Chapter 34: A favor (I)
I let out a breath of relief. Hunched over, I was coding for the next big thing. To me, the Light Magic Stones were truly a blessing in disguise. Endless hours of working without having to go to sleep, giving oneself the maximum time to do what I wanted to do. Every night, the town was decorated with these new lights giving it a soft glow.
Today, I was working on a particular stone, different from the rest. I noticed that the mufti-colored Rule Stone had many uses, but was the most difficult to make.
An E through C level Rule Stones, a pretty decent coder could make. While D level Rule Stone was a lot more challenging to create. The number of people that needed to work on this was high. From my understanding from Phil, an expert magician would fall under this rank to make these Stones.
Phil was a genius with magic. His understanding and aptitude were above even a Grand Magician. I had difficulty making multiples of C level Stones for now without depleting all my magic, but Phil could make them quickly and efficiently. I was only able to make two level C Magic Rule Stones at a time. I knew my skills and magic control was increasing every day, but it was not possible to make a B or higher right this moment.
There were also more chances for the Magic Stones to fail in completion as the levels became higher. Every time I work on a level D, the chances of things breaking apart increased by tenfold, while a level C would be thirty times more prone to breaking.
Stretching my arms, I looked around to see the children that I was teaching were all diligently studying. It warmed my heart to see these kids working hard. The class that I was teaching was the only class that I taught. My class consists of the orphans, Terry, Sal, Sam, and Phil.
Sal and Sam set up their own classes and divided up their times in reteaching the materials to larger classes. I, on the other hand, liked my classes small, while Sal and Sam did an excellent job in controlling a larger class.
Not only that, older teachers from the Zenrick family who were willing to learn about the language studied under them, and different classes that taught other subjects were brought to the classroom. A new school system was beginning to be quickly established, where Elementary, Middle School, and High school was roughly divided. Even though the classes were small, it made teaching much more manageable.
Strangely, the language of the Ancient Draconian Language was slowly becoming incorporated into everyday life. I didn't notice at first, because everyone sounded as if they were already talking in one language. I swear this language skill is quite useful. It wasn't until Phil told me that he has heard the Ancient Draconian Language more often in town incorporated into their everyday lives.
Don, on the other hand, was working on a big architectural project in building up an academy from scratch. I could already tell that the project was a priority and could not wait until it was finished.
Without Duke Hon's help, the new school system could not be established. Even still, he governed his people wisely, giving motivations and hope to his people. I still remember it as if it was yesterday in what he said.
"Duke Hon's are you sure you want to take this position as a Headmaster?" I asked.
"Absolutely. My assets were destroyed from the Goblin attack. I am sad to say I don't have anything to give back to my people except my wealth of knowledge. With that being said, I believe as well that I must leave behind what I can." He spoke with a light laugh, enjoying his new position as if it was already his.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to your land?" I asked, wondering if he was really regretting that he lost his home, but the way things were turning out, he seemed to be enjoying staying here.
Duke Hon shook his head. "It is foolish to even attempt it. Already, my people feel safe here. Compared to the land that we were living in, our lives have drastically changed to your Magic Stones. I do not think we would want to leave after what Don, Phil, and you have done."
"It wasn't much. Honestly, it's all Don who had planned out the groundworks. I was just fooling around with a couple of Magic Stones."
"Fooling around?" Duke Hon barked out laughing, shaking his head at me. "Either way, your teachings have revolutionized our way of life."
I thought about what he said and could not help but feel happy. My cheeks were burning red from his compliment.
"Though what did surprise me to see was that you were a young lady instead of a child. I heard from Phil it was because of a curse that made you revert into such form."
I nodded. "Yea, it's something that I don't know how to get rid of."
"No matter, even now, the title of Duke is just a name and is no use to me anymore."
"Wait, are you saying you are splitting up from the kingdom?"
Duke Hon's eyes became chilly, and he nodded slowly. "I am no fool. The king has left us to fend for ourselves. My loyalty is no more to that wretched king." He spat in disgust. "No matter, let us not dwell upon such thoughts. There will come a time when my family will be called by the king. Hopefully, he will not take notice for another hundred years."
I was shocked to hear such vehemence coming out of his words. To see the anger in his eyes, I knew that the loyalty that Duke Hon had was gone. It was never to return again, even if the king had called for him.
My thoughts were brought back to the present as I looked around the classroom. My students were sitting in front of me with paper and pen on their lap. It was not like the traditional setting with a desk in rows. I was worried about their safety, so I set up an extra barrier around myself to contain any unforeseeable explosion.
Sal, Sam, and Phil were the only three that actually were inside the circle watching and making sure everything would not go wrong. They had grasped the understanding of the language the fastest.
Don wasn't usually present, just like me, he was given the ability to understand the languages though he couldn't read or write it. So, he's been working diligently to understand the new languages. Even the other five Adventurers that came to this world were the same. They, on the other hand, did not have any interest in learning what I taught.
"Teacher!" One of them raised their hands. A young boy named Tom with curly hair spoke out enthusiastic.
"Yes." I looked over towards him.
"Why are there different colored stones?"
I went quiet. It didn't hit me until now that I never did explain to them why they were different colors. "There are different elements."
"Really? How many are there?"
I thought it over. I only knew what I had, not fully understanding how many were really out there in the world. "So far, what I know is that each stone has one primary and a secondary element. The primary ranges from fire, water, sound, void, earth, and air. The secondary are electricity, ice, light, dark, wood, and ether. The colors are Red is fire, blue is water, the sound is white, the void is black, the earth is green, and the air is light blue. The secondary are the same color but much lighter in hue."
"Then can we use all of them?"
"No." Phil spoke out first.
"Wait, Phil, aren't you being a little too harsh?"
"I'm not."
"Why do you say that?" Confused, I asked.
"Humans can use one primary and secondary element. This also applies in magic and coding the stones." Phil spoke. "I cannot code elements that I do not have a natural affinity for."
"Really?" My eyes became wide. It made me wonder what elements Phil could use. "Then how are you able to make a Rule Stone?"
"I have a variety of ways." Phil did not give any more than he had too.
"Then what elements are you?"
"My primaries are fire, void, earth, sound and secondary are electricity, wood, light, and dark. Though I specialize mostly in void and dark elements."
"That's not bad." I was quite awed to hear that he could use so many. He was a demon lord for sure.
The other kids were shocked when they heard that Phil can use so many elements.
"What about you?"
"Uh...All." I spoke.
Everyone became silent. They did not have a single word to say. Phil just nodded his head as if he expected such things.
"Don't worry, it is better to specialize and work on one element and become proficient in it." Phil spoke to the kids. "Having multiple elements does not mean one is powerful, it takes long and hard work to even get one up to a master level. There are other races out there that can work with at least two to three."
My mouth was forming into an O. Then it hit me, that meant I did not have a single element that I was good at. It made me sad to think that even if I did have control over every single element, I would still be a beginner. With that being said, I thought of picking one to focus on for now.
"So, how do we test what elements that we can use?" Tom asked.
"A mage's crystal ball. We don't have one here, though."
The kids were disappointed.
"Wait, I think I have an idea. Give me a bit of time, everyone goes into self-study."
Reaching into the box of Magic Stones, I pulled out a level C Rule Stone that had not been written. I began to write words quickly and fluently. My hands were jotting down words that came into my mind. Everyone watched with curiosity, none of them crossed over the protective magic stone barriers that I had set around me. They all knew that it was a taboo to step inside a coder's space.
It didn't take too long, but I was finally able to finish. The Rule stone magically shifted and changed into a perfect circle. It didn't have it's normal crude edges and instead was soft and round. I could tell that it was not a Rule Stone anymore but something completely different.
"Done." I spoke satisfied. I could feel a large amount of energy drifting out from me and into the stone. Even though it was the first one that I made for the day, it took quite a large amount of energy from me, making me queasy.
"What is that?"
"A Magic crystal ball. Same function as a mage crystal ball that you spoke of."
Phil was the first one to get up and came over.
"Just inject your energy into the crystal ball and for people who don't know how it does it for them." I handed him the crystal ball.
Phil took it from my hand and rested it on his. The magic ball shimmered as four lines appeared out, forming into smaller circles. The respective colors of the elements of red, black, white, and green with a soft glow of a secondary color appeared surrounding it. A white numbering glowed in the middle of each color while with stars.
"Impressive. Though what are these numbers situated in the middle of each color?"
"Their strength levels of each element. One being the weakest and ten being the highest and the golden stars represents the tier level. One star is the lowest and five is the highest." I spoke casually. "Also a black star instead of a golden star tells me if they can code or not in the element."
Shocked Phil look at me. "Did you just say that this thing grades your strength?"
I nodded. "Why is there something wrong with that?"
"No. It's just a Mage's crystal balls can't do that." I realized I made a mistake, no, I tried to hard and made things way more complicated.
"So, what level are you?"
"Fire/electricity level three with two stars. Earth/wood level three with two stars, Void/Dark level five with three stars, light/ sound level one with one star. All of them are black stars."
"Not bad." Though it made me wonder how strong Phil's dark and void element was. It made my skin crawl thinking about what a level five power could do.
"What was yours?" Phil looked up to me, curious.
"Um everything is level one with five stars except light/sound that is a level three, three stars. Every single one of them is black stars." I sighed. My levels were mediocre compared to Phil's extraordinary handling of his.
"Can we try it?" Everyone was staring at the stone with excitement. They got up and headed towards Phil.
One-by-one, the kids were tested. Out of the majority of the kids, they were more primarily earth and water Elementalist with only one sound. There was not a single void or air specialist in the group. Though most of them were only able to code only their primary element and one with both their primary and secondary elements in a black star. It made me wonder if this skill called coding was actually a lot more difficult than I expected it to be.
It hit me how difficult it was going to be to find people who could make more of these light lamps since so far only Phil and I were producing them. But now, with the Magic Crystal Ball, it was easier to differentiate who could do what.
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