The First World Sphere

Chapter 48: Academy Life

Chapter 48: Academy Life

Aelyn came down the corridor, banging a drum to wake us up. It had a high pitch bass that was annoying enough to get us moving. She yelled, “15 minutes to get dressed and outside on the grounds, boys and girls!” She sounded way too happy to be getting ready to administer training to us.

I looked at Gareth, who had my pillow over his head. Well, I did throw it at him last night so he could keep it. I pulled another pillow from my storage. Gareth asked, “Are we going to be on time or be late, Stormy? I think it would be funny to agitate Aelyn a bit.”

“No, Gareth, we are going to be on time. If not, I am sure she has punishment lined up for us. Maybe extra hard training doesn’t faze you, but I want this to be as easy as possible,” I replied, rolling out of bed and stripping down. I had just pulled my clothes out of my dimensional storage when Mera came into the room. I was bare-chested and wearing cotton boxers.

“Oh my...I wanted to make sure you were up...sorry, Storm. I didn’t....” Instead of leaving, she just continued to stare at me as I returned her gaze as pulled up my workout pants.

“Is there anything else?” I asked while sitting down and putting on my socks.

“No, no.” She flushed bright red. “I’m sorry, at home, we typically don’t knock, and I thought you were still sleeping.” My eyebrow arched, and she retreated.

“Damn, Stormy. You shouldn’t tease her like that. Give her an eyeful, and then act all calm and collected. And now she won’t come barging in here again...who was that, Mera or Fera?” Gareth whispered the last.

For the twins, I had somehow instinctively triggered my assessment ability when I saw them, so I knew. “It was Mera.”

“Damn it, Storme!” He said a little louder. “I am sure Fera was just a step behind her, and you scared them off.”

“Well, you heard her. They are used to people just barging into bedrooms at home, Gareth. So feel free to do it to them,” I said sarcastically. Gareth really seemed to be thinking about my words as I finished dressing, and he was just starting.

In the practice yard, our motley crew of teenagers was assembling. Gareth was on time, barely. Aelyn started speaking even though we were missing a few stragglers, “So welcome to basic conditioning. The core of your training is going to revolve around three different obstacle courses and two different runs. You will be doing all five every day and will be timed. If you are faster on all of them from the day before, then your condition for the day will be done!” This got a number of people excited. “If you are not, then you have to do 100 hundred burpees before breakfast!” They all looked around, confused, and I facepalmed. I had shown Callem burpees on the farm, and he incorporated them into our workout. Burpees were never fun, no matter how good of a shape you were in.

“Normally, we would start with stretching, but Callem wants to teach you himself during the combat session. So let me show the first run!” Aelyn began jogging, and I followed her...then a string of uncertain teens did likewise. The first run was the short run, just 1.5 miles. The long run was next and was right at 5 miles. Many of my fellows were struggling mightily.

Aelyn then demonstrated the three obstacle courses. Highlighting her agility and speed. Gareth leaned over and whispered to me, “I hope I get to race her on these new courses.” I sighed at his excitement that I did not share at a new challenge.

We all got through the first course before Callem came out to the yard and said morning conditioning was complete. Aelyn had used the entire 2 hours of her time and didn’t look happy that we didn’t get to try all three obstacle courses. I was happy to not be playing American Ninja on our first day.

A bunch of very tired and dirty teens made their way to breakfast. My brother, Pascal, was all animated, as he had done pretty well. Gareth, of course, had dominated. I held back to finish in the middle of the pack. I knew if I set my base time too high, then beating it every day would be more difficult. I noticed Mia walking beside me as we headed to eat. She appeared like she wanted to talk but held back. The twins finished near the bottom and looked miserable. They were strong but lacked aerobic fitness.

In the dining hall, Callem was already seated at the large table. Aldon was to his right. The three instructors we didn’t meet were to his left. Aelyn sat next to Aldon. Once everyone was seated, Callem stood.

“Great job on the conditioning this morning. In the future, you may want to get up early and stretch. If you sustained any injuries, you can see our resident healer, Storme Hardlight.” I was a little shocked by that announcement but calmed quickly. It was actually a great thing Callem was doing for me. The more practice I had with the spell, the faster it would level. It took minimal aether to cast too.

“Our other three instructors have arrived. This is Selina, and she will be the spellcraft and herbalism instructor.” The woman appeared middle-aged, with rich dark brown hair. I knew she was at least 200 years old, so she was aging well. She had a smile on her face as she scanned the room. Her eyes kept coming back to me, though. “Selina is an accomplished mage and researcher.” I knew this was, in fact, Sana Velin in disguise. She was an archmage. She had signed my copy of the cleanliness spell as an Instructor of the Tertiary Codex. So maybe I would be able to find out what that was.

She stood and bowed to us and then spoke in a soft voice, “Thank you for welcoming us to your town. I hope to educate those of you with aetheric cores to cast your magic efficiently.” And that was it. She sat down and was quiet. Callem appeared to have expected her to say more, too, but she didn’t, and he pressed on.

“Sitting next to Selina is Elijah Habriel, the famed monster hunter.” A few students gasped, and Gareth elbowed me. “He will be teaching monster hunting.” The man looked to be in his late 50s with mostly white hair. He had a stubbly beard and was eating an apple, and was not at all focused. I did catch his eyes briefly, and he had the look of a man who had seen things that shouldn’t have been seen. He didn’t even stand to introduce himself and just munched on his apple. Callem looked a little perturbed but continued.

“Finally, we have Elora Cassior.” The woman he indicated was tall, even sitting. Callem had said she was a master of the staff. “Elora will be teaching reading/writing and dungeon delving.” Gareth elbowed me again. He was excited to get actual classes in dungeons and killing monsters. The woman was well-groomed and looked to be in her late 30s. But if she was a good dugeon-delver, she might have consumed some elixers to extend her life. She stood and spoke clearly.

“I didn’t write the second, but it is by far one of the most useful spells you can learn. The evolutions of the spell are so versatile! I look forward to working with you on the spells, but for now, I know you want to focus on the upcoming Annuals,” she smiled happily, and I could see the age and wisdom in her eyes. I had just received two basic spells for free from one of the most renowned mages in Skyholme history. If I had a choice, I would drop out of the tournament in a second and focus on my spellcraft. But of course, I had too many people counting on me, so I had to follow through.

I talked with Selina alone and reviewed the obstacles I was facing in my spell imprinting, and she offered some suggestions. Her real knowledge was in creating a framework for spell evolutions. Over the next year, she would teach me everything she knew in this aspect of spellcraft.

The students trickled back from the baths, with the twins returning first. Gareth raced back and found me. He informed me he had caught a peek at all the girls in the baths and said I should join the group next time. My response was a wisp of vanilla in his face.

My artificing class with Mia and Aldon Aethon was next. He gave each of us two textbooks. We were starting with the basics. Learning materials and basics of prepping materials for enchanting. I was going to kiss Callem for bringing in Aldon. I had made so many mistakes in my foray into enchanting with the ice cream bucket. Just from this three-hour session, I was extremely confident I could make a far superior device.

Mia, for her part, looked quite lost, and I think she was only taking this class because I was in it. Unfortunately, Aldon didn’t plan to have us do any enchanting for a few weeks. Foundations, he kept saying...you need to build on foundations! I didn’t mind because I found artificing fascinating. Maybe after a year, I could build my own skyship!

As classes ended, we went to the dining hall to find a massive spread of food. I was amazed at how much they had prepared. The food was going fast with so many hungry teens. I went to the buffet table and loaded my plate, and sat down. I was quickly joined by Mia. I waited for her to speak. She didn’t have time as a boisterous Gareth sat down with the twins shortly after. All three had been in the dungeon delving class and were excited about the conversation. I half-tuned them out...maybe I should learn the privacy spell sooner rather than later.

Mia was surprisingly quiet the entire meal. I wanted to talk with her privately to find out why she was hung up on me. Callem called everyone’s attention to the instructor’s table. For the next forty-five minutes, he read through Skyholme law. We needed to pass a simple written exam at the end of the school year. Just 50 questions that needed to be answered in paragraph form. Our town needed 80% of the students to pass to get funding for their academy next year. So we made an effort to pay attention. Elora kept it interesting as she had examples, usually humorous in relation to the laws that Callem was reading.

Finally, the pain of listening to the law was over and we were released! Seven hours and half hours was all we had till this started all over again! In my room, I lay on my bed, and Mera sat at the foot of it while Fera and Gareth were on his bed. I paid attention to the conversation briefly. Gareth was advising the girls how to use their staff against various monsters he learned about in his morning class. Even though the twins tried to talk about their spellcraft class, Gareth muscled the conversation to weapons over and over. I think he was a little jealous that they would have magic, and he wouldn’t.

I tried to multitask. I studied portions of my lightning reflexes spell while participating in the conversation but failed. I think the twins thought I was ignoring them, but I needed to make progress. We ended up getting just a few hours of sleep and groggily were awoken by Aelyn again.

There was some good news at breakfast. Apparently, Elora had pressured Callem into shortening the instruction blocks by 15 minutes except for the one-hour bathing period. This meant we would get back 2 hours in the evening. ‘We were not soldiers,’ I had heard her telling Callem when everyone was bathing.

The week flew by, and it was my best week for magic in a very long time. My cleanliness spell hit level 11! I cleaned the twin’s clothes every night when I made a loop of their room. My evolution at level 11 was to increase the range away from my body from 18” to 36”. This made cleaning areas much quicker. It also meant I was just a few evolutions from being about to clean another person. Maybe Gareth would get his wish and never need to bathe again.

My mend flesh spell hit level 8. At level 7, I selected the option to correct poor healing. This was a more advanced form of the remove-scar evolution. Injuries that healed improperly could now be corrected. I was still just limited to soft tissue and couldn’t affect bone, but that was fine. I had another spell that could repair bone...when I got around to imprinting it. The best part of my new evolution is it took a lot of aether. This meant I could use it to advance the spell faster if I practiced this aspect. I would, of course, be a good samaritan to use this spell on anyone who needed it in town.

The dimensional closet hit level 8 as well. Instead of making coins at night, I just pulled shelves in and out of the space over and over. Using the aether on the spell helped advance it slowly. Gareth got irritated by the popping sound the shelves made when they disappeared, but I told him he could cover his ears. By my rough math and guesses, I thought the space would be about 16’ in height, 19’ in-depth, and 19’ in width if I didn’t add any more increases to its dimensional aspect. I would have to wait until my aether core matured to be sure, but I was going to evolve a different aspect of the space at level 11.

I didn’t work on my alarm spell other than cast it on the barracks entrance every night. That would allow Gareth and I to be silently altered when Aelyn got here in the morning and could prepare for her banging by covering our ears. And yes, I reclaimed my pillow after cleaning it with my spell.

Callem did make an effort to work with Gareth and me to help prepare for the Annuals. Thirty-two would be reduced to eight after this trip to the capital. Our classmates were so excited, and all the instructors were coming as chaperones. My classmates were going to have a chance to go shopping. Gareth and I would not since we were in the tournament. I didn’t think that was fair, especially when Callem asked for me to make two large gold to pay for everyone’s admittance to the stadium for the event.

Pascal and his crew, as well as everyone else, were extremely supportive of us, though. There was not a lot of jealousy going around. I learned Gareth’s odds of winning the whole tourney was 9 to 1, the sixth-best odds of all 32 competitors. I gave Callem a platinum to bet on him. He agreed to do it. My odds were 144 to 1. And I was not going to bet on myself. If I could bow out gracefully somehow, I would.

When the day came, we all went to the skyship docked next to the barracks. Half the town was squeezing on board. It was going to be an epic event in the history of Hen’s Hollow. I also made sure to store away a half dozen staves for the occasion. As we lifted off from the port, I watched the land fade away beneath us, enthralled with the feeling. I didn’t see Mia standing next to me.

We were alone, and she said, “Storme can I ask a favor of you?”

I looked at her, and she looked extremely serious. Over the week in enchanting class, I got to know her, and she seemed normal enough. A good fighter with short blades in the yard and fitter than almost everyone else, not named Gareth or Storme. I said, “I will hear your request but make no promises.”

She took a deep breath, “Can I join your dungeon delving team?” God damn it, Gareth!!! Stop spreading rumors!!!