Arnos sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, let's just hope for the best." He said as he started walking toward the group of students heading to the training ground, with Mabel walking beside him.

  After a moment of silence, Arnos glanced over her. "By the way, why are we even checking our mana capacity? Does it actually matter?"

  Mabel gave him a tired look. "What kind of school do you think this is?"

  "A school for mages?" Arnos replied, raising an eyebrow, knowing the answer but wanting to see if she knew.

  "Exactly."

  "I get that mana levels are important," Arnos continued, "but are they seriously going to split us into ranks or give special treatment based on the results? Like, Class A, Class B, and so on?"

  Mabel blinked, looking like she hadn't thought about it that way. Before she could answer, a tall boy with brown hair and green eyes casually joined their conversation. He also had a green gemstone as an insignia in his uniform.

  "They do it to separate talents," the boy said with a friendly tone. "Prodigies, the average ones, and... well, the less gifted. Each group gets treated differently. The top students in Class A and B get better teachers, equipment, and dorms."

  Mabel tilted her head, curious. "Makes sense, I guess. But who might you be, sir?"

  Arnos eyed the boy's insignia, quickly pegging him as a noble. Definitely a noble, But why is he acting so polite? Aren't nobles supposed to be all stuck-up, like the princess? At least, that had been Arnos's recollections from his scattered experiences with them.

  The boy smiled warmly. "I'm Marcus Leville, from House Leville. But just Marcus is fine."

  Arnos nodded. "Marcus, huh? Well, I'm Arnos. No family name, so it's just Arnos for you."

  Mabel leaned closer to Arnos and whispered, "He's from a Duke's family."

  Arnos blinked, his stomach sinking. "Wait... what?" His voice was louder than he intended. "Oh no! I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to address you so casually by your name." He quickly bowed his head in apology. "Please forgive me, sir Leville."

  Marcus chuckled. "Relax most Nobles don't go around executing people for stuff like that."

  Arnos reflected on the weight of the word 'most' in that sentence and mentally vowed never to address a noble by their first name.

  Mabel raised an eyebrow. "So, Sir Leville, what are you doing hanging out with commoners like us? Don't you have fancy noble friends to talk to?"

  Marcus smirked. "Your entrance earlier caught my attention. It was... hard to miss."

  Arnos and Mabel exchanged awkward looks, clearly embarrassed.

  "Yeah, great entrance..." Arnos muttered under his breath.

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  Marcus's tone shifted, becoming more serious. "Not everyone here is a bully or stuck-up. Give it some time, and people will start to figure out who you really are. But," he said with a casual shrug, "from what I've seen, maybe 20%... no, actually closer to 40% will hate you no matter what you do."

  Arnos let out a small chuckle, thinking to himself, that Marcus's uncertainty somehow makes this whole ordeal even more unsettling. "I guess that's not too bad," he said aloud.

  Mabel sighed. "I was already preparing to be a loner." She spoke in a low, depressed tone, her mind seemingly elsewhere. After a brief pause, she added quietly, "being a loner sounds so depressing..."

  Arnos glanced at Mabel, and his thoughts unexpectedly shifted to Marcus. How does he know so much about Celera? he wondered, curiosity flickering in his mind.

  "Can I ask something" Arnos asked looking at Marcus to which Marcus simply nodded.

  "How do you know about all this stuff?" Arnos asked, looking at Marcus.

  "I have a family member who studied here at Celera," Marcus said with a casual look on his lips.

  Their conversation trailed off as they arrived at the entrance to Celera Magic Institute's training ground. The place was massive, a large circular field surrounded by rows of seats that rose up like an arena. It felt like the kind of place meant for epic magical battles.

  Arnos glanced around, then turned to Marcus. "Wait… this is the training arena?" He exclaimed.

  Marcus nodded "it sure is" he said.

  "It's not exactly how I expected it to be," Arnos said, his expression tinged with confusion as he studied the arena. His gaze shifted to the curved ceiling over the arena, and he wondered to himself, Wouldn't that cause problems for high-level magic spells?

  Marcus laughed. "It is the indoor training arena, I get why you're confused, though." He gestured at the arena. "This is the training grounds school uses for student's battles, group contests, mage duels, and stuff like that. There are also three outdoor training areas for bigger spells. Make sense?"

  Arnos nodded. "Actually, yeah, it does." He said as he looked over at Mabel and noticed students were being split by gender for testing. "Looks like they're testing boys and girls separately. I'll catch up with you later?"

  Mabel waved. "Sure. Bye"

  As Marcus and Arnos moved closer to the testing area, they saw a few students left in line. One of the instructors was explaining how the crystal worked. "You don't need to channel mana into it. The crystal automatically draws it out and changes color based on your strength."

  A board next to the crystal displayed the rankings:

  - White - E rank

  - Blue - D rank

  - Green - C rank

  - Yellow - B rank

  - Orange - A rank

  - Red - S rank

  - Black - SS rank

  Marcus turned to Arnos with a confident smile. "Looks like it's our turn now. I'll go first."

  "Be my guest," Arnos replied, stepping aside.

  Marcus approached the crystal and placed his hand on it. Almost instantly, it glowed a vibrant orange. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd as students stopped to watch.

  "I knew Sir Leville would get something high!" a girl exclaimed.

  "A rank! That's no surprise for someone like him," another added, sounding impressed.

  Arnos couldn't help but admire the result. A rank mana level... That's insane. Even among adventurers, that's rare. But considering his noble background, it makes sense, Arnos thought to himself.

  Marcus looked satisfied from the result, Stepping away from the crystal, he turned his gaze to Arnos with a small smile. "Your turn now," he said.

  Arnos nodded and prepared to take a step forward to the crystal. There were still a few students lingering nearby, so he paused, waiting to see if anyone else would go ahead. However, no one stepped forward.

  "Hey, you! You're next!" the instructors standing next to the crystal called out to Arnos. He was a tall man in plain black clothes; his sharp black eyes gave him a rather commanding presence.

  Arnos took note of the instructor's plain attire and quickly concluded that there wasn't a strict uniform code for them unless, of course, they suddenly decided to implement one tomorrow.

  "Yes, sir!" Arnos said, stepping forward.

  Taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on the crystal. It felt oddly sticky against his palm, and he closed his eyes, letting his mana flow naturally. He felt the crystal pulling it in, an unfamiliar sensation that made his heart race.