proofread by Daylius

“You boy! Wait”

As soon as I exited the arena I was grabbed by a hand which startled me. I looked back to find the owner of the hand that grabbed me. A man in his late forties wearing some expensive outfit stood behind me, panting like crazy. The man’s face was pale and it made me feel uneasy for some reason.

“Are you okay mister?” I asked out of courtesy.

“I am fine. I am fine” the man straightened himself and had now stopped panting. Puffing his chest the man spoke, “I am Nodin, a noble and the leader of the Calmor house”

“Hello Mr. Nodin. I am Zeph, nice to meet you. Now that you seem okay, I shall excuse myself” I bowed a little and turned around to walk away.

“Wait boy, listen to me for a minute.”

“What is it Mr. Nodin? I am in a hurry” I was getting impatient.

“I am here to bring you under my house, feel privileged boy”

“Don’t need it” I refused the old man blatantly as I knew involving with nobles would make my future painful.

“Wait, please” the tone of the old man turned from prideful to feeble. “Please, you are my only hope”

“Sigh! What is it? What do you want?”

“All I need is you to carry the name of Calmor house. Nothing more”

“Why me? I am just a normal student. You can find students that are of much higher tier.” I was getting annoyed and so replied a little forcefully.

“I cannot afford them. My house is on the verge of collapse and so the most I can do is sponsor a normal student like you. Please Zeph, please come under my house, I will sponsor the entire school fees”

“

Wait! What is in it for you if I bear the name of your house?”

“The house’s reputation and influence increases for every successful adventurer the house produces. You do not have to do anything special for the house, just wear the house crest that is all. For every achievement you earn the house gets credit for it and thereby making the house stronger. It is a good deal for you. Rather than being a puppet to the strong houses in the future you can become the benefactor of my house and live freely.”

“I can always turn down the offers of these houses, what is the big deal?”

“Of course you can turn down their offers. But once you do so they see you as an enemy and will try their best to hinder your life with all their might. If you join my house now, by the time you are a successful adventure, my house would have become strong enough to keep the other houses away from you. How about it? Just wear this ring and the clothes with the emblem of the house. That is all”

For me the deal felt good. If I were to go under his wing I would have the freedom to anything I want. The chances of being targeted by other houses also gets nullified.

“Fine Mr. Nodin, I will do as you say”

“Thank you Zeph. I will take care of the rest. Please come with me, we can stay in my house till you leave for the school. The emblem and other things will be delivered to you later on”

“Of course. Since you are now one of the members of the clan you get to live with us. You will be basically like my son to the outside world and so looking after you is my duty. Besides I have to introduce you to the others too.”

“Huh! Fine, I get it. Before that let me visit the AWO and the inn I had been staying.”

“Very well. I will be in the arena. Come find me once you finish your business”

We then went our separate ways. I sighed cause of the sudden developments. I slowly approached the Alien office. It took me a little more than ten minutes to reach the office. Once in, I walked to the cubicles for human. I was expecting Andrela to be busy with another client but that day she was sitting on her chair with a bored expression.

“Why do you look so bored Andrela. You look so un-cute”

“Who are you calling un-cute” Andrela hit me on my head, pouting!

“I am sorry Andrela, goddess of beauty. Please forgive me” I joked.

She smiled and asked, “So how is everything going?”

“Everything is fine. I passed the affinity test, got admitted into Itiferth and got sponsored by Nodin Calmor. A hectic day” I said shrugging my shoulder.

“You idiot, why did you take the test? I told you that it will one week for your mana and essence to fully develop.”

“Skip the test and wait for another year doing nothing. No way in hell. I am happy with the results.”

“Such a troublesome boy. So, what was the result?” Andrela asked with a pained expression.

“Mana 13 and essence 10. I got all five affinities. I had hoped I could get a lighting based affinity, sigh” I finished talking and looked at Andrela. The girl stared at me with her jaws open and widened eyes. “Andrela? What’s wrong? Andrela! Andrela” I called out a couple times. After a few minutes she returned to normal.

“Mr. Zeph, do you remember what I told you about taking the exam before the required one week?”

“Yes I do. You said, it will take one week for my powers to fully develop. So if I take the test early the results will be a little lower of the original power value. What is the big deal? I bet my original mana and essence value must have been something close to 15 or so. Besides it is a good thing that I don’t stand out much. Going to Itiferth is better as I won’t have to fall prey to the house politics of this world. This was I can dedicate my time to things I want to do”

“What nonsense are you spouting? Close to 15 you say? You were here only for three days, not even half a week and your values are already close to the higher power level. Mana value of 13 and essence value of 10. Had you taken the test once your mana and essence chamber filled up completely I am sure you could have easily scored a value higher than 20. You could have gone to Edelnerry or Aduxria.”

“It is fine Andrela. I do not crave the attention of others. My goal is to find someone I lost. As long as I can find her nothing else matters”

“You are indeed a troublesome guy. Did you tell anybody about the fact that you came to this world only three days before?”

“Yes, only to the man in white rob who was conducting the test”

“That explains why the Calmor house took you in”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I am guessing the one who was overlooking your test was the one who informed the Calmor clan. And the leader of the clan rushed to you to secure you before it was too late.”

“I might be in the higher power level, but now I am a normal student. Why go after a normal student?”

“That is because the Calmor clan is the weakest in the continent. They used to be pretty powerful in the olden times but right now they are nothing special. They lost all their power, territory and influence. All that is left is the clan manor which is in this city. I believe that they hardly have the resource to support you. It is like they are ready for gamble betting everything they have on you.”

“Sigh! So in short things will get troublesome for me. Such a pain in the ass. Andrela can I ask your office to loan half the amount of the fees.”

“Eh? Why? Did he not say that he will sponsor for you?”

“He did, but from your description I think he will have trouble with money. So lend me 100AG, I will ask him to pay it back by the end of the year. This way he will get more time to earn money or maybe I can accomplish something to help his house”

“Were you not telling that you did not want to associate yourself with nobles and their houses?”

“Well I did! If I abandon an old man in need then she will smack me on the head and run away again”

“You are too nice for your own good. Fine here is the money.” Andrela extended a card to me.

“What is that?”

“This is your bank and also identity. It is called Anwol card or Anca in short”

“Wow cool”

“The card will have your name, your age, the clan you are affiliated to, your designation and also the amount in your bank. The card can be used to withdraw money from the AWO all around the globe. Since the card has your photo in it, only you can use it too. Give this card to the principal, he will be having the means to collect the money. Anything else?”

“Nothing more! I guess this is goodbye Andrela”

“I guess it is so. It was nice having you here. I pray you find what you are searching for”

I bowed at the smiling lady and walked out of the alien office. I then headed to the inn I was staying to gather my stuff and then vacated the room. All I had to take was the bow and sword which I had left behind for the test.

In an hour or so I returned to the arena. There the man who had agreed to sponsor me was waiting impatiently, his face was pale like before. I could not help but sigh at the man. One look at him and it was clear as day that the man had undergone hell to reach the state he was now, a fighter.

“Mr. Nodin” I called out loud so that he could notice me. Like a baby who got a new toy, the man’s face brightened and he rushed to me.

“Zeph, you came. Woah! What is with that sword and that strange thing? ”

“Ah these are the weapons from my world, they were given to me as means to protect myself. And this thing is a bow” I let the bow expand to its normal form by unlocking the locking system. This startled Nodin and he backed away a little.

“What a strange looking bow. Truly fierce. Now keep it away and come this way.”

“Where to?”

“To my manor of course”

Nodin walked ahead and I followed. A little away a horse carriage was on standby for us. He asked me to get in and then the carriage moved. The scenery outside the carriage changed from huge buildings to smaller buildings and then to a big garden. At the middle of the garden was a pretty big house, something fit to be called manor but it was poorly kept. The garden hardly had anything beautiful in it. A fountain that was dry and dirt lay in front of the manor. The carriage stopped in front of the manor and we got out.

I was suddenly welcomed by a man who seemed like the butler. We then walked inside with Nodin in front and the butler behind me. The insides were huge but plain. It was obvious from the looks that the manor had sold out almost everything the manor had to survive. For once I felt bad about Nodin. We walked for a while, entering and exiting different rooms and finally stopped in the dining hall. Though the manor looked poor, the dining room was a different case. Designed with great beauty, the dining room was decorated with special sculptures and paintings. The dining table was really long and the table and chair exerted a dignified aura. The silver cutlery arranged on the table were sparkling as if they were brand new.

“What is with this room? Why is it so different?”

“Ah! Well this one room has always been like this. It has always been like this, and my father had told me never to alter the things in this room. And so till now the dining hall is the only thing that shows the majestic life the ancestor of my clan had once lead.”

“Ah! You are back dear. I hope everything went well?”

Hearing the voice I turned towards the source of the direction. From a different door a lady and girl walked out, the way they carried themselves clearly indicated that they were the lords of the manor.

“Let me introduce you to my wife and child Zeph” Nodin then pointed at the lady, “This my wife, Gloria Calmor and the child next to her is Fiora Calmor”

I faced them and bowed gently, “Hello madam! I am Zeph, nice to meet you”

“Dear, we are going out for a walk. We will be back soon. Come my sweet heart” the wife then dragged the little girl who was looking at me curiously. I smiled at the girl which made her blush and turn away her head.

“Sorry about that. My wife is not particularly fond of aliens”

“No problem. So where will I be living? You do remember that I have to pay a visit to the principal in two days, right?”

“Ah! You do not have to worry, I remember”

“Good. Here, take this” I then handed over the Anca to him. “There is 100AG in it, use that to pay half of the academy fees.”

“No, I can’. I promised to sponsor you, I can’t be taking money from you”

“Take it already. Listen, if you take this 100AG then you can save another 100AG after my school expenses right? You can use the money for yourself. Don’t worry about it, I will be fine”

“But how will you pay back the loan?”

“Do not worry about those things. I got a year to earn the money I need. Meanwhile I want you to make good use of the money you save”

The man looked at me as if I were god. I could not help but sigh at the expression on his face. The next day my clothes were given to me, all of them had the symbol of the house, a huge upside down sword with something like an eagle sitting on it. I found the symbol strange for some reason but left it alone after a while. Two days passed away quickly. Nodin met the principal of the academy and then explained that I will be taken under the Calmor house. And so it was decided that all my uniforms will have the symbol of the Calmor house. Another surprising thing that occurred was that my name was changed to Zeph Calmor. Since the name sounded cool to me I let it be.

The principal then handed over the invitation to the school and also a guidebook which had the rules of the school written in it. That night I spend my time reading the guidebook to gather more information about the school I was going to spend the next couple of years at. The guidebook explained the various aspects of the academy. While reading the guidebook I noticed a strange fact, that was the duration of a day. Instead of the 24 hour margin like on earth, the days in this world were lengthier, 30 hours. Another interesting thing was that each week was made of eight days and a month consisted of 32 days. What surprised me even more was the name for the eighth day, it was named as HOLIDAY. I could not contain my laughter for a while.

‘Hmm, really different from earth’s calendar. Every month starts with a Monday and ends with a Holiday, exactly 4 weeks. So a year equals twelve months which equals 384 days. Hm! Interesting. So as per the calendar in this manor, today is 26th of the last month of the year. Let us see the month is called ‘The month of the Goat’. Is it based on zodiac signs? Well whatever. So the opening ceremony is on the 1st of the New Year eh. Good thing I was sent here in time for the affinity test, thank you old man.’

These thoughts ran through my mind as I was lying in bed reading the thick guidebook. It was written that a student has to remain within the academy for at least two years to be able to attend the final exam which certified one as a full-fledged adventure. It was also written in it that, the number of years one can study in the academy extended up to 8 years after which he will be forced to drop out no matter what. This upper limit was same for the other two academy. But the minimum was much higher. This was because, the students of higher power levels were given more thorough lessons than those of the normal power level. For a student of the normal level, to gain more knowledge than what his academy taught he had to attain it by himself while it was spoon fed to those of higher levels.

The guidebook explained the layout of the academy. There were three blocks which were named peculiarly. A student had to go to each block at least once a day, such was the way the schedules were arranged. Every day compulsory 9 hours of tutoring was given to the students, and except for the Holiday, all other days the students had classes. Magical studies, physical abilities, enhancing classes, these were the three main subjects a student had to study. Each of them were broken down into numerous subjects.

The classes started at 7 in the morning and ended at 5 in the evening. Magical studies spanned from 7am to 10am. The magical studies would contain mainly learning spells which aligned with one’s affinity. If I should give an example, consider the affinity ice, ice is made by cooling water, so it is made from air and water. In a magical studies class, the student will be taught how to use ice, water and air spells. The catch was that only basic affinity spells could be taught. That meant if a student had complex affinity which was made by three or more affinities then he could learn spells of those basic affinities. And so every day a single basic affinity was taught. That meant I will have to attend the classes five days consecutively while others only had to come when their basic affinity classes were conducted.

Magical Studies: Basic affinity lessonsMondayAirTuesdayWaterWednesdayEarthThursdayFireFridayLife

The magical studies also taught how to improve mana control and also taught weapon enchantment. So every student could enchant their weapon with their complex affinity as well as basic affinity that is a student who can use ice affinity can enchant their sword with ice, water and air affinities. This might make it seem that every person of the world are very strong, but the reality is much harsh. The level and power of enchantment depends on their essence value and so student with lower essence values do not attend the classes for enchantment and control. So the first and third Saturdays of a month students were taught enchantment while the second and fourth Saturdays were for mana control lessons

Magical Studies: Enchantment and control1st and 3rd SaturdayEnchantment2nd and 4th SaturdayMana control

The last division of magic studies were reserved for academy toppers were they were trained personally by the principal. For the remaining students it was self-study.

Magical Studies: SpecialtySundayFor selected students

Then comes the second department, Physical abilities which spanned between 10:15 am to 1:15 pm. The lunch break lasted forty five minutes. Similar to magical studies, physical ability classes to were classified into many subdivisions. Everything from close combat to ranged combat was taught, different martial arts, strength and stamina training and so. What piqued my interest in this was the term ‘special weapons’. Every Friday of a week the students were taught how to wield this ‘special weapon’ but nothing was told about what this ‘special weapon’ was. And so I had no other choice to bury it inside my mind.

Physical Abilities: Weapon TrainingMondaySwordTuesdaySpearWednesdayMazeThursdayBowFridaySpecial Weapons

The physical ability classes included essence control too. This came as a surprise for me initially as I had considered it to be covered under magical studies. But then I understood why it was included in physical abilities. Essence like our organs and muscles are part of our body and so acquiring control over essence fell under physical abilities. The last two days of the week was dedicated for Essence control and exertion.

Physical Abilities: Exertion and control1st and 3rd SaturdayExertion2nd and 4th SaturdayEssence control

Initially I had assumed that ‘exertion’ was nothing major but when I saw that separate days were scheduled for ‘exertion’ classes I could not help but wonder what it was but again I had no way to satisfy my curiosity as nothing was mentioned about it in the guide. And once again similar to magical studies, the last day of the week was reserved for academy toppers.

Physical Abilities: SpecialtySundayFor selected students

Finally the academic day finished with three hours of enhancing classes from 2pm to 5pm. The so called enhancing classes seemed special to me but I could not find anything more about it in the guidebook. All that was said that every student had to attend the classes regardless of their affinity or power status.

The guidebook then gave me the list of staffs and their respective departments which I ignored immediately. Then came the thing what I was looking for. The yearly academic tournament. At midway of every year, the academy held a tournament between the students of the academy regardless of which year they were. The tournament was a criteria to choose students who would then be sent to participate in a showdown between the three schools. But from what I gathered, the participants who were gathered never attended these showdown as they knew that they could not compete with the other two schools. The guidebook had the list of winners of these showdown and when I went through it I understood that out of the 437 showdowns between the academies, my academy had only won once. Which in itself was a legendary achievement, if I could say so.

I then skimmed through the remaining pages as there were nothing but gibberish in those. Once I finished reading, I then tried the new uniforms I was given. All the uniforms I had had the house symbol on it. The uniforms were cool, with red with black striped shirts and black trousers which I found very cool. There were ten sets of uniforms which was too much for a normal student but I guess in an academy where magic and sword fight were allowed ten was a small number.

While I was busy admiring the uniforms, a sudden knock at the door startled me. It took me a while to regain my composure. When I opened the door, the butler of the house bowed at me and asked me to have dinner. I complied and followed him to the dining room where as usual the mother and the daughter were absent. Nodin then apologized to for his wife’s and daughter’s rude behavior, just like all those previous times. And so my days of boredom continued. Days flew slowly and then came the day when I was to set out to the capital of the human continent, Academia.

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