Max, Neer and Flavia also followed, leaving the rest of the crowd staring at them. Envoys found it distasteful while the disciples hoped that their academies will depart as dawn was already approaching. After being around 24 hours on their toes, they were exhausted and wanted to rest.
"Tch, she didn't care about the rules of the academies at all, going before the completion ceremony." The first envoy clicked her tongue in annoyance. The rest of the envoy, excluding the fourth envoy, also nodded. They also didn't like it.
"Let's not waste any more time then and quickly finish this ceremony, so that we can also depart." The Eighth envoy said.
....
...Outside the Colosseum...
Max and others exited the Colosseum. Everyone who joined the Cloud Academy was gathered in one place by the elders in white. Max estimated that there should be around a thousand disciples.
Considering that the Cloud Academy was ranked second among ten academies and more than seventeen thousand candidates were in the selection round, very few candidates chose to join the Cloud Academy. it was perplexing.
Even if the second envoy didn't actively participate to recruit disciples, still with the Academy's reputation and standing among the academies, there should be at least double or triple the number of the disciples they had now right?
As if seeing his confusion, Flavia asked "You are wondering why such a low number of candidates chose to join the academy, right?"
Max nodded. Then Flavia explained "It's because the Cloud Academy is infamous for their strict discipline and the low amount of the resources they provide to their disciples. Even the tenth ranked academy gives more resources to their disciples than the Cloud Academy."
"Then how comes it is still the second strongest?" Max asked, he found this odd. If this was the case then it was a miracle that they could even recruit a thousand disciple in this regional recruitment. And this should reduce their overall strength considerably but the academy was still ranked second among the ten academies of the kingdom.
Flavia chuckled lightly "It's because of the way they train their disciples. After joining you'll learn that having a large number of mages isn't necessary for an academy to be a strong one."
Hearing her vague answer, Max decided to not ask any further. He'll know the reason after going there. He looked toward the elders to hear how they were going to travel to the Academy as he had heard that these academies aren't in the cities but in the mountains as there is a better concentration of mana in environment and better suited to train rather than cities.
Meanwhile, Flavia sank in her own thoughts, thinking why she was willing to explain these things even when he didn't ask, and most importantly, why was she still with him? However she couldn't understood why. The only thing she knew was, she felt comfortable around him which was strange as they were only acquaintances.
Scree~
Just then they heard a bird's cry. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that a hawk type white feathered beast was flying towards them at an insane speed.
Very quickly they saw ten more of the same type of beasts. As they inched closer, hawks' size seemed to increase.
Swoosh!
A strong gust of wind forced everyone a few steps back as All eleven hawks hovered around them. After circling them a few times, they landed in front of the crowd.
The disciples took a few more steps backs and raised their guards up. One of the elders in white chuckled while walking towards the beasts' "You don't need to be afraid of them. These are tamed beasts that will take us to the Cloud Academy. A hundred disciple will ride each hawk, leaving the eleventh one for the envoy."
"Oh, so these are our rides, huh." Max muttered.
"Wah! I'll be able to ride a flying beasts." Neer couldn't contain his excitement and almost shouted. Many disciples around him looked at him with disdainful gazes, however after seeing the he was the 'dual-elemental genius'. their disdainful look vanished. No one wanted to get in the bad books of a future powerhouse after all.
Adrienne, the second envoy, climed on the leading hawk and commanded "Let's go."
The hawk flapped its enormous wings producing more gusts of wind and took off in the north direction.
The elders present smiled wryly seeing her leave without waiting for anyone. They commanded "Alright disciples. Climb on the hawks and let's follow behind the envoy."
Disciples hastily started climbing onto the backs of the hawks. The driver bowed in front of Max "Young master, have a safe journey. I'll also return now. Lord Viscount will be delighted to hear the good news of you being selected as an inner sector disciple."
"Yeah, You too have a safe journey back." Max nodded and gave him a few more gold coins. The driver happily departed.
After that, he also climed one of the Hawks with Neer and Flavia. After everyone was on board, the elders patted the hawks and the hawks started flying in the direction the second envoy had gone.
Their speed speed at which the hawks flew was so fast that many disciples almost fell down. Max knew that this will be the case so he used his mana to sit firmly on it however, Neer didn't have much mana or control to do the same. Therefore, Flavia who didn't seem to be bothered by the high speed helped him until he apapted to the fast wind.
Those who seemed that they will fall if not helped, were assisted by the elders.
...After three days...
A tall mountain range appeared in their sights. The elder in white said pointing to the mountains "We are here. This mountain range is called Cloud Mountain range, our academy is named after it."
Hearing the elder's words, disciples' exhausted faces brightened up. For the past three days, they were flying most of time and only stopped a few times to eat and sleep.
They looked ahead and saw that the mountains were so tall that their peaks were hidden in the clouds. 'It's no wonder it's called the Cloud Academy.'
"Everyone hold tight. We will be ascending now." The elder warned as the hawk started to fly higher. Soon it pierced through the clouds and now the peak of various mountains were visible.
The mountain in the middle seemed to have its peak sliced off horizontally. The sliced off peak had enough area to establish a small town. A large construct was built on it. The largest and tallest building was like a castle with many smaller buildings around it. A wall was built around the perimeter of the peak, with a giant gate in the middle.
Scree~
Envoy Adrienne's hawk cried and swooped down. It landed in front of the gate. The rest of the hawks also landed.
Disciples were mesmerized by the scenery around them. Only others mountain peaks and drifting clouds were in their sight. Max was also enchanted by this beautiful scenery.
Although they were tens of miles above the ground, no one had breathing problem unlike on earth where you'll need oxygen cylinders to breathe at this high altitude. In fact, the air here was many times more refreshing than the Viscount Manor.
The gatekeepers hurriedly came over noticing the commotion. After seeing that it was Adrienne, they bowed respectfully "Welcome back Elder."
Adrienne nodded and then said while looking the thousand or so disciples "This is the Cloud Academy. From now on you'll stay and train here. Your performance will determine what you'll become in future. I advise everyone to work hard and not slack off or you'll soon find out that in this race of survival, you've already fallen behind."
She then glanced at elders and said "I'll leave the rest on you elders."
The elders nodded and bowed their heads slightly "Yes elder Adrienne."
After giving Max and Neer a cursory glance, she stepped inside the gate and soon disappeared from the sight.
One of the elders who was a man in his mind twenties looked at the disciples and said "I'll explain a few basic rules of the academy which you should know before entering this gate."
He then smiled and raised one finger "Rule number one, aside from the monthly resources you'll receive from academy to get by, you'll need to earn everything by yourself."
"Rule number two, there is no killing allowed inside these walls. You'll directly be killed if you broke this rule without any exception."
"Third rule, without notifying the academy you aren't allowed to leave for any reason. As for the rest of the rules, you can see them in the disciplinary hall."
"Now let's enter, a new chapter of your lives will be starting now and like the Elder Adrienne said work hard." The elder said as he walked inside the gates followed by the disciples.
