by Chris Vines
I grabbed a plate and looked at the food. A meat that I didn’t recognize was covered in a red sauce, a helping of vegetables, and a roll completed my meal. I looked around, and Lo Ming waved at me. I walked over; Jon followed behind me, and sat down. “Greetings, I am Lo Ming, heir to the Lo clan, and I’m sure you know my younger brother’s name, Lo Xiao, after his entrance today. I heard you say you were Kupiec Aiden. You are?” He turned to Jon.
“Noptep Jonathan, though I prefer Jon. Um, I have a High Air Affinity, six eighteen talent.” Why is he introducing himself that way? I thought, but I didn’t ask so I didn’t embarrass him.
“Welcome Jon. It seems this is the year for high talents. Dig in; this is Beast meat from an Elemental Boar. Have you had anything like this before?” We shook our heads and started to eat. The meat was amazing, easily the best thing I’d ever eaten. As I ate it, I could feel minuscule amounts of Aether flow through my stomach into my veins. Holy moly!
“Whoa, this meat is increasing my Aether. I didn’t know that was possible!” I exclaimed.
At the weird look this gained me from Ming, Jon explained “Aiden got really sick near the beginning of the year, such that he nearly died and as a consequence lost all his memories. He’s been learning everything since he woke up a couple of months ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You have done remarkably well for yourself if you’ve only been gathering for a few months. I can sense you are nearing the low Haze level, which is very good. Though you should hold off on breaking through until you have had a few classes here. I’ve been told that the first few lessons are to correct mistakes and improve the quality of Aether absorbed by us before we get too high up the levels. If you don’t have better than a tier one rune, that is.”
“Thank you for the advice. I guess I’ll hold off. If I may ask, what level are you at?”
“I am in the Haze level myself, hence why I can sense your level. You’ll begin to develop the ability to sense others’ Aether level starting at the Haze level or earlier if you have a meridian easily openable that passes through your eyes. While they teach us nobles many things in our households that you will not learn, we don’t have much more time to absorb or grow before our testing. Most Clans in the city like to send their heirs and seconds here, to gather contacts and grow the Clans knowledge because the Academy tends to accumulate more gathering methods, Channeling skills, and other bits of knowledge than them. Also, a word of advice to both of you, don’t tie yourselves too closely to any one clan, not until you get stronger. At the present moment, any agreement you made would be detrimental to your future growth.”
“Why would you advise us that? Don’t you want us to ally with your clan, and gain them power?” I ask.
“I do, and that is why I am giving you advice that is best for you. When you grow strong, you will remember that I helped you out here, and feel more favorable towards me. If I tried to bribe you or strong-arm you, eventually you would figure it out. When that happened, you would fight back and leave. I’d rather start our relationship off on the right track, don’t you think?”
“Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. So I should try and make friends with as many of the Clans, large and small, as I can. Though I doubt I’ll be able to make friends with the Haodha’s, unless I can go around Nicky.”
“Nicky? Ah, Nicolai. He will throw a fit if he hears you calling him Nicky. Why would you have to go around him?” Xiao asks, speaking up for the first time. I realize that he had been glaring at me, though for the life of me I had no idea why.
“I ran into Nicky” I said, emphasizing Nicky, “a couple of days ago and told him off to his face. That as…jerk was whipping a serving girl because she accidentally bumped into him. I put a stop to it, taking his whip away, and called him a coward in the center of the market square. I doubt he’ll let that slide forever.” I finished with a shake of my head. “Shame though, his sister seemed to not care for him too much. Maybe the rest of the family is better off.”
“Ah, so you were that person. He’s been raving about that for the last two days. Especially as you stole his favorite whip. That weapon is Inscribed; you could probably sell it for one or two gold if you didn’t want to keep it. Though the way he tells it, he was defending himself from a thief when you barged in and stole his toy.” Ming laughed as he finished that thought. “Though I’ve heard his cousin, not sister, is almost as bad as he is, though harder to set off. If you can get on her good side, she might stand aside and not assist her cousin against you. Not likely though, so I’d be wary of them both.” As he stopped talking, an older man walked into the dining area.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Welcome all of you, who are joining us today. You are the future of our city and Kingdom, and will be the shield against the Elemental Beast hordes, Toprak raiders, or Illyrian slavers. You all have great potential, and we will drag it out of you, fighting and yelling if we have to. I am Counselor Might, and it is my job to whip you into shape and teach you the basics of fighting.” He then spent about fifteen minutes covering the procedures for the following week and a basic set of rules. An older student came running in as he was doing so and signaled to him.
“There are more rules in the packets, make sure to go over them. The introductory stations have been set up outside, and you need to get up and head out to the square. Go to the First Station and follow instructions from there. I look forward to teaching you all and seeing what you will achieve.” With that, he turned around in an about-face maneuver and walked off. Most everyone else had finished eating, so Jon and I scrambled to stuff our faces while Ming and Xiao bid farewell and headed out the door.
After quickly finishing, we both got up and brought our plates back to the counter. The chef behind looked at me, saying “You didn’t need to bring these back; we’ve got a cleaning crew that comes through.”
“It’s ok,” I replied, handing over the dish, “I grew up without anyone cleaning up after me, and I doubt I’ll break the habit anytime soon. Have a great day.” A look of surprise colored his face, and only after I had started walking away did I hear “You too” in response. Walking through the door, we saw a number of small tables set up, with piles of various items on them.
I was about to ask Jon if he knew where to start when I saw a big sign saying First Station, with a large number one circled next to it. “I guess we go there.” Jon said, pointing to that station. We headed over. An older student, maybe a third or fourth tier, was there handing out bags. He was wearing a tunic with blue piping around the edges, and I saw another person with red piping at a different table. Huh, must be tier markings? I thought.
When there were four of us, Jon, myself and two people I didn’t recognize, he explained, “Inside is a pamphlet of the rules of the Academy. If you can’t read, speak to Counselor Might over there,” he pointed. “Otherwise, go to the tables for each of your affinities and get a memory stone for the highest level you qualify for, then head to the uniforms table to be measured. Finally go to the lodging table, where you will be given your room number and key. Your rooms will have some basic materials and information about your class schedule in it. Now, here, and good luck.” He said, pushing four bags to the edge of the table.
“Memory stones?” I ask Jon, picking up the bag and glancing inside. Just a normal bag. I’d been hoping for a Bag of Holding or dimensional bag of some kind. Guess they are even rarer than I thought. Jon shrugged at me.
“A memory stone is a crystal that holds the memories of a Core Seed level Gatherer or higher. Only someone at that level can make the stones and store their memories. Everyone at the fourth tier or higher here is at least that level, and most of the Counselors have reached Complete Core. It’s rumored that Headmaster Glav is beyond even Perfect Core, though I have no idea what’s beyond,” the student manning the first table explained.
Jon looked over at me and said, “It’ll be fun to explore what is beyond that, don’t you think?” He and I laughed, excite
d by the thought. Hah, I did infect him with the grow stronger bug!
We both head over to the Air table, where they have a spread of stones laid out, with placards behind them numbered one to six. Jon asks, “How do we know which we are qualified for?”
The student looks up from his book and asks back, “What was your affinity?”
“High” Jon replied.
“Then you qualify for a five.”
“What about an Exceptional affinity? Also, who would get a tier one or two?” I ask.
“Exceptional can get up to a seven, but we only have a six. One’s and two’s are for people with low affinity who want to try and raise their affinity for some reason. They are mostly for Ice or Lightning Moderate’s or High’s who want to branch out. I don’t recommend it to start with, unless you only have one affinity. Then getting a second might be helpful.”
“Ok, thanks!” I say while I grab the level six stone. It was the last level six stone left; I guess they aren’t expecting many people above High affinity. At this point, Jon and I split up, quickly agreeing to meet after the lodging table. I head over to the Lightning table and see the same setup. They also have a single seven laid out, though that one had a small metal cage around it. “Can I have the seven?” I ask.
“What’s your name?” is the reply I get.
“Kupiec Aiden. I’m the Outstanding affinity in Lighting.”
“Then yes, it was reserved for you by Headmaster Glav. Be careful with that, it is probably worth more than your family would make in a year. Enjoy!” He said, before shooing me off. The Fire and Metal tables were similar to the Air table, where I grabbed a six, before grabbing a five from Earth. I was the only person to get more than three that I saw. I dumped all the stones in my bag, hoping that I could talk to someone about how to use them before I went home.
“Next stop, fitting. Why do I feel like I’m back in basic? All we’re missing is the older students yelling at us to move faster.” I muttered to myself, getting into line for fitting. This station was being run by an older woman, with two men working under her doing the measurements. In front of me was the young girl who had four affinities. I was about to say hi when my face flushed and I suddenly felt very shy. Great, puberty again, why! I grumbled to myself. Taking hold of my hormones, I said, “Hi, I’m Kupiec Aiden. What is your name?”
She shyly turned around, “I’m Naanva Jamila.” Once again, her beauty took my breath away. Stupid hormones. She had lightly tan skin, lustrous dark brown hair, and dazzling green eyes. She was just shorter than my six foot height. Wait, am I still six feet tall? I never tried to measure myself.
“How are you taking this? Suddenly finding out you have extreme talent?” I ask, trying to start a conversation. More friends, especially among the talented, would always be good. I am much too young in this body to be thinking of romance, stupid hormones. Even if people in older cultures would get married around my age.
“It is … overwhelming… in some ways. I have already been shown around by the Vice Headmaster, with promises to help get used to this. What about yourself? Are you another high talent from the non-Nobles?”
“Yeah,” I said, blushing again, “I’m really high too. I’m not sure what to think, though the appearance of a large number of high talents is surprising.” Looking around, there were probably forty or so other non-Noble high talents, making the total first tier population at fifty or sixty. “Looks like you’re up. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
“Me too,” she said as she turned to the station. The other measurer opened up then as well, so I stepped forward.
“Arms up, please.” He said, measuring my height from shoulder down, my neck size, my arm length, and leg length. Nothing too accurate, so I assumed the clothes would be the loose, flowing tunic and pants the older students were wearing. Something easy to move around in. After fitting, I headed over to get my room assignment.
“Kupiec Aiden,” I reply to the request for a name. He looks down through a list, tracing my name when he finds it, and digs through the key pile. He pulled out a key and hands it to me.
“You are in room 410, first building, enter there” he points to the main door, “go up the front set of stairs in the center to the fourth floor, and head right at the hallway at the top. You’ll be the last room on the left. Congrats, corner rooms are always sought after. The washing room is at the end of the hallway across from your room. Do not go left at the top of the stairs. The rooms to the left are for the young women. You will not like what happens if you try to go through that door.”
“Thank you,” I replied, taking the key and heading over to where I saw Jon standing. He was talking with another young man, who towered over my diminutive, in perspective at least, friend. “Hey Jon. Hi, I’m Kupiec Aiden.” I say to them.
“Travail Louis, nice to meet you,” rumbled the giant.
“You as well. I’m in room 410, how about you all?” Louis was in room 206 and Jon in 304. Apparently all the guys’ rooms were even numbers.
“Let’s head on up.” Jon said. We walked in, seeing a lounge area filling the center of the first floor, with two sets of stairs going just to the left of the center, one set a third of the way through the building, another two thirds. Straight ahead was another door out of the building, and to either side was a door marked either Men or Women, along with a picture of a man and woman respectively. We headed up the stairs, with Jon and Louis peeling off on their respective floors. The fourth floor lounge was really nice, with a variety of small couches and chairs laid around. I went through the male even door, finding myself in a long hallway, with three doors to either side and one at the end. The hallway was wide enough for three people to walk side by side and was covered in a richly patterned rug.
I opened the door to my room after unlocking it. Inside was a bed, a desk with a chair, a dresser, and a stand next to the bed. “This is more spacious than my dorm at USAFA was,” I mused. The bed was directly in front of the door, with the desk to the right of it, pressed against the far wall. Directly in front of the desk was a window that looked out over the Meditation Grotto and a window on the rightmost wall looked out over the pathway between dorms and the physical training fields. I walked over to the desk, pulling the chair out and sitting down.
“I wish I could say I was surprised by today.” I mused to myself. Unfortunately, I know something is coming. Some catastrophe or invasion or world ending event is going to happen. I don’t know why Darkness grabbed me to play a part when he could have used natives to this world. I’ll just have to do my best. After wallowing in my worrisome thoughts for a couple of minutes, I picked up the piece of paper on the desk.
Tomorrow is the first day of the week. Weeks here are eight days long, with each day corresponding to an element. The week starts with Earth day, and on Earth day all the new students will have Gathering Techniques, followed by meditation time, to be used to implement the gathering techniques you learned. After lunch is history and politics, followed by physical training. Dinner is followed by more meditation time. Looks like we are supposed to gather twice a day for a couple hours each time. Just about every day we had Gathering or Channeling Techniques in the morning and PT in the afternoon, with the class after lunch being the difference.
EARTH
WOOD
WATER
ICE
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
History
Beasts
Herbology
Alchemy
PT
PT
PT
PT
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
AIR
LIGHTNING
FIRE
METAL
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Gathering
Class
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
Meditation
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Black-
smithing
Inscription
Geography
Tactics
PT
PT
PT
PT
