Gideon took a deep breadth. I better head this off now instead of him calling me out on it. “Sir, professor, Headmaster,” he stumbled through the words. “What I mean to say is I am willing to work off any restitution concerning the fight in the city. I’m still learning and I may have hit him too hard. He is okay isn’t he?”
The headmaster chuckled. “Gideon, I suspect you weren’t the first students of mine that those two hassled over the years. Yes he’ll live. He got what he deserved and those brothers likely won’t bother another student for some time. If anything, we owe you a thanks.” The tension left Gideon’s shoulders and back. But if that isn’t why I’m here, then what is? His thoughts began to race, but the headmaster continued before he could go to far off track. “I wanted to take a little time to welcome you personally. Captain Daniels is a good man that has taken in a lot of fine young men over the years. They grow into wonderful members of society. But you and Xavier are the only two in all these years, that the captains theory has been correct on, He believes, that given the proper circumstances, all of the voidless will awaken. I always viewed it as naive optimism myself, but the captain seems to have made asses of us all. The Xavier boy awakened many years ago, so he could be considered a late bloomer. You however are a special case.”
“Sir I don’t feel or want to be special. I just want to be like everyone else. I’ll work hard and make the captain, you, and everyone else proud.”
“I’m sure you will. Do you know why Professor Dunwich interfered in the trials tonight? Which by the way, is a first occurrence in the history of the school. Never has a professor interfered with the entrance test, until today we hadn’t felt there was any reason to do so.”
Gideon hesitated, unsure of how to respond to the headmaster’s words. “No sir,” he said quietly, “I do not.”
“The void blade my boy. That is a technique you shouldn’t have yet, if ever. It was not listed on your registration, or you would not have been allowed to compete. Had you been given a few more seconds to swing that blade, you would’ve cut that boy in two, safeties or no. Our healers likely could have saved him, but there are no guarantees. She may have gotten a little overzealous in her attack to stop you, but you lived. So no harm.”
“Sir there was plenty of harm. I’d imagine I’ll be feeling it for a few days at least.” Gideon said.
The headmaster laughed an honest laugh. “That you will. You’ll be lucky if you manage to escape going to her guild house. The Delvers posted a hefty bid on you I’m told.” The old man eyed Gideon, giving him an opportunity to respond. He continued when Gideon had no response he could think of. “I myself, think that is a good fit for you. There is another reason I brought you here. I know you are far behind the others. While the captain may have all but adopted you, he is spread thin and can offer you little more than what he has already given. I wanted to give you this.” The headmaster held out a small device to Gideon.
“What is it sir?” Gideon asked.
“A user interface. It will help display information about the world around you. Help your integration into the system smoother. It works much better than the default interface that came with the System when you awakened. I imagine you haven’t used it much, because it is so limited. With this, I think we can help shorten the knowledge gap between you and some of the other students. It is an advanced interface and will evolve and become more in tune with you if you get an Archon Interface Module some day.”
Gideon smiled at the headmaster. “I already have one sir. It is dormant though. It’s doing a compatibility install.” Gideon said.
The headmaster lost his calm demeanor for a moment in the shock at Gideon’s statement. “You what, but how?” Headmaster Dagon yelled. The door behind Gideon burst open. Orpheus Hemlock stood there at the ready. The headmaster looked his direction and said one word, the tone chilled Gideon to the bone. “Out!”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The headmaster was towering over Gideon from the other side of the desk. When had he stood? He took a breath and slowly sat back down. “This year is certainly starting off like no other. I don’t want to know how you got that. The luck that you found one compatible to you is astounding. They need at least a sixty-five percent compatibility to even bind to you. For you to find one that matched up with a high enough compatibility at your age is almost an impossibility, especially considering the short time you have been awakened. Most go their entire lives and never find one that’s more than thirty percent or so. How long until it’s done installing? Hopefully you’ll get some use out of it some time later this year.”
“Thirty-Nine hours sir,” Gideon said. His mind raced. Why wouldn’t I be able to use it until later in the year?
The headmaster let out an exasperated breadth. “Impossible! What sort of compatibility do you have?”
“Ninety-Seven percent sir.” The headmaster responded with a slow exhale at this news. The man was beginning to sweat. Gideon didn’t understand why the tension in the room had elevated so quickly.
The man wiped his brow, “Whether she won the bid or not, Rosalind Dunwich will be your house leader. She has the most experience with gifted children like you. I think it’s time you join the other students. The guild heads will be notified shortly of the results of the auction. I do believe I’ll be submitting something to Parliament to give the good Captain Daniels a raise to help support his cause. Let’s get that user interface installed. Bind it and feed it some void energy and it should do the rest.“
Gideon did as instructed and in short order it was installed. “I don’t notice a difference,” he said. He focused on things around the room with little effect. “Sir, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.” Gideon told the headmaster.
“Like your AIM, it needs to make adjustments before being fully functional. It isn’t quite as advance as the magitek used for an AIM, so it isn’t as user friendly. I can help, try this.” The headmaster pulled a sword off of the wall. The blade was longer than the bastard sword Master Brom had given him, but also substantially narrower.
Gideon took the sword, it was light in his hands, unlike the bulkier bastard sword. He concentrated on the blade. The blade came up in his user interface. The display was much nicer than he had before. It was blocking his view though. The UI reacted almost instantly to his thoughts, moving the interface into his periphery, without him even thinking where it should go. It must read and respond to the users inner thoughts? “Sorry Headmaster, give me a second while I make adjustments.”
“Phineas or Dagon will do when in private. No need for formality when we our having a informal chat amongst ourselves.” he said.
{{Keen Edged Long Sword.
IR: 22.
Bleed: May cause a bleed effect. Ongoing.}}
Gideon’s eyes grew large. “Okay I see the weapon and stats in the system now. That is amazing. Thank you sir for helping me with this.” Gideon made to hand the sword back to the headmaster. Dagon declined the offered blade.
“It is yours, but under two conditions. First, I am told you have a rare or legendary skill that allows you to absorb armor, then reconstitute them back into reality from void energy. I assume this is where the Void Blade came from, something you learned how to do recently?” Gideon nodded. “Good, that clears a few things up. Do not absorb that blade. Second, you can not use your Void Blade in anything other than delves at the school. It’s not safe to use against the other students. That is why I’m giving you this. I can’t take your weapon away and not supply you with an alternative? I believe the void blade transmogrification is part of your ability, the status will be bestowed upon every blade you summon. Absorbing additional blades won’t prevent that from happening. So we need you to use physical blades in contests with other students.”
He nodded his agreement to the headmaster. “Understood sir. I didn’t know how dangerous void blades were. I just learned the ability in town after the fight at the market. Before that, I was unable to absorb weapons, only armor.” He studied the sword more closely now that he was to borrow it for a time. This looks like a very fine blade. I wonder how the Bleed really works? Is it an effect built into the blade or a factor for just being really sharp? He placed the sword into his spacial ring to study later, not wanting to be rude to the Headmaster.
Headmaster Dagon paced about the room. “That would explain why Captain Daniels didn’t have it on your list of abilities and skills to register with the Magistrates. No matter. The Academy is here to help you advance. That is what happened, you advanced a little before you even arrived, so you are on the right path. Well we’ve delayed long enough. Off with you.” Gideon made to exit out the door he came. “Not that way my boy, we’re late already, let me be of an assistance.” The headmaster opened a small door in the back of the office. Inside was a space that was little more than a closet. There were various words and etchings made into the walls and the floor. It looked to be some sort of ritual area, similar to what Gideon had seen the priest use in the lower districts. “This is my own personal portal system. You’ll learn more about portals and the like in class. For now, I’m going to send you to the House of the Delvers.”
Gideon stepped into the room. The headmaster activated a set of magitek crystals in a pattern that he wasn’t able to follow. Gideon could feel the void energy flowing through him. “I’ll be watching your progress young man, see you soon,” Headmaster Dagon said. With that Gideon disappeared.