Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Didn’t Even Do Anything

Chapter 14: Didn’t Even Do Anything

 

There was still some time until Nara needed to return to the Crafting Compound for dinner. She decided to explore the academy grounds for a while longer. She noticed that some students had attached the token to a cord and hung on sashes around their waists. Some wore the token as a pendant, and others without a visible token probably kept it in their inventories.

The student body was generally young; the majority seemed anywhere between 16 and 30. Ranking up also had the effect of rejuvenation and slowed aging, so it was difficult to tell. Occasionally, she would see a significantly older student, around their 50s or 60s even.

It’s not as if there was an age limit on magic powers, she thought.

Chrome walked beside her. His appearance was eye-catching, but he was skilled in manipulating his own aura. His nuanced aura control deflected the attention of most students, as if he wasn’t there at all. While Nara had learned aura control quickly due her distinct awareness of her own soul, she was in awe of his mastery.

“You’re actually pretty amazing.” She told Chrome.

“You only realize this now?”

She made her way to one of the training fields that held open sparring sessions daily. Various sparring sessions were taking place; most wore suppression collars for matches of pure skill, others only utilized non-damaging abilities. Most sparring did so in groups of two, but others practiced as 2v2 or even 1v2.

Students demonstrated various levels of mastery. Some fought similarly to her, rough around the edges and often making mistakes. Their partners would point out their faults and begin again. Others blitzed across the field in a dance of speed, precision, and unusual technique. She spotted others in the seating area outside the field, simply observing the matches taking place. Nara purchased some meat skewers from one of the food vendors on campus and handed half to Chrome. Food in the campus Dining Halls was free to students, but vendors were permitted to set up food stalls.

“Not nearly as delicious as food from that leonid, but it’ll do.” he said, ripping meat off the skewer with his teeth with thinly veiled enthusiasm.

 

As Chrome and Nara sat back and relaxed, enjoying the atmosphere, she was approached by a female student. The student greeted her, and Nara stood up to return it.

“Would you be interested in a spar?” She asked Nara.

“I’m actually really new. Like, three weeks new.” Nara responded to the student. The student was a bit surprised, on account of Nara’s aura control. “If you’re fine with that though.”

“That’s fine. I’m Vallis.”

“Nara.”

As Nara stood up to join Vallis in moving towards the field, Chrome handed the skewers to Nara to store in her astral domain. They would remain hot and fresh, on account of a lack of time.

“Is that your familiar?” Vallis peered at Chrome with curiosity. “I’ve only seem a few humanoid familiars, but most were shapeshifters or made of shadows.”

“Chrome.” He replied curtly and disappeared into Nara’s aura.

The two headed down to the field, picking up some wooden swords and suppression collars stored in an equipment bin along the way. As she clicked on the collar, she felt her abilities and senses fade away, leaving her with a strange emptiness.

In terms of skill and technique, Nara was far below Vallis. The skill book had given her the knowledge on how to execute moves, but she still needed to make it her own. Phase Shift, node teleport, Cosmic Path, and Dream’s Wake made up for her lack of skill. Without them, she struggled to keep up with Vallis’ measured and powerful pace.

After their initial bout, Vallis asked her, “Skill book?”

“Yup.”

“That’s handy. Not everyone can use them you know.”

After a few more rounds, Vallis made another comment. “Your footwork is pretty good.” Vallis had tried to sweep Nara’s feet several times, but that particular tactic was the only one that failed.

“I have a lot of teleportation and movement abilities, so it was important for me to learn to stay on my feet.” At the beginning of her training, she often misjudged her surroundings after teleporting, and would end up a few inches off of the ground. With practice, she learned to adjust for these mistakes, and her teleportation accuracy also improved. After much face-planting, Nara had developed the uncanny ability to recover from any position like a cat.

“If I may, can I offer something myself?” Nara had noticed something could improve upon herself but didn’t feel particularly qualified to do so.

“It’s no issue.”

“While very well executed, some of your attacks fall into patterns.”

Vallis pondered this observation for a moment, thinking over their spars. “You’re right. Let’s go again?”

Nara nodded, and the sparring continued.

Vallis quickly adjusted some of her attacks, chaining openers into new moves, or slightly delaying attacks to disrupt rhythm. Nara found herself on the receiving end of several more hits to the arms, body and head.

As Nara and Vallis removed the suppression collar and returned the equipment, Chrome once again manifested beside Nara, and she handed him his unfinished skewers.

“That’s the spot.” He said he enjoyed them.

“You didn’t even do anything.”

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“If you are ever looking for a sparring partner, let me know. My full name is Vallis Nisei.”

“Nisei? Like the snake family?”

Vallis chuckled, “Nothing that impressive. Over thirty percent of Sanshi’s population share the last name of the three houses, or are part of a branch family. I’m just another relative. One of House Arlang’s heirs currently attends the academy, and the other one has already self-graduated.”

“Self-graduated?”

“Some adventuring academies graduate students after a program and graduation exam. The Aran Academy of the Rowen Kingdom does this. For Sanshi, the services of the Academy are available as long as you continue to take contracts, at least three per month, with exceptions made available. Since the Academy claims a small percentage of contract and looting rewards, most will self-graduate after the feel they’ve outgrown the academy. Although, some maintain their enrollment even into higher ranks, for access to mirage chambers and looting services.”

“No matter what you’ll be kicked out mid-Bronze, to let newer adventurers have access to important facilities. It’s customary to at least self-graduate at bronze rank.”

 

 

“How did it go?” Chelsea broached the topic of the day.

The group was gathered around a dinner feast prepared by Laius. The dinner tonight was jungle themed, and there was a variety of strange meats, combined with wild fruits and vegetables. The spices were rich and hot, and they ate with their hands, placing slices of meat with thick sauces and roasted vegetables on top of tortillas and breads.

“Contract is signed and complete. I’ll need to head out in two days for an ability verification. I’m really impressed with the academy.”

“The prep and adventurer’s academies are decent solutions to a rather difficult issue of essence distribution.” Redell approved of the system. He enjoyed participating and observing the progress of new essence users and would often visit the academies himself to teach impromptu classes in music performance.

“How long does it take to graduate from the prep academy anyway?”

“Anywhere from two to six years, is the norm. Some can do so in six months if they rapidly win competitions.”

“Six years?”

“For those that aren’t particularly outstanding in a field, they can complete ‘odd job’ contracts for contribution points. With enough contributions, you are guaranteed an essence. Usually, these essences aren’t in high demand, but any essence is good.”

“Odd jobs are things like searching for lost pets, cleaning the streets of the city, helping food stalls during lunchtime rushes, working as staff at competition venues, and so on. Contribution points can be traded at a generous conversion for campus housing and academy services. More so than you could afford to work a job normally. It’s generally to the benefit of poor students.”

“Slow but reliable.” Laius added.  

“That’s pretty nifty.”

“The Prep Academy has its shortcomings. It’s a large academy that can support a sizable student population, but space is limited. Academy competitions are open to public participation of equal rank, and winning any competition is guaranteed entry to the academy, should they want it.”

“And they still keep the essence prize.” Added Amara.

“The standard method is the entrance examination, which occurs twice a year.” Redell continued his explanation.

“What do they test for?”

“The academy has a registration test system. Prospective students sign up for different examinations, and try to earn points enough to pass the cut off. At maximum, they can sign up for ten examinations. Placing first, second, or third in any examination guarantees entry into the academy, regardless of cumulative points.”

“So, either get really good at one thing, or decent at a whole bunch.”

“Precisely.”

Chelsea lifted her fork to make her own point. “You should check out the competitions for both the Prep Academy and Adventurer’s Academy. As a student, you can view these competitions free of charge. They charge the general public for admission.”

“What’s good to watch?”

“Cooking, scout and capture, fights, trap disarming, obstacle courses, music, dance, alchemy.”

“Alchemy?”

“Explosives,” Said Laius, “are always fun.”

“Ah.”

 

 

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