold trims on their robes. So if I remain in the top one percent of the first year students, I will have my white robes switched out for gold trimmed ones.
That also means you could easily tell who were the top students by their robes alone.
At least for the next six months, everyone here would be considered equal when we start the school.
Anyway, it was easy for me to find my girls since all I needed to do was look for the students wearing white robes and found two such people standing together which were Odeta and Delmare.
I went over to them and found all of my girls gathered together in a circle so I went ahead to join them.
"Hello~~" I sang out, hugging Delmare from behind with one arm while keeping my egg against my hip with the other.
She let out a squeak of surprise but quickly relaxed when she realised it was me, my Siren lover relaxing in my embrace and even cuddling up against me.
"Wahahaha! Sister Aster! What took you so long?" Odeta laughed, hugging me from my other side while being careful not to touch my egg.
The rest of my girls also crowded around me, clearly wondering why I showed up so late.
I lowered my voice into a conspiratory whisper, "I... Accidentally summoned a goddess..."
All of my girls blinked at me.
"Oh. Who was it? Goddess Hiandoca? Goddess Drebann?" Lisa asked as if I just told them that I pulled out something mundane from my Bangle of Folding.
Then again... I guess they were already used to me meeting goddesses like it was just a normal everyday thing which was why they weren’t that surprised. But... Part of the lack of surprise was also probably because they were thinking it was a goddess I already met before.
I shook my head, "It’s.. Isre..."
All of them just stared at me for a good minute while I looked around to make sure no one else heard me. Thankfully, it did seem like no one else was paying attention to us.
Finally, Tsara was the first to break the silence, "Goddess... Isre?"
I nodded.
"And... You met her for the first time... And she already allowed you to..."
"Err... Well... Along the way... Srii and Hiandoca showed up... So she told me to do the same thing and just call her by name..."
"I see... Hmm..."
As if that was all they needed to know, all my girls just nodded their heads sagely and that was the end of that.
I don’t know how I should feel about the fact that they just accepted this so easily without any pushback at all...
A voice then rang out from the front, catching the attention of everyone that was gathered here.
"All students and prospective students of Aerialla Academy! I bid you all welcome!"
We turned to face the front where I realise it was Cecilia standing there, looking regal and imposing dressed in her mage robes and looking down at us while floating from above.
I noted that she had a whirlwind of papers floating around her and she was currently using one of them as a platform to stand on which somehow could support her weight.
She stretched her hands to gesture at the bridge leading towards the main island of the Academy.
"Beyond this bridge is Aerialla Academy! Where magic and skills are researched and practiced! Everything you might want to learn, everything that you might want to experience, lies right across this bridge! But whether you can actually learn and experience what we have to offer is all dependent on you!"
She then snapped her fingers and the pieces of paper fluttered around her before suddenly forming themselves into a wall that stretched to the left and right of her.
Each of the pieces of paper then had a magic circle imprinted on it before they scattered away, flying off into the air and reforming themselves into a dome over everyone that was standing here including Cecilia.
All the magic circles then flashed before they disappeared and instantly felt that something was different.
First... The sounds around us seemed to have muted themselves...
No wait... Before this, I could still hear the distant sounds of the waterfalls in the background... They weren’t especially loud or anything but the sound was definitely there.
Now... That sound was distinctly missing...
That wasn’t the only thing that changed as I felt the air around us seemed to have gone stale as well.
All of my girls noticed the change and were looking around to try and find the source of the disturbance. Within the group of other prospective students, I also noticed a few who were also looking around while most of them were just staring up at Cecilia.
Cecilia seemed to watch the crowd carefully, sweeping her gaze over every one before waving her hand in the air.
"For those who have noticed, you are now locked in a separate dimensional space. For the people with black arm bands, this is your first test that will determine if you can even cross the bridge behind me. The pieces of paper that you saw just now are admission slips. All of them have been scattered on this island and hidden somewhere. You have to find and bring them towards the bridge to escape from this space and cross the bridge."
Murmurs spread throughout the crowd but she raised her hand to silence them.
"You can use any method you want to retrieve one of those slips, including taking it away from someone else. Within this space, anyone who receives a fatal wound would simply be knocked out for a while so feel free to go all out. As for the students who are already wearing the school robes, all of you can simply walk towards the bridge and enter the school. But you can also choose to participate if you wish."
I frowned, wondering why we would even want to participate in this to begin with.
As if reading my mind, she continued, "Only students with white robes can collect multiple admission slips which will limit the number of prospective students that can leave this space. But they are also targets available to be attacked by other students to claim the admission slips from them. However, their robes cannot be claimed."
Oh... Ohhh... This is basically letting us cut down on the number of potential competitors for our cohort.
Damn... I didn’t know that this place was actually that cutthroat...
The director then raised her hand, "The event will start in five minutes! Students with the white robes, you are free to move around first! Whether to go start hunting for admission slips or to cross the bridge is up to you! Once five minutes pass, the event will continue for the next three hours! Anyone without an admission slip at the end of the three hours will not be able to cross this bridge as a prospective student and will have to board the next airship to leave! I bid all of you good luck!"
A storm of paper surrounded her and she disappeared from the air as the paper fluttered away.
Ok... So... What do we do now?
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