Come Monday the entire research group, sans Josh, found themselves waiting for the professors in the same room as their orientation. Not a single one of them dared to be late this time, except Josh of course.
Professor Hertz and her assistants walked in right when the clock hit 12. Jumping down to business, she began to explain “We have decided to split up the class to allow us to better understand your abilities.”
“You and you” she said, pointing at Tyler and Billy “will follow Mrs. Quill to measure and practice your telekinesis.”
“Alexa, Alex, Sasha, and Gary will come with me, as their powers are more esoteric and will need an expert hand to measure them properly” she added with a greedy glint in her eye.
Going back to her usual monotonous voice she said “The rest of you are with Mr. Payne” before waving her group to follow her out of the door. Mrs. Quill did the same with her two students and left without a single word.
Mr. Payne stared silently at the students left in the room with him as they fidgeted, before breaking out in a smile and saying “Don't take it personally, she's like that with everyone. I'm glad you all could make it. Michael, Diana, Robert, and JJ, I'm really glad we can work together on this.”
All four students gaped at the suddenly personable researcher in front of them.
“It's a shame Josh hasn't shown up yet, but we can still go ahead and get started with measuring your abilities until he gets here” he continued without dropping his smile. “Please have a seat” he motioned towards a pile of beanbags that nobody had noticed “I've heard that astral projection can be uncomfortable on the physical body.”
Mr. Payne pulled out a pack of notecards and pens and began to hand them around. “I have a little surprise set up in the room below this one. All of these research buildings have basements, and I've placed a list of instructions on a table in ours. When I tell you to, I want you to astral project yourselves below us and follow those instructions” he said while pulling out a stopwatch.
“Are we even able to see through solid walls?” Diana asked, evidently unpracticed with her own powers.
Mr. Payne threw the question back at the group “I don't know, why don't you all tell me? Are you able to astral project through walls?”
JJ grabbed the chance to show off his magical expertise by explaining “Yes! Solid walls don't block our astral projection! What's important is to practice until you can move your astral viewpoint quickly enough to reach the other side of the wall before you tire yourself out!”
Robert agreed, adding “Solid walls! Doors! Lockers! We can see through anything!”
Michael simply sat off to the side and nodded.
“Good, good” Mr. Payne said “Now let's start testing! Why don't you show us how it's done since you seem quite experienced, JJ?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Payne!” JJ jumped at the chance to show off his abilities and sat down on one of the beanbags.
JJ threw himself out of his physical body as Mr. Payne started his stopwatch and moved his astral body towards the floor. Within seconds he found himself inside another well-lit room, and could see the table in question with a sign on top. It directed him to maintain his astral projection as long as he could, before returning to his body and writing his name on his notecard while hiding it from the rest of the students.
The feeling of being drawn back into his body after a longer astral projection was always disconcerting, especially with such a drastic change in scenery, but JJ managed to avoid falling over and scribbled his name before turning to Mr. Payne.
“Good work, a minute twenty or thereabouts”
While Mr. Payne recorded the time, Robert flopped down and prepared to enter his own astral projection.
Robert's trip lasted 50 seconds and he also secretly wrote his name on his notecard upon returning.
Diana was about to sit down on a beanbag, having worked up the courage to try something she'd never done before, but Mr. Payne insisted that Michael go next, much to Michael's displeasure.
After sitting down and getting the go ahead from Mr. Payne, Michael crossed his legs and closed his eyes with a look of extreme concentration on his face. Thirty seconds later he opened his eyes and glanced at Mr. Payne.
“I wasn't able to make it through the floor” Michael admitted after a brief hesitation.
“Mhmmm” was Mr. Payne's only response. After a brief scrutinizing look, he turned to Diana and asked her to try.
Diana's attempt wasn't nearly as drawn out. 4 seconds after Mr. Payne started his stopwatch, Diana opened her eyes in shock. “I was just able to see through the floor but I didn't have enough time to read the instructions” Diana admitted with a depressed tone.
“That's okay, with a bit of practice I'm sure you'll get it” Mr. Payne consoled her.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Yo, don't tell me they started without me? Where's everybody else” boomed a voice from the doorway as Josh strolled inside.
Mr. Payne perked up and put on an amiable smile as he addressed Josh “I'm glad you could finally make it! We were just doing a few tests and you're just in time!”
Josh grumbled about deserving more pay as though he was being taken advantage of, but still sat down and performed the test as directed by Mr. Payne. 20 seconds later he was finished jotting down his name, though JJ suspected that he didn't put much effort into extending his astral projection since he didn't show any sign of strain upon returning to his body.
Mr. Payne seemed satisfied with the results as he moved on to the next subject. “These results are quite remarkable, but our focus for this semester will be determining how these powers grow. I will test your abilities at the start of every session so that we can accurately chart your growth. Other than that, you will spend all of your time in this class training your abilities.”
“Do we have to?” Josh groaned.
“You didn't let me finish!” Mr. Payne responded cheerfully. “I think you'll like this. We actually copied this method from one of you” he winked at JJ while pulling out a pack of cards. “Poker anyone?”
“Playing poker is supposed to increase our abilities?” Josh sounded skeptical.
“No, no, not at all” Mr. Payne admitted, grinning “But cheating at poker will.”
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By the end of Monday's session, JJ was sure of two things. First, that Mr. Payne was the perfect overseer for his group because his skill at dealing cards was godlike, and second, that JJ would be a very rich man, if they were actually playing with real chips.
Normally, JJ found it boring to play for fake money. However, watching Josh sit on the other side of the table with a dark look in his eyes, quietly seething over his losses, made it all the more enjoyable.
Diana, Michael, and Robert were hopelessly outmatched. They only tried to compete amongst each other when Josh and JJ were dealt bunk. Meanwhile Josh could barely stem his losses as JJ freely stole glances at his cards during vital moments.
The match only became more lopsided when JJ noticed that he could perceive other people's astral bodies while using his own astral projection. By quickly switching between his astral and physical body, he could move his cards away from anyone trying to steal a look at his own hand. Mr. Payne was the one most pleased with this development as it had yet to be documented.
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JJ spent the next two days lazing in his room and experimenting with his powers. After discovering a new facet of his ability, he wanted to aim for more. Unfortunately, the results did not match up with his expectations, and he headed to class with nothing new to show for it.
Mr. Payne carried out his tests, Josh showed up fashionably late as usual, and everybody but Michael increased the duration of their projections by 5 to 10 seconds each. Even Diana managed to succeed in looking through the floor this time.
Despite JJ's relatively minor progress since the last class, he didn't expect any of the others to be able to seriously challenge him when the games started. He knew from personal experience how difficult it was to train his astral projection, and he was far ahead of any of the others.
Josh, however, had other plans. As soon as the cards were dealt, he glanced at his cards and then loudly slammed them face down on top of the table, preventing anybody else from seeing them entirely. While the group could easily send their astral projection through objects, it quickly became apparent that they could not see between two objects that were flush against each other as there was no point from which to view them.
JJ began astral projecting directly behind Josh at the start of every round to try and get a peek at his cards before he could hide them, but Diana and Robert were quick to copy Josh's strategy, further reducing his advantage.
This game of cat and mouse continued to level the playing field between the four of them, while only poor Michael fell further behind, until Josh simply stopped picking up his cards.
Round after round that day JJ found himself falling further and further behind without being able to figure out Josh's new trick, until finally he gave up. “How are you looking at your cards without picking them up!?” he shouted as he threw another losing hand into the air.
Josh had an incredibly smug look on his face as he responded “It's simple really.” He milked a dramatic pause for the next dozen seconds before continuing “I admit you're the better ability user... but you're such a crappy poker player, I don't need to see your cards, I don't even need to see my own cards, I simply need to watch you to know when to play and know when to fold! It's easier than reading an open book.”
Over the next few weeks JJ's dreams of becoming a professional poker player slowly died. Nevermind the difficulty of finding unsuspecting opponents to take advantage of after his own rise to fame back at Rosewood, he now found he couldn't even beat Josh despite his significant advantage in magical ability.
The other two groups continued to meet with Professor Hertz and Mrs. Quill, wherever they set up, and rarely interacted with JJ's group for more than a few minutes at a time. He heard from Tyler that most of their time was dedicated to solving puzzles with their telekinesis, but Professor Hertz's group remained tight-lipped about what she was having them do. Apparently she had threatened them with legal action if they leaked her methodology before she officially published her research paper on their abilities.
JJ settled into a routine of practicing his powers, scouring the internet for new magical phenomenon or interactions with other magical beings, hanging out with Steven on weekends, and attending class. He felt a bit guilty about blowing off all the knowledge available at his finger tips here in the Uni, but nobody could deny that his powers had flourished.
By the start of winter JJ could easily maintain his astral projection for over 3 minutes while the rest of the group was still under 2, and he was significantly more agile while moving his astral body than the rest. Mr. Payne was particularly thrilled with the results, and promised that his soon-to-be published paper would pave the path for future astral projectors.
It was at this point that things took a turn for the weird. For the first time in months, Professor Hertz did not gather her group and immediately leave at the start of class. She stood at the front of the room, waiting with Mr. Payne and Mrs. Quill the same way she had that first day of orientation, until everybody showed up, including Josh.
Walking up to the students she announced “I'm proud of you all” in an obviously rehearsed manner, with a scowl on her face suggesting otherwise. “Your powers have grown, and our own research has been fruitful. With a few more years of study, I am confident we will be able to pioneer a brand new field of study. My superiors are very pleased and have suggested a... reward.”
Off to the side, Mr. Payne looked even more unhappy than the usual expressionless stare he put on around the professor.
“The officials of this country have discreetly maintained diplomatic ties with several magically inclined societies who can be found through our local Pathway entrances. One such society is known as the Eden Empire. They have suggested an... exchange of sorts, and the Pathway to their lands sits less than two hours... by wagon... away from this very campus.”
The students burst out in whispers, their interest in a brand new society clashing with the sinister vibes given off by the professor's speech, but Professor Hertz ignored them and continued on “Thus our local officials, our dean, and our country's highest politicians have all agreed to send some of you on an exciting... vacation to the Eden Empire.”
“Do we have to go?” Alexa interrupted, looking much like a frightened cat trying to avoid a bath.
“No” responded the professor, much to the collective relief of the students, only to continue with “Junior, Joshua, Daniel, Robert, and Michael must go. The rest of you will stay.” Silence ensued as everybody else turned to look at them with both pity and relief.
Josh looked pensive before breaking the silence by asking “That's quite a specific line-up, are you sending us to spy on this so-called Empire, because of our astral projection?”
“You can think of it that way.” the professor replied.
“But I didn't sign up here to be a spy, I signed up to be a student. I don't work for free.” Josh demanded, putting into words almost exactly what JJ himself felt.
Professor Hertz sighed before responding “You will be rewarded most generously for your efforts, I assure you, but not by me. Report to the security station at the northern entrance of campus by t- 9 A.M. tomorrow. You may take the rest of the day off. The rest of you, follow Mrs. Quill and myself so we may continue our work.”
Mr. Payne stayed back and gave them a thin smile before wishing them luck “Don't get yourselves killed out there haha, maybe you can learn something new from them, they are a magical empire after all.” Then he too left the room, the five “exchange students” wondering what trials were in store for them ahead.