“What happened there, Dex?” I asked my AI once I’d safely returned to my dormitory.
I silently shut my door and twisted the lock on its handle, half-expecting Cinthara–a blasted Euridice clone–to come find me and try to kill me.
Codex still hadn’t answered. “Dex?”
“Is there something I can do for you, Rayden?”
I raised an eyebrow at Dex’s response as I trudged over to the bed and flopped onto it, feeling too exhausted to start taking my armor off. I closed my eyes against the pounding in my head and released a heavy sigh.
“Are you okay?” I asked Dex. “It’s like you didn’t hear me. I just asked what had happened back there–when I Tiered up. I thought I was going to die!”
“I did warn you it would be dangerous. It is easier on one’s body to cultivate through meditation and at a slow pace. Having me speed up the process for you could tear up your core.”
My eyes flew open. “That’s good to know.”
But it had been worth the risk. The extra constitution from my higher stats had made all the difference in my duel against Cinthara. I most definitely wouldn’t have been able to endure the allotted 60 seconds, and my position in the academy would look very different than it did now.
“It is best if we do not try to do that again, Rayden.”
I nodded mindlessly but couldn’t bring myself to promise Codex that I’d never put myself in a similar situation again. I didn’t know what the future had in store for me, and advancing to Tier 3 during the duel had changed everything.
“Will you pull up my current status and stat screens, please?” During the fight, I hadn’t been able to see my new Tier 3 Skill, and the anticipation was killing me.
Dex followed my request, and soon my vision was filled with a glowing screen.
STATUS
NAME: CLONE #52
TIER: 3
LEVEL: 2
I forced myself not to look at my new Skill yet, allowing a moment of inward celebration at finally having advanced to Tier 3. The highest anyone had reached in Edrona was Tier 3, including Drayek and the Priests. And now, I could be counted among them. Many would have never guessed that I’d ever do it–including myself.
With a burgeoning grin on my face, I continued reading the screen:
TIER 3 SKILL:
ENHANCED SKILL SNARE
-CLONE #52’S SKILL SNARE’S COOLDOWN TIME DECREASES FROM 10
MINUTES TO 5 MINUTES. THE SKILL SNARE SKILL–THE ABILITY TO READ ANOTHER’S ESSENCE USED WHEN THEY CAST A TIER 3 OR BELOW SPELL, MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR CLONE #52 TO STEAL SAID SPELL–CAN NOW BE USED ONCE PER 5 MINUTES.
Feeling a little disappointed in my new Skill, I glanced at the black ring made from obsidian still wrapped around my pinky. I had traded some old equipment for the magical item from Blacksmith Gerald in Edrona, enticed by its power to decrease my cooldown time for spellcasting by half. Though my Tier 3 Skill wasn’t necessarily exciting, it definitely gave me a new advantage when it came to fighting. Now, my cooldown time would only last two and a half minutes with the help of my ring, which I had to admit was significant.
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I mentally switched the status screen to my statistics screen, curious to see where Codex had allotted the 21 stat points I’d earned.
STATS:
MIGHT: 19 (+2)
AGILITY: 16 (+2)
VITALITY: 11 (+5)
INTELLIGENCE: 16 (+5)
WISDOM: 12 (+5)
WILLPOWER: 16 (+2)
FREE STAT POINTS: 0
“I’m guessing you allocated my stat points to better match Lord Solomon’s statistics.”
“Yes, Rayden. Lord Solomon focused heavily on becoming well-equipped as a mage. And your Skills rely greatly on spellcasting, as well. Hence the heavy allotment I placed in Vitality, Intelligence, and Wisdom.”
What Codex said made sense, and I realized I probably should decide on what type of warrior I wanted to be. I’d thought about it before, but past days’ events had preoccupied my mind.
Now that I had more time to think about it, I found myself wanting to rely on brute strength with the support of spells because of how Drayek used to fight. But my Skills and strengths were different from his. Maybe Codex was right…. Maybe I should focus on becoming a mage. But I wanted a mentor–someone who had first-hand fighting experience–someone to advise me in these decisions. Not an AI who had never once picked up a weapon.
Groaning, I rolled off the bed. I needed to change out of my armor. As I slid out of the hot, sweaty metal, I made a mental note to try and figure out where I could get armor better suited for my Tier. Perhaps in that market area near the entrance of the city?
But I didn’t know when I’d have time to do that. And I didn’t have money to pay for any new equipment.
Just after the duel, the headmaster had told me that someone would come along shortly to finish getting me set up as an academy student. A “student companion” is what he’d called the person. I hoped that this “getting me set up” also meant that I’d soon be able to find a job and earn enough money to buy the things I needed.
Though my day wasn’t over yet, I mostly just wanted to fall into a deep sleep, then inevitably make my way to the mess hall for some much-needed food. But, I wanted to follow the academy program as closely as possible. And the sooner I could get set up at the school, the better.
***
Student companion. More like student nightmare. I followed the person that the academy had assigned to me, a third-year student with way too much bounce in his step. I mean, what about life was there to be so overly cheery about?
“You’re going to love it here,” Emmett, who was maybe just two years my senior, chirped. He turned to face me, yellowish eyes glowing with excitement, but he did not stop in his steps down the stairs.
I resisted the urge to hold out my arms to catch him if he fell. It seemed highly unnecessary to skip down the stairs backward just to look me in the eye and chat. Though, I should be grateful for the other student’s niceties. The gods knew I was owed some friendliness based on my poor track record.
Emmett had met me at my dormitory door just seconds after I’d changed out of my armor and tucked the set and my spear safely away. It felt like he’d been waiting for me to finish the entire time because the enthusiastic rap of his knuckles on my door sounded just as I’d slid the equipment under my bed.
I’d opened the door to a boy’s face with orange-ish lips scoring his cheeks into a smile and lifting the strange set of black whiskers growing out of his skin. No, not regular facial hair whiskers… He looked like a human cat. Not quite human, not quite cat.
I’d seen a lot of animal-like people in this city. Not only that, but I’d seen people walking about in full varieties of bright colors like blue skin, rainbow-colored hair… Some people even had completely midnight-black eyes or no eyes at all. And, of course, I saw people who looked like the Edronans or even like me.
Due to the wide variety of people I’d met and seen at Solomon’s Realm Academy city, Emmett’s slightly furry face and the hint of a tail poking out of the back of his pants didn’t quite shock me as much as it would have a couple of days ago.
After introducing himself, Emmett had then explained that he’d been assigned to me as my student companion. He also defined the term “student companion” as another student charged with helping a first-year student learn the ins and outs of the academy. He went on and on about how he’d be there for anything I needed, which, though overly eager, was nice to know.
“Where are we headed, exactly?” I queried.
Emmett’s smile grew at me, then he whirled back around and sauntered down the steps facing forward, which made the speed of my heart slow, thankfully. But he skipped every other step, his boots threatening to slide every time.
“We’re getting you set up with a class schedule.”