Picking Up Attributes From Today
chapter-17

Chapter 17: Magic Academy, Humans Beneath Beasts

“There are a total of 70-odd academies in our Fire Dragon Capital City!”

As they walked down the gray crystals-paved Elysium Avenue, Captain Hudders spoke on and on without even a moment’s pause and gave them an introduction of the academies. He continued and said, “Out of which, only three are magic academies. They are respectively the Fire Dragon Magic Academy, Douglas Magic Academy, and Dragon People Magic Academy. All of the rest are warrior academies!”

“Only three magic academies? There are only so few?”

Jonah and the other two boys looked surprised.

“Talent is required to cultivate magic!”

A smiling Captain Hudders continued his explanation. “And only one in ten thousand possesses magic talent. This has led to the magic academies’ inability to increase in numbers!”

Jonah and the other two boys turned nervous and uneasy at once when they heard what he said.

One in ten thousand? Would they be the lucky ones among the ten thousand people?

“Captain Hudders, is there any difference among the three magic academies?” asked Meng Lei.

“There are always differences in everything, be it people’s statuses or even a tree’s circumference. Magic academies are naturally also divided into different classes. Take these three magic academies in our Fire Dragon Capital City, for example!”

Captain Hudders smiled and gave them an introduction of the academies. He believed that Meng Lei possessed magic talent and would definitely be able to enroll in and study in a magic academy. The key here was which magic academy he should choose!

Thus, there was a need to give him a thorough introduction!

“Fire Dragon Magic Academy is the best magic academy among the three. Set up in the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s name, it is the kingdom’s official magic academy. In other words, the national magic academy!

“Due to its background as an official academy, Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s teachers have very strong and solid qualifications. With a complete range of facilities and the best cultivation resources, the Magicians that they groom and nurture are the most outstanding!

“Thus, Fire Dragon Magic Academy fully deserves the title of the top magic academy in our Fire Dragon Kingdom!”

Captain Hudders gave Meng Lei a meaningful look at this point, and added, “Thus, Fire Dragon Magic Academy is naturally also the first choice for magic geniuses with exceptionally great talent!

“Be it Drakes or humans, as long as they have exceptionally good talent and can meet the requirements, everyone is qualified to enroll in Fire Dragon Magic Academy to study. In this aspect, we humans and the Dragon People are equal in status!”

“I see!”

Meng Lei nodded quietly, a brilliant glint at the bottom of his eyes!

“In comparison, the remaining two magic academies are slightly inferior!”

Captain Hudders went on and said, “Dragon People Magic Academy mainly caters to Dragon People with mediocre magic talent. Of course, there are also some human nobility descendants with mediocre magic talent there. As for Douglas Magic Academy, it mainly recruits human commoners with mediocre magic talent, and is considered a commoner academy.”

Fire Dragon Magic Academy!

Dragon People Magic Academy!

Douglas Magic Academy!

I didn’t think that schools would also be divided into the elite and the ordinary in this alternate world!

Meng Lei shook his head lightly and walked on ahead. And as he had put it, weren’t the three magic academies precisely an elite school and ordinary schools?!

Gradually, more and more pedestrians appeared along the path. Most of them were in combinations such as two adults and a child, or a family with a few members. Additionally, most of them were nervous and uneasy. Evidently, they were also people here to take part in the magic assessment!

Meng Lei’s group followed the crowd and quickly arrived at the place where the magic assessment was held—Fire Dragon Square!

Fire Dragon Square was a large public square occupying an area that could fit a few soccer fields. In the center of the square stood a 100-meters tall Golden Colossal Dragon statue!

Its golden dragon scales were vivid, as though they were alive!

Its dragon wings spread wide, covering and blocking the sky!

Its dragon mouth was wide open as it roared into the sky!

Its dragon horns were ferocious and savage, and pierced through the heavens!

A domineering and imposing aura assaulted their senses. They could feel it even from a great distance away. It induced a sense of submission in people, such that they couldn’t conceive any thoughts of resistance at all!

“Praise be to the Dragon God!”

Upon seeing the Golden Colossal Dragon statue, Captain Hudders pressed his hands against his chest, bent over into a bow, and said a pious prayer, which stunned Meng Lei and the other three children.

“Uncle Hudders, what are you doing?”

The bubbly Jonah gave voice to the puzzlement in her mind. Captain Hudders received a shock, and hastily covered her mouth as he looked left and right. When he saw that no one had noticed, he let out a breath of relief, lowered his voice, and said, “This is the great Dragon God statue. You must salute whenever you see it! The four of you, hurry and salute the Dragon God!”

The Dragon God statue?

One must salute when they see it?

It was only then that Meng Lei discovered that it wasn’t just Captain Hudders. Without any exception, all the other pedestrians around them had also saluted piously upon seeing the Dragon God statue!

“Dragon God?”

Meng Lei’s brows drew together.

“The Dragon God is the Dragon God Empire’s founding emperor, and is also the one and only religion!” Captain Hudders said in a hushed voice, “All of the empire’s citizens must believe in the great Dragon God. Those who do not believe in it are considered heathens. If you don’t wish to be burned at the stake, then hurry and salute!”

What the hell!

Meng Lei got a shock and hastily made a show of saluting. How could one not bow to their circumstances when they were under someone else’s roof? He was still very weak right now, so he’d better act according to the others’ rules instead!

“Praise be to the Dragon God!”

Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew also saluted respectfully.

“Great!”

Captain Hudders breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he pointed to the front and said, “That’s where the magic assessment will be held. Let’s hurry over!”

“Alright!”

Fire Dragon Square was very crowded and packed with people. There were many nobles dressed fastidiously, as well as commoners dressed in coarse sackcloth. However, what attracted Meng Lei’s attention the most was still… the Drakes!

Drakes were categorized into Dragon People and Dragon Beasts.

Dragon Beasts were the descendants of Colossal Dragons and Magical Beasts and looked almost no different from wild Magical Beasts. There were Dragon-Wolves that looked like giant wolves, Dragon-Rhinos that looked like rhinoceroses, and earthworms that looked like crocodiles…

There was a rich variety of Dragon Beasts, and they had all manner of appearances!

If these strange beasts had been in the Magical Beast Forest, they would have been the targets of hunting for sure. But here, these Dragon Beasts wore gold and silver, dressed in magnificent clothing, and appeared openly in public!

Not only did nobody dare to hunt and kill them, but they even had to obediently make way for them in abject fear that they would enrage the other party!

This was because everyone knew that each of these ferocious-looking Dragon Beasts came from a notable background, whether it was a Marquis’ son, a Duke’s nephew, or even a member of nobility itself. Who would dare to mess with them?

Even humans are beneath beasts when they are but just monkeys wearing hats!

Meng Lei secretly sighed as he watched the tyrannical Dragon Beasts. In this vast and broad land called the Dragon God Empire, humans were just appendages and slaves, while the dragons… were the true masters!

As such, every Tom, Dick, and Harry animal related to the Colossal Dragons had become the masters. Not only was killing humans not illegal, but they even got to enjoy various special privileges. Should anyone offend them and be killed as a result, they would only die in vain!

Of course, although there were quite a few Dragon Beasts, there were even more Dragon People!

80% of Dragon God Empire’s nobility were Dragon People, and these aristocratic Dragon People’s descendants were also Dragon People. As a result, there was an extremely high number of Dragon People here taking part in the magic assessment!

Some had a pair of horns on their heads!

Some had wings on their backs!

Some had dragon tails at their bottoms!

Some had scales on their bodies!

All of them possessed obvious dragon characteristics!

“Meng Lei, don’t stare at the Dragon People like that. It’s very rude!” Captain Hudders patted Meng Lei on the shoulder and gave him a soft reminder, “If you enrage any with a bad temper and end up being smacked to death with one swipe of their claws, you won’t even be able to reason with them at all!”

“Uhh?! Okay, okay!”

Meng Lei nodded. Then, he suddenly pointed at some Dragon People who were wearing coarse sackcloth and asked, “Captain Hudders, aren’t Dragon People nobility? Why are those people wearing commoner clothes? Are they down and out nobility?”

Birds of a feather flocked together, and like-minded people gathered in groups!

There were a lot of people in the public square, and they gathered in groups of two to three and chatted with one another. However, they largely fell into four groups—magnificently-dressed human nobility, Dragon Beasts that looked like Magical Beasts, Dragon People nobility, and human commoners!

This was exceptionally obvious, and this could be seen based on their dressing and looks. However, what puzzled Meng Lei was that there was still another special group apart from these four groups!

They were all Dragon People, but they were dressed in coarse sackcloth and looked about the same as human commoners. Were they the commoners among Dragon People?