Ch31.My last option.

After saying that, they lost any interest that they had in me and just kicked me out, not bothering to listen to my explanation at all. They were even rude about it, shouting at me for wasting their time, going so far as to saying that If I cant even create a Rune, I would never be able to perform magic and therefore I was destined to become a failure. After kicking me out, telling me to give up on the pursuit of magic. I looked around and all the others waiting in line started smirking and laughing at me, as it is very rare that an Academy never act like that.

I just looked around at everyone laughing at me and shrugged it off, 'I figured this would happen, but that doesn't mean I will give up.' After that I went off to try my other options, unfortunately by the end of the day, I have been rejected by all of my top choices. As the day came to an end, I stopped looking for someone that would accept me and I returned to my house in dejection.

Arriving at the house with my head down looking angry and depressed, the gang members didn't dare to disturb me, moving out of my way while I made my way straight to my room and lay down on my bed. 'What the fuck is so great about being able to externalize Runes!!? I can become just as strong as them, using my body alone! Just wait, one day I will show those fuckers just how stupid they were for rejecting me like that!' After that, I went to sleep and vowed to find an academy that would accept me in the morning.

For the next few days, I have been running from tent to tent like a madman, trying to find at least one that would accept me. At this point I don't really care where I go, I just want to get into one! People started to recognize me as the crazy big kid that was rejected by everyone, at the end of my fifth day, the academies turned me away before I even entered the tent, not even bothering to test me. I almost lost control a few times, I want to fuck up those examiners so bad!! Unfortunately they are all circle mages and would probably kill me if I tried.

By the end of the week I was honestly close to giving up, that was when I was approached by a mage in a plain grey robe. He had super long sideburns that hung down below his waist and he had a certain air around him that just screamed outcast. He approached me as I was walking away from a tent after being rejected yet again, he then said "You know that there is probably one academy that will accept you, it's just … they aren't exactly your typical Academy...".

After hearing that I was ecstatic, I quickly grabbed him by the shoulder and asked him "What? Where? Tell me now please!!" He just looked at me amusingly and said while walking away "Follow me." I didn't hesitate for even a second and followed after him.

He led me past the areas where all the tents were and all the way to a corner of the City, that is where I saw it. A large castle-like building that was old and broken down, it had a sign at the front gate that read 'Swernoot Academy'. The guy then stopped in front of the gate, sighed and looked at me saying "This used to be a great academy, we were one of the best academies in the country, we were the ones who built this city up into becoming an Academy City…. That was where things went terribly wrong, as soon as other academies started to send their representatives to this city, most of the talent that used to join our academy was stolen away. Over the next few generations we started to become more and more desolate, until it eventually turned out like this..." After saying that he pointed towards the broken down Castle that still has remnants of its past magnificence.

After saying that, he proceeds, "We aren't even ranked in the top 100 best Academies anymore, Instead we are part of the worst 100 Academies and even in that we are ranked 39th… Sigh we used to be a strong 5 Star academy, now we just barely qualify as a 1 star Academy, how times have changed. Anyway I am the Dean of this academy and in order to keep this place running I have to constantly scout all applicants who can't get into the other academies, there is no test to join us, you just need to prove that you can use magic, in whatever form you want."

After saying that he crossed his arms in front of his body and waited for my response, I was a bit shocked at his explanation. 'this isn't the cliché where I join a previously great academy and make it become great again? Naah fuck that shit, why would I want to do that, besides it will probably be impossible as long as other academies keep stealing all the local talent.'

After preparing myself I contemplated a bit before looking around and found some shade next to the castle. I then walked up to it before activating my shadow space, entering it for a couple seconds and exiting it again. The Dean just nodded and said "Good, you are now part of the academy, you can just call me Dean." he then threw me a key to enter the gate and while walking away saying, "You can use that key to enter the academy at any time, come back at the end of the month for the opening ceremony, I am going to try find some more rejects haaaaa...".

After looking round a bit more, I decided not to enter right now and walk back to my home to prepare. Since it looks like I will be living in this city now, there is a lot that I will need to prepare for.

After arriving at my house the gangsters were nervously watching me, that is when I grinned widely and shouted "Good news boys, it looks like I will be staying in academy City much longer since I just got accepted into Swernoot Academy!!! LETS GET WASTED!!! YEEEAAAAAAH!!!"

The gangsters looked at each other before bursting into cheers, running into the back to grab some bottles of vodka, wines and rum. I then brought out a few beer kegs from my shadow space and we drank and partied until the following day.

After the party I called Birdhead over, handed him a bag of gold coins along with a piece of paper with some designs on it and said, "Listen here Birdhead, there is around 200 Gold in here, take this money and use it to fix up this house, after that I want you to find a tailor that is capable of make the clothes depicted in this drawing. Since I will be living here now, I want every member of our gang to look the part, they will now be required to always wear these suits when out in public. If there is anything left over you can use it to give everyone a little bonus, since you guys work I will start to pay those who do their job correctly."

"I will explain to you what your jobs are at a later stage, all you need to know for now is that those who stay with me will prosper and those who go against me will simply disappear. You are now officially my lackey, when I am not here or at the academy, it is going to be your responsibility to take charge of everyone. Now go and sort my requests out, I want everything to be done in a week."