Chapter 2: Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic

The entrance ceremony continued, and the boredom Trip felt increased. The entire ceremony was just uninteresting teachers droning on and on. It was a school for rich children, and so the teachers had to make the students feel happy in order to ensure that their parents would not complain. However, the teachers’ way of making students happy actually made everyone more and more bored. They constantly tried to make little jokes, and kept trying to get the crowd riled up and excited for the school year. This failed miserably. Most rich children already looked down on teachers from the beginning, and now the teachers had simply pushed themselves even further down the food chain.

After several hours the entrance ceremony finished. Trip and the children in his year were guided outside by the teachers. Outside several upperclassmen were waiting for them. They led the students off to their respective dorms. Trip saw that the majority of students were heading into a different direction. The upperclassman guiding Trip saw the confusion and explained.

“While this school is free,” The upperclassman said “all the really rich students tend to pay for nicer dorms.”

Trip nodded in understanding.

However, rather than being disappointed that he doesn’t get the best service, he was actually quite happy. By him going to a worse dorm he would not be surrounded by a lot of the really rich kids. From what he experienced during the entrance ceremony there was a clear indication that the really rich kids were the snobbiest, and the people Trip didn’t want to be around.

The upperclassmen guided Trip and the students with him until they reached a fairly large building. It was five floors high and had around fifty rooms on every floor. However, a lot of the rooms were empty. Whilst Trip did see the occasional spider web he found the whole place to be quite nice.

He got his key and room number from an old man at the lobby. Trip felt himself getting a little excited as he headed up to the third floor. He wondered what his room would be like.

Eventually he reached it. Dorm number 112. He put the key in the keyhole and opened the door. Before he even looked inside he took a deep breath. This was where he was going to be living for the next 4 years, and he wanted to get acquainted with it quickly. Unfortunately, it was not fresh air which he inhaled, but rather a large cloud of dust. He immediately began to cough, which slightly unromanticised the whole situation.

When he recovered he went to actually look inside his room. He took a good look at the room in front of him, and was rather surprised by its staleness. In the orphanage his room was very simple, but at least it had a homely feel and smelled like wood. His new room was very different; the look of it was dreadful. It was dark, without a window, and it had no ventilation whatsoever, it was stuffy and it was very hard to breathe. Whilst not much bothered Trip, him not being able to breathe properly could affect him when he was practicing, and that made him rather annoyed.

In a fit of rage he began to clean his room. He brushed away the dust as if it were a mortal enemy. An hour of intense cleaning passed quickly and the room was sparkling with cleanliness. However the problem of ventilation was still there. He was at a loss for what he could do; in the end he gave up. His only option was to break through the door or wall in order to forcefully add ventilation, but this would mean that the school would charge him due to him destroying part of the building. This would also reveal that he knew some magic already, which he didn’t want people finding out.

Trip sighed in disappointment and left the room to explore the campus. He had a look at the map of the campus, which the upperclassmen were kind enough to give to him. He saw that the campus was divided into 3 sections: The dorms, the school (where the classrooms where), and the forest. The forest was considered off limits for 1st year students. Trip looked at it and decided that he would train in the forest, it made sense, barely anyone would go there and he would get the fresh air he so badly needed.

Trip decided to scout out an area where he could practice. When he arrived at the forest he was shocked at the vastness of it. From just a small hill he could see thousands upon thousands of trees; it seemed to go on endlessly. It was only natural that he would be shocked by this wondrous sight, when he was at the orphanage he rarely even glanced outside. To suddenly be confronted with such beauty would of course lead to shock.

After recovering from his daze he ran into the forest. Luckily he had a very good memory, so he was not afraid of becoming lost. After a couple of minutes of running Trip realised that he was completely out of breath, and that his short legs were already beginning to hurt. He was shocked by his pathetic stamina, and realised that it would benefit him if he were to train his body more. He made a mental not to add it to his schedule.

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Eventually he found a nice little opening in the forest, with a nice pond by the side. It presented an image of tranquillity. Feeling the peace in his heart he recognised that this would be a great place to train.

Trip started his usual routine. He would do ten sets of every technique he knew. These techniques included Water Bullet, Water Whip, Water Healing, Water Field, and Water Vortex. (Additional information at the bottom)

After Trip finished his routine he was exhausted, so he made his way back to his dorm. A big smile was on his face as he was walking back. There was something about the change in atmosphere which made him very happy.

When he arrived at his room he decided that he would go running early in the morning. Unfortunately, school was from 9:00 to 15:00, which meant that if he wanted to wash, eat, and run he would have to wake up at around 6:00. For the first time he missed the freedom he had in the orphanage.

Trip also wanted to look at the school library. So he decided that after school he would go there. Trip realised that if he trained all his techniques daily as well then he really would have very little time to himself at all. This made him happy. To have a full schedule meant that you were working hard. And working hard was never a bad thing.

The next day was Trip’s first day of school. Through blood, sweat, and tears he somehow managed to make it through his morning run. After he washed up he went to see what clothes he should wear. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the school had provided compulsory uniforms. This meant that he should not stand out in any way. Unfortunately, when Trip put on the uniform he was shocked with how refined he looked. Trip was always a very cute child, but his good looks had always been ruined by his clothes and improper hygiene.

But now that he wore nice clothing and had bather he would be shocked if he didn’t get any attention. It was a sad truth in the world, but looks are truly important. And right now Trip looked fantastic. He just hoped nobody would give him any attention.

Trip made his way over to the cafeteria, he grabbed the most nutritious food he could find and sat down at an empty table. He pulled out a book he got on water magic at the entrance ceremony and started to read it. He never read a book about water magic before, so he was rather excited by it. The book started to explain the basics of water magic:

‘Water magic is one of the most elegant of the basic four elements. While most water mages are female it is not unheard of for a male to become a water mage. It is theorised that the reason for a female majority in water magic is because is tranquil and elegant, which are traits more commonly found in women. In contrast to this most fire mages are male, as males are more violent and explosive. Water magic spells are not primarily used for fighting, with water mages mainly being healers. This is because water lacks the strength that fire has and since pure water is incredibly healthy for the body it is more useful for a water mage to be a healer rather than being on the front lines attacking. There are of course water moves used in combat, but they are very limited, and only people who are able to control water to an extent where they can turn it into ice can match fire mages in their combat prowess…’

The book continued to drone on about basic information on water magic; Trip was rather disappointed by it and was shocked that he was one of the few males that could use water magic. His thoughts were unfortunately interrupted by someone’s voice.

“Hello! Can I sit here?” A bright looking boy said. He had green eyes and brown hair. He was quite short and not very good looking, but his face was bright and he seemed to almost radiate happiness.

“Sure.” Trip mumbled, barely even lifting his head to look at the child talking to him.

“Thanks! My name is Alex. What’s your name?” The boy seemed undeterred by Trip’s unenthusiastic behaviour.

“My name is Trip!” Trip said proudly, surprising Alex. Trip was very proud of his name. It was the only thing that he had left from his parents.

“Trip, huh. That’s a strange name.” Alex said.

Trip merely grunted in return and continued to read his book. He was quite annoyed by Alex’s behaviour. Not only had he disturbed Trip’s thoughts, but he even ridiculed Trip’s name. Trip did not get angry easily, but Alex was disrupting his schedule, so he decided to ignore him.

Alex seemed to notice Trip’s bad mood and did not speak further, but he did follow him when he left to go to class. Trip did not mind this; as long as Alex did not talk he was ok with being followed. And it just so happened that they were to be in the same class together.

As the day went on it became evident that Alex was intrigued by Trip. Trip was not like other children and did not seem to care what other’s though about him. Therefore Alex decided to make him his friend. Of course this was not the only reason Alex wanted him as a friend. Alex was a rather calculating fellow, and realised that in a couple of years Trip would probably be very popular with the girls. Alex recognised that his looks were not the best and thought that if he became a good friend of Trip’s he might be able to get a couple leftovers.

The rest of the day was not very interesting. Trip continued to take notes and pay attention during classes, but it was just the introductory day and he didn’t actually learn anything. After the day ended he went to the library. When he arrived he realised that Alex was no longer following him. He was all alone. It was somehow a slightly uncomfortable feeling.

Additional Information:

Water Bullet: A small amount of water is summoned and shot at a high velocity towards a target

Water Whip: A large stream of water is used to hit against target(s), can hit multiple targets. The stream can be bent in several ways

Water Healing: Due to the purity of the water particles it can be used to heal wounds on oneself or on a target

Water Field: A simple technique where you create a field of water with air inside (like a bubble) which can hold things in it (this is a self-designed technique)

Water Vortex: Mixture of Water Whip and Water Bullet. It is a large rotating stream of water shot towards a target at a high velocity