Stupid as a human?

As I was making my way to the front of the line I noticed some kids were given thicker packs of books and supplies, while others hardly received anything.

I was in the process of figuring this out when a young woman snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hey, pay attention I haven’t got all day! Name?!” I wouldn’t call the woman the most congenial person I’d met so far and her breath stunk of garlic, so I promptly said my name and received my packet. Anything was better than standing in the blasting radius of that woman’s breath!

My room and floor number was located on the side of the bag, so I decided to make my way up the spiral staircase to my dorm. After stopping on the fourth floor, I found the sixth door on the left and entered. There was a key in the bag, so I wasn’t worried about locking up at night. This was a huge relief, because as I was entering my room a few of the orcs started down my hall.

Now, I’m not really sure what they thought when they saw me, but it must have been pretty funny because they started laughing hysterically before walking down the hall slowly. Put shortly, I was not reassured by the looks they were giving me. I felt like they were eyeing lunch, so I not so nonchalantly ran into my room and locked the door.

After ten minutes of my life on the brink of falling ill from a heart attack, I finally got myself under control, seeing as the orcs had moved on. Thankfully, they went pretty far down the hall before I heard them enter their rooms.

The rooms were pretty bare bones. Just a bed, an open window with wooden shutters, a chest at the foot of the bed, and a small desk with a chair facing out the window. Surprisingly, the room’s temperature was a steady 70 degrees despite the draft and the fact the place was completely made of red bricks.

Throwing my stuff on the bed, I sat at the desk and opened the parcel they gave me. On top was my schedule for the next week, and an introductory packet with some basic information.

There was a whole lot of random information mingled inside, such as success rates of the school and some famous heroes risen from the program. But there was some useful information as well. It didn’t really occur to me before now, but evidently the world had a universal language translation system. Everyone could speak or hear any language and understand it in your own tongue.

Somehow the same magic affected the way you looked when you spoke to sync your words with your mouth. This made it easier to speak without looking foolish. No one really knows what allows this, but they do know it’s closely tied to whatever powers allow you to travel to this world through the void. Some simply say it’s a form of illusion magic, but it hasn’t been proven.

The next useful bits of information included a basic map of the building directing you to the cafeteria, classes, bathrooms, rec areas, and practice rooms. There was a shop for supplies, but he didn’t have anything of value he wanted to trade that he knew of.

The map also included a basic layout of the town, and the roads leading away labeling the two closest towns to be at least 50 miles south or east. There was another outpost north about 80 miles, but west was uncharted lands.

It may seem odd that some land would lay unclaimed, but it takes a lot of effort to defend a place and it’s not like your invincible either. There’s a few main capitals where the first souls arrived in this world, but you have to pay a toll and travel by teleport stations.

A lot of people actually save up, and then move to places like this because there’s practically no violence beyond the occasional political move. This land is also the most fertile with the most hospitable lands. Supposedly it was a green paradise.

I would’ve been happy but the toll for a single teleport was more than a thousand gold. So basically the rich lived there, but you could indenture yourself into slavery if you really wanted to move there… not really what he was looking for.

Perhaps one of the most surprising things he read about were some of the floating islands or continents. There really wasn’t a sky to speak of, otherwise you would just go up indefinitely, but you could get above the mists and see a nice orange, yellow or red sky. It mattered where you were, but something of note would be that there was no moons, stars, or sun. Just a sort of ambient light. Some old cities have artificial suns to change the overall atmosphere of the surrounding lands and allow better plant growth.

Most towns grew crops on large swaths of land over extremely long periods of time. Water or nature oriented mages usually made daily rounds to help speed up growth.

The whole world as he had first seen was indeed covered in a heavy roiling mass of clouds, mist, or fog. There were seasons spanning exactly 100 days each. A whole year took 400 days with ten months having forty days each.

Seasons changed by way of the light levels and temperature. Summers were extremely hot, falls were about normal, winters usually froze the landscape into a tundra, and springs were about the same temperature as the fall.

By the time he was done reading the first introductory book he realized it was time for dinner. Quietly he opened his door to look check if the orcs were near. Finding none he locked up and followed a few others in the halls to the stairs. The cafeteria was on the third floor so it was a short trip. Arriving in a huge vaulted room, he got inline for some odd looking meat looking suspiciously like a chickens, and grabbed some scarlet red ‘lettuce’. Then grabbed some water in a mug and found a seat in a quiet looking corner.

Kids sat or mingled everywhere rambunctiously talking excitedly or in some cases morosely. As I sampled the ‘chicken’ I overheard a group of elves to my left talking about the lessons on magic and weapons training. Evidently they thought this was all too easy or that it was a waste of time. A few were even making plans to leave already to go collect some money somehow.

Of course this made me feel really stupid for having almost no combat experience beyond hunting with my father a few times, or scraps on the playground when he was younger. It made him feel absolutely retarded when they started talking about magic affinities or some ‘simple’ spells they thought they might use until their strength increased a little.

There were a few other groups of humans listening in on the conversions as well, and I could tell we all felt inadequate to say the least. Then again, there were some rougher looking people with a look in their eyes saying “ya, whatever just stay outta my way plebs”.

I tried listening in to as many conversations about beasts from other worlds, or the way magic worked. I was at a loss for words when one individual described a fight with a dire wolf he had just before he died. I about fainted when he described how much the he could evidently lift.

How was he supposed to compete with that? He was gonna die for sure… then he heard someone who was currently learning at the school talking about the classes on mana manipulation. She was describing how she found a new light spell when he spotted her cast a globe of dim yellow light in her palm. Somehow he could see mana flash under her skin and flow from the meridians before forming a symbol and exiting her hand in the form of the globe. The symbol consisted of a series of circles, connected by jagged lines surrounded by small slashes pointing in then swooping out near the outer circle.

I was amazed to say the least. This was the first spell he actually saw in the workings. Suddenly the globe started spinning uncontrollably though and it collapsed shooting from her hand blowing her bowl of soup into her friends face eliciting a screech of pain before a teacher sitting nearby jumped up and hurried over.

The girl covered in hot soup had small burn marks on her face and hands where she tried blocking the blast. The casters hands were also smoking slightly and she looked massively hung over.

The students eating nearby glanced over but shrugged and continued eating as if an explosion didn’t just go off a few meters away.

I was still in shock when the teacher cast a spell forming a triangle with a hexagon inside surrounded by a white aura flowing into the center of the rune then running into the body parts he was directing it to. The girl now in tears from the burns was still glaring at her friend when the burns seemed to swell up into red puffy patches before deflating it seemed, leaving perfectly unblemished skin. It actually seemed healthier than before.

After he finished with the hurt girl she left and the teacher started on the caster girl, and he started talking to her in an abrasive tone reprimanding her for her stupidity and telling her to use the practice areas. I was pretty sure the guy was madder at the disturbance of his meal though.

I was still in shock but I immediately snapped out of it when the teacher left to go sit at an adult populated table. I immediately got out a notepad for class and started writing down the symbols as much as he could remember in detail describing what each part did when he watched it. The few others sitting near him looked over in surprise at his enthusiasm. One kid actually snickered at his action and called him a terrible artist. I just ignored the comments and starting drawing up and index describing parts or theories about the reactions with others symbols.

After I was finished was extremely happy with the results. I refined the drawings and looked over my work. I was actually a pretty good artist despite the comment. The person in question just had no idea what he was drawing was all.

It actually brought a little relief when he saw a few other newbies drawing like him in a frenzy, but most others hadn’t noticed it seemed.

Looking around I immediately knew I couldn’t eat anymore. There were practice rooms right? I immediately jumped up and dropped off my half eaten meal before heading to the closest practice room. The closest room as it turned out was actually a small veranda at the first floor, including a bunch of cubicles branching off from a main larger hard packed dirt arena.

There were a few kids practicing in the cubicles, but a lot of kids were seated around the edges in meditative states. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I sat down a small distance from the others with my backpack. I had brought it with me.

Leaning against it I relaxed waiting for someone to use a spell with my notepad laying on my lap.

It was over an hour before anything happened, and the sky was darkening significantly. I was about to call it quits when a boy with long black hair sitting to my right did something surprising. All these students had learned to hide their meridians, but suddenly is saw a dim glow in his veins and he watched mana flow from his meridians towards his stomach, then surge out to fill the veins, this happened a few times before the sight was gone again.

I immediately wrote all this down before looking at myself and back at him. The kid seemed happy all the sudden and stood to leave. I immediately jumped up and trotted over to the kid to stop him.

“Hey! Ummm, what exactly where you doing just now?” The guy looked kind of skittish as I kind of scared him.

“Err, um I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“You know, the meditating thing. What’s the point of it, and what were you trying to accomplish with your mana?” Now he seemed kind of freaked, like a sketchy hobo had just asked him if he wanted some candy.

Frowning he responded in an apprehensive tone. “Well… you know… meditating? You know, to increase mana flow and stuff.”

I was writing this all down as he spoke, but when I looked up he was suddenly gone. Glancing around I frowned since I had some other questions, but it was about time to clean up and hit the hay.

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I headed up to my room without any freaky incidents happening and used the bathrooms to shower. A rune on the ceiling activated when I pulled a cord in the stalls. Surprisingly the bathrooms were pretty normal functioning, though the water was colder than he was used to.

I turned the water on and off eliciting a few wary glances from the others showering nearby, but in the end I felt the rune was memorized good enough to record later.

The bathrooms were separated into male and female, but the dormitory was coed. I saw plenty of leg as I passed some bombshell elves wrapped in towels on the way back to my room.

After I arrived in my room I stared at the lesson schedule in anticipation for the following days. He was so excited, that he could hardly wait for the morning to come. He switched over to the notes he had, and memorized everything by heart with nothing better to do.

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Waking up with a jolt, he peeled his face from his notebook and looked out his window bleary eyed for a moment before he realized what time it was.

He heard the bustle of the city waking up but jolted up when he heard kids hurrying down the halls to class. He was late waking up. No time to shower or brush his teeth, he rushed out the door hurriedly pulling his cloak on with one hand while juggling his stuff in his hands.

Of course his luck was not that great, and as he was near the stairs a huge hand pushed him to the side. Note that the side was the open doorway leading down. He needed to go up, but suddenly he was bouncing down the stairs in the opposite direction. He was stopped about twenty paces down the stairs when some rough hands caught him and lifted him gruffly by the nape of his shirt.

Still dizzy, I couldn’t hear what he said, but the voice seemed pissed before I was sent onto my ass holding my now bruised jaw. I guess tumbling down the stairs was frowned upon? As it were, he steadied his head until his sight came back and immediately got up battered to hell and back, to go up another five floors to his first class.

Stumbling in the doorway as a bell rung from somewhere outside, I finally collapsed in my seat in the farthest corner from the door. Everyone was from the same arrival group as him, and almost half of them looked on at him laughing like hyenas at breakfast.

That’s when I noticed the teacher… he was an orc. Ah com on, for the mother of-

“I will not have any late arrivals in my class, next time get up earlier! Stupid humans, always the laziest. Hello class, welcome to basic magic manipulation. From fire to water, this class with teach you the basics of what it means to use your mana. First off, my name is Noajin (pronounced: now-yin) and I will not tolerate fighting, arguing, or bad behavior. If I catch you I will kick you from this class! Understand!?”

At that there was a resounding chorus of “yes sir” around the whole class room. Of course the orcs looked especially at home and happier yet as they glanced at my pained expression.

“Alright runts, now this is important! I’m tired of seeing your disgusting lines, in order to get rid of ‘em you gotta find your inner power and calm down the flow. Most people imagine a lake with many waterfalls running into and out of it flowing through you meridians. After you find your balance you can meditate in a trance you choice to increase the flow of mana.

Once you increase the flow of mana enough, the capacity you can use at one time will increase along with your mana ’lake’. Most people will locate their ‘lake in their stomach region or upper chest. Though rarely some cases have deemed their mana to flow in and outta the head. Now start your training you shits, you aint got all day.

 Oh, and I’ve decided just now that you have until fifth day this week to find the source. After that you’re ineligible for this class, after that day we will teach and practice mana manipulation to form basic elements. That’s the plan for the week, now get to work ya maggots!”

After his brief introduction to the class I pulled out my notebook and jotted down the schedule and the information about the mana pool, meridians, and manipulation he spoke about.

Of course, I sat down to think about the meditation and compare it with what I saw yesterday. The kids all had their hands in their laps, while in comfortable positions. I tried sitting just like they had, but my legs were still stiff from the stairs so I simply leaned against the wall.

After was situated, I ignored the orcs talking with eh teacher and closed my eyes. The teacher described the flow like a river and lake, but truly his meridians didn’t feel pressured right? Maybe it took effort to slow the stream more than speed it up? No, that couldn’t be right… now that he thought about it, how was he supposed to slow the stream down? Dammit Noajin, why can’t you be thorough!? Whatever, he could find out on his own right? It is the simplest magical manipulation right?

With that determination he set to work looking over his body memorizing where the lines were. Maybe it would be easier to learn, if he knew where to feel from the inside if he had to have his eyes closed?

After a while he was convinced there was absolutely nothing duller than staring at the back of his hands, so he closed his eyes to meditate.

As he stared at the back of his eyelids, he felt tired and sore. So of course, he was about to fall asleep after just thirty minutes of quiet whispering around him. The cool breeze blowing in from the outside carried a sweet smell from the bakery down the street, and did someone have potted flowers hanging from their windows below his floor?

Suddenly he found himself floating off into a peaceful sleepy state. The only thing keeping him awake was the brighter light emitting inside from the window he sat next to. Oh how the sweet rays of light felt good on his bruised skin…

That’s when it happened, a slight pull… like his conscious was pulled from himself. It felt like he was being pulled forward towards the light pouring through the window. Yet, he could tell the more he followed it, the further into himself he was pulled. As if the light was growing brighter the further he pulled from the red of his eyelids.

In the outside world only moments had passed, but it felt like hours to Jake. The further he pushed, the harder it was to go further. After a while his conscious was quivering under the strain. It was like pushing a cemented block from a wall, trying to push past and grind it to dust at the same time.

This is what image he could only describe as when he was fighting his way inwardly. It now felt as if a day had past, but finally he felt a jolt, as if a rock had come lose in a river. Continuing to push, the barrier moved again. Each time it felt like his conscience flowed in around the brick to flow and push on more sides.

After further struggles and many jolts the brick felt like it blew apart into dust and debris dissolved immediately. The pressure he used to get through launched him inward and he was almost blinded by the light. A light so divine, so colorful, and so active he felt he would shiver at the sight if he saw in person.

A rotating mass of colors jumped and slashed about as if a beast had it by the tail. It was chaotic to say the least and how felt small in comparison. If he was his normal size, the mass felt like it was ten feet in diameter. But he felt a connection to this beast.

It was as if this were another limb of his, a long lost one yes, but still part of him. Slowly I reached out to touch a fluorescent red vein drifting past. It was one of the calmest in this vortex, so it seemed the easiest to tame.

As soon as he touched it, the whole mass went mad. It was like his own body were fighting back against himself. But that was wrong right? His body couldn’t fight HIM! Anger roiled out across his being and the vortex seemed to quiver.

Yes, that was it! He could tame this beast, it just needed to know who was boss. But he didn’t want it to be scared of him, his power was himself and he didn’t want himself fearing himself right? It felt wrong… reaching out he gave off the feeling of regret and soothing feelings. He tried to convey his feelings across the connection, as if he were simply thinking to himself.

The effects were almost immediate, seeing as the swirling mass suddenly jolted in surprise from this change. It acted almost surprised, as if it expected to be beaten into submission.

Like a small animal needing food, it seemed to creep towards his hand. Like he had an especially enticing snack. A strand from each color reached out to caress him, as he had them just before. It was like they were trying to emulate his emotions.

They just sat there for a while as if they couldn’t get enough of each other, just looking and feeling everywhere. It was now minutes in the real world, and his breathing had slowed down so much he looked like a statue. A few drops of sweat dripped from his hair line falling into his lap. All the kids on his side of the class were staring at him like he were emitting gas loudly while in bed with them.

Back in his mind the swirling vortex had calmed to a smooth flow. He was just observing this when he thought “I am one with the mana, and the mana is one with me?” This was when the mana truly accepted him, giving up itself to his full use, to his whims and needs. They were now one and nothing could get in-between them.

At that time it felt like a revelation as knowledge flooded him. It was all the mana’s knowledge of who, what, and where it was. He now could feel the meridians where they connected to his conscience, and the man flowed towards him like a wave on a full moon.

He did not feel troubled though, as it simply formed a bubble around him. I watched in amazement as the vortex spun around me like I was the sun. But it was too chaotic, too mixed and incoherent.

In an epiphany I willed the mana around, as easy as parting a flow with my hands I pushed and pulled it to my needs.

As it were, all the colors were fragmented and moving in different directions. Grabbing hold of the blue mane, I pushed it into one corner and let it merge together. Doing the same for all of them I was suddenly left with singular orbs floating about erratically moving about. So I payed closer attention to the direction each fragment wished to move, and found which ones fit together almost like they fit. As it turns out, there was two groups for each. Both moved in opposite directions. As soon as I did this there as even more to control, but it seemed right the way it was.

I couldn’t have it all wandering off into the seemingly abyss, so I willed it into long ribbons and set them in tracks running next to each other. Twisted together for more organized access to single streams.

Doing this for all of the mana I looked like an atom with long ribbons at a complete standstill simply twisting rapidly like a DNA ladder. These ladders always shifted of moved though, as if they were repositioning themselves until they were comfy before stopping for a while.

It was beautiful, and I could feel the ribbons flowing out and in from my meridians slowly converting the whole flow into the same simple, organized system to be used.

Using the knowledge from the mana I knew the mana was in my head, physically it was currently manifested as a small round crystal node in his brain.

While odd, the flow was strong and he could feel more now than he ever could. Like his mind had been fragmented, only able to concentrate on one body part at once. Now he could feel everything, and at the moment someone was poking him.

Dammit, can’t a guy revel in his greatest achievement of his life? Evidently not because as he came back to his senses an ugly orcs face was inches from his own. “See I told you he was stupid, just like all humans. He just aint got a knack for it, they’re too stupid to understand magic!” Noajin was standing in front of me knelt down with a stupid look on his face, as if Jake had bad breath. Oh wait, he probably did…oops? Was it bad to wanna laugh?