by Nikostar A
Overnight, he had become a small celebrity at the academy. He could feel people looking at him and murmuring behind his back and it was not very pleasant. On several occasion, other students would chat with him, but Alexander could see that they were not very sincere about being his friend.
Aside from the annoying students, Alexander also checked his emails on the bus and saw the invitation to the headmistress' office.
He had already attracted the attention of the higher-ups. It was not necessarily a bad thing. Carmen Ashmore was a strict person; she abided by the academy's rule and did her best to maintain the fairness between the students. Fairness was the term used by the people in charge, but it would be more accurate to call it equality.
"I suppose she called me for an interrogation. She must be curious about how I was able to use these advanced spells since I only awakened two days ago... In any case, she would not be able to find any dirt on me. It's annoying that so many people are looking at me like that but it's a trade-off! With the 3400 Earth Credits I can spend, I can easily move to the next step."
Alexander ignored the surrounding students and quickly made his way to the magic department. Compared to other lectures that took place in large lecture theatres, magic was taught into a more traditional classroom. The students were separated into smaller groups of twenty, making it easier for the lecturer to teach directly and to interact with the students.
Alexander pushed the door to his allocated classroom and looked for a seat. Since it was close to 9:00, most seats were already taken but a few were still available at the back. Alexander saw all the eyes in the room momentarily shift toward him.
"I should already get used to this feeling..."
In the middle of the strangers, a familiar face stood out and greeted him.
"Stephano."
"Hey, Alex!"
The conversations of the students had already stopped as everyone was focusing on Alexander and Stephano. Since last night's duel, Alexander was publicly acknowledged as the number one student among the freshers. This was quickly associated with rumors of him being associated with one of the organizations in charge of exploring the worlds beyond the rifts.
To most people, he was seen as an unattainable existence and although many wanted to talk to him, they did not know how to initiate the conversation.
Alexander knew he was being observed. After showing off his skills, not only was the academy monitoring his movements, the other students belonging to the organizations were keeping a close eye on him too.
Alexander sat at an empty desk and waited for the lecturer to arrive. After a brief moment of silence, Stephano spoke: "You were really cool last night. I've heard people saying that the spells you've used would only be taught in the third year. How did you manage to learn such a complex spell so quickly?"
The nerdy Italian readjusted his glasses as he spoke. There were no malice or hidden intentions in his question; he was genuinely curious about it. He was here to become a mage and it was not an easy task. But if there was a way to shorten the process, he would naturally take advantage of it.
When they heard Stephano's question, all the students stopped moving. If the room was already very quiet before, it was now completely still. Some students were even leaning in Alexander's direction to avoid missing any bits of his answer.
The latter nonchalantly replied, "It's just like any other subjects. You don't need to wait for the lecturers to teach you. If you are really interested in magic, you can simply go to the library. It's as simple as that."
"The library?" The students' eyes sparkled as they came to a realization. They had just arrived a few days ago and did not know much about UNEA but what Alexander said made sense! The Earth Academy was very similar to the normal universities and even had a library. The students were free to study there and could freely borrow any books there. Even as first-year students, they could browse through the third-year student's teaching materials. It was not advised to do so as advanced spells put much more strain on the caster's spirit circuit, but it was not impossible to learn the spells prematurely.
At that moment, the lecturer entered the classroom and briefly looked at the students. His eyes lingered on Alexander for a few additional moments compared to the other students. The lecturer had already been informed by the headmistress that a special student would be in his class. He was surprised to learn that a student who had yet to attend a magic lecture could already cast advanced spells. Nevertheless, even if Alexander was talented, he would not treat him differently.
The lecture soon started, and Alexander's lack of sleep slowly started to creep on him. He was leaning against the wall, listening to the lecturer explaining the process of meditation.
After a few minutes, there was only one word to described Alexander's state: Bored. He already knew everything the lecturer was talking about and probably even more than him. As a result, Alexander slowly started to feel the lack of sleep.
It was still early in the morning. Very slowly, his posture changed, he started leaning on the desk and after a while, lulled by the lecturer's monotonic voice, Alexander fell asleep at the back of the class.
***
An unknown amount of time later, Alexander felt a faint nudged on his shoulder and instantly jolted awake. To his surprise, the lecture was already over, and a few students had already left the classroom.
Alexander yawned and turned toward Stephano who woke him up. "Thanks!"
"Don't mention it. Fortunately, you did not snore or disturb the class. The lecturer noticed you but did not say anything. He looked quite pissed though."
"Forget about it," said Alexander to reassure Stephano. This was the difference between a university and high school. Although attendance was compulsory, the lecturers would not be bothered about what you learned in their lecturers. They were lecturers, not teachers; it was up to you to put in some effort to understand the material."
Alexander walked with Stephano in silence. The magic lecture was followed by a practice session in the department. After learning the theory, the students were brought to a special room to go through their first session of meditation.
Alexander looked calm on the surface but in reality, he was internally flustered and it was all because of the one hour of sleep he just had. "I had to dream of Aila... As I expected, my body will probably long for her for a while!"
This constant desire for meeting Aila against was not due to Alexander's past memories; instead, it was one of the lasting effects of the Yin Yang Exchange technique. There was a reason why the devilish technique went under the radar for a while; most men affected by it would feel an overwhelming feeling of happiness and satisfaction. That feeling was so great that men would continue to crave for it again and again. It was dangerous and addictive but that was how the sex slaves managed to increase their strength exponentially.
On Loha, there was a saying; once you've spent a night at the Sacred Mountain, no women would ever be able to satisfy you anymore.
Alexander felt conflicted; he did not know how to approach Aila. However, he would never make a move against her. He owed her his life. God knows how much she sacrificed for him in his past life. Ideally, Alexander would like to explain the entire situation to her but he knew it was impossible. He loved her but could only watch from a distance for now.
He could only wait and see what the future had in reserve for them. He did not want to harm her again and if she would somehow fall for someone else, Alexander would respect her wishes and let it go. However, he would not allow this to happen easily.
***
The twenty students from the magic lecture all moved to a large practice room where two instructors were waiting for them. They spread across the room and everyone started to meditate under the guidance of the instructors. Everyone, except Alexander.
He was not trying to be a rogue but if he started meditating now, he would be sealing the path he had planned. The meditation process consisted of guiding mana from the
mana source into the mana reservoir and the spirit circuit. By forcefully injecting mana, those two components would gradually increase in size under the pressure.
A larger mana reservoir meant more spells to be cast at once while larger spirit circuits meant faster casting speed. Each spirit circuit needed to be fed a certain amount of mana to be activated and the wider they were, the more mana they could take in at once.
The reason why Alexander was unwilling to start meditating was simply that there existed more than one meditation technique. The Earth Academy's meditation technique was not wrong and was widely used on Loha. However, it did not suit Alexander's need. The academy's technique would circulate mana evenly to all spirit circuits resulting in the mage becoming a jack of all trades.
Those mages were not weak, but they were not overly powerful either. The truly powerful mages were those who trained specific spirit circuits and specialized in some types of spells. Take Aila for example. She used a meditation technique that mainly enhanced some spirit circuits which helped enhance her charm and sexiness. Later on, when her spirit circuits would be wide enough, she would even be able to stimulate the release of pheromones, making it almost impossible to resist her.
The first meditation cycle was the most important one as it would set the path to shaping one's spirit circuit. During his past life, Alexander was lucky enough to stumble onto someone's corpse. That person turned out to be a member of a very special family that trained a very unique technique. On his body, Alexander found a lot of rare items and a manual containing the details of that person's technique.
This was why Alexander took the risk to obtain the three thousand Earth Credits in front of the entire Academy. The first meditation session of that person's technique required quite a bit of material. Alexander first thought that he would wait for a few months before being able to meditate but now, he would only need for a few days to obtain the materials.
Alexander sat on the cold floor and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes but did not start to circulate his mana. He simply waited in the same position as there was nothing else he could do.
The instructors looked at each other with confused looks. One of them approached Alexander, asking if he needed any help. The latter politely refused and resumed doing nothing.
"They must think that I am a weirdo. I wonder what kind of expression they are having right now. They must be thinking that I am using an unknown meditation method," said Alexander to himself.
"A complete waste of time..." At the end of the session, Alexander walked out of the practice room in a hurry. He briefly checked the time on his X-Driver. He barely had the time to grab a sandwich before he would have to head to the academy's main office to meet the headmistress, Carmen Ashmore.
Chapter 14: Joining a club
At the reception of the office building, Alexander smiled at a young lady behind the desk. "Hello, I am here to meet the headmistress."
"At what's your name and at what time is your meeting?"
"My name is Alexander Vagras. The meeting is at 13:20."
The young lady briefly checked the screen in front of her. She then stood up and signaled Alexander to follow her. "I'll bring you there."
She swiped her X-Driver at the electronic door, allowing the two to enter one of the most secure buildings of the academy.
It did not take long for Alexander to be brought to the top floor's office.
"Knock Knock"
"Who is it?" Carmen's powerful voice exploded from the office.
"Miss, I have brought Alexander for your 13:20 meeting."
"Right, let him in!"
The door started to slide. The young lady stepped to the side, allowing Alexander to enter the office.
The latter did not hesitate and thanked the young lady. Once inside the office, Alexander briefly examined his surroundings but there was not much to see. The office was large but not well decorated. One side of the room was filled with trophies and certificate belonging to either the academy or to the headmistress.
"Give me a minute. You can take a seat," absentmindedly said the headmistress without looking at Alexander.
He nodded and grabbed one of the seats in front of her desk. It was the first time Alexander had ever been invited to the headmistress' office; truth be told, he was a little nervous. Normally, only outstanding students were able to make their way there.
He turned his attention to the woman in a classy business suit. She was visibly frustrated to some extent. While her eyes were focused on the screen in front of her, her right hand was slowly torturing an electronic pen by tapping on the desk. She exuded a strong intimidating aura. Even if it was not targetting Alexander, the latter could still feel it.
Eventually, Carmen smacked her lips and signed the electronic document.
She immediately pushed the screen away and shifted her gaze on Alexander. "So you are Alexander Vagras. I watched the duels last night. It was pretty impressive."
"Of course you were watching. That's your way of scouting people!" said Alexander to himself. Naturally, he could not voice his thoughts out and simply thanked her.
"You know why I brought you here. Which organization do you come from? Flemming? Nuevo Mundo? The Watchers?"
Alexander's eyes briefly met Carmen's. He knew that question was coming and the headmistress also did her research. She did not randomly blurt out the name of those three organizations. Flemming was the organization the second-year student he defeated belonged to. Nuevo Mundo was famous for accommodating mages with strong offensive abilities and housed the mage that created the Dragon Breath! Lastly, The Watchers was an organization that relied on hiding and sneak attacks to explore the worlds beyond the rift. If he came from any of them, it would explain to some extent how he learned advanced spells like Invisibility.
"None of them. I don't belong to any organizations," calmly answered Alexander.
The headmistress' eyes immediately narrowed. A trace of astonishment briefly appeared on her face but she quickly recovered. However, Alexander had already noticed the change. 'I was right. She must be using a spell to detect the truth. Now, she must be wondering whether I am able to counter it...'
"Then how do you explain how you learned and mastered the advanced spell that quickly?" asked the headmistress.
"I simply went to the library. We are free to read books there."
"The library? Even if it's true that you can read about the spells there, it does not explain how you mastered them in less than a day. Are you an early awakener?" Carmen crossed her arms looking twice as intimidating as before.
'Early awakener?' thought Alexander. Early awakeners were people that managed to go through the awakening ceremony before arriving at school. One could immediately be awakened as long as they were at least 18 years-old. Although the governments did its best to control the fluid, it was inevitable that some people would attempt to smuggle it. Wherever there were profits to be made, people would always find a way.
It was usually rich people or shady groups of people that awakened in secrets. If Alexander was an Early awakener, it would explain why he was so comfortable with using his spirit circuits already and why he could have succeeded in learning the advanced spells.
"No. I awakened two days ago, on the day after I arrived at the academy," answered Alexander.
"Is your performance index really only 5.1?"
"Yes. Unless the instructors in charge lied to me."
Carmen looked at Alexander in silence. The usual aggressiveness in her eyes disappeared for a moment. She was clearly trying to rearrange her thoughts.
"Then... Are you able to counter the spell of truth?" Carmen spoke her words slowly, closely observing Alexander.
An answer came immediately, "No. Or at least, not yet. In the future, I will."
When she heard Alexander's answer, the headmistress started to relax. She did not fully trust Alexander yet. For her last question, instead of relying on the spell of truth, she used her own observ
ational skills to determine whether Alexander was lying and did not find anything out of the ordinary. It was not easy to be appointed as the headmistress of the academy, Carmen Ashmore was not only proficient in magic, she was also a well-educated person who studied psychology in her free time. The certificate displayed on the wall was the results of her efforts.
"Then, what is your purpose in joining the academy. If you already have the potential to learn third-year spells, will it not be better to make an exception and allow you to graduate this year?"
"It's for the resources of the academy. Where else would I find the spells I would be interested in? And where will I find the resources to help in my training. Going to Loha is even harder than to go to the Moon. Also, I would not say no to early graduation."
"So you know about the resources. You should be aware that only a limited amount of resources is available to everyone and the academy is tasked with providing equal chances to everybody. You have already received an additional three thousand Earth Credits and can monopolize most of them for a period of time. It would be extremely unfair to the rest of the cohort if only one person purchased everything at the shop. You know what I mean?" said Carmen.
