Chapter 340 - Catching Up
Kai sank into the chair with a groan. An arched window lit the table with two piles of books and showed a sliver of the gray winter sky. They were in one of the private reading rooms that lined the edge of the Domus Arcanum, large enough for a dozen students, though now it was only them.
His problems had loosened their grip as he wandered among the shelves.
“I’ve never understood your fascination with libraries, but this one is pretty neat. Too bad we can’t bring food.” Flynn sat across from him, his smile looking half-worried and half-teasing. “I thought I had it bad, but it looks like they’ve run you ragged. You can take a nap if you need. You don’t need to run yourself into the ground. I can start checking the books and wake you later.”
“No, I can’t—” Kai stopped himself from saying he couldn’t afford to waste time. The nights spent studying his notes and texts were starting to wear on him, but nothing he couldn’t handle. His vision wasn’t blurring, and he remembered how he had gotten here—he was fine. During the years in the Hidden Sanctuary, he had pushed himself much further.
“I’m okay. Just a little—” Kai stifled a yawn with his palm. “…tired.” He used a burst of Body Augmentation to push back the drowsiness.
Thank Yatei, I’ve passed General Elemental Magic Practice.
He still planned to attend more lectures and test his other elements for advanced classes, but for now, those empty blocks were a lifesaver. Precious breaks to keep him sane.
Flynn gave him a skeptical look. “Just take care of yourself. Remember you told me training is about consistent efforts and not sprinting.” He crossed his arms. “How am I going to survive if you work yourself into an early grave? Think of me too. You can’t leave me to spend a year surrounded by hordes of condescending patricians alone.”
Kai rolled his eyes and chucked despite himself. Patricians made up only a third of the students in Martial Studies, compared to over half in Mana Studies. Still, he appreciated Flynn’s concerns. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he had missed his stupid jokes. “You won’t get rid of me so easily. I’ll be fine once I get some sleep this weekend.”
“Uh… Wait! What did you just say?” Flynn abandoned his theatrics, leaning on the table. “You get the weekend off?”
“Yeah…? Just one day,” Kai said. For the first two months of Winter Intake, his schedule included six days with ten to twelve hours of classes, and one day of rest. It was an insane program, only possible because the students had reached Yellow, and even then, the academy was pushing the limits.
“Man, that’s so unfair.” Flynn slumped in his chair with a sulk. “I only get half a day to rest. And it’s an afternoon. I still need to wake up at dawn for daily practice.” He ran his fingers through his tousled hair with a sigh. “I thought I was enrolling in a fancy academy, not an overpaid boot camp.”
“That does suck,” Kai swallowed a teasing comment, deciding not to kick him while he was down. “But you know, you’re allowed to change your mind if you don’t like Raelion.”
“Nope, over my dead body!” Flynn straightened with a glower. “I’ll be ashes before I let those smug jerks see me take a single step back. I’m going to graduate from this stupid academy in four years, be that the last thing I do.”
Hmm, someone must have really ticked him off.
“I’d also like to see you stick around,” Kai said. “There is just so much stuff to learn and do. And everyone here seems mad one way or another.”
Besides the patricians and the professors, even the commoners appeared to, well… lack some aspects of common sense. Everyone he had overheard was miffed to have no servants at their beck and call, and shared strange ideas about wealth.
Maybe I shouldn’t be the one speaking. I’m richer than most of them…
“Guess the fancy mages must be even worse. But really, everyone?” Flynn raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile. “I saw you having fun hanging around Valela and her friends. You didn’t waste time mingling as soon as I was gone.”
“We barely cross paths going to the lectures,” Kai snorted. “You should give it at least a couple of weeks before worrying about getting replaced.”
“Ah, I see how it is.” Flynn mimed a stab to the heart. “After everything we went through, I’m getting thrown out like a pair of old boots. What a heartless friend."
“Don’t be dramatic. As I said, you’ve still got a couple of weeks of good use before replacement,” Kai waved away his sorrowful act. He enjoyed hanging out with Valela, but he wouldn’t bring up that now. “Lys and Renaira are fine when they don’t drive me crazy. It’s like they’re always in on some joke I don’t get. Like, is it them, or is there something I’m not getting?”
Flynn nodded with an empathetic smile. “Nothing that comes to mind, really.”
Uhm… Is he making fun of me?
Honestly, his brain was too spent to care. If it were important, someone would have told him.
Probably just some inside joke.
“What of your other classes?” Kai asked. “You mentioned something about daily practice? How do the brutes of Martial Studies spend their time?”
“Lots of fun and miserable things. On the first day…” Flynn reenacted his last week, playing the voices of several professors, his roommates and fellow students—successfully diverted.
They had crossed paths a couple times in the last days, but only had minutes to catch up. After days of rush, Kai enjoyed joking about the absurdities at Raelion.
Both their schedules were ludicrous. While Mana Studies had six theoretical classes out of seven basic courses, Martial Studies had only four classes of theory, with more hours dedicated to physical exercises and sparring.
“I’m nearly certain my professors are running bets on who can make more students quit,” Flynn whispered with his best conspiratorial voice. “And I know for sure that most patricians in my class already studied the courses before enrolling.”
Neither of them was particularly worried about practice classes; filling the gaps in their knowledge was a different story. The academy tightly guarded information about the curriculum before enrolling, but that must only apply to people without connections.
“It’s the same in Mana Studies. Minus the bets.” Kai furrowed his brows in doubt. “At least, I think…”
“I’d investigate if I were you. No matter how uptight they look, there are gamblers everywhere,” Flynn said. “Anyway, you had no idea what I had to do to get a break and come here.”
Seeing he was waiting for a prompt to elaborate, Kai debated keeping silent before relenting. “What did you do?”
“Well, it was during one of my classes, Basic Stealth and Reconnaissance or something…” Flynn grinned and threw himself into another dramatic retelling. How he had goaded a professor into announcing that if any student completed a test on their first try, they would also pass the course. The story contained a suspicious number of mishaps and wit he’d managed, though the certificate he proudly pulled out looked genuine. “He couldn’t walk back since he had said it in front of the entire class. So, that’s how I passed one of the mandatory courses this morning!”
Kai gave him a congratulatory clap. “Congrats! That’s great news.”
“Thanks. Huh…” Flynn’s eyes narrowed at his lackluster reaction. “You’ve also passed a course, haven't you?”
“Uhm… yes. Three days ago. But hey! Your story is still very impressive. My class wasn’t nearly so dramatic. I just passed a test with perfect marks through overwhelming skill and talent.”
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“You’re such a killjoy,” Flynn harrumphed. “I should have known better than to compete with a born anomaly.”
“C’mon, I’m sure you’ll beat me to pass the second course. I can barely understand the rest…” Kai took his turn to vent about the lectures and professors.
“I think you're doing fine,” Flynn said once he was done. “You can’t expect to recoup subjects the other students have studied for years in a week and get full marks. As long as you pass the courses, you can go back to them if you think they’re important.”
Mhmm… I can’t break my streak either.
Kai shook his head—Flynn probably had a point. “We should get on with those.” He gestured to the book gathered on the table, reading the titles on the spines: One Hundred Remarkable Skills, Foundations of Excellence, The Path of Ascension, and a dozen more.
Skill paths and status planning were definitely where they needed to make up for the biggest gaps.
Flynn stretched his arms above his head. “Honestly, I’m surprised you resisted for half an hour without jumping on those dusty tomes. You must be really exhausted.” He patted the books. “I asked the librarians and a few friends for suggestions. They said these were the best. I’m almost glad first-years can only browse the ground floor of the library; even with the criteria we said, I had to halve the books twice to narrow down to these ones. Want to check one pile each? Or you’ve got a specific idea of what you’re looking for?”
“Nah, give me a pile.” Kai pulled the leather covers toward him. “Unless you have a skill in mind?”
“Nope. Or rather, I have too many.” Flynn scratched his brow, looking at his pile. “Let’s note down if we find anything interesting. Then we can make a list and discuss them, going by exclusion?”
“Sounds good.” Kai opened the pages to start browsing the first volume, The Paths to Academic Success.
Admittedly, they had underestimated Raelion’s standards, and they didn’t want to just barely pass the courses. With the cost of the tuition fee, they must squeeze the academy for all it was worth. And if they were struggling, there was an easy solution—learn a skill that fit the issue.
Easier said than done.
Kai closed the text he had been skimming, adding a few lines to his notes.
Inquiring around for advice, they had run into another problem—the library had too many damn skills to choose from. Every person they asked had a different suggestion. They could spend a week reading skill names and still not be done.
That was only counting the more mundane abilities. Advanced mana and magic paths were stored in the academy's many vaults, requiring special permission to look through them.
They needed to set priorities and narrow down their search.
First, we need to pass the basic courses. Then, we’ll worry about the rest.
It didn’t matter how many amazing skill paths there were if they got expelled in the next two months. And passing their courses with good grades meant they had to catch up on the education that most students spent years acquiring.
He needed a skill to study better and faster.
It wouldn’t be the most glamorous ability, but it was a solid way to keep up now that he was here. Valela had made the funniest face when she found out he had enrolled at Raelion without a Learning skill.
It’s not like I didn’t want. I never had the space…
There were skills to study faster, skills to memorize better, skills to understand deeper. Every choice had a hundred variations, ranging from the most general ones, such as Basic Recall and Quick Learner, to those that specialized in specific subjects, like Alchemy Adept or Mathematical Intuition. Then, each variation had a dozen more skill paths with specializations to evolve them in different directions.
He even found a book that delved into meta-skill paths that would help him learn and level other skills faster.
Alright, this would have been nice to know years ago.
To be fair, it sounded a lot like Gifted Novice—the passive skill he got from Mana Child. The benefits seemed minor, but every little bit added up over time, and the benefits increased depending on how specific he wanted to go—
Alright. Stay focused. First, I need a skill to pass the courses. Then, I’ll worry about the rest.
With some reluctance, he scribbled a note and closed the tome, moving on to Foundations of Excellence.
“Mew.” Hobbes appeared among their books an hour in, preening on the table to show off his shiny new collar. He watched them utill Flynn gave him a handful of fish snacks that somehow he always had on hand.
“Is that new? It looks great on you, buddy.” Flynn scratched under his chin, glancing at Kai. “It’s very shiny. How much did it cost?”
“Please, don’t ask me. I don’t want to think about it.” Kai closed another book and massaged his eyes. His wallet was still mourning the loss; all the mesars he had won betting with the patrician boy during the intake and more besides.
All for a shiny rock I can’t use.
Kai rubbed his eyes to wake up. Even flooding his body with mana had stopped working. He needed a nap and probably a shower.
He summoned his status screen to distract himself. Google seaʀᴄh 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝙣𝙚𝙩
To learn a new general skill, he needed to discard another. Luckily, he had a pretty good idea of what. Both Advanced Hunting and Treasure Sense had served him well in the Sanctuary, but they’ve been of little use since he escaped.
He might have looked into their potential evolution if they were higher—or easier to level. As they were, researching them would only waste his time on unrealistic dreams.
I need at least one skill for memorization. And another to learn things faster, unless I can get them both into one…
Having two skill slots open could give him some interesting evolutions, using one to get better evolutions and specializations in the other, or directly unlock a superior variant.
So many damn possibilities.
His eyes moved back to his status.
He didn’t get the chance to train Enchanting, Alchemy or his profession skills much in the last two weeks, but for those skills that he did use, his time at the academy had rewarded him generously. Every level in his mana skills had been a chore since reaching Yellow, and here it felt like being back at Orange.
Huh, wait… I’m almost at my next race enhancement.
Amidst all the new classes, his race upgrade had slipped his mind.
With a week of XP pending, he could reach Yellow ★★ this moment if he wished. The attributes might help as much as a new skill. He was almost tempted before remembering the consequences of the process.
The library might not be the best place to writhe and scream while he reforged his body.
One more day won’t kill me. Sleeping won't be the only thing I do this weekend.