When the two had finished their meals, the Dean stood up and began walking out of the cafeteria.
Jeb hesitated. “Do we need to do something with our plates?” he asked.
The Dean shook his head and kept walking. “No, the cleaning staff will handle it.”
Jeb frowned at the change in tone. He couldn’t put his finger on what felt off about the change between how he talked about students from non Magical backgrounds enrolling in the Academy and how he talked about the presumably non Magical staff. Something felt strange about it, though.
As Jeb tried to consider what the difference was, the Dean opened the doors out of the cafeteria. Rather than leading to the stone hallway that Jeb had entered from, it opened into a grove of trees. Even though Jeb knew intellectually that the Academy’s doors would open to different places at different times, he had not internalized that yet. He looked around, curious about how the trees could be moved so easily without being damaged.
As he looked around, Jeb noticed that nothing was in bloom in the copse of trees. He frowned, trying to find something that had fruited recently, if nothing else. Even as he craned his head in every direction, he could not find anything but trees with deep green leaves.
“What are you looking for?” Dean Aquam asked, looking back at Jeb.
“Nothing is blooming,” Jeb said.
The Dean hummed. “I hadn’t noticed that myself. Then again, I am not entirely certain that these trees are entirely real.”
Jeb perked up, curious what that could mean.
“And here we are,” the Dean said, coming to a stop.
As Jeb caught up, he saw a bright door frame standing unattached to anything else. Compared to the seemingly untamed forest around him, it was strikingly out of place. Jeb glanced behind the door frame, making sure that there was nothing strange behind it.
When the Dean opened the door, though, the door opened to a warmly lit office. As Jeb drew nearer to the door, he heard a fire crackling in the room somewhere.
“I understand that doorways can lead to a variety of places,” Jeb said slowly, “but why is there a door attached to nothing in the middle of a forest?”
The Dean chuckled. “This was a bit of a joke from the former Druids,” he said. His smile grew slightly sadder at the recollection, so Jeb decided not to pry.
After a moment, the Dean shook his head, as though trying to get rid of a memory. “To answer your question, though, the entrance to every Dean’s office is anchored to a single location. That is to say, in order to enter my office, you will always need to find yourself here.”
“Where are we?” Jeb asked the immediate follow up.
The Dean shrugged. “Since this area was not burnt down when we lost our Druidic College, I have to assume that it is not a Druidic Grove. Other than that, though, I could not say for certain exactly what these trees are.”
Jeb waited for the Dean to continue, but he just walked into the doorway and moved behind his desk. “Come in,” he said, noticing that Jeb had not moved.
Jeb hurried in and closed the door behind him. When the door closed, Jeb realized another thing that had been bothering him about the forest. Just as there were no flowers blooming or any signs of change, there had been no sounds from the forest. There had been no wind rustling leaves, birds singing, or other animals chittering in the background.
Jeb shook his head, trying to focus on the situation in front of him.
“Now, before we begin your placement examinations, I do have one question. Why are you still Second Level?”
Jeb cocked his head. “I was taught that I was supposed to hold off on increasing my Level until I’ve completed my Class Quests,” he said.
The Dean cocked his head. “That advice is normally reserved for the final Level in a Class. I suppose that there is often merit to waiting to add a level if you are trying to gain new Skills. Are you trying to learn any new Skills?”
Jeb looked through his list again. “I don’t think so?” he replied. “Unless there are Skills you think I would need.”
The Dean shook his head. “Not at this moment, at least. We may want to search for what your Class considers a School of Magic as compared to an application of a School of Magic, but that is exploration best served for one of your classes. Why don’t you Level Up now?”
Jeb opened his Status and saw that he still had plenty of Experience to increase his Level. With an brief flicker of intention, he willed himself to raise a level.
Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!
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Level Bonus: +5 to Willpower +5 to Mana Depth +5 to Intelligence +5 to Magic Affinity +5 to Charisma +5 to Presence
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Excess Experience detected. Multipliers applied: Level Up: 2/3 Remaining Experience: 775
Jeb felt the new Statistics settle into his soul with a bit of a jolt.
“Now, then,” the Dean said, “Do you have a preference for which examination I begin with for testing?”
Jeb shook his head.
“Then here is the Mathematics examination,” he said, handing a packet of paper and a pen to Jeb.
Jeb took the pen, noting that it seemed to hold ink differently than the pens he was used to. A few cautious scribbles showed him that they wrote similarly enough, and he began to read the question.
The first was easiest enough, “What is the sum of three and three?” The entire page was all simple addition and subtraction. Jeb rushed through the page, hoping that the content would become more difficult. On the back of the page, there were word problems which did not demand more mathematical skill, once he reduced all the questions to their parts.
The next page had simple multiplication and division, with the back side once more covered in word problems. When Jeb got to the third page, he saw references to angles and shapes. It took him longer, but he was able to finish it. Thankfully, the back of the page did not follow the trend of being word problems. Instead, it just had more angles and shapes for him to work through.
The next page asked him about sums and products, and that was the last page Jeb could handle before he became lost. “I’m not sure that I understand this question,” he said when he read the first question on the back side.
“That is entirely fine,” the Dean said, taking the packet from him. He started skimming through the packet as he handed Jeb another. “The next examination is on reading comprehension.”
Unlike the mathematics examination, the reading test was not filled with questions. The first page was a short story which Jeb quickly read through. On the back, it asked a few questions about the text he had just read.
The examination proceeded in the same fashion through all of the pages, though Jeb did notice that the text became denser and harder to understand as he kept reading. The questions also became far more open ended as he kept reading through the packet. On the first page, for instance, Jeb was asked to answer what color the character’s pants were. By the last page, he was expected to explain the themes reflected in the passage.
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Jeb shrugged as he read the last question, not sure in the slightest what the politics of the region had to do with the ennui that a flower was feeling. The Dean had finished grading his first examination when Jeb passed the second over.
“You have an acceptable level of background in your mathematics education. We will not need to start you in anything remedial, which will open your schedule up.”
Jeb continued finishing more examinations, getting his results back as he turned in the next one. After he had finished a music theory examination, the Dean did not hand him another. “Would you like to take a break to go eat lunch?” he asked. “You have been working for a fairly long time.”
At the question, Jeb noticed that his stomach was growling. “That would be nice,” he said. The Dean nodded, and Jeb watched him open the door out of his office. Instead of leading to the forest, like he had expected, it opened directly to the cafeteria.
Seeing Jeb’s confusion, the Dean explained. “The opening to my office is bound. The exit is just as free as most of the Academy,” he said.
Jeb noticed that a number of the food choices had changed during the time they had been away. A number of the options were the same, though, including the broth that Dean Aquam took another bowl of. After a quick lunch, the Dean took him back through the forest and into his office for more examinations.
When he had finished the last one, the Dean quickly graded it. “I am glad that I saved civics for last,” he said, noticing that Jeb was unable to answer almost all of the questions. “As expected, you will be placed in individual remediation for this subject. Now, is there anything in particular that you would like to emphasize or neglect for this term?”
Jeb shrugged, thinking about the examinations he had taken. “Are the examinations that I’ve taken the course options that I have?”
“More or less, yes.”
The two discussed the different courses that Jeb could take, especially given the scheduling conflicts that could arise. One in particular was almost intractable.
“Hmm,” the Dean said, “I had not considered how much the Bardic and Enchanting Schedules are nearly impossible to do together.” After looking through the entire catalog of course offerings, they eventually found a course in each College that did not conflict. Once they had, the rest of the course selection process went by much more quickly. “Well,” the Dean said when they had finished, “expect your schedule to be delivered to you the day before courses begin. In the next few days, feel free to explore the Academy more. I will send you a list of Professors that you may wish to speak to before the term begins. Professor Fredrick, in particular, is someone you should meet. He will be tutoring you in Civics.”
Jeb followed the Dean back out of his office and into the cafeteria. After they had eaten their fill, Jeb left the cafeteria and found himself in the dormitory after a walk down a hallway. He went to his room and collapsed in his bed. Before his head hit the pillow, Jeb was asleep.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 775/204
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Total Statistic Load: 593 ->623 Physical Load: 223 ->228 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 9 ->14
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Mental Load: 370 ->395 Intelligence: 73 ->78 Willpower: 80 ->85 Magic Affinity: 79 ->84 Mana Depth: 69 ->74 Charisma: 69 ->74
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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: Meditation Spell Glyphing Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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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)