Looking at the Dean, I still felt a sense of wariness, despite the words of appeasement given by the Dean during his grand entry. I stared at the bright peak where the Dean stood, just before taking a moment to look at the little blue-haired boy channelling Potentia right in front of me.
Though extremely unsure of whether I should listen, I decided to stand still and wait for the boy to finish what he planned to do, if only and purely out of respect for the man who called himself the Dean.
Within the following second, the boy became fully enveloped in the particles of his Potentia. His figure then slightly elongated larger and taller, his limbs clearly gaining muscle mass. The boy's blue hair grew longer down to his shoulders, and his face stretched and wrinkled slightly to present the final outcome of a transformation. The once-boy became a middle-aged and gruff man, though he retained his sharp eyes and eyebrows.
"Holy shit," I said, fazed by the sudden change. "So you're telling me you're a full-grown man who cosplays as a little kid?!?!" I blurted out with no restraint, taking a moment to glance at the Dean who still stood at the top of the staircase.
"I AM a kid," the rough-faced man said with an intensely heavy voice. "My Art just turns me into this becau—"
"Now, now, Jekyll," the Dean began speaking. The clacking of his shoes resounded in the room as he began to walk down the staircase. "Giving away too much about your Art isn't going to benefit you. Even if the System publicizes the name and grade," the Dean warned the gruff man, which strangely made even me feel pressured by just his words.
"My apologies, Mister Guile," Jekyll lowered his head to apologize.
"Not a problem," the Dean said as he chuckled. "You're only temporarily here anyways, but you may as well learn while you're under my tutelage," he continued. As he spoke, I realized that something strange in the shifting cadences of his voice seemed to affect even my own emotions as he continued speaking. He eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and stood next to the receptionist's desk, his stare piercing right through me the entire time he was walking.
"So," the Dean spoke again. "You must be Aster Iris, right?" he asked, beckoning an answer from me, to which I almost immediately responded with a concise, "Yes."
"Great! Come with me then, Aster," he said, immediately turning around as he began to walk up the stairs again.
"Jekyll, you can tick off any appointments I have for the next hour or two," he added on, as he continued to walk. "I'll be accompanied by Mr. Iris over here, so anybody who needs to contact me can make an appointment on another time."
As the Dean began walking up the stairway, I followed suit without forgetting to give an apologetic nod towards Jekyll, who still seemed slightly bothered by my earlier quip.
Walking on the soft red carpet of the golden stairway and following the Dean's lead, I stayed silent so I could show some decency as the Dean hummed to a tune seemingly without a care. I solemnly looked back down towards the receptionist's desk, which to my surprise wasn't there anymore. Instead, a glossy mirror-like distortion in the space prevented me from seeing the desk, to which I could only assume some sort of Art or technology acted as a barrier or portal that disconnected the stairway from the bottom floor.
As I was thinking about the barrier, the Dean stopped his humming and began speaking. "So, Aster. How's your physical health looking? Did Doctor Terac treat you well?"
Slightly jolting from the interruption of our silence, I curtly responded to his question. "Oh. I think I'm fine now. I have some aches and a slight stinging pain throughout my body but it's barely noticeable," I said, as I noticed the aching of my body resurging. "And... the Doctor was very kind," I lied.
The moment the Dean heard me compliment the Doctor, he chuckled for a moment and said, "You don't have to lie about Terac. He's a slightly dismissive guy, but he means well."
"He's also one of the few people who can regenerate even limbs back..." the Dean nods to himself, as he softly stroked his chin.
Is he nodding so he can convince himself that the Doctor's a good person? Recovering limbs though... that sounds incredible.
"Anyway, we're here," the Dean said as we continued walking up the stairway. Confused, I looked around to find that the stairway still kept going, which I realized was much taller than it seemed from the bottom floor. "I don't see anywhere we can stop...?" I asked, unsure as to what he meant.
"Oh, don't worry Mr. Iris," the Dean said, before snapping his fingers. As I lifted my foot to take another step, the space around us, including the stairwell distorted in an array of phantasmagorical colours and lights. I immediately tripped having lifted my leg a little too much, and fell onto my face, "Crap!". Due to my fall, I felt the soft feeling of a woolen rug that I had fallen into caress my face.
"Woah, sorry," the Dean said unapologetically. "I keep forgetting to warn people, that's the third time today," he said as I picked myself up. He made a strange face that I could guess as something similar to him finding it humorous whenever people experienced what I did. Not that it was my fault, anyways. We basically teleported. Just what is the Dean's Art?
I glanced at my watch to see if it would show information about the Dean, to which the Dean noticed and coughed politely, likely to gain my attention.
"Are you alright?" he said with a steadfast smile.
"I'm okay," I said as I brushed the stray lint that was on my shirt and pants. And why'd he have to be so... annoyingly goofy?
Getting up on my feet, I looked around the room I now found myself in. Around me was a rectangular wooden room which stretched out for a few ten metres. At the back end of the room was likely the Dean's office desk and chair that was placed horizontally to take up space in the rectangular room, with a blackened steel nameplate that said 'Fallos Guile, Master of Nouvem Academy, The Academy's Superstar (Dean)' engraved on it.
"So tacky..." I muttered under my breath.
In front of it were two vertical sets of couches that faced each other, with an elongated glass coffee table that had various ornaments such as jars and flower vases spread through the centre of it. On the walls were various academic awards given to the Academy of Nouvem, some of them gilded in gold and covered in glass case as they were related to the Archivists who graduated from Nouvem. Scanning through the Archivists' names, I saw one gilded award that was protected by glass with a name I knew extremely well:
Celosia Iris, Archivist of Intellect, Graduated August 2, 2032.
Staring at my own sister's name, I became lost in thought for a few seconds. "Sis..." I said solemnly and quietly, my chest feeling a slight tinge of emptiness and sorrow. I'll keep taking care of the shop for you. I promise.
As I wandered off into my own mind, the Dean looked at me with an understanding face, and placed a hand on my back in order to somewhat comfort me. "It's alright, Aster," his voice spoke with a tone that surprisingly comforted me. "Your sister was a great woman, and one of the most prodigal Archivists of Intellect to have surfaced in the Era of Archives. You should be proud of her," he said in an attempt to make me feel better.
"...yeah." I said sparingly, before steeling myself inside. I recalled my sister's smiling face for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking at the Dean.
Noticing the change in my temperament, the Dean lifted his hand from Aster's back and began whistling a jovial melody as he walked towards his seat. Aster followed en suite and sat on one of the couches waiting for him to speak. The Dean quickly took up on his seat, and placed his feet casually on top of his desk, as he took off his fedora and placed it neatly on a coat rack right next to his seat. He looked at me for a second before grinning widely.
"Now then, let's begin with official Academy business. Or I guess secret official Academy business. You're not supposed to be meeting me today, since there normally wouldn't be reason to," he spoke straightforwardly.
I guess this is going to be about Borealis and the Orthus then.
"First of all, congratulations on getting accepted to the Academy of Nouvem. Your sister would be proud of you, and I'm glad to see you following in her footsteps in your own way," he stated with a smile.
I nodded promptly and said, "Thank you."
"Second, as we both know, you missed the Orientation today due to some unforeseen circumstances, which I want to discuss with you, Aster," he continued, with a completely unreadable face.
"Right..." I immediately responded, unsure of what to anticipate. I felt slightly worried that I'd face some sort of consequence or be a specimen given the strange case of gaining a new Art despite having always had a single one. The cases of people awakening new Arts weren't commonplace, especially ones that synthesized as well as mine. Plus, only a few people every generation had various Arts, so much so that many of them have had their personal information either be kept hidden from the eyes of the world and kept secure by governmental institutions. This is likely because of the fact that many of these people typically awaken Arts that are of higher grades, as well as have rare Arts that aren't similar to many of the common ones.
Strangely, my Control Flora which was originally an F Class Art transformed into the E- Dominate Flora. I'm not that big on how the conventions of Arts go, but Celosia specialized in research around Arts and would occasionally talk about Art Mutation, which is what I originally thought the change was. But there might be something deeper than that, and I've got no choice but to lay out my cards in front of the Dean if I want to figure it out.
"I'm not sure what happened either, if I'm being really honest," I said truthfully, unable to explain much of what had happened.
I should probably keep that other world a secret for now, though. I can't be too sure that the Dean won't just hand me to researchers who want to dissect my brain to figure out what's allowing me to get into that weird place. Not that even I know how to, at this point.
"Well, you won't need to worry about finding out what's going on," the Dean said with a sly smile. "We noticed that Orthus were roaming closer to the Academy grounds earlier today, before you and your friend even arrived," he said before snapping his fingers. As he did so, a large wide monitor rose from the floor as the floorboards opened for it. "Don't worry, this one isn't Art-based, just a plain old monitor that has a couple technological features," he reassured me. I am pretty on edge right now, but it's just a monitor...
"Anyways, while watching the footage of you bravely saving both your friend Mr. Brightstar and Ms. Yue, the girl who had been initially attacked, we noticed that you had initially been using some sort of plant manipulation Art right? Which, according to our records right now, is Control Flora, an F Class Art," he asked in an inquisitive manner, as the monitor began showing the various instances of me channelling Potentia into plants and trees throughout the battle. A video of my Art being used on the giant tree root also played on repeat. "A masterful use of your Art, by the way. I heard that yours was classified so low because of your lack of talent in the extent you can control plants, which is an unfortunate thing to happen," he added.
"Thank you... it's not something I'm proud of, if I can use that in this scenario. That's why I worked hard when I was younger, so I could be on par with kids who had better talent than me," I responded, feeling a slight bitterness in my own lack of talent. As I did, I remembered how proud Celosia was of me when I started using my Art when I was younger, and how proud of myself I was until I got beaten up by some kid who awakened a body-enhancing Art. Sighing for a moment, my attention was grabbed by the Dean.
"Well, it seems that yours has mutated, Aster. Which I assume your System has updated for you already," he said with an eager look. "I looked through the footage we had of your outstanding face-off by the Bysean Cliffs, against what basically was a pack of Orthus, and I must say, your mutation must be very special, yes?" he added, with a tone of excitement that I didn't expect. Despite his eagerness, I felt much more differently about the information being laid out to me.
So they saw everything? Why the hell were they just watching then? They must have had time to send people, given how grandiose this place is.
"Why didn't you send any form of support or help? I almost died!" I said angrily as I processed my own thoughts.
The Dean turned his head slightly as if I had just asked an odd question, before realizing what I was talking about. "Oh! Right," he said.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"You would know this if you had been able to attend the Academy's Orientation, but we have security agents all around the Academy and its outskirts. Of course, they won't have immediate access to places of privacy, but our public areas are littered with them especially on busy days," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "The reason I hadn't mobilized anyone to aid you or your friends was because I wanted to test you, I've explained the same to the other two earlier," he said with a smug smile.
As he smiled, I felt myself become angry for a moment before cooling my head and allowing him to continue without interjection. "Given that, any of the Academy agents would've intercepted as soon as any of you were at risk of death," the Dean continued.
How much closer to death did I need to be then?
I looked at him with a look of slight disappointment and confusion, before speaking up. "So you guys would've let me take as many injuries until I was at the brink of death," I said with a tone of anger.
He looked at me with a look of amusement, before saying, "Not once were you close to death, Mr. Iris."
"I'm sure you realize it yourself that the reason you felt so exhausted was because of your lacking Potentia and your overuse of it," he continued. "The agent near you was prepared to quickly help you with Overdraw if it was necessary, but they didn't deem it necessary because of your physical state. Besides, it worked out, didn't it?" he said with a smile I despised for a moment.
Definitely can't tell him about the other world given how volatile this guy is.
"It worked out in my favour because of luck, you're right," I said sternly.
"Luck? No, no. Mr. Iris, you weren't just lucky," he continued. "I believe you didn't just have an Art Mutation, right? You also had a new change, did you not? A new Art?"
Fuck. I was hoping he wouldn't mention it, but there's no way given how obvious it was.
"Yeah..." I responded, looking for ways to avoid answering too many specific questions.
"So, is it a shadow-related one? What does the System call it?" he probed. As he continued asking his questions, I looked at his eyes which seemed to have a certain glint of inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge that reminded of me of Celosia's insatiable curiosity.
I can't be too sure if he can tell whether I'm lying or not. But I don't think it'd be good for me to lie in a context like this. The Dean's a strange guy, but I think I need to give him some baseline trust.
"It's called Command Shade, E- Class. So far, I was able to control the transformed Orthus. I don't know how the process of transformation happened though," I said honestly, placing trust onto the Dean for the sake of figuring the changes in me out.
"And how much did Control Flora mutate?" he followed-up on my response.
"E- Class, the name changed into Dominate Flora," I replied quickly.
"E- Class! That's a full half jump in class! And a title change for your Art as well. Very, very curious," he said as he stroked his chin and closed his eyes, losing himself in thought. "That must mean that your Arts are synchronized in some way then, right? Hold on, do you know what Art Synchrony is?" he asked me.
I looked at him and tried to recall the times my sister rambled about her Art research and the like, finally remembering what it was. "I think so," I said before deliberating on whether I should explain it. I looked at him to see his reaction to my response.
The Dean looked at me with a look of passion, seemingly waiting for my explanation. "Well, what I know about it is pretty basic. Essentially, when two people with compatible Arts use them in a scenario, there's a chance that their Arts may synchronized and cause a brand new effect that by themselves they would be unable to do. In the context of those who are lucky enough to have two Arts or more though... I'm not too sure about," I explained briefly.
The Dean clapped for a short moment before speaking, "Excellent! A wonderful explanation, Aster."
"You're exactly right. At its core, Art Synchrony is the process where two compatible Arts create an effect that normally wouldn't be possible by themselves. Of course, this applies to people who have multiple Arts. Which, as you say, is lucky enough to make that possibility available to them," he spoke. As he did, he turned towards the monitor as it began showing the transformation of Borealis from being a Greater Viridian Orthus into a Shadowbark Orthus.
"And seeing as how you have done something even I haven't seen before, I think you may have an excellent example of Art Synchrony that's happened right in front of you just this morning," he continued.
"It's just too bad both of your Arts are only E- Class. Your potential would've been much greater had you had a more significant mutation in terms of power," he added, sighing in front of me.
Should you really be the one sighing right now?
As he sighed, he looked at me as if he were analyzing me. Suddenly, he had a look of realization as he immediately leaned forward on his desk and stood up. "Aster, I know exactly how you can become even stronger, for the sake of research and for the sake of your livelihood," he said with an excitement that was beyond me.
"Wha— I don't know what you're talking about!" I said in utter confusion to what he proposed. I had no plans of improving my strength even after the change in my Art. I knew having E- Class Arts only meant that I'd be able to work for security firms and such at most, given Command Shade's nature.
"Look, I understand that you see your Dominate Flora as a non-combat Art, given that you normally use it for Iris Flowers," he rambled.
"Wait, how do you kn—" I asked, though I realized as soon as I asked how idiotic it was of a question.
"Obviously, your personal files," the Dean said with a frown. "Anyways, now that you have a new Art and what is most definitely a summon, which I need to mention I still don't know the class of, you can most definitely join the Eidolon program!" he shouted at me in delight.
"Ei—Eidolon?! Are you insane?! I'm sorry for the outburst, but there's no way I'd stand a chance in the Academy's most prestigious program. I'm not a combat type, no matter how you tell me I am, Mr. Guile. I can't beat people like Mori in a 1-on-1, their Arts are made for fighting! I'm at most capable of standing toe-to-toe with them, and at that point, it'll be a matter of time until I begin to enter Overdraw. I don't have the Potentia nor the talent for it!" I argued abrasively, knowing and understanding how limited I've been since I was a child.
The Dean looked at me, the ecstasy on his being drained as he processes what I said. For a moment, he sits down on his chair and thinks to himself.
A silence began filling the room, and I felt a slight feeling of anxiety rise as I realized I had just argued with the Dean of the Academy. Am I going to get expelled? I feel like I just had an argument with my girlfriend or something, this silence is laying too heavily on me.
As I anxiously thought about the possible consequences of my outburst, the Dean slammed on his desk, causing one of his pencil-holders to fall on the soft rug on the floor and a soft thud to sound out from it. I was startled for a moment as the sudden noise the Dean made was accompanied by his own fanatic shout, "But you do have the skill! You have excellent Techna, Aster! Something I'm sure you've realized yourself!"
The Dean has gone fucking cuckoo, what is happening?!?! He's bouncing from topic-to-topic.
"If you were recommended by the Dean himself, me, then it'd be no sweat to get you into the Eidolon program. Furthermore, if you proved yourself worthy of being in it by showing off how incredible your technique with your Arts is, then it'd be a simple task to maintain your academic standing in the program!" he said enthusiastically.
"I truly don't understand what's going on right now. Are you asking me to join the Eidolon program just because I know how to use my Art proficiently?!" I asked, curious as to what basis the Dean had to make such a significant decision.
"How do I even know I want to be in the program?!" I asked with a slightly raised tone.
The Dean looked at me with a solemn look before he calmed himself down. "Do you want to know what happened to your sister, Aster?" the Dean asked with a blank face.
I looked at the Dean as he responded with an unexpected question. What? Didn't Sis die from an experiment gone wrong?
"What? What do you mean? Didn't she die because of a work accident?" I asked with a grave look.
"I'm sorry Aster, but the Council of Archivists chose not to disclose to the public the truth of your sister's death," he responded plainly. "The Council knew not to speak of certain things that happen outside of their control, not including experiments that we publicized to have been the cause," he added.
"So... you're saying my sister didn't die from an accident?" I asked, angered by something I can't fully grasp yet.
"Your sister was killed," he responded.
I immediately stood up from the couch and walked up to him. Pulling his tie from his chest and leaning on the desk, I shouted, "WHO FUCKING KILLED HER?!"
"Aster, you have to understand. I can't tell you, because you'll only get yourself and other people killed," he said in an attempt to calm me down.
I felt a deep anger within me rise, and I sensed Borealis' consciousness align with mine in that moment. The shadow behind me transformed into Borealis' shadow, causing the two-headed Shadowbark Orthus to slowly emerge from my shadow on the ground. I saw the Dean's eyes dart behind me to see Borealis' figure as it growled at the Dean.
"Incredible..." he muttered under his breath. "Are you seriously getting fucking distracted right now? Who the hell killed you my sister?!" I shouted again, pulling on his tie more.
"Now, now, Aster. You know this isn't productive for either of us. I need you to calm down, and trust me that you will find out eventually," he said, as he smiled apologetically. As he spoke those words, a sense of ease began rising in my chest, which I immediately knew was caused by something the Dean himself could do, likely an Art or something related to this dimensional space. I began to feel a calm that was unlike what I would normally have in a situation like this.
Borealis, sensing that I began to ease down, receded and hid partly in my shadow, awaiting a command from me.
Borealis: ヽ(*｀Д´*||
"Your pet is quite a treat, isn't it?" the Dean said, as he slowly made my arm let go of his tie. Shortly after rearranging his tie, he looked at me with relief as well as astonishment. "I'm glad you feel an anger in your heart about your sister's death, Aster, but I hope you've calmed down now."
"Your Art's related to your voice somehow, isn't it? I'm not normally this cool-headed when hearing about extremely important news," I said as I collected myself. I commanded Borealis to completely go back into the other world through my shadow, and reassured it that I was fine. Despite this, I felt its reluctant understanding as it disappeared into my shadow.
Borealis: ┗(｀O ´)┛
The Dean looked at me as I attempted to parse through his Art, and then tapped on the top of his wrist. "Your watch, Iris. Your watch," he said with a grin.
Realizing what he meant, I looked at my watch to see that it had successfully accessed the Dean's personal profile.
[Accessing profile!]
Name: Fallos Guile
Class: V | Level: Empyrean
Portens: Domina / Duellum / Utilis | Art: The Resonance of Reality [S+]
That's... new. I didn't know Arts could have titular-styled names. It almost sounds like a book title or a research article. And Empyrean...? Is that unique to those who are Class V?
"Strong..." I said.
"I won't give you too much, but my Art allows me to manipulate the reality of anything that emits sound waves within a certain distance," he explained.
"That means it's not just your voice, then?" I asked.
"You're correct in that observation, Aster," he answered briefly. "I can manipulate the reality of everything that isn't in a vacuum, though how much I can manipulate changes depending on what I'm trying to use my Art on," he tacked on.
"So doesn't that mean you're just insanely powerful? Almost otherworldly?" I asked, in shock of how incredible his Art was.
"You're flattering me, Aster," he said as he cheekily scratched the back of his head. Why are you acting like a high school boy who watches anime?, I asked myself quietly.
"Unfortunately, reality isn't that simple. Do you know what the average amount of Potentia someone has if they were to reach the limit of their Art?" he asked.
"No, I don't," I responded, curious about where he was leading the conversation to.
"Someone with an E Class Art, on average, can reach an amount of Potentia around 75. So you, who has what I assume to be around the 30s, still have some room to grow," he explained.
"Surely you're also wondering why yours increased after your mutation, which I also assume has happened," he continued. "Well, that's because your body encountered a change in its actual reality to match the necessary base Potentia that it would need to manage its bodily functions while providing you enough Potentia to survive with how your Art works," he added.
"Potentia is an element in the world that is still extremely difficult to understand. But there are certain characteristics of it that we have learned through the help of Archivists and researchers like Celosia," he said.
"So it is both the limit and the providing factor that may affect how our Arts work and how strongly we can manifest them into reality. We can only do this through the means of Potentia, so it is very important to consider that when evaluating people's ability," he continued.
"So, given that I've given you an average of E Class Art's provided Potentia, what do you think an A Class' would be?" he asked.
Mathematics...? Would it be squared each Class up?
"...if 150 multiplied by 2 is 300, and 300 multiplied by 2 is 600, and 600 by 2 is 1200..." I calculated out loud. "Would it be an amount of 1200?"
"Not quite, there're decimals to be had, but we don't consider those. Good enough though!" he continued.
"You're absolutely right! Typically, anyone with the average amount of their class' Potentia would be capable enough on the terms that their class allows them to be capable of doing. So if we consider that and tack on the final class, the S class, then we come to the conclusion of 2400 right?" he asked.
"I suppose so...?" I agreed.
"Wrong! The limit is infinite," he said, with a rueful smile.
"That's... insane. How could someone even manage to harness that much Potentia?!" I asked in shock.
"A lesson for another time. But here's my point: the reason I'm not currently king of the world is simple, Aster," he said, looking at me with a sorrowful face, allowing me to realize what he had been implying this entire time.
"My Potentia's amount is only 150. D Class," he said, concurrently snapping his fingers. As he did so, the room we were in disappeared in a single moment, suddenly finding myself along with the Dean at the Academy's gates.
The Dean stood proudly with his arms widely spread and his back facing the rest of the Academy.
"Now then, I've filed your papers already. I didn't need your consent, I just wanted to convince you beforehand. I, as the Dean of the Academy of Nouvem, would like to welcome you to the Eidolon program along with the Artistic Floristry program. I've ordered for your luggage and belongings to be moved to the Crowned Dormitory as soon as possible, so head there as soon as you can once the Academy officially begins classes. It's a pleasure to have you again, Iris," the Dean said with a delighted and warm smile.