They gathered in css for the first time in their Fourth year. Asn noticed that the css has shrunk at least 30% from the year before!

  Apparently, the csses a year and more above had also shrunk by the same amount or more over the break

  Asn found that his carriage wasn't the only one getting attacked on the way back to his hometown, and that monster and creature attacks had been increasing in general!

  Perhaps the armies of the Demon King is rising again, and the search of a new hero is needed

  Nevertheless training of new and talented warriors was the purpose of the Magic Academy in the first pce

  Upon entering the fourth year, many of the students, including Asn would be turning 16 this year, and one of the changes that they will notice is the merger of csses from the Magic Academy and that of the Warrior Academy, merging mages and miscelneous warriors

  The Magic Academy students had already learned all the basic magic forms, and those that could, mastered whatever magic they could and would from not on, hone their magical abilities to prepare for a future war with the demon kingdom!

  As such, the mages would be separated according to their broad magical specializations. This was the second change this year. and most of the magic types were cssified by towers, each being led by an minor elemental deity!

  For example, although Aria was a tri-elemental wizard, in air, water and nature, she had to chose one, and thus chose air. The air tower was led by a aurae, or air nymph named Aura

  On the other hand, Aimee chose her specialization, the nature tower, led by a dryad named Eithne! A dryad is a nymph of nature, and as a Vi, Aimee was somewhat reted to nymphs anyway

  Anvi wasn't recruited into any of the elemental towers, but instead, she was recruited into the magical weapons department of the Magic Academy

  As for Asn, he was recruited into the fire tower. The fire tower was different, as instead of a nymph, it was led instead by a mystical creature, a phoenix that had taken human form named Phoebe!

  The third difference was that all students would be registered in the mercenary guild and undertake missions from killing monsters, escorting civilians and clearing dungeons of monsters!

  No longer would the students be graded based on what they knew or how well they performed magic! They would be graded purely on their ability to fulfil missions

  As Asn, Aria, Aimee and Anvi would learn under their individual tower masters, or magical weapon department head as was Anvi's case, they took their lessons in different venues, and thus was separated. They promised to meet up when they could, and perhaps undertake missions together

  Asn was one of two fire mages that joined the Fire Tower from his year. The other was a boy named Bze, a half-fire elemental who was known as a hothead literally. Asn has had many a spar with him, and found him to always be impulsive and lost into his rage most times trying to best Asn, but failing

  Like Asn, he was immune to most fmes, and their spars always ended with a draw in terms of fire intensity. However, Asn had many more skills and Bze was limited to his fmes and thus always lost. This was the story in the previous 3 years and Bze swore not to lose to Asn again

  They both met the Fire Tower master Phoebe for the first time. and the first thing she did was tested their resistance to fire

  "Strip! Unless you want your clothes burned away" she instructed

  Asn removed his flying cloak that he won in his previous end of year exams and the rest of his clothes. Bze did the same hesitantly

  "Damn! I lost again!" he cursed under his breath as he saw Asn naked

  Phoebe looked at Asn and smiled as she set both of them abze!

  She increased the fmes, hotter and hotter that even the stone floor they were standing on had turned to liquid stone, molten hot

  Asn was shocked as the fmes were hotter than any he has faced and was starting to get uncomfortable. Bze struggled to keep up with Asn, and within minutes he screamed before passing out!

  She took Bze's body aside and kept increasing the heat on Asn, who was now suffering, but refused to quit

  "Very good! A hero should never quit" Phoebe said as she suddenly stopped the heat

  Asn colpsed to his knees as his body suddenly became covered in sweat. Previously, he was under so much heat that the sweat evaporated before it could even form! Not that the heat had suddenly stopped, his body instantly produced more sweat to try and reduce his body heat

  Asn and Bze sparred daily with each other from then on, and with the Tower Master, Phoebe!

  Over the semester break, Bze managed to learn how to transform his body to fully fire elemental form, thus making the spars between Asn and Bze closer, with Asn having to fight harder to defeat him. This was due to the fact that Bze in his elemental form could turn himself intangible, so many attacks passed through him harmlessly. Also Asn didn't reveal his shadow abilities, rather only fire and his other normal magics that he learned in the academy. He usually defeated Bze with his "reality bending" abilities, which was more a usage of illusion, mixed with his usage of the elements such as earth, air, water and fire which confused the opponent and literally turned his world upside down!

  Against the tower master, Asn found that he was overpowered, but he was never helpless. With his creativity and ingenuity, even facing a Phoenix wasn't impossible for him as Phoebe found that Asn was a challenge even for her. Asn's "reality bending" was currently so perfectly blended, it really looked like he was warping the environment itself, and Phoebe herself was affected, confounded and confused by them, as Asn used them differently every time

  Phoebe was a phoenix, several times more powerful than any of the other masters of their towers, who were considered minor deities themselves. But as she found out, the mix of several elements, though not as powerful as her fme, together with illusion, would cause her to crash into the ground, unable to discern up from down, drowning in water while flying in the air, she eventually had to released all her fme in an explosive explosion, overwhelming Asn. But she was constantly surprised by the tactics and techniques he used and she grew more and more respect for Asn's method of fighting

  Asn and Bze also headed for their first mission in the mercenary guild. Bze as usual refused to take the same mission as Asn, and joined another mixed group of magicians and warriors. Asn did the same and found himself in a group with Roselyn, one of his cssmates, who was a magic swordsman. She had filled up since they first met when they joined the academy. She had grown to be a ravishing beauty, a gorgeous redhead sexily dressed in a metal bikini, standing at 6 foot tall, as tall as Asn himself now.

  While she was average as a magician, she was an excellent warrior, and as a magic swordsman, she was given leave to do a hybrid course in both the magic academy and warrior academy. So while she was but average in the magic academy, ranking something like 29 in their magic css, she was among the top students in the warrior academy in her year! She was also considered one of the contenders who could possibly be the next hero!

  "Asn!" Roselyn called and he went over to her and shook her hand. Last year, Asn had been pre-occupied with entertaining Aria, Aimee and Anvi who was fighting for his attention, that he had actually gotten distant from Roselyn. But in actuality, besides Anvi, he was close to Roselyn in a few of the csses where she did attend together with him in the academy

  She had assumed leadership of this group, and the other warriors were practically drooling over her. They were warriors a few years above them. Only Roselyn was the only fourth year in the group of warriors, though they let Roselyn lead the team due to her position as a potential Hero candidate

  They stared enviously at Asn, being the only mage in their group, and someone who was instantly close to Roselyn. They doubted that a mage would make any difference in their group since they had their own stashes of healing potions, and could use aura anyway

  Regardless, as they were to be teammates, Roselyn introduced them to Asn. There was the warrior monk Saisama, a virtual martial arts fanatic with a near indestructible body. Then there was Grendal the silent knight who was a tanker with a heavy shield and broadsword. Then there was Dino the barbarian, who sported a iron mace. And there was Mercules the weapons master. It really was a heavy duty team. Asn somewhat fit physically with them due to their height and muscles, but it was clear why he was the outsider being the only mage among them

  Their first mission together was to investigate and clear a well used road between the Academy and the city of Belmoral, a major agricultural city, which supplies the Academy with food and supplies, that has now been blocked by some monsters

  They don't even know what kind of monsters were there, as the supplies and news have simply stopped and no traders or travelers have been arriving from Belmoral for over 2 weeks!

  "Don't you have a horse Asn? If not, you can ride with me" Roselyn said much to the envy of the other members of her group

  Sensing their jealousy, Asn simply shook his head

  "I'm ok. I'm part elf, you know? I prefer running when I can. Besides, I have this" Asn said, pointing to his cape

  "What can that do?" Mercules asked

  "Oh. He's st year's third year champion. The prize was a flying cape" Roselyn expined

  Asn smiled and nodded

  "Ok then. If you get tired, remember you can just jump on and ride behind me" Roselyn said and she started riding her horse with the other companions riding behind her

  Asn started running, easily keeping up with them