"Name?
Alaric.
Family Name?
Vane.
Noble or commoner?
Commoner.
Age?
Eight years old.
Specialization you want to be taught in?
Enlightment, Sorcery and Summoning.
Will you pay for the tuition in advance, put in work during your studies as an assistant or will you pay on credit?
Credit.
Then I will have to inform you that you will need to keep your grades up at the top, otherwise your credit might be canceled in its entirety and you will have to put in extra work as an assistant to catch up on the others.
That's okay." Alaric answered clearly.
The mage clothed in grand scholarly clothes looked down upon him for the first time.
"Arrogant. But maybe it's just confidence. We will find out." He said in a neutral tone.
"Go to group 32. The teacher there will inform you of the next steps." The administrator said, as he handed Alaric a document. A copy that the man had magically conjured based on the original he personally just wrote down upon.
"Thank you." Alaric politely said as he moved in the direction of group 32.
Looking behind himself he saw multiple long lines with many administrative mages recording the names and details of willing acolytes that wanted to learn the secrets of magic.
"The silver cities. Truly a marvel of magical ingenuity." He muttered, awed by the memory of his first time seeing the flying city from below called 'Cael Varn' that was a border city of the silver cities.
"I'm truly in luck" and in luck he was, for he arrived only a single day before the yearly acolyte entry for the silver cities.
A collective of meritocratic councils that administered law and order in this place. Selected from the finest of mages that they themselves teach and train. Always competing with each other for the title of the strongest city, yet always working as a collective when it has to fight against outsiders.
The silver cities themselves, named so for they were made of a magical stone that was strengthened, processed and infused with a silverish looking secret alloy that made it possible to make them fly altogether. Only with powerful spells of course.
Then he arrived near group 32, his future class.
The young children all on the one hand looking excited, on the other terribly aware that if they were to annoy the adults, their magical journey might end very fast.
Alaric looked around. There were many groups, for there were many disciplines to be learned and taught at the same time in different combinations. From his position alone he could still see the number 73 on a shield near a group at the limit of his vision, with the expectation that it would obviously go even further.
The selection went a long way. From morning till evening, the mages send the newly chosen acolytes to their destination until a bell rang.
Then they stopped.
One Archmage, noticeable as he was colored in black and blue instead of white and yellow like most around, then used a spell to make his voice loud enough for the whole plaza to hear.
"Now, we end the selection and start a new year. The group teachers shall teach the young acolytes now where to sleep, eat and study. Explain to them the rules of our glorious silver cities, that created most wonders of our world."
"And to you acolytes I will say this: Study and work hard for your own future. Maybe one day one of you might become part of the council of our beautiful city."
And with that the speech ended.
After that the administrative side of the school life was taught to them. The place to sleep, to eat and to study.
The city was generally split up, with most inhabitants living in the middle of the city under the great city hall. Formed like a mosque surrounded by numerous smaller halls – big and small, most of them with a beautiful tip like the Hagia Sophia.
Then there were long thin bridges from the main flying city to the different specialization areas of the city. Libraries, Golem factories, Djinn treasure chambers and many more wonders. A marvel of magic, orient style building and dreams.
Acolytes would have to go to the different specialization areas depending on their own classes and be taught their subjects. The group teachers were there to support them overall on private projects, problems or lead a guiding hand on their way to mastery.
"This probably surpasses Hogwarts in style." Alaric mused.
"Then again the magical aspect of it is probably, although more powerful due to the stronger magic in the atmosphere – worse of in technique and fidelity." He thought.
Thankfully for Alaric, the way that the school taught its acolytes was very simple. There are no mandatory classes. Only optional ones, on the other hand the exams are very strict. Make a mistake you get a strike, make another mistake and your progress will be evaluated based on your efforts and potential future. A last strike and you are out.
This was because they silver cities always liked it when people did separate experiments that could potentially lift the strength of the entire nation. It happened multiple times in their history, leading to this development. And those experiments sometimes took a very long time, so as long as you have a good reason, the teachers can be very lenient towards you. They simply don't like the lazy and stupid.
This was obviously good for Alaric as it gave him numerous options to keep up, with other students. Since he started meditating in Arrakis over a year ago, he needed less sleep. Even with only 4 hours he is doing as well as any other person. And with this he could have lessons whenever it fits his home world timetable.
These were his last musing after having his teleporting area arranged in his new student home in Cael Varn.
The next day the air was thin and cold this high above the desert floor. Alaric stood near the edge of a marble terrace, staring past the enchanted glass balustrade toward the churning clouds beneath. The city floated. Not figuratively. Literally. The Silver Cities were exactly what they claimed to be — sanctuaries of high arcana suspended on sheer intellect and elemental mastery.
Behind him, voices murmured. Chanting. Young students sat in a large semicircle that looked like an ancient Greek theatre, on wide stone steps, their robes plain but clean, the colors of their house sigils embroidered on the chest — although all acolytes had to wear white, the nobles obviously would want to associate with each other more.
He kept to the edge, notebook on the flat piece of wood meant to stabilize it, eyes alert. He looked like a reserved apprentice. There were hundreds of those.
A tall instructor in black and blue robes and expensive magically enchanted jewelry stood at the front of the circle, holding a long iron rod that pulsed faintly with arcane energy. He gestured toward a crystalline sphere floating beside him — a standard magical resonance orb.
"Magic," the instructor began, "is not passion. It is not poetry. It is control."
The sphere flickered. Then changed color. The atmosphere became solemn.
"To master magic, you must first master yourself. Breath before will. Logic before instinct."
He tapped the orb once. It glowed blue — cold efficiency, stable.
"Begin."
The practical to the theoretical that he taught beforehand began now.
The initiates began to focus, holding their hands toward lesser resonance stones laid out in front of them.
Alaric didn't move. He simply watched.
He had seen their method earlier: breath control, internal alignment, mana circulation. The same as Douluo Dalu, just... formatted differently. A different equation. Same result.
He grabbed his own magical resonance orb, placing it between his hands.
A pulse ran up his arm.
The magical resonance orb meant to guide acolytes in making mana flow where they want it. It could be very dangerous to do it in the body for the first time, with no idea how to control it while it wreaked havoc in the own body.
The Vault pulsed once in reply.
Behind him, one of the tutors paused briefly in her pacing. Her eyes lingered on his orb, nodding satisfied. Then moving on to watch the others.
No questions.
Two hours later the instructor nodded as the initiates finished. Some stones lit. Some didn't.
"Those who failed — study your scrolls tonight before sleeping and tomorrow before class again. We will repeat this exercise tomorrow. The ones who succeeded, take your crystal and repeat the process whenever you have free time to strengthen your control. We will continue the next segment of the teaching plan next week."
They began to stand. Alaric brushed himself off of the nonexistent dust and closed his notebook without fanfare.
He had what he came for, a guiding hand that carefully navigated him and prevented him from suffering of a dumb mistake in the complex world of magic.