The auditorium was so silent that every step the arriving students walking onto the podium took echoed within the space. There were twenty students in total. Ten each for both academies. Everyone watched them, scrutinizing their every move, every twitch, every glance, with eyebrows like checkmarks.

  If one walked into the auditorium without a clue in the world what was going on, the tension in the air would freeze them right where they stood, and their curiosity would undoubtedly be spiked.

  Merlin was no different from the rest of his mates.

  His demeanor stilled, aiding his observation as he watched with piercing scrutiny as the students of Crown Academy and Nikita Academy walked in, dressed in the tracksuits of their academies, white and blue respectively; and behind them were their supervisors, a young lady and a man.

  They stopped just beside the podium, and after giving their greetings to the instructors and Headmaster Im Ilseong, they turned to face the auditorium in full. Everyone audibly sucked in deep breaths, pulses racing so fast that they could be heard.

  The competition was right before them. Every single student of Prestige Academy had their own reasons to want to partake in the tournament; Merlin, for one, wanted to selfishly prove to his parents that he could do without them breathing down his neck at every turn. But the one thing that brought each and every one of them together was the prospect of taking their academy to the top spot in the rankings.

  They had the home advantage. They could do it.

  Professor Jung gestured at the arrivals and said, choosing to speak in the universal tongue of the world, “Directly to my side are the students of Nikita Academy, and beside them are the students of Crown Academy. They are, respectively, as you all should know, the third and first ranked Mage Academies in the world. They will be your competition during the tournament.”

  Silence was the reply of the students of Prestige Academy. No murmurs as they were usually inclined to do, and definitely no cheers.

  Professor Jung smiled. “Stop being so tense,” she started. “Regardless of the status of our academies being on the line, we’re all Mages. At the end of the day, the rankings won’t matter in the face of battle, and we’ll all be required to team up. So make friends with each other, will you?”

  The silence dragged on a bit longer. But it broke soon enough.

  “Yes, professor!” the students of Prestige Academy replied in unison.

  Professor Jung nodded. “Then…” She turned to the supervisors. “The instructors of our guests will introduce themselves; after that, I’ll give the details of the tournament, and we’ll close with a speech from the headmaster. If you will?”

  The instructors of Crown Academy and Nikita Academy glanced at themselves. The lady gestured at the podium, giving the man the go ahead. He nodded and walked up. Professor Jung shifted.

  “Hello, students of Prestige Academy,” the man began, his voice deep and low. “My name is Sergei Ivanov, and I am an instructor of Nikita Academy in Moscow, Russia. I will be serving as the supervisor of my students, and will do my best to support in any way I can to the success of the festival and tournament.”

  Prestige Academy students stilled for a second, and then a glance from Professor Jung brought about a roar of claps.

  Instructor Sergei Ivanov was a man of an austere presence almost as chilling as Professor Dmitri’s, if not worse, but sounded a lot more easy. He had light skin, pale, blue eyes, and iron-gray hair deeper in color than Senior Sun-Hee’s, but visibly thinner in form.

  On the matter of his introduction, he didn’t say any more. He glanced at his students, perhaps contemplating on if he introduced each of them. But he seemingly decided against it as he shifted away from the podium a second later, giving way for the lady to take the stage.

  “Good morning, everyone. It is still morning, right?” she began with a smile, composed and casual. “It is an honor to stand before you today, students of a renowned Mage Academy, and instructors as well. My name is Dr. Eleanor Wright. And I am an instructor at Crown Academy, and will be serving as the supervisor for my students for the duration of the festival and tournament. Pleasure to make your acquaintances.”

  Another set of claps resounded through the auditorium, while Merlin’s brows pulled in as he studied Dr. Eleanor Wright.

  Sharp gray eyes beneath thin eyebrows, light brown skin, blonde hair, and tall. She was even more beautiful than Professor Jung, and most would likely term the word ‘perfect’ to her. However, her fingers were constantly twitching, and not in a natural manner.

  “What’s up with her?” Hakyun asked, prodding his glasses upward. Merlin hadn’t been the only one to notice.

  “Maybe she’s sick?” Chima added. “I don’t see any other reason why someone would be twitching.”

  “Twitching isn’t only associated with sickness,” Merlin explained. “It happens a lot, but benign. But you're right. Maybe she is. It's like she’s used to it.”

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  Merlin’s mind went on a trip, sourcing through all the details of illnesses associated with twitching that wouldn’t disrupt one’s daily life and rid them of all their abilities to function. And, at that moment, he glimpsed Dr. Eleanor dip her hand into her pocket as she walked away from the podium, brought out a tiny case, pulled a pill from it, and threw it into her mouth.

  His brows jumped up.

  “Mineral deficiency,” he said. Chima and Hakyun turned to him. He knew what question was dancing at the tip of their tongues. “She has mineral deficiency,” Merlin continued. “It’s a common cause for muscle twitching and spasms; and that’ll explain why she’s used to it, because it occurs often. What she just took was a supplement. I’m sure.”

  Hakyun’s brows pulled in. “How?”

  Merlin pressed his lips together. “Because my parents have a whole lot of them.”

  Professor Jung thumped on the mic then, drawing the auditorium’s attention her way again.

  “We would have loved for the students to introduce themselves as well, but time is not especially on our side, so we’ll hope you all can come together and do that in your free times,” she said, then gestured at the empty seats in the front row of the auditorium. “Thank you all for coming. You are most welcome. You may have your seats there.”

  Following behind their supervisors, the students of Crown Academy and Nikita Academy shuffled down from the auditorium and settled in their seats. Everyone’s eyes still watched them like hawks, until Professor Jung cleared her throat.

  She tapped on her smartwatch and a projection was displayed slightly above the banners of the Cohorts. It showed a map of the Open field

  “The first stage of the tournament, like I said earlier, will be an open-world hunt. And the professors will be involved.” Murmurs sprung to life in the auditorium, but Professor Jung shushed everyone quickly. “There will be three keys, and each will be held by three instructors. Instructor Sergei Ivanov and Dr. Eleanor Wright will each be in possession of a key, and…” she turned around and gestured at the most flamboyant looking man in the midst of the professors of Prestige Academy, “...Dr. Elias Namgoong will be in possession of the last key.”

  Dr. Elias tipped his newsy cap in salute. He was dressed more like a paperboy today, in a simple shirt, pants, and a suspender. And covering his feet were leather boots.

  At a glance without knowing who the man was, Merlin would have thought Dr. Elias was English.

  He wasn’t. He was just a man with awkward tastes in dressing. And that was all on that matter.

  “However,” Professor Jung continued, “there’ll only be two castles.” Breaths were drawn in sharply in confusion at what her words meant. She tapped on her smartwatch, and the map of the open field disappeared, bringing about a visual of two gothic castles amidst the towering trees of the open field. “You are to retrieve the keys from the professors and take hold of these castles. Those who manage to maintain their spot until the time runs out will be winners of the first stage and move on to the second.”

  A hand went up. Everyone’s eyes shifted to its direction as silence took the atmosphere by the scruff of its neck.

  The person who had raised their hand was a boy with short black hair and deep brown skin. He had a confident smile on his face. But none of his features was what made everyone keep quiet. He was a student of Crown Academy.

  “From your wordings, I take it that there’s leeway for a siege, right?” he asked, his voice a tad mellifluous.

  Professor Jung nodded. “That’s correct. You may choose not to steal a key from a professor and wait until another team does the work for you. All you have to do then is raid their castle and steal it from them before the time runs out.”

  “And how do we mark the castle as our territory?” he went on.

  Professor Jung tapped on her smartwatch and the image of the castles switched to display obsidian thrones. “These. A member of your team just has to be seated on the throne when the timer ends.”

  The boy nodded. “Neat.”

  “We certainly won’t fight our own professors, will we?” another person spoke up, and everyone’s attention shifted his way. This time it was a student from Nikita Academy, seated to the other end of the front seats, with his arms folded and his legs crossed. He had short dark brown hair, gray eyes, and pale skin, and quite the accent.

  “You won’t,” answered Professor Jung. “Or you aren’t meant to.” Gasps resounded through the auditorium and for a few seconds, most murmured. “Your starting points will be against professors from your rival academies. However, no one can stop you if you choose to derail from your path and take on your academy’s professor, granted you can figure out where exactly in the Open field they are. But don’t think your professors will take it easy on you, either. That would undoubtedly tarnish the win you might have worked so hard to attain.”

  Merlin’s brows twitched.

  Professor Jung had said those words in a friendly manner, but he could hear the underlying threat in her tone.

  He had always known she was crafty.

  “Explicit details, like the time limits and so on will be sent to your smartwatches,” she said. “Now, I am sure you students of Prestige Academy are all raring to compete in the tournament. But, as you can see, we have limited numbers from the other academies. Just as the second years won’t be involved, though for different reasons, most of you won't. Only ten students of Prestige Academy will be competing in the first ever inter-academy tournament. And those students were hand picked by culmination of their actions on the academy grounds, the result of the just-concluded Tower raid, their Cohort rankings, as well as their academic rankings. Please don’t beat yourself up if you don’t see yourself on the list.”

  The auditorium was filled with grumbles quickly. Most people knew where they stood in an instant. Not everyone had cleared the Tower, and most definitely not everyone was at the top of both the academic and Cohort rankings.

  Merlin was amongst the select few who had no idea where he stood in this situation. He had cleared his Tower raid, but it had taken a turn for the worse. And now that he had told the headmaster about his System, he was troubled that the headmaster would have come to see his achievements as some sort of fluke.

  He clenched his fists on his seat’s armrests as Professor Jung clicked on her smartwatch and the image on the projection changed into a dropdown list.

  I really need to be in this competition.

  Everyone stilled at the sight of the list.

  Professor Jung added, “These ten will be those participating in the tournament.”