The top grade batch only contained 30 students, whose comprehension was at least Orange level. Included in these students was of course the prince Laravel. Of the others, Daneel was surprised to see that more than half of them were wearing royal robes, albeit less lavish than Laravel's.
A staggering 18 of the 30 students were seated on wooden chairs in the lawn, looking around with smiles on their faces. As for the rest, they all seemed to be sons and daughters of rich merchants.
Daneel seemed to be the last into the class, as there was only one remaining chair at the very end. Getting seated, he turned to talk to the commoner beside him, but was met with a grunt after which the kid completely ignored him.
Feeling some one's gaze on him, he turned around to see Laravel staring at him with a smirk on his face.
So this was his doing, thought Daneel. Just as he was wondering why this kid was playing such a childish trick, the familiar blue robed man appeared in front of them.
"Welcome to your first day in the academy!", he said with a jovial smile on his face.
"My name is Henry and I will be your general element teacher for the rest of your stay at the academy. My goal is to expose you to as many elements as possible to let you find out the element that you are most comfortable with. That element will be the one you will focus on, and the one that you will be most adept with."
With this introduction started Daneel's first year in the academy. The first class was spent detailing how elements worked, namely exactly what he had seen in the comprehension test. Although most of them had seen it for themselves, it still had to be explained so that they could confirm it in their minds.
In the evening, Daneel found out that the little prince had ordered everyone in the Academy to stay away from him. Faxul told him this before being the same with him as he always was, making Daneel feel happy that he had a friend he could depend on.
He couldn't care less if he didn't make more friends, because his main objective was to gain knowledge and power. With this in mind, he set a strict schedule for himself which he would adhere to no matter what.
In the morning, classes would be held where various teachers would demonstrate and guide them on feeling different elements. The goal of a mage was to gain control by making a connection using their pineal gland with the elementary particles in the outside world to achieve the desired effect.
On the second day of classes, they had a potential test. This in itself demonstrated how much more important comprehension was compared to potential.
This was when Daneel found out that mages could improve potential by advancing in levels, although the effect was slow. The Royal Family was said to possess a secret technique which would hasten this process, but again, it came with certain side effects.
According to the system, the decalcification level of the pineal gland corresponded to potential and the size corresponded to comprehension. Daneel was surprised to know that he had an high grade pineal gland already before he used the Mageroot Development Technique, but it had been completely calcified.
The prince had scored a top-grade potential and he had been hoping that Daneel would have trash potential, although he knew that such a disparity between potential and comprehension was impossible. Justifiably so, Daneel scored a high-grade potential, as his pineal gland had only undergone 2 months of decalcification.
The prince gnashed his teeth seeing this, but it seemed the court mage was right. He did not try to spar him or harm him in any way. The childish trick he had done before now seemed suspicious to Daneel as he remembered from the court mage's words that the little prince was actually shrewd. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it now.
After the morning of classes, students would spend time in an Energised Training Chamber, because such an environment made it easier to notice and interact with the elementary particles.
Afterwards, students could do whatever they wish. Typically, many went into the woods or to other locations to spend more time meditating on forming a connection.
For Daneel, it was the time to gather knowledge. The academy had the largest library he had ever seen in his life, containing over 100,000 books. Thankfully, it also had podiums like the town library for easy access.
Day by day, he spent the time from evening to night gathering as much information as he could. Due to his proximity to many mages, the system output spells almost everyday. Yet, Daneel had tough choices to make as he could not develop and use everything.
He needed to figure out his fighting style and his focus for the future. He did not want to ever be in a situation like before when someone had to save him from certain death.
As the information and techniques accumulated, Daneel slowly started making the plan. His day now also included practice sessions in the woods, where no one knew exactly what it was he was practicing.
In such a way, the first year at the academy breezed by. There were very few holidays, and Daneel had spent them relaxing with his family who were happier than ever.
Finally, it was time for the year end assessment and main element selection.
Although there had been no fighting classes in the first year, the first test was actually a spar. This was to see how students would fight on their own without training using instinct. Of course, those who could hire private instructors were at an advantage. Yet, most seldom did as they did not want one's path to be constricted to a specific training at such an early level.
Daneel had almost been forgotten by most despite having pseudo-legendary talent. He had just been lost in his schedule, growing day by day.
Now, it was finally time to remind them of his existence.