"WHAT!!! AGAIN?!"
A man stood in front of the announcement board, practically vibrating with rage.
"How the hell did I fail again? I answered everything correctly! I showed my work! I displayed my skill! Is this board broken? Is it enchanted to be blind? How did they reject me again?!"
The crowd around him didn't gasp in fear. They whispered in the tone one uses for a local cryptid or a particularly stubborn ghost.
"Who is that guy?" a fresh-faced student whispered. "You don't know him?" another replied, keeping their voice low. "That's the Famous Failure. He's been failing for five years straight."
Five years. In this world, that was absurd. The Academy wasn't like a high school where you had to be a certain age. Usually, the older you were, the more likely schools were to accept you because you had experience. But this guy? He was stuck in a loop.
"Five years? Which family is he from?" "No one. He doesn't have a family name." "Ugh. A single-name commoner? And look at him… he's ancient."
Arion twitched. I can hear you, you brats. I'm twenty-one! That's the prime of life!
He ignored the murmurs and marched up to the proctor standing stone-faced beside the board.
"You! Eye-patch guy! Why isn't my name there?"
The proctor didn't even blink. He just stared at the horizon.
"I know I aced the physical," Arion ranted. "I lifted the boulder. I outran the wind spirit. I even fixed the magical target after that other kid broke it! What more do you want? A dance number?"
The proctor remained silent.
"Fine! Keep your secrets! Enjoy your… your teenage drama and your curfews! I didn't want to go to this piece of trash academy anyway!"
Arion spun on his heel and stormed off, muttering profanities.
"Garbage school… stupid aristocrats… 'Oh look at me, I have a last name, I'm so special'… I bet their cafeteria food is soggy anyway…"
He kept rambling all the way down the street. Little did he know, he was the idiot. Sure, he was smart, athletic, and magically gifted, but anyone else would have just gotten a job or become an adventurer after five years.
His angry stomping led him to his sanctuary: The Rusty Tavern. As soon as he kicked the door open, a voice boomed from inside.
"ARION!!! The Prodigal Son returns!"
The man who had failed five times just groaned. "Eeeeyyy…"
He slid onto a stool at the counter, burying his face in his hands.
"You failed again, huh, Arion?" Baric, the tavern owner, wiped a glass with a grin.
"YES, I DID."
"Why don't you just give up already?" Baric laughed. "It's common sense. Five years of rejection? You've wasted your youth, my friend."
Arion lifted his head, his eyes dead serious. "You don't understand, Baric. You just serve drinks. You never seek the Window of the Unknown."
"The what now?"
"See? That's why you don't understand." Arion sighed, swirling his empty cup. "You're hopeless,"
Baric chuckled. "But speaking of hopeless, your fan club is waiting."
"Which fan club?"
"Those kids." Baric pointed to a table in the corner packed with children.
Arion leaned back, looking where Baric pointed. His grumpy expression melted instantly. "AH! The little seekers of the Unknown…"
He stood up and walked over to the table. For the next hour, Baric watched as the "Academy Reject" transformed. Arion was animating a story with small sparks of magic, making the kids gasp and cheer.
Mary, Baric's wife, leaned against the counter. "Arion surely loves to tell a tale…"
"It's a tale for us, Mary," Baric said softly. "But for Arion? I think it's real."
"He came here five years ago looking so beaten down," Mary noted. "But look at him now. When he's with them, his face changes. He looks… happy."
"I just hope he understands he'll never get in," Baric sighed. "Only people with family names get into that school. A single-name person like him…"
"He'll never accept that. He's too stubborn." Mary watched Arion laugh with a child. "But I like his stories. How long are you going to let him run up a tab?"
"As long as it takes. You surely love that man, don't you?"
"Oh, hush." Mary walked away to serve a customer.
Baric shook his head, muttering to himself. "I don't know if you are brilliant or dumb, Arion. Or maybe brilliant people just look dumb to the rest of us."
"YO BARIC!!" "BARIC!!!!"
Baric snapped out of his thoughts. Arion was standing by the door.
"Wait, I thought you were with the kids?"
"Done for today," Arion said, adjusting his cloak. "I'm going out. To the hill."
"On that hill again?"
"Yeah. Practice."
"You surely don't get bummed out anymore, do you?"
Arion paused at the door, a small smirk on his face. "Hmmmm. For now, I feel okay. Surely next year, I will get enrolled there."
He walked out. "What a man," Baric said.
On the way to the hill, pedestrians waved at Arion. Some called him the "Storyteller," others called him the "Idiot Who Never Gives Up." Arion ignored them all.
Arriving at the top of the hill, he saw a glimpse of a figure in the distance. He focused. He knew that silhouette.
He broke into a sprint.
"OI! TEACHER!! TEACHER!!"
He ran until his lungs burned, finally skidding to a halt in front of the figure, panting heavily.
The figure turned. A woman with an aura that screamed danger. "Yo, boy."
"Do… not… call… me… boy," Arion wheezed, hands on his knees. "Sigh… I am… twenty-one… years old. Am I… a boy… in your eyes?"
"Yes," she said simply. "You are a boy in my eyes."
"Surely… then I… can call… you… an… old… woman…"
THWACK.
She smacked the back of his head. "Don't call me that."
"Arghh! Why?!" Arion rubbed his head.
She smirked. "Now, you said you are already twenty-one years old… Surely I can start to teach you some practical things rather than just theory."
Arion's eyes suddenly sparkled, forgetting the pain. "YOU MEAN!! ANCIENT MAGIC?! Why didn't you teach me before?! Or two years ago? Or four years ago?!"
"Because you were still a little boy," she stepped closer, examining him from the tip of his toes to the top of his head. She licked her lips, looking like a predator eyeing a meal. "Now… you surely have grown well."
"What do you mean by that?" Arion took a step back. "You will live with me for a year. On that hill. And…"
She grinned. "You've surely already grown up."
"What are you thinking? I feel like I don't like this!" Arion crossed his arms defensively over his chest.
"Just relax… everything will be alright." She grabbed him by his collar. "Close your eyes. For a first-timer, maybe it will be scary."
Before he could scream, she blasted off into the sky, dragging him with her.
One Year Later
Arion and the woman returned to the hill. How the lady trained Arion was a mystery known only to them, but Arion stood there, looking physically unchanged but with a different air about him.
"I forgot," the woman yawned, hovering in the air. "What was your name again, boy?"
"Sigh… You surely love forgetting things," Arion deadpanned. "My name is Arion."
"Arion… Arion… Arion…" She smiled, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Surely I will remember your name, after everything we have done…"
Arion's face turned bright red.
"HAHAHAHA! You sure are a boy! You're just embarrassed!"
The woman flew into the sky, vanishing beyond the horizon. Arion slapped his cheeks to cool them down and started walking toward the city. "Focus. Now it's time to take another enrollment test."
The Academy Entrance Exam (Attempt #6)
Arion walked toward the registration table. The whispers started immediately.
"Look who's back. The man who always fails."
"How dare he take the enrollment test when he doesn't have a family name?"
"Maybe this will be his sixth year of failure."
Arion just ignored everything. He was in the zone.
Meanwhile, in a shadowy office within the Academy…
"You surely want us to pass this person?"
"Yes."
"But… will this not break our ethical code? If we pass this person to this Academy…"
"HUH?" The shadowy figure glared.
"It… will… make… the… jealousy… from… other families… especially… the aristocrat families…"
"I don't give a damn about them. Just pass this person, or you will feel my wrath."
"NO… we don't want to feel your wrath… surely we will pass this person…"
"Great. See that you do."
The Written Test
The test contained the theory of magic, life, and simple math. Arion flipped through the pages. He knew it. It was the same test as last year. And the year before. And five years ago.
Are they recycling paper? he thought.
He finished it in a few minutes, the first one done. The supervisor wasn't surprised—Arion was always the first one finished for five years running. The other participants, however, glared at him. They saw his speed as mockery.
"Same questions every year," Arion muttered loud enough for them to hear. "Is this academy lacking information? Knowledge? Or just budget?"
The Physical Test
Next came stamina, prowess, and agility. All eyes went to Arion. He didn't just pass; he shattered the records. Weight lifting, endurance running, the fastest lap—he did it all with a bored expression. The supervisor wasn't surprised. These were Arion's records from five years ago. But because he was never accepted, the records were always erased.
"This is child's play," Arion whispered to himself. "The practice on the hill with that woman… compared to that, this is—" He suddenly grabbed his head. "Oh crap, don't remember it! Don't remember the training!"
He started smashing his head lightly against the wall to forget the trauma. Everyone watched him, thinking he was mocking them.
The Magic Test
Finally, the main event. Participants were supposed to use basic spells. However, two students raised their hands. A girl with long black hair and a boy with short blonde hair.
"Permission to use Intermediate Spells, sir?" they asked.
Arion saw this and raised his hand too. "Can I use other spells than basic ones like them?"
The girl sneered at him. "You must be bluffing to say that."
"Well, if you two are allowed, I should be allowed too," Arion shrugged.
The supervisor sighed but agreed.
One by one, names were called. Students drew circles in the air, chanted, and fired weak spells. Arion yawned. "Wuihhh! For five years, I haven't been this bored watching everyone chant basic spells." The girl heard him and grit her teeth in frustration.
Now, it was her turn. She stepped up, drawing a complex circle. "Sto ónoma tou theoú tis fotiás, tha sou diatáxo ti fotiá!" A giant fireblaze erupted from her circle, scorching the target. It burned it black, but didn't destroy it.
Next, the blonde boy. "Sto ónoma tis theás tou págou, tha se diatáxo ti fotiá!" A giant storm of ice blasted the target, freezing it solid. But it didn't shatter.
The girl walked back, leaning in toward Arion with a smug grin. "Now, what have you got?"
"Me?" Arion picked his ear. "You can wait until my name gets called. But your spell was surely… amazing." He said it genuinely. Somehow, that made her blush. She turned away quickly.
A few minutes later, Arion's name was called. He walked toward the platform. Before he began, he whispered to the instructor. "Can I destroy that target?"
"Surely you can try it," the instructor scoffed. "But to destroy it… it is a little bit amusing."
"No, it's not."
Arion didn't chant. He didn't draw a circle. He suddenly opened his two hands, stretching them out to both sides. "Aegis." Immediately, a translucent barrier appeared behind him, barricading the stage from one side to the other, shielding the audience and the instructor from what was about to happen.
The supervisor dropped his clipboard. He hadn't done this in the last five years. This was new. The crowd murmured in confusion.
Arion kept his hands stretched out. He took a breath. And then, he brought them together.
CLAP.
BOOM.
A massive explosion of pure mana erupted on the target. It was so big that the barrier rippled under the pressure. The walls around the target disintegrated. The target itself didn't just break—it vanished.
But thanks to the barrier he had cast, the people behind him were safe. Their hair barely ruffled.
Arion dropped the barrier. He walked down from the platform, looking bored, as if he had just taken out the trash.
As he walked past the others, the black-haired girl screamed, her eyes wide with terror and awe. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"