The registration card went back into his bag.
Lucas started walking toward the examination area without looking back at the counter.
But the academy grounds didn't care about any of that.
The open space was alive. Cadets everywhere — walking in groups, introducing themselves to strangers, pointing at faces they recognized, swapping rumors about who came from which house and what that meant. The energy was sharp and excited, the kind you feel before something important starts. Everyone here had a goal. Everyone here wanted in.
Lucas moved through it quietly.
He caught fragments of conversation as he walked. Higher house names being dropped casually, like currency. People sizing each other up with smiles on their faces. It was the kind of atmosphere where everyone was being friendly and everyone was also absolutely watching everyone else.
Then the noise shifted.
Not all of it, just a section of it, nearby, the way a crowd changes when something worth looking at appears.
"Wait- is that Celia Windmere?"
Lucas glanced over.
A girl stood a short distance away, talking easily with a group of cadets who had clearly just introduced themselves to her. Hair that caught the light like spun gold, green eyes sharp and warm at the same time. She was laughing at something someone said, and even that looked effortless. The people around her weren't just watching her, they were orbiting her.
"I heard she's incredible," someone near Lucas muttered. "Like genuinely top of her generation."
Lucas watched her for a second. Then quietly, under his breath-
'Mana Perception.'
The screen appeared.
_______________
[Analyzing – Celia Windmere]
[Strength – 36]
[Mana – 70]
[Magic – Wind]
[Age – 14]
_______________
He read it over once. Nodded slightly to himself.
'Not bad. She's actually strong.'
He kept walking.
The next shift in the crowd's attention came from the other direction. A small cluster of female cadets had gone noticeably quieter, the kind of quiet that happens when someone walks past who you weren't expecting to see up close.
"That's Nova Frostvale."
"He's a Frostvale? He looks — I mean — yeah, he's a Frostvale."
Lucas looked. Blue hair, golden eyes, easy confident smile, the kind of guy who waves at people he's never met and somehow pulls it off. He was doing exactly that — moving through the crowd with a relaxed energy, like this whole thing was just a fun morning out.
Lucas activated the skill again without thinking about it.
____________
[Analyzing – Nova Frostvale]
[Strength – 44]
[Mana – 82]
[Magic – Water]
[Age – 14]
____________
'Solid.' Lucas almost smiled. 'Stronger than Celia. Good mana pool too.'
He was starting to understand what he was working with here. The competition wasn't light. These weren't regular kids, these were fourteen-year-olds from powerful families who had been training their whole lives for exactly this. Compared to them, Lucas Ironhart's stats on paper were a joke.
He knew that. He wasn't pretending otherwise.
He just also wasn't leaving.
Then everything went quiet.
Not a section of the crowd this time. All of it. Like someone had turned down the volume on the whole courtyard at once. Lucas stopped walking.
A girl had entered the grounds.
Bright red hair that hit the light like fire. Aqua eyes that were somehow both sharp and completely empty of warmth. She didn't look around when she walked in. Didn't acknowledge the stares. Her posture was straight and her pace was unhurried and her presence hit the air around her before she even got close, the way a storm does before the rain starts.
Someone behind Lucas whispered "Silvercrest" and then didn't say anything else, like the name was enough.
It kind of was.
'Let's see then.'
'Perception.'
________________
[Analyzing – Sylvia Silvercrest]
[Strength – 71]
[Mana – 110]
[Magic – Lightning]
[Age – 14]
________________
Lucas stared at the numbers.
'Strength seventy-one. Mana over a hundred!?'
He read it twice just to make sure he hadn't misread it. He hadn't.
'She's insane.' He let out a quiet breath. 'No wonder everyone shut up the second she walked in.'
He was still staring at her stats when something hit him from behind and the ground came up fast.
He caught himself on his palms, the impact jarring through his wrists, and for a second just stayed there processing what had just happened. Then he looked up.
Two cadets stood over him. A guy with a smirk that looked like it had been practiced. A girl beside him, arms folded, expression somewhere between bored and pleased.
"Well, well." The guy's voice carried just enough to make sure the people nearby could hear. "Lucas Ironhart. I heard the name on the registration list and honestly I thought it was a mistake." He tilted his head slightly. "But here you are. In the flesh. The one the Ironharts threw out."
Lucas held his gaze from the ground. Didn't say anything yet.
"I'm just surprised," the guy continued, smiling. "You had the nerve to show up here? To this?" He gestured around at the academy like he owned it. "You can't even cast a spell. Everyone knows it. Your own family knew it. That's why they got rid of you."
Lucas stood up slowly. Brushed the dirt off his palms.
The girl stepped forward slightly. "Save yourself the embarrassment," she said, her voice cold and clean. "Drop out now. You'll fail anyway. The only question is whether you do it quietly or in front of everyone."
Around them people had stopped moving. Whispers were already spreading through the cadets close enough to hear.
'Ironhart? The disowned one?'
'He's actually here?'
'He can't use magic. Why would he even—'
Lucas felt every word land. Each one of them. He wasn't going to pretend they didn't.
But he'd heard worse. He had memories in him now, Lucas Ironhart's memories, of standing in a training ground getting called worthless by his own brother while everyone watched. This was nothing he hadn't already survived.
His jaw tightened. His fists closed at his sides.
"You just wait," he said quietly.
He wasn't yelling. He didn't need to. He meant it in the way that doesn't need volume.
Before anything else could happen, a voice cut across the entire grounds like a blade.
"Welcome to Sylvas Magic Academy."
Everyone turned.
On the raised platform at the far end of the grounds stood a woman who immediately made the crowd feel smaller. Black robes. A hat worn like punctuation. White hair. Golden eyes that moved across the gathered cadets with the calm efficiency of someone who had already decided which of them were worth her attention.
The headmaster.
"My name is Beatrice Gray," she said. Her voice didn't need to be loud to reach everyone. "Headmaster of Sylvas Academy. I will also be administering the entrance examination."
The grounds were completely silent now.
"The exam will take place in the academy forest." She let that sit for a second. "You will face mana creatures. You will survive for a minimum of five days out of the full week. Your performance will determine your points. Your points will determine your ranking."
A cadet near the front raised a hand. "How are the points counted? How do we track them?"
Beatrice adjusted her hat slightly. Her expression didn't change.
"Figure it out yourself," she said simply. "The gates open shortly. Once you enter, the examination begins. Everything else is on you."
That was it. No more instructions.
The two cadets who had cornered Lucas were already moving toward the forest entrance. The guy glanced back once, that smirk still on his face. The girl didn't bother looking back at all.
"Good luck not dying, Ironhart."
Lucas watched them go.
Then he looked at the forest ahead. Dark between the trees even in daylight. Something moved in there, briefly, far enough in that he couldn't make out what it was. The kind of place that wants you to think twice before walking in.
He thought once.
'I'm not here to prove anything to them.' His eyes stayed on the treeline. 'I'm here to prove it to myself.'
Beatrice's voice rang out one final time.
"Cadets. Line up at the gate." A pause. "Three."
Lucas moved to the line.
"Two."
'No matter I'll get through this.' He looked at the darkness between the trees and didn't look away.
"One."
"Entrance Exam begins!"