Another couple years had passed. Literally. I'm now 8 years old. I have a further grasp of this world. To expand on what iv learnt, we're commoners on the middle side of the wealth scale. Not so much to brag about but well for a self made man my dad had truly done well with his life.
Anyway, there's more it. I live in the kingdom of Aierla. Named after the very first King's wife. How sweet. There's the central domain which is where all the important things happen. And loads of different counties, towns, cities etc all around the lands.
From what iv read there are 5 prominent noble houses. These consist of; the Melrose, Xaffir, Bloodborne, Keighley and Godfrey's. There are many more minor noblities but these are the houses with power. Along with the Ducal power who is the brother of the current king this makes up the kingdoms government.
Each major nobility has their own massive amounts of land. All around the kingdom. In the north are the Xaffir, East is ruled by the Melrose. South east are the Keighley and south West is where the Godfrey are. And finally, the west where the noble family of the Bloodbornes have control and within their domain the city of Calistus is where I live. In case your wondering, the Duke denied having land and instead focuses on supporting the king from within the centre of the kingdom this was to stop any fear of a rebellion or something.
So I live in Calistus. It is considered one of the major cities, which there are 6 of. Each of the 5 nobility have a major city and then the central city also known as Alphiton. And each major city is connected to around 4-5 minor cities. With towns and villages scattered around. That pretty much sums up the kingdom.
But to move onto what makes this world so exciting are the Towers. What are the towers? Well it's these enormous structures which goes from the ground above the clouds and some even say the world itself. And within the kingdom our tower is located at the east of Alphiton.
Towers consist of many treasures and artifacts enough to build a kingdom around one. They are significant in this world and people challenge them over and over. What do i mean by challenge? Well there are floors and each floor has quests and a boss fight.
If I was to describe it, it would be 'game-like'.
To further help this be the perfect descriptive word, along with the tower there is magic and aura. Magic is powered by mana and you have to have a natural affinity for it. Aura is something that can be trained and is powered by will. But this doesn't make it easy you still have to be very talented to acquire aura.
With this discovery my goal is to conquer a tower. Which has never been done before. From what iv read the highest anyone has gotten is to the 54th floor. So no one really knows the end of it. The tower is a world of its own. Each floor is challenged by one person or a team but consists of the same quest and boss fight. Some floors do have communal areas.
I'm getting carried away. To begin with, to challenge the Tower you have to have backing and power. Of which I have none.
At the age of 10 everyone gets put through a trial to see if their worthy. If you are you get what they call a system. If your not then you don't. Quite simple.
So, I'm 2 years away from potentially living a life VASTLY different from my previous one from what i can tell. It does feel little unfair that you either get a system or not.
Also, yes I'm in education. I started at 7 so it has only been a year but my dad paid for tuition so I can be formally educated. I attend the primary academy called Cintas named after the founder.
It's a minor academy with only 201 students across 3 years of learning. So 67 students per year. After which you go to the secondary academy and after that the awakening academy.
So, well. You can wait for my next report in 2 years time!
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Well hello there. I'm back. As you could've guessed I'm now 10. It's time for me to move onto a secondary academy. Calistus has 3 primary academies and only has 2 secondary ones. Skillsworth and Admitul. The former is for nobility but if your a major talent you can attend and the latter is for skilled commoners.
But before you can attend either you have to go through a trial. The trial consists of 2 sections. One is the written assessment, which basically is just how book smart you are. The second section is completely up to fate as I put it. There's an orb and you put your hand on it. Then you get a system or you don't.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Well here's the issue with this 'orb'. The public orb has a line which takes hours to get through. Then finally it only has 2 colours. Green or Red. How stupid. If it's green you can go to Admitul if its red you failed. It literally can't check if your a talent capable of going to Skillsworth.
You need a better orb for that. Anyway I'm currently in this said line. Iv been here for an hour and a half, I'm almost at the front.
While I wait a little longer let me fill you in about what secondary academies are about. They last around 5 years. So from 10-15. In which they teach you as much as they can - about the world and about the system. But it's all theory. From what iv heard only in the last year do you try practicals.
It's when you get to the awakening academy where you get to do a LOT more. But only Alphiton has an awakening academy but it does have 2. You wouldn't believe why. One is for nobles and the other for commoners who made it that far.
Anyway. Enough rambling it's my turn.
I walked up to the orb and began to observe everything around me. The location is in the centre of Calistus which is where a massive fountain can be seen. There is plenty of space here and stalls are opened up all around offerent food, tools and what not. There are 4 paths to the centre each leading to different districts. I came from the south district where most commoners live. The north leads to the enormous house of the Bloodbornes. The east and west are where minor noblities live. But you have to travel quite a bit to reach each district. Thats because on the way their is where a bunch of stores and hotels are open.
Along with guilds and restaurants there's a lot in Calistus.
But on this day there's a huge spiraling line of little humans trying to see if their worthy.
"Oi hurry up!" A voice came from behind me. It was a slightly shorter than me boy. He looked impatient as his burnt sienna hair fluttered in the wind. Both his green eyes urging me to get lost so he can have a turn.
Well I might aswell go for it. A man who looked very bored was standing next to the orb. His job was easy to give instructions and protect the orb. He was fairly tall. Standing around 5'9 wearing a leather tunic which had a layer of chain mail on top. A sword holstered onto his hip.
His black hair was still and his dark brown eyes looked dead. He clearly didn't want to do this.
"Move along boy we don't have all day" he spoke to me a clear grumpy persona behind the voice. So I followed along and got closer to the orb.
"Place your hand on the orb and channel your will into it. I can help you anymore than that. The rest is up to you. Good luck." He said.
Following the instructions I put my hand on the orb. What the hell does it even mean to channel your will into the orb. How stupid of an instruction is that.
Anyway. Ignoring my frustration I simply visioned like I was shooting a ball of light into the orb. It felt like forever and my hand was tingling from the fake sensation. Please turn green i begged the orb in my head.
"Unluc-" the man begun to spoke but just perfectly ready to cut him off the dramatic orb turned green.
'YES!!' I shouted internally.
'I goddamm did it. Iv done it.'
"Nevermind go along and make your way Admitul." He said after writing a bunch of nonsense onto a paper. He signed it.
"What's your name boy?" He asked
"Ziron Kinsworth" i excitedly replied. Ah right. I forgot to mention yes my name was Ziron Kinsworth quite a cool name if i say so myself quite proud of it.
Following that he wrote my name down on the paper and handed it to me. Giving me a few more instructions. I had to take the paper with me to Admitul, go to any teacher there and provide them with the paper. After that was the written assessment and ill find out if I get admitted.
It was a boring day. But well worth it. I had 2 days to go and hand in the paper. I couldnt wait!
The very next day I set of straight for Admitul. I got dressed early and told my parents I'm setting off. It would be usual to see someone my age walking around by myself.
But my parents were busy and I had proven my worth to be able to do this myself. So I headed straight to the academy.
It took a while to get here. About an 1 hour. I wasnt really sure since I had no way to truly tell. I did get a little lost on the way and had to ask for directions multiple times.
Either way. I made it. I was standing outside the gates. Two daunting black gates which were almost 4 times my height. With white walls which stretched out as far as I could see. The gate was unlocked as many potential students would be coming in to try the written assessment. So I walked in. My heart pounding attacking my chest from the inside.
Every step closer I took the more excited I got. The academy was two huge buildings. One on the left and one on the right directly opposite.
Each building had four floors. It was a beautiful green building which each looked like a mansion in its own right.
I approached the front door of the building on the left. Two spruce brown doors twice my size glared back at me.
Nervous. I was feeling nervous as I slowly opened the door.
Instantly I was overwhelmed. I couldnt hear from outside but the inside was filled with newcomers chatting relentlessly. Making friends and expressing the stress they were going through.
It was, in a way, relaxing. What was not relaxing was the line I saw. Not another one. I didn't have much choice but to queue up and eventually hand in my pass paper.
About 30 minutes passed. A lot quicker than the last line and that was because about only half or slightly less than half made it through. Anyway, the receptionist, a lady with curly sea green hair, freckles and glasses sat before me. Behind the desk.
"Hello and welcome to Admitul, please present the pass paper you received for completing the system test"
Following what she asked for i took out the folded paper from my pocket and placed it on the desk. I didnt say anything which might have come out as impolite but well, I was in my own head having millions of conversations.
"Okay that's good. Your written assessment will be in 30 minutes, head down that corridor and into the room which says 1-B". She had a delicate voice which helped soothe my nerves a little.
"Okay, thanks!" I replied eagerly before heading down the corridor which was on the left of reception. As I walked down I saw 1-A and looking through the windows it seemed that an assessment had already taken place.
After going just a little further down I came across 1-B which was my stop. The written assessment wasn't anything outrageous. It was based purely on maths, Airen and science. Airen was the language of this kingdom to clear up. It had a different name way back in the beginning of times apparently, somewhere down the line it was changed.
I had prepared arduously for this exam. I knew I would pass but the nerves was something I couldn't control. The system test was based on fate. This was based on hard work. I walked in and found a seat on the left side of the class.
The other seats were taken by individuals who cam before me. I sat down and looked out the window staring at the clear blue sky. It was peaceful.
After some time the class was full. I didnt even realise I was busy day-dreaming. A man wearing a black suite walked in, wearing blacked out glasses with shoulder length straight hair and a messy beard. Weird mix for a teacher? I assumed that was what he was.
"Take one test and pass it on. Distribute it through the class" He commanded as he dropped a big stack of papers on the desk of the first student.
It was time. And I was ready.