As the two walked, Petra continued talking. “Now, do you know which part of the Academy you plan to enroll in? The Bard recommended you for entry to the College of Music, and the Librarian says that you are qualified for entrance into either the College of Letters or the College of Enchantments.”
“I don’t think I understand,” Jeb said.
The Headmistress turned her head, confusion plain on her face. “What did you think would happen when you enrolled in the Academy?”
Jeb gave a sheepish grin. “Truthfully, I had no idea what would happen. I just knew that I didn’t want to go to the Adventuring Corps.”
The Headmistress nodded. “That is fair. However, it is important for you to act, not just reactively, but proactively. What do you want your future to look like?”
Jeb thought about it as they continued walking. “To answer your first question,” he finally spoke, “I thought that I would come to the Academy and there would be classes based on learning different Skills that might be relevant to my future Class.” Seeing the expression that Petra was beginning to make, he continued on, “I also expected other things! I know that I’m having a lot of trouble learning a Song right now, so I suppose that I expected some classes to focus on learning Songs.”
She shook her head. “I always forget how different the emphasis is in Theorycrafting in rural parts of the Republic.”
“What do you mean?” Jeb asked.
“In most of the rural parts of this Republic, there are fewer Classholders than jobs. As a result, people need to be able to occupy multiple roles, and so the emphasis is placed on flexibility, rather than expertise.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Jeb admitted.
“You are a fantastic example. Jeb, how many Skills do you have?”
Jeb pulled up his Status. “Twenty six,” he said.
“By the time most of our students enroll, they are in their Third Tier. At that point, the average student has just over four Skills.”
Jeb nodded. He remembered his grandfather saying something about how Skills could combine when your Class grew in Tier.
She frowned. “I don’t know why, but I feel like you have gotten the wrong message from what I just told you. What do you think you were supposed to take from that?”
“As I grow in Tier, my Skills have the option to combine into new Skills. People within the Capital are much more likely to accept that than people in rural parts of the Republic.”
“No.” She paused. “Well, that is also likely true, but that is not what I was getting at. When most of our students raised their Class to Second Tier, they only had the Skill or Skills that their Class explicitly granted them. The few exceptions almost all were learning a Skill to change what Class they were offered, such as a Mud Mage who wanted to be a Bard learning Bardic Magic.”
Seeing Jeb’s confusion, she continued. “Do you know why people raise the Tier of their Class?”
Jeb shook his head. “It just always seemed like something to do. I know that it can make Skills more powerful, but I don’t know if that’s also just because people with Higher Tier Classes are also usually older, so they’ve had more time to work on their Skills.”
“That is one reason, yes,” Petra agreed. “That is not the primary reason, though. Even outside of the benefits you gain in Skills, there is a far more practical benefit to being of a Higher Tier. Now,” she said, waggling her hand, “what I am about to say is only approximately true, so take it with a grain of sand. To a first order approximation, though, every point of Vitality that you have gives you one extra year before the effects of aging begin negatively affecting you. However, that is only true at First Tier. At every Higher Tier, you have approximately as many years as the product of your Tier and Vitality. There are similar truths for each of the other Statistics, but they are harder to explain.”
Jeb nodded. “So having a Higher Tier is itself beneficial, even outside of the benefits that Higher Tier Classes tend to have.”
“Exactly. That is one reason that people nearer to the Capital tend to have fewer Skills. As you know, each Skill that you have takes a small amount of your Experience-” Seeing Jeb’s look of shock, she amended that statement. “You do know that, right?”
Jeb shook his head.
The Headmistress pursed her lips but continued, “Well, then, every Skill and Spell that you have takes a small amount of Experience from what you should earn from a Quest. Each Skill takes one one thousandth of your Experience per Tier that you have, so if you are Tenth Tier, each Skill takes as much Experience from you as ten Skills would at First Tier. Each Spell takes one tenth of that, so one ten thousandth of your Experience. With more than twenty Skills, I’m sure that you’ve noticed that.”
Jeb looked through his Quest Log. To his surprise, he did. When he had first completed his Running, Stretching, and Lifting Quests, he had received twenty experience for each. When he last completed them, though, he only received nineteen.
“I’m still not sure I understand,” Jeb said. “Sure I lost a little bit of Experience, but I have much more than enough to raise my Level, and I don’t see that really ceasing to be the case any time soon.”
The Headmistress nodded. “We can continue this conversation another time,” she said, gesturing to the door in front of them, “but I’m afraid our time is up for now.”
Jeb nodded. As she started to walk away, though, Jeb called out. “Wait!”
She turned around.
“I never said which College I wanted to join.”
She smiled. “You will declare your College in the next rooms. I just wanted you to start thinking about what you wanted to do with your life.” WIth that, she turned and walked directly into the stone to her left. Jeb didn’t see any stone displace, but she stepped through it as easily as he might step through air. I wonder what Skill she has to be able to do that, he thought to himself, opening the door.
“Take a seat.” A voice called out from inside of the dimly lit room. Jeb saw a chair in the front of the room so nodded and sat down.
When he did, the room darkened even further. “Are you a Druidic plant?” the voice demanded. As Jeb opened his mouth to speak, the voice continued, “and don’t think about lying, we have ways of knowing.”
“I’m almost positive that I’m a human,” Jeb replied, checking his Status.
“Do you think that this is a joke?”
“No? I think that I might not understand the question, though.”
“Where did you get a staff of Water Infused Wood?”
“Oh!” Jeb brightened, “I made it! Carving the staff is how I unlocked Woodworking.”
“Where did you get Water Infused Wood to carve into a staff?” While Jeb may have brightened, the voice certainly had not.
“I carved the Attune Water Mana Glyph into the staff, but the Glyph wasn’t totally efficient, and I think that some of the excess Water Mana leaked into the wood. It wasn’t Water Attuned when I carved it, that’s for sure.”
The room suddenly lit up. “Sorry about that,” the same voice spoke again, sounding somewhat contrite. Jeb saw that the speaker was a small man. “Your letter of recommendation mentioned that you had made the staff, but we needed to make sure that you hadn’t deceived the Librarian.”
“That makes sense!” Jeb agreed.
“Does it?” the man seemed genuinely curious.
“Not in the slightest. But, given everything else that’s happened to me today, this isn’t even in my list of questions.”
The man gave a sheepish grin. “I heard a bit of what you went through, and, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that you’ve been put in this position. The Academy would always prefer that its students come willingly.”
“I’m Jeb, by the way,” Jeb said.
“My name is Flos,” the man replied. “I am the Dean of the College of Letters. I understand that you’ve made the Glyph as you carved it into your staff publicly available. Why?”
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“Because I didn’t see any reason that it would need to be private?” he replied, unsure how else to answer. “It didn’t take me very long to design in the grand scheme of things, and I heard someone mention how much harder it was to get Elementally Attuned Wood these days. This seemed like a good way to make it.”
The man nodded. “I understand that you have also been recommended for entry into the College of Enchantments. Why are you interested in Enchantments?”
Jeb tried to remember why he had unlocked the Enchanting Skill. “At first, I wanted something to help my mother, since she can’t use Spell Glyphs. After unlocking the Skill, though, I do really love the fact that Enchantments have such a consistent response. One project that I meant to do before leaving home was Enchanting something to Attune Mana for my bees.”
Flos looked at him strangely. “Why do your bees-” he cut himself off. “Never mind, that is not relevant for your entrance interview.”
“My what?”
“With the letter of recommendation you have, it’s merely a formality, but everyone needs to interview for their spot in a College. If you joined the College of Letters, what would you choose to focus in?”
“Truthfully, I am not certain,” Jeb replied. “I don’t know if I know enough of the options to make an informed choice. Based on what I know, though, something in the realm Glyph Design seems the most interesting to me.”
The man nodded. “Well, I see that you have at least one more interview scheduled, so I won’t hold you any longer.” A door at the back of the room opened, and the Dean gestured for him to go through it. “I hope to see you at orientation,” he said as Jeb walked out.
The door led to a hallway. Thankfully, there were no branches before the next door appeared. Jeb opened the door to see a well lit room.
“Come in!” a voice called out. When Jeb did, he saw a woman sitting in front of a desk. “My name is Fax, and I am the Dean of the College of Enchantments. I will keep this meeting brief. If you would like a space in the College of Enchantments, there is a space for you. I saw your revisions to the Wand of Fireballs, and would be interested in discussing them with you regardless of your choice of enrollment.” As she spoke, a door opened to Jeb’s right.
“Um, thank you?” Jeb replied questioningly. She gestured for him to go through the door, and so he did. After another hallway, Jeb came to a room that resembled nothing so much as a music hall.
“Come in,” a melodious voice poured out. As Jeb walked through, he heard the voice mutter. “Why is a Least Mud Initiate being interviewed for admission into the College of Music?”
Jeb heard another voice mention a letter of recommendation, and he saw a piece of paper being passed as he took a seat.
“Now Jeb,” the first voice said, “what can I do to convince you not to enroll in the College of Music?”
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 11023/100
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Total Statistic Load: 563 Physical Load: 218 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 345 Intelligence: 68 Willpower: 75 Magic Affinity: 74 Mana Depth: 64 Charisma: 64
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Mana: 1755
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Enchanting Glassblowing
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)