After a while of walking, the two of them entered the academy.
The building itself looked like a typical school, just more… royal?
There were plenty of designs and edges that reminded Shang of the Baroque period on Earth. The building simply looked very old but very expensive.
However, the feeling that the building was old came from Shang's perception when he had been on Earth. After all, all of the buildings that looked like that were old. Yet, the building Shang was currently in looked to be rather new, and it was in top condition.
The halls were grand, and Shang could see many weapons hanging from the walls. Shang's sword was shaking on his back due to all the powerful ore around him. Luckily, Shang's cloak hid his sword's shaking.
Shang followed the teacher up some stairs, and after going down a long corridor, the two entered a hall.
The hall wasn't very big, but it also wasn't small. It was around ten by ten meters. A large table with a couple of chairs surrounding it was at the edge of the hall, making the layout of the hall a bit awkward. Having the table in the middle felt more natural.
"Take a seat. I'll call the two other people," the teacher explained as he took out a small crystal from his Space Ring. "We need three people for an official exam."
The teacher spoke a couple of words into his crystal and put it away again. After that, the teacher walked over to a drawer on the side and took out some papers.
The teacher put the papers in front of Shang. "You know how to read and write?" he asked.
For a second, Shang thought that this question was ridiculous, but he remembered that he was in a different world now. Being able to read and write probably wasn't common.
"I can," Shang said as he looked at the papers in front of him.
Forms.
'I thought I got rid of all that bureaucracy when I left Earth,' Shang thought with annoyance.
Shang quickly took the pen-
'A pen?' Shang suddenly thought as he looked at the pen in his hand. 'Shouldn't I get a quill and inkwell?'
Shang looked with surprise at the pen. The pen looked like a crudely made ballpoint pen, which weirded Shang out.
A ballpoint pen?
In this world?
"You don't need an inkwell to write," the teacher said, pointing at the pen. "That's what we call a pen. It has an integrated inkwell. You only need to press down to write."
Shang looked at the teacher for a bit and then back at the paper with furrowed brows.
But in the end, Shang simply accepted the reality that is a pen in a world filled with Mages and warriors.
Shang filled out all the questions on the form. The questions were very basic. Shang was asked about his name, family, knowledge, combat style, combat experience, and many other relevant things to his chosen profession.
While filling out the forms, two other teachers entered the hall. They greeted the first teacher and sat down beside him.
One of them was a young woman with fiery red hair, while the other one was an old man with grey hair. The woman was probably in her twenties, while the old man was probably in his seventies.
"Viera, what are you doing here?" the first teacher asked the young woman while Shang was still filling out forms.
"I'm hunting later in the day today," Viera said with a smile. "I want to enter the Canyon on the evening."
The first teacher furrowed his brows. "Are you certain? You haven't been in the Commander Stage for a long time. Going to the Canyon now might be a bit too soon."
"I know," Viera said, "but I need to feel some danger again. Hunting Commander Stage beasts at the edges of the Wasteland isn't exciting anymore. I feel like I'm going to lose my battle instincts if I wait longer."
The first teacher still looked with uncertainty at Viera. "Do you want me to accompany you as insurance?"
"Soran, if you accompany me, there won't be any danger at all," Viera said with a slight chuckle. "That would defeat the entire purpose."
Soran, the first teacher, only looked with a worried expression at Viera. "Well, if you're certain that you're doing the right thing, go ahead. Just tell me when you plan on being back. I don't want to worry for the entire night."
Viera only chuckled a bit. "Aww, you're cute, Soran. Sometimes, I think you're my teacher, not my senior."
While filling out his forms, Shang threw a covert glance at Soran and Viera.
'Close physical contact initiated by her, higher voice, many chuckles, constant eye contact, compliments.'
'She's either someone who enjoys toying with men, or she has the hots for him.'
Suddenly, Viera shot a stern glance at Shang. "What are you looking at?" she asked with a dark voice.
Shang looked Viera in the eyes.
"You distracted me. Of course I'm going to look at the source of distraction," Shang said evenly before going back to filling out his form as if nothing had happened.
Viera was taken aback by Shang's words and tone.
She had expected Shang to cower back at her admonishment and apologize, but Shang had only answered in a very direct manner.
"Seems like he's not buying your bullshit."
Viera looked at the third teacher, the old man, with an angry gaze. "Do you have to word it so crude?" she asked with annoyance.
The old man only laughed. "You acted all flirtatious in front of him. Of course he's not going to jump back after your outburst. He has seen your sweet side now, which makes your angry side not as ugly."
Viera's face became red at being called out. "Mervin! Stop saying random stuff! If there are rumors being spread on the school property tomorrow, it's your fault!"
Mervin only snorted. "The rumors have been going around for months at this point. The only reason why you haven't noticed is that you basically live in the Wasteland."
"Rumors? What rumors?" Viera asked in shock.
Mervin only smirked. "What else? It's that-"
"I'm done," Shang suddenly said as he pushed the forms to the other side of the desk, to the three teachers.
"Shut up! Don't interrupt him!" Viera said with an annoyed voice as she threw Shang a venomous glance. Then, she looked back at Mervin with a nervous expression. "What kind of rumo-"
"Looks good," Soran suddenly said, interrupting Viera. "Some of the things on the forms make seemingly no sense, but I've seen stuff like that plenty of times. We just have to see how you fight, and we'll get everything figured out."
Viera looked with annoyance at Soran, but she only bit her lower lip as she suppressed her rebuttal.
Shang shot a knowing look towards Soran.
Shang knew that the stuff he had written down was probably far from ordinary. After all, when it asked about Shang's combat style, Shang had simply said sword. When it had asked about the techniques Shang had learned, Shang had simply crossed out the page.
Yet, when it asked about Shang's combat experience, Shang had run out of space on the paper.
Every single person would make a doubletake at that form and ask Shang several questions for clarification.
However, Soran had simply waved the form off like everything was alright, and Shang knew why.
Soran didn't want to confront Viera's romantic feelings.
He obviously knew about them, judging by his actions, but he avoided directly acknowledging them.
Clap! Clap!
Soran clapped twice into his hands to get the attention of the other two teachers. "Alright, the official exam starts now. Please keep the topics not related to the examination out of the examination."
Mervin only laughed while Viera frowned with annoyance.
Meanwhile, Soran looked at Shang with a devious smirk.
"Well then, let's begin, shall we?"
