Mist Empire’s Rise: Fake Noble to Fog Queen

Half an hour into the big cleanup, the students finally understood why the academy had closed its gates.

Students with high wind magic affinity used gusts to gather fallen leaves into piles, while those attuned to fire magic summoned fire dragons to ignite them.

With a "BOOM," long tongues of flame shot up from the leaf piles. Before the wind magic could settle, burning leaves were swept into the sky.

Countless flame butterflies descended from above, spiraling past their noses.

Whoosh! The flames caught a student's hem, then another's hair.

"Ouch! My sleeve!"

"Quick, pat out the fire on my back!"

"Ahhh, my eyebrows!"

"Where's the water? Someone cast Water Dragon!"

"Can someone give me a water ball? My water affinity is too low to cast one..."

Whoosh! Flaming petals continued falling onto students' skirts. Fire spread everywhere across the square, with running students spreading flames to each other.

Swirling ashes blurred their vision, with burnt leaf particles floating like goose feathers in a snowstorm.

"Kiyeroliphisiye!"

Students frantically cast water ball spells, throwing fist-sized water spheres like sandbags. Water splashed high across the square.

Fire and water intertwined throughout the plaza as junior magic apprentices composed a passionate battle song with their screams.

"Ah! Who was that?"

"You jerk, you blew all the flames my way!"

"Fine, if you're blowing, I'm blowing too!"

"Damn it, if that's how you want to play, I'm throwing manure water!"

"Please stop throwing water balls! The manure water got in my eyes!"

"Ugh, don't open your mouth!"

"Throw more, throw more! I need a rinse - I just rolled in manure to put out the fire!"

Some students who couldn't conjure large water balls cleverly used wind magic to blow flames elsewhere, affecting everyone around them.

What started as an accident turned into a manure water fight that wouldn't die down as students sought revenge.

Some were burned bald, others lost their clothes, and some fell face-first into horse manure.

The enraged launched indiscriminate attacks, while those caught in the crossfire joined the chaos.

Even Luo Wei, who had pulled Jane behind a tree outside the square, couldn't escape being hit by a water ball from afar.

Jane's carefully styled curls were now wet and plastered to her face in stringy clumps.

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She wiped her face, discovering her gold powder eyeshadow had smeared completely, and let out a sky-shattering roar.

"I'll kill you!"

She charged at the boy who threw the water ball, with Luo Wei unable to hold her back, ripping off her sleeve with a "rip!"

On the chapel's east side, intermediate and advanced magic students crowded the windows to watch the spectacle.

"Tsk tsk, this is much more entertaining than our year!"

"Whose idea was the manure? Poor choice. We used live maggots in our year."

"Come on, maggots are hard to raise in winter and waste academy resources. Don't you think manure is entertaining enough?"

"It's entertaining, but the smell... it's making me queasy."

"It is gross. Poor things, fighting like that. Hope no one gets hurt."

"We all went through this. They're young, a few injuries won't hurt."

"Haha, I remember you got your leg broken last year after stuffing maggots in someone's mouth."

"Well, they blew maggots down my collar!"

...

The chaos lasted for an hour and a half until everyone was too exhausted to continue.

Students collapsed onto the ground, too tired to care about the filth, panting as if they'd just run fifty miles.

As they stopped moving, evaporating sweat drew heat from their bodies. The wind blowing through their burnt, hole-riddled robes made them shiver.

The cold awakened their senses, and looking at the filthy square, everyone fell silent.

With no magic power left and no tools, they'd have to clean with their bare hands now.

This battle had no winners.

However, while most students were covered in dirt and injuries, some clever ones had hidden until now, emerging from their corners.

Luo Wei was one of them.

The square had been too chaotic for cleaning, so she'd chosen to stay safe.

As soon as flames started falling, she'd given herself a water ball shower, preventing any flames from catching.

Apart from slightly dirty and wet clothes, she hadn't even been hit by manure water.

Fortunately, her foresight had led her to hide early.

When most students were exhausted, Luo Wei and others who had conserved their strength stepped forward to quickly clear the manure water and ashes with magic.

Sometimes, fewer people were more efficient than many - too many just caused chaos.

Cleaning the square didn't require many people. The flat, wide plaza didn't need precise magic control, making it actually good practice for junior magic apprentices.

As Luo Wei used wind magic to push away the dirty water, she observed the other students working alongside her.

Those still standing were either very clever or magically talented - all worth befriending.

While observing, she suddenly felt a cold gaze from the side.

Turning her head, she saw Axina's envious face.

Envy?

What was she envious of?

Caught staring, Axina looked away and gripped her magic wand, walking to the other end of the square.

"Luo Wei, let me help!"

An arm linked with hers as Jane pressed close, waving her magic wand: "Latawussuolaqi..."

After chanting a long spell, Jane produced a gentle breeze.

Her magical talent wasn't strong, with fairly even affinity across all five elements.

"Well done, Jane!" Luo Wei encouraged.

Another half hour passed before the ground was finally clean, and Professor Moses returned to the square on horseback.

She surveyed the area with furrowed brows: "Assembly!"

The exhausted students crawled up from the ground and wobbled into formation before her.

Professor Moses pulled out a piece of parchment from behind her back and said sternly: "Your entrance exam took over three hours to complete. I hadn't expected your magic to be this abysmal."

"What? Entrance exam?!"

Everyone was shocked - the professor hadn't said this was an entrance exam, wasn't this just cleaning?

Professor Moses continued without explanation, looking down at the parchment: "Those whose names I call failed and will retake the exam in seven days."

"Jack, Ruth, Bob, Caroli..."

While they were cleaning, the junior division professors had been watching their every move from the chapel roof.

They saw clearly how many spells each student cast and what they did.

The failing students were mostly those who barely used magic but were quite enthusiastic about causing trouble.

The big cleanup was indeed cleaning, but it was also the professors' way of testing whether students had practiced magic during their break.

It seemed the junior students had enjoyed their holiday too much, perhaps forgetting they were still magic academy students.

"Headmaster Morrison, which new students do you think would be suitable for our academy's arena competition this year?" Professor Pence asked on the chapel roof.

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