With the orientation over, Kai was at a loss for what to do next. The largest problem he determined was a lack of information. Frankly, he was behind the game. All of his fellow classmates would know their way around the gigantic academy and be familiar with or at the very least aware of each other by this point. His only connection inside the academy was his sponsor, Paragon Niles, who still remained a mystery to him. He also lacked the details regarding his sponsorship. Initially, he thought being sponsored would mean having the sponsor pay for his attendance in the academy. A simple prospect. But it appeared there was a difference between sponsored and normal students if he was to judge from his 500 gifted prime points. He would have to investigate and clarify the answer.
Bringing out the packet he was given earlier, he quickly determined that nearly all of his classes and housing unit were located in Tower Epsilon except for his practical weapons and magic training, which was located on the third plate at training field one and training field two respectively.
If Tower Epsilon is intended for second-year students and classes, then that should mean the other towers are also aimed at their respective grades as well. Then the fourth tower must either be for a facility employed by the academy or a shared building between the three classes of students.
At least that was what he thought. Though that reasoning didn’t provide an explanation for the purpose of the twelve open floors between the towers. Even if the plate did have training fields, that wouldn’t account for its entire size. After all, he had seen many buildings on some of the plates on his way in, and each plate by itself was large enough to host a small city.
Letting out a small sigh, he made the packet vanish with a thought back into his ring. The last of his instructions from his father had been to ‘follow the path,’ which now truly left him to decide his next step on his own. Had he asked for more information, he was sure his father would have helped, but he understood his father’s personality. The man had likely wanted Kai to be self-sufficient as a way of growing. Which was fine. The opportunity had been provided. Now it was his turn to take advantage of it.
The assembly hall was nearly empty. Most of the students had retreated into the lobby, however, few remained still chatting amongst each other. A sense of loneliness came over him. He knew he wasn’t the most sociable person, but he missed that companionship and comradery he had at the Ashbourne Academy with Nicolas and Andre.
Exiting the hall, he decided he would walk around and explore the place. Seeing the vastness of the lobby once again, he instantly wished for a map. The academy itself was many times larger than the capital of the Ashbourne Kingdom and it had taken nearly the full year until he felt comfortable traversing the city without getting lost. Without an orientation point, his sense of direction could sometimes be found lacking. That was an unfortunate obstacle that stayed with him from his first life to the second.
“Need a bathroom break before we go exploring?” he sent to Asteria who had taken up her mother’s mantle as a living scarf around his neck.
Her tail playfully slapped him in the face causing him to chuckle. I guess that’s a no.
As it turns out, a map wasn’t needed. There were plenty of placards and signs, along with a simplistic architectural design that even he couldn’t get lost in. Large, wide ramps separated each floor of Tower Epsilon, next to which was an empty large shaft purposed for beings capable of flight if he was to judge by the dozen beings soaring past as he climbed the ramp. Twice he thought he was going to get trampled from behind as a few beings rushed up the ramp, but at the last second, they would dodge and rush past, leaving nothing but a breeze in their wake. Other students walking on the ramp appeared unfazed by the rushing students.
Between each of the first three plates were twelve floors, with a total of twelve plates, which made for at least 144 floors. There could have been more or less, but he didn’t travel higher than the third plate since none of his classes would be beyond at the current time. There was plenty of time to venture higher and explore at a later date.
Not wanting to make a scene and stand out by showing up late to his classes, he took the time to find each one. Despite classes not starting until the day after tomorrow, the hallways were still filled with others. As he traveled through the stark stone hallways, he received some odd looks from other students. Either because he was a new face or because Asteria was hanging around his neck was an unusual sight.
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He wondered what others thought of him as they identified him. They would most likely think he wasn’t too impressive. He had identified most of the students he came across in Tower Epsilon, only to discover that he was on the lower range of realm and levels. Most students tended to be in the upper levels of the Forging Realm with two he spotted already in the Adept Realm. For all, he knew those two students in the Adept Realm could have had their magic for close to five years by now, which would have barely qualified them to enter the academy for being too old. Or they could have had their magic only a year or two like him, which would make their growth impressively terrifying. It had taken him five years to advance to the Adept Realm during his first life.
He spotted a few individuals that showed up as question marks when he identified them, leading him to believe they were instructors or teachers. The problem was, they looked no different than the students. Some of them possessed very youthful faces. Naturally, he had already known that the youthfulness of one’s being did not equate to age. Youth was one of the perks granted to those who ascended through the realms of magic. Just by being in the Forging Realm, Kai would live to a hundred years and look young for nearly half of that. He imagined there could be a lot of confusion when trying to romantically meet others, only to find the youthful and beautiful woman they had been pursuing was in fact a 1000-year-old granny. I suppose such a thing might be natural in the Myriad of Worlds. Still, the thought made him shudder a little. Cultural difference, he reminded himself with a shake of his head.
After finding all his class locations inside Tower Epsilon, he found himself at the entrance to the third plate. Exiting the tower, he walked onto a giant metal walkway, that bordered the perimeter of the plate and led from one tower to the next. With no walls and only a railing, there was nothing to block his vision to the outside. Below he saw the very same bridge that he had traveled on. It stretched on for miles until it stopped where the massive exterior walls to the academy’s ground laid their claim and protection. There was no old and quant village like the illusions had led him to believe.
From his vantage point hundreds of meters above, he had a better view of the desert and forest than when he had been on the bridge. The desert was devoid of life, only filled with sand as nothing moved. On the opposite side of the bridge, he could have sworn there had been movement below, but when he saw nothing else, he figured it could have been tree branches and leaves shifting in the wind.
He didn’t leave the walkway and travel down onto the third plate. The entire plate was filled with barren fields of grass and dirt. Medium-sized walls separated each field but allowed the spectators to view from above. The closest field to his position had wooden sign labeling it as training field one.
“This place is a wonder,” he mused. A hundred meters above, the next plate stretched across, giving ground to the fourth plate. Across the entirety of the third plate, for the length of a city, there wasn’t a single support column bracing the plate above. Somehow despite all the obvious weight, the plate didn’t give way and collapse. He knew that none of the other plates had support columns either, as seen from the bridge. Their only support was the four towers located to which each plate connected.
After a while of staring down at the students crossing the bridge below, he turned to the small fox by his side. “What do you want to do now?”
“Sleep?” Her mouth stretched into a wide toothy yawn. The sky had already turned to dusk while they were inside exploring Tower Epsilon, and now the last of the sky’s light was vanishing.
The day had been long and filled with one adventure after another. He thought he would have been abuzz with energy and excitement due to the freshness and novelty of his situation, but he let out a yawn he had been suppressing.
Returning to Tower Epsilon the two found themselves in a dormitory area somewhere between the first and second plates. Placing his hand against the door of his assigned housing unit, an audible click resounded. Pushing the door open he walked inside.
The room was already furnished with a large bed, dresser, desk, and chair, all made from dark red wood. The only thing he found wanting was a lack of a window. Light was given by a few sources of manalight connected to a small plate next to the door that would allow him to control its output.
The room was large enough to where he could swing his weapons around without fear of hitting anything. He found himself enjoying the simplicity of it. At the end of the day, all he needed was a safe place to sleep. Everything else was a bonus.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he thought back to the day and became frustrated with himself. He wrung his hands together tightly. Taking the time to walk around and locate all his classes had been proactive, but at the same time, he hadn’t talked to anyone. He was reserved by nature and wasn’t one to proactively seek out others. But he knew he had screwed up. There was nothing to lose by introducing himself and asking some questions.
He recognized that the stress he felt came from his lack of information. This wasn’t like the Ashbourne Academy where he had an idea of what to expect. Everything here on Titan Prime was new to him and inhuman. It wasn’t overly different from what he could tell, just different enough to put him on edge until he became used to it.
“One step at a time,” he whispered to himself. His eyes focused on Asteria who was taking the time to sniff the furniture. The sight was amusing and released some of his tension. “Okay, let’s get to sleep. Tomorrow, we have a big day.”