Life in Gnosis wasn’t so bad, once you got the hang of it, Michael learned. Sure, some people just hated you on sight, while others adored you for no particular merit of your own. Some friends bonded to you quickly, while others simply gravitated around you. Sometimes you were even a ‘teacher’s pet’, with all the advantages and disadvantages that came with it. Learning, social life, popularity…

How was that any different from a normal college?

Well, the magic, duh. But other than that?

A few days had passed since his incident with Erea. The elf figured it out quickly that she’d been played and demanded a re-fight. Which Michael politely declined. She then tried to start a fight anyway, though Nahlil silenced her via Spell and gave Michael his gifts.

Yes, gifts.

A wand was his prize for not getting knocked out. It was cool, but not… what he expected. It didn’t allow him control over limitless magic, but it did enhance any Spell he cast through it, making it fly faster, aim better and have a better kick to it. The unfortunate thing was that the wand had some kind of mana capacity of its own and after ten or so tries, depending on the Spell, it went inert until it was charged again. And since Michael didn’t know how to direct mana, that meant at least a day of recharge time.

The second gift, awarded for beating Erea, was something Nahlil actually made the elf take off her own person and give to Michael. He said that it should be considered a token of victory and that it would be an important reminder for both of them.

Privately, Michael just thought he was pulling her leg.

Still, the elf parted with a silvery bracelet, kind of girlish, but still worth a pretty… Gnosis currency, since it protected Michael from any damage, even if he couldn’t see it coming. As long as the damage wasn’t too great. And it was only one shot. And it also needed around half a day in a mana dense environment like Gnosis for it to recharge. Still, even with all these caveats, it was a pretty valuable trinket.

He had expected Erea to come after him or at least someone from what he presumed was her faction, but for the next few days Michael got to enjoy an almost normal life. His increased popularity made him the center of any class or group and not once had a random student stuck a conversation with him, even older ones. Truth be told, Micah was enjoying the popularity more than he did, the lycan soaking up all the spare attention and trying to meet as many people as possible.

Who knew faux-werewolves were social butterflies?

He was also delighted to learn that some classes were almost direct copies of the ones in one of his favorite series involving castles and magic. He learned one of his classes was Alchemy, thought it was pretty much Potions with extra tools. He had a class that was focused on magical species of animals and other denizens of this world, though it was still aimed at the theory. Interacting with them came only in latter years. There was an introductory class in races even and he was tickled pink to learn that as far as populations went, humans were the most abundant species in this world too. Which was followed by what he could only describe as PE class, only with floating platforms and gravity lessening enchantments.

The last classes he had the day before were perhaps the most boring. ‘Applied Magical Workings’ sounded neat, but it basically involved casting the same Spell or doing the same exercise over and over again, until it was honed to perfection. The second one, ‘Bound Magic Primer’ was a catch all class, that would split up in later years in separate classes, for warding, enchanting, inscribing and so on.

He didn’t receive any homework yet, though, from any of his professors, which was a major plus.

It was Friday when Michael found himself eating an early lunch or late breakfast in the central hall, talking with Micah, that a thought occurred to him.

“You know, that lady’s voice should have sounded by now. You know, the one who’s always telling us what class we have to get to.”

“Oh. Lady. It’s a man’s voice for me. But we don’t have any classes today, ‘dude’.” He said, grinning at his use of the word. “Doesn’t sound bad at all. But yeah, no classes. An upper year student told me.”

“So… what, we can just lounge off the entire day?”

“Nah, apparently we have to pick an extracurricular activity. One related to magic or the academy, obviously. If we don’t and we try to hide or something, I heard that a few golems come after us and forcefully conscript us to cleaning duty.”

Michael shuddered at the thought of golems forcing him to do anything. He still hadn’t forgotten about those suits of armor.

“Then, shouldn’t we hurry?” he asked, just now noticing that they’d been sitting down for over an hour.

“In a minute, mother. Look at all these students around us. They’re taking it easy. What, do you think they’re going to take us all in?”

Michael was looking throughout the hall and yes, there were a lot of lazy bodies like Micah still enjoying their easy Friday. Not a lot, but still around two dozen of them. Yet, the Murphyan Gods must have been listening, because just as Micah stopped joking, a host of golems strode through the open doors.

Ten minutes later, Michael was breathing hard, while peeking around a corner.

“I… told you… you are too lazy.” Michael huffed.

“Oh, relax. We’ve lost them, didn’t we? Breathe in the free air, my friend.”

“I will… once we find something to do. Those things will still track us if we don’t complete this random assignment.”

It really felt like a liberal quest in a game whose developers tried to be ‘edgy’.

“And what’s that you’re reading anyway?” he asked, seeing Micah’s eyes glued to a book.

A book that he didn’t have before, as far as he remembered.

“I got it from a table, when everyone started running.” Micah told him, completely unashamed.

“You mean you stole it from a table. You know, stole? Taking without permission?”

“Eh, a kid younger than us had it, so there’s no chance of a tracking Spell on it. It only teaches a single Spell, though.”

Books in Gnosis came in two variants. There were the normal ones, that you read and learned interesting facts and information from. And there were the ones who you read and learned a new Spell from. These latter ones were rarer and very valuable, since after you learned the Spell, you could either hoard it or sell it. It was also why theft was so common and why a lot of mages learned tracking and warding Spells. Unfortunately, you only learned those latter on, so if you were a freshman with valuable goods, you’d better look out.

That was why Michael, even though he didn’t condone the act, reluctantly looked over.

“What Spell?”

“|Tripping Vine|. Useful for a nature-oriented mage like me. I can trade it to you for that wand once I’m done with it.”

“Not a chance, ‘mage’. But you could let me learn it since you’ve been mooching off my sudden popularity to get to know half the student body.”

“Fiiiine. Always so uptight.” He said, rolling his eyes.

Michael would have very much liked to respond to that, but a very familiar clanking sound reached his ears. Eyes widening, he peeked back around the corner and saw a familiar sight. Three suits of armor were running down the hallway, somehow sensing (magic, probably) that a couple of freeloaders were trying to spend they Friday not being involved in any academy-supported activity. How rude, right?

They were standing in an L-shaped hallway, the corridor with the running suits of armor ending in a stone wall, so their only chance of escape was to run down the flight of stairs that were at the other end of the junction. Which they would have, except two massive golems, made of simple rock, but sculpted quite intricately were also coming up the stairs.

Talk about getting caught between a rock and a suit of armor.

“I so hate you right now!” Michael said, memories of being chased around resurfacing in his mind.

“Relax, Michael. So we’ll do a little cleaning, what’s the-“ Micah said, before stopping when he saw the look on his friend’s face. “Alright, I may have fucked up, I’m lycan enough to admit it, but to make it up to you, I’ll let you read my book, free of charge. Swear on my tail.”

‘My book’ my ass. As if I wouldn’t have gotten to read it anyway.

“Is there any chance we can fight our way out of this?” he asked, resigned.

“Not with our magical repertoire. And not without getting in more trouble.”

“Great.”

“You sweep, I wash?”

“…”

“Got it, shutting up now.”

They were seconds away from getting enrolled into the Gnosis cleaning ranks. Which wasn’t that bad of a fate, but it really wasn’t how Michael wanted to spend his Friday. Besides, those things were making his hair stand up. That being said, Michael would come to learn, just like he thought prior to these events, that in a magical institution as old and as powerful as Gnosis, coincidence is barely little more than a word. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was magic, maybe it just was, but just before their would-be captors reached them, a door opened up.

Right from the dead-end stone wall, where no door stood before.

Gotta love magic.

A human man… boy… a guy who was probably around Michael’s age, but who looked more mature or at least confident, strode up to the middle of the hallway, before shouting.

“Halt. These two are possible applicants for our group. I am my group’s leader. Our focus is on floor clearing.” He stated in a loud voice, looking at the two groups of constructs.

Amazingly enough, both the armors and the golems stopped. The guy then turned to look at them and grinned.

“Sorry for making such a showy entrance. I have a Skill that tells me if I’m around anyone who might be interested in the activities I’m offering. |Recruit Finder|. Not that you two look like you have many other options. I’m Alex, by the way.” He said and shook their hands.

Micah was too busy hiding the book behind his back, trying to shove it into his satchel, so it fell to Michael to carry out the negotiations.

“That’s an odd Skill. Are you some kind of a |Magical Recruiter|?”

“I think I’ll only share my Class once you’ve done a few rounds with us.” Alex laughed easily. “But you’re not far off.”

“Right. And what is it that you guys do? You said ‘floor clearing’?”

“Yes, though rest assured, it isn’t magical cleaning, even though the name sort of implies that. No, I lead a group who’s tasked with clearing rooms or zones on the infamous upper or lower floors. I had to run to you guys when my Skill pinged, but the others are right behind me. We were going on an assignment right now.”

“Wait, when you say clear, you mean…”

“Eliminating any threats, scrubbing off any harmful magic and tagging and taking notes on anything we deem too hard for us to handle by ourselves. There are other groups like mine, but none so successful, if I may say so myself.” He grinned.

“But… we’re first years.” Michael finally said.

Alex raised an eyebrow, before answering.

Right, guess there are downsides to fame. Now everyone thinks I’m some kind of natural fighter.

“We take all kinds.” He shrugged. “Besides, there’s no mandatory presence. If you feel you can’t handle the heat, you can do something else the next time. Oh and if you suck, we can also kick you out.”

Michael laughed. Alex had an almost supernatural easy-going attitude. A man terribly easy to get along with. He wondered if it was magic or Skill based.

“Can we go with you and not do anything?” Micah asked. “I mean, we are first years.”

“Sure… But you want to know an interesting fact that differentiates us from other activities? When we clear out zones, we sometimes find loot. Wands, tomes and the like. Not to mention that it’s easier to both Level and learn in a high-stake environment. And if we judge that you’ve pulled your worth on an assignment? Then we either let you have what you find or share the monetary value after we sell the loot.”

Micah was silent for a second, before turning to his friend.

“I’m in.”

You greedy little shit.

But Michael was interested too.

“Let’s say we do this… since we don’t have a better option right now. But, first sign of any real danger or if we get too badly hurt for even a Healing Potion to easily fix, we’re out.”

“On my honor.” He said, before turning back to the entrance. “And here comes my wonderful team.”

“Your wonderful team doesn’t have a |Haste| artifact and my Spell doesn’t last forever, oh glorious cap-“ a tired voice said, as Alex’s teammate stepped through the door and laid eyes on them.

In hindsight, I should have probably guessed that someone as battle-ready as Erea would be into this kind of thing.