Wilt was sitting in the teaching room for his first class. The seat was wide, and he could comfortably stretch his arms even while sitting. He pushed his arms out as far as they could reach across his desk. The desk was covered in dark wood and was easily bigger than some doors. There were two seats behind each desk, but he had arrived early enough that the seat next to him was empty. He hoped that it wouldn’t fill up, but the room didn’t look big enough for that.
The room itself was interesting. There was a green stone board at the front of the room, and he could see a basket with pieces of chalk inside. A small desk was positioned right of the board, and he assumed that was for the teacher. His parents were successful enough that they were able to send him to a basic school when he turned ten, so he somewhat knew what to expect here.
The main difference he noticed, was the layout of the rest of the room. When he was a kid, the room was flat, and most kids sat on the floor. This was different, and the space had a series of wide steps leading up and away from the board. The desks were placed on each step, and he could tell that it was designed so that every seated student would have a clear line of sight to the board.
Lighting up the room, he could see that there were magical crystals embedded into the walls. He had tried studying one of them, but the brightness made it hard to find any of the symbols on it. There were a few other people in the room, and he couldn’t help but compare himself to them. His clothes weren’t bad, as he had chosen to bring the best ones in his closet. Even then, he still seemed a little poor in comparison to the other people. His shirt was plain and was truthfully a little big for him. However, the material was nice, and the bluish color was as good as it could get. He had always liked this shirt, as the color seemed to match the blue he would see on the water.
Of the students though, he was obviously dressed the plainest. There were three girls and two other guys in the room. Two of the three girls were wearing dresses, and the last had an embroidered blouse. Both men had worn a stylish jacket over their shirts, and all five of them had perfectly neat hair, the men had obviously used some grease to set it. Wilt never liked using the stuff, instead, he preferred keeping his hair cut short. It was short enough that even uncombed, it wouldn’t fall over his eyes.
Unsure of what to do while he waited, he scrounged through his bag for his book. He had two books with him, one with plain pages so that he could write information down, and another to read. Sadly, he only had one book on him at the time. His father’s book, and he was extremely reluctant in pulling it out. Instead, he grabbed the blank book.
He flipped to the first page and began writing at the top. He had an ink pen, appreciating the gift his mother had given him. The device was a recent invention, which had a little cap on the back that could be filled with ink. All he needed to do was apply some pressure to release the ink into the tip of the pen.
Beginner Study of Ein Day 1
It was a simple header, but it would be good enough. Once all the pages of the book were filled in, he would be able to tear them out and sort them by class and rebind them into class specific books. It was the same method he used for school, and this was essentially a glorified school. The biggest difference was that he would need to be a lot more careful, in order to avoid killing himself.
He started doodling in the bottom corner, just drawing random objects that he remembered from his walk. The walk to the room had been exciting, and he caught glimpses of several devices that he had never seen before. He remembered them and was trying to draw one of them. It was a strange contraption, an automobile of sorts. However, instead of the large bulky designs he usually saw, it was small enough to be carried by a person. A flat board with six wheels along the side.
While the device wouldn’t be useful for enchanters, it would definitely be a big help for the general people. Plus, his sister would probably love it. After the rush of the move had died down, he felt bad for how he had left. Building something like that would do a lot to make amends.
He was so distracted with his drawing, he barely noticed as the room filled up. Thankfully, he had noticed someone looking at him from the corner of his eye. He turned to face the person as they spoke.
“Can I sit here?”
Wilt nodded as he took in the girl. Her face was small and mousey, and her eyes felt unusually large because of it. Thick glasses made her eyes seem even bigger, and she was wearing a pale-yellow sundress that reminded him of something his grandmothers used to wear. There were flowers embroidered down one side of the dress. As she sat down, Wilt remembered to introduce himself.
“Hello, I am Alrick Wilton, but please just call me Wilt.”
“Thank you, Wilt. I’m Alice Redwood, and isn’t that one of the things I saw on my way here.”
She was looking at the drawing as she spoke, and he felt the urge to cover it. He wasn’t that bad at drawing, but it was still embarrassing to have someone look at it. Holding back the urge, he decided to try and be conversational.
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“I’m thinking about replicating it for my little sister. But, maybe like a safer design, for kids or something.”
She looked up at him when he spoke, her blue eyes gleaming with interest now. She brushed aside long strands of brown hair, as she pulled out a book of her own. Quickly flipping through a few pages, she stopped on a drawing of the same device.
“I drew some sketches too, but apparently it took a lot of Ein to engrave the whole thing. I don’t think we are going to be able to do something like that anytime soon. The student was apparently part of the enchanter dorm and said that he could only barely manage it.”
Wilt was surprised by the excitement in her voice, and by the forwardness, she was showing. Also, how did it not even cross his mind to try asking the man with the device for information? He really was a fool at times. He started drawing what he wanted to do and spoke while showing her what he was doing.
“I’m not planning on making something as fast or large, my sister is only seven. Plus, I’m a part of the enchanter dorm. That means that I should be able to manage something like that, right?”
He showed her the quick sketch he had made. It was about a quarter of the size of the board he had seen earlier and only had four wheels. It would be big enough for his sister to stand on but wouldn’t be useful for anything other than enjoyment. He looked to face the girl and flinched at the look she was giving him.
“You’re in the enchanter dorm! That is- How much Ein do you possess? No, wait, how did you do on the entrance exam?”
Her voice steadily got louder as she spoke, but he forestalled her before she could start shouting. He raised his hand to her mouth to get her to quiet down, he didn’t want people to stare.
“You don’t need to yell, and I can tell you after class.”
She was visibly disappointed, and he could tell that she wanted to keep talking. He wanted to as well since she seemed to be a font of information. Her notes on the contraption would be useful too, but he noticed the teacher walk in, and directed her to the man as well. That got her to understand, and she quickly changed her posture. She sat straighter, looking like the perfect student.
Wilt had no problem following her, though he didn’t care as much for his posture. He eagerly looked at the teacher. The man was rougher than he expected and wore clothes that Wilt would normally associate with a farmer. The only thing that gave him away as a chanter was his glowing golden eyes, which stood out among his rugged face. He had a broad grin as he faced the students.
The strangest thing though was the silence. Nobody was speaking at this point, the teacher included. To make matters worse, he had no problems with standing there in silence. It took a full two minutes before someone finally cracked. From the other side of the room, he heard a slightly nasally voice that sounded annoyed as a man spoke.
“If you aren’t going to start then I would like to be dismissed. I could at least learn something from the library.”
Wilt couldn’t actually see who spoke but could still follow all of the turning heads. Everyone seemed completely flabbergasted, and the tension seemed to partner up with the silence. He thought he heard Alice curse, but it was faint enough that it might have just been a gasp. The silence didn’t last nearly as long this time, the teacher billowing out in a deep laugh.
It felt more like the laugh of a large beast than a human. The only thing that could match the sound, was the teacher’s own voice that followed it.
“You wouldn’t believe how long the last year’s class took before speaking. We missed almost the entire class. Well, I guess that you guys are better than last year’s group.”
He let out a hearty chuckle with the words, and this time Wilt was sure that he heard Alice curse. Wilt wondered if she knew the teacher or maybe the student from earlier. The teacher continued, ignoring any reactions the students had.
“Let’s get started right away. The first class is always the best one since none of you know anything about control. We are going to start with something easy, and it will pretty quickly show who's got it and who doesn’t.”
He walked over to the board, picking up a piece of chalk. A second later the chalk was left floating behind him, copying down some words, as he explained.
“These words are for a basic chant. It will let you summon a bit of raw Ein. It is a pretty basic variation of the common light chant, which I am expecting everyone to know. Now for a demonstration.”
He clapped his hands together and began the chant.
“Element of light, your glow is but a reflection of my own. Summon the light of my Ein.”
Holding his hands open, Wilt watched in awe as a golden light shone from above his hands. It wasn’t overly large or bright, instead, it had a deepness in the color it emitted. The color shone across the room, even his paper turned to gold as it reflected the light.
Just as the light seemed to appear from nothing, it winked away casting the room in darkness. It wasn’t actually dark, the lights on the walls were still on after all, however, those lights couldn’t compare to what he had just witnessed.
He considered seeing what the other students were doing, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from where the light had just shown. Only the teacher’s words managed to shake him from his focus.
“It is your turn now. Don’t expect the same level of control like me and let out your Ein however you want. Think of it like a demonstration of your potential. Go ahead and give it a shot, you shouldn’t need anything else to manage it.”
Wilt didn’t hesitate in the slightest, copying down the chant in his book. Even if it was basic, he had never heard that variation before. He didn’t start immediately either, looking over the other students to try and understand what they were doing. Alice managed to succeed on her first attempt, which was impressive considering how many failures he saw. The light started as a dull white, before growing to the size of a ball and flashing between different colors. It radiated as it continued to expand until it was twice as big as his head.
He thought it would keep going, but the light collapsed, exploding into an outpouring of rainbows.
“Quite impressive Miss Redwood. The size of your first attempt is a good sign for your potential. However, you need to work on your concentration, the density was rather poor. Class, for those who haven’t figured it out, the brightness has to do with how well your Ein responds to your focus, and the size is related to how much of it you have. That will hold true until you can control it.”
Having been distracted by the light, Wilt was startled by the teacher’s words. He didn’t even notice the man’s approach. The teacher finished his lecture but didn’t move away from the table. He was staring at Wilt, obviously waiting for him. Wilt felt his stomach drop as he started reciting the words.