Chapter 13: First Day of Classes

Landar

The Next Day

Snow fell from the sky in sheets so thick I couldn’t see five feet in front of me as I worked my way back to the school. Fortunately, when I got to the campus the magical protections kicked in. The weather spell created an odd effect making it look and feel almost as if we were buried under a shell of falling snow. Snow that never touched the ground.

The gutters ran heavy with water as the moisture in the thickly humid air was turned back into water by whatever enchantment was at play. Even the smallest gutter flowed like a running river.

When I reached the underground section of the student building that would connect to the fields where body enhancement was scheduled to take place, I ran into other students who were headed that way. Sakura, and Rayce along with Tosh were among them.

“Didn’t expect to see you in body enhancement yet, Landar.” Tosh said, as he kept up with my long strides down the dark underground corridors.

“And I didn’t expect to see you in intro to body enhancement. Tosh.” I smirked and shot the kid a smile. He was slightly taller than me, which was a feat, but he was as skinny as a sapling and looked like he could get blown away by the storm outside.

“Yes, well. My counselor believes I have too heavily specialized while in the undergrad program. Field affect, and mana manipulation might be excellent fields of study. But according to her, a proper wizard also cultivates their other natural talents. And despite my physique, I do have a strong back, healthy legs, and a solid constitution for one my age.”

I bit my tongue at the reflexive instinct to call him a nerd. I didn’t think it would be taken as the playful ribbing I would intend it to be. At least not until we get to know each other a bit better.

We came out onto the observation deck that overlooked the fields, and found some twenty students milling about. Most first years from the remedial group, but a few were people I had only seen among the other first year groups.

At the head of the group stood a gruff looking older man, with an eyepatch. A man that was familiar to me. The now retired Lord Collector stood, glaring down at the students he largely towered over. All but me and Tosh, who were both nearly a head taller than him. When his good eye caught sight of me, his scowl deepened.

“Glad to see you’re still alive, you little troublemaker. Never thought I'd see you again after that night.” His scowl turned up slightly into a smile that was almost as frightening, and then he moved on greeting other students as they entered.

“Do you know our professor?” Tosh asked, concerned.

“Know" is a powerful word. More like I pissed his son off once, and he thought it was funny.”

“Oh. Well, I suppose that makes sense. Though if you angered Lord Knight Commander Ezekial, you’re lucky to be alive.”

“He wasn’t that big of a deal back then. Then again, I was a kid so,” I shrugged.

“I, see.”

“Do you?” I asked, plastering a smile on my face to take the bite out of the question. His shoulders sagged.

“No.”

“Ha, I’ll tell you about it later.”

A few minutes later the group of twenty five students had gathered together, and the retired Lord Collector walked us down to the field he had reserved for the class. The field was configured with thick grass and soft soil, and summer weather. It made for a surreal effect as the winter storm overhead let out its furry, we felt we were in a different world all together.

“Welcome to Body Enhancement 1. Before we begin, find a comfortable spot on the gras, and lay out your materials for inspection.”

I did as I was told and found a good spot next to Tosh a few feet away from the rest of the group. Sakura and her brother, the bodyguard was nowhere to be seen, wandered off in the opposite direction of the group that we had gone.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Other groups or two or three students wandered around looking for good spots. Some laid out mats, others did as I had done, just placing my book and magic potions on the grass directly. Tosh however, pulled out what had to be the most elaborate mat I had ever seen before he laid out his goods like he was selling them at one of the dozens of petty markets throughout the city.

The mat was roughly the size of his torso, was made with a beautiful and intricate waving of gold, silver, and white thread that radiated a slight pull on the mana around it, and sent it up into whoever was sitting on it.

“What is that?” I asked, though I had already guessed what it was used for.

“Cultivation mat. My mother sent it to me from her visits among the Toad Princes in the far south. She’s still traveling the coast there, learning their growth techniques and attempting to quantify them so the centralized system at the capital can grow more complex.”

“I think I understood about half of what those words mean.”

Tosh chuckled and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as the now retired Coin Lord cleared his throat and got our attention. “I”ll be coming around and inspecting your potions, and ensuring you have the correct manual. Once that is done, we’ll do a basic mana infusion, and call it a day. Understood!?”

“Yes sir!” I heard a few of the students say, and I joined them. These were former soldiers, guards, or those who had at one point or another served in some capacity in the realms disciplined defense. A low murmur of understanding and agreement came from the rest of the class.

The retired coin lord smirked, as his eyes tracked which ones of us had replied instinctively like soldiers. “Good. I expect everyone to behave professionally while I work.”

When he turned to work with the closest students, I cleared my throat. “So, care to explain that?”

“Explain what?” The lanky young man looked as confused as I was.

“What you said about the centralized system thing? What is that?”

“Oh. Right, you grew up a peasant didn’t you? Sorry, don’t mean to pry but you hear things from people. My parents mostly. Anyway, The King and his line have a rather powerful mind spirit that is, ostensibly, in charge of the royal library and academy. It's less a mind spirit now, and more like a spirit of knowledge, or so I've heard. There’s rumor it even has a body now, or that the royal academy, or even the library is the creature's physical manifestation. Anyway, the Royals are seemingly obsessed with this thing and growing it. They call it the Mothers Greatest Mercy.”

“So, what. Your mother was part of an expedition to help get new information to feed this spirit?”

“Yup. It's one of the many standing quests the royals put out every year for adventurers.”

“So, your mother is an adventurer?”

“Not really, my father is, however. That’s actually how they met. My mother hired his party for protection while she went on a cataloging tour of the far western shoreline. Took a few years. They fell in love, and well. One thing led to another, they got married, and I was born. My mothers parents weren’t too thrilled about her marrying a lesser noble, being middle ranked ones themselves. But all in all, things in my family have relaxed since. I mean, it's a good sign they stopped calling my dad a gold digger, right?”

“Uh . . . yeah. Probably a good sign.”

“Alright boys, let's see what you have.” Old one eye said, as he crouched down behind us and took a closer look at our potions. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but Tosh just took it in stride. “Right, these are better than I requested. Good work boys. Now for your texts. Correct, and Landar. Correct title. But boy, this doesn’t have any magical protections on it. It's just text. You’ll want to get it enchanted if you can.”

“Yes sir, but why exactly?” His eye squinted at me as if trying to figure out if I was being rude or not.

“Because boy, magic gets flung around here like water in the ocean. It changes things without some basic protections on them, all the time. I’ve had students show up to class with textbooks filled with nothing but numbers, or all changed to a single letter before all because one of their classmates screwed up an ink cleaning spell. Or they walked into a dictation spell aray and didn’t know it. It won’t cost you much, just a silver or two. Registrar's office can do it for free, if you can convince her.”

I shivered slightly and he smiled. “I see you’ve met Edna.”

“Yes sir, She’s actually one of my professors this year.” His expression changed from amused, to evaluating.

“Taking practicals in your first year? Good on you kid. Just don’t die. Now, let me see you both infuse your muscles with mana.”

We were the last to have our equipment inspected, and the first to have our infusion techniques scrutinized. After several minutes, and half a dozen pointers on how to improve, the retired coin lord turned professor was ready to move on.

“Keep practicing. Your infusion technique is good, but it's clear you came up with it on your own. You’re not infusing every part of your muscles, or bones. Just those parts you’re actively using. That’s not a problem in the immediate, but long term it will weaken your foundation as you advance to higher levels. With consistent minor mana infusions, the small muscles and bones in your body will grow stronger. Even if they’re not used for every instance. And you Tosh, is this your first time using mana infusion?”

“No sir, but . . . Well, it's been a while.”

“Got it. Keep practicing. Do three or for more mana infusions and tomorrow we’ll go over the theory behind all of this. But for now, just get used to moving your mana through your body's muscles, blood, and bone. Understand?” Tosh nodded. “Good lads. Now, get to work.”

And so we did. The rest of the morning's hour-long class was consumed by practice. By the time One Eye gave the call to wrap up, parts of my body I didn’t even know I had ached with pent up energy.

When I got up to go back to my rooms to get ready for my next class of the day, my knees were shaking and I was covered in sweat.