When Jun registered for her community college on Earth, it had taken several weeks to get all of the documents she needed to provide. A copy of her birth certificate, high school transcripts, test scores, a government ID, and even some medical information were all required. Registering at Forest's Edge Academy was different. Maybe it was because Jun was in a completely different world, one with magic but seemingly nowhere near the technological prowess of Earth, or maybe it was because Headmaster Allister personally told the Registrar to make sure Jun got everything she needed, but she hadn't had to provide a single document to prove her identity. All she'd had to do was touch a few magical balls as she followed Sean around. Who turned out to actually be the Registrar, not a receptionist. And also did not like Jun or her friends.
After Sean's face had finished going through all the colors of the rainbow from reading Headmaster Allister's note, he had dug a couple of forms out of the receptionist's desk and disappeared into one of the side offices off the lobby. The building had apparently emptied out while Jun and Lane met with the Headmaster, leaving Sean as the only person still in the building capable of doing the work of getting Jun registered with the school. Lane and Sara stuck around to keep Jun company, while the others had gone off to take care of other things while she dealt with the grumpy Registrar. It took a couple of minutes, but Sean returned pushing a wheeled cart with a glowing blue orb mounted on top of it
Stopping in front of the Reception desk, Sean motioned for Jun to approach him. "Place your hand on the scanner," Sean said through gritted teeth, motioning to a orb in front of them.
"What is it?" Jun asked nervously. The glowing ball reminded her of the [Soul Parasite] and her sealed trait that she'd fished out of that strange sea just a few weeks ago, and she'd learned her lesson about groping strange glowing gems.
"Just touch the damned thing," Sean growled. "The sooner I get you registered, the sooner I can make you someone else's problem and go home."
"It's a system scanner," Lane said from the side of the room. "It will pull up your system menu and display it for us to see. They're used for verifying identities and checking stats."
"That sounds like an invasion of privacy..." Jun said nervously. She'd barely thought about or opened her system menu in the past weeks, only using it to check her mana when she cast a lot of spells, but she knew from some of her lessons with Shiori that some of the things in her menu should be kept private. Pulling her full menu open for the first time in weeks, she was surprised at the progress she'd made.
Karmic Balance: 149,864,661,344 World: Merinthia (Tier 1) Name: Jun Titles:
Apprentice
Adopted Kitten (HIDDEN)
Level: 17 (+8) (56/100%) Race: Human (Balance) Gender: Female Mana: 290/290 Core Status: (HIDDEN) Stable (Tier 0) Stats: MIND - 29 (+9) CON - 29 (+9) STR - 29 (+9) AGI - 29 (+9) DEX - 29 (+9) CHA - 34 (+9) SPR - 29 (+9) Traits: (5/5) [Touched by Karma] (Hidden) [Born of Karma] (Hidden) [Magic Touched] (Disguised; [Affinity Hoarder]) SEALED [Fast Learner] [Charismatic] Skills:
[Karma Manipulation] (Novice 2)
[Body Cleansing] (Novice 8) (+1)
[Mental Resistance] (Novice 1)
[Soul Sealing] (Novice 0)
[Piercing Missile] (Apprentice 24) (+5)
[Barrier] (Apprentice 4)
[Multi Casting] (Apprentice 12) (+5)
[Stealth] (Novice 8)
[Tracking] (Novice 3)
[Cleaning] (Initiate 1)
[Cooking] (Novice 4)
[Butchery] (Novice 9)
[Foraging] (Novice 6)
[Crafting] (Novice 2)
[Pain Resistance] (Novice 3) (+2)
"It's required of every student," Sean said flatly. "If you refuse the scan, you will not be admitted." The Registrar's tone made it clear what he would prefer Jun to do.
Sighing, Jun raised her hand up and hovered it hover the scanner, hesitating to make contact. "Don't worry kitten, their tool isn't as powerful as they think it is. It will only pull up basic information that's safe enough for them to know." Shiori said so that only Jun could hear. Trusting her Master's reassurances,
Reassured by her Master, Jun pressed her hand to the scanner. The glowing blue orb dimmed for a few seconds as she held her hand to the scanner then began to pulse with light. "Remove your hand," Sean hissed at Jun. Doing as she was told, Jun pulled away as the strange phenomena she'd noticed earlier started up again, though much milder than either time before. As the strange sensation faded, a screen popped up above the scanner.
From the rustle of clothes as everyone leaned forward a bit, it seemed like everyone could easily see it!
Name: Jun (No Family Name) Level: 17 Race: Human Age: 18 Gender: Female Mana: 290/290 Stats: MIND - Average CON - Average STR - Average AGI - Average DEX - Average CHA - High SPR - Average Affinities: n/a Spell forms detected.
Internally, Jun sighed with relief that Shiori was once again right. She found it interesting that instead of hard numbers, the scanner just gave a broad range, all of her stats were just considered "average" except for Charisma, but she figured that probably had something to do with her trait [Charismatic].
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"Tch, another low level commoner with average stats..." Sean muttered quietly as he wrote several notes down. As Sean finished writing notes, the scanner deactivated and automatically closed the screen displaying Jun's results.
Leaving Jun, Sara, and Lane in the room, Sean wheeled the scanner out, issuing a terse command for the three students "not to move, or you'll be expelled no matter what the Headmaster says."
A few minutes of waiting later, Sean returned with a large stack of documents. "Since the end of the summer term is coming up in just a week, it's far too late for you to enroll in any classes. As amusing as it would be to watch you fail and be expelled immediately, your performance as a student here reflects upon your betters, so you will not take any classes until the Autumn term begins. You have been assigned a room and may take meals in the mean time, but you would do well to remember your place and not disturb your betters who got into the school through merit." Sean roughly shoved the stack of papers into Jun's arms, ignoring her as several of them fell to the ground. "You and you," Sean said, pointing at Sara and Lane. "Since you brought her here, she's your responsibility. Finish her orientation, or don't, I don't care, now get out, building's closed." Sean glared as Lane and Sara bent down to help gather Jun's papers.
As they gathered up Jun's papers, Shiori's voice filled Jun's ears again. "Go on ahead with your friends kitten, I'll find you later," her Master said in a flat tone. Jun couldn't help but look around for the black cat, but somehow she had vanished in the short time since she'd last seen her. Once they finished gathering Jun's papers, Sean hurried them out of the building and slammed the door shut, the lock of the door clicking the second it closed.
As the three of them combined Jun's papers back into one pile, Sara started looking around their feet for something. "Where's Shiori?" she asked, concern filling her voice.
Jun just shrugged, used to her Master's whims of doing her own thing one minute, and clinging to her the next. "She's off doing her own thing I'm sure, and she always shows up whenever she feels like it." Sara seemed a bit uneasy at Jun's casual response, but if there was one thing Jun was sure of, it was that Shiori could take care of herself.
The front courtyard of the school still held a few students idling about in the light of dusk, though the place was largely deserted now. Despite the Registrar's rudeness and clear distaste for her, Jun couldn't help but feel a lightness and excitement for the future. She was a student at a magic academy! Just the thought made her feel giddy, like she was living a childhood dream, and despite everything she'd gone through she could only feel that it was worth it.
"Well, he definitely didn't like us, but at least you're registered now Jun," Lane said as he flipped through some of her papers in the fading light. The reedy mage scowled at the papers in his hands, squinting to make out the words written across them.
"Lane, we can look over Jun's papers with her later, let's go get some dinner first," Sara said as she grabbed Jun by the hand. "Come on, I bet you're as starved as I am!" Giggling, Sara began pulling Jun along deeper into the Academy campus, forcing Lane to jog to catch up with them.
As Sara led them deeper in, both she and Lane pointed out buildings or occasionally waved at people as they passed.
"That's the main Library," Lane pointed out to a building built more like a castle fortress than any library Jun had ever seen. The Library looked exactly like a stereotypical castle with four crenelated walls anchored by towers where each met. A large arched passageway topped by a gatehouse allowed access, and the tines of a metal portcullis could be seen jutting from the top of the stone archway. "Each of the four towers holds classrooms and study areas. It's open all hours of the day and night, so it's a good place to study."
"The view from the walls is incredible in the morning," Sara added.
Not far down the path from the library was a large building of arches and spires surrounded by walkways. The setting sun glinted off its numerous faces and cast shadows across the edifice, showing scenes of life from farmers working the field to soldiers doing battle. Jun knew a church when she saw one, even in a magical world, but Lane soon confirmed her suspicions. "The Cathedral of Stars," he said with a gesture to the magnificent building. "No one knows how old the building is as it predates the founding of the city. One of the original reasons the Academy was established here was to research the Cathedral. Not even the Grand Cathedral in the capital rivals it, but don't tell Corin I said that," he said with a conspiratorial smile.
"Yeah, also don't mention that the last Cardinal ordered the Cathedral moved to the capital, only for the work crews to suffer one accident after another before they could do more than step foot in the city," Sara said with a smile. " After the tenth work crew simultaneously lost all of their left shoes and the eleventh crew's underwear all spontaneously animated, the Mayor-General declared that he would arrest anyone else who attempted to remove the Cathedral, and the Crown publicly declared the Cathedral a national treasure. For a while after that, protesters would attend every mass led by the Cardinal only wearing shoes on their right feet and kept throwing used underwear at him during processions!" The woman couldn't hold back her laughter any longer, and even the usually dour Lane cracked a smile.
A few more mundane classroom buildings later the trio were walking through a crowded building filled with students and filled with the smell of food. A quick flash of asmall medallion, that had been tucked into Jun's packet of documents allowed her in, though where her medallion was bronze, she saw that both Sara and Lane had ones in silver. Once she knew what to look for, she saw that every student around seemed to have medallions in various metals strung around their necks, another marker that they were students even if several like Jun, Sara, and Lane didn't wear the school's uniform.
Several minutes later, the three of them each carried a tray of food as they weaved through the crowd until they spotted Gareth, Corin, and Cecilia sitting in a large booth at the same time Gareth spotted them and waved them over. Joining the rest of the group, Jun noticed that the three of them had changed into the school uniform with their medallions now clearly visible. Gareth's was gold, while both Corin and Cecilia wore silver like Sara and Lane.
Gareth eyed the bronze medallion on Jun's neck and nodded at her. "Congratulations on your acceptance, Junior Jun," he said evenly.
Corin and Cecilia were much less restrained, with the young man excitedly cheering and Cecilia heartily slapping her on the back. "Congratulations Jun!"
"Thank you! Though registering was... hard. The Registrar didn't seem to like me much..." she said, her excitement stained with the rude treatment she'd gotten from the bureaucrat.
"Sean's such an ass," Sara griped, angrily stabbing into her salad with a fork. "Commoner this and commoner that with his condescending attitude, the foppish shit stain!"
Gareth nodded along with a grimace. "Regardless of his behavior Sara, Baron Sean Vorn is still a noble, and the Registrar of the Academy. You should be careful not to let anyone hear you disrespect him so openly," he muttered, pointedly glancing around at the crowded dining hall. Sara opened her mouth to speak but Gareth cut her off, continuing to speak while pointedly looking at Jun. "While the Academy's rules state that rank doesn't matter, only ability, the truth is that quite a few of the professors and staff are nobles in their own right and turn a blind eye to violations of that rule. It would be best not to attract the wrong attention if it can be avoided."
The table descended into silence for a time as the group returned to eating, but Jun's thoughts kept returning to the differences in medallions. Mustering up her courage, she voiced the question on her mind. "So... why are there so many different medallions?"
The older students looked from one to another, before unanimously looking at Gareth expectantly. With a sigh, he placed his fork down and took a long drink before answering. "Originally, the different medallions were used to mark one's abilities, with students receiving medallions corresponding to the ranks within the International Adventurer's Guild. Much like the IAG, the school ranks students based on their overall level, stats for their level, chosen role or specialty, and assessed skill levels. The ranks in question are bronze at the lowest, followed by iron, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, and mythril. Bronze was meant to be for new students pending assessment and anyone below level 100 with all average stats for their level that hasn't tested higher. Each other rank is similarly separated by another 100 levels unless assessed higher on their actual skill, up to level 700 or the requisite skill."
Gareth paused in his explanation to take a drink from his cup before continuing. "At least, this was how the school used to do things when it was first established centuries ago. Now, the first 4 ranks of bronze, iron, silver, and gold are doled out based more on status and influence than merit. Platinum, diamond, and mythril are still only reserved for people with the requisite level and skill, but that is because no country antagonizes anyone platinum or above without consequences. In the entire millennia long history of the school, there's only been a single student to ever receive a platinum medallion on merit."
Gareth gestured at his medallion. "For the Academy medallions now, gold ranks are given to students from high noble families regardless of level or ability. Silver is reserved for the top 100 students in the school based on skill assessment and level, as well as for all nobles and members of the clergy. Iron is given to the top quarter of each year, and bronze is only given to commoners regardless of assessment," Gareth said with a look of distaste.
"As asinine as this rank structure is, the Traditionalists have enough of a sway with the Kingdom that funds the Academy that they were able to force through this change a few decades ago since the Academy has failed to graduate a single student that managed to gain an IAG rank higher than gold rank, and even then that was exceedingly rare."
Gareth slid another medallion out from under his shirt, one made of dark iron with an insignia of a monster's skull pierced by a sword next to a treasure chest. Sara, Lane, Cecilia, and Corin did the same, each showing the same iron medallion. "As useful as the Academy's training and classes are, many combat focused students join the guild and get IAG badges based on merit. It's the only way to really assess your skill without regard to your parentage if you intend to become an adventurer, and the only badge anyone truly respects."
As Gareth finished talking, a group of students with gold medallions swaggered past the table. As they passed by, the lead student, a young man that looked to be about 20, sneered at the group's iron IAG badges and Jun's bronze school medallion. "Look, a bunch of rusties and commoner trash," he said loudly, drawing raucous laughter from his entourage. Jun's friends ignored the mocking nobles and returned to their food. Jun tried to do the same, but she could feel her face warming with embarrassment at the attention as Gareth's warning about attracting the wrong attention echoed in her mind.
Why did it have to be more nobles?!