The crowd went silent after hearing Joram’s question. The important-looking people on the stand across from him looked over, one of them stepping forward.
“Then let us proceed,” the old man said, his voice reminding Joram of the late Richard Harris. “Because the… incident occurred in the waters of the Avilium Kingdom, the charged shall be tried according to their laws,” he said to a surprisingly quiet crowd.
“Do you still stand by your declaration of innocence?” He asked Joram, his voice carried by what Joram assumed to be sound magic.
“Yes, I still assert that he broke his hand on my face when he suddenly attacked me,” Joram replied, much to the amusement of the crowd, but less so for those plotting against him.
The enforcement officer gave his cuffs a jerk, while the malicious lordling’s face turned scarlet and his father’s face went cold.
“I see,” the old man said, then cleared his throat before continuing. “Then we shall proceed with the honour duel requested by the accused,” he said, causing gasps to ring out amongst the audience.
“The accuser, due to injuries sustained, has chosen to defend his claim with a proxy,” the old man said, motioning towards stone face’s twin. “He has also set the terms of the duel. It will be a fight to the death.”
That got even more of a reaction from the audience, some yelling in excitement, others in shock or dismay.
After the audience had settle with great encouragement from the MC, he continued.
“Please step onto the platform. Once there, you may select a weapon from those on display to fight with. Thirty seconds after both parties have retrieved or declined their weapon, the duel shall commence.”
Joram looked over to Stoneface 1 and lifted his cuffed wrists. The man regarded him for a moment before removing the cuffs, thus freeing his Knowledge Star. He swirled the power around its star, feeling refreshed before turning to the Trio.
For as ridiculous a situation as he found himself in, they didn’t seem too phased at all. If anything, they looked eager as they nodded to him, sending words of encouragement through the Network. Which brought the first genuine smile to his face that day.
“Get on,” Stoneface 1 said, giving Joram a shove towards the stage.
“Don’t worry,” he said, giving the jerk his third-best smile before taking the four stairs up to the stage, noticing that Stoneface 2 was already there, browsing a rack of assorted weaponry.
Joram looked to his left and found a weapon rack of his own. But after few moments of inspecting the weapons, he gave up, shaking his head.
“Are you declining a weapon?” The old man asked, noticing his reaction.
“Yeah, they’re all crap,” he said, causing the audience to explode in mixed reactions.
Not only them, but Stoneface 2 actually smirked. While the old man Warabec had been speaking to turned and stared at Joram. Warabec just covered his face with one big hand. Lisette looked shocked, but also a bit delighted at his word, as did the old mas she’d been speaking with.
“Then please prepare, the duel shall commence in thirty seconds. Start the timer,” he said, nodding towards a student sitting in a booth near him.
The array columns suddenly came to life with a soft hum and a brief shimmer in the air that soon smoothed out. If his guess was right, then they’d erected a force field around the stage. Then a large timer appeared twenty feet above the MC, counting down from thirty.
Joram took the time to get a feel for his opponent, but found that he couldn’t sense the man’s cultivation; likely due to an aura mask. Which, ironically, didn’t matter too much to him. Based on Stoneface 2 looking like Stoneface 1’s twin, he was reasonably sure that they should have a similar level of cultivation. Perhaps higher, given that he was working directly for the little shit’s family.
He then took a moment to have Kinkade, M3, and M4 help him buff. [Force Screen], [Inertial Armour], and [Biofeedback] went up, all fully augmented while he chose to forego a visible manifestation of those powers.
He briefly considered creating an [Astral Construct], but decided against it. He instead primed another Power and waited for the show to get started.
As soon as the timer reached zero, Stoneface 2 shot forward as though launched from a ballista, covering the distance between them in seconds, two-handed sword raised to cleave him in twain.
Joram let out his breath, then released the Power, letting it manifest.
* * * * *
Lisette hadn’t believed her ears.
“Say again,” she’d said, looking at Warabec in confusion.
“The boy was arrested and will fight in the ring to the death,” he’d grated out again.
The conversation played out again and again in her head as she watched Joram examine the weapons, then decline them because they were all “crap”.
Her eyes widened in shock, then turned quickly to see Warabec’s and Professor Wysaric’s reactions. As expected, both old men were giving Joram a look that could boil water.
After the dean announced the countdown, she grew even more tense.
How could such a ridiculous thing happen to the most promising student the Academy has seen in who knew how long? Even though Joram had listed that he also had attainments in body cultivation, she was beyond worried.
Body cultivation could only take a person so far in a fight. Magical cultivation was key, and she knew that Joram was lacking in that respect.
The she gasped as Lord Arabanise’s man dashed forward so fast that she could hardly keep track of him.
Then blinked a few times to clear her eyes, giving them a good rub while she was at it.
The spectators had gone dead-quiet for exactly the same reason she had.
Joram stood where he’d been standing the entire time, looking bored, while Lord Arabanise’s man lay sprawled on the ground in front of time, face down on the stage.
She couldn’t find any words as Joram bent down and picked up the great sword in one hand, then planted the tip into the stone floor.
“To the death, right?” He called out to the dean, who nodded back.
Young Lord Arabanise started shouting something, but cut off as Joram raised the sword in one hand and brought it down with such force that the blade, after having gone through the prone man’s neck, shattered on the ground, sending shards of metal as far as the safety fields at the edge of the arena.
Joram neatly sidestepped the fountain of blood that came from the corpse, never taking his eyes off his accuser as he spoke.
“Are we done here?”
It took a moment for the dean to speak, but when he did, his voice was steady.
“The trial by honour duel is concluded. The accused will be cleared of all charges,” he said, giving Joram a nod before continuing. “Now that that has been taken care of, I would ask that the new students please follow your seniors for orientation.”
Lisette sat down on her seat, taking a deep, shuddering breath. She didn’t know if that had been one of the most terrifying things she’d ever seen, or the most amazing.
* * * * *
Bai Lian watched as her young master did something and ended the fight. She still couldn’t sense the man’s cultivation, but based on his speed, she would have guessed he was somewhere in the Earth Realm.
It wouldn’t have mattered though, as the young master was already in the Heaven Realm, a qualitative level higher than his opponent. Not to mention his amazing attainments in Mental Strength, or what he referred to as “psionics”.
Even she, coming from a background that was more martially focussed than those around her, was surprised at his strength when he shattered that great sword on the ground as he decapitated his challenger, ending the fight.
She’d seen Ren Wentian and others in the Heaven Realm who practiced body cultivation fight, so she had a decent data pool to go on when she said that the strength he showed was higher than normal for his Realm.
She watched as he stood, back straight and head held high, as he asked for ruling. He was the picture of a heroic young master, shoulder length hair blowing back in the breeze, dignified in his victory.
Bai Lian felt as though she’d been energized, as though every fiber of her being was affirming her decision to follow that young man and support him in any way she could. Even her Qi was reacting in her dantian, growing denser and denser under the influence of that great and wondrous feeling.
So great was it that she felt her dantian change, suddenly shrinking so fast that it briefly left a void in the place it had been moments before.
* * * * *
Joram turn away from the head stand and began to walk away when he felt unusual fluctuations coming from Bai Lian.
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He saw both Mo Yu and Wentian staring at her, looks of surprise on their faces, confirming for him that Bai Lian was going to made a breakthrough, even shackled as she was. Which was many levels of dangerous for her.
As he sped to her, he noticed that her gaze seemed a bit glassy, as though she were a million miles away, making him think that she’d had an epiphany of some sort, which meant that she wasn’t likely going to be able to stop what was happening.
Stoneface 1 just stood there, ignoring what was happening to Bai Lian even though he should have removed the sealing shackles once he’d won the fight, another indication that the man was either corrupt or malicious, or both.
He ignored the sorry excuse for an enforcement officer as he sped to Bai Lian, focussing the energy in his body that he’d trained up as he practiced martial arts under Altaea, what her world had called Ki, which was different from mana.
Joram arrived before Bai Lian, hands raised. Stoneface 1 seemed to want to do something, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Joram as his hands came down, chopping straight through the shackles as though they were paper, sending the fragments clinking to the ground all around them.
He quickly retried a Tier 2 Card from his storage, lifted her shirt up past her navel, and pressed it against her abdomen, just below her navel where one’s core would normally be.
Joram turned his head to give Stoneface 1 a warning glare as he approached, but was saved from needing to act when he heard the old man speak again.
“Release Mr Aneath’s people at once,” he said in a commanding tone, allowing nothing but obedience.
Joram could see Stoneface 1’s jaw clench, the muscles rippling under his skin as a flash of frustration clearly passed over his face. But he obeyed, first going to Wentian, then to Mo Yu.
Joram looked back to the old man and gave him a nod of appreciation, getting a kindly smile in return.
The audience was once again in an uproar at what had just happened in the last ten seconds. He heard comments about how it was impossible to destroy restraining cuffs like that, to comments on how he moved, all the way to how rich he must be to be able to pull out a Tier 2 Card like that. The majority of the conversations, however, revolved around Bai Lian herself.
They were in shock and awe at her being able to not only break through to the 4th Tier while attending the fight, but being able to do so while suppressed like that was unprecedented. He also caught some hate from instant fans of hers for being audacious enough to expose her like that in public and even going as far as placing his hands on her “pure body”.
After a minute of listening to that, and with no signs of Bai Lian’s epiphany ending any time soon, he sent the other two a message.
‘Wentian, come and carry Bai Lian. Mo Yu, could you please keep the Card in place while Wentian carries her?’
They immediately did as requested, Mo Yu’s hand replacing his to keep the Card in place as Wentian lifted Bai Lian in a princess carry that also got him some ire from the audience.
“Now, please follow your seniors to the auditorium where orientation can finally take place,” the old man announced, instantly quieting the audience.
Joram watched as the first years gathered up again, forming lines behind the designated guides. Stoneface 1 gave Joram one last look before leaving, heading towards Lord Arabanise and his son.
He put them out of mind for now as he followed his line. Funny enough, no one else joined his line after he’d gotten there, instead spreading out to the ones around him. That suited him well enough, though, as he was a bit overloaded with all the attention that had been on him.
Quietly following along and then finding a seat helped him relax again, especially when he got a full five seats’ worth of space around him as people continued to keep their distance. Though, not far enough for him to not hear their whispered conversations.
There were two lines of conversation that were gone over regarding him and his group. The first revolved around varying speculation about how long it would take for the Arabanise family to arrange an “accident” for him while also agreeing to keep their distance from him lest they get caught up in the drama and become collateral damage.
The other revolved around how awesome it was that the Arabanise family had been brought down a few pegs, and how amazing “Mr Aneath” was. The last part of the was also divided between two major points. The first, how amazing his abilities were and all that. The second revolved around how lucky he was to have two stunning beauties at his side.
From the way Mo Yu looked ahead with a blank expression as she held the Card in place for Bai Lian, he was pretty sure she’d heard those conversations too. And from how Wentian’s head was bowed, his eyes staring into the distance, Joram guessed that the man felt a bit like a background character.
“On behalf of the Grand Waeryn Academy, I extend our gratitude and thanks for your enrolment,” a woman said from up front, standing on a stage behind a podium. She looked to be in her late twenties, garbed in the same robe-like clothing as the old man had been wearing.
“First, please retrieve your student cards and hold them in your hands,” she said, demonstrating by holding up a card with a black border.
Joram retrieved his hard, then placed a hand on Bai Lian’s storage ring and retrieved her card for her.
A few seconds later, the speaker continued.
“A map of the campus has now been added to your cards. This will allow you to find your way to your individual residences, as well as the various buildings, classrooms, shops, labs, and facilities you’ll need to find in the course of your studies.”
She paused again, this time to allow everyone to play around with their maps for a minute or so.
“Speaking of studies. Classes begin in one week’s time. Please take your time to familiarize yourselves with the campus, register for with the faculty or trade you wish to join, and acquire the supplies needed for the classes you register for.
“As you may have noticed, there is also a dress code in place that is mandatory for all students. You’ll need to visit one of the clothing stores to pick up a uniform. You may want to pick up a spare or two to avoid being caught without one should you suffer a wardrobe malfunction,” she said, the audience quietly chuckling at the last part.
“Now, the Academy is aware that things can become costly during your time living on campus. There are various jobs throughout the Academy that students may work at to earn some crystals to ease their financial situations, or to purchase extra supplies.
“There is also a Quest Board that provides tasks for extra pay. Not everyone can take those requests, though. Anyone wanting to take a quest must first pass a qualification exam. If passed, you’ll then be allowed to start taking quests. If you don’t pass, you cannot take a quest. But you may take the qualification exam again, but after waiting a period of one month.
“Anyone found taking a quest without the requisite qualifications will be punished by the Enforcement Department. Please follow the rules of the Academy that you’ll also now find in your student cards,” she said, once again raising her card to demonstrate.
From there, she went on to explain the various departments and their primary functions as well as the sub-departments each contained.
He was impressed with how much funding the Arrays Department had, but then realized that they were likely responsible for a good deal, if not all, of the magitech he’d been seeing around.
The Arrays Department was divided into three main sub-departments. The first was the Utility Department that focused on learning how to make arrays that revolved around quality of life improvements.
The next was the Practical Department which, upon filtering through what was said, he’d nickname the War Department. They focussed on combat arrays and spells and such.
The last major sub-department was called the Guardian Department. Predictably, the focussed on defensive arrays and wards and such.
She went on about the various other departments that were more academically focussed than magically focussed like business, history, political sciences, and tactics. He was surprised that they’d go there considering the Academy was supposed to be a neutral entity and all.
The speaker didn’t say much about the refining departments, though, which annoyed him. He suspected that even though they were probably the most well-respected graduates, they were also the fewest in number, thus making them relatively small departments. Though, when he thought about it, their budgets were likely the highest in the Academy.
After about an hour of the speaker explaining things they were dismissed with an invitation to head over to the cafeteria assigned to first years.
Joram checked on Bai Lian again and found that she was still out of it and the Card was getting very pale in colour, indicating that its energy was about to be spent. He retrieved a few more cards from his Realm before surreptitiously passing them to Mo Yu, who then stored them away in her storage ring.
With that done, he followed the crowd to the mess hall and found a small table off to the side to sit at.
“How long do you think it’ll take her?” He asked Wentian, knowing that they were from the same Sect.
“Not sure,” he said with a slight shrug as he sat on the bench, cradling Bai Lian like a baby while Mo Yu sat beside them a bit awkwardly. “There’s a lot of Earth Qi in that card, yet it’s almost been spent. I haven’t sensed a reduction in draw, so it could be anywhere from an hour to days.”
Joram nodded at that. If Bai Lian wasn’t just breaking through to the 4th Tier, but also regaining her previous Rank in that Tier, then it really could take a while before she came out of her cultivation trance.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed the two glancing at the food line every now and then, then remembered that they’d not likely eaten since breakfast. He got up as Mo Yu replaced the Card for Bai Lian and stopped dead.
“Hi! I noticed that you had a crafting student card too. My name’s Alicia, can I join you?” A blue-haired woman asked as she stood by their table, food tray in hand.
Joram took a hot second to take in her details, from her casual clothes that complimented her figure very well to her sapphire blue hair and emerald green eyes, to the face he’d recognize anywhere.
“Ah, sure, go ahead,” he said, not quite understanding why she was pretending to not know them, but was at least able to play along.
‘Just go with it,’ he sent to the confused pair, who glanced at him before looking back to the new person at their table.
Avi/Alicia smiled happily as she took a seat across from Wentian and started chatting with them as she ate.
Joram just shook his head and made his way to the line, grabbing three trays on the way. The line in front of him compacted slightly once they noticed him standing there, and those behind him stayed a bit further back than what was normal. He supressed a sigh.
It wasn’t that he was annoyed or depressed by the lack of social contact. No, it was that he was now the focus of wherever he was that bothered him. He’d have much preferred being ignored, or preferably, anonymous. But that damn kid just had to ruin things because of an overabundance of pride and entitlement.
The staff serving the food noticed the unusual behaviour of the students in line, giving them odd looks. When it was time for him to get the food, they added a bit more to his trays than they had to everyone else’s, giving him nods of encouragement and solidarity.
He just about teared up then, suddenly struck by their simple gesture of support and kindness.
He nodded back to them before heading back to the table and noticed that the tables surrounding theirs were now full. Specifically, the tables closest to “Alicia”.
Joram couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight. He knew that she was a level of beautiful that rivalled legends of old. Seeing the first-years flocking to her, male and female, made it really sink in for him. If Mo Yu’s beauty had already caused a stir their very first day amongst the student body, then Alicia would certainly cause a hurricane.
* * * * *
After dinner, the group headed out, Wentian still carrying Bai Lian, much to the envy of her fanbase.
Alicia followed Joram’s group as a flock followed her, chatting away. She noticed Joram’s stiff back and knew that he was almost completely socially tapped out from the goings on of the day.
Joram then consulted his map and began walking with more purpose in his step. It didn’t take them long to arrive at his new, Chinese-style, residence. He turned and awkwardly waved to her, then hurried the Trio inside, closing the gate behind them.
“He doesn’t seem so scary,” one girl said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as assert her opinion.
She got a few nods from other students, most of whom were dressed in clothing that wasn’t as expensive as those who hadn’t nodded.
“Miss Alicia,” one of the better dressed boys said. “I’m not sure if you know this, but Mr Aneath made a very dangerous enemy. It might not be safe to get close to him.”
Alicia looked back at the kids that had followed her, noticing that most were nodding or verbally agreeing with the kid.
“I don’t know,” she said, tilting her head slightly and bringing her hand up to her chin so that she could tap her index finger on her lips, drawing most eyes to them. “He seems like an interesting person. Someone who might be worth getting to know.”
A few people shifted uncomfortably when they heard that, but others looked thoughtful.
“Anyway,” she said, then yawned, raising her hand further so that she could cover her mouth with the back of her hand. “It’s late and it’s been a long day. Have a good night, everyone.” She finished with a wave, getting waves and well-wishes in return as she walked to the next house over and passed through the gate.
As she walked up to the house, she heard the group talking excitedly amongst themselves about how amazing her place was and how she must be rich. And wasn’t she just a dream?
Once inside, Alicia went around and inspected all the rooms and facilities, getting herself familiarized with the place. But also inspecting it for any bugs or spying devices. With how advanced the magitech was here, and how Joram had been introduced to the Academy’s staff and student body, she was sure that they’d be keeping an eye on him and anyone else the associated with.
Including her.
It didn’t really matter too much, though. From the vibe the dean had given off, she was sure that he wouldn’t let anyone run wild on his turf. The question, then, was just how far the dean would tolerate any shenanigans people got up to?
Not having found anything suspicious, Alicia went upstairs and got ready for bed. It would be a long day tomorrow.