by Nikostar A
While Loha was a world ruled by elemental mages, Basilec was ruled by a completely different class and it was precisely that class that Alexander was trying to obtain.
Chapter 5: Stargazer
A stargazer!
That was the class Alexander was trying to obtain through the ritual. In his past life, Alexander worked as a librarian when he settled in a peaceful town. With his life force being nearly depleted, he did not want anything to do with magic anymore and decided to live as a regular human being.
Working in the library was fairly easy; he had a lot of free time and was allowed to browse through the books there. Basilec was different from Earth; the latter only recently came into contact with magic and restricted its use as much as possible but Basilec was ruled by stargazers for centuries.
The method of awakening as a stargazer and its related techniques were already well spread. Anyone with potential could become a stargazer and at that time, Alexander was also tempted to attempt the ritual. However, it was impossible; one needed to be less than twenty years old to become a stargazer. The opportunity was lost but with his time travel, becoming a stargazer was an easy task.
Stargazers followed a completely different principle from the elemental mages. Instead of using their own lifeforce to control the elements around them, they used the energy provided by the stars. It meant that no matter how many abilities a stargazer used, it would never affect his lifespan.
However, stargazers also had their own downsides. The major one being the restricted set of moves they had access to. Elemental mages could use a wide variety of spells depending on which spirit circuit they activated but stargazers did not rely on spirit circuits and could only use the moves defined by the stars. Furthermore, in a battle between an expert stargazer and an expert elemental mage, the latter would easily come out on top.
Despite that downside, knowing that he would lose to elemental mages in the long run, Alexander still decided to try to become a stargazer. Even with his hard work, he would eventually end up as an average mage anyway; he might as well try a different path. Furthermore, becoming a stargazer did not necessarily mean abandoning the elemental mage path.
***
"I call upon the existences of the cosmos!"
"Arado!"
"Besmoth!"
"Cali!"
With a solemn expression, Alexander swiftly started the ritual described in the books of Basilec. Before even starting, his back was already drenched in sweat. He did not know if it would work but he nevertheless tried to replicate the process as faithfully as possible.
While taking care to properly pronounce each word of the incantation, Alexander's finger moved along the concentric circles. Each time he would say a word, his finger would briefly stop in front of a symbol. Each of those symbols corresponded to a different constellation of stars.
Soon, Alexander's finger had already traced the drawn circles twice. He finished saying the names of the twenty-six constellations and stopped moving.
Alexander quietly waited. This was all he had to do for the ritual. According to the book, if he had the potential to become a stargazer, the moonlight of the full moon would shine on him but if he didn't, then it meant that the higher existences of the cosmos considered him to be unworthy of their power.
Alexander was tensed; his finger was already numb, but he did not dare to move as he waited, hoping for the ritual to have succeeded. The air was still. The room was silent except for the annoying ticking of the clock.
After waiting for a few seconds, Alexander let out a sigh. "Maybe it was just not meant to be." Alexander lowered his head. He was naturally disappointed with the outcome.
"Should I try one more time?"
***
At the same time, in the instructor's meeting room, Carmen Ashmore loudly yawned as she looked at her subordinates.
"Alright, final meeting before the start of the classes. You should all already be familiar with the procedures. This time, we flagged five potentially troublesome students. They come from important organizations, but they really got into the academy without using any form of external help. Anyway, it is important to remain impartial to what happens. If they are in the wrong, do not hesitate to punish them. I will take full responsibility!"
"I know that many of you are probably somehow related to the outside forces but remember your job here. I don't care what happens outside but at the academy, I expect you all to maintain a certain code of conduct. Understood?"
Carmen glared at the instructors in front of her. Most of them did not dare to look straight into her eyes. It was not necessarily because they were guilty but rather because the headmistress was simply too ferocious. Behind her back, she was even called Female Tyrannosaurus.
"Moving on. Apart from those five students, there are still all the students officially affiliated with the organizations and the other side is also sending fifteen exchange student this year. Keep them under the radar too. In particular, I would like you to focus on that ma..."
At that moment, while Carmen was pointing at one of the faces displayed on the screen, the screen suddenly flickered and changed.
"Who is it? Did I not say that I am busy with a meeting?" exclaimed Carmen with a frustrated expression and a tinge of anger.
The screen changed, displaying an old man wearing the academy staff's uniform. "Sorry to interrupt headmistress but the isolating array has been breached a few moments ago. We still don't understand what exactly happened, but the array suddenly failed. We are currently in the process of restarting the array."
Carmen was stunned but quickly recovered.
"What? The isolating array failed? Don't tell me you were sleeping on the job! Allocate a team to check the students' X-Driver. Check if any of them have used any major spells. Send another team to check the reports of security checks and see if anyone somehow kept their electronics!"
Carmen shouted at the old man without a care for her appearance. The breach of the isolating array could be benign but at the same time, it could also be a serious threat to the academy. That particular array could prevent any form of electromagnetic signals from entering or leaving the island. With the array, the academy could easily block off any communication with the outside world. Naturally, they left a narrow window for themselves and the students to use. This made it easier to monitor the students and see if anyone was sharing the secrets of the academy. It was a clear violation of the students' privacy but it that was also noted in the contract they signed before joining the academy.
"Yes, we'll report as soon as we get any information!"
***
At the same time, Alexander felt completely defeated. He slowly stood up and started gathering the pieces of paper scattered across the room due to the wind. Even if he failed the awakening, it did not mean that his future was doomed. He still had an advantage over the others.
"Yes, no matter what happens, I must not give up that easily!" said Alexander to himself as a form of encouragement. He clenched his fists and stood up.
He went to the bathroom and brought back a damp sponge. "I hope that the ink did not dry yet."
Alexander kneeled on the floor and was about to clean the drawings on the floor when a bright light suddenly shone through the glass door of the balcony.
"This? What is this?"
Alexander was completely blinded and instinctively took a step back while protecting his eyes with his arms. At that moment, he heard a faint old voice whispering behind him.
"Mortal"
Alexander jumped in fright and looked behind him. However, his room was still empty. There was no one else in his room. Alexander quickly looked around him but still failed to notice someone's presence. The room was brightly lit; so much that his body was bathing in the moonlight.
"Mortal! Answer me. Are you the one that called us?"
"You. Who are you?" exclaimed Alexander as he kept looking around him.
"I go by the name of Arado. Are you the one th
at called us?"
"Arado? One of the constellations of the Stargazers? I did attempt the ritual but have obviously failed," Alexander frowned. In all the books he had read, it was never mentioned that the constellations would ever speak to the awakening stargazers.
"So you are the one. Who said that you failed? If you wanted to call us, why did you hide behind that array? Although it was not hard to break it, it is still frustrating to do so."
Alexander blinked his eyes in confusion but soon he realized what the constellation was talking about, "Oh sh*t! I forgot about the academy's arrays. I hope they won't trace it back to me."
"Don't worry, this light can only be seen by a stargazer and you are the only stargazer on this planet. When we heard your request, we were intrigued as we never tried to spread our influence on such a distant planet. Tell me, how did you end up knowing about us?"
Alexander was relieved. For a moment, he really thought that the academy's guards were already on their way here. "Everyone has their own secrets. Are there any perks if I share mine with you?"
"Perks? Impossible. The power we provide is already set. It will not change no matter what," answered the old voice.
Alexander nodded; it was as he expected but it did not harm him to try. Although he might appear to be disrespectful of Arado, Alexander also knew very well the constellation was unable to harm him in any way. "Then, I am sorry, but I can't answer your question."
"..."
The constellation did not know what to answer for a moment. It was the first time someone has ever talked to him in this way, but he was not angered by the young man's behavior. "You are an amusing guy. It's time for me to return. Enjoy your new status as a stargazer and if you can, spread the words."
The light slowly dimmed in front of Alexander and soon, it completely disappeared as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.
He stared at the circles on the floor still not believing that he just spoke to a constellation. "Does that mean I succeeded? I should try it out. Oh, wait! I should clean this up first. Since an array has been broken, it is possible that they will do a room inspection or something. Who knows how those paranoid guards would react if they saw this drawing..."
Chapter 6: History class
To Alexander's relief, the rest of the night was uneventful. He was worried the academy staff would somehow be able to link the incident to him but fortunately, they failed to do so.
With dark circles under his eyes, Alexander dragged his heavy body to the canteen before proceeding to the history department. Even though the academy staff did not disturb him, it still ended up being a sleepless night for Alexander. The latter was unable to calm himself down; he was too excited after becoming a stargazer.
Truth be told, Alexander did not feel any different after obtaining this new power, but he knew it was because his connection with the stars has yet to be set. Stargazers were just like elemental mages; after awakening, there was a short buffer period where they would normally be vulnerable but now that a few hours have passed, Alexander could fully use the stargazer's abilities. However, even if he was tempted to, Alexander knew that he could not randomly use his new power or else, how was he supposed to explain it to the others?
"I will look for an opportunity to test it out. With the way the academy is designed, it should not be too hard to find a guinea pig."
It was still early in the morning, but the city was already very lively. While sitting on the bus, Alexander looked at the streets full of students on their way to their class. With the academic year officially starting, the city was now as lively as ever. Classes had already started but the students usually had a lot of free time; it was not rare to find students strolling around aimlessly all day.
Soon, Alexander arrived at the history department and found his way to lecture hall 3. He sat in a corner and waited for the lecture to start.
The lecture hall slowly filled in. In the end, two other students joined Alexander's row. "Hi, are these seats still available?" said the leading Caucasian man with a friendly smile.
"Yup," answered Alexander while slightly shifting his body.
"My name is Raphael, and this is Su Buqing. Nice to meet you." The Caucasian man introduced himself and the short Asian fatty accompanying him.
"Alexander. Nice to meet you," answered Alexander. He smiled and firmly shook the two men's hand. He quietly examined the two newcomers and searched his memory but failed to recall their names in the past.
'Too bad I don't remember much of the school life or even much about Earth, but I hope my memories would be useful for when I go back to Loha.'
"It's so hard to wake up that early after such a long holiday. On top of that, we have to attend to the most boring lecture first: history. Honestly, what is the use of history for mages?" complained Raphael.
"There is nothing wrong about learning about the past. It's only by looking at our past mistakes that we can proceed forward while avoiding them," nonchalantly answered Alexander.
"So philosophical but I guess that's true. By the way, what's your performance index?"
'Here comes the fatidic question!' said Alexander to himself. "5.1! What about you?"
"Oh, don't worry buddy. Even if it's only average, the performance index is not the only defining factor! As long as you work hard, you'll definitely succeed. Mine is 7.0 and Su Buqing's is 6.8," said Raphael while gently patting Alexander's shoulder with a sympathetic expression.
The latter faintly smiled and answered: "Haha, thanks."
Noticing that he had touched a sensible chord, Raphael rapidly changed the topic and started chatting about random stuff until the lecturer finally stepped onto the stage.
'Seems like they are good guys. He did not discriminate against me even if we come from different countries or even when their Performance Indexes highly surpasses mine.'
On the stage, the lecturer lightly coughed into the microphone, immediately putting an end to all the conversations taking place in the lecture room.
"Thank you. Good morning everyone and welcome to your first lecture. My name is Gerard Stalas and I will be your history lecturer for the rest of this year."
Professor Stalas briefly looked at the students before pressing onto the device in his left hand. Immediately, the screen behind him lit up, displaying the first slide of the lecture.
"I know it is only your first lecture and that you have a lot to tell each other but unfortunately, our time is limited! We shall start immediately."
"Now, many of you are probably wondering why we are teaching you history? You are all here to become qualified mages but why on earth do you need to know about history. Well, first of all, without looking at the past mistakes, you won't be able to proceed forward properly! Furthermore, if you have taken the time to check the syllabus, this course will not only teach you some of Earth's history but also that of Loha and possibly that of other worlds beyond the rifts..."
"Hey, how come the lecturer said the almost the exact same thing you just told us?" whispered Raphael in the middle of the lecture.
Alexander touched his nose, "Most probably a coincidence." He looked at the lecturer and continued his train of thoughts, 'Or is it? Did I instinctively remember the words of the lecturer? I was planning to ignore this lecture since I already know what happened but maybe refreshing those memories will be useful'
The rest of the students were all still focusing on Professor Stalas. As the lecture had just started, everybody was still very attentive, but credit had to be given to the lecturer; he was a charismatic man with a very deep voice. He was strangely able to turn the boring material of the course into a somewhat interesting story.
"Today we shall discuss the topic of the rifts. As you all know by now, a total of three rifts have been discovered on Earth and they all lead to different worlds or planets. It all started sixty-five years ago in 2036 when a rift first opened next to Prineville, a small town in the state of Oregon. It instantly became the center of attraction
of the whole world!"
"Scientists were dispatched to examine the new phenomenon. The US army dispatched a lot of soldiers to the other side to explore. Naturally, the other countries also wanted a share of the cake! At that time, it was seen as a possible solution to the Earth's lack of resources! You should have heard how fifty years ago, people were looking for a solution to the incoming energy crisis! They tried several things like improvement of renewable energies, research on nuclear fusion and even space exploration for new resources."
"By the way, out of the three, only the third one had some decent effects but anyway. With the rifts giving us access to a brand-new land full of resources, people were excited! Naturally, the discovery of this new territory led to several debates over its ownership and as the gate was located right in the middle of America, it naturally monopolized the rights to the gate."
