After that class for writing and learning the basic skills for learning the common and less common, Reiki could finally get some space to himself. He did have a brief interview from the Scholar who ran it, who was thrilled to have somebody who was willing to learn in their class. However, the student at the back of the class made a rather loud scoffing as they glared at him.

Due to his lack of magic, the young speedster had to carry the papers he had on him. Several other students had magic bags that their personal items and study notes all blended into, like they were being sucked into a vacuum while shrinking at the same time. The cacophony of whooshes that echoed in the room, from the various students, was a little loud, but oddly enough, it didn’t hurt his ears as he watched the spectacle.

However, his focus was interrupted when the staring one barged past him, knocking his arm enough that he should have dropped his notes. Due to his unique abilities, in the blink of an eye, the notes were back in his hands. This went by unnoticed by the staring Beastal, who turned around after passing him and thought that the nudge hadn’t been enough.

Tch. ‘You’re lousy for being late.’ He said, his earlier bravado earning a nasal chuckling from a lean, teenage wolf Beastal, and a guttural chuckle from a rather muscular, sleeveless demon. ‘And you don’t have a Void Bag for your things either. You’re utterly useless.’ That got more of a snigger from the two beside him, who were different to the two he was with earlier.

The demon’s dark grey horns contrasted against his cold blue skin and golden-amber eyes that shone like a torch in any lighting condition. In contrast, the Beastal had a few very dark patches of cold, grey fur on his ears and tail. However, what caught Reiki’s attention was their face; it was almost like a hybridisation of a human face with a wolf’s head, but without the fur.

‘... What an asshat!’ He thought to himself, as the rude Beastal guy, probably a bully, sniggered with a wide grin.

With a huff of air that he was holding, Reiki just ignored him and picked his new notes up, and held them in his hands. He had been used to this type of behaviour once before. Not in this world, though. His previous one. He had once been the centre of a —

‘Oy! Li’nynica!’ He called out, smirking as he got the speedster’s attention.

However, he wasn’t used to seeing such a pure reaction of brows furrowed and a tilted head from a rather dubious, dumbstruck expression. The young speedster didn’t look direct at the guy, but he did seem to think that it was some kind of insult. For some reason or another, the young speedster felt a bit rebellious, throwing caution to the wind as he spoke back at the rude Beastal who looked like he was trying to ruin his day. It didn’t feel like him, but it felt like he was much calmer and more controlled, than what happened many times back in his previous world.

‘I… I don’t know what you just said, but I’m assuming that you are… insulting me?’ He asked, using his lack of lingual knowledge, which got the Beastal to raise his hackles and expose his sharp teeth.

His nonchalant attitude in his exterior posture was betrayed by his internal screaming in his mind.

‘What on Earth am I doing, continuing this type of discussion?!’ he thought, with the subtle twitch he felt, of his right eyebrow, which went unnoticed by all but him.

‘That’s it. You, me, battle arena. You have an hour.’ He let a long blow of air through gritted teeth after he spoke, before adding ‘’ under his breath as he turned around and left the room.

Reiki was at a loss for words. He didn’t want to fight. Plus, he didn’t know if this was an allowed rule or not. The moment he realised it was the same guy from earlier irked him, so he reached out with his Telepathy to find Sapphire’s mind. Once he found her, he did his best to nudge her with a mental ping… but ended up in an immediate connection regardless.

‘[Hey, Sapphire. Don’t jump, it’s me.]’ he projected, when she had, in fact, jumped from the mental ping and intrusion into her mind. ‘[Got a second?]’ he added, as he could sense her apology to her Scholar for her outburst then her answering the question with a correct-feeling response, while he's exiting the room just behind the last student and walking through the hallway.

‘[Hey, you almost got me at a bad time. What’s up?]’ She replied, doing her best to keep her expression from matching her internal, mental self.

‘[So you know that guy from earlier? The one you hid behind me from?]’ he projected his reply while dodging a few other students, some walking together while others practised low-tier spells that looked harmless.

‘[Oh. Him, yeah.]’ She thought in an instant, as he sensed her face and gaze soften.

‘[Well, I don’t know if you want to follow it up, but he kinda asked m—] Woah!’ his Telepathy was cut off in an instant when he bumped into the pig-tailed girl from earlier, knocking both of them to their butts on the floor. ‘You okay?’ he asked, getting up with a bit of speed, then offering her a hand.

‘That wasn’t ver– Oh. It’s you. Uh. Thanks.’ She replied, as she moved onto her knees and accepted his gesture after she noticed who he was. ‘You’re that new kid from earlier, right?’ she asked, as he felt a strong mental ping for his attention.

‘Yh-yeah, I was a bit lost in my thoughts.’ he fibbed, but it wasn’t a total lie though. ‘Sorry about that.’ he added, before sending Sapphire a quick projected message to check in later, hoping to explain it in person.

After his apology, she seemed to sense a more innocent mind before her. So she told him something to calm his nerves. Her full name was off the books, but she preferred that he used her socially given nickname; Tiff. Reiki was glad he didn’t have much in the way of his next class, which was the following day, so he got her help to guide him to where they had their on-site sparring arenas.

With a thank you, he watched as some other magic students throwing basically magical haymakers at each other. A strange horn-like whistle echoed with a gentle thrum around the large space, as if signalling it was the end of a session. He sat on a lower row of seats, before his boredom got the better of him. He wandered down into the arena, as a group of mischievous and curious students watched him from one of the open ends of the arena.

‘I wonder what this place is like when you’re not in an entrance exam.’ he thought, not bothering to use his speed to look around the large, almost circular space.

The floor of this arena possessed an oval-shaped configuration, containing a diminutive, but elevated, stone platform surrounded by enigmatic markings that he was unable to discern. They weren’t translating, so he deduced that they must be a decorative design choice.

His eyes started to roam between the stands, before the guy from earlier stepped out from between them. While roaming the arena, seeing the oval “play zone” and the almost two-metre-tall walls surrounding it, he almost missed seeing the guy until he did a double take.

‘Hey, you.’ the guy yelled at him, as he used an invisible spell to soften his jump into the arena, with some dust kicking up around his feet.

‘That must’ve been a wind spell.’

Upon his opponent’s approach onto the arena, the super-powered teenager did a surface scan of his mind, discovering the guy wanted to battle him. He hoped that there was a staff member around to speak to. Bad timing on his behalf, as the guy began to attach some strange bracelets to his wrists. The bracelets, from Reiki’s perspective, looked like a pompous way of showing his ego. However…

‘Nobody’s around to stop us,’ the guy cracked his neck as his cocky grin widened, as the round jewel on each bracelet began glowing. ‘Let’s see if you’re as strong as you think you are, no need to be so protecting of that Beastal.’ he added, as a soft “shring” echoed in the chamber.

If he didn’t already know what was going through this guy’s head, he did now. He didn’t want to expose any other secrets about his ability set, yet he felt like this series of events might affect his time at the academy.

‘I wish I could ju—’ his thought was interrupted, his superspeed ability snapping to full as he ducked and sidestepped.

He turned his body as he fell in relative real-time, gritting his teeth and widening his eyes. A thin, yet long blade of ice had just shot past his cheek. It hadn’t grazed him, but it did send a chill down his back. He focused on keeping his speed active, when he landed on his back on the hard floor of the arena. His gaze snapped to the guy, who appeared to be frozen in time. He then noticed the other bracelet’s glow with a slow increase in brightness, as particles and chunks of the ground seemed to float up and spiral around his ever opening hand. A hand that he felt was aiming directly at him.

‘Is this guy for real?!’ He said aloud as he got up to his knees, before performing a last minute zip to the back of the arena floor. ‘Seriously, is he that obsessed with Sapphire?!’ he added in afterthought, noticing an electric aura on the edge of his vision.

Three thin needles made from the collecting dust had shot to where he had just been, where he had just been kneeling. The thought of getting Sapphire’s attention came to mind, but he was stuck at the mercy of several Ice and Earth needles diverging his attention. He was forced into a defensive play against the barrage of these thin needles.

‘How many spells does this guy actually know? Is it literally just long, thin, elemental needles?’ he thought, as he started to move from his fear of the needles to analysing his opponent's attack pattern.

With a hum of curiosity, Reiki watched as around ten ice needles came his way, before he slowed down to watch the guy swap hands and fire the Earth projectiles. He guessed it was roughly ten, but the thumps into the arena floor and walls from each barrage sounded like he was firing more than that. Way more than ten. That was when he noticed the guy wasn’t fully aiming for him. This one-sided fight felt like it was taking hours for the young speedster, yet the guy hadn’t spent all that long firing them.

To the aggressive male, it felt like he had carried on using his artefacts for a good few moments, draining away the stored elemental magic spells stored within. He felt his movements slowing with the use of his Mana decreasing, alongside the reduction in projectiles fired, as the barrage continued. The needles in the floor started to take on a small pattern. He knew the guy was cocky, but he wasn’t someone to endanger his life. That earlier mind scan told him the guy just wanted to mess with him. That’s when he was about to pull a trump card, coming back to real time, when he noticed the guy had heavy breathing. The jewels that were glowing earlier were now devoid of any light.

‘… How are you avoiding all of these?!’ the guy said, between deep gulps of air, as his now redder, shinier forehead was covered in beads of sweat. ‘Nobody’s been able to dodge all of them bef—.’ he added, before being interrupted by a dominating, feminine voice.

‘STOP THIS AT ONCE!!!’

The barrage of spells that he was expecting never came. Reiki finally got a breather, and collapsed to his knees and hands. He looked up and saw the guy who had been firing at him, now firing a very distasteful look.

‘Who ordered this battle?’ the voice projected into the arena with a clear volume to it, one that felt familiar.

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The speedster thought it was either due to the design of the surrounding walls, or a certain type of spell. He looked up where he thought he pinpointed the voice. Only to see Princess Aerys staring at both of them, with a crowd of around one or two dozen students watching the whole situation. He spotted Sapphire near the princess, her cheeks red while her brows knitted together as one hand held the front of her dress with a tight grip.

‘He started it!’ the guy yelled, spit flying from his mouth as he tried to pin the situation on the speedster. ‘Why don’t you take it up with him?’ a grin on his face gave Reiki the desire to sucker-punch him at his fastest, but he held himself back to avoid such a situation.

‘Like I’d believe that.’ she replied, gesturing with a raise of her hand and clicked with her thumb and middle finger, which triggered the sound of some shuffling feet. ‘That’s because I know him on a personal level, and I get the feeling that he wouldn’t start something like this intentionally.’ she answered, which got some chatter going as two students ran into the arena from each end.

Reiki noticed the two students had a shoulder-plate on their left arms. Held in place by a red and white band along the lower edge that wrapped around near the top of their biceps. It was a simple design with a plain crest of a shield, which was also outlined behind a simple sword and mace.

‘Are they like a student council, or something more like a hall monitor?’ he kept to himself, as they dragged the other guy away, who had started hurling insults at him.

Those insults he ignored as best he could. Some being in a foreign language. That was until one about his mother irked him, and he let a subconscious mental blast from his Telepathy skill join his intimidating glare at the guy. The sudden pressure from both his glare and the unintentional mental attack caused the guy to spasm and just about fall unconscious.

The two men fighting his attempts to get out of their grasp stumbled and looked at each other, before dragging him away. This time without the resistance he was giving them. They were taking him out of sight from the rest of the onlookers. A majority of students

Not quite realising what just happened, he felt a pressure tighten in his chest as a cold sensation rushed over the surrounding skin. He didn’t need much to realise this was a pang of guilt after using his ability. He stayed in the arena, as Sapphire helped Elysia down with a slight stumble., they both helped Aerys down from the walls of the arena, with an easier catch from both of them. Some other students were about to follow, most with similar arm-shields, but Aerys shook her head without a word and murmurs passed along her request without her saying a thing.

Despite her obvious status, he noticed how everyone trusted her and treated her like she was any other person. Something refreshing compared to some mangas he once read back in his home reality. After that whole situation with the guy, it was cleared up once he came back around. He did later admit to trying to show off that he was more capable of protecting Sapphire, yet failed due to the match being ended by force. As the match wasn’t reserved in advance and unregistered, the young speedster found himself alone in his student room, banished from the campus grounds for a few days.

Despite first appearances, especially personalities, the guy was actually one of their leading “Hogball” players. Whatever that meant to him. However, due to his popularity, it caused the guy to be cocky whenever he wasn’t playing or training. He shook his head, the tightness appearing every time he thought about that unintentional psychic blast he gave the guy. The days felt long, even to him, as Sapphire often came over to check up on him.

The days were filled with Sapphire coming over every few hours, giving him some classwork for him to cover while he was kept off campus… or as far from the academy grounds as they would allow, due to his residency overlapping with the Academy’s private student living. It also didn’t take long for his temporary setback to get lifted, but it still affected his first class jitters. After his latest class, he found himself invited to a rooftop with a small garden and seating area. Along with a prepared lunch for two, in a hamper, that his new friend had made for them.

That was when Sapphire had brought up something of concern.

‘So… some of the word going around is that you’re being called the strange speed mover.’ she had told him while changing topic, only for him to correct her while allowing her to finish her concerning statement.

‘I think the better term would be Speedster,’ he got a tilt of curiosity and something he couldn’t quite identify before continuing, ignoring the quicker flicks of her tail but enjoyed the sight of her ears twisting to pay direct attention to him. ‘I think it suits how my ability works. Think about it… I’m both moving and thinking at the same speed when my ability activates. Everything else just slows down around me.’ he added, making her expression change to one he couldn’t quite figure out.

‘So, not only do you have a … Speedster’s abilities, but your… “tele-path-ee” as well?’ She wasn’t used to the word. ‘It’s a strange skill… but I’m a bit interested in how it works.’ she added after a bit of thought, her soft grin back on her face.

‘That would be Telepathy,’ —he bit into a crispy snack shaped like a ball the size of his palm; which exposed a rice-like interior surrounded by a thin layer of bread while it surrounded a small chunk of well-cooked meat— ‘and—wow, this is tasty!—and basically, it works like this…’ his compliment accompanied by

That was when he delved into what he could tell her about his mental ability. She then promised, at his request, to keep that ability as his ace up his sleeve. Her quick acceptance caught him off guard. She apologised for accepting it so fast, but didn’t explain why. Without him noticing, her tail had tucked closer to her legs as her ears felt like they were burning. With a bit of luck, she kept her cheeks from taking on a rosy hue, and was even luckier that he hadn’t noticed her ears change colour from the blood that hadn’t rushed to her cheeks.

He didn’t know what was going through her head, out of respect to her privacy, so he did a simple act that went unnoticed by him after grasping and squeezing her hand. That caused her cheeks to be erubescent. Not long after that, she took him across the academy ground, when the Headmaster approached them.

‘Hello, Headmaster, sir,’ Sapphire lent forward for a moment, allowing a few strands of hair to slide over her shoulders, as she registered his arrival. ‘What brings you to the rooftop social area?’

‘Hello, Sapphire,’ his voice carried, despite its softness. ‘I hope you two wouldn’t mind if I joined you for a short moment. I’d like to offer my thanks, and apologies, for dealing with his troublesome behaviour. After all, he is technically my relative.’ and with that out of the way, he joined them with that added response.

After a short series of agreement. Another student tending to the garden came over and offered a fold-out chair from the storage box for the headmaster. He took it with a bow and a thank you, then sat down beside the two of them. They sat there, discussing what he will be taking part in during his stay at the Academy’s student rooms. Discussions then evolved into what he got up to over the past three days.

‘… Well,’ the teenage speedster began, after finishing off a sandwich that tasted a bit like salmon and tuna within a creamy sauce. ‘The first day, I kinda sulked until Saph brought me some books to read through, and it was a nice refresher to what I’d assumed.’ —he takes a bite from something that looked like a small cuboid of steak, but had a very salty flavour mixed with the tender meat, each one between a chunk of yellow pepper and what looked like a slice of apple yet tasted like a very sweet onion— ‘Then the following day, I browsed the local streets and did some window shopping and spotted a cool painting of a port town in this country. The third day was basically the same thing, but I felt like I had to break up a fight between some young kids fighting over something.’ his food was demolished between explanations.

‘Oh, I saw you doing that,’ Sapphire added, biting into her own little snack. ‘I was just leaving Zofha’s cute little café when I saw you kneeling by the group of young kids.’ her eyes glistened, which he felt looked like a shimmering star-lit sky reflected on a still lake.

‘You have such a kind heart, Reiki. I look forward to seeing a bright future for you.’ the headmaster added, as Sapphire allowed him to borrow the small orb of breaded rice they were snacking on. ‘These are new, where did you find them?’

‘I offered you one that I bought, but I usually make these at home with my aunt.’ she replied, rolling her shoulders back and sitting a bit more upright.

‘So, am I eating one you made then?’ the teenage speedster asked her, earning himself a wry grin.

‘No, I bought that one too…’ ‘’ her ears lowered sideways as she mumbled to herself, in her race’s native language.

The lunch break continued on, with a brief part of it involved with the Headmaster taking his leave a few minutes later. Sapphire thought to herself that it would be a good thing to focus on making her own snacks, when she realised that it might cost more for the ingredients than just a handful of the lowest value of the common coin; Reuke. After their lunch, Sapphire was glad to help out with his interest in languages, surprising him with how flexible his schedule actually was.

Things were going better for him as Sapphire explained how their classes were interchangeable at any time, swapping one class in a week for another to make up for classwork deadlines. Even with a brief encounter with Aerys, the Princess’ kind gesture to him consisted of a small bag of income; a handful of Shok and a hundred Reuke. It was a special item bag designed with a small amount of spatial storage. It was her way of giving a modest “thank you”. As well as for him to keep on top of any future investments or purchases.

♦ ○ ♦ ○ ♦

Several streets were bustling with activity. The port town, just an hour earlier, had been a quiet and sparse place. Almost like a ghost town with the occasional roaming guard. Several elemental and normal looking corvids and a few beautifully singing birds flew around, the latter with the common name of Espyril, and several small kitten-sized cats with stubby horns. These small, horned, cat-like animals are known as Nykoa, which are often easy to tame. Two even had a pair of wings that allowed them to glide between the rooftops.

These small creatures mingled around the various races that hung around in the town square. The midday sun was warm, mixed with a hint of anticipation that encompassed the growing market within the town’s square. The voices from the most common language, Engali, drifted from the white noise ambience of the crowd.

‘’ one merchant spoke up, a demon with pale-ruby skin and a single, half-curled horn, chatting to his neighbouring stall owner.

‘’ the human man said through his teeth that held some nails, obtaining a hammer handed to from a teenage cat-man Beastal. ‘’ —he began hammering nails into a board for his stall— ‘’ he patted the teenager’s head once he was done, who gave a slight twitch and raise of his shoulders at the gesture.

‘’ his other stall neighbour replied, a blonde elf woman, who had put out a basket of fresh, green apples and what appeared to look like crimson-coloured lemons. ‘’ she patted the head of a young girl by her side clinging to her knee-length dress; her daughter.

‘’ That statement, from a passing dwarf, ended up earning those within earshot to nod with a gentle smile. ‘’ he added, the clunk of something falling from his almost oversized backpack.

‘’ the elf lady replied, as her daughter appeared, picked up, and passed the dwarf a small chunk of coloured Magicite that had appeared on the stone road. ‘’ she added, handing a small amber coloured block to her child as the dwarf accepted the ore with a big cheerful grin and a thanks to the young girl.

They carried on setting up their stalls as the overhead sun blazed away in the vast blues of the almost cloudless sky. While everyone was enjoying the warmth of the sun, various hooded figures wandered the crowds, while others hid in shadowed alleys. One alley in particular had a grey-haired Beastal holding a chain of a green, shimmering colour that attached to both a collar and the wrists of a young Beastal girl.

To be more inconspicuous, they had given her a small, tattered cloak to cover her ears and most of her head. They couldn’t do anything to hide her tail. She didn’t want to spend her time speeding between people, but with the glint of rust silver around her neck, she had to comply with the local bandits.

‘’ The Beastal man stage-whispered, the menacing undertone causing the fur on her back and the back of her covered arms to raise as her tail stiffened. ‘ take money give – to us. ’ he continued, some Engalian words she had been forced to understand making their way into her ears despite trying to ignore him.

As she spent her time in the crowds, she was forced to find people who appeared to be overspending. Her collar-bound demand forcing her to comply as her eyes began to gain a gentle pool of salty tears. Tears that dared to spill down her cheeks. She knew she could wipe the liquid away in a flash, but both hands were needed for this task.

She knew one thing for sure… She hated living this life.

All she could do was wish that somebody would save her family before herself. As she began to make her way through the crowds, the occasional parting allowed for a carriage to make its way through the shallow crowds. The girl saw one of the female bandits, one who had often showed up to flirt with the human who ran their bandit group, with an arrogant strut in her step. She watched while using her speed to nick a coin bag, to watch the woman’s backside whack into a boy with no regard for safety.

After checking the contents of the bag at her heightened speed, she let her eyes keep a painful focus on the boy. Who was falling into the path of an oncoming wagon pulled by a single Vaikyren. When she hoped nobody was looking, she kept her speed up as she raced over. The boy appeared to fall, then vanish, in the span of five seconds with a strong gust of wind and a blur of brown with a yellow streak.

Teela didn’t have long before she had to get back to the task that she still hated doing. When she relaxed and dropped from her velocity, she found herself face-to-face with a young lion-boy Beastal. She reached into a bag, while he looked at her with wide eyes, and placed a random coin in a pocket of his shorts.

‘Um, if they ask, say you found it on the floor.’ she whispered, keeping it between them as she peeked backwards, watching for his response.

It was when he nodded his head with the smallest smile that she disappear with a blur into the once again crowded street. She hated the job, but she was glad to have given the random coin to the boy. She tried to not let it show on her face, but a gentle stretching of her lips appeared after saving him. He reminded her of her little brother. Excluding the kid’s unruly short, ginger hair. Despite the gesture, she still had no idea the value of the round coin she had left with the boy as she got back.

It was a single Quint. The somewhat quartz-like shimmer from the material it was forged from leaving the young boy to race home with it clutched in his hands. His knuckles almost white as he did his best to keep the coin on him. Teela watched him dash off into the throng of people as she made her way back to the alley. Her mind preoccupied by her selfless act as she handed them her stolen wares.