Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-31

The great hall Ashton entered had a Greek theme.

There's white columns and golden linings everywhere. He could also see a lot of murals and statues, all had an ancient feel to it which give off an awe-inspiring atmosphere.

Ashton took his time, he looked around and stared at the murals and statues around. Interestingly enough, this statues are filled with a huge amount of mana that he felt small within their presence.

In addition to this, the murals and paintings here don't have faces but it's easy to identify their general identity. Those who wear majestic armors should ne Knights and those who are wearing robes with the hood on should be mages.

The statues are arranged in a way where some of them are facing the exit while the others formed a semi-circle. Beneath the later are the magical circles where students should go to enter the Academy proper.

Ashton thought that there'd be only one magical circle but it turns out that there are multiple. Thinking about it, this makes sense due to how many students needed to be transferred constantly.

After taking a look around, Ashton saw everything that caught his interest for now. He figured that it's about time for him to go and see the academy.

He followed the line of students who were waiting to be transferred. Based from hos observation so far, around 20 students could be transferred at once.

The line progressed quite fast so he didn't need to wait that long until it's his turn. The guards in there checked their credentials first, after confirming it. They were allowed to move-on. Before stepping to the transfer circle, he recalled the advice given to him by the senior earlier.

He did his best to calm down and relax. He didn't want to vomit on his first transfer and make an embarrassment out of himself.

As soon as he's done calming himself down. The transfer circle lit up and Ashton, along with the other students with him, disappeared from the hall.

While transfer went on, Ashton felt his world spinning so fast like he was travelling at mach speeds. He could vaguely see and here the students around him panicking and screaming in fear as well.

As for him, he forced himself to not resist nor move since that's just going to make things worse. And surprisingly, it wasn't too bad all things considered.

The transfer was over the moment they realized it. With a snap, Ashton come to realize that he's already standing in the middle of another grass plain.

The very first thing he noticed wasn't that though...

Instead, the one that got his attention the moment his focus returned was the sprawling castle right in front of him.

It was huge, grand, majestic and archaic. It was everything that he imagined what the Academy would be like.

It's as though he travelled back in time where Earth is still young and people are just starting to discover the other parts of the world. Where the most common type of weaponry were cold steel.

It was like he's living in a world where Arthur Pendragon and his Knights of the Round Table was real.

What a surreal feeling...

Unfortunately, his moment was ruined by the other students vomiting their guts out shamelessly around him. Ashton frowned in disgust and put on his face mask as he walked away from there.

The castle literally filled his vision. It give off an impression if being so tall and huge that it was blotting out the skies itself.

Ashton also discovered that the density of Mana here is immense. He could feel it's weight even as he walked around. With how much mana that's in here, even the simple act of breathing is considered as cultivating already.

As he looked around him, he saw students like him going towards the castle in droves. From a glance, it is so easy to spot who the freshmen were since most of them were admiring the look of the castle while the other students didn't even pay attention to it.

When he's close to the entrance of the castle, he saw several armed guards wearing full armor standing there. Ashton was impressed, those armors looked heavy. And with how long they have to spend standing there, he can already feel how tiring their jobs were.

The guards didn't impede the students, they just stood there like statues, looking at a distance with a strict look on their face.

Ashton wanted to ask them questions but they looked intimidating so he didn't bother.

Additionally, someone already approached him anyway...

"Hi! You look new! Are you a freshman?"

Ashton didn't even see where this girl came from, she just appeared in front of him without any warnings. He thought that she should've used a spell for that but at the same time, he didn't see any glow that indicates that so he could only toss it at the back of his head.

"Ah, yes." He nodded in reply.

"I see. My name is Lyca, I'm the Secretary of the Student Council. Do you know where to go from here?" She asked after introducing herself.

"No. I was actually about to ask someone but then you appeared. I'm Ash by the way." He replied.

"Well, it's a good thing I approached you then." Lyca smiled in a friendly manner, she then turned around and pointed at a location. "Go there and you'd see a tunnel which will lead you to the courtyard where the Welcoming Ceremony will occur."

"You shouldn't get lost so long as you follow the small statues of a child holding the crest of the academy. Once you're in the courtyard, you'll see a lot of seats in there. Just sit anywhere you like and wait until the ceremony begins."

"Ah, I see. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll see you around."

As soon as she said that, she disappeared into a wisp of smoke which somehow confirmed that she indeed used a spell to approach him just then.

Ashton shook his head and proceeded to follow the direction she pointed to him.

'Secretary of the Student Council huh...' Ashton mused to himself as he walked towards his destination. 'So the educational system of this world, or this academy at least, closely resembles that of Earth. If that's the case, then it shouldn't be hard for me to adjust.'

'Then again...it's been years since I attended school. I almost forgot what it's like. I guess this would be both nostalgic and a fresh experience for me.'

As he thought of this, Ashton continued navigating his way to the courtyard. What Lyca told him was correct, he wouldn't miss it. As soon as he made a turn for the tunnel, he could already see the statues she was talking about - which all have dense mana in them as well, strangely enough.

He followed the row of statues until he arrived at the courtyard.

The courtyard was in fact a large open-air auditorium or gymnasium. The seats are arranged in the similar pattern as well. There's a podium at the very front where he guessed the school administrators will appear later.

Ashton found himself a seat at the middle. He sat close to the isle to make it easy for him to leave as well.

He checked his watch and saw that the ceremony is still 10 minutes away from starting. With some time to spare, he decided to kill time by browsing online using his smartwatch.

Yes, there's internet here. Don't ask.

"Idiot! Like I'm telling you, it's better to improve the strength of your arms! You'll be able to do stronger slashes that way!"

"No! I don't think so! I still believe that I have to work on my legs so that I won't accidentally trip or fall during battle."

"But if you can stab your enemy before you tripped wouldn't that be better? Therefore arms all the way!"

"Ugh, you're impossible! You just don't understand do you! Mary, can you knock some sense into this guy?"

"Oh, please. Spare me. I'm a mage for crying out loud. Don't include me in your muscle-headed nonsense."

"Fine! Let's go ask someone else then!"

"...hey, brother."

Ashton hesitantly raised his head and met two pairs of eyes bursting with fiery passion and immediately felt weirded out.

"You two!"

Bonk! Bonk!

"Ow!!"

The girl who's sitting in the middle of the two owners of that gaze, raised her hand to smack their heads.

"Can't you ask without giving him those creepy looks!? Class hasn't even started yet you two are already being weird."

"Do we?" The 'arm' guy, asked in a mildly terrified manner. He then looked at Ashton and said: "Sorry about that, Bro. We didn't mean to weird you out."

The 'leg' girl also uttered a faint sorry as well.

Ashton smiled wryly and replied: "It's fine. Just turn down the energy next time. It's a bit scary to be honest. But uh...how can I help you?"

"Ah right!" The 'arm' guy instantly recovered and asked him: "What do you think is better to improve? Arms or Legs?"

"Uh...sorry dude, I don't know. I'm a mage you see.."