After they got back into Farburg, Kent headed to the Conqueror’s. Accompanied by Estes they met up with Agatha to pick up where they had left of the previous time.

A large part of the remaining afternoon was spent in the crawling, at first Kent fought against the apparitions, with just as little success as he had before. Though he managed to fight through the stalemate with the twelfth somehow. Fully aware that he would not be able to fight the thirteenth they stopped there, and Agatha helped refine his Dagger Kata.

Kent felt his agility lacking behind his other stats particularly bad as he dodged another stab of the woman’s dulled knife. This specific dungeon provided dagger was dull at the end, having only sharp edges for three fourths of the blade’s length.

This was surely due to some specific Trait making use of such a design. It hadn’t been his hypothesis, but rather Agatha guessed as much. She apparently knew a family in Hammercoast that used blades that only had a small sharp part, they rest of the blade’s sharpness was covered by their trait somehow. How such a thing was possible Kent didn’t know. Then again, most people wouldn’t understand his family’s connection to a plants soul and the intrinsically understanding of their animation.

Kent couldn’t really comprehend that, but it was natural to him.

“Focus on my hips, and shoulders,” Agatha yelled over the dull sounds of impact that Estes was causing by beating up the helpless apparitions with his own hands. “Don’t focus on my eyes. They are treacherous for the most part. You need to remember that people with higher senses can see their periphery just as clearly as their center of vision.”

Kent really tried to observe her hips and shoulders and judge his movements based on them. His mind was even borderline able to keep up to the signals his eyes were sending him. While his sense stat was low, it wasn’t at a point where an easy-going Agatha was an unsurmountable challenge. He simply couldn’t move fast enough.

Kent staggered as another jab hit his chest from the lower left.

The swing of his own blade just finger width too away from Agatha’s dagger, not able to interrupt he stab.

Kent got poked more and more frequently as his concentration waned and frustration at his own lack grew. Fully aware that it made no sense to compare himself to either of the people he was standing next to, he did it anyway.

Frustration finally boiled over and Kent asked his sparring partner to pause.

“You are doing quite well, if we do a bit more technique training next,” Agatha informed him. She let herself fall to the ground and crossed her legs. “Why are you pulling such a face. You are making good progress and if we are being honest, I’m quite impressed with how fast you are improving your style. You are also combining one or two moves of my own kata which is really impressive. I’ve seldomly seen people able to juggle the instincts of their kata with other techniques and styles they’ve learned, especially not so quickly.”

That was the singular silver lining at the annoyance that was training Mosquito. For some reason, Kent placed his guess on Metallic Affinity, his skill absorbed a few compatible movements extending his instincts in bladework beyond what it had given him at the beginning. Thus, making the moves more instinctual and not at all a juggling with the instincts of the Kata, but he couldn’t really tell that to Agatha.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Kent said. “While I’m making progress, I do know that I won’t be able to reach your stage of mastery, probably ever. I’m just too slow.”

He was happy with the technical growth he had managed; this however was a sore spot in his eyes.

An hour later Kent fell into his bed exhausted. Having mana and stamina completely drained was a rough sensation at the best of time. The mental exhaustion was the final straw in the bucket. He was glad that he had invested in Mind, otherwise he would have probably fallen asleep earlier throughout the day.

***

The day after his sparring with Agatha and escorting Alexus, Kent decided to change a large part of his slowly establishing routine.

Kent had to understand his skills better, the ones he currently had, and potential new ones.

Luckily for him, he had gained an attestation of the royal institute. Estes had told him a bit of the many uses for them, and Alexus had extended upon what he had learned. Agatha however had mentioned the final puzzle piece he needed. A small tidbit of information mentioned in passing had opened a new option for him. A way for him to gain further insight and to potentially get out of the trouble with his quest, alive.

Most people chose a trade upon gaining their trait. With that came an apprenticeship and a lifelong commitment to a specific branch of industry. At least that was how it had been in Blueleaf, and many other villages as well. The heavy prevalence of nature traits caused a villages pool of trait elements to stay mostly homogeneous with few exceptions.

Things were different in cities. While an apprenticeship such as Alexus’ five years of education at Hymdal’s, or one akin to those of some of the carpenters here were the norm, even in cities. They weren’t the only option though. People, especially ones from a wealthier background, could send their children to specialization courses to the institute or the conquerors. In the former they would be taught common knowledge about the system, mathematics and physics, how scientific disciplines interacted with the system, and politics and geography. All accentuated and expanded on by teaching about defending humanity and regulate monster occurrences, focused on combat, martial arts, and strategy – given the ruling-caste’s mandate.

Most of the people that went there chose to become imperial or independent knights, or conquerors. A privilege of the rich. A much smaller portion of those chose to become academics. A privilege of the rich, well educated, and with solid mental faculties. With the biggest factors in one’s career path taking the form of familiar connections, status, and personal power in the form of traits.

Upon inquiring with the people, he knew in the city and even making an appearance at the conqueror’s he knew what he had to join those ranks.

To his surprise, the conquerors offered a similar education as well, with the sole focus being martial and scouting aspects as well as monster knowledge. Counterintuitively he’d found them to be less interesting and relevant, due to those factors. He had learned a good deal from his own time out in the wilderness and he had an attestation for information with the institute while he lacked the required financial fluidity to attend the conqueror’s lessons.

Presenting his attestation to the guards at the gate got him to speak with one of the course managers. A tutor and scholar by the name of Madam Berinal.

“The introductory coursework of the institute is taught three times a year over the course of eight weeks,” she explained. “The follow-up courses take place two weeks after the introductory courses and range through a variety of topics and can be customized to the students and their backing.”

Suffice it to say that Kent wasn’t really interested in those yet. For now, he had decided to sign up for the next introductory course.

“I’m not particularly interested in the advanced topics,” Kent responded. “To further ascertain what path I want to go down on, I need a more fundamental grasp on Physics and Mathematics. I was informed that this,” he pointed at the attestation, “can grant me access to expedited classes.”

“Certainly. But it would be a waste young man. Truly there is no need to rush. Even minor attestations such as yours can garner research support for a season. You are still young. Enjoy the time you have. The bonds you can make in the institute can last for life and introduce you to many of the noble families and nobler pursuits.”

“I’m afraid, I’ll be picked up by my parents’ caravan as soon as this war business is resolved. And this is the longest I’ll stay in any place for years to come.”

Best to lay a false trail and make it seem like I have minor backing.

“And how long is that going to take? Gilmoss is pouring considerable effort into drawing powerful warriors to our border regions. The chances are that towns will become more isolated before the situation gets better.”

They talked for even longer, and Kent learned more about the structuring of classes and what could be available with his attestation. And tried to ignore the more dire situation the war had place Reinsteel – where his family was – in.

To take the classes itself, the attestation had not been necessary. Everyone who was a citizen of Issar could participate in those for a ‘donation’. Kent, as a resident not a citizen, would only have to pay a larger, still manageable fee.

But even if he had the money, that hadn’t been an option for him. The issue was that there weren’t any new courses for the next five weeks. At that point in time he would have left the city again if things went according to plan.

That was where the attestation had turned out to be useful. One of the things someone could receive for turning it in was an offer of the introductory coursework at the supplicants wishes. He chose a focus of mathematics and physics, as his skills seemed to gravitate towards that direction when prompted about it. When asked about the relevant skills Kent said that his trait allowed for a weak acceleration of projectiles flying towards him.

The only ‘subjective’ downside to his blooming arrangement was that he would not meet with any of the masters, but rather one of their apprentices. At least that was according to the journeywoman he had spoken to.

He didn’t mind being instructed by an apprentice as much as she seemed to think. In fact it alleviated many of the worries he’d faced. A master scholar might find something unusual about him which would be all sorts of troublesome.

He had to be at the institute at second bell, two hours after sun-up, to take his daily lessons until ninth bell, one hour before sundown.

Which would be an issue.

It forced him to say goodbye to his escort duty with the woodcutters after learning of his new schedule. At least for the most part. The conversation with Marcus had been surprisingly relaxed and he’d been happy with Kent just joining for the original culling in the mornings.

“When it comes to what truly makes a man, we narrow it down to our virtues, our actions, and our mind. Only what you have earnestly worked for is what matters when you look back at your life. Just as we cultivate the earth, we need to cultivate ourselves.”

“I don’t think Estes is going to see it that way,” Kent responded dryly.

“He’ll come around. You are doing the virtuous. Not asking for payment besides a place to sleep and food on your plate all while guaranteeing our survival. Your actions are just as pure. Helping us when you didn’t need to. Lastly, you are trying to forge your mind and broaden your horizon. You are in your formative years, and looking out for yourself isn’t selfish if you aren’t doing so at the disadvantage of others. Some might even call what you are doing a virtue in itself. I don’t know if I would go that far.”

With that the man embraced Kent and sent him off to bed or placate Estes. They both wanted to inform him of the new arrangement before the next day. No one wanted a freshly agitated Estes at work.

He found Estes in a comedy in the third district, one where he’d seen the man go on occasion.

“Cheap Beer and cheaper entertainment,” had he described it.

Kent could only agree with that. The jokes the performer made were crude and vulgar, though not unamusing and beer truly was cheap and flowed readily.

“What gives you the right,” the older man raised his voice, surrounded by all. “In my time such a work ethic wouldn’t even have crossed my peers thoughts.”

“In your time, you’d come around here even during the day,” yelled the barkeep from down the other end of the bar top. “Don’t big mouth the kid.”

“That’s different,” he yelled. “Listen Kent. I know you wanna be a good lad. But that also means being dependable. That means sticking not to the word of agreements but the spirit.”

“So can you tell me what the correct direction is to move towards?” Kent asked. They’d had the conversation a few times already, and the older conqueror was entirely baffled by the selection Kent had presented to him. “Where to pick my skills. You said yourself that my available skills are a mess.”

In all honesty, Estes had made a solid effort at coming up with a good direction for the almost entirely made-up skill trees Kent had presented to him. But the older man had no right to ask so much of him. Sure, he’d have to get up earlier now, but the workload would more or less be the same, though he’d spent more time at his post.

Estes was not to be placated, even after the comedian had gotten involved. Though he had grudgingly accepted the new status quo. He did have to odd requests though. Kent didn’t like them but accepted them begrudgingly.

The new deal they had worked out required Kent to help Estes clear a predestined area daily. Though why Estes needed his help he wasn’t quite sure. Even the single level forty-seven monster they had come across hadn’t been an issue for the now always heavy-armored man. Maybe it was about the company, Kent thought, but wasn’t quite sure.

Why Estes wanted Kent to live with him and Estes’ aunt he wasn’t sure. But he accepted even that.

Just like that the days passed by. Kent got up even earlier than before – something that wasn’t a huge issue due to his improved physique. He jogged out of town after being told by Marcus where to clear the woods the previous evening and after roughly a bell, he returned to town to receive instructions in the sciences.

The apprentice sneered at him the first time she had seen him slightly sweaty and caked in semi-dry blood. They had held that lecture outside in the rain. The next few days Kent made sure to clean himself before appearing at the institute.

###

After that day, life had become hectic. A different type of hectic. Less dangerous and more tedious. Having to be on time for certain arrangements and talking to people all the time took a drain on Kent.

The first day had started well enough. Estes had knocked on his door to wake him before the sun was up. Kent had already been up, diligently working on leveling his new skill. Which was quickly rising in level.

“Yes, I’m coming” he yelled before disrobing the fluffy sleeping mantle Stephanie had given him.

He’d been hesitant on moving in with Estes. But now he thought he understood why this had been part of the new status quo. Estes’ aunt had wanted someone to mother over, and if he was being honest he enjoyed it in part.

Kent and Estes rushed out of town with sandwiches in hand. Town policy was to not allow people entry into the city during the night, but Kent learned first hand that this didn’t apply to citizens and for exiting the city as Estes pushed him up one of the masoned stairs.

Just as Kent wanted to ask why they’d gone to the Rising gate when they should have left through the Clouded gate, he was pushed off the wall, only able to shriek before billowing winds blasted from below him. He didn’t land gracefully after the more than five times his height drop; he didn’t get harmed in the process either. Ignoring his ego.

All he could do was stare daggers as the other man descended elegantly, with hair blowing all around him.

“Fun stuff, ey?” Estes asked a while later after Kent stopped yelling at him.

It decidedly hadn’t been.

###

Standing in front of the gates of the institute for the third time felt weird. Knowing he’d be here even more often made him feel like a criminal in some ways. Kent breathed in one last time and stepped through the large wooden gateway.

His leather slippers barely made any sounds as he strode over the tiled floor. He strode with non-existent confidence towards the receptionist.

“I’m here for my introductory courses.”

“Good morning. May I have your name, guest?” the receptionist responded.

Kent had thought long and hard about what to say. Too many people knew his real first name. There was no point in not being truthful. He’d obscure his last name.

“Kent Ikair, I’m supposed to receive one on one tutoring.”

“Nice to meet you Mister Ikair. If you take a seat nearby, I’ll notify your tutor right away.”

After nodding to the receptionist in thanks he stepped away. Just as promised he didn’t have to wait long.

A women who had to be a head taller than him at least, spotting grey head, but looking just a few years older than him, strode in through one of the hallways leading away from the entry hall. Billowing robes of pastel blues and greens stood out against the glazed coloration of the floor tiles and wooden walls.

She looked at the receptionist questioningly, who in response pointed at Kent. She looked down at Kent after just a couple long steps. A neutral expression cast over her face.

“Good morning, Mister Ikair. I’m apprentice teacher Tehana Makur. I’ll do my best to help you grasp concepts as quickly as possible, given your time restraints,” she said, already turning around again and walking towards the hallway she’d come from. “Please follow me.”

She led him through the winding hallways of the institute, occasionally pointing out specific rooms he might use at his own discretion, such as a lunch room, a kitchen in which he request meals ahead of time, several bathrooms, as well as other classrooms he might sit in, if his progress was sufficiently fast. Tehana pressed down on a metal handle several turns later.

“We are here, please step in. I hope you remembered the path. You will have to find your way here on your own from now on.” she stated as she entered. “If that’s not the case, let me make you familiar with my trait Mental Endowment. Is it acceptable for me to use it on your, or would you like an explanation first?”

Kent was too busy taking in the sight ahead of him, to properly consider her words.

“Please explain,” he said, but he wasn’t listening. Instead, his eyes were drawn to the dark wooden book shelfs that enwalled the room, filled with various different looking books, plants and trinkets. The pleasant smell of a flower field on a sunny day and the sun shining down at him.

Further back stood a wide oaken desk, adorned with symbols Kent couldn’t place and several scientific-looking instruments on top.

“Much as it’s name describes I can endow you parts of my own knowledge and understanding. Depending on the complexity of a concept. Simple stuff like maps or definitions are easy to transfer, how to do stuff is basically impossible at my stage, but my mentor is confident that I’ll be able to do so at some point in the future. Is this amendable to you?”

“Yes, sure.”

As he suddenly grasped the entire layout of the first floor, the distraction of the wonderous room having kept him from seriously considering his tutor as a threat, his stance shifted.

Human – Transmitter Mentalis – Lvl. 32

Ohhh, come on. You’ve got to be joking. What were the odds of someone with a mental trait working in the institute. One a second thought, Kent realized that he should have expected as much. But given by her trait, the odds were it was just for projection. Or so he hoped.

He considered her level and threat. Odds are, she even has some combat skills. Level 32 from just resource usage at her level would be very good.

Tehana must have seen his expression.

“Don’t worry, mind control is probably not attainable for me, any time soon.

That didn’t lift his worries in the slightest. But there was no reason to fear her manipulating him, was there. His willpower was quite high – so odds of being dominated mentally by someone of his level were unlikely.

Slightly sweating he sat down in a chair indicated and Tehana began questioning him on his systemic knowledge, and scientific background.

“How do first classes work?” she asked quiet early on. Kent wondered whether she knew how it worked for traitless, but instead of describing his own situation, he told her how it worked for normal people.

“It depends on several factors,” Kent paused, considering all he knew and trying to keep it to a short response. “The classes available depend on your accomplishments, your tit- trait, and your chosen skills. By having two skills in any one tree you advance it to the core realm and gain a three attribute points per level corresponding to the relevant stats.”

She nodded and continued his evaluation. It took until lunch was served for her to complete it. She seemed to be less annoyed than he expected.

“Your system knowledge is decent, but what strikes me as your largest deficit is your knowledge of science and math. We’ll need to expand on the latter especially given what you want discussed.”

After a quick lunch, soup served with freshly baked bread and a sweet oat dish, he began studying in earnest.

###

Overall, Kent would give the first few days in the institute a passing grade, his struggle for survival early in the mornings contrasted by one-on-one instructions in seemingly unrelated topics had him on edge the entire day. He had gained a good understanding of the most common system mechanics, some he had already known, others not. The most vital part of his studies though had been system calculations and terminology, as well as physics and math.

A rushed “Introduction of Mechanics” course was one he’d valued the most. Force and impulse interactions had been especially insightful for him. Torque and oscillation would be relevant for upcoming skill decisions. With growing understanding, he learned how his skills worked. The most significant insight was the difference between force and acceleration.

That skills which applied a force would scale better lighter weapons, as they would receive greater acceleration, was helpful for the future. The reverse was true for skills that gave a certain acceleration. With greater mass and the same acceleration came greater impulse. It made the skill Effect: Force quite a bit more interesting.

That he had been better off with choosing another heavier weapon skill tree instead of daggers in the long run was a bit of a letdown for Kent. Not unsurprising though. Daggers had still been the strongest skill tree, he had come back in the dungeon, and he was confident that he would invest at least another skill point in that tree, but most likely just one.

In the afterhours Kent had perused recorded skill trees in the royal institute’s library to see whether any of his skills trees were documented. Neither of the metallic ones were. General Combat Magics and Daggers – if you ignored the Death by ten thousand punctures – and some of the other less powerful sounding ones were partially recorded. Even Pyromancy was recorded identically to how it appeared in his own menu.

Kent tried to absorb as much information as he could before he would leave the city and the institute behind. He internalized just as much physics as he did about the internal layout of the institute, the people there, and guard rotations – when he witnessed them. Though the surface knowledge Tehana transferred to him – ready to be digested and internalized – was far greater than that.

One of the largest takeaways from the institute was completely unrelated to the studies or his quest. It had been about citizenship in Issar. A citizen would be able to traverse a city more freely, peruse places such as the second district at their leisure. Entering a city was leagues easier as well, and came with less scrutiny than what he’d experience at his first day. Some vendors also required a citizenship to cater to customers.

Given that he would flee from Farburg after completing his royal institute quest, he didn’t bother applying for citizen ship here, but put it on an ever-growing list of things he would have to do eventually. It was far off anyway. The easiest way of being granted one, was becoming level one-hundred and being examined by the crown.

###

On his fifth of eight days Kent, being instructed by Tehana, he followed her through the decorated halls of the institute towards her study. As they took one of the many turns of the long halls, they walked past a man wearing the robes of the cardinal, the second highest regional position within the institute’s halls. The man was holding a box made of metal within his grasp. Almost intuitively Kent sent a strand of mana towards the box. Something that was now easy with his growing magic values. Combined with the growth in Accelerate Metal he managed to attune the box, seemingly unnoticed.

He had acquired the habit of attuning everything metallic in the institute on his second day. The reasons were twofold. He was supposed to rob the institute, that would require him to know what it had to rob. And it would help with later localization.

He felt the attunement process happening within the piece of metal without it being noticed – the amount of mana needed to do so was minimal. Almost instinctually he activated Metallic Presence, bracing himself for the vastness of information that would overflow in his brain once the skill started.

The information he received was uncomfortably crammed inside his mind, but insightful. After reaching rank eleven the skill didn’t increase its range anymore, for which Kent was thankful. Instead, it allowed for other sensory skills to be combined with it. That alone had been a great addition to the skill – even though Kent didn’t have any real perception skills per se.

The tertiary function that came with reaching rank eleven was probably still the one he appreciated the most. He could now choose to no longer have the skill activate passively.

The cost per second was still terrible. What counted as a sensory skill was amazing though. Normal sight wasn’t which didn’t surprise Kent in the slightest. Mana sight, a result of Senses and Magic stats, counted. He guessed that the reason for such was the existence of a skill called Mana Sight that did much the same as the property of Magic and Senses he made use of.

That neat feature allowed Kent to estimate the rough amount of mana in and around objects that Metallic Presence picked up on. Sometimes, in instances of stronger elemental or conceptual alignment he could sense such in the mana. But his overall grasp of that was still rather limited by his senses attribute.

When the skills feedback came over him, Kent breathed out heavily. It took him a moment to steady himself, which luckily no one noticed. The cardinal had passed them already and his tutor was not looking back at him. She tried to ignore him whenever possible. Kent couldn’t be completely sure why she did so, but her referring to him as a country bumpkin once or twice made it obvious that she had developed a minor distaste for him. It probably came from her being required to tutor him instead of someone more interesting.

It took him a moment to find the mental node that connected to the box before he focused on his mana sense all the while Metallic Presence kept flooding his senses with the information of attuned and non-attuned metal around him.

Kent’s entire world went up in flames, his mana was scorched his spell structure turned ash and his soul felt burned. An involuntary shiver went through his body as Kent tried to come to grip with the overwhelming sensation of fire, heat, and destruction.

The pressure that came from impressions of metal was nothing in comparison to the might of fire that was contained within the small foot-sized box. Mana of previously unimagined quantities suffused the box in a struggle for supremacy. Fire versus the structure of the box, trying to keep the overburdening leeching flames at bay.

The spell cut off and Kent got a bearing on himself again. His spell should have gone on for a moment longer, but it had truly been burned away. Just like his attunement to the adorned box had vanished.

He caught up to Tehana unnoticed all while wondering how the lockbox didn’t glow like a miniature sun. With measure steps he followed his teacher to the lunch room, trying to understand what he’d just witnessed.

If Kent were to guess it felt remotely like a spell core just on a completely different scale from what he was used to. It certainly didn’t feel like a minor or common spell core. It had to be leagues above that. Sadly, for him, is Senses stat was letting him down a bit here. With a greater commitment to the stat he would have been able to place it better. He could say with certainty, that it was a fire core.

And with that, he knew with certainty what he had to steal, to guarantee the quest completion.

But with that, a new issue had crystallized itself.

Human - ??? - ???

It wasn’t really a surprise. The institute had the highest density of twice evolved people he had yet seen. It was probably the strongest faction in the entire kingdom if you ignored the royal family itself. Certainly, the strongest in Farburg, apart from maybe the local baron.

He had taken not of the scholars within and the shear count, at least twenty individuals above level one hundred, was a lot.

Kent needed to get stronger to accomplish the quest and leave Farburg behind. Thankfully the Institute was teaching him a lot of the stuff that he would need to know to make the best use of his skills.

And thankfully, most of the people weren’t combatants, something a lot of the magisters prided themselves on.