[[Volume 1]]: Humble Beginnings

Chapter 3: The Wonderful World of Academia

In the early morning, on the second week of the new year 3424, Tyrith sat on his bed, practicing his mana gathering technique. Tyrith hadn't had any dreams for the past month. However, he had made progress on his core. He had spent at least an hour every morning and every night practicing mana gathering. His efforts had borne fruit, as seen by the glow of his core being significantly brighter than when he Sparked it.

He had also been developing his mana gathering technique. Now, instead of using 2 spectral hands to gather the mana particles, he increased the number of spectral hands to 4, and each hand had 15 tentacles instead of fingers, which could stretch further and gather more mana particles. His efficiency of mana gathering had increased slightly as a result.

His mana circulation technique had slowly been driving the impurities out of his body, and his physical strength had increased to be similar to a strongman's strength.

He finished gathering mana, stretched, and went about his morning routine. This time, he headed to the Residential District Square. That is where the announcement ceremony would be held. Based on the conversations he had with his parents and his friends, it seemed pretty certain he would be recruited to an Upper University, however which one specifically was up in the wind.

This time, he didn't need to catch a train and simply walked on foot. He had bundled up due to the weather, wearing a thick woolen coat. As he walked between rows of houses, small snowflakes fell from the sky, piling up on the streets. Young children shoveled snow outside their houses to clear paths.

Soon, the houses began to spread out, giving way to a wide open space, the District Square. Here, soldiers were shoveling snow, dumping it into the sewers. Their breath fogged in the cold as they worked.

In the center of the square, a raised platform stood, made of out of solid wood. Torches burned along the perimeter of the square, warming all those who stood there.

Tyrith picked through the crowd until he saw a familiar face, Wendt. He walked up behind him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Wendt turned around and greeted him.

["Hey. Excited for the big day?"]

["Excited is one word for it."]

They stood next to each other and commiserated about their struggles in cultivating their magic power, and what they've been doing after graduation.

Soon, the bell on a clocktower tolled, and an official walked up on the stage.

The official waved their hand and cast a silencing spell, then a voice amplification spell.

["Greetings fellow Mages. Today, I will announce the names of those who have been recruited to an Upper Academy. Once your name has been announced, go stand by your representative."]

Near the stage, dozens of imposing looking Mages, wearing colorful cloaks, stood. Above them, signs stating the various names of the upper academies.

Under a sign reading Panuku Hall of Battle stood a tall man, wearing a red cloak. They were known for nurturing battle mages.

Under a sign reading Cortland Arcane Conservatory, a man and a woman stood, wearing blue cloaks, and muttering to each other. This academy was known for magical research.

Beneath the sign reading Drail Nexus, a short man wearing a black cloak stood. The Drail Nexus was known for raising war mages, and was extremely enigmatic.

Next to the sign reading Whispering Shroud, a woman with a yellow cloak covering her face stood. This academy was highly affiliated with the Empire.

Finally, there was the sign reading Eubukor Bladespire, and a man stood beneath it, wearing a gray cloak, and a sword at his waist. The Bladespire was one of the last bastions of martial arts in the Empire.

There were various other signs with less prominent academy names on them.

As wind blew through the square, the official began reading out names.

["Aaiat: You have been recruited by the Cortland Arcane Conservatory."]

["Armais: You have been recruited to the Hetshire Runic Hall."]

The official droned on for half an hour until arriving at the T's.

["Tlalock: You have not been recruited to any upper academies. Keep in mind the military will take anyone."]

["Tyrith: You have been recruited to the Eubukor Bladespire."]

Tyrith thought for a second, then nodded and walked over to the man in the gray cloak, standing with the small group of people who had formed around him. The man in the gray cloak greeted him.

["Hello Tyrith. It's good to have you at Eubukor. I've heard great things about your father."]

["You know my father?"]

["Yes, I've heard of his exploits at the Conservatory. Attempting to ease the advancement to the Green core is a noble thing."]

["I see..."]

Tyrith zoned out for a while, until he heard

["Wendt: You have been recruited by the Whispering Shroud."]

Tyrith saw Wendt excitedly jog over the woman in the yellow cloak, and start to chat with her. The crowd surrounding the sign of the Whispering Shroud was noticeably smaller than the others.

The gray cloaked man representing the Bladespire spoke.

["Alright folks, let's get moving. You'll follow me to Eubukor, and I'll give you a tour before the semester starts."]

Their guide started moving at a brisk pace across the cobbled streets. The rest of the group followed along. They weaved through squat houses until coming to a train station. As they waited for the train to arrive, the guide introduced himself.

["Nice to meet my juniors. I'm Kaelion, an Orange core, 3rd year mage at the Eubukor Bladespire. Let me ask you, what do you think the best Upper Academy is?"]

A short girl piped up:

["I would say it's the Panuku Hall of Battle. Their battle mages are known to be the most ruthless in the Empire."]

A gangly man crossed his arms and stated his opinion next:

["The Drail Nexus. Their mages are horrifying."]

More students gave their opinions on the best Upper Academy.

Kaelion smiled, then spoke

["These opinions are all fair. Each Academy generally has something they're really good at. We certainty can't compete with the conservatory in research. Lots of other academies pride themselves on teaching their students how to fight. The Hall of Battle thinks their battle mages are the most brutal warriors. The Nexus thinks they have mastered using fear as a weapon."]

["But the Bladespire is the best. Do you wanna know why? It's because at Bladespire, we don't just teach you how to fight. We teach you how to win. And how to keep winning. We don't forge fighters, we forge victors."]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

["The arcane arts originated from martial arts, and here we still teach martial arts. The other academies have forgotten their foundation."]

He smiled, and the train arrived, spewing smoke. Kaelion waited for the doors to open, then stepped on board, motioning for the other students to follow him. They stepped on board with him, and filtered into compartments to sit down.

In the compartment where Tyrith sat, 2 others also sat. They introduced themselves, and chatted for a while. Through the conversation, Tyrith learned that the innate spells the others had were fairly combat oriented. They had been hoping to get recruited into the Nexus, or the Hall of Battle, but the Bladespire wasn't half bad.

As they chatted, the time quickly passed and they soon arrived at their destination. As Tyrith got out of the train, he found himself looking up in awe.

Before him, stood a massive structure, standing tall and gleaming in the sun. It was made of sharp metal objects, curling around a central structure like petals of a flower, and shooting into the sky. Around it, several dozen building spread out like the crater formed by a meteor, made of sharp metal, and formed into spikey figures. The buildings were large, but not too tall, and looked as if they were in the process of being blasted away by an explosion.

Surrounding the buildings was a large width of compacted dirt and sand, and surrounding that was a tall brick wall with seats embedded in it, forming a sort of arena. From here, the Bladespire looked more like an entertainment venue than an academy.

<"I suppose that must be the Bladespire.">

Tyrith stepped off the platform of the train station, and went down the stairs, walking towards the massive arena. He saw Kaelion run ahead and go into the arena, waiting for them inside.

He walked under across the street and under the gates, standing next to Kaelion. The rest of the students soon followed, and a group formed around Kaelion.

["Ok students, lets start with the guide. This is the Eubukor Bladespire. The center is the spire it is named after, and it is where the professors offices are. The buildings surrounding it are where your classes and some of your training will be. The compacted dirt surrounding the buildings is where most of your training will take place, and sometimes people like to watch from the arena seats. Every few months, we will hold competitions here, and the seats sell out."]

<"I think I remember hearing about those, my parents took me to one when I was a kid. Don't remember much of it though other than lots of flashy magic.">

Kaelion moved along, bring them to another set of buildings.

["These are the dorms. This is where you'll be staying when the semester starts."]

The dorms were spacious and clean, seemingly pristine. A few students milled about in and out.

Kaelion continued to give them the tour, taking them through a few classrooms, the training areas, and the lobby of the spire. Then, he went to introduce them to their instructors.

["These instructors are the ones who picked you out, and they'll be the ones personally teaching you outside of classes."]

The instructors walked around, picking various students out of the crowd. A tall man, with gray hair and a few scars on his faced walked up to Tyrith.

["Nice to meet you in person Tyrith. I am Verrick, and I will be your instructor."]

Verrick reached out his muscled hand and shook hands with Tyrith.

["Do you want to know why I chose you?"]

["I have been wondering."]

["I chose you because of your Innate Spell you called 'Slice.' I believe a formal education in martial arts will be very beneficial for you, given your Innate Spell. I'll tell you more on the first day of school."]

Tyrith nodded, and Verrick gave him information on his schedule and classes, before heading off to talk to another one of his students.

After a while, Kaelion rounded everyone back up and gave some parting remarks.

["Head back home now. Remember the semester starts in one week."]

Tyrith made his way back home through the train system. After he arrived at his house, he told his parents about which academy had selected him, and they congratulated him.

One week later, Tyrith had packed his things, said a brief goodbye to his parents, and made his way back to the Bladespire. The number of students attending the academy was small enough that each student was afforded their own room. Tyrith's room was located in a building a few buildings in from the edge of the arena. He entered the strange metal structure and located his room number. Going inside, he saw the layout of his room. There was a nice bed, a desk, a closet with a dresser, a bathroom, and a small kitchen area. The floor was made out of a softwood, while the desk was a mix of metal and stone.

Tyrith made his bed, and put away his clothes. He had a goal in mind before meeting with Verrick.

Tyrith walked the campus, looking for a sign indicating a shop or a workshop. He found a building from which a sign with a hammer sigil hung. Tyrith ducked into the building.

Inside the building, standing at the counter was a mountain of a man. He watched Tyrith come in and grunted.

["What can I help you with?"]

["Is this a place where I can order custom equipment?"]

["This is the Bladespire Forge. Anything you want, I can make."]

["Excellent. Can you make me a plate about as big as my chest out of a highly mana insulative material? Something like marble, but better. And if so, how much would that cost?"]

The man mountain thought for a couple seconds.

["Yes, I should be able to do that. I can make it out of a mixture of marble and lead. For a plate the size of your chest, that would cost 150 copper celens."]

Tyrith grimaced, then unhooked a leather pouch from his waist, and dropped one silver ball and 50 copper balls into the man's hands.

["Come back in an hour and it should be ready, as it is relatively simple to make."]

The man headed into the back of his shop, and Tyrith heard him pumping some bellows.

Tyrith decided to explore a bit and wandered around campus. He checked out the classrooms he would be in, and watched a few people sparring in the training yard. Some other students had also gathered around and were watching spars. After one spar finished, he decided to go up to them and ask about the details of sparring at the academy.

["How exactly does sparring work here? What happens if someone gets hurt?"]

One of the students spoke up.

["There is an internal ranking in the Bladespire by class year, and spars are part of the process to determine the ranking. Of course, you can also choose to just spar for fun and not affect the ranking. Spars usually go until one of the parties admits defeat, or is incapacitated. There is no need to worry about most injuries, as we have great healers on hand. However, under no circumstances should you do anything lethal. We can't cure death here."]

Tyrith nodded in understanding.

["Can I spar one of you two?"]

The student who was dressed in close-fitting orange robes nodded.

["I'll have a friendly duel with you."]

The students who were watching got excited and shifted their attention to see the newbie duel.

Tyrith dropped his money pouch and stepped onto the sparring dirt. The dirt crunched beneath his boots, and he could smell the scent of sweat and sand. The arena felt warm despite the cool weather. The student in orange robes stepped on the sparring dirt and drew a circle about 10 meters in diameter.

["For this duel, if one of us steps out, we lose. If we surrender we lose. Do you agree?"]

Tyrith shrugged.

["Sounds good to me."]

["Ok. We'll start... now!"]

The student rushed at Tyrith from their side of the ring.

Tyrith quickly started running perpendicular to the student, his thoughts racing.

<"How can I use 'Slice' in this situation... I can try to mess up their movement and then use physical force...">

Tyrith cast 'Slice' right in front of his opponent's feet, opening up a small divot in the dirt, however, it wasn't big enough to trip them up, and the student kept running at him. Tyrith panicked, and tried for another attempt.

Just as Tyrith was trying again with more power, he felt something shove him, but couldn't see anything.

<"It looks like they have some kind of Force spell...">

Tyrith resisted the shove, but as his opponent made a punching motion, he felt another force, this one more like a punch, and he fell back, a meter away from the edge of the ring.

Tyrith struggled to get up before his opponent could get near him, and now they were separated by only a few meters. Tyrith focused his will and cast 'Slice,' this time aiming at his opponent's feet. A long hole opened up across the student's shoes, and Tyrith could see blood pooling.

His opponent flinched, but kept running, before jumping to tackle Tyrith. As Tyrith tried to duck, he grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in his opponent's eyes. They were now blinded, but despite this, he got knocked over by the student, who proceeded to push him to the edge of the ring before he could stabilize himself.

Tyrith heard his opponent whisper 'Pull' and his legs gave out from under him, then he heard 'Push' and was shoved out of the ring by the same invisible force.

["I win."]

The orange-clad student wiped the dirt out of their eyes.

["That's a vicious Innate Spell you have there. If you had put your all into it and sliced my feet off, you probably would have won. I do appreciate you not doing that, as it would make it difficult to walk to the healer. However, in battle, you must not have mercy for your opponent. Mercy for an enemy means suffering for yourself."]

Tyrith was a little shocked by the causal talk about slicing bodyparts off, and the battle talk, but he nodded anyway.

["What is your Innate Spell? It seems.. versatile?"]

["My Innate Spell is 'Helping Hand.' I can basically project a hands away from my body and control it, while it is invisible to the naked eye. "]

["Wow. Thanks for the spar, I'm Tyrith."]

["I'm Amelia."]

They shook hands. Tyrith apologized to Amelia for ruining her shoes, then went off looking for the Bladespire Forge again. He had resolved himself to be less merciful in future duels, so that he could work his way up the ranks. He walked through the dense streets and arrived shortly. When he went inside, he saw the same man as before. The man recognized him, and brought out something covered in cloth.

["This should impede mana flow greatly. Enjoy."]

Tyrith thanked him, and headed back to his dorm. Inside his dorm, he took the package out of the cloth. It was square, about half a meter long both ways, and had the look of a very dark marble, with a little sheen to it. Tyrith felt it, and the hardness was up to snuff.

<"Theoretically, since this resists mana flow, it should resist being 'Sliced,' so I should be able to practice on this.">

Tyrith set the stone, which he decided to call 'Practice makes Perfect,' down on the floor of his dorm. Looking down at it, he cast slice at over full power, consuming over half of his mana. There seemed to be no effect, but investigating the surface closely revealed a small chip. Tyrith grinned. This will do nicely. He spent the next hour casting 'Slice' at low power, and testing his limits with his spell. Before he knew it, it was time to meet with Verrick.