Kyrion woke up a bit sore, removing his eye patch and looking around the room. He was on the floor again; however, he did at least have a blanket this time around. His two green eyes passed over an eyepatch on the window seal.

The eye still gave him a minor headache when exposed to light, which hurt quite a bit. Though he could see out of it fine enough. Still, he wore it to avoid the headache.

Maximus was sleeping soundly with some sort of stuffed bear. Curled up in his pajamas. The boy was also snoring. His pillow had fallen on the other side of the bed, along with a nice blanket he didn’t recognize.

Kyrion decided to leave quietly and find the pens on his own. He had gotten a tour after his nap and knew his way around campus. So he didn’t need the help.

Looking at the predawn sky, he saw the two moons. As he looked between them, he could see another world. It was a much wider world, far vaster than the one he knew, yet it was far out of his reach. Nevertheless, a feeling in his bones told him that was where he would eventually go.

After finding the monster pen, Kyrion, in his wisdom, decided that going in blind could prove to be dangerous. Monsters are monsters, and he didn’t know what to expect...

After ten minutes of waiting, Gamodren appeared behind him. “You’re pretty early.”

“Am I? Or are you late? Oh mighty prismatic dragon.” Kyrion asked with mock reverence.

“No I’m right on time.” Gamodren smirked.

“Very funny. Well Gamodren, what now?” Kyrion crossed his arms.

“We go in, of course. How many magic walnuts do you have on you?”

“Ten, since fish eyes stopped me..” Kyrion stated.

“Good good.” Gamodren led them inside.

Kyrion saw nine four-armed bucks that he recalled seeing in his first trial. A fifth one twice as big with eight arms seemed to be their leader. The creatures had muscles that had muscles, and it was pretty disturbing. Sharp antlers grew from their heads, and their heights dwarfed even Kyrion.

“Ummm..” Kyrion was a little intimidated. It was rare he met creatures that made him look weak.

“These will be your builders, they are all tamed and will benefit greatly from your ability.”

“Uh huh… How strong are these creatures?” Kyrion asked.

“At least ten times your strength and endurance. Which is why I want you to immediately put them in that space of yours.”

“Wait. You want me to build the dorm inside my space like you had me do last time?”

“Yes. And every morning for a week you will come here and recruit the monsters that I need you to recruit.”

“What happens after that? To the monsters I mean.”

“I could release them into the wild to live out their days. They will grow stronger faster that way. Or I can donate them to the Etravonian Military. For use as military monsters.”

“What are military monsters?” Kyrion asked.

“Monsters that are trained to fight alongside soldiers. A common occurrence when a country has good tamers.”

“Any solution that lets them grow without fighting? I want them to choose.”

“You could house them in your space. Where they will live out their days. They won’t grow much but they will be able to live in relative peace.”

“Why can’t they just live here?” Kyrion asked.

“They are dangerous monsters with sentience. They could learn to live with everyday humans one day. But it’d be hard to convince the locals to adapt to monsters roaming about let alone tourists.”

“Can’t you use them for training? Like the other monsters?” Kyrion asked.

“That would fall into slavery.”

Cough.

“I don’t get it. Wouldn’t they be slaves if we sent them to the millitary?”

“Kind of. It’s the lesser of two evils.” Gamodren nodded.

“So releasing them into the wild to grow is the best thing for them.” Kyrion said.

“Excuse me?” Said a voice in Kyrion’s head.

“Into the wilds where it’s dangerous? Where they could be hunted for sport or meat by humans and other monsters?” Gamodren asked.

“What’s your idea then! This is hard!” Kyrion started shaking his head.

“Well my idea….” Karl was interrupted.

“Decisions are never easy when lives are on the line. Keep that in mind. There is always something lost rather it be lives, resources, morale, and money. Well money could be resources, but I like to keep them separate because?” Gamodren led Kyrion on.

“You love money? Sorry, can you give me a moment?” Kyrion asked.

“Exactly. Now… Oh sure go ahead and talk to yourself.” Gamodren asked.

Kyrion called for Karl. “Hey. What was your idea?”

“We have them become my dungeon monsters. Imprint their souls into my compendium and then have them hide in the space. When you finally build me a dungeon, you can have these monsters act as its defenders.” Karl stated.

“Ummmmm. So i’ll need to build a dungeon. Does that require math?” Kyrion’s concentration faded as he thought of a name.

“Math, architecture, you name it. With your space affinity you could probably build said dungeon here and summon it to the outside world when you need it.”

“How long will that take?”

“Ten years.”

“I’ll be an old man by then.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Kyrion?”

“Yes?”

“Nevermind.” Karl sighed.

Kyrion sighed and left his head, looking around sheepishly.

“What’s the plan?”

“Build a dungeon. Gonna take ten years at least.” Kyrion stated

“In that special place of yours?”

“You need to find a better name than that.” Kyrion stated as he seemed to recall doing something.

Gamodren sighed. “Why don’t you go ask how big the place is? Since you seem to have so much space.”

“Right. I should probably know that.” Kyrion re-entered his head.

“Welcome back Kyrion. Would you like to learn about pi?”

“Pie? For breakfast. Where?” Kyrion was already distracted.

“Pi is 3.141592….”

“What? I wanted pie. Wait no there was something else.”

“Ah yes, the pizza pie. It’s like a pie but it isn’t sweet, and you can have it any time of the day.”

“Pizza pie?” Kyrion didn’t know what that was, but it sounded like food.

“There is also a cake equivalent known as lasagna. Layers of meat, cheese….”

“No, I’m here for something else. But circle back on that. This pie of pizza and lazy anna discussion will happen later. Now what was it again?”

“Pizza waits on no one, master Kyrion.” Karl was aghast.

“What no.. it was something important.” This seemed to upset Karl.

“The space is one cubic mile though it only goes up three fourths of the way. Anything else?” Karl answered disinterestedly, his voice sounding slightly different than it was earlier.

“Did you lead me in a circle just to mess with me?” Kyrion scowled.

“I would never.”

“Oi I’m here. When are you going to absorb me? I’m almost outta booze.” Said a familiar drunk fairy.

“Did you try checking one of the other houses?” Karl asked.

“Oh right.” The fairy turned and awkwardly flew away towards another house. Its movement swayed considerably.”

“When are we supposed to tell him that we already have an earth core to absorb? The Tyrannical mammoth is supposed to make you stronger and tougher.”

“You know? I’d give that one to Ceres. This fairy is entertaining.”

“Fine, just so you know, absorbing that fairy will raise your alcohol tolerance through the roof. You’ll never be able to enjoy those beverages again.”

“What are those beverages?”

“Oh right. You’re a baby. Don’t worry about it, just remember to grow the tomatoes.”

“I’ll just go now.” Kyrion left the space.

“Oh right, remember to grow the tomatoes.”

Kyrion held out the ten walnuts. “Apparently I’m scatterbrained. Can we fix that?”

“Age and discipline. Now how big is it?”

“A full square mile with 3/4ths of the vertical distance being above ground.”

“Good good. Higher than expected. Now feed the nice murder deer.”

“Ok.” Kyrion fed the deer monstrosities and sent them into his special space. They seemed willing to help out, which weirded Kyrion out a bit.

“Domain. From here on out i’ll call it my domain.”

Gamodren produced a large toolbox which Kyrion also placed into his domain. Along with a copy of the blueprints and some heavy materials. “Great, now go get some breakfast and please avoid breaking any more tables and furniture.”

“Want me to put them to work?” Karl said.

“Sure.” Kyrion sighed as he started his second day of school.

After a modest breakfast, Kyrion made his way to his Physical Enrichment class. Or P.E for short. Coach Teus had a blackboard and a small boy wearing goggles on his head.

“Guest talk person.” Teus announced to the class.

The boy spoke in an eerily jolly tone. “Welcome, fledglings. Today we have a special history lesson.”

“No. No. No…” A few kids paled at that explanation. Quite a few tried to run.

Coach Teus stomped a foot, and a circular barrier covered the class, locking them in. Swiftly ending the rebellion.

“Listen, he teach. Good learning!” Coach Teus said with a smile on his face.

One studious kid attempted to burrow under the barrier. Moments later, he was shocked and sent flying as he made direct contact.

“Good. Now listen. Spirit mastery was originally a technique developed by orcs for orcs. On this continent. Gosk was the first spirit master on the continent and he taught his family those methods. Within centuries the whole continent was teeming with orc spirit masters. Back then the orcs were a nomadic people. Can anyone tell me what that means? You with the blue hair.”

A girl with light blue hair sighed. “They didn’t get mad?”

A few laughs rose from the others in the class, and the small boy shook his head. “No, Nomads are people who don’t settle down in one place for too long. Never setting down roots permanently.”

“Oh. Why not just call them hobo’s or hitchhikers?” The blue-haired girl asked.

“Moving on. For millennia only orcs had power over spirit master and they quickly discover the in’s and outs. An orc gains the ability to connect to spirits when they turn six and are trained in a path relating to that spirit from that moment on. At fourteen they join their tribe’s hunting party or militia. Those who survive to eighteen are given a series of test designed to push them into the expert ranks. Fail once, you wait a year, fail twice you lose a hand, and fail a third time, you and your spawn are kicked from the tribe for weakness.”

“I thought becoming an expert was hard.”

“It is for humans, dwarves, elves, and even us gnomes.” The small boy said.

“Oh. So that’s what you are.” Kyrion muttered.

The Gnome shot Kyrion a look. “Anyhow, for a natural born otc the process for mastering spirits is inborn. If they work hard they will become an expert. Orcs also don’t live that long without mana so they treat every moment with a purpose.”

“If this was the orcs continent how come there are so many humans here?”

“Bleh,” Teus spat in the dirt and buried it.

“Humans came and discovered that this method was so much easier than the one they practiced. Marking the decline for sorcery and mysticism. Of course the two species went to war for quite a few centuries and by the time it did end. Neigher force remembered why they were fighting. Eventually orc blood mingled with human blood and a new race was born. Half orc’s Followed by quarter orcs and one sixteenth orcs. Eventually the bloodlines dried out so much that most humans on this continent wouldn’t know if they were of orc descent.”

“So any of us can be part orc?” Said a wide-eyed boy with gray skin, black hair, and slightly sharpened canines.

“Correct. Though orc genes aren’t a requirement for spirit mastery. They were just the first to practice and perfect it. Elves and dwarves soon made it to the continent after, and wars that should never have occurred broke out. People began to kill one another for land, power, and resources. Which led to the first great incursion.”

“Incursion?” Kyrion muttered.

“Yes. You see Imala isn’t the final power at be, every half century or so, the prophets send out a missive proclaiming the time and location of what we refer to as an Incursion. As many of you may know it’s occurring in eight years. Many of you will still be students then and represent our soon to be esteemed academy. As I was saying, the first incursion killed quite a few orcs, humans, elves, and dwarves. Leaving ruins buried all over the continent, since then the continent united to fight off the threat and the Orc Empire of Limguard was born. The capital in modern day Clomois.”

“Wait. If Limguard was so big what happened?” Kyrion asked.

“No more interruptions!” The Gnome snapped.

“Well like all empires tend to do, the ruler died unexpectedly in his sleep and everything went up in flames. Nobles in power tried to maintain their lands and began to war with each other all over again. The fifth incursion ended the fights for the time and many were unprepared, ending in high death tolls and lost Kingdoms. The Tetsan Empire and the Etravonian Empire became the biggest countries on the continent. Spanning the western and southern borders. Orcs decided to continue their nomadic lifestyle becoming a power on their own and continuing their practices. Turning out what they called true spirit masters.”

Kyrion scowled.

“Now we stand at a precipice, many of you will act as our vanguard. A strong force should lead the charge when the fighting starts and many of you will meet those standards. Hence the lesson. I want each and every one of you to think of what your role on the battlefield will be. And then I want you to model your training in this class to better suit your role.” The Gnome sighed and looked to Teus. Who nodded knowingly.

“Get good at getting good.” The orc said knowingly.

The other kids in the crowd roared in excitement, while Kyrion was a bit concerned.

The remainder of P.E. was focused on running while wearing weights to build stamina. Of course, Kyrion decided to go for a light, fifty pounds on each limb with one hundred on his body.

Kyrion maintained a continuous pace with three hundred pounds of extra weight while observing the others who seemed accustomed to this practice. He was not unique in quite a few others were carrying over five hundred total on forms smaller than his. Which was enlightening. He didn’t have to worry about doing too well. Kyrion didn’t like standing out when he could help it.

The class eventually ended, and Kryrion noticed something quite interesting. Most of the students were heaving on the ground, unable to move.

Most of those who weren’t heaving were quite exhausted. Kyrion soon found that his state of slightly strained wasn’t very high compared to the great majority. As his regeneration, and endurance, worked to keep the strain away.

Kyrion looked to coach Teus upon realizing it. The orc held a serious expression as he acknowledged the situation. It was his first day, but one thing was certain this class was about pushing limits. He wasn’t going to make it by pretending to be small potatoes.

After washing himself off and adjusting his workout clothes, he made his way to his soon-to-be favorite class. Or so he hoped.

----------------------------------------

Eatiquette and Etiquette, one was real, the other not so much. Believe it or not, Kyrion did learn table manners and all the noble peacockery. He just hated it. People let their guard down when you’re a farmer’s son and act as such. Unaware of all the faux pas, he made on a daily occasion.

Suffice it to say, when it came to dealing with the stuck-up kind of people. Kyrion played dumb and aloof. But what he was looking at right now almost made him drop the act and be a commendable little noble.

In front of the boy was a tiny plate full of delicious cake, a small cup of tea, and a handkerchief. Had his mother made cake for the lessons, he wouldn’t have had…No had his mother made cake for those lessons, Kyrion would have gone to live with the wolves for safety.

This was good cake, and Kyrion was doing the best he could in a class with a subject he hated. All for a single slice of cake before his first lunch.

Ms.Breaux was a woman of frills. Standing a solid five-foot-six with curly blond hair that seemed to bounce when she moved and a dress that held multiple layers of poof.

Kyrion turned to all the other well-dressed students in his class. Most wore dresses of fine quality, while the few boys who managed to get this class were dressed up in various formal wear.

Kyrion’s training garb covered his body, somewhat stained with grass, as he hadn’t had a chance to clean it.

The class continued with Kyrion getting his second chance to eat dessert made with ingredients from fledgling and above sources. This was beyond delicious. Moving close to Dorgon’s level of quality. However, something was odd, Kyrion’s appetite was gone, and he didn’t have a desire to eat anymore.

The etiquette class ended with nothing special as a flash of silver passed by him. Knocking the boy off his feet and onto the ground. It was as though he was pushed. As Kyrion got to his feet, he heard a sigh and looked up at a disappointed Ms.Breaux.

“Didn’t mean to fall, Milady Breaux. Sorry for such an unsightly showing.” Kyrion was talking to the teacher, but his eyes kept gravitating toward the cake.

“Be at ease, young Mosely, I don’t blame you for that. And no you can’t have the leftovers, I have another class after this one.” Ms.Breaux said vaguely.

Kyrion had a surprised look on his face. His mouth formed the how expression.

“I read your file.”

Kyrion decided to get out of the classroom before the teacher could get more out of him.