Two months passed as Siul continued to explore the town of Tuk. The place was friendly and it didn't take long for him to be able to go in and out of the guard station whenever he wanted. Still, he dared not use his saved up money much.
His lessons with Halva were composed mostly of just telling her what he knew and what he was struggling with. The next lessons would then be structured around teaching him what he was unsure about.
With his knowledge, most schooling besides history and ulma classes couldn't even touch upon the knowledge he knew and so, there was no better way to put his time to use than learning more about the language and mana.
The problem was, however, that Siul needed to both have the mana skills and the ability to even comprehend the book he had stolen to use it. Even though he could read and write in the language, he needed to develop his mana manipulation and attend the ulmagi schools so that he could understand the higher concepts about mana that he world used.
The door to his cell opened and Halva walked through.
"Today is your last day and you will be enrolled in a week when the ulmagi school starts its new years of students." Although time was short, he had quickly befriended the teacher despite her... More hidden unruly characteristics.
However, the fact that he could learn the language in two months was largely because of her help and he had a lot of appreciation. Besides, this would not be the last she would be teaching him. This was because she had recently revealed that she worked at the ulmagi school, but it was currently on its four month long preparation and vacation period.
By now, he could easily understand people. It was more than enough to live in the world easily.
Other than getting more used to the language, though, he didn't really have much to improve upon. The rest could only be learned through immersion and some self study. That was why, for the day, Halva decided to celebrate his "graduating."
Walking into the tavern, he ignored the people tauntingly whistling and ordered a large plate of meat. It was only a week ago that he found out why the people of the world could consume such large quantities of food.
Being a stage 2 ulmaster meant that the organs were essentially supercharged by ulma. Their body's energy could be used at an extreme rate and it was only counteracted by their bodies could also store a lot more raw energy at the same time. With the organs being supercharged, food was also digested and consumed at an extreme rate.
After stage 2 ulmasters, Siul also learned of the stage 3 ulmasters from Halva. She herself wasn't that far from the threshold.
He sighed as he heard an already drunken Halva spend quite a large sum paying for everybody's drinks.
A few days later, Siul reached the capital city, Gukulm, alongside Halva. The city itself wasn't that large compared to what he had seen and he estimated that it had a population of a little more than 20,000. Compared to Tuk, which was only in the range of 5,000s, it was a large difference.
People walked around the streets, but almost everybody save for kids had more ulma than him.
"Am I really that weak?"
"You just noticed? The amount of ulma you have is really quite pahetic. But your ulma control is good."
They reached the outskirts of the ulmagi school. It was outside Gukulm and rested in the forest just outside of its walls. The area was large and looked to be about a tenth of the size of the city itself.
The logistics of enrolling weren't complicated either. All he had to do was pay a fee every month and he would be enrolled for the month's duration. Every year there were only a few hundred new people and so, although busy on the first day, it could immediately start on the second day.
This was the sole reason that he had not spent much money since he learned of the ulmagi school. If he held onto his money, he would be able to get through the first six months of school and by then, he would have found a source of income.
The two entered the building and parted ways. Siul continued to walk forward and into a line leading to the front desk. The doors to the school had opened no more than ten minutes before and a line was still formed.
From small twelve year olds to a man that looked in his 30s, the people older than a teen were a large minority. Less than 13 of them were "old" and Siul was the 2nd oldest.
Still, the registration was fast. All they would have to do was state their name, answer a few questions, and send ulma into a crystal before heading further into the building.
By the time Siul reached the front, another 50 people had lined up behind him. The man in front of him started to question.
"First name?"
"Hark."
The man was silent as if trying to remember something.
"... Do you have any family members?"
"No, they are dead."
He showed an expression of understanding. "Sorry about that."
"No worries."
"Current Occupation?"
"None"
"What are your goals?"
"To advance my ulma studies."
"How old are you?"
"twenty-eight."
"What is the purpose of studying ulma?"
Siul stopped and hesitated before speaking.
"To improve our understanding to... Develop new technologies and techniques."
The man took a second to write down all of his answers.
"Alright, the fee will be two talma."
Siul took out two bags and handed them to the man.
"Just go past here and someone will escort you to your room."
Siul followed the man's instructions and went forward through a pair of doors. Another line of people greeted his eyes. The line moved only a little slower with about three people working to move the students. Siul avoided his eyes at the familiar figure.
"Well isn't this a coincidence!" Halva approached Siul and handed him a piece of wood carved with the numbers "3-211."
When he first saw the numbers of the world, it was hard not to say that he was relieved that it still shared the same structure as the base ten system that he knew well. Numbers were identified and made with two templates. Five were made with one, while four were made with the other. Each was made distinct by modifying the template with a line. It was also possible to make the numbers all the way up to 100 in a single number character, but it was compact and hard to read.
"Follow me." Halva walked and Siul followed. They passed through a number of buildings.
"Is it really necessary to guide people to their rooms?"
She showed him a strange look.
"Look at this place. It's huge! In the end, us professors will have to end up escorting them anyway. So, instead of having to find you guys scrambling around, it's easier to just bring you to it directly."
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"What about a map?"
"Not every is good at reading a map... It's just the way it works. Maybe a few of you can, but it barely makes a difference." She shrugged and they soon reached what looked to be a large field of stacked rectangles. There were a total of 6 rectangles with each having 4 stories. On top of the buildings, there was a large slanted roof.
Each floor of one of the rectangles' longer sides could hold 100 people, that meant a total of 4,800 people could live in the place. He knew at a glance that the place had the highest density of humans in the world.
"The first three buildings are for stage 1 ulmasters, the other three are for stage 2 and 3 ulmasters."
"There are way too many rooms..." The amount of people that the buildings could house were a few thousand, but there was nowhere near that many people in the ulmagi school.
"That is to prepare for future growth. The schools tried to keep as many people with the first 50 rooms to reduce the commute time. Some even jump straight off the floors too!"
Quite frankly, Siul was exceedingly surprised to find that this human civilization was so modernized. So much so, that he felt comfortable in the world. He had been through the same process once, so doing it a second time would be easy.
She patted him hard on the back, making him stumble. "Now go and settle in your room, I've got more people to move."
She disappeared before Siul could even turn his head. According to his wooden token, he walked to the third building's second floor and found his room with the number eleven sketched into the wall beside the door.
Inside of the room, he found that it was only a little less blank than his humble home cell. There was a bed, a desk, a few candles, an empty bookshelf, an empty drawer, a mirror, and a small bathroom with a toilet
Taking off his bag with all of his belongings, he hid away his money as safely as he could. He did not have much to himself and so, he walked out of the room and watched the various people moving in.
These people would be at the ulmagi school for the next four years. They were bringing clothing, blankets, personal items, and in some cases, entire pieces of furniture.
Getting enough of people watching, he decided to walk around the campus. Beside the couple buildings where classes would be held, there were a few large buildings dedicated solely to cultivation. Other than that, there were combat halls and research labs.
Finding that there was not else he could do, though, he went back to his room and retired for the day. Having gotten to the city of Gukulm after a whole day of traveling, he was tired and his eyes closed.
Siul woke up to a loud bell sounding out. Sitting up, he noticed the foreign pamphlet of paper sitting on the desk. Picking it up, he found that it was the schedule for the next month.
The first introductory class would start a little after the bell of dawn rang.
Pocketing the pamphlet, Siul walked down into the campus and found where he was supposed to be after some small trouble. Walking inside, there were many people fillings its seats and he found his own seat to sit on. He waited another dozen minutes until the class started.
Throughout the whole thing, Siul found it to be very boring. It mostly consisted of introducing the professors and addressing the students into the school. The spokesman, who was the assistant principal, also stated the purpose of the school which was, "To teach the new generation the importance of development of ulma."
Once the class ended, the next one was combat assessment. Siul did not score the highest, but he was still good enough with a third place ranking. The third class was then the ulma assessment. He was near rock bottom with his only saving grace being above average control. And then came the final class of the day which was meant to divide the people according to their age and ulma stage into groups. Siul was put into the mature stage 1 group which only had him and two other people. After getting into his group, his group professor explained the curriculum for the first year.
Because he was older, and therefore the capacity and style he learned in was different, their experience would be made up of a few classes and a lot of self-study with some field classes and exercises sprinkled throughout. The library and cultivation halls would become the places he needed to frequent the most.
Still, the first year would mostly be him raising his mana cultivation and his basic understanding of mana. Sometime during either the second or third year, he would need to reach the threshold to become a stage 2 ulmaster.
Becoming a stage 3 ulmaster while still in school was a distant dream and so, Siul decided that when he graduated he would do one of two things. Leave the subspace world or explore into the wilderness to the same location as the tower that he stole from.
With the classes for the day ending, Siul wanted to try out the cultivation hall. Going into the large building, he passed the empty front desk and stood in front of a door with the number "23" on it. He walked inside and four light magic plants sitting happily greeted him. Upon seeing him sit down in the room, the plants increased their brightness and the mana they emitted increased by two times.
It was more effective than the area that he and Bon previously cultivated in.
Focusing in on himself, he tested out mana circulation. Despite him having learned how to use mana, he had used the mana circulation technique much. He instead practiced his control of mana.
With the amount of mana in the room, he could consciously pull it in and at the same time, circulate his mana pathway.
Taking hold of the pathway, he increased the speed of mana inside and found that, different from before, he could accelerate it by three times with relative ease. But if he were to go any faster, it would put strain on his mind and give him a headache.
The mana within him was used up at a rapid pace, but it was immediately recovered by the ambient mana released. The process felt like every part of his body was being massaged and rejuvenated.
He could only stop when the plants suddenly dimmed and began to release next to no mana. Looking at them, he could detect that the mana inside of them was almost completely depleted and their leaves were drooping.
Leaving the room, a woman sitting at the front desk questioned.
"What room did you come from?"
"23."
Without saying anything and with only a glance, an idle man got to work and disappeared behind a set of doors.
"Where is he going?"
"To feed the plants." She said simply. Before he could ask for more detail she answered again. "The plant's ulma doesn't come from just anywhere. They make a lot of ulma from what they eat and also require some time to recharge."
"How did it know I was in the room?"
"They've been trained."
The answer confused Siul.
"Trained?"
"Yeah, the things aren't very smart, but it's easy to teach them to increase their output as long as you give em' food."
He couldn't believe his ears. The light magic plants had at least some form of intelligence.
"Huh." He walked back to his room in thought. His body was stronger, but the revelation distracted him even more.
He knew that it was easy for any animal to have even a speck of intelligence, but he had never heard of a plant having to, at the very last, a small extent of intelligence resembling an animal's before. He had to wait a few moments to let the information settle.
He let the day pass and laid on his bed...
The next day began with the bell of dawn tolled. Looking at the schedule, the first class would be his only one for the next week.
---
In nearly the blink of an eye, five months had passed. To Siul, it felt like he was in college again. Most of his time was spent either studying history in the library, meditating in the cultivation hall, or on the rare occasion, sparring in the combat halls. He had already mastered the finesse he needed to reach the threshold to become a stage 2 ulmaster. All he needed to do now was build up his mana.
The classes were mostly on the applications of ulma and would usually go over a few techniques. With him having gone to about 15 classes, it was enough to say that he learned quite a bit, but he learned most of what he knew in the library. Still, the techniques taught were mostly for improving control and if not, then it was an exercise to increase the familiarity with certain movements of mana. To make it more natural, like using a limb.
Walking out of the cultivation hall, he walked back to his room and started to think. Combined with the tuition of going to the ulmagi school, he also needed to pay for basic necessities which, in all, had drained his money faster than he would have liked. He needed to think of a way to earn something, or he'll be broke before he knew it.
His mind naturally wandered to hunting huntrow, but it was dangerous. There was also the option of introducing advanced knowledge into the world and using it to make a living. With what he knew and the development of the world, even the more basic concepts of physics, or even chemistry itself would be revolutionary. But still, he didn't want to involve himself in the world too much and become a prominent figure in the spotlight. It was not in his plans. He couldn't forget what he was actually in the world for.
Sitting down, he thought of asking Halva before dismissing it. Her behavior was becoming more and more clockwork as she shed the skin and desire of wanting to be seen as gentle. She taught a combat class, then meditated before trying to drag a few people to a tavern and get black out drunk. Hanging out with her was not for the faint of heart and she earned her living off of teaching. He doubted scrubbing any information off of her would help.
Just then, he thought of a different idea. Keeping in mind that he had to make good money without putting himself in danger or causing too much influence, he thought of a simple contraption. A bike. It was simple and a form of transportation. Running consumes a lot of energy and just a bike, in general, might be popular among kids.
To make a bike, though, he would have to get some help. He was no smith and there was certainly still no industrialization in this world of ulmasters. This was where Halva came in handy. She often frequented a well known smith, that although skilled, was not too big on his luck.
Whistling his way into the building full of the clangs and high pitched collision of metal on metal, it did not take long for the man to greet him.
"Hey Hark. How's Halva doing?"
"Just fine, Kai. Still won't stop her habits, though. Anyways I got something good to show you."
Siul pulled out a piece of paper. On it, there was an old bike design. Chains with gears and actual wheels. far more primitive than the hover models, but it was reliable and basic.
"Oh?" Looking at it, Kai could roughly guess what the contraption was supposed to do. "This is a form of mechanical transport?"
"Yeah. I was looking for your help to make this."
"Hmm..." Kai rubbed his stubbed beard and thought for a few seconds. "Alright." He found the design interesting and other than making swords, armors, gears, nails, and all of that, he could put his skills to use and make something new.
The materials required for the prototype of the bike did not really require much as long as it was able to move. The base was made out of sturdy wood and the wheels were metal with a thick tire of huntrow skin. The chains and gear were similarly made with metals while the handles were bone.
It took a day to make and by the end of it, they had a somewhat working bike. Many parts could be polished, but it was just a test to see if it could work out. Siul watched Kai hop on the bike and press his feet on the pedal. The bike moved forwards before he tilted over and fell with a grunt.
With a scraped face, he gave thumb upwards.
"It uh... Requires some balance, but all things considered. It works!" Kai stood up and patted off the dust. "Say, how'd you come up with this?"
"I dunno, I was just looking at some gears and stuff before suddenly thinking, why not!" Siul pulled out his prepared excuse.
Over the next few days, they sourced a few more materials to make the bikes and ended up with three variations. one for kids, the other for ordinary stage 1 folk, and the last made out of the strongest and most affordable materials they could find to accommodate for stage 2 ulmasters and above. They weren't really expecting anyone over the age of 12 to take interest, though, so they didn't have their hopes too high.
Siul managed to work up a deal so that he would assemble the bikes and receive a 30% pay cut. The costs of the materials, manufacturing parts, and selling of bikes were all obstacles. It was only through a few tricky loops of logic that he secured his share.
The prices of the bikes would also still have to be determined. It was harder to make than a table, but they wanted to sell it to a lot of people, so it wasn't a luxury item either.
In the end, they came up with 4 talma for the small kid bike, 6 talma for the stage 1 bike, and 10 talma for the stage 2 and above bike. In the world, it was possible to buy an ordinary loaf of bread with just one dalma. Tool prices were measured in gamma, while furniture and bigger things in talma. Common furniture such as tables would cost 2 - 3 talma and buying a house would cost around 100 - 200 talma.
A month quickly passed as Siul and Kai worked full time to mass produce the new products and after a few rough days, their thoughts came true. Kids went to the shop with their parents dragged behind them and begged them to buy it. It sold quite well and only when a hundred had been sold did it die down. This gave Siul a decently large amount of talma and he would still get some more as the sales trickled in over the next few years.
The appearance of the bike itself was not that unusual as the civilization had already started to dabble in gears and mechanical works. Clocks were already in their prototype stages and nearly everything that involved something mechanical was more complicated than a bike. In the eyes of many, it was just another interesting and fun byproduct of advancement.
Its simple and effective nature did attract some professors from the ulmagi school, but after a round of questioning, Siul managed to push the attention on Kai after barely making it through. The excuse of sudden inspiration for a man like Kai in this era of the world was... Too useful. It surprised him greatly at how easily they accepted it.
With brilliant minds like Munta or Unfi the swordmaster, there were still quite a few from the grace period that were still alive.
Relishing in his hidden wealth, he found himself not needing to worry about money for potentially the rest of his stay in the world. He didn't need much and food in the world was incredibly cheap. He had no attachment to belongings or furniture and besides a particularly warm blanket, he treasured nothing else but his own life. He had to remember that he was not invincible just because he could go in and out of the world at will.
Sitting himself down in the cultivation hall, he sucked in the mana that the light magic plants released and concentrated on his mana path. There was still much he had to do and making money was just a short problem he needed to solve.