About 30 minutes later we arrived at the portal located right in the center of the city.
“Well then let’s get going then, we don't have any need to stall.” I said as I stood before the portal.
“Yes sir” Christian said as he prompted the other guards to enter before him, it was obvious that he was still quite iffy with going in the portal, remembering how hard he puked when he first entered it was quite understandable.
“Just enter already” I said as I pushed Christian into the portal, soon after which I entered the portal, and the rest of the guards followed closely behind me.
“Huuuu, this feels much better than last time.” I said as I stepped out of the portal on the other side.
“Blerghhhhhhh” Christian ran to the basin, and started to puke as soon as he got out of the portal.
“Ahh it seems that he still hasn’t gotten used to portals yet.” Alfred said as he walked closely behind me.
“Alfred, since Christian seems quite useless right now, get us a hotel, where we will stay for the night, and tomorrow morning I will go take the academy entrance exam, after which you guy’s should leave. Knights of the forester family going around in big groups have likely already started the spread of plenty rumors in high society I believe.” I said as I folded my hands and looked at Alfred.
“I will get right to it.” Alfred said as he nodded and took out his phone.
“Now Dave, why don't you get us a couple of drinks, I will go for a nice cold cup of ice tea.” I said with a smile as I looked at the poor sod.
‘Fuck’ Dave whispered under his breath.
“Huh did I hear something?” I said as I decided to ignore his previous exclamation.
“No young master, I will bring them to you right now.” he said as he shook his head and ran off to the resident café of the portal building.
“Good” I said with a nod as I moved towards one of the seats, and sat there cross legged.
“Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh” I breathed out before I started to chant the script the elder had given be before in my head.
‘From the Basis of all, empty and without cause,
sound, the dynamic potential of the Dimension, arises.
From the Awareness, empty and without cause,
light, the dynamic potential of Primordial Wisdom, appears.
From the inseparability, empty and without cause,
rays, the dynamic potential of the Essence, appear.
When sound, light, and rays are taken as instrumental causes
that ignorance turns into the delusion of body, speech, and mind;
the result is wandering in the circle of the three spheres’
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“Young master the hotel staff are here to pick us up.” Alfred said distracting me from my rhythm, because of which I opened my eyes and started to talk.
“Great.” I nodded at Alfred, before I turned my head towards Christian and spoke, “Ah by the way Christian, how much of our given budget have we spent?”
Christian replied to the question swiftly, “We have spent about 5560 empyrean of the 15000 that we had been given by the count.”
[author note : I will be using E as short for empyrean cuz that is well easier.]
“Hmm I see I see, okay then, we still have quite a bit left, well whatever.” I said as I considered a situation where we might need some excess money.
“Ah let's go now, I would like to get a good night’s worth of sleep before I take the test tomorrow.” I said as I looked at the two knights who were looking at me wondering where the last question was going.
“Ah yes young master.” startled the both of them replied in sync.
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“Huffff” I breathed out as I sat crossed legged on the bed of my room.
I started using the world’s breath technique and started to move the mana inside me, slowly , steadily, one strand at a time, of the purest of the pure form of mana one could gather, from the heart, to the brain, to the hands, then the legs, back to the heart, and then finally sending it straight to my core.
As the strand of mana reached my core, I finally formed my 1st-star in my core, and would finally be able to use my techniques better, with the extra mana.
As my 1st-star, which was still unstable, due to it having been formed just now, started to stabilize, my sensitivity to the surrounding area increased, and my entire body felt refreshed.
“Huuuuuuu, finally my 1st- star is complete” I said to myself as I let out a deep breath.
*GRUMBBLLLLLLEEE*
“Hello room service? This is Julian forester from room number 201.” hearing the roar that came from my stomach I immediately reached the landline, and called the reception.
“Yes sir how may we help you.” the receptionist replied.
“I would like 2 orders of rib eye steaks, and a Caesar salad on the side, delivered to my room.” I said as I looked at the menu.
“Ok sir, your order has been place, and will arrive in a short amount of time.” the receptionist said as she put ended the call.
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One short fulfilling meal later, I decided to sleep, as I needed to be in peak condition if I wanted to hold a candle against those monstrous geniuses that would be joining this year.
“Haaaaah” I let out a short breath of satisfaction, and started to talk to myself, ‘even though it wasn’t in the least bit necessary for me to take the test, as those who came with letters of recommendation like me would be accepted without going through the whole test, not taking the test was something that no noble would ever even think of doing.’
‘The entrance exam of the academy was something that had been going on since before the empire even began, which was also the reason that all the students inside the academy were considered to be equals in terms of social standing, and only one’s capability, and rank would determine the kind of treatment they would get.’
‘If I just used the recommendation letter, I would at most be ranked int the 1000s, but if I were to do well tomorrow, well let's leave it for future me to deal with.’
“Haaaah life is quite hard isn’t it.” I said with a sigh, ending the entirety of my unnecessary thoughts, as I fell asleep quickly, due to my exhaustion and contentedness.
*******
“AHHHHHHH JULIAN SAVE MEEE, IT HURTS” the cries of a woman, along with that of a child could be heard from the inside of a burning
mansion.
“HOLD ON LIZ I'M RIGHT HERE I’M COMING PLEASE, JUST A LITTLE LONGER, I’M ALMOST THERE,” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran towards the burning mansion that seemed to have been getting only further and further away.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MOMMMYYYYY” I head the cry of a child because of which I started to run faster, and shouted till my throat started to hurt.
“CLEA HONEY IT WILL BE ALL OKAY, PAPA IS HERE, I’M COMIN …” my scream was stopped mid way as I was the house fall down and turn into ashes where I saw the remains of my wife and child,
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” I screamed and cried as I got on my knees.
********
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha” I breathed hard, as I woke up from the dream, I covered my eyes with my hands and began weeping, with no sign of the tears stopping.
“Not this time, I won't let it happen again, I can't let it happen.” I said to myself as I pressed my eyes into my blanket.
********
The night had passed, and I had gotten dressed, pretty casually to be fully ready to take the entrance exam that would start in about 2 hours.
“Okay I'm ready now, Christian ask the hotel staff to call the car, I will be leaving for the academy right now, I would like to get a scope of the entrance hall before I take the test.” I called to Christian who stood right at my gate.
“I will call the reception and get the car ready as soon as possible.” he said.
“Great I will go down and wait for it then.” I replied to Christian as I walked out of the room.
Stopping right as I was about to get into the elevator, I looked back at the knights who were following me I said, “Oh and the rest of you don’t need to follow me on this one, just Albert and Christian will be enough to guard me until the academy.”
“UNDERSTOOD” they replied all together.
******
“Waaah is this really a part of the empire?” Christian said as he looked out the window, at the magnificent city, filled with futuristic looking buildings.
With a laugh the old driver that was taking us to the academy said,
“Huhuhu, first time in the academy city is it?”
“Huh how did you know?” confused Alfred replied instead of Christian.
“That is the reaction most people who visit here for the first time in their life have.” the old man said as he smiled.
With a nod Christian once more started to speak, “Ahhh I see I see, would you mind telling me though why is the infrastructure here so much more different than that of the rest of the empire, I mean I know the basics that the city had existed since before the empire, but still in the hundreds of years the influence should have become more prevalent.”
The driver laughed as he replied.“Huhuhuhu, well you see while the city is under the empire, it is controlled and operated by the headmaster’s of the academy, and as such, unless there is a military emergency, the city follows its own code of laws, and governance structure. Which is also why much of the infrastructure here is unique to Argenta, and likely would not be found elsewhere in the empire.”
“Huuuuuu we are finally here” I said interrupting their conversation as I looked at the magnificent academy, filled with domed roofs, from times of old, pillars from the old kingdom, and architecture that has withstood the test of time.