Ning, Saphandra, and Trevain got off the ship that went to and from the massive island known as the First Bond island, which was where the First Bond school was situated in.
Saphandra saw the people fly in on beasts or on their own and frowned. "We should have flown too," she said.
"It was just a small ride. We didn't have to fly," Ning said. "Did you not eat the medicine?"
"You said it was short, so I didn't," Saphandra said. She was barely holding back how sick she was. If given a bit more shaking, she would have vomited right then and there.
"Don't take your hat off now, or we'll be surrounded at an instant here," Ning said.
Trevain walked a little ahead of them and looked at the big, open gates of the school, and saw that a few people that came in were wearing a uniform.
But, most people were just like them, without any uniforms.
It had been about 2 weeks since he had left his father's house and had gone back to his own house in Ranadar city. After Ning had helped him place back all the items and furniture there, they left the young butler to look after it for 3 months while they came here.
Ning looked at the island as well. They were standing on a wooden platform, wide enough to fit multiple carriages in a row, that led straight to the massive open gates.
Seeing the people come in and out of the giant gates, Ning was sure that there was a bustling city inside there.
The island itself was surrounded by trees that led to a beach, so Ning couldn't guarantee that there was in fact a city inside there, but he would still bet on it.
As expected, as soon as they went in, past the small patch of trees through where the road was formed, they saw the city.
The city was rather small in their eyes. Being such a massive island, one would expect the city to be massive as well.
Since the island was mostly flat, Ning saw the majority of it from where he stood. The city was only for about a fourth of the entire island, surrounding a massive brick wall in the center that covered the rest three-fourth of the island in the middle.
That was where the First Bond school was at.
A new person who came here might assume that the school had somehow used its power to push away most of the city, disregarding it, but those who knew the history knew that the school was what had formed first.
As for the city around it, it wasn't even as much of a city as it was just the family members of those who went to those schools, coming to live near them.
By now, the city was mostly, entirely formed of the family members of those who went to the school.
"Not bad," Saphandra said when she saw everything. It was close to noon, so they needed to hurry up and get to the school in time.
If they didn't, they would miss the entrance exam they had waited 2 weeks for and would have to wait for another month.
So, they hurried.
From what Ning had come to hear, the entrance exam for any of the 5 great schools was rather difficult. Not only was there a requirement to at least have yellow hair, but they also needed to have Rank 4.
And that were just the requirements to qualify to take the test. Ning didn't know what the actual test entailed.
They arrived at the gate and saw quite a few people there for the entrance exam. They were surprised to see that most of the people taking the test were actually kids that were barely the age of 15.
Ning had thought there would be older people here.
At the gate, there were several students showing the newbies their way to where the entrance was taking place.
Ning knew they were students because they were wearing the uniform as the others that walked around the city.
Long, blue robes, tight-fit to a student's body with a white shirt underneath and flexible blue trousers.
They were meant to look scholarly, and also not cause problems when they had to get physical whenever needed.
The three of them arrived by the students, who immediately stopped them.
"Please step aside if you're not here for the test. We are only taking in examinees at the moment. Wait if you are here for anything else," one of the students told them.
"We're here for the test," Ning said without thinking much about it.
But the student surely did think for a bit. He looked at the three of them and frowned a bit.
"You are here for the test?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said.
The student looked at them again. "Aren't you guys old?" he asked.
"Is there an age restriction?" Saphandra asked.
"Y-yes," the student said.
"Do we exceed that restriction?" she asked.
The restriction was at 30 years old, and not a single one of them looked 30.
"No," the student was forced to say.
"So can we go ahead?" she asked.
"Yes, please do," the student stepped away in shame. He started feeling awkward because he had stopped people just because they weren't of the usual age.
Ning felt bad for the guy. He was just doing his job. Still, it was just a small verbal discussion so he forgot about it and continued on ahead.
Behind the gate, behind the walls that held the gate, there was a massive building, made of many different buildings attached to it.
Some buildings had 2 floors, some had 3 floors. It was as if someone had started with a simple building, then needed to add more to it, and had to continuously do that for a long time before the school had come to be what it was.
"Please head this way," A student showed them the way to the test, and the three of them walked on.
