Forian tensed up. The mage didn’t like it when things happened without his knowledge, and he had neither given his students gifts nor wanted anyone else to. Actually, he’d had to go through a fairly unpleasant conversation with Valia’s father, who’d been looking to make his daughter’s life easier. But who could say no to the provost?
“The entire academy is abuzz with your gifts,” the dean continued. “The poor dean of the artifact department has gone sleepless the past month trying to understand the isolation cages. And as far as what the senior investigators are doing, I don’t even want to think about it — the lix shaman is singing like a soprano at the imperial theater. I’ve never seen Master Sadil looking so overjoyed. And it’s all thanks to you, children. You’re heroes.”
Tailyn and Valia smiled sheepishly — the praise was finding fertile soil.
“Anyway, where was I? Oh, right! Your reward!” The dean froze for a moment as he pulled a few small items out of his virtual inventory. “Valia, come here.”
The girl walked stiffly over. She knew exactly what the dean was holding, though she couldn’t bring herself to believe he was going to give it to her.
“For capturing Vu-Rga, delivering four isolation cages, and bringing information about a dungeon, the provost gives you the right to collect one piece of named equipment,” the man said as he held out a silver symbol shaped like a six-pointed star. As soon as the girl took it from him, a halo appeared around her. She’d reached level thirty.
“Did you know you’re going to be the highest-level first-year student in the entire history of the academy?” the dean asked, unable to keep himself from bestowing another bit of praise on her. “There hasn’t been a single case like yours in the past three thousand years. My congratulations, and I certainly hope you won’t be resting on your laurels now. The record for reaching level one hundred is twenty-three years of age. But I think you can get there faster, especially given the teacher you have.”
Forian just nodded, though he didn’t appreciate the way his student’s eyes flashed. She would have laid down her life for the dean in that moment. And that was what made the kind-hearted man so fearsome — he was capable of and enjoyed leveraging human weaknesses. The mage made a mental note to knock the thirst for praise out of Valia. It was a failing unbefitting a mage.
“Tailyn, I have something for you, too.” Done with the girl, the dean turned toward the second spectator in his one-man theater. “Two somethings, actually. One for you; the other for your trainer. Are you aware that she was detained by Master Sadil?”
The boy both knew and was furious that he couldn’t do anything to help Valanil. The investigators working for the internal investigation service had gotten their claws into the herbalist and dragged her down into their dungeons. And while Forian had told him they were avoiding torture, they were certainly going through her every word with a fine-tooth comb.
“The provost decided to grant her a pardon and her freedom. Of course, she won’t be studying here, but she’ll be able to stay in the capital without any limitations. She’ll even be able to assist in your training — I already signed an order giving her access to the academy. You have to admit, the school in Crobar has a lot to offer. By passing on some of what she knows to you, she ensured your survival, which is why this gift is for her. It’s compensation and a reward for the cages.”
The dean handed Tailyn a fairly heavy coin. While the boy’s face remained impassive, everything inside him exploded — they were letting Valanil go. Even the twenty thousand coins the herbalist was going to get weren’t nearly as exciting as that piece of news.
“You aren’t happy?” the dean asked, evidently surprised by the boy’s reaction.
“I knew she’d be released, Master,” Tailyn replied as calmly as he could. “It was just a matter of time.”
“A matter of time?” The dean glanced over at Forian as if looking for support, but Tailyn’s mentor was a picture of implacability. His student was behaving exactly the way he should have.
“All right. In that case, let’s move on to the part that’s most important for you. As far as I’m aware, you already have three named items, so I don’t have to explain to you what they are. And your birthday is tomorrow, as well. With that in mind, I decided to improve on the provost’s gift, adding a bit of my own. The academy is grateful to you for everything you’ve done.”
It was Tailyn’s turn to get his reward.
Named star. Description: the right to acquire in the store any named item or expansion fitting your class. You will not be able to sell or exchange it.
Coins +30000 (32770).
Mage’s tent-III. Description: universal dwelling for mages that makes life easier on their many travels. Setup/takedown time: 10 seconds. Number of rooms: 3. Number of beds: 20. Kitchen. Bathroom. Shower (requires access to water). Includes concealment and a level 3 protective canopy.
Virtual inventory expansion. Description: additional 30 slots for your virtual inventory. Integrates automatically.
Tailyn swallowed hard. While he’d been prepared for the star and coins, the tent and expansion had taken him by surprise.
“Th-thank you, Master,” he mumbled, eliciting a smile from the dean and a frown from his mentor.
“Of course — you earned it.” The dean patted the boy on the shoulder like an old friend. “And are you aware that you’re the lowest-level student to ever join the academy? We’ve never had anyone at level one. It’ll be interesting to see what happens… Actually, it’s funny — the two of you make for an odd pair. The lowest and highest levels, and I think there’s something to that. Wouldn’t you agree, my student?”
“It’s all the will of the god,” Forian replied. “It’s not for us to disagree, and if that is what was willed, it’s good and right.”
“I hope your students won’t adopt your views. We have plenty of fatalists, and it would be good to get some more people in here who are used to building their own fate,” the dean said with a grunt before turning back to the children. “And now, I’d like to speak with your mentor alone. Go get ready for your studies. The academy will be opening its doors in three days, and you both need to be ready.”
“Master, could I give you a gift in return?” Tailyn asked to everyone’s surprise. “Back where I’m from, that’s what we do when it’s our birthday.”
“Interesting,” the dean said, even turning around. “Are you aware of the rules, boy?”
“Yes, Master,” Tailyn replied firmly. The mage’s encyclopedia had clearly ranked the gifts one was supposed to give different levels of mages. For example, Tailyn, as a simple student, could be given any old bauble, and he was supposed to be happy to receive it. A teacher or mentor needed something more valuable, preferably no less than rare. And to please a dean of an entire department, you really had to put in some effort. The punishment for being out of step with a gift was harsh, up to and including being banished from the academy, and while Tailyn was aware of all that, he wasn’t going to remain in the debt of someone like the dean. There was no telling how that debt would need to be repaid. No, the boy was in no hurry to owe anyone anything.
“In that case, I’m prepared to accept your gift, Tailyn Vlashich,” the dean said in an official tone. The wise old man had immediately realized what the boy was up to — Forian had taught him well. He made up his mind to stick with a simple punishment for the first offense, something like a week in lockup.
“Here you go. Please, accept this as a token of my gratitude for everything you’ve done.” Tailyn pulled a flower enveloped in blue sparks out of his inventory and held it out to the dean. There was a pause. The starting price for an amilio at the auction was just ninety thousand gold, so the boy wasn’t giving the dean something truly valuable, but Forian still relaxed and applauded Tailyn to himself. His student had played the old rascal. Since even the black market fences only got their hands on an amilio once a year, it was tough to find one, and the artificial plants available in
the store weren’t good enough for the experiments his mentor liked to run. The dean needed a real amilio, one that had grown in the wild, and Tailyn was holding out the very same. And Forian knew its backstory — it was all that remained of Keran.
A barely audible fanfare broke out as the god recognized the worthiness of the boy’s gift.
“You can leave.” Forian sent the children out of the office and even locked the door on the inside, activating the protection in place to thwart anyone trying to listen in on what was happening in the room.
“Too clever by half,” the dean said. His kindly old man mask was gone, leaving him the person Forian knew so well. “He may cause problems. Anyway, down to business — it’s been a long time since I last heard from Meney and Zagarad. You need to head down into the tunnel and find out what’s going on. Report back in two weeks, but don’t take your students with you. I want them checked out here. Have you figured out your problem?”
“I’m on the right track. Mentor, I need access to Isr Kale’s notebook — it should have the recipe for tears of Alron, which is something I think will help. Can you set up a meeting with the provost?”
“You know the rules, Forian Tarn. The provost is only accessible to those who have done something noteworthy, and you spent your meeting on the library. You need a new ticket. But you have a year, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. Oh, and remember that everything having to do with the door stays between us. Even the provost shouldn’t hear anything about it. Report back in two weeks! And don’t make me wait. In the meantime, we’ll see what the god has to say about your students.”
Chapter 2
TAILYN’S TWELFTH BIRTHDAY was not one he was likely to ever forget.
Everything started the evening before, right after he and Valia left Forian’s office. While the girl wanted to go for a walk in the nearest park, Tailyn pulled her into the temple. He had an idea he wanted to make happen.
“I want to unlock hacking!” Tailyn said, placing a coin worth a thousand gold on the altar just in case. It flickered and disappeared as the system accepted his gift.
“Hacking is not on the list of attributes available for receipt, Tailyn Vlashich,” came the lifeless voice. “It is blocked for all creatures regardless of their initiation type.”
That last mention was apparently aimed at getting out in front of any claims by Tailyn to being an exception to the rule. But he wasn’t about to give up. He had a plan, and he was going through with it.
“But I can see the description, can’t I? What does it do?”
The god remained silent for a while. Apparently, the System hadn’t been expecting that question.
“The attribute description isn’t restricted.”
Hacking. Description: an attribute used to hack players and devices in order to gain control and access to locked sections. Replaced by Marauder.
“Tailyn, let’s go,” Valia whispered. The girl wasn’t comfortable being in the temple and hearing the System’s voice.
“Hold on,” Tailyn said before turning back to the god. “Marauder doesn’t let you break into machines, and it only works with dead players. That isn’t it. Replaced doesn’t mean deleted, right? So, the attribute is still around in the world. I have a named star, and I want to exchange it for hacking.”
The silence lasted even longer that time. As it dragged on, Valia exchanged the star she’d received for a mage’s weapon. Her armor was good enough, she announced, and Matilda would always come in handy, particularly for knocking some sense into Tailyn.
“That’s not enough, Tailyn Vlashich,” the System replied before repeating. “The attribute is blocked for all creatures regardless of their initiation type.”
“You can take all my levels down to the first,” Tailyn said, dropping his trump card on the table. Valia starred at him in shock. He was talking crazy — what levels? What was going on?
“That’s a worthy offer. I accept your gift, Tailyn Vlashich,” said the god, which elicited a wave of excitement from the boy. He jumped for joy and threw his arms around the shocked girl who had no clue what was happening.
It had worked. Tailyn was having a hard time believing it, but it had worked.
You spent a named star, 1000 gold, and all your levels except your first to unlock an attribute.
Attention! Error detected…
The algorithm for processing exceptions malfunctioned — a level one player at the first initiation stage gained the ability to spend nonexistent levels.
Query created to update the functionality. Query granted, algorithm modified.
***
You discovered an error in the game functionality and earned a reward.
The Creator returned your named star and is permitting you to receive a blocked attribute.
***
Mission update: Ancient History. You learned another name for the god: the Creator. That is the one who created the game and filled it with magic.
***
You spent 1000 gold to unlock an attribute.
Hacking (1) received.
***
Hacking. Description: an attribute used to hack players and devices in order to gain control and access to locked sections. Integrates with Scanner for remote access as well as Enhancement. Combines with Marauder when analyzing corpses.
The description had changed, but Tailyn liked it even better that way. The boy was able to use his enhancement on his marauder via hacking. And it didn’t matter how complicated it was if it worked.
“Would you care to explain what’s going on?” Valia burst out as soon as they left the temple. “What’s a creator? And what was that nonsense you were spouting?”
“It’s something I read in that book today, and I wanted to see if it was true. The whole thing was similar — the main character was a girl at level five who gave the god her levels in order to get a regeneration potion. Of course, she whined about paying that much for the next few chapters, and everyone felt bad for her, but I thought that might work here, too. Anyway, I wasn’t risking anything since I don’t have any levels in the first place. And it worked. I got the attribute, and all I have to do now is figure out how to use it.”
“Wait, so you mean to tell me you actually read that book? You weren’t just paging through it?” Valia asked with a sly smile. “What was it about?”
“Don’t even ask,” Tailyn replied, blushing as he did. “If you took out all the hugging and kissing, it would be three times shorter.”
Valia laughed, though she regained her composure, stepped in front of the boy, and blurted out some bad news without looking him in the eye.
“Father is having a dinner party to celebrate your initiation. Tomorrow at six.”
“Again?” Tailyn asked, his face falling. “You promised me that would be the one and only time.”
Tailyn’s introduction to Valia’s family had been a fiasco. A week before, the meeting had been set up, and the boy still felt embarrassed about the whole thing. Of course, Valia had done her best to get him ready, telling him about all the different forks, spoons, and bowls, but his provincial upbringing had reared its head. As one of the guests had noted, you can take the boy out of the village, but you can’t take the village out of the boy.
“Again,” Valia sighed. “I wasn’t able to get out of it. And this time, father is planning on inviting the whole clan so he can introduce you. You’ll be there?”
The girl looked pleadingly at Tailyn.
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” the boy asked sadly. The only reply was a shake of the girl’s head. “Okay, I’ll be there. What I got from that book today is that you need to always have your girl’s back no matter how difficult that is.”
“Together?” Valia took a step closer and pressed herself against Tailyn.
“For life,” the boy replied, giving her a kiss. “See you tomorrow.”
Thanks to the department dean’s recommendation, Tailyn had been given a room at the academy. Nobody was allowed into
the main building during the holidays, and the students were being housed in small servant accommodations. In fact, they were classed as general workers and took care of the inner garden. Every morning from nine to twelve, a few dozen of the empire’s less fortunate were required to rake up fallen leaves, clear the grass, and handle other little odds and ends. The provost wanted them put to work immediately — that was the only way to earn back some of what was being spent getting them ready. The only difference between Tailyn and the rest was that they’d already turned twelve and gone through an admissions exam that included a very detailed conversation with the internal security service. But as Tailyn and Valia had destroyed the tomb of the accursed assassin school’s founder, the provost had decided it would be silly to subject them to that level of scrutiny.
Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 2
