"In our Fire Dragon Royal City, there are more than seventy academies in total!"
Walking along the fragrant avenue paved with gray crystal stones, Captain Hades spoke with great enthusiasm, sharing everything he knew about the academies. "Among them, there are only three magic academies: Fire Dragon Magic Academy, Douglas Magic Academy, and Dragonfolk Magic Academy. All the rest are warrior academies!"
"Only three magic academies? That's so few?" Joanna and the other two looked surprised.
"Cultivating magic requires talent," Captain Hades explained with a smile. "People with magic talent are one in ten thousand. That's why there aren't many magic academies."
Hearing this, Joanna, Joseph, and Andrew immediately became anxious. One in ten thousand? Were they the lucky ones among ten thousand?
"Captain Hades, is there any difference between these three magic academies?" Meng Lei asked.
"People have their ranks, trees have their sizes—magic academies are naturally divided into different grades as well. Take the three magic academies in our Fire Dragon Royal City, for example."
Captain Hades smiled as he continued his explanation. He was certain that Meng Lei possessed magic talent and would definitely enter a magic academy. The key question was which one he would choose.
So it was worth explaining everything clearly.
"Fire Dragon Magic Academy is the best of the three. It is the official magic academy established in the name of our Fire Dragon Kingdom—a national magic academy!
With official backing, Fire Dragon Magic Academy has exceptionally strong faculty, complete facilities, and the best cultivation resources. The mages it produces are the most outstanding.
Therefore, Fire Dragon Magic Academy is unquestionably the number one magic academy in our Fire Dragon Kingdom!"
At this point, Captain Hades gave Meng Lei a meaningful look. "Naturally, Fire Dragon Magic Academy is also the first choice for those magic geniuses with exceptional talent!
Whether sub-dragon or human, as long as their talent is outstanding and they meet the requirements, they are qualified to study at Fire Dragon Magic Academy. In this regard, we humans and dragonfolk are equal!"
"I see!" Meng Lei nodded silently, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
"By comparison, the other two magic academies are slightly inferior," Captain Hades continued. "Dragonfolk Magic Academy mainly serves dragonfolk with average magic talent, though it also accepts some human noble children with ordinary talent. Douglas Magic Academy, on the other hand, primarily recruits human commoners with average magic talent. It's essentially a commoner academy!"
Fire Dragon Magic Academy!
Dragonfolk Magic Academy!
Douglas Magic Academy!
"I didn't expect that even in this other world, there would be elite schools and ordinary schools," Meng Lei thought, shaking his head slightly as he kept walking. The three magic academies were exactly like that—key schools versus regular ones!
The number of pedestrians on the road gradually increased. Most were groups of two elders and one child, or entire families. Almost everyone looked nervous and uneasy, clearly here for the magic test as well.
Meng Lei's group followed the crowd and soon arrived at the testing site—Dragon God Square!
Dragon God Square was a massive plaza large enough to hold several football fields. In the center stood a hundred-meter-tall golden dragon statue!
Its golden scales looked lifelike!
Its wings spread wide, blocking out the sky and sun!
Its mouth was wide open in a heaven-shaking roar!
Its sharp dragon horns pierced the vault of heaven!
An overwhelming aura of domineering majesty rushed toward them. Even from far away, one could feel it, making people instinctively want to submit and leaving no room for any thought of resistance!
"Praise the Dragon God!"
Upon seeing the golden dragon statue, Captain Hades placed both hands over his chest, bowed deeply, and prayed reverently. Meng Lei and the three children stared in shock.
"Uncle Hades, what are you doing?" the lively Joanna asked the question that was on all their minds.
Captain Hades jumped in fright and quickly covered her mouth. He glanced left and right to make sure no one had noticed, then breathed a sigh of relief and whispered urgently, "That is the statue of the great Dragon God. Everyone must pay respects when they see it! Hurry, all four of you—bow to the Dragon God right now!"
Dragon God statue?
Pay respects upon seeing it?
Only then did Meng Lei notice that not only Captain Hades, but every single person around them was also piously bowing to the statue. No one was exempt.
"Dragon God?" Meng Lei frowned.
"The Dragon God is the founding emperor of our Dragon God Empire and our one and only faith!" Captain Hades explained in a low voice. "Every citizen of the empire must worship the great Dragon God. Anyone who refuses is a heretic. If you don't want to end up on the execution rack, bow immediately!"
"Holy crap!" Meng Lei was startled. He quickly mimicked the gesture and bowed. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. He was still weak right now; better to follow their rules for the time being!
"Praise the Dragon God!"
Joanna, Joseph, and Andrew also bowed respectfully.
"Very good!" Captain Hades breathed a sigh of relief, then pointed ahead. "That's where the magic tests are being held. Let's hurry over!"
"Okay!"
Dragon God Square was packed with people. There were many finely dressed nobles, but there were also plenty of commoners in coarse linen clothes. What caught Meng Lei's attention the most, however, were… the sub-dragons!
Sub-dragons were divided into dragon beasts and dragonfolk.
Dragon beasts were descendants of giant dragons and magic beasts. Their appearances were almost identical to the wild magic beasts outside—there were dragon wolves that looked like giant wolves, dragon rhinos that resembled rhinoceroses, earth dragons that looked like crocodiles…
They came in all shapes and varieties.
If such strange beasts appeared in the Magic Beast Forest, they would definitely be targets for hunting. But here, the dragon beasts were decked out in gold and silver, wearing luxurious clothes, strutting about openly!
Not only did no one dare to hunt them, people actually had to step aside and make way, terrified of offending them!
Because everyone knew that these ferocious-looking dragon beasts all had powerful backgrounds. They might be the sons of marquises, nephews of dukes, or nobles themselves. Who would dare provoke them?
"Dressed-up monkeys—humans are truly inferior to beasts!"
Meng Lei watched the domineering dragon beasts swagger past and sighed inwardly. In the vast lands of the Dragon God Empire, humans were vassals, slaves. Dragons… were the true masters!
Therefore, even the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs related to giant dragons had become masters. Not only could they kill without consequence, they also enjoyed all kinds of privileges. If anyone collided with them and got killed, they would have died for nothing!
Of course, while there were quite a few dragon beasts, even more numerous were the dragonfolk.
Eighty percent of the nobles in the Dragon God Empire were dragonfolk, and their descendants were also dragonfolk. This resulted in an extremely large number of dragonfolk attending the magic test!
Some had two horns on their heads!
Some had a pair of wings on their backs!
Some had dragon tails growing from their lower bodies!
Some had scales covering their bodies!
They all displayed obvious dragon-race features!
"Meng Lei, don't stare at the dragonfolk like that—it's very rude!" Captain Hades patted Meng Lei on the shoulder and whispered a warning. "If you anger someone with a bad temper, they could slap you dead with one claw, and there'd be nowhere to seek justice!"
"Uh? Got it!" Meng Lei nodded. Suddenly he pointed at some dragonfolk wearing coarse linen clothes. "Captain Hades, aren't dragonfolk supposed to be nobles? Why are those ones dressed like commoners? Are they fallen nobles?"
Birds of a feather flock together.
There were many people in the square, gathered in small groups chatting, but they were roughly divided into four circles: the circle of lavishly dressed human nobles, the circle of magic-beast-like dragon beasts, the circle of dragonfolk nobles, and the circle of human commoners!
This was easy to tell from their clothing and appearance—it was especially obvious. But what puzzled Meng Lei was that, besides these four groups, there was one special group!
They were all dragonfolk, yet they wore coarse linen clothes just like human commoners. Were these the commoner dragonfolk?