Chapter 12: Moving Forward

“That’s 1705 credits in total, young man.”

I place my phone on the front desk and it lights up dimly. A confirmation window pops up on it about the credit transfer and I confirm it. “Thanks, Mr Penderson!”

I grabbed the bag of enchanting supplies as I waved goodbye to the shopkeeper. This should last me for a month, so next on the list is… alchemy stuff huh. I hope Lindsay is there. Lindsay is the shopkeeper-slash-alchemist where I buy ingredients from. Her apprentice is a merchant brat, he overprices everything so that he can gobble up that extra bit of credits he cons from people. Also, Lindsay is adorable and is more pleasing to the eye than the brat.

I chuckle arriving in front of the store, seeing that familiar name that’s the main reason why I always go to this place instead of other stores. PILLage and PlunDRUG… hehehe never gets old.

*ding*

Opening the door, I feel a sense of dread wash over me as the figure in front of the cash register comes into view. It’s the cursed brat! Why am I so unlucky today... “Welcome to Pillage and Plundrug! How ma- oh, it’s you.”

Name: Wilhem

Race: Humah

Title: Lindsay's Apprentice

Classes: Trader

Easily incapacitated

I roll my eyes at him. “Well don’t sound so excited about it.” Looking around the shop that looks like a modern pharmacy, except with more herbs and monster parts. “Is Linds here?”

“I’m here. What do you want?” the brat scoffs at me. *rustle* I hear stuff being moved at the back before a feminine voice shouts, “Is that Castiel there?!” Popping her head out of the doorway to see me, I greet her with a wave and a smile. “Hi, Linds!”

Name: Lindsay

Race: Humah

Title: Miracle Worker

Classes: Master Alchemist, Lady of the Herbs, Runelehring

Dangerous, proceed with caution.

“Castieeeeeel!!!” Her 2-and-a-half-meter tall figure ran out of the doorway and pounced at me at full speed. I braced for impact but it was for nought.

*bang*

Despite my hoodie absorbing a part of the force, I still lose my balance and fall, catching her in my arms in the process. She then hugs me tightly and smothers me into her plentiful bosom. “I missed you Castiel!! And I’m going to miss you so much!!”

“Mffffphhh!!!!!” Flailing my arms and patting her to signal my lack of oxygen, she stands up and turns me around to hold me like a plush toy. She’s amazingly just human, no mixture of any giant type of race so her tremendous height is fascinating. “I’m going to miss you too Linds. Can you please drop me?”

“No.” She says, hugging me tighter. “I’m not going to see you for months I need to relish in this!” I acquiesced since this actually feels nice. Her blonde locks tickle the side of my face as they brush along it gently, tickling me and making me shiver. I blow them away from my face and looked up at her.

“*sigh* I promise to visit at least once a month. I’m going to need to buy supplies anyway, I’ve gotten used to the quality you deliver.” To be honest, it’s not the best quality ingredients, but it’s acceptable. Aunt Dels always told me to adapt to circumstances, and to make do with what I have. ‘The best products don’t come from the best materials, but from the best craftsmen.’ she says every time I inadvertently blame the ingredients when the concoctions fail. I mean sometimes it is the ingredient's fault though... I swear that silvergrass was rotten!

“Okay then, the usual stuff?” She drops me and goes behind the counter. The brat glares at me, but I didn't see it. “Yeah, enough to last me at least a month.” Pondering for a second if I forgot something else, “Ah! Can I also get a candy press? I broke the last one accidentally.”

“How the hell did you break a candy press?” The brats voice chirps in suddenly. [email protected], I almost forgot he was here. “With these.” I flex my arms to show off my magnificent biceps. Biceps that fit a healthy 12-year-old’s body.

He snorts and goes back to helping Linds gather the ingredients for me and I wander around the store, looking at the advanced stuff Linds has made. There’s a load of concoctions here, from wound closing creams to pheromone perfumes.

I just finished learning the alchemist class from Aunt Dels a week prior, so my recipes are still limited to low-level candies and ointments. I’m never going to stop making candies though, they’re delicious. Except for the strawberry ones.

*thud* A heavy cloth bag filled with different materials is dropped in front of the counter and I feel myself getting picked up again from the back. “Master, can you drop the rasc- *ahem*. Can you please drop the customer? He needs to pay.”

“He’s paying with cuddles, there’s no need to drop him.”

"Master we're going to get bankrupt if he does!"

"If it's for Castiel I'd gladly do it."

"Heughk!" Her hug tightens enough to push the air out of me. HOW!? I'M MADE OF STONE!

This back and forth went for a while, until eventually I just had Fels, my Daeriar, to bring the brat my card. It cost me a huge chunk of my saved allowance, slashing off around 3000 credits due to the candy press.

Linds held me for a while more before hesitatingly letting me go. “Promise you’ll visit okay! Don’t you dare grow taller in the meantime!” She tells me sternly and with an unbelievably serious face while pinching my cheeks. “Uhhhh… I promise?”

She smiles and lets me go, mumbling to herself while returning to her hidden alchemist cave in the back of the shop. I wonder why she likes hugging me, I’m practically half rock so I’m not squishy at all. I shrug off the mystery and looked at my shopping list. Okay, done! Time to go back home!

The trip home was just a normal, boring one. As I reach the house, a familiar voice shouts from Uncle Robert’s place. “Cas!”

“Sammy! Wanna hang out later?” I ask, eager to not be bored waiting for tomorrow in excitement. Sammy’s the only other kid I knew before Awakening, a childhood friend would be the best way to describe our relationship.

“Sure! I’ll come in a bit, mom gave me chores.”

I nod and head to my room upstairs to take care of my groceries. Packing everything away into neat and labelled containers, along with the tools on my desk. It was fast work to pile them all neatly into a luggage box with the help of Stein, Kern, and Fels. They’ve developed ‘personalities’ of sorts over the years.

Kern is steadfast and unwavering, staying grounded all the time sitting on my shoulder or staying in his bracer form on my arm. Eventually, he changed his ‘passive’ form into a small, fat, turtle golem with amber-coloured engravings. He actually looks somewhat like a pokemon.

Stein, on the other hand, is fond of being a red bird flying everywhere he wants to. At first, he was crashing into walls and destroying stuff since he’s still essentially a piece of rock trying to fly as fast as a bird. Eventually, he got the hang of it and he can even do advanced manoeuvres.

Fels transformed his shell into one that's similar to The Obelysk, a small green crystal. It kinda looks like a more rugged version of the green crystal in one of the famous simulation game back on earth. He’s developed an interest in magic while I was learning the mage class, he actually helped me with the final task and is often by mom's side when she's researching magic.

I two of my classes to them, Kels can adjust my aim as long as he’s in glove form or weapon form helping me get a 'ranger' type class, though not quite. Still, though, it took 4 g#@!amn years to learn that class. I don’t even know if it was worth it? Eh, what’s done is done.

*knock knock click* “Cas? You in here?” Sammy peeks his tree-like head inside then proceeds to come in after seeing me. “Hey Cas, what’s up?”

“Just packing up for tomorrow, big day.”

“You’re going to the Union tomorrow! I wish I could go with you now, it’s going to be so boring!” He plops on my bed, making the frame creak. He’s a tall kid, taller than me who’s 2 years older than me. Technically he is a tree so I can accept that.

“How’d you finish your last task so fast? I have to make thousands of concoctions and you only had to make one!”

“I’m just a genius, just accept it." I say jokingly before continuing, "Besides, creating your own recipe is harder than just making the same thing repeatedly. I just got lucky I’m a D’varf.”

“Yeah… but really? Rock pills? You know your race is the only one that can use that right?”

“That’s the point, Sammy. You don’t have any rock plates that need regenerating anyway, so you’re not missing anything.” Yeah, my last task was to develop my own basic recipe. I made a rock candy that only D’varfs can eat, using the same base as minor regeneration candies I compounded them into the rock to boost the regeneration of our rock plates. “I’m not going to make more though, I broke the candy press last time.”

“Of course you broke the candy press! It’s for CANDY! You made ROCKS!”

We hung out for a while, even going to Aunt Del’s lab so he could show me his progress with the apprenticeship. The rest of the day went as it normally does, me eating dinner and going to bed afterwards.

One rock, two rocks, three rocks…. I count in my head, trying to force my excitement down and knock myself into unconsciousness.

[The next day]

*beep beep*

“The carriage is here Cas!” I hear Mom shouting from downstairs and I hurriedly stuff the rest of my clothing in a duffle bag. With my luggage floating behind me using , I ran downstairs where Mom is waiting for me.

“You make sure to come home at least once a month, okay?” She hugs me and I hugged her back tightly. “Of course I will, Mom.”

“And stay safe there, don’t let anyone bully you!”

“I won’t, Mom. I’m going to miss you.” We finally release each other after dad honks again from the carriage. I go outside, excited with the new chapter in my life.

“You ready, Cas?” Dad asks me from the front seat. I look back at the house. Home. My home for the 12 years I’ve lived in this world so far. I haven’t found out anything as to why I’m here yet, but at least I’ve found a reason why I should stay.

I look forward, excited and nervous at the next part of my life. Union, here I come!

[Half a day later]

“Wake up Cas, we’re almost there.” Dad rouses me up from sleep and I groggily sit up. Oh wow, finally. My stomach grumbles from hunger so I grab a snack rock I prepared and munched on it as I looked out the window.

“Oh wow!” It looked like a proper academy from the horizon. A huge building with a tower in the middle sat on the side of a mountain and surrounded by different buildings. There’s also a village before getting to the academy.

“That’s the Union, where retiree legends and veterans teach and guide future legends and veterans. Your mother had a job here before, researching and teaching magic and skills.”

We get to the village and it’s full of older students and normal villagers, just going about their business. “We’ll eat first. Then I’ll be leaving you here.”

“What?!” I ask, confused and concerned.

“Only students, professors, and researchers are allowed past Greenhorn Town unless it’s something urgent. You’ll have to head to the academy yourself, or you can rent a place here in the village. Keep in mind that the rent will have to come from your pockets so consider that as well.”

“Oh… why?”

He smiles and ruffles my hair, “You’ll have to find out. Now let’s go find a restaurant.” I nodded, still confused about that rule. I guess it’s like the incidents with the awakening? I don’t really know anything apart from it being a university and having good teachers.

After eating lunch, we said short goodbyes and I went on towards the academy. It’s around a 20-minute walk from the village which is quite a ways away. Arriving in front of the gates, there are other kids in a line with their luggage floating on boards behind them.

“Plate?” I placed my phone on the desk in front of him and it lits up, presumably showed him my basic info. “Here you go.” He hands me a shield-shaped badge with a ‘U’ in the middle and a sword going through it from the top. It’s coloured red and appears to be made out of some sort of metal.

“What’s this?” I asked, inspecting the badge closer. He points towards a sign saying: Questions will be entertained by your respective guides. F#kin really?

“Head towards the building with the same symbol as your badge.” After saying so, he moves on towards the next student. I shrug and headed inside.

There’s a screen with a 3D manipulable map on the side of the entrance. The Main building is built on the side of the mountain, surrounded by different other buildings from the outside. The dorms are inside the forest just below the mountain.

I head towards the building with the sword and shield on it, which according to the map is the Warrior’s department. Inside, it looks like a normal college building, hallways leading to lecture rooms on the sides, a front desk, and double stairs leading to the next floor. I get in line with the other people queuing up on the front desk, although I have no idea why.

Eventually, my turn comes, and the old lady manning the desk asks me the same question she’s been asking the others; “Weapon?”

“Shield,” I answer promptly.

She raises her brow, before typing something on her computer. “You have a phone?”

I grab my phone and show it to her. She presses a button and my phone dings. I look at it and there’s a request for an app installation from… Ms Guinevere? I guess that’s her name. I confirm and it puts a bunch of stuff on my phone.

She then gives me a key attached to a keychain with the room number on it. “Don’t lose this, obviously. Head towards your dorm and they’ll explain it there. If you don’t know where it is, check the map on your phone.”

I look at the keychain that says “A12” and headed out towards the dorms. The scenery on the way there is nostalgic and melancholic, students milling about and hanging out with their friends feels so familiar. They’re turning my way, presumably due to being a fresher. We don’t have uniforms yet so we’re sticking out like a jagged rock.

The dorms are spread out in different parts of the forest. Each one looking like modern log cabins that are the size of manors. Using the map on the phone, I head towards mine which has a grey banner hanging down on the sides of the double doors, with the word ‘Arkos’ on it and some golden embroidery.

“Hello! Welcome to the best Dorm, Arkos!” A loud high pitched voice assails me from the side of the entrance as I walk in. My luggage trembled as I briefly lose focus on levitating them around. “Uhh.. hi?”

Blonde hair and green eyes, the stunning looking girl in front of me reaches her hand out and exclaims an excited greeting towards me. “My name’s Katlyn! I’m a Deriair! You can call me Kat! Pleasure to meet you!”

Name: Katlyn

Race: Deriair

Title: ???

Classes: ???

Dangerous, proceed with caution.

I gingerly grab her outstretched hand and shook it. “I’m Castiel, you can call me Cas.” Deriair huh? First time seeing one that’s not that obviou- ookkay she has wolf feet. The Deriair is a race that’s basically the equivalent of fantasy ‘beastmen’.

Trying not to stare at her feet, I walked further inside. There are not many people in the lobby. Just Katlyn and an Alkir receptionist-slash-guard, who’s waving me over.

“Come here fresher, let’s set you up. I need your plate” I give the plate to him and he begins to type stuff on his computer while making conversation. He has the template large lower jaw and tusks sticking out of his mouth that all Alkirs have. I used to call them Orcs before I learned that was actually a derogatory word for them. “I’m this dorm’s warden, you can call me Mike. My name’s a bit longer than that but everyone just calls me Mike now.”

Name: Mike (???)

Race: Alkir

Title: ???

Classes: ???

INSTANT DEATH, DO NOT ENGAGE!

Well, I’m kinda used to being a weakling but man I’m sick of seeing everyone just being able to kill me in the blink of an eye. It’s like I didn’t get stronger…

The depressing train of thought gets interrupted by Mike’s exclamation. “Oh? Room 12 eh? Here you go.” He hands me a grey armband with the number 12 on it, it has the same design as the banner in front. “You can pin it on using the insignia you got from the front gate.”

“Oh! Oh! Can I be his guide?!” Kat exclaims from behind me. She seemed to have climbed on my floating luggage, probably why it felt a bit heavier than earlier.

“You’re grounded Kat, you know you can’t.”

“Uuuuu” She pouts and crosses her arms. Grounded? I kinda forgot we’re all basically kids still...

Winking at her he adds, “Unless fresher here requests for it, I can’t really let you.” I immediately felt a pressure surrounding me, like a snake coiling around its prey. I feel her hugging me from behind with her arms and legs like a koala bear. Tightening her grip she asks, “Hey Cas, you want me to be your guide... Right?”

I look to the side and see her face with a menacing grin. I need to be careful with my next wo- AGHK! She tightens her grip again as she sees me hesitating so I just nod my head. “I... want her to be my guide…” I say in defeat and relief as she finally lets me go. How are people able to crush me with hugs?! Is there a skill I don't know about?!

“Hooray!!! Let’s go to your room!” she says while grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the hallway towards a room with a big number 12 written on it. She gives me instructions on how to get in with the badge, the plate, then the key. The key is mostly used for emergencies if the plate and badge are unavailable. The inside of the room is bigger than expected. A bunk bed and 2 closets on the left side, obviously for two people, 2 chairs on a long table opposite the door, and a lot of extra space for other stuff.

*bang* Finally putting down my luggage, I massage my head from the mental strain of carrying them for at least an hour. I look at it for a bit before deciding to unpack later. Kat’s on the bed looking at me with big eyes. “What?”

“Nothing! I'm waiting for you to go out so I can show you around!”

Thinking for a moment if I should postpone that for tomorrow, but remembering what happened earlier I shuddered and just decided to just go right now and nod at her. “Let’s go.”

I feel like this is going to be a long day of walking...