HMJ - Chapter 58 (Patreon)

And lastly the fourth and final Bonus Chapter ~

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The three white Robed Magi Acolytes were the first ones to step out of the carriage and gather the upcoming Acolytes to lead them into the camp.

"Now, follow me into the campgrounds and choose an academy. You are free to take a look at all the academies, but remember: once you sign a contract to join one, you cannot back out. Anyone who disobeys will be hanged at the camp gate." Warned that the one Harry had learned was called Crow.

Such words put quite a bit of worry in many of the youths.

"Haha! Crow! You guys are pretty late today!" A voice called out as a fat man emerged from the campgrounds. He, too, was wearing a white robe and greeted them warmly: "Don't scare these adorable newbies!"

"There were some difficulties along the way," Crow explained.

"Alright! Newbies! Now follow me into the camp!" Fatty continued talking with Crow and the others for a while longer, then turned and shouted to Harry and the rest.

"You guys can call me Jevon, from the beautiful Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. Trust me, if you're choosing an academy, the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower is definitely your best choice." Jevon said as he brought them into the camp.

The inside was bustling with life, reminding them of a lively marketplace.

Jevon led them further inside to a large tent of pure white color, and there were still strange flower patterns on the outside of it.

They seemed like both ornaments, yet they resembled writing as well.

Harry was recording everything with the AI chip. While he felt a compulsion from the White Tent, it wasn’t really affecting him.

They needed to fill out a form before their aptitude would be tested; after that, they were free to choose a Magus Academy.

Because they were late, they only had one day to choose an academy for themselves.

Javon sat behind a large table, and all of the youths had to line up in front of it with their filled-out forms.

Harry was right behind Bessita and George in the row. Once they had their forms ready, they entered the tent one by one.

Once inside, an old voice called him, “Come over.”

The inner space of the tent was quite large; it reminded him of an undetectable Extension Charm that magicians from the Wizarding World loved to use on their tents.

In the center sat an elderly lady in front of a crystal ball on a table, reminding him of a fortune teller.

“Hello!” Harry greeted the witch as he approached her.

“Hand over your form." She said in a clearly bored voice, “Harry, huh? Put your hands on the crystal ball.”

Harry obeyed; the moment his hands touched it, he felt ice-cold vibrations.

The longer he touched the ball, the more intense it got.

“Very good! Don’t let go!” the elderly woman said while intently watching the Crystal Ball.

He started to get a slight headache, and the longer it was going on, the harder it got. But he kept enduring.

In comparison to the beatings he received from Arya or the things he had to endure during his life as Harry Potter, this was nothing.

Only a good while later, as the pain became nearly unbearable, he had to let go, or he would have risked some serious damage.

“Very good! You did very well.” The witch nodded with an approving voice, now more interested in Harry.

"We have categorized the aptitude of the acolytes into five grades. The first grade is the lowest, and the fifth grade is the highest. You have the highest possible aptitude as a fifth grader." She explained.

Having already known what the grade meant, Harry was pleased with himself. While it would mean that he gained more attention from others and would have a hard time staying really low-key, he would also have more benefits.

And in the eyes of a magus, acolytes were simply ants. They were just that arrogant. Even a fifth grader, while being a desirable student, was nothing important in their eyes.

The witch must have seen something on his face: “A word of advice. Don’t get cocky because of your talent. There are more than enough like you, and many geniuses die early.”

After making a mark on his form, she said, “Your examination with me is over. Go to the next room behind me.”

Behind him already, the next Acolyte entered, while Harry took his form and headed towards the next line.

Once it was his turn, he once again entered a spacey room. This time, an elderly geezer was waiting for him beside a table.

Harry sat down in front of the man and handed his form over. “Fifth Grade? Very good!” said the man as he stroked his chin. “I will be testing your elemental abilities.”

This time, Harry was actually a bit nervous. Affinity was, for him, more important than his appearance. With the AI chip, he had multiple different ways to bypass the disadvantages of a bad app.

He knew how Leylin had become a magus. To follow his path, he needed the same abilities, or it wouldn’t be as effective.

Sure, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it made things easier.

The old man knocked on the table, and a black basin rose from the center.

It looked like it was made out of rough stone, and inside of it was a metallic liquid that reminded Harry of mercury.

"Carefully look into the water!" The old man's voice echoed with an authoritative tone. It was clearly a compulsion charm, but Harry chose not to resist it.

Inside, his gaze focused on the center of the liquid as it swirled and turned into a whirlpool.

“Now tell me what you see!”

An compulsion again: “A grey-sickly green colored whirpoll, with redish-orange spots near the edge.”

“Anything else?”

“Some black, shadowy spots around it.”

“Is there a lot of black?”

“A medium amount.”

“Okay!” The old man snapped his finger, and the compulsion lifted as Harry came back to his senses.

“Your test is over. Your highest affinity is towards the death element, quite a rare one; after that, the fire element; and lastly, a light darkness affinity." The old man explained, and Harry could only sigh.

So much for his hope to already have a path to the peak of this world.

To become a magus, one needed a proper meditation technique.

These meditation techniques were often specialized towards specific attributes of the practitioner, like race, bloodline, unique traits, and emotional affinity.

While one could practice a technique that was not fit for their body, it would be hard and tedious, and one may not reach as far as one who had practiced one that fit.

Harry knew from Leylin's Journey the location of an advanced meditation technique that would have carried him at least to the level needed for space travel.

Unfortunately, it was fitting for a person with a high level of darkness and secondary fire affinity. Harry just had a very light darkness affinity and a secondary fire affinity; his main affinity was death, which makes that advanced meditation technique rather suboptimal.

Objectively spoken, Harry’s affinity made some sense. His relationship with death had always been special. Being it, surving a killing curse, having carried a soul piece, passing through the Veil of Death, or having actually died.

The fire part could have a multitude of reasons.

Maybe because he liked fire magic somehow, since he had been reincarnated with a gamer system, his best developed skills were fire-related.

Or it was because of his connection with Tiamat; after all, dragons were often related to fire, and she did have a fire breath.

Well, it was nothing he could change; he had to live with the lot he had. He was confident he would reach far.

It doesn’t hurt to know the location of a meditation technique.

In the meantime, the old man swiftly filled out the form and added his handprint.

"Let me give you some advice! Magi can harness all types of energy, but you'll advance the furthest by following the path you have the greatest affinity for."

He handed the form back to Harry. "Alright, your test is over. Head out through the back entrance and start choosing your academy."

Harry thanked the old man and headed back to the entrance, only to see that Bessita was actually waiting there and looking for something.

The moment she spotted him, her face lit up, but he noticed nervousness in her eyes too.

“Yo, Bessita. Did you finish your aptitude test?” Harry greeted her as he stopped beside her.

She sighed but nodded unenthusiasticly, as clearly something was bothering her, and Harry had a good idea what it was.

“Not a good result?” he asked carefully.

Now she was looking at him, worried about something: "No, I just have a second-grade attitude.”

“I am sorry to hear that.” Harry has already heard that. This was one of the few emotions revealed in the original as a small ‘Winning’ moment at the start of the novel for the main character.

“What about you?” She asked, still nervous.

Well, that’s awkward: “I have a grade 5 aptitude." Harry revealed.

For some reason, this seemed to please her, and he hadn’t expected what followed next: “Could you take me as a retainer?" It’s not an uncommon practice amongst Magi.”