Percy lazily stood up, making his way to the door. Internally, he was a lot more anxious than he showed, of course. His heart raced at a hundred miles an hour, as did his mind. But he forced himself to walk as casually as he could, trying to appear normal.
‘Well, this lock ain’t helping.’ he frowned, taking a little longer than he’d like to figure out how he was meant to unlatch the mechanism.
If his visitor found the delay strange, he didn’t show it. It was another boy, slightly taller than Leo. His hair was a couple shades darker too.
“Hey man… Just thought I’d check up on you, since you missed today’s Affinities class. Everything alright?”
Luckily, Percy had just about read enough of the diary to get a handle on his host’s life. His scattered memories also helped put a name to the face. This guy was Klatz, one of Leo’s closest friends.
“I’m fine. I felt a little off earlier, but I’m better.”
The other boy creased his brow, seemingly unconvinced.
“You sure? You’re not still taking those pills, are you?” he asked, trying to peer into the room.
“That’s none of your business.” he snapped. “I said I’m fine.”
“Look… I’m just worried about you. You’ve been missing more and more classes lately. Those things can be dangerous.”
Percy relaxed a little, not wanting to come off as too confrontational. Leo was technically on good terms with this guy. It was a fine line he was currently treading, trying to protect his privacy without alienating one of his closest friends in the process.
Part of him felt guilty lying to the kid about his dead friend. But he figured it wouldn’t change much if ‘Leo’ overdosed a few weeks later than he was meant to. At any rate, the opportunities here were too precious to waste.
“I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself. Thanks for dropping by.” he said, softly closing the door. Hopefully that was the correct blend of politeness and rudeness.
Truthfully, he knew he’d have to minimize his contact with others. They were unlikely to suspect their buddy was possessed by an alien ghost just because of an awkward interaction or two, but he’d rather not take any more risks than necessary. Besides, there was nothing for either party to gain by keeping the charade up.
Returning to his bed, he opened the diary again, picking up right where he’d left off.
‘An academy, huh? I always wanted to attend one.’
The concept itself wasn’t foreign to Percy, though such institutions weren’t exactly common on Remior. Nobody cared about educating commoners, and each noble House typically took care of their own children, teaching them the language and a few basics before leaving them to themselves. Even House Avalon, which was larger than the average noble House, didn’t have enough kids to justify any type of formal schooling. Anyone who wanted to study more could just dig into the family’s library, much like Percy himself had done.
The only exceptions to the rule were the Great Houses, as they had enough people to warrant organized teaching. The most notable example was House Etna, which had built a kind of runecrafting academy for their convenience. Over 90% of their students came from House Etna itself, though they often offered a few spots to some of the other Great Houses, usually as bargaining chips in various deals.
From what Percy had heard, the Alchemists’ Guild had also considered building an academy in the settlement. More than once, in fact. But the talks never led anywhere – mostly because Remior already had enough elixirs for all the people who mattered.
Either way, Percy could study all sorts of things during his time here.
‘The only issue is, I can’t stay forever.’
His main body was still possibly on the run, so any benefits he obtained might need to be delivered in a timely manner. Even if that hadn’t been the case, Percy always tried to manage his time efficiently.
‘I guess I’ll need to focus on the most valuable things.’
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Returning to his host’s desk, his eyes landed on a small piece of parchment – a memo – scrutinizing it carefully.
‘Rising Day – Pre-casting 3
Sword Day – Geography 7
Falling Day – Affinities 5
Resting Day – No classes’
Percy scratched his head, trying to make sense of the timetable. From what he could tell, days on Felmara passed about twice as fast as they did on Remior. It actually hadn’t been that long since he arrived here, but it was already dark outside.
Suffice to say, the natives couldn’t get nearly as much done in a day. Students only had enough time to attend a single class for a few hours each morning. They then had the afternoon to themselves for studying, followed by a short nap at night.
Their weeks consisted of only four days, which the natives could tell apart based on the orientation of Felmara’s twin suns in the sky. Due to the way the world rotated, this changed with every passing day. If the suns lined up vertically, it was a Sword Day, whereas if they lined up horizontally, it was considered a Resting Day. The two diagonal orientations in-between were the Rising Day and Falling Day, accordingly.
As for the academy’s courses, they were designed to last a term each – about 15 weeks, or a month in Remior’s time. Every student picked three topics to focus on during each term. Percy still had no idea how long each student was allowed to stay in the academy, or what the requirements were for graduating.
‘It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I can spend longer than a term or two…’
Luckily, the current term was due to end in a couple of days. There would be one week without lessons, before the next one began. While Percy was interested in all sorts of topics, he knew he had to carefully pick the subjects he wanted to concentrate on during the coming term.
Grabbing a thin booklet from the stack, he blew the dust off, before reading its title.
‘Proudheart Academy Curriculum’
From its state, Percy knew it had been ages since Leo had last needed to consult the booklet. It didn’t take students long to familiarize themselves with what the academy offered, and to choose whatever subjects they were interested in. But Percy would have to read this more carefully before making his mind up.
‘Let’s see… No way I’m keeping Geography. I can also safely rule out History, Natural Resources, Fauna, Flora, Local Dialects, Cultural Studies and Politics. Music, Painting, Calligraphy and everything else under Arts is out too. Same for Psychology and Biology. Heck, these things might not even apply to humans.’
Not that he wasn’t a little curious about this place, but none of these things would matter to him much once he was gone. Well, Natural Resources might hold something interesting, but he didn’t think he’d be able to get his hands on anything particularly precious in the limited time that he had. And even if he somehow did, he’d have no way to bring it back home.
‘I can consider dropping Affinities too, if I run out of slots. It’s just a broad overview of various mana types and the ways in which they’re commonly used.’
It wouldn’t be the worst topic to study – he might learn about a rare affinity he’d never encountered before or get some ideas about his own magic. Still, this stuff wasn’t unique to Felmara. Spending his limited time on it sounded like a waste.
There were plenty of courses diving deeper into specific affinities too. Each of the common ones had a bunch. Sadly, this wasn’t the case for rare or composite affinities. The academy probably didn’t have enough students interested in those at any given time to justify employing teachers to run those classes. Besides, Leo had an air affinity. He wouldn’t be able to explain a sudden interest in a different one…
‘It’s a pity. I guess I’ll have to seek out that girl if I really want to develop my soul magic further…’
In any case, there were still a bunch of topics he was interested in. The only thing that annoyed him was that he’d only have the time for a couple courses in each subject, at most.
‘Well, Cosmic Studies is a standalone class anyway.’ he realized.
According to the booklet, they’d teach him about the universe and the various factions operating in it. Hopefully more than what Remior’s gods were willing to share with the populace back home. Granted, he might be able to learn this stuff in the Vault too, but it would cost an arm and a leg.
‘I’ll take it. And I’m keeping Pre-casting too.’ he decided.
As far as he could tell, pre-casting was a rather useful technique which everyone could master, regardless of their affinity. It didn’t sound like the most ground-breaking invention, but it was something unique to Felmara, which instantly bumped its priority by several spots in Percy’s mind. The only issue was that his host was already taking the third part of the course, and Percy couldn’t remember anything about the previous ones.
‘Maybe I can figure it out from Leo’s notes. If he’s the type of guy to write a diary, there’s a good chance he documented his studies…’
If that wasn’t enough, he could try the library. At any rate, he had a whole month to figure out the fundamentals. Afterwards, he could slowly develop the rest back home.
‘So, do I pick Runecrafting or Alchemy for the final slot?’
Both held the potential of teaching him something new, but he figured any runes he learned here would be a downgrade from the Vault’s. Not to mention that they simply wouldn’t be compatible with his own, and he’d have to learn a brand-new language.
That said, he didn’t think that the local branch of alchemy was much better than what he knew either, but he figured the odds of gaining some valuable insight in this field were slightly higher.
‘Hmmm… But Leo never took Alchemy before, and I don’t know if the first part of the course is the most suitable for me. Tomorrow’s Resting Day. I should hit the library before finalizing my choices.’
Having come up with a preliminary plan, Percy turned the lights off, trying to get some rest. He knew he didn’t have long before the suns rose again. He was fairly happy with the subjects he’d picked, and there was something else to look forward to.
There was another course that was handled a little differently than the rest. It was mandatory for all the students of the academy, and it was gradually taught throughout their stay – not during a single term. Percy hadn’t found many details about this in either the diary or his host’s memories, but it certainly sounded like something he should look into.
‘Mana Flow, huh? I wonder what that’s all about…’