The Adventuring Academy was nestled in the Artisian tier between a brewery and a place Nate suspected was similar to a cafe, complete with interior and exterior seating. Terry rumbled in his hunger as the smells of baked goods and some sort of brewed drink drifted over them. The

Academy was a singular three story building with narrow strips of grassy land between it, the road, and the barriers that set its lot apart.

The building was made of sandstone like most of them, but this one had banners of the academy, a circle within which rested an open book atop a crossed sword with a magical aura around it and some sort of futuristic looking gun. Nate pulled up his chat with Krypdyr and Quilly.

Nate: Quilly, why have we only really seen high tech gear from Beacon and those mechs? Is that as uncommon as it seems?

Quilly: Yes. There are four total zones spread around Terra. We are currently in a magic zone, where magic functions at its fullest. The other types are Tech, Fringe, and Null.

Nate: I see. So, Tech zones are where high technology works best and Null zones would be where nothing works correctly. What are Fringe zones?

Quilly: Fringe zones lie between Magic and Tech zones, where both properly function. The main Stormchaser hub city of Tempeste lies in a Fringe zone, for example.

Nate: And how does the magic not work in Tech zones?

Krypdyr: There’s a chance the spell will fail when cast, or on rare occasions that a surge happens. Krypdyr shuddered. You don’t want a surge to happen. It’s why we use Storm Ore for the mechs and any magic items we want to use in both spaces.

Nate: That makes sense. The minecart rails back in Gronwood used Storm Ore.

The end of their conversation brought them to the front desk. Captain Stonecrusher looked for the nearest person, who happened to be a rather surly looking Dwarf with quarts eyes and skin that closely resembled the sandstone of the walls. His name was listed on his placard as Fundin Hammersmith, and he was busy sorting through a stack of papers that Nate noticed were mostly blank, at least to him.

“You have a new recruit,” Stonecrusher said.

Fundin didn’t look up. “Indentured or voluntary?”

“Indentured.”

Fundin then looked up, eyeing both Nate and Krypdyr. “This about that explosion down at Purification?”

Nate slid the paper over to him, “Yes, sir.”

Fundin read the paper, nodded, and pointed to a hallway behind the front desk. “Second door down, talk to Katia in Registration.” He set the slip of paper on his desk among the others and continued whatever it was he was doing.

Nate turned to face Captain Stonecrusher, “Well, Captain, I guess we’ll go get started. Thank you for escorting us here.”

“Just make sure you keep out of trouble in the future. As I said before, I’ll be watching.”

“No promises, but I’d really, truly like to stay out of trouble. It has a way of finding me. If I find any, I’ll try to bring it to you before it gets out of hand.”

Stonecrusher nodded, turned and left. Nate and Krypdyr entered the office as Fundin stepped away from the front desk. Katia was an Elf with brown hair pulled into a tight bun, her glasses set low on her nose as she read from a slate, swiping as she did so. She wore what looked to Nate like a cross between a wizard robe and a dress one would find in a professional setting. The colors changed as she moved as though the robes were pearlescent.

“Sit,” she said as she set the slate down. They did so. “You’re here to join the Academy.” It wasn’t a question. She took out a wand that had a cable hanging off the end and connected it to the slate, which she picked up as she stepped around the desk.

Quilly: She’s going to scan us. Shall I let it happen?

Nate: Thank you for asking and not just blowing up her slate. I feel like we should. No need to overload their equipment here. They’ll find out eventually.

Quilly: I don’t like this.

Nate: I know, just trust me. Better they find out up front. Plus, I’m getting tired of trying to hide this.

“Please, stand.” Katia scanned Krypdyr first. “You are registered as a squire working for SAI under Beacon Flamel’s Stormchaser squad.”

“That is correct.”

“And you are joining us under indenture because of,” she read the next part off the slate, “destruction of purification equipment?”

“That was technically the Mage Hunters, but we were present and they were attacking us, so the place was damaged indirectly because of us,” Krypdyr said.

“We’ll update your records with your new stones.”

“Thank you.”

Katia hesitated, looking over them with more interest. “You are both very… unaffected by this punishment.”

“Just want to help as we can,” Nate said. “Meant to swing by here earlier, but things are a bit fast paced sometimes. And I know the Mending spell, so I should be able to fix most of the damage, minus the magic parts. I could use some Enchantment training, actually, if that’s possible.”

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“It is, once you have finished the punishment detail. I’ll be scanning you now, Nate.”

“I never told you my name.”

“It was on the paper that Fundin transferred into our system.”

“Because magic?”

“I suppo-” she trailed off as she scanned Nate. Her eyes widened as her screen flashed a series of colors. There was a small pop sound and a young-looking human man with a comically conical hat and bright blue robes appeared between Nate and Krypdyr. He held a short rod that was glowing slightly from its tip and wore a pair of spectacles with multiple adjustable lenses.

“Hey!” Nate said jovially. “Can we borrow those glasses when we steal the Declaration of Independence?”

“What?” the man said, his voice a step lower than Nate expected.

“My name’s Nate. This is Krypdyr. We’re freshly indentured members of the Adventuring Academy! We have a few other party members, but they may or may not join later.”

“Why was I summoned? I’m in the middle of a delicate enchantment.”

“Nate’s scan triggered it,” Katia explained.

The wizard’s eyes brightened as he tucked away the rod. “Really? You? How curious indeed.”

“What exactly was triggered?” Nate asked.

“Whatever job you were indentured to complete will be overridden with mine. It pays much better anyway. How are you at enchantment?”

“Haven’t had much practice, honestly.”

“That’s okay. Come with me.”

“Not until we know what this new job is and who you are,” Krypdyr said, placing a hand on Nate who had already begun to step to follow.

“My apologies! My name is Desdon Trill. You have a Sigil Stone that will allow the Academy to add to its data entries with a speed as yet unmatched,” Desdon said with a rather infectious enthusiasm.

“After we’ve repaid the damages, the pay will go to us?” Nate asked.

“Of course.”

“Would it be possible to take future payments as spellbooks?”

“I don’t see why we couldn’t do that to some degree, though it takes anywhere between a few months to several years to learn new spells from spellbooks, depending on the rank of the spell and your understanding of the underlying magic. That may not be worth your time.”

“Desdon, my friend, have I got a surprise for you.”

Desdon led them to an elevator in the center of the academy building, which was really just a floating disc with a translucent panel on which he pushed a button, heading down into the bowels of the floating city. Nate felt like they had dropped even below the elevation of the Undercroft when they reached a set of heavily reinforced doors that were accompanied by a glowing keypad. Desdon pressed a series of buttons and the doors slid open.

Nate gasped as they stepped into a veritable hoard of magical objects. Nate plucked a piece of dried steel beak from his inventory and snacked as they walked through the room. Rows upon rows of tables with rings, books, swords, bows, robes, armor of various types, and a host of other random baubles littered the room. Everburning torches lined the walls in sconces, and Nate let the intrusive thoughts win and put his hand in the flames of one as they passed, finding to his delight that it was only a little warm to the touch.

Quilly: You know we could probably steal most of this and no one would know.

Nate: No, Quilly. Don’t want to go making trouble for us or our friends. Let’s see what he has to say once we get to where he wants us to go.

Quilly made a pouty face.

Quilly: Fine.

At the far end of the large room sat a mostly empty table with a slate, a small vase with a round, neon yellow flower, and what may have been a sword hilt, grip, and pommel, though it was orderly dismantled on a square cloth.

“This is my desk, where I analyze and log the magic items that the Academy buys for the rewards on the quest boards. Some, of course, are repeat items, and only need to be logged into the inventory, but others we have to study to determine their uses and whether or not they happen to be cursed or dangerous in some way.”

Nate nodded, “That sounds tedious.” Krypdyr was somewhere else in the huge vault sifting through a table covered in blades of varying lengths.

Desdon sighed, “It certainly can be.”

“Also, you said we. Do you work with someone else down here?”

A look Nate recognized crossed Desdon’s face. “Naomi sometimes will assist me with the larger or more complicated items, but she’s been down at the Temple of Air doing research for a new project.”

“I have to head that way eventually. I’ll put in a good word for you,” Nate jovially nudged him in the side. Desdon’s cheeks flushed.

“Wh-what do you mean?” he stammered.

“Oh come on. I saw the look when you mentioned her!”

He was turning a shade of red closer to purple, and he waved his hands emphatically. “No! Please don’t say anything to her,” he begged.

“Okay, okay,” Nate agreed. “I seem to have derailed our purpose here. Sorry about that. So we need to update your database with the information concerning the new magic items that aren’t currently there?”

“Yes,” Desdon said with relief in his tone.

“And you know I have the Interface Sigil Stone, right?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Permission to connect to your database?”

Desdon hesitated, “I’m not sure. We haven’t had anyone here with such a stone before. How do you think connecting to the database would go?”

“Let me do this first,” Nate said as he extended a hand to Desdon.

Desdon Trill. Level 52 Apprentice Wizard. His spell list is kind of long, so I won’t bore you with it. Needless to say, this guy can do some real damage. I wasn’t expecting that.

Desdon Trill has been added to your contacts.

Nate sent him a chat request, watching the now unsurprising look of surprise as the window popped up in his vision.

Desdon: Fascinating. He had already picked up his slate and was typing quickly into it.

Nate: Desdon, meet Quilly, my Interface Sigil Stone.

Quilly: Hi, Desdon! We’ll be working closely together for the next while. May I connect to the Adventuring Academy database?

Desdon: I am - at a loss for words. You’re self-aware?

Quilly: Well, sort of. I absorbed a lot of information from Nate here and from the general database available on all slates, where you pick up things like local news and certain reading materials. I will say that the slate data accessibility is less than it seems it was where Nate is from, but it’s also much less… disturbing.

Nate: I can’t disagree with that.

Desdon: I haven’t the foggiest idea of what you speak, but I think it should be okay. There’s nothing in there you won’t already have access to as part of joining the Academy.

Nate: Speaking of, where would one go to get a slate? The only one I’d seen before the ones around the city was held by a friend of mine who, now I think on it, likely got it from here.

Desdon: If you don’t wish to purchase one, they are provided to full members as part of their first official, non-indentured quest, as they will use it to find future missions if they are away from the posting board.

Quilly: You don’t need one, Nate. Once I connect to their database, I should be able to stay connected.

Nate: Even better!

Desdon: I’m sorry what-

“Never mind that,” Nate said aloud. “Where do we start?”