Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
Alerius had just finished packing the clothes he intended to take to the academy when he heard someone knocking on his front door.
"Hold on" he shouted and walked towards the door. When he opened the door, the person who was outside went inside the room without even waiting to be invited in.
Alerius was surprised to discover that the person who just came inside was a very attractive woman. He had expected such behavior from a male cultivator. He observed his visitor and found that the woman was taller than him and appeared to be in her late twenties. The badge pinned on her shirt was a triangular in shape, one part was colored purple while the other was colored green. He saw that the woman was observing his room and from her facial expression, alerius could tell that she found the room lacking.
Alerius wanted to asked what she wanted but in his experience, he had found it was never wise to ask such a direct question to someone more powerful than him. He did not think she would hurt him because she was also from Noble House Ururu but just to be on the safe side all he said was "Good morning"
"This room suits you." She replied ignoring his greeting
"Thank you" Alerius replied. He knew she was making fun of his appearance but he was not bothered. He had always known that he was not handsome, his looks had always been described as average.
"You must have impressed one of the higher ranking House members for you to be admitted into the House and get sponsorship to attend the academy on top of that but frankly I don't know what they saw in you"
She doesn't know that it was Lord kirrien himself who gave me permission to join House Ururu. She thinks it's one of the Elders. Maybe Lord Kirrien doesn't want people to know it's him. Alerius thought to himself. He didn't correct her assumption just in case the Under lord wanted to keep things quiet.
"Why you? You should know that not many who are not blood line descendants are sponsored to go there. I don't think it is your talent, you are way too old to just reach the Liquid Phase."
Alerius was surprised, from the way the Under Lord had casually told him that he will have to attend the academy, he had gotten the impression every cultivator had to attend when they reached Liquid phase.
"I didn't know it was that hard to get into the academy" alerius replied. He didn't know if this was a test set by the Under Lord to see how he would react if probed for answers or if the woman was just sent by another faction within House Ururu to get information from him. so he decided to feign ignorance.
"Yes its hard". She answered and after a few moments had passed and she saw that alerius was not going to say anything else she changed the subject.
She removed a small rectangular box from one of her pockets and gave it to alerius. "I was told to deliver this to you"
Alerius excitedly opened the box and found that inside there was a circular cultivation badge. His excitement died when he discovered that the badge was painted completely in black and it didn't have the House colors he had been expecting.
The woman must have seen the change in alerius's facial expression for she laughed and said "all badges are black in color if they have not been imprinted with the Aura of the owner. To imprint your Aura on the badge, you must place a drop of your blood on the badge."
Alerius got a knife and cut his thumb. He then pressed the thumb onto the badge. The thumb suddenly became very cold and he felt dizzy for a moment. After he recovered he watched as the badge lit up and its color changed to purple on the left, white in the middle and green on the right. Alerius was about to ask what the white color meant when he a heard his visitor shout
"Impossible!"
When alerius saw her shocked expression he knew that the white color signified something important.
"What does white mean" he asked. He didn't know how to react because he didn't know if white on a badge was a good or bad thing.
"The white color means that you now considered an important member of House Ururu. Only blood line descendants of a Noble House and those marrying into a Noble House can have their cultivation badges with three colors: white plus the two House colors. This is true for all the Noble houses in Zophia City"
Does this mean that I am now a noble? He didn't ask this as he didn't want to seen over eager so instead asked another question which had been bothering him "if badges need an imprint, and if I was not the real alerius would it have worked when my blood touched it?"
"Yes it would have worked and the badge would have activated but a badge has another function apart from showing cultivation realm; it also acts as an identification card. Close your eyes and focus on my badge you will see what I mean"
Alerius did as instructed and after a few moments he saw an information window. The information table was divided into two rows and two columns. On the left it showed the woman's name and on the right was the picture of her head and below the picture was her House status and it showed that she was a common member
Elisa Ururu Tongue [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/tongue.png]icture
House Status:Common house member
So that's her name alerius thought. He then did the same with his badge
Alerius Manda UruruTongue [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/tongue.png]icture
House Status:Core member
"Your picture and name where put inside when making the badge and cannot be altered once the badge is made. If someone else apart from you activated the badge then unless that person is your identical twin then the picture inside the badge and the face of that person will be different. The badge also has another feature; place the badge on the floor then take five steps backwards"
Alerius did as instructed and after five steps back wards he saw that his badge had turned back to black.
"When the badge leaves the range of your aura, it will turn back to black, And a person can only imprint on one badge at a time meaning if you want to get a new badge you must remove your imprint from your old badge. I am sure you can think of importance of such features."
This means a person cannot have badges from two different Houses at once and stealing a badge is useless since it will turn black once it leaves the owner. Alerius thought to himself.
"When you reach the academy just show them the badge, they are already expecting you. Do you have any questions?"
Alerius had a lot questions on his mind, he wanted to ask how they had gotten his picture inside the badge? What it meant to be a core member of a House, and if he will be receiving a stipend now that he had become a member of House Ururu and many more other questions but he did not think his visitor knew all the answers and he could guess that his status as core member was only for show, the Under Lord had said his only responsibility was only to fight in the war, so whatever benefits a core member enjoyed he would not experience them. At least I get to have some training. he comforted himself
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Is there anything else I should be aware of about my situation?" Alerius asked he decided to make is question non specific so that he could get as much information as possible
"There is a credit house at the academy which belongs to House Ururu. An account has been opened for you there, you can get your allowance from there. I would advice you to go there immediately when you reach the academy. Goodbye" Elisa replied and left the room.
Well that solves the financial problem Alerius thought and started preparing himself for the journey to the academy.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
One benefit of having a core cultivation badge was that for once Alerius didn't have to be extra careful when walking along the streets. people now gave him a wide berth and he didn't have to bow when he met a cultivator. All the cultivators he had met along the way had bowed to him instead. Even the guards at the gate that led to the Royal Quarter had let him pass without asking him any questions.
No wonder cultivators are pompous, if this is the kind of treatment they expect to receive. Alerius thought as he entered the Royal Quarter.
The streets showed the same type careful planning and money that went into creating them that he had seen in area of the Noble Quarter controlled by House Ururu. The only difference was that Royal House Kapulya owned everything in the Royal Quarter.
The academy was located in in the Royal Quarter and was the only thing in the Royal Quarter not run by House Kapulya.
The academy was jointly run by all the Houses.
The academy was enclosed inside a very high wall fence. Alerius saw a lot guards on patrol along the wall fence though he didn't find it difficult to gain entrance inside. He had only been required to enter his name in one of the books at the gate. The guards had then asked for his badge and after that they had compared the name he had written and what was found in the badge, they had allowed him to pass.
The administration building was a three storey building and like all the buildings within the academy it had a flat roof. Inside Alerius found the receptionist who directed him to registrar's office.
"Come in"
Alerius heard a man's voice shout from the other side of the door which he had knocked on.
Once he went inside, the registrar rose from his seat and came over to where Alerius was standing. The registrar focused on alerius's badge for moment then offered his hand for a handshake
"Good morning Mr Alerius." The registrar said.
They must be away of viewing information inside the badge without closing your hand. Alerius thought. That's how he knows my name.
"Good morning Sir" Alerius replied and shock the other man's hand.
The registrar was a middle aged man and from the squire shaped badge on the registrars black suit, Alerius figured that the man had reached the Solid Phase.
"I have been expecting you. Lord Kirrien payed me a visit himself and told me to expect you." The registrar paused for a while and looked closely at Alerius, as if the reason why the Under Lord came himself was written on Alerius's face. After a while he continued
"The Under Lord said your situation was special and that you where lacking information common to Cultivators. So you have been given access to the first three levels of the library."
Its a good thing I know how to read alerius thought. The only thing Duds and Cultivators had in common in Zophia was that basic Education was free so most people were literate.
"Here is your library pass and map of the academy grounds." The registrar said and handed them to Alerius.
"Thank you sir" Alerius said as he placed them in the small bag he was carrying.
"You are welcome. Your classes begin tomorrow, the venue for the classes and hostels have been marked on the map. I hope you enjoy your time here and If you have any problems you can come and see me any time"
When Alerius left the office he checked the map for the location of the credit house Elisa had told him about. After locating it he went there.
The inside of the credit house was a shop. It sold everything needed for cultivation. A middle aged paste phase female cultivator was sitting behind the counter.
The woman focused on his badge for while and then said "good morning Mr Alerius"
This act confirmed what Alerius had been suspecting of there being a way to quickly view the information stored in the cultivation badge.
"Good morning. I was told to come here once I reached the academy" Alerius said.
"You are the new guy, I had been expecting you. I was told to you didn't know a lot about how things work here at the academy" The lady said
Alerius found out that day that a lot of cultivators didn't like introducing themselves. "Yes, I only joined House Ururu yesterday" he said
"Well its quite simple. You can get any thing from this shop on credit and The House will foot the bill. You can also request to get money instead of getting items."
"Is there a limit."
"Yes for you its 10 squire crystal marks a month."
Wow that's equivalent to 1000 circular crystal marks Alerius excitedly thought. It was the first time in his life that he owned such a large amount of money.
"How much is the liquid and paste spiritual elixirs." He asked. The Under Lord had told him that he will be fighting in the war so he wanted to find out in advance how much the elixirs cost so that he can make a plan.
"The liquid one is 6 triangular crystal marks while the paste spiritual potion is 10 triangular crystal marks."
"Then I would like to withdraw 5 squire crystal marks." Alerius said. He decided to leave half of his money here just in case later he decided to get spiritual elixirs.
The woman gave him 5 squire shaped crystal marks. This day is day for many firsts for me. Alerius thought for it was also the first time he saw and owned actual crystal marks. He had only owned the paper money equivalents before.
After receiving the money, Alerius was shown a book where he was told to write his name, signature and amount he had received.
Alerius was surprised by how simple the whole procedure was and when he asked the woman, she laughed and explained that at least twice every year an Under Lord from the House went through the books. It was difficult to lie to an Under Lord so no one was worried about stealing money from the House.
Alerius bid the woman goodbye and went to where the hostels where located after consulting the map.
Getting a room was easy, all he had to do was show his badge to the key custodian. The key custodian showed him his room and gave him the keys. The custodian also informed him about the free food in the cafeteria and the times the meals would be ready.
The boy's hostel appeared to be two a storey long block. Alerius's room was on the ground floor. He used the key the custodian had given him to enter the room.
The room was larger than the place he had been renting. The hostel room was self contained and was lit by the magical lamp mounted to the ceiling.
Alerius decided to rest first and later go out and explore the academy grounds.