A Spark of The Academy
Chapter 7
It was a new morning. Jack thought he would have trouble sleeping, being in a new place. To his surprise he had no trouble sleeping at all, after his trip through the city he was exhausted, he barely ate dinner and made it back to his room before passing out.
WHEEWHOO WHEEWHOO WHEEWHOO.
What the fuck is that?! He jumped up looking around confused before remembering where he was. A loud wake-up alarm was sounding throughout the entire student dorm. The alarm was a trumpet sound and had scared him.
He stood in the middle of his room getting his breathing under control when he realized he had never gotten out of his clothes from the day before. He looked around his room, it was roughly the size of the small shack he had built for himself, but it was much nicer.
The room had a lovely bed and a desk, and it even had a small, attached bathroom. That was his favorite part, Jack quickly relieved himself and then put on his new clothes for the day. He walked out into his room appreciating the luxury of it all. The tiles of his room were somehow warm to the touch even though he could feel a slight cold breeze through his window. The breeze smelt fresh, and the lack of pollution was amazing.
Before opening ceremonies Jack spent his early morning training. He was working on the basic techniques Phineus had taught him. They were supposed to be easy and help him gain more control, but he found them extremely difficult. Fineus had told him It was due to his higher mana reserves that made the electricity harder to control.
The fact that he absorbed a pure core without a ritual seemed to have given him access to incredibly powerful electricity that sadly just made it harder to manage. Electricity in its natural form has no real structure and is extremely erratic. It turns out it might not have been a good thing to have all that extra mana, it meant he started with a much bigger force to try and control right from the start.
Every time he tried to create a simple aura around himself the electric current would suddenly blast off into a nearby electrical device instantly destroying it. Phineus had lost a couple of devices from this and had become increasingly irate each time he lost a machine. Another technique was to engulf an item or weapon in the element. But again, the electricity would blast off unpredictably.
The third technique was to form the element in front of you between your hands. This one Jack could kind of do. He could create electricity between his hands, but he was supposed to create a small, controlled structure.
Unfortunately, all he could do was send a quick blast between his hands. And for some weird reason, he could only send it from his right hand into his left. Jack kept trying to send it the other way which should have been just as easy. But every time he tried to push the electricity it would fight back.
The only thing he was good at was micro-elemental control. This was a specialty in its own right and was usually ignored by the masses due to its non-significance in overall power. Gant had no micro control and could only do large spells with his elements. Phineus was considered a master at micro control and Jack was almost as good as him already. His favorite was to create a small spark and make it float around the room. As a small spark, he could easily maintain its composure. He tried different imaginative techniques to help view the electricity differently but anytime he increased the voltage it would exponentially become unpredictable.
He started to practice manipulating a spark, he could extend its length, and interestingly he could slightly manipulate the color. He could make it go from white to blue, then into purple. He casually played with the spark. The spark was a very small, jagged line that if you examined closely was quivering and pulsing erratically. Normally electricity was very sharp and straight, but in such a small form Jack could make it go smooth and almost flow like water.
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As he was admiring the spark, he lost his focus. The spark quickly grew too big and he lost control. The electricity blasted into the light above him. The ceiling light lit up for a couple of moments then slowly dimmed. He looked at it curiously and thought, that’s weird the bulb hadn’t broken like the other devices, but I guess it was a much smaller amount of voltage compared to the other incidents. He pondered that for a moment before his head started to hurt. He had pushed himself too far, so he went to get breakfast.
The cafeteria was huge, the entire eating section was built with giant glass windows. Jack was still getting used to the large glass panes. Something so fragile would never have survived in Carcas. Some places had windows, but they were small and usually made of an inferior material that was harder to see through. Jack grabbed a tray and walked over to the buffet of food. The buffet was his favorite part of the school and also his least favorite.
The tables were huge and had enormous piles of all sorts of incredible food. He couldn’t help but think of all the starving people he knew existed around the world and wished they could also experience some of this abundance. Pushing that thought aside, he started shoveling piles of food onto his plate. Grabbing a big pile of eggs, bacon, and hashbrown. He also grabbed an apple and a large glass of orange juice.
Looking for a seat, he ran into Sable, and they ate together. Both boys enjoyed their large breakfasts, excitedly chatting about all the cool things they had experienced around the academy since last seeing each other.
“Were you also woken by that horrible alarm?” Sable asked. “I spent twenty minutes trying to find where the sound came from. I asked a third year and apparently, the students have never been able to figure out where it’s coming from.”
“Ugh,” Jack winced at the thought of waking to that horrible alarm every morning.
After they were done eating, they went to orientation. The crowd was huge, it was made up of all the students from different years. It was the fourth-year students in the front, then the third years behind them, and the second years behind them. The first years filled in the sides and back. There were probably a couple of thousand students in total. Jack could tell them apart because each year had a slightly different uniform.
Each year had the same basic black uniform, but the accent colors were different. The first year had blue, the second year have green, the third years were red, and the fourth was gold. There was a huge stage at the front with a bunch of chairs, and important-looking people filling them. The boys found their seats and waited. Eventually, an older man approached the microphone at the front and addressed the crowd.
“Good morning, students. I'm happy to welcome you to another year at the Academy. I see many excited faces and I’m sure you are all ready to begin. Of course, we just have a few important pieces of information to talk about before the beginning of the year. First is the student rankings. As the older students know each year you will be ranked. At the end of the year, based on rank students will get their choice of stones.”
“Except, of course, the 4th years. It's a bit different. They get special assignments after the academy. There will be 2 tournaments throughout the year, first a squad, then a singles tournament. The tournaments will have a large impact on your rank. I look forward to seeing what you can all become in the future. Of course, the other side also stands. The lowest ranked students will be sent straight to the military academy, where they will no longer receive special privileges.” This was all news to Jack. Gant hadn’t mentioned any of that.
Jack mumbled to himself. “Well shit, I guess I better do well.”
After that the man gave a dry speech about the royal family, Jack didn’t pay attention, he was thinking about his future and what he had to do to become a top student. Once the ceremonies were over Sable had some stuff to do so he went back to his room to plan for class the next day. Jack took a look at the classes he would be taking this semester. Basic Operations, Basic Monsters, Basic Weapons, Basic Dueling, Basic Magic. Very creative, he thought. The table showed that he had 3 separate semesters.
The first semester was basics. The second semester was listed as the same classes but replaces the word basic with advanced. “Wow. Much more creative names this time.” Jack mumbled to himself sarcastically. It was the third semester that managed to grab his interest. The list was huge, and it said the third semester gives the students choices of multiple different classes depending on their interests and abilities.
The list included classes like enchanting, alchemy, artificer, and theoretical laws of the conservation of magic. That last one sounded insane, and he had no idea what any of the words meant. After looking at the list for a little while Jack went for a walk to stretch his legs.