Over the next three days, Christopher furiously trained his attributes, fighting skills, and Soul Heat. By visiting the Academy administration building, he had managed to schedule the Soul Heat exam at the perfect time. He could have performed it earlier, but this gave him that chance to make a little more progress.

Christopher kept pushing himself hard during his early morning training sessions, and Sin made sure that his muscles were constantly worked to a painful burn. They had all peppered Sin with questions about her fight in the Arena, but she seemed unwilling to engage much in such conversations. When one brave trainee had asked Sin whether she could teach them some of her Soul abilities, they were told that their bodies were still far too weak to handle such techniques. She simply urged them to continue getting stronger first.

Sin continued teaching them about the creatures of the Blight, and he was shocked by the sheer diversity of the monsters that apparently occupied this world. There were so many types! And she was apparently not even done yet. His head spun from all the different species, and it was sometimes difficult to picture these monsters from a mere description. He did his best to remember the weak points of these hard-to-picture creatures. At least he would have Daggers Flow to tell him all the best spots to hit in a pinch.

Learning about all the creatures of the Blight, also caused him to feel a lot less safe behind the Lumen walls. There were monster variants to could simply fly over and tunnel under the massive Sternel tree wall. They had some defenses against such attacks, but in his mind, he could already see how Lumen might face its impending doom. The Blight was no joke!

As he kept working on his [Daggers’ Flow] skill he finally managed to decrease the ridiculous number of Soul Arcs, and thereby also decreased the insane amount of Soul Force that was expended every second. It still did not allow him to use the skill for very long, but he was happy to see that it had almost doubled as a result. Too many paths were only a distraction anyway, so he saw little reason to run the skill at full force.

On this last of the three days, he had finally been strong enough to practice with the bow, although his strength only barely allowed him to use the weapon. Sin had helped him with his stance and showed him how to draw and aim the bow. It was only during the last few minutes of the practice session that he was finally able to hit the edge of his target, although it still felt more like luck than skill. Many of the other trainees were much more skilled at hitting the targets at this point. Now that he was finally able to practice with the bow, he was told by Sin to do the strength training regimen in his spare time.

During the three days of training, he had made a few more gains in his attributes. He willed up his log to check on his improvements.

[Congratulations, you have increased your Soul Force by one point.] [Congratulations, you have increased your Vitality by one point.] [Congratulations, you have increased your Strength by one point.] [Congratulations, you have increased your Soul Force by one point.]

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Vitality 13 Endurance 13 Strength 11 Agility 13 Soul force 8

The swiftness of his progress did seem to slow down as his attributes increased. He worried about how difficult it would be in the future, but at least for now, he was still making rapid progress. He had only just been able to squeeze out that last Soul Force increase before the Soul Heat exam today. Christopher would need every little bit of help he could get. It could make the difference between an intermediary or advanced level license.

Fear of failure plagued him, what if he messed up the exam, causing him to be stuck at fledgling or beginner. Such a certificate would not get him far with finding a job, which would waste his five silver coins.

At least his Soul Force progress had not been contained to just his Soul Force attribute. The control over his Soul Heat had also seen a boost in the last three days. He had to admit that the Soul Force bar on his interface had been a massive cheat, he now knew exactly how to expend the exact percentages that he desired. Even his efficiency had increased, every percent of his Soul Force was now able to go a bit further than it had been able to do before.

It was a bit frustrating that he always had to wait for several hours before his Soul Force had fully recharged, it really cut short the potential for training. The Soul Force potions turned out to be precious and therefore expensive. Apparently, it was even considered blasphemous to use a Soul Force potion at any other time than during a fight with the Blight.

He was nervous. He had only just completed the training session under Sin, and the Soul Heat exam was scheduled in the afternoon, only a few hours from now. He had paid his dues and made the appointment three days ago at the Academy administration office. There he had received only the minimal instructions. Christopher had been told to show up on time and to make sure that he would arrive with a full reserve of Soul Force.

Luckily Tamas had told him of her own experiences during the Soul Heat exam. Tamas warned him that the type of exam was pretty much dependent on the whim of the available instructor or administrator. That was where a certain factor of luck would come in, this was also where his nervous jitters came from. He only had enough money for two more days of meals and a bed at the Inn. At least it was a warm and beautiful day.

The leather armor that he wore, still his only outfit, had made him extra sweaty during the training. He quickly made his way back to the Butterbash Inn to wash up. He wanted to make himself presentable during the exam and make a good impression. After washing and grabbing something to eat he made his way to the Administration building, which led straight into the Academy complex. He could not wait to take a look at the wonders inside a true mage academy.

He made his way to the Academy, taking the shortest route. He was at least becoming quite familiar with Lumen. His daily walks and exploration now allowed him to recognize many of the important landmarks over the city.

The Academy was strangely mostly shrouded in mystery, the people he had asked all pretty much refused to divulge its secrets, which was quite strange since anyone could sign up to take classes. He had walked along the entire tall wooden fence that encircled the academy grounds last time he was there. He had even attempted to look in from the walkways up top, but strangely there were no buildings with walkways nearby that allowed eyes within the grounds. He could also not see any buildings that were high enough to be visible from the outside of the fence.

He had asked Tamas what the inside of the complex was like but to his frustration, she had just smiled and told him he would find out soon enough. Well, apparently it would stay a mystery for a little longer.

Reading the Soul Force Manual and practicing with the Soul Heat had made him fall in love with the magic of this world, he was sure that the Academy would have new and amazing sights. Compared to Earth where nothing fantastical ever seemed to happen, this was just all so exciting.

He looked at one of the rare clocks that were spread across the city, this one in front of the Academy entrance building, placed to be visible both from inside and outside. These clocks worked by measuring the slow leakage of Soul Light from the clock, however, the measuring device needed to be so large and complicated that it resulted in only being placed in a few places across the city. He had only learned how to interpret the dials and markings two days ago. The Linguist skill allowed him to read the numbers, but he had not been able to understand how to deduce the time until he had been taught. Still, the clocks were rare and most people had to figure out the time from the sun and the single large moon in the sky. The clock told him that he was more than an hour early for his appointment on the ninth hour.

Not really wanting to wait and build up his nerves any further, he moved into the Academy reception room. The building was placed against the smooth wooden fence. The room was filled with fabric seats, which were rare in Lumen. Soul Light could be seen leaking from metal tiles covering the entire ceiling, they were now only barely visible with the sun’s light.

On the far side of the room, a wide hall looked to be leading further within the Academy complex. A few people could be seen seated across the room, no doubt waiting for some appointment, maybe some for exams just like him. There did seem to be a certain nervousness with many of the people waiting. He walked up to the reception desk, A tall and slender man with neatly combed brown had already focused his attention on him.

“Good Day, my name is Christopher, I am here for a scheduled exam at the 9th hour.”

The man did not immediately respond and looked calmly at a piece of dark paper after his introduction.

“Very good, please get seated, you will be collected by your examinator when the exam is ready to commence.” The man’s voice had a bit of an accent to it, the consonants sounded more rushed.

Christopher nodded and seated himself at an empty bench. Bored, he once again mentally flipped through his interface, which always managed to distract him. He saw his Soul Force at a hundred percent and had to fight the urge to start training. He would need every drop soon enough.