A week has passed and Sylvester has more or less adjusted to the magical campus life.
Naturally he started hanging out more with Artian and Estelle although he often feels like a third wheel, meanwhile Rossa is as distant as ever only responding to attempts of a conversation with either glares or one note answers.
Fortunately, he managed to survive the first week despite his rather early financial crisis, and even ended up with 115 credits to spare! It wasn’t easy as he basically had to cut off breakfast and only eat during Lunch and dinner.
Still, with his financial woes out of the way, there was still one more problem that’s been nagging at him. Academics.
He was still having trouble with the basics of chain casting and it was starting to frustrate him as he was starting to lag behind.
“Ahhh dammit.” He groaned as he walked his way back to the dorm.
“I wonder what I’m doing wrong.” Sylvester asked himself as he hung his head in frustration.
“I asked Ms. Bishop but her answer was not that helpful either.” Sylvester then recalled what happened a few days ago.
Ms. Bishop approached Sylvester as she noticed that he was having a lot of trouble. Upon asking what was wrong Sylvester explained his circumstances and mentioned that he was using capacity refresh.
Ms. Bishop however simply gave him a pat on the shoulder and said, “That’s no problem. What you need to work on is your visualization!” and didn’t explain any further.
“Visualize? What more do I have to visualize??” Sylvester grunted, in a rather loud voice this time as he flailed around angrily.
“Calm down, calm down. It’s been only a week. Don’t get frustrated.” Sylvester said to himself in order to reign in his emotions.
“Speaking of which, that Rossa girl has quite a knack for this kind of deal huh? She was able to chain up to 5 spells after all.” His musings continued as he went back to memories of the recent class, where she shocked everyone including the professor.
“Ah whatever, I’m gonna go take a walk.” Sylvester then walked in another direction away from his dorm.
Whenever he feels agitated, Sylvester always decides to take a walk to collect his thoughts and refocus himself. He firmly believes that simply getting mad at a problem will not be able to solve anything and that anger is a waste of energy.
While it is not guaranteed to help him in his current predicament, at the very least he will have a better state of mind later when he decides to go and practice again.
“Right woooooo. Empty your mind and go wherever your feet take you.” He chanted in his head as he continued his merry way.
After a while he started following the main road people take throughout the campus. It was a yellow brick road connected to places of importance throughout the campus, or at the very least, the parts of the campus Sylvester has explored.
Sylvester’s aimless walking somehow brought him to the main square of the campus. Surprisingly there were a lot more people gathered here today than what he had anticipated, all clumped up in their own clusters.
As Sylvester’s curiosity took over and unconsciously started approaching the mass of people, a voice then suddenly called out to him.
“You there!” The voice said, in a boisterous tone.
Sylvester then turned his head towards the direction of the voice.
“Me?” He asked while pointing at this face.
“YES YOU!” A rather plump man with a short stature called out to Sylvester.
The man was wearing the school’s prescribed uniform, but had a bright yellow shoal wrapped around him. He was smiling eagerly towards the bemused Sylvester.
“You there dear freshman and FUTURE great mage! Is being invited to join our great organization, Leonite Questers!” He exclaimed loudly.
“What? Leonite Que-OH!” Sylvester replied perplexed as if his brain lagged for a little bit until he understood the gist of things.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Oh yeah, clubs or organizations whatever. Those are a thing yeah, and I completely forgot.”
All of a sudden three more people appeared from behind the loud man, they were all men wearing the same bright yellow shoal.
“If you join us there will be great benefits!” Says endorser number one as he poses with his index finger raised and pointing to the sky.
“Fun activities and lasting memories are ALL a guarantee!” Says endorser number two as he too strikes a pose as if he was holding a camera.
“Finally, a glorious and most ever fulfilling magical school life awaits you if you join-” A third one cuts through the first two, spreading his arms wide open.
“LEONITE QUESTERS!” The stubby man then reappeared from behind as three guys in front knelt down, waving their hands trying to mimic some kind of bland special effect.
Sylvester stood there, looking, as if silently judging their sales pitch. After a short while he looked to the stubby man and smiled.
“Hmm not bad, 8 outta 10 could use more theatrics and cheese.” Sylvester said as he clapped for the quartet and then gave them a thumbs up.
“Sadly, right now I’m not really in the mood of joining or thinking about any extra organizations blabla whatever. So I apologize, I cannot join you.” Sylvester then turned down their offer as politely as he can.
“I see. That’s too bad.” The stubby man replied, with a hint of disappointment present in his voice.
“But thank you for your kind words. You are the first person who actually liked our skit.” Said endorser number one.
“I am a man of a certain kind of theatrics myself.” Sylvester started. “I can appreciate the effort and flair.” He continued.
“If that is all you wanted to show me, then gentlemen, I guess it is time for my exit.” Sylvester then bowed to them while pretending to hold a hat on his chest. As he turned his back to leave the stubby man once again called out to him.
“Wait.” He said, stopping Sylvester on his tracks.
“Can you atleast tell us your name?” He asked. To which Sylvester turned around and smiled.
“Sylvester Clearsight, better remember it.” Sylvester turned around and waved goodbye trying to look as cool and collected as much as he could.
Meanwhile, deep inside his head.
“YES! YES! I GOT TO USE A CATCHPHRASE! He exclaimed deep inside, extremely pleased with himself lifting his mood and spirits quite a bit.
“Man, going for a walk sure did the trick!” He then continued walking, cutting his way through the thick cluster tide of people in front of him.
---
As Sylvester made his way through the main square, more recruiters approached him. Some giving away well designed flyers describing what their organization is and what they stand for, while others simply used easier methods like girls acting cute or in some cases, half naked men flexing their muscles.
If anything else, Sylvester got a better feel of the people inside the academy as he got showered in all their unique quirks.
With his frustration gone, he then wanted to try and practice but decided to head for the library instead thinking he might find some instructional books for Chain casting.
As Sylvester headed for the library, a group of people were intently observing his movements just barely out of sight.
Unbeknownst to him, he was being silently watched and followed. Stalked by an unknown group that has yet to reveal themselves.
One of the figures then placed his index finger towards his temple, and whispered a message.
“Representative Clarence. The Clearsight’s child is headed for the library.” He said in a low inaudible voice.
---
After a short while, Sylvester arrived at the library. He stopped for a while and decided to take in the surroundings even more. The lone Victorian styled building sitting in between two open fields had a sort of majestic feel to it.
He entered the premises and said hi to the twins before being directed towards the general studies section.
The area was located on the third floor so Sylvester decided to just go up the stairs instead of using an elevator.
As soon as he entered he hurriedly scanned the massive book shelves that fill the entire room, ladders sprung about into sections high above, far from human reach.
It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for, and luckily he need not be tied to simply one reference book. After going through multiple shelves, he managed to find three books on the chain casting.
As soon as he emerged from the forest of books, someone almost immediately caught his eye.
The unmistakable sheen of Silver and a glint of red, silently sitting near the windows and completely focused on the book that lay in front.
Rossa Argentum.
“Huh it seems she’s here to study too. Very diligent I see.” He thought to himself.
“Should I say hi?” He asked himself.
“I think I should say hi.” He immediately decided.
Slowly, he approached Rossa’s position. She was sitting on the far end of a long wooden table right next to the window, the sunlight entering through the window illuminating the pages as she turned and continued with her reading.
Shortly she seemed to have noticed Sylvester’s presence and glanced at him as he slowly made his way to her table. Their eyes met, and they shared a silent nod.
Sylvester then sat on the opposite end and at the opposite side of the table while Rossa continued with her reading.
In silence, red and blue, met once again.