Chapter 15: The Quickest Possible Path

The two emerged from the subway tunnels in front of the famed Sanshi Adventure Academy. It was laid out more like a collegiate campus than a private academy. Buildings were situated across a large, open campground interspersed with pavilions and gardens for public and student leisure, doubling as a park. Robed students walked the campus. Some walked with purposeful strides, others did not walk at all, hopping deftly from rooftop to fence, to overhang, in a delightful show of casual parkour.

“The Sanshi Adventure Academy is the most prominent institution in the city of Sanshi,” Amara explained. “It was founded as a joint effort between three of Sanshi’s most prominent families as well as the Adventure Society and local government.”

“It’s a place for their heirs to form connections and find teammates,” Chelsea said. “As well as bolstering the strength and importance of the Shian Union as a whole.”

The Shian Union was the union of the six founding families. Sanshi was the most prominent city, a neutral meeting ground for the six to work together in the Union’s defense against monster waves and development of the local area.

“The dual Academy system is renowned for its success.” Amara continued.

“Dual Academy? You’ve only mentioned the one.”

“The second Academy you already no longer need. Those that want to become essence users but do not have the resources to buy them outright seek admission to the Prep Academy after a comprehensive exam. Then, the student compete in competitions for the prize in question, an essence.”

“The competitions are about almost anything.” Chelsea said. “Cooking, alchemy, swordsmanship, spearsmanship, archery, writing, running, research, debate, painting, music. Just to name a few.”

“Underwater basket weaving?”

“Not…that. Why would you compete in that? That sounds entirely pointless.”

“The first place winner gets first selection in a prize pool of essences, or they can request an essence specifically, although it may not be granted.”

“Why request an essence?”

“When you have two of three essences, you want to be choosy about the final essence in the combination. The difference between a healer and a life drain damage dealer is but only a single essence,” Amara said. “To complete a healer combination, the Prep Academy will often grant the request. Healers are highly valued.”

Nara wasn’t shaping up to be a healer, but she didn’t have any regrets. If it was indeed what her soul chose for herself, she was just going to accept it. Like any gacha, what was done was done. She had no accounts to reroll, just this one soul.

Something in Amara’s explanation caught her attention. She had been shuffled along so quickly onto the path of magic; she hadn’t even known its value.

“Are essences expensive?” she asked, hesitantly. If they were being granted as competition prizes and had an entire academy dedicated to that purpose, she couldn’t imagine that they were cheap.

“They are,” Amara said, unperturbed.

Chelsea rolled her eyes, her voice dismissive of Nara’s concern. “Do you think you have the leisure to worry about that? Just focus on making good use of what we’ve given you. Besides…” She eyed Amara, “I think Redell and Amara are more than happy with the exchange thus far.”

“Their research, you mean?”

“For us, a few essences is a small price to pay to accomplish our longstanding research goals. We even use them in rituals and crafting, some of which fail,” Amara said. “Especially for Redell. He has been working on his project for a very long time, with no significant breakthrough. I research multiple projects simultaneously, so when one stalls, I have others to occupy me.”

“So,” Chelsea held her arms out in demonstration, “You’ve gone and skipped the first part of the process. You don’t have to compete for essences with those crazy competitive students. Isn’t that good? Do you think you could have won?”

“No,” Nara admitted, “I’m maybe slightly above average since I’ve graduated college, but I’ve never been the best at anything.” In a competition against highly motivated, highly skilled opponents, she wouldn’t even qualify for the main competition. Maybe she could place at a regional level if that, but never at a national tournament.

“Don’t worry yourself over it,” Chelsea said her voice was a tad gentler than it had been before, belatedly aware of the sting of her words. “Either way, you would have gotten your essences quickly. It’s expected of outworlders. There’s been enough record of outworlder accounts that their racial abilities help them gain essences and awakening stones far quicker than is normally possible. It is the quickest path to survival in uncertain circumstances, and outworlders are tailored towards survival.”

“You have a looting ability,” Amara said. “If you had encountered and killed any normal rank monsters, chances are, you would have looted three essences abnormally fast.”

“Or,” Chelsea postulated, “Your outworlder nature led you to us, the quickest possible path.”

Their conversation led to a building befitting of a college style campus, if it was inspired by traditional Chinese or Japanese architecture with a more modernized aesthetic. It had sloped roof tiled with glaze tiles and large glass windows were patterned with geometric wooden grilles. The large windows faced into the harmonious beauty of the campus, letting natural light stream within.

“Admissions office,” Nara read from the calligraphy plaque, “I guessing I’m enrolling.”

“The Academy offers training fields and sparring lessons,” Amara said. “Sparring with your peers in technique will have greater benefit to you. If there are any additional classes that catch your interest, you are welcome to attend them. We can adjust your schedule as you see fit. Most of our research isn’t time sensitive, and us four don’t have much else to do, except Redell.”

Nara had already finished her degree on Earth. She had conflicted feelings that she was re-entering an educational institution when she had just escaped mere years before.

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“And I haven’t even finished paying off my loans,” She grumbled.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Chelsea said, her face starkly offended. “We’re not charging you. We’re not ungenerous. It’d leave me with a distinct distaste to charge an outworlder with not a single coin to her name.”

It was too late to explain, so Nara simply accepted their generosity, although in her mind, she would try to pay the group back, ten times over. Not out of a sense of obligation, but in return for their kindness. Although, she would have nothing valuable to offer them they did not already have, for a very long time. She was a pauper looking to pay back a prince. At least the prince may find the effort endearing.

As they lingered outside the office for a moment, a man came out to greet them. Nara could best describe him as a handsome accountant. His attire was neat, a long black robe sparse of embellishments. His fair skin was contrasted by black hair and eyes, which was typical of the human locals, although skin tone varied from tan to pale.

“I am Lee Hu,” he greeted politely. “What brings the two of you here with your guest, Lady Edea, Lady Hayeth?”

He performed a greeting with his arms akin to a martial arts bow, the traditional greeting for the local culture.

“We want to enroll this young lady here as a student of this academy. Due to some unusual circumstances, we’ve taken her under our wing,” Amara said, gesturing to Nara who raised her hand in indication.

“I understand. This young lady is…?”

“I’m Nara Edea,” she said, using Amara’s last name with a bit of hesitation, but doing as instructed.

“Welcome to the Adventure Academy, Miss Edea.” he said with the practiced formality of a long-time service employee, “Would you like a tour of the campus?”

“I would,” Nara looked up at the two with her. She did not know of their plans, and sought their approval. “Is that fine?”

“We’ll handle some of our own business. Will you be fine here?”

“I’m not a child.” Nara said, but immediately felt like a child once she said it. Amara, Chelsea, Redell, and Laius all contained an inexplicable sense of age beyond their outer appearance. Redell had mentioned they had extended lifespans. To them, she may as well be a child. Both her flesh and knowledge of this world were brand new.

Amara chuckled, “I mean no offense. This is a new world for you. There is no shame in discomfort with a strange world and culture.” Amara patted Nara’s shoulder reassuringly. “Lee, we leave her in your care.”

“You may be at ease with me, miss Edea,” he told her.

*****

“The Academy contains many lecture halls and facilities beneficial to the education of adventurers,” Lee Hu explained. He pulled a booklet from a satchel at his waist. “This is the class registry. Specialized classes must be registered for in advance. With your enrollment, you are free to enroll for these classes. General classes have their schedule posted on notice boards around campus, and do not need registry. Even those not enrolled at the academy are free to attend these classes.”

“That’s pretty nice. Free education, I’m impressed.”

Most likely, these were large, auditorium style classes. Essence users were a small percentage of the population, so it was probably best to fill up those rooms if they were holding the classes anyways.

“It is part of an initiative to raise the overall competency of essence users, not just adventurers,” Lee Hu explained. “The only requirement of the Adventure Academy is that four essence have been absorbed. Otherwise, the Prep Academy also offers public general classes for those that do not have a full set, are curious about various essence user employments, or would like to learn to read and write.”

Thankfully, Nara didn’t need to relearn language. Her outworlder translation power covered all of that for her—she was even able to write in their language, although the sensation of thinking in English but writing in completing different language was disoriented if she focused on the effect.

They stopped at a four story building. The Academy buildings were lower than the buildings of Sanshi, likely due to its reduction in building and population density as a campus for education.

“These are the campus dormitories,” Lee Hu said. “They are included with paid enrollment, but only for those without a residence nearby. That would apply to you, Miss Edea.”

“Just Nara is fine,” Nara said. “Miss Edea sounds like Amara to me. I’m just borrowing her name.”

“Then, please address me as Lee in turn.”

The tour rounded several other buildings. The class buildings were separated by the class taught within. Classes that were mostly informative, such as classes on astral magic theory, healing magic theory, general economics, financial management, and monster ecology were held in buildings that did not supply specialized equipment.

The other common buildings on campus were several ritual rooms, like the one on the jungle compound. Students could practice ritual magic in these rooms, and they were often used to awaken abilities with an awakening stone ritual. The requirement for admittance was iron rank, which meant most students didn’t have all their abilities awakened yet, like her.

Nara didn’t need the ritual, but she may use one just to practice. Compared to the complex ritual she cast with Chrome, it may be basic, but Amara and the others had been drilling her on the importance of basic skills since day one. Several ritual rooms did not need reservations, while others did. The non-reserved rooms were often used by the public.

“The most important facility for your needs is the sparring grounds.”

Lee Hu gestured to a large, compacted dirt training field. Students faced each other in 1 vs 1 matches, but there were also occasional group fights. Sounds of wood hitting wood reached Nara’s ears, even from her distant position.

“Are those…collars?” Nara asked skeptically.

“Suppression collars,” Lee Hu explained, “They are highly restricted equipment, and cannot be removed from the sparring fields. They suppress your essence abilities. Any match on these fields is to build technique. For matches utilizing abilities, the mirage chamber must be reserved.”

“What’s a mirage chamber?”

Lee pondered for a moment on how to explain mirage chambers. It was advanced magic engineering, a recent invention with respect to the length of their civilization.

“In a mirage chamber, you enter an induced dream state. Your mind and abilities are replicated within the chamber, as a mirage for others to see. To you, the dreamer, it may as well be reality—pain, abilities, perception, even aura, are all replicated perfectly. However, even death is but a mirage you will wake from.”

It was a holodeck. True, full immersion virtual reality that piggybacked on the sleeping mind. Her Astral Domain possessed that capability, but it was limited to her, and did not accurately reflect her capabilities in reality. What use was god mode in a dream when she was a peon in reality.

“That sounds incredibly useful for training.”

“It is,” Lee Hu said, “It is not often essence users can fight each other to their full abilities without harming each other. At iron rank, monsters lack the complexity that other essence users can offer.”

“I wonder if Amara invented it.”

The statement elicited a wry smile from Lee. “Lady Edea has invented a great many things, but the mirage chamber is not one of them.”

“What sort of things has she invented?”

“Lady Edea has not told you?”

“I haven’t exactly been in her care for long.”

Lee Hu pulled an assortment of objects from his satchel. He explained them, one by one. Was he a fan, or were her inventions just that convenient?

“This is a pen that infuses aura and magic in its ink.” Lee Hu said. “It has eliminated the need to use blood in official documents or binding contracts. The aura infused ink can be used to identify those who signed it, preventing forgeries or the subsequent denial of contracted promises.”

“Portable glowstone crystal light,” He tossed the crystal lightly, and it flew into the air to hover beside him. “Capable of providing light in low magic zones, autonomous and relatively inexpensive.”

“The oasis canteen. It holds…an astonishing amount of water. It can be difficult to store water in dimensional inventories, except for using a large number of water containers. This solves that issue.”

“The breeze bracelet. It can levitate small objects, although it takes some practice. Office workers find it very convenient. Also, generates an extremely localized comfortable environment for the user. Great for hot and humid weather, although not strong enough for extremely hot environments.”

“They’re all… very specific objects.”

“Lady Edea is well known for her…inventive inclinations. The mirage chamber is a high cost and large scale implement that Lady Edea does not specialize in.”

“So it turns out, Amara was a bit of an oddball, huh.”

Lee Hu gave her a flat, disapproving look at her accidental disrespect.