When Adrian woke up the next day he had already set aside his grief. He would not let it inhibit his life, only power his dedication. His dormmates were also waking up and all went over to offer their condolences. Word must have spread during Adrians period of mourning.
Adrian accepted their condolences with a gentle smile. It was the subtle niceties that made society work and Adrian appreciated that. It was one of the things that set him apart from Trozes and his gang. Instead of brazenly changing the flow to obey his every whim like a tyrant, Adrian was more inclined to subtly shift it to it's best path, like a shepard.
As the roommates left the room they saw a notice posted in the corridor, alerting the apprentices that classes would be delayed due to a guild wide assembely. As they were just apprentices they did not have the right to attend, instead just chilling out in the dorm or going for a walk outside.
Adrian was sitting in the lobby when one of his friends came up to him. It was Andrei, whose main personality trait was his denseness, like some sort of main character from a novel. He also seemed to treat girls the same way, and Adrian knew he had a fan club within the school. Besides his natural naivety he was quite alright to hang around, add on his morals and character and you had someone Adrian was proud to call his friend. He had light brown hair that was borderring onto blond, a handsome face radiating warmth and courage and was tall and well-toned.
Instead of speaking niceties, Andrei just sat beside Adrian as a form of comfort, which suited Adrian just fine. Niceties were unnecessary between them as they had an understanding for each other.
Andreis arrival acted as a signal as soon after Adrians other friends arrived. There was Sam, an energetic young girl who was very small for her age, only coming to Adrian's chest. She was always energetic and full of sunshine, at least until someone like Trozes came along, than the sun hide away as the storms brewwed. The other time she gets agressive is when someone speaks badly about her father. Her hair was cut short so it rested on her neck, and was blonde in colour only, avoiding all the usual tropes that came with it. She came along with Emilia in tow. Emelia was the friend who Adrian liked most and had the highest hopes for. Unlike Andrei with his naivety and Sam who's personality was bipolar, Emilias only flaw was her lack of confidence which could be easily resolved. Her appearence seemed to contrast Sam in every way possible. Where Sam was short yet larger than life, Emilia stood hunched over to make herself appear taller, despite being the same height as Adrian and Andrei. Her hair was also the reverse of Sam. Instead of being short and bright it was long and dark. If she gained a bit of confidence and stood a little straighter Adrian was sure she would become a well rounded individual.
"We won't give you the general "I am sorry for your loss" spiel. Just know that we sincerely wish too help you" announced Andrei.
His friends knew him best after all. Although it was nice to revel in the sympathy of others what people needed was support. Adrian also knew this and unfortunately for his friends...
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I cannot let these events hold me back. They are out of my control. The best way to honour their memory is to keep on living." replied Adrian. He was the type to get over it independantly.
Andrei looked over and offered "It's good you came to this conclusion, but if you want to keep mourning for a short while thats fine too. I can give you a week before I start cheering you up, your short period is just too soon to get over it properly."
Before Andrei could put his arm around Adrian, in a way that was a bit too close for comfort in Adrians opinion, Sam butted in "I'm sure Adrian will be fine. He is a monster of perfection in human skin, the fact that he even mourned in the first place is the first piece of evidence we have seen proving that he is human." even as she said this she had a smile on her face. It was just another part of their ongoing joke, probably Sam's attempt to try and cheer Adrian up. Emilia also spoke up to support Adrian "I-if Adrian say it's alright than it is. Since he says he doesn't need more mourning time, than he doesn't." Adrian just realised that Emilia might have more problems than he thought.
After two hours of chatting, the thieves came to the dorms to alert them that class was ready. The apprentices moved on to the classrooms while there was some light snow.
The classroom was an auditorium, designed to seat around 100 apprentices, and was normally packed to the brim. The teacher had not only a podium but a large stage, for the use of practical demonstrations. The seats were aranged in three rows and three columns, resulting in 11 person per cell. Adrian and his friends sat at the top left cell, followed by a group of girls who, from the looks of things were part of Andrei's fan club.
The teacher was already at the podium when the students enterred. He announced to the class "Most of you have heard the news of whar happened to the Beaucroft Band. We have made preperations against it, and that's all you need to know. Some of you may be wonderring how this will impact our expedition. It won't. We figured that since we will only be going to a 1 Star God Realm it is unlikely we will encounter robbers. None the less we still have to be prepared and as such our next few lessons will be about things to help you on the expedition. Today we will be discussing what to pack..." The lesson began and Adrian listened in. He knew what he was bringing but it never hurt to listen in case he overlooked something.
The girls had seated themselves next to Andrei who was sitting in between both groups.
"Did gou see it snowing outside?" The girls began.
"I did." replied Andrei.
"We were thinking of having a snow ball fight after class, care to join?" The girls were trying to approach him.
"Sure, but be careful because when I'm done with you, you will be white all over!" Andrei declared. If it was anyone else the girls would have been disgusted, but with Andrei's handsomeness combined with his heroic nature, the girls just giggled. Adrian remembered the time he once told Andrei how what he said sounded. Andrei just thought he was dirty minded and continued his dense ways.
"So we also heard you snuck into the God Realms." said Sam. "Show us your loot."
Adrian pulled out the sword, pocket watch and the divinity, hiding it so no one else could see it. Seeing the pocket watch reminded him to question Chronos about both the pocket watch and the sword when he had the time.
"Nice job. Are you going to go too the smiths and get your divinity made into something?". The smiths were a group within the guild who instead of going to the God Realms to steal artifacts and divinity, took the stolen divinity and bent them to their desired tool, be it a cloak or sword or pretty much anything you could think of. You just needed the right type of divinity, and enough of it.
"Yeah." Adrian answered. "After class I was thinking of seeing Ross."