"Hi, I am Danny from the River Tale faction." Danny grinned at the duo. "My sister is stupid. Don't listen to her."
"Stupid? Me?" Fanny sneered. "Says the guy who can't count to a hundred without messing up."
"Y-You… that's my tongue problem!" Danny fumed.
"So what? That gives you a pass to call me stupid?"
Rudrean and Aelira: "…"
'Well, they now indeed look like siblings.' Aelira chuckled.
'True.' Rudrean smiled.
And right then, a third person arrived.
A short young man looking in his late teens with silky black hair and fiery orange eyes.
"I knew you two would be here already," the young man said. After saying that, he turned to Rudrean and Aelira as he faintly smiled. "I am Kaiz from the Blazing March faction. Let's not waste time and take a seat in a pavilion somewhere. We'll give our pitch, and then you two can decide which faction you would join."
Rudrean and Aelira nodded as they simultaneously said, "Sounds good."
…
Leaving the mission hall, they went into the woods and found an open pavilion, the likes of which were spread all over the mountain.
Sitting there, the trio gave their pitch and then left, leaving Aelira and Rudrean to mull it over.
They also found out about the Arcane Paths.
"So the Academy has fourteen Arcane Paths, but only three of them are complete, hence stronger," Rudrean muttered. "Normal students can practice those incomplete Arcane Paths, but for the complete three, only the faction members are allowed."
Aelira rolled a lock of her lapis blue hair around her finger as she appeared thoughtful. "Arcane Paths give a set of powers, but two of them boost certain elements more. We either choose Blazing March because we have Phoenix Flame or we choose River Tale, which is a non-elemental Arcane Path."
Rudrean and Aelira looked at each other.
"But then there's Exceed Shrine." Rudrean's eyes flickered with anticipation and thrill.
Aelira's eyes also sparkled like his. "Yep. We have to attain a rank of Tier-2 student."
"And according to those three, as long as we have decent combat sense, we can beat a pair in Tier-2 Student Ground with our stats." Rudrean grinned. "I think we should take a mission that will increase our combat sense, and then go for Tier-2 rank."
"Yep. Let's do that."
Meanwhile, the trio that left was feeling a lasting shock.
"Jeez, those two are quite talented."
"Yeah, I only got information about that S+ Magic guy, but that girl got all of her stats at A as well."
"And it's a double package. Both of them will join only one faction. Tsk."
"Haha, that's true. The next Call of Valor will be interesting."
…
Aelira and Rudrean picked up four missions that were all on one planet. Three were about hunting specific monsters that inhabited there, and one was about collecting.
The required stats for these four missions were B to A, and the rewards were good.
"Before you can deploy yourselves for the mission, there will be a test. If you fail the test, the missions you have selected will be revoked," the receptionist informed them and gave them a token.
"Go to the Starflow Ground on the 9000th step and show this token in the Mission Test Hall's reception to take the test."
Rudrean and Aelira nodded.
Under the starry night, they walked the steps upward and soon arrived at the Mission Test Hall in the Starflow Ground, which also amazed them.
There were cool spaceships stationed here, from the size of a car to as big as commercial planes.
There were also two giant floating platform elevators here that led to the city below, where there was another space station, a bigger one, that was used by the rest of the arcane world on this planet.
Naturally, both space stations belonged to the academy.
…
Entering the Mission Hall, Rudrean and Aelira went to one of the reception tables there.
"The test will require mastery of those basic mana techniques. They are essential for your survival. You can practice in the practice room if you want before going for the test."
Pointing at a chart, the receptionist told them and gave them two small badges.
"Once you are done practicing, you can take the test any time in those test rooms. Insert the badge in the slot before entering."
Rudrean and Aelira looked at the chart.
'Did you know about those mana techniques?' Rudrean asked.
'Nope. Let's practice them.'
The chart had three basic techniques.
-Magic Suit: A skin-tight magic barrier around the user that protects them from physical and magical damage.
-Body Enchant: A technique to temporarily enhance a part of the body or the full body for double power.
-Expert Eyes: A technique to temporarily boost the visual prowess of your eyes.
Both of them entered a practice room.
The room had some functions and a hologram that activated automatically the moment they entered.
[Hello, students. I will teach you the three basic Mana Techniques that are essential in combat. These techniques have low consumption and high functionality.]
Three buttons lit up on the wall, corresponding to the three techniques.
Aelira went ahead and pressed one.
The hologram started again.
[Keep this in mind, students. Arcane responds to knowledge and intent. Mana is a force that can have any characteristics. And your Magic stat determines how powerful those characteristics can be.]
[For Magic Suit, we will weave a thin but as solid as steel layer of Mana that is as flexible as water. Sounds hard, right? It is, but not if you practice enough, and if you focus and attune with magic in its purest form.]
[So first, clear your mind of everything and create a ball of Mana on your palm. Control it and let it hover for 1 minute. Then, you have to stretch the ball into a sheet. If you do this literally, that sheet will break down, so first, you have to create countless micro-strings of Mana and braid them together. Just like sewing, you have to create a cloth made of Mana. Your intent and focus will give it the characteristics of the sensation you already know. The knowledge your brain has will influence your mana, so put focus on the characteristics that make it flexible, yet have a foundation as tough as steel, and pour those characteristics into your mana, weaving with your control.]
[The foundation structure is the most important aspect of Magic Suit. The more layered and complex your magic suit is, the tougher and more resistant it will be, but its consumption will also increase depending on the layers you put.]
[That's all. Now start practicing.]
Rudrean and Aelira looked at each other, excited.
Without further ado, they sat down and started training.
The hologram showed details on how one should weave the mana strings, flatten them, and what kind of foundation structure they should create for a layer of Magic Suit.
…
And just like that, seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours as both of them poured their focus into mastering the three basic mana techniques.
There were also two more things in the room. One was a dummy doll to test their Body Enchant's power, and the other was a shooting machine that would shoot them with C to A-rank of energy bullet to test their Magic Suit.
As such, they didn't plan to come out until they mastered all three techniques.