Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

The academy had dedicated places, training grounds, practice areas, and even other special dedicated facilities for all the houses. 

One of these special facilities was an indoor joint training area where all of the house members could train or practice simultaneously.

'This place is pretty amazing. It's wonderful how those people had built these things thousands of years ago.'

A vast room with an open empty area, some equipment areas on the sides of the room, places dedicated to labs of indoor fields like alchemy and creation, storage rooms with all the recourses one could require during their training, and even some other common facilities found in the other parts of our house area.

'All of these house areas were situated in the inner part of the academy and ours is one of the eight present here.'

The inner part of the academy castle was divided into the places with the house facilities, the place we were in, the clubhouse areas for the different clubs existing in the academy, and the innermost part was dedicated to the sports activities, the academy competitions, and places were some of the most important things took place in this academy.

'The academy castle is a special structure so defining it by space and simple logical rules would be useless. But, putting it in simple terms, the academy castle is an awesome place~.'

We were inside our house's common training area, and everyone was following the things that were mentioned in the file I had given them, some of them were doing as they pleased and needed a piece of my heart, but overall, they were doing pretty well.

And, considering how we are the only house doing a group activity like this, their anxiety and worries are valid.

'Social loafing and ignorance of the direct orders of the vice-captain was something I had already expected however, these results are better than I had expected.'

The students were doing good, Zoe was encouraging them with her sweet words of support while taking care of all the familiars of the house and training them separately.

She was also helping out, so, things had become easier for me.

"So… vice captain Lucifer. What is the special training you mentioned yesterday? And, if we do the special training now, when will we be doing the regular one like everyone else? Or is it alright if we don't do it-"

"Oh no, no. The general training is compulsory. You will have to do it on your own after the special training until the end of the competition.

It is for your overall growth so we can't have you avoid it, and I have faith you will not neglect the regular training just because you will be receiving special training for the alchemy competition. 

You will do it on your own later, right? Dear friends?"

I smiled at my dear house members and they, well… 

'Ball had asked that previous question because he was genuinely curious however, the others who were able to learn the answer to this common question, were looking down with bitter smiles after looking at me 'warm' smile.

"Of course vice-captain. Don't worry about it one bit~. Everyone here knows you are merciful and wouldn't mind if we skip our training if there is a valid reason~."

Lady Mia spoke for the others since she knew the regular training schedules were something that varied depending on the individual so, it might become difficult for them after they were done with their training for the alchemy competition.

But she also did not give them any false hope.

As she had said…

"Of course, if there is a 'valid' reason, I will have no other choice but to accept the fact that it was inevitable. Not that my precious housemembers would ever feel the need to even try to deceive their vice president."

Their training for the alchemy competition would start from the basics and with the short span of three weeks, I had to teach them how to use their special abilities in the way that would produce the best results.

I knew it would be difficult, and when they looked at my warmer smile after I said that, the chills they got down their spines were also enough to tell them that it was difficult, but now there was no way they could back off from this whole situation.

"Alright then, everyone~. What do you all know about the processes of the alchemy competition and how it progresses?" I asked them the question after tapping on the large table before them, which was already covered with many alchemical equipment, materials, and things that shouldn't usually belong together with these things, like small caged creatures and bacterial and fungal spices.

"The competition itself?"

They all should have a little idea about the competition since they applied to be a part of it; however, even though I had asked them the question, no one other than Lady Mia seemed to be up to the task of answering that simple question.

"Yes. How does the competition progress."

The annual alchemy competition of the Principality was an important event and was famous all through the continent.

Many nations have actively taken part in it and since it was a free computation that anyone could join, its scale had been a great platform to showcase the abilities of all the participants.

It was one of the most prominent events of the year to see and meet some of the most famous figures of this world, and, also to witness the new rising stars of the world of alchemy.

East is considered a competitor of the West, and some famous alchemists made that platform a stage for their own internal competition, old elders and masters of the various fields also visited the Principality to feel the new winds of the present times.

'It was a fun experience for them, and, the way it took proceeded from start to finish was also a fun thing to watch all in itself as well.'

All fifteen of us looked at Lady Mia with a curious look and, though a little burdened by my gaze, she cleared her throat and confidently spoke up.

"The annual alchemy competition is a famous event that goes on for three days starting three days before the day of the full moon and ending on the evening of the last day.

During these three days, a competition of six distinct phases takes place, the first phase being the primary round where most of the people fail to identify and recreate the potion that was present by the lord of the land, or their close companion which takes place in the morning.

In the evening, the main qualifiers take place where the participants, whether it be individuals or the group that is participating, have to identify and analyze another batch of potions and write a detailed report of its use, the effects, and the method that was used to prepare it.

On the second day of the competition, the participants have to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating any of the alchemical products of their choice. And, whoever passes the two rounds on this day goes to the fifth round takes place on the third day.

This is the main stage where the most important part of the competition happens and the last remaining alchemists are asked to create the best thing they are capable of making.

For most of the years, this is considered the end of the competition however, the competition really comes to a conclusion in the evening after a unique segment of the competition where anyone from the audience or from the people who had not participated in the competition or were disqualified midway, could present before the others their skills and abilities that they could not in a normal competition format.

They are not participating in the competition so they would be relatively free to show off their skills, some impotent guests, masters, and grandmasters take up this special chance to showcase their skills, however, they are still considered part of this whole competition.

The winner of the competition is chosen from all six of these stages that take place. The judges present their own suggestions and the elder judge then declares the winner of the competition, the ones on the second to ninth place, and though rare, there are times when they choose a special candidate as the 'one above the winner' of that competition. Though, that happens very rarely. Perhaps only once a decade or something."

"Excellent explanation, Miss Mia."

She explained the whole process as properly as it could ever be. She even included the lesser talked about fact that there could exist someone who was above the winner of the competition as well. Someone who appeared like a (Midsummer rain) or a comet that only appears every few years in the night sky.

This was a pretty perfect explanation and thanks to it, all fifteen of them at least knew how the whole competition would progress.

"The first day, mainly the first-ever competition that happens to filter out those not professionally qualified to be there, is considered the most important one since you will not be participating as a group at that time.

You will have to achieve a passing grade on your own in that phase and, only after that will the remaining of you will be able to join as a group afterward.

It won't be too difficult of a task to get past the first round, however, it will not be anything less than a proper exam of our academy.

It will be difficult, so, to tackle that, we will have to make sure all of you pass the first round, and to do that, to increase your understanding of the potions and their creation materials, I have prepared a special gift for all of you~."

I took out a unique-looking magic tome from my storage space and placed it on the table before them, and though the other's did not have any great reaction to the thick attractive book, as soon as Miss Mia saw it a little closely, her eyes widened instantly…

"W-why do you have this thing?!"

And she shouted, loudly, so loudly that she attracted the attention of over two hundred people in the vicinity around us.