“Professor, I’m confused. When you told me to study the train wasn’t I supposed to come to the realization everything is just runes?”
When professor Crumb heard Villin say these words he felt like puking blood. He found it a ridiculous assumption. But after walking a few more meters he managed to calm down enough to properly respond.
“No Villin, not at all. By showing you the train I was trying to get you to realize enchantments and magic arrays can be used in tandem to produce a singular greater effect. From there, after experimenting with this principle for a couple of years you might attempt to make enchantments within magic arrays to try and enhance them, after this failed you might try changing the shape of the magic array.
This would help you come to the realization magic arrays are not confined within a single shape and variations could be made. From there you might at some point make a magic array that looks more like an enchantment than anything else and from there a possibility existed you might make the leap to realize they are both the same in essence.” near the end of his speech the professor looked at wit’s end. He then stared Villin straight in the eyes “It took me sixty years to realize this fact and I always specialized in runes, you literally skipped every single step.”
Feeling slightly awkward Villin couldn’t do anything but smile awkwardly as he continued following the professor, after a while, he asked another question. “Professor, where are we going?”
Professor Crumb kept walking and no longer looked at Villin, he couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous, all the things he could’ve done if he got to the realization so soon in his life. “You’ll see.”
And so Villin waited, after walking for twenty minutes Villin noticed they were going toward a golden door, meaning they would be teleporting somewhere.
Before opening the door the professor stopped to hand Villin something. He gave Villin a small pin that was supposed to go on his robe. The little metal pin was in the shape of a three, Villin pinned it on without asking any questions.
“Alright Villin, stay close to me.”
Villin nodded before following the professor through the door, and a moment after he felt the familiar dizziness that came with long-range teleportation.
He looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar hallway. The walls seemed to be made out of some sort of grey wood and beautiful chandeliers were found on the ceiling with regular intervals. He saw a door a bit further to his left and recognized it as the basic academy doors that led to classrooms.
Just as he was getting his bearing the professor was on the move again forcing Villin to move along. After walking through hallways for ten more minutes, the professor and Villin passed by someone.
It was a lady that looked a little older than Villin, her robe was also a bit lighter in shade, Villin recognized the shade as it being a third-grader.
The third-grader looked at him in confusion for a bit before her cheeks became red, a moment later she sprinted off. As for the professor, he ignored her completely.
“Professor are we in the third grade?” Villin immediately asked his question as he recalled the article in the papers he had seen of Ruby Von Hauser being spotted in the third grade.
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The professor simply nodded without pausing his steps, his mind was still in turmoil that one of his students managed to get greatly enlightened at such a young age.
Seeing the professor didn’t intend to say anything, Villin simply followed him closely. After walking for another five minutes and passing by two more third grade students, the duo arrived at another golden door. Villin noticed that three students were standing around the door casually talking.
At first, Villin thought this was just their hang-out spot but once they got closer and the group turned toward them, Villin recognized the crests two of the students had on their robes. They were exactly the crests of ‘Todays Oddities’ and ‘A Magus’ Aid’. When professor Crumb and Villin approached they all took out some unfamiliar magic equipment.
“Sir, what is your name?”
“What is beyond this door?”
“Why do you get to enter the third grade?”
Villin felt overwhelmed when the three students started barraging him with questions. He decided not to stop moving and stay closely behind the professor. Once they properly arrived at the door the journalists backed off, it seemed that they didn’t dare to try and follow them when the door was opened.
A moment later, Villin and professor Crumb both went through another teleportation array.
This time, after going through the door, Villin felt somewhat stunned. The two of them were now standing in an absolutely beautiful room. The walls and ceiling were made from smooth marble and the lighting came from a couple of windows on one of the walls.
On the marble walls was a particular shine, when Villin approached one of the walls to look through the window he could feel the vast magical energy within every bit of the walls. It truly felt boundless.
When he looked through the window he was once more surprised, he seemed to be in a very tall building as he looked down on vast plains with a forest in the distance, he saw horses graze in the plains. Far to the left, he could see a waterfall, it was gorgeous.
“This is made beautifully, I can’t see the slightest mistake within this work.”
Hearing Villin’s stunned voice professor Crumb smiled slightly “The windows are real Villin, they might be enchanted but not in the way you think.”
Villin stared at professor Crumb in disbelief. Villin knew one of the most important things was for The Academy to keep the location of their grades a secret, no matter what this would be vastly more difficult on the surface.
Even so, he didn’t say anything yet, it was best to wait for the professor to explain things. The professor gestured Villin to follow him and after going through a couple of beautiful rooms, some of which holding well-made paintings, they arrived at their destination.
In front of them was a white door with beautiful engravings on it. In the few seconds Villin managed to study it he found the engravings told a story. He didn’t have enough time to properly study it but it was clear by the engravings depicting pens and runes, it was about a boy learning the arts of enchanting and magic arrays.
On the top part of the door, a name was engraved “Theodore Crumb”.
When the professor opened the door, he revealed the first properly furnished room Villin had seen. The coloring scheme didn’t change as almost everything was purely white, looking as if it was made of marble.
There was a white desk in the back of the room with some magical object sitting atop of it idly. On either side of the desk were white bookshelves, on these bookshelves were what looked like spell models. Villin counted around twenty iron spell models and eighty wooden ones.
Lastly, above the desk in the middle of Villin’s vision was a painting. The painting clearly depicted professor Crumb when he was slightly younger. The professor had only just started greying and was working hard on a piece of equipment in the painting, it was extremely well-made.
With a wave of the professor’s hand, a chair popped up across from the desk giving Villin a place to sit, it was time to talk.
“Now, I suppose you are wondering where we are right now.” the professor said as he took a seat “allow me to explain.”