Magic, Mechanics, Shuraba Vol 1 Chapter 2

Volume 1 Chapter 2 – Pa.s.sed and Pa.s.sed by Default

Inside the cla.s.sroom, more than 40 students held books in their hands, and recited a poem about divine myth in unison.

“…… Overconfident, arrogant, ignorant, savage —— That was how the sacred beings used to regard humans. However, nowadays, humans are mocking the G.o.ds instead.

This was because humans are still living in this world while the divine beings have all disappeared without a trace. They might have been killed, sealed or exiled —— All of these possibilities might have been caused by humans.

The magic the divine beings were so proud of became the weapon of retaliation used by human beings. They captured h.e.l.l and broke into heaven. Humans were the victors of the battle, and thus became the controllers of this world.

During the time after human’s victory, angels and demons slowly became a part of the human world. The world that was split in three gradually became one, and everything was progressing in the best direction possible……”

As described in the epic, humanity obtained victory in a battle against the divine beings. The powerful angels and demons mostly became a part of history while the rest that remained looked to humans as masters, surrendered, and became a part of the human society, in order to continue to live in this world.

Mankind were indeed the victors. However, was everything progressing in the best way? That might not be true, at least to Ouyang Tao, who thought it was worth suspecting —— everyday on newspapers, at least one third of the articles talked about conflicts in different places all around the world. How could such a situation be described as the “ideal progress”.

Obviously, the end of the mythical era did not signify the end of conflict. Instead, the lack of a higher ent.i.ty caused the conflicts of humanity to become more chaotic —— of course, Ouyang Tao knew such things were none of his concern. However he sometimes thought about it and felt sad.

Clang, clang, clang…… The school bell suddenly rang. Since lessons had only just started, this was certainly not the end of cla.s.s, but was…

“Stop, everyone stand up and proceed to gather at the field.” The teacher instructed after hearing the bell. The students immediately closed their books, stood up, and proceeded to leave the cla.s.sroom in an orderly fas.h.i.+on —— this was the school’s emergency gathering bell.

The emergency gathering bell was not used often. Only when something significant happened or during an emergency will it be activated. Hearing the bell during lessons was also very rare, but it signified that something big had happened. Soon, more than two hundred students gathered in front of the podium at the field.

The princ.i.p.al now stood on top of the podium. Different from usual, beside the princ.i.p.al stood a well dressed amba.s.sador. Everyone immediately understood the situation —— sending a dedicated amba.s.sador to deliver the admission letter signified that it was from Augustus Academy as only they still hold on to such a tradition. In other words, someone from this seaside village’s magic school had been recruited by the nation’s top academy.

“Dear students, this is an event to be remembered! Because today, someone amongst you, managed to get into Augustus Academy based off your own merit……” The princ.i.p.al, who was on the podium, already started his long speech. He spoke with excitement and joy between his lines because someone from this inconspicuous school managed to get into Augustus. This was like a phoenix flying out of a chicken coop.

That was fast! It was only last month that I went to the city to take the examinations, I never expected it would be so fast, Ouyang Xue thought. This caused her to be unexpectedly surprised as her heartbeat began to accelerate.

Ouyang Xue was the only person in the entire school who took the examination, so there was no doubt that she was the one that was recruited. Even though the amba.s.sador had not announced the results yet, everyone around Ouyang Xue was giving her signs of admiration and congratulations. The young girl in turn also became more excited.

“Next, the amba.s.sador will announce the letter of admission!” As he ended his long speech, it was finally the main event. The amba.s.sador walked up the podium and opened the envelope containing the letter of admission. He removed the text and read aloud: “Seaside Magic School third year elementary magician Ouyang Xue, ranked number six hundred and forty four in our elemental skills exam and has be granted admission into the Elemental Department of the school. She is to report to our school on the 30th of August. You are hereby notified.”

After the amba.s.sador finished reading, Ouyang Xue hurriedly walked up the stage. Below, everyone was cheering and clapping. There were even shouts of “congratulations big sister!” and the like.

Ouyang Xue used her slightly trembling hands to accept the letter of admission from the hands of the amba.s.sador. She held it with great care, as if she would break it if she didn’t, and repeatedly confirmed the contents of the letter. She was over the moon and extremely excited. To her, this was undoubtedly a major turning point in her life.

After her graduation, she would no longer be fishermen like her parents, and have to earn a meagre income through a tough job like fis.h.i.+ng. She would enter a completely different line of career, and her future was bright. How could she not be agitated? Tears of joy filled her eyes.

However, the announcement was not over yet. The amba.s.sador teared open a second letter, and continued to announce: “Seaside Magic School third year trainee student Ouyang Tao, performed outstandingly in our school’s mechanical engineering examinations and has been granted admission to the Mechanical Engineering Department of our school. He is to report on the 30th of August. You are hereby notified.”

“Ouyang Tao? Muscle Blockhead?!
“Ehhhhh? What’s going on?”
“Muscle Blockhead has actually been admitted to Augustus Academy, how is this possible?

This was clearly different from Ouyang Xue’s situation, this news caused a commotion among the students below. Everyone began to discuss about it, unable to believe the news. Not just students, even the teachers found this news unbelievable. They looked at Ouyang Tao with a face of surprised shock.

This was not surprising; how could a lad who could not even conjure up a fireball be admitted to the most prestigious magic school in the country?

The person in question, Ouyang Tao, did not seem like he was going to explain anything and just walked on stage as he smiled widely. As he received the letter of admission from the amba.s.sador, he laughed: “Hehe, I actually got in.”

Ouyang Xue was even more at a complete loss. She rigidly turned towards Ouyang Tao: “Bro…… Bro you…… You…. When did you…..”

“When I followed you to the examination, I secretly signed up, hehe.” Ouyang Tao continued to laugh, as if it was a joke shared between the siblings.

“Then why didn’t you tell me beforehand!”

“Uhhh… About this, it’s because I’m different from you, and I wasn’t entirely confident that I would pa.s.s. Lets say I told you beforehand but didn’t get in, wouldn’t it be very embarra.s.sing? Hehe.”

“But….. But……” Ouyang Xue took a few deep breaths, and continuously reminded herself to calm down. This was a good thing, she should be happy for her brother; but suddenly, she felt that something wasn’t right. “Wait, why would a magic academy have such a weird major like Mechanical Engineering?”

Not only Ouyang Xue, even Ouyang Tao himself found that to be strange. Why would the top magic academy have mechanical engineering as a major, when it was completely unrelated to magic? “Uhhh….. But there is, and I even got accepted into it.”

“But it’s still so weird!”

“Aiya, lets not care about such details.”

“Furthermore, why does your admission letter not have your admission ranking?”

“About that….. That’s probably because I’m the only one who went for the exam? Hehe….” That phrase from Ouyang Tao seemed like he divulged a “truth”.

Only one person partic.i.p.ated in the examination, so getting admitted was no surprise. The sounds of booing came from below the stage.

“Tch, what? He was actually just lucky.”
“Next year I’m going to go for this too!”
“Seems like fortune does in fact, favor the foolish.”

“The admission notice has already been delivered. The other details are inside the letter. Congratulations the two of you.” After finis.h.i.+ng his mission, the amba.s.sador shook hands with the siblings before leaving. However, to this Seaside Magic School, or rather to the whole village, the celebration has barely started.”

The princ.i.p.al immediately ordered the news to be spread. After a few words of joy and congratulations, he announced that the whole school shall commemorate this day and even gave them a three day vacation.

After that, Ouyang Xue was suppose to address the school with a speech, but at that time, Ouyang Xue’s originally happy expression was suddenly hidden behind a thick mask of shadow.

“Ouyang Xue, can you please share some of your thoughts with us? Ouyang Xue?”

“Hmm? Ahhhh! What?” The princ.i.p.al shouted for a few times before Ouyang Xue regained her senses. At this time, her face changed, and completely lost her previous glow. However, everybody present had not realized it yet.

“Please share your thoughts.”

“Ohh, I…… That…… I……” Ouyang Xue walked up the podium and stuttered, unable to complete a sentence. Everyone thought she was too excited, so therefore, they continued to give her their undivided attention as they awaited her speech.

“Wahhhhhhhhhh…” Ouyang Xue cried out before turning around, her hands clutching her face, and quickly ran off. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

Seeing the situation, Ouyang Tao tried to salvage the situation: “Ahhh… Everyone, my apologies, it appears my sister might have been too happy, shall I say a few words in her place?”

“If it’s the Muscle Blockhead, forget it.”
“Why are you still foolishly standing there!”
“That’s right, hurry up and go find big sister!”

The students att.i.tude could easily be understood. Ouyang Tao continued smiling, and asked the princ.i.p.al: “That…… Princ.i.p.al, you see…….”

The princ.i.p.al was also very understanding: “Go quickly, don’t get into trouble.”

“Ah, thank you.” As he was saying that, Ouyang Tao turned around towards the direction his sister ran off in and gave chase.

Ouyang Tao was naturally aware of the reason why Ouyang Xue’s att.i.tude had underwent such a huge change.