Chapter 3: Emberbridge (1/2)
Mich sat down alone on a bench and spent the rest of the time he had to wait, contemplating how to get a girlfriend, but instead of coming up with anything useful, he just got lost in thought about all the attractive woman he had seen today. About ten to thirty more people came into the room over the next twenty minutes. Eventually, the woman who had stamped his paper came back in and started to speak.
"Alright, everyone! The more prestigious schools have already finished packing up and leaving, so soon we will be heading out to Emberbridge. when we do follow behind me and sit on the wagon I tell you to, it will have the symbol of our school on it, the same as on your paper."
The symbol the woman was talking about, was an oval on top of an hourglass. as for why a school called Emberbridge would have an hourglass on the symbol was beyond him. But, as he turned his attention to the woman, who was about to speak, one of the boys, talked up.
"what's your name sexy?"
The boy winked as he said so, And while He might have thought it sounded cool in his head. to Mich though, it looked very stupid, and apparently, the woman seemed to agree with Mich.
"Jane, but if you dare, talk to me like that again, I will burn your legs off."
When she said that, Mich was sure that he saw literal flames flickering in her eyes. This seemed to scare the boy, seeing as a wet spot formed on his pants, reminding Mich that the boy was, in hindsight, a fifteen-year-old boy. With that fact most likely being the only reason Jane hadn't already made good on her threat. After that, we were forced to help Jane take down the stand, and carry it to the wagon that was prepared by the school. And after a small break, where we were given hard bread and water, we started moving out of the city, and onto EmberBridge.
Unlike the journey to the city, the wagon here was big enough to fit everyone so nobody had to walk, which was a godsend to Mich who was in the body of a young aristocrat, that never had to do any hard labor in his life. Mich's seat in the wagon was close to the coach area where Jane was, so he was able to politely as her some questions about the school. Jane, who seemed to be happy that at least one of her underclassmen was polite, was happy to talk to him. It ends up that Jane was a third-year student at Emberbridge, so she knew most of the info Mich wanted to know, and even some that were useful, but he would have never thought to ask like whether the color of the robes people wear have meaning. and the answer to that question would be a yes. At Emberbridge there are five different robe colors. Red, Orange, Blue, White, and Black. each robe demonstrates how many classes you have passed. if you had a red robe, then you were still in the first set of classes, with orange being on the second, blue the third, and white the forth. With black robes being reserved for teachers and staff alone.
I asked why there were only four different sets of classes when schooling is supposed to last five years, and she kindly replied to me that most won't complete a set of class every year, having to repeat some once or twice, but for those who do, are given the option to spend there fifth year either taking special one on one, advanced courses with the teachers, or taking electives.
After traveling for the rest of the day it started to get dark, so they stopped to set camp, at a marked lack on the map Jane had. The lake was quite large, being about 1/4the the size of a football field. Sadly Emberbridge was one of the poorer schools, and as such wasn't able to afford to pack tents for all of them, so they either had to use ones they brought themselves or if they didn't bring any, camp inside the weapon, with Mich being in the second group, he didn't have much to do, so he strolled around the edge of the lake, when he suddenly remembered the quest system.
He wondered if he had already completed the quest to be accepted into a school, or if he would have to wait until he got to the school's grounds before it was considered complete, and he could get his QP. Deciding now was as good a time as any, he opened the quest menu.
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Archived Quests +
Active Quests:
N/A
Generate Quest +
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Mich was happy to see that the quest he had was already completed, he also noticed the new part of the quest screen, the "Archived quests" that wasn't there the last time he checked it. when he selected the plus, the same window he saw when he generated the quest appeared, except there was a "completed" mark next to it.
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Going to School (completed)
Get accepted into any magician's school.
Reward: 1 QP
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and after checking his status, he indeed saw that where he had 0 QP, it instead said that he had 1 QP. Having seen that kid that had three affinities, Mich felt quite anxious to increase his own affinities, so he decided wasting time he could use to get more QP, would only disadvantage him.
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Quest generated:
Stepping on the path of Magic
Awaken as a magic user
Reward: 1 QP
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Mich's first reaction to gaining this quest was... aggressive. if all he was going to get from quests were one point, it would be like trying to reach max level in an RPG by only killing level one monsters, to put it another way, just about impossible!
Mich started kicking the ground violently, until he slammed his foot into a rock, stubbing his toe. The pain fueled his anger, but it also helped him regain his reasoning. So he sat down and started taking deep breaths to calm himself. In... and Out... In... and Out... After calming himself down, Mich tried to think on the bright side. From what he had gathered, not all quests would give one point, even if the limited data he had said otherwise. and with how easy it was to complete his last quest, then this one would take no time at all.
But this track of thought brought up the question, what does it mean to 'awaken as a magic user'? it was very vague so it could mean anything, but if Mich was to take a swing at it, it most likely meant he would have to cast his first spell. But how easy is it to cast a spell? Mich had started pacing in a circle, to help him think of an answer to this question, but he stopped, how does the system calculate how many points I get? as far as Mich could see there were two options.
1. Points are given depending on how dangerous the quest is
2. Points are given depending on how hard the quest is.
These options would Determine a lot for Mich's future. If it was one, then he might be screwed. If he was to assume that danger level determined how much a quest gives, then the time it takes to cast your first spell could take years but would have little danger, thus giving it a reward of one. However, if it was two, then casting your first spell would be easy, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything. As Mich was walking around again, he was speeding up his speed, the more intense his thoughts were. And by the time Mich was sprinting, he slammed his feet on the ground, sending waves of pain up them, but Mich didn't care, because he had come to an answer, and that answer was Jane. Jane had been attending Emberbridge for three years, surely she would know how long it takes to cast a spell, or for that matter, what 'awakening as a magic user' meant.
It took Mich several minutes to walk back to camp, where he found a large pot of soup, being cooked over a fire by one of the girls that would be joining Mich at Emberbridge. as he hadn't eaten anything in several hours, and had just worked up a sweat running around so much, the smell wafting out of the pot was very tempting to him, however his hunger for knowledge, and closure over his curiosity, was greater, so when he spotted Jane, he jogged over there as fast as his tired legs would carry him. Jane who was fiddling with something in her hands noticed him and looked up at him
"what's up? you walked off as soon as we got here?"
"I just had some thinking to do, but I actually have a question, if you wouldn't mind answering?"
She did something with the thing in her hand for a moment, then put it away.
"Sure I'm not doing anything anyway, what is it?"
"how long does it take for someone to master there first spell?"
"first spell? for someone with 2nd-grade talent, on average, four days"
After Mich heard that, he came to the sudden realization that it didn't really tell him anything. if it only took a few days, then it still could be either theory, the question he really should have asked was,
"what does it mean to awaken as a magic user?"
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