Bab 15: Orientation
James looked at the golden key his master had given him. It glowed brighter as he headed in the correct direction towards his dorm. It took him several hours to reach his destination.
Virgil was waiting outside of the dorm area. A bright golden barrier of mana covered the dorm making it impossible to see what was inside. "Yale! I just got here. It took hours for me to climb up this high. We're so lucky! The golden dorms have much higher concentration of mana than the silver dorms. The higher up the mountain you go the denser the mana gets. Ordinary 1st year students could never come up this high without special permission!"
James nodded, "I really have been lucky today. That Skeleton guy took me has his disciple. He seems pretty important?"
Virgil responded in shock, "You're Skeletons disciple? Do you even know who he is? He's the leader of the dark element for the entire academy! He's a 9th grade magus. Damn, I'm jealous!"
"Jealous? You have dual elemental affinity for fire and lightning? I'm the jealous one! Shouldn't you be able to easily find a strong master with your talent and status within the kingdom?"
Virgil sighed, "You don't understand. I am one of the more talented students this batch but how many 9th grade magi are willing to take a student? The academy only has eight 9th grade magi altogether. Most will only take between five to ten disciples throughout their entire lives. Skeleton is an oddball who loves taking disciples… Come to think of it, you should be careful. I've heard rumors that he has a rather… unique teaching style. Anyways, enough of that. Let's head inside."
The two walked through the golden mana barrier. The keys in their possession automatically allowed them to pass through. James was excited upon entering. A high status golden dorm. He wondered if it was a palace, a castle, or some other amazing home!
"Eh?!" James exclaimed in shock, "There's nothing here? It's totally barren?!"
"Hahahaha! You should see the look on your face!" Virgil hunched over in laugher, "You really know nothing about the academy. Didn't you notice all the different building styles on the mountain? Every student builds their own housing. The only consistent buildings are the lecture halls used for classes."
As James and Virgil were chatting the barrier shook once more and a third person entered. He had long brown hair that reached his back. His eyes were brown, and his skin had a very dark tan. He was slightly shorter than Virgil. He spoke, "Oh? I already have two roommates? How unusual. I heard it's rare for 1st years to be assigned golden dorms."
Virgil turned to look at the newcomer. "Hello, I'm prince Virgil Drake. My favorite food is steak."
James followed up, "Hello, my name is Yale Dusk. My favorite food is pizza."
The newcomer made a confused expression, "I'm Adam Mire. My favorite food is... fish. Why are we introducing our favorite foods to each other?"
James and Virgil both started laughing. "Haha! Did I do it right Yale? You said I should tell people my favorite food instead of telling them my background story?"
James was hunched over in laugher, "That's not what I meant idiot! Haha, that was so damn stupid!"
Virgil complained, "Then why did you follow-up with an identical introduction? And what the hell is pizza?"
"I just went with the flow." James stopped laughing and made a serious face, "As for pizza. It is the food of the gods. The most delicious thing in the world." Some drool hung down from his lips, "Someday I will make pizza even if I must travel the world for the ingredients!"
Adam coughed, "Ahem, don't forget I'm still here. Anyways, since you guys are here then you must have high status. Virgil, I assume you're here because of your status as a prince of Drake Kingdom? I am the new disciple of Stone-Saint. I have peak-grade earth elemental affinity and high-grade water elemental affinity. What about you two?"
Virgil groaned while grabbing his dragon horns in frustration, "I'm the only one without a 9th grade magus for a master? I'm so jealous! I have high-grade fire elemental affinity and high-grade lightning elemental affinity. Actually, I'm only here because Yale requested it from his master."
Adam nodded, "Oh. Well with your talent you should still be able to find an 8th grade magus as your teacher. What about you, Yale?"
They both turned to look at James waiting for his answer. "My master is Skeleton. I'm his 73rd disciple. And… Uhm…" James cheeks blushed in embarrassment, "I have mid-grade dark elemental affinity."
Adam and Virgil's eyes widened in shock. Then Virgil burst out laughing, "You had me going there for a second Yale! That's hilarious! Seriously, what's your affinity?"
"…I was serious. Master took me as a disciple to piss off someone called Inferno? He did it for fun."
Adam nodded, "I've heard Skeleton has an odd temperament. Inferno is a 9th grade magus of fire and is the leader of the fire element within the academy. It's well known that those two don't get along at all." Adam raised his head as if to look down on James, "I normally wouldn't mix with an inferior student such as you, but since we're roommates I'll make an exception in your case. Just don't let it go to your head. Hmph."
James muttered to himself in disbelief, "Is Adam a tsundere?"
Virgil waved his hand in the air and a large tent appeared on the ground. It looked like it could comfortably fit 20 people inside of it. "We can use this for now until we finish building a place. What do you guys have in mind? Should we build three simple rooms? Or something bigger?"
Adam snorted, "We are important individuals of the academy! Obviously, we must build something grand and imposing. I shall not let my master lose face by living in a shabby dwelling. Just give me two weeks to become a 1st grade magus in both earth and water. Then I'll build us an extravagant castle! My elements are the best suited for large-scale construction!"
Virgil nodded, "Okay. We'll use my tent for now and leave the building to you. I plan on taking classes to become an artificer. It should take me around two weeks to become a 1st grade magus as well. Then give me another month and that should be enough for me to make some basic artifacts."
James questioned, "You're going to make artifacts? And it will only take you a month to learn how?"
Virgil smiled, "If it's just simple 1st grade artifacts then I should be able to. I'll use 1st grade fire magic-cores to make some basic heating artifacts for the castle. I'll use 1st grade lightning magic-cores to create basic artifacts for ceiling lights. They won't be as good as light element artifacts, but they should come close."
"You're a prince, right? Couldn't you just pay someone else to build the castle and provide the needed artifacts? We'll still need water artifacts as well right?"
Adam snorted, "You haven't even read the academy rules yet have you? Whatever. You'll find out during orientation tomorrow anyways."
James responded, "Eh? Orientation? Where is that?"
Adam yelled, "You don't even know that?! Did your master not tell you anything? You should have received the academy handbook right after entering the school!"
Virgil laughed and smacked his own forehead, "My bad! I forgot. James was whisked away by Skeleton right after entering. I grabbed an extra handbook for him." He waved his hand in the air and a small blue and gray booklet appeared. He tossed it towards James. "Anyways, I'm going to get some sleep. I want to get up early for orientation tomorrow. Later." Virgil headed into the tent to sleep.
The next morning the trio headed down the mountain together. Normal 1st year students headed up the mountain towards their classes. However, the golden dorms were even higher up the mountain than the classrooms.
They reached a large building made of a mix of stone, wood, and glass. The plaza outside the building had hundreds of 1st year students chatting. The trio entered the building and saw that several hundred students had already arrived before them.
Adam looked around with disdain visible in his eyes, "So many students. They take at least a thousand each year. I don't understand why they don't raise the requirements. Only students with peak elemental affinities are truly worthy of entering this school."
Virgil's mouth hung wide open, "Do you want them to only take five students a year?! The school would be the smallest in the world within a few centuries if they did that!"
Adam snorted, "Quality over quantity. Oh, you and Yale are okay though. It's not like I dislike you or anything, so don't misunderstand."
James tried to stifle his laugher, "He's definitely a tsundere! To think they actually exist."
There were still a few seats left open in the front row. The trio took them and waited patiently. Roughly an hour later the entire room was filled with 1st years. The first week of orientation had combined classes for all the new students. Orientation covered the basics before students were divided by elements.
A man and a woman walked onto the stage. Surprisingly, James knew both of them! They were Inferno and Lumi! James turned to Virgil and whispered, "Hey why is Lumi up there? Is she a teacher here?"
"Haha! How can the city lords daughter be a teacher? She's only 18. I heard she recently broke through to become a 5th grade magus. The academy should be preparing to have her act as a teaching assistant. Once she breaks through to the 6th grade in five to ten years then she'll probably be promoted to teaching 1st years of the light element."
Inferno and Lumi walked across the stage. Lumi took the microphone and spoke, "Greetings, new students. I am Lumi Brine. I will briefly explain the rules of the academy before handing the stage over to Inferno. For the full rules please refer to your student handbooks."
Lumi began to introduce the rules to the students. The important ones were basically 1. Fights between students are forbidden except in the form of faculty-approved duels. 2. Dorms must be built by the students themselves. It is a form of self-discipline and an opportunity to build useful skills. 3. You must reach the levels of a 2nd grade magus and knight before being allowed outside the academy. There were many other rules, but most were minor ones such as wear the academy uniform whenever outside your dorm.
Next, Inferno took the stage. A deep voice rang out to the whole hall, "Hello students. For this entire week I will be teaching you the basics of training as both a knight and a magus. Some of you may already know these techniques. You can choose to not attend the rest of the week if that is the case. Now, let us begin with the basics of knight training..."
Inferno's lecture finished, and the trio exited the hall. James felt his head swimming with new information. Virgil sighed, "What a waste of time. I've long known all of that information. I was hoping there would be some new information for me. I think I'll just skip the rest of this week's classes and begin my training."
Adam smirked, "Not everyone is privy to the information. Most of us can't learn the information without joining an academy or the army."
James nodded in agreement, "I didn't know any of that information either. It was all new to me."
Virgil yawned, "Whatever! See you guys later. I'm going to go pick up chicks. This plaza is filled with them."
Adam and James headed back towards their dorms together and discussed the days lessons. Like this, a full week passed in the blink of an eye.
James was currently sitting in the tent of his dorm area. He muttered to himself, "To think the training was so complicated. No wonder people need to be taught instead of discovering it on their own." The information for knight training was far more complicated than James had expected. It wasn't something most people could discover on their own.
To train in the first three stages as a knight it involves absorbing mana. These three stages are extremely safe to train it. This is because the mana exists in a tame, gaseous state. Before training as a knight, the person's body must have already absorbed the maximum amount of mana naturally. Most people meet this requirement by the age of eight. This naturally absorbed mana actually only exists within the skin and muscles. To become a 1st grade knight a person needs to control this internal mana and force it into the skeletal system. The 1st stage is complete once the skeletal system is full of mana. To reach the 2nd stage the knight controls their internal mana and forces it into their internal organs. Lastly, to reach the 3rd stage the knight must control their internal mana and force it into their brain. Once the entire body is filled with gaseous mana then a knight can begin training in the 4th stage.
To train in the 4th, 5th, and 6th stages is far more dangerous. Most training deaths occur during these stages. These are the compression stages. In the 4th stage the knight must compress the gaseous mana in his body. Then he must exhaust his body to absorb more mana from the world. This is extremely dangerous, as failure to keep the mana compressed can result in the body exploding. To reach the 5th stage the knight must compress his mana until it changes from a gaseous state into a liquid state. Then the knight must compress the liquid mana and continue absorbing mana from the world. To reach the 6th stage the mana must change from a liquid into a solid. Despite being solid, the mana maintains high levels of flexibility and elasticity. Once the entire body is filled with solid mana then a knight can begin training in the 7th stage.
The 7th 8th and 9th stages are known as the conversion stages. These stages are also dangerous. A knight must control the internal mana they've absorbed and slowly convert it into their elemental attributes. A 7th grade knight will have less than 10% of their mana converted into their elements. An 8th grade knight will have less than 50% of their mana converted into their elements. A 9th grade knight will have between 50% and 100% of their mana converted into their elements. The reason this process is dangerous is that a knight is taking their human body and changing it directly into their element. Rushing the process can result in death. However, this stage is safer than the 4th-6th stages as long as you're careful.
The first three stages of knight training mostly just consist of increased strength and durability for the knight. They can also use their elemental aura on their body to increase their offensive power. However, this aura is extremely weak since the mana absorbed by the body is attribute-less and in a gaseous state. The aura will appear as a very light glow on the knight's body when used. The color of the aura will vary based on the knight's elemental affinity.
The 4th-6th stages of knight training results in large increases of strength and durability. Although the mana they've absorbed is still attribute-less, the quality of the mana causes the aura to glow much brighter and do much more damage.
Shocking changes occur during the 7th-9th stages. The more mana that has been converted by a knight, the brighter and more powerful their aura becomes. More importantly, the body becomes increasingly difficult to damage. If a fire attributed knight has 50% of their mana converted into their element, then their body is literally made up of 50% fire mana. A knight that reaches 100% is completely resistant to physical attacks. Even if a fire knight's head was stabbed it would only result in flames scattering before coming back together in the shape of his head. The only way to kill him would be to make him completely use up all of his mana.
James was in awe when thinking about what knights could do at the higher stages. In comparison he was slightly disappointed by what he learned about magi. He sighed, "To think magus training is so complicated. It doesn't even give you an amazing body like knight training."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
SnoozySloth
SnoozySloth Information dumps take so much longer to write. We're finally getting close to the training arc! Woo!
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