“I’m not sure I understand,” Jeb replied. “All of the adults in my life assured me that Presence wasn’t something that would impact the Classes I was offered.”
“I will defer to their judgement, but Presence is a Statistic, like the others. There are a number of Classes that require it to be at least above a certain threshold. That being said,” Jeb watched as the walls of the room shook for a moment. The tablets the Headmistress had been looking at disappeared, and another rose in their place.
“Hmm, I suppose that there are no recorded Classes within the Standard Progression for Least Mud Initiate that require a Presence above any threshold before the Fifth Tier. That is interesting, and I wonder if the same is true for other Classes.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I’m getting distracted. Now, would you like to see your room first, or would you rather Level Up first?”
“I think I’d like to see my room,” Jeb replied. “Also, I never decided which College I would join.”
The Headmistress shrugged. “I assume that you’ll choose the College which best fits whatever Class you end up choosing. Am I correct in that assumption?”
Jeb thought about that. “That seems reasonable, especially if I can still take classes in other Colleges.”
“You will be able to, though I would caution against spreading yourself too thin. Even if you value being able to accomplish a number of tasks, it is better to be competent at what you choose to do. After all, you didn’t switch between tasks before learning the Skills for them. Instead, you focused on a task until you had unlocked the relevant Skill.”
“Other than knitting,” Jeb agreed. The two sat in silence as the Headmistress clearly pushed down an urge to respond to that comment. Finally, she spoke.
“Follow me,” Petra said, walking into a doorway that absolutely had not been there a few moments before. As the two walked, Jeb noticed that this hallway was far less plain than the ones he had been in before.
The walls were carved with intricate artwork. As Jeb ran his fingers along the carvings, he realized that his hand was not casting a shadow. As he kept looking, he realized that there was no obvious source of light in the room. “Where is the light coming from?” Jeb asked.
“The stone of the walls is luminescent,” Petra replied. “It saves on lighting costs.” Before he could comment his surprise that the Academy would consider intricately carved glowing stone cheaper than candles, they were in what was clearly a dormitory. “Here is your key,” she said, pulling a key off the wall. “You will be on the third floor. Oh,” she called as Jeb began to walk away, “please see me or one of the Deans before you begin your Level Up. If you are willing, we can connect you to an instrument so that we can record all of the Classes that you are offered, rather than just the ones you remember.”
“I will,” Jeb said, debating whether or not he wanted to do so.
His indecision was plain on his face, and the Headmistress continued. “Doing so would fulfill your work study requirement for the term.”
“Why?” Jeb asked.
“As I said, we have very little data on First Tier Classes. It is worth a lot to the Academy to have more information available, especially so that future Least Mud Initiates like you are given a fuller picture of their options.”
“I’ll be back down as soon as I put my things away,” Jeb said.
“Bring your lute. It is best to Tier Up next to anything that you’re Bound to.”
“Oh,” Jeb said. “I don’t think that I can Tier Up, then.”
The Headmistress frowned. “Is there a reason that you cannot bring your lute with you?”
“No,” Jeb shook his head. “But I’m also bound to a swarm of bees and their hive, and they are still in my hometown. Or, at least, I assume that they are still in my hometown.”
“Why did you leave without them? I cannot imagine that it was pleasant to have your Bond stretched like that.”
“The Censusmaster threatened to have my grandfather charged with sedition if I didn’t leave immediately.” Jeb replied in a flat tone. Though he had come to terms with the fact that he would be in the Academy, he realized that he was still beyond furious at the treatment his family suffered. What gave the Censusmaster the right to do what he wanted without any sort of check.
“Before you get too angry,” the Headmistress said, “that threat was meaningless. Though Censusmasters are given a number of privileges due to the rural nature of where they travel, the fact that there was a Tenth Tier Librarian in the town would have meant that no one in your family would have been found guilty of the crime.”
“Then why did my grandfather go along with what he said?” Jeb demanded.
“I was hoping you would not ask that,” she replied with a sigh. “Because Humdrumville is so rural, a judge would have needed to be transported from the Capital. Given that your Censusmaster clearly is well entrenched in the political system, it might have taken a while for one to be sent. During that time, he would have been within his rights to have your grandfather imprisoned.”
“Even though it wasn’t a crime at all?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“And there’s nothing that I can do to fix that situation?”
“You can graduate from the Academy and seek damages against the specific Censusmaster who caused you harm. In terms of reforming the System in general, though, there is no immediate solution. Though, while our Republic has a number of issues, I have traveled around the world and have not found a nation where the same is not true. Returning to the specific question of why it is best to have Bound items beside you when you Tier Up, though,” the Headmistress forced the segue, “it is more about preventing others from being concerned or learning things you may not want them to learn When you Tier Up, Bound items tend to express some sort of resonance with you during the process. Depending on what Class you are entering, that resonance can alarm people watching.”
“So it isn’t an issue that my hive isn’t here?”
“Not in the slightest. Look at the bright side,” Petra forced a grin, “if there is a resonance, it will be a good way for your family to know that you are safe.”
“I suppose so,” Jeb said.
“Will I see you down here in a few minutes to Tier Up?”
“Yes,” Jeb said, shrugging. The reminder of his powerlessness did encourage him to Tier Up. He wanted to be the author of his own destiny, not the Censusmaster or the Paragons or even the System. His living space was a simple room with a sink and tub in one corner and a bed and dresser in the opposite corner. Jeb set his bag and staff down beside the bed. He quickly unpacked his clothes into the dresser, laid on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes, he sighed, stood, and took his lute out of its case. Strapping it on, he walked down the stairs to the Headmistress.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“I hope so!” Jeb said, trying to inject some amount of the enthusiasm that he used to feel into the sentence. He hoped that it would become natural again.
“Follow me, then.” The two walked out what were clearly the front doors of the dormitory. For the first time since he had entered the Academy, Jeb saw the sky. There were no clouds blocking his view, and he quickly spotted the star that he shared with his sister. I am doing well, he thought towards the star, hoping that she might be able to hear it back in Humdrumville.
The Headmistress led Jeb for a few minutes until they came to a grove of trees. “Despite the fact that we no longer have a College of Nature,” she explained, “the Class recorder is woven into the trees around it, and so this copse was allowed to remain. If you’ll step into the center,” Jeb followed the instructions that followed.
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“How do I Tier Up?” Jeb asked after he had been painted with a few lines of ink. During the set up time, the three Deans that he had met arrived, along with a few others who Jeb assumed were the Deans of other Colleges.
“You simply will yourself to,” Dean Sylva called out.
Jeb reached out to his System and willed himself to no longer be First Tier. The feeling of stone that had surrounded him on some level since meeting the Headmistress was the first to fade. When it did, the faint sense of melody that he had hardly noticed grew louder before fading. Jeb wasn’t sure if that had been from the Dean or the Bard. It sounded slightly different than the Bard’s Identify Skill had.
Before Jeb could probe that question too deeply, he felt all of the other Magics affecting him slowly fall off of him. The Bind between his lute and him activated briefly, and Jeb heard all of the songs that he had written play at once. Somehow, despite the fact that they were in a number of keys and tempos, it sounded nothing like the cacophony that he knew it should.
The resonance stretched further and further, until he felt the bees again. The swarm felt incredibly distributed, which he supposed made sense. It was well into the summer now, so they were probably harvesting the last pieces of pollen that they could for the season. The swarm perked up as it felt the touch of his identity, and Jeb briefly basked in the feeling.
Once he had connected to the hive, though, the connections cut off. He felt the lute on his back only because of its weight. Soon, that feeling faded as well, along with the rest of his sense of touch. When Jeb lost his sense of sight, he felt the process of Tiering Up begin.
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)