Sam sat down at the dining table in the chair that he normally sat in and ate the plate of food that had been left out for him. His mother likely left it there for him before heading over to the clinic. His sister was also nowhere in sight and was likely either playing with friends in the village somewhere or had been dragged to the clinic with Mother Sam thought. Sam was enjoying the quietness of the house while eating his breakfast before a knock sounded on the door to disturb the silence. Sam looked over to the front door and saw a man dressed in the uniform of the mail guild. Sam was slightly confused as the mail guild normally stayed in town and hired locals to transport the mail to all the villages. Sam finally decided to put down his fork and get up to answer the door sighing as his peaceful breakfast was now put on hold.
Sam opened the door and greeted the mustached man standing on the doorstep. “Good morning, how can I help you”. “Good morning are you Samuel Holdridge?” the man asked him. Surprised Sam answered the man “I am”. “Here you go, here’s the letter and if you can please sign the receipt confirmation form that would be appreciated” the mail man said. Sam took the pen offered out to him and signed the form before handing him back the pen. “Thank you sir, please enjoy the rest of your day” the mail man said before he turned around and returned to the horse and cart he had left on the road next to the house. Sam walked back inside and close the door before studying the letter in his hands. On the front of the letter his name was written in a deep blue ink. Flipping the letter around there was a red wax seal on it. Sam used identification on the seal to confirm the origins of the letter. ‘Ping’ a system notification sounded in his head as the dialogue box for the identification showed in front of him. Taking a quick look at the notification, he saw that he had gained a level for his Item Identification before returning his focus to description of the wax seal. ~ Wax Seal of the office of the Director of the Royal Academy of Keivania. To release the seal, hold your finger to it for 5 seconds~ Sam was stunned by name on the seal. The Director of the Royal Academy, but why Sam thought as he finally held his finger to the seal for the required 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds were up Sam heard a click come from the seal. The seal had broken horizontally down the middle allowing him to open the envelope.
Sam pulled the letter out of the envelope and opened it up to reveal the letter was written in the same deep blue ink that his name had been written in on front of the envelope. As Sam read the letter the utter disbelief at what he was reading showed deeply on his face. The letter read:
Dear Mr. Samuel Fredrick Holdridge, First son of Sir Arnold Gallian Holdridge,
The Royal Academy of Keivania would like to first congratulate you on receiving a full honors scholarship to the Royal Academy for the next three years.
This scholarship includes the following:
- Fully paid tuition for the full three years of attendance at the academy
- A dormitory room including furnishings
- 3 full meals per day for as long as you are staying within the dormitory
- All mandatory class materials and literature
- A weekly scholarship payment of 1 Silver coin
- Transportation from your home to the academy grounds twice per year
- And exclusive lifetime access to the Academy’s library
The first official school day is on 01/10/12076 which is the Academy’s entrance ceremony. All scholarship students are expected to attend the entrance ceremony. It is recommended that students arrive at the academy one week prior to the entrance ceremony.
Transport has been pre-arranged with your departure set for 28/08/12076. This date is based on an average travel time of 4 weeks from your village Kait to the Royal Capital with the expected arrival being just over a week before the start of the school year.
Included with this letter are the following:
- A parental/guardian consent form that must be completed and returned upon arrival at the academy
- A list of Mandatory and Elective classes
- A list of prohibited items within the academy
- Rules and procedures guidelines booklet
All students are to have submitted their elective classes to Academy administrators 3 days prior to the start of term. All students are expected to be familiar with the academy rules and procedures before attending the entrance ceremony on 01/10/12076.
Parents and Guardians are invited to attend the entrance ceremony if they so wish and may be invited to attend further events in the future.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Office of the Director of the Royal Academy of Keivania within a week of the start of term.
Yours sincerely the Royal Academy of Keivania Director Kalioli Brikter
Sam read through the letter his mouth hanging open by the time he had finished reading the letter’s contents. How had he received a scholarship to the Royal Academy? He was the son of one of the lowest ranking nobles in which most nobles didn’t even consider real nobles who had never left the barony let alone gone to the capital. He had never applied for a scholarship and was only attending the local academy because he had to go by law. Now he had somehow received a scholarship to the most prestigious academy in the country which he hadn’t applied for. Not to mention not only was everything free but he also got paid to attend, which in his mind was completely insane. Not only that, but he was also paid a whole silver coin a week. This was more than three times the amount his father got for having his noble title. What was also insane was the fact that he only has 4 days before his expected departure. This allowed him almost no time to prepare for the journey and that was if his parents even agreed to let him attend he thought.
He then turned his thoughts to how he had in fact received a scholarship and what he had done to get it. Despite his best effort nothing came to mind that could explain how he had gotten the scholarship. The only thing he could think of is if the academy picked one person out of the whole country and he had been the one to be picked but he was pretty sure that wasn’t a thing. He couldn’t do much until his parents arrived home, so he decided to read through the list of classes as well as the rules and procedures booklet. If he was going to attend the Royal Academy he was damned sure he was going to know all the rules and procedures by heart before or if he started. He wasn’t going to lose a chance like this by accidentally breaking the rules.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Sam to a look over both the list of classes and the slightly larger than palm sized booklet of rules and procedures looking back and forth from each before eventually deciding to start with the list of classes. He placed the booklet back on the table and began to read through the list of classes. There were a total of 5 mandatory classes and 4 elective classes for a total of 9 classes. Looking over the list some of them had multiple options to choose from. The classes where there was no choice were Mathematics and Finance, Culture and Etiquette and a class called skill up. The first two were self-explanatory however Skill Up left a lot to the imagination. Sam read through the simple explanation of the class. “This class is focused on teaching students more Natural Skills and Pseudo Skills as well as teaching them how to manifest their heart forged constructs”. Well, that’s an incredibly useful class Sam thought. The local academy he was supposed to be going to had no classes like that. He was starting to get even more excited about the prospect of going to The Royal Academy.
Sam then began looking at the mandatory classes that had two options to choose from. There were two of these classes where you could pick one or the other option. The first one was either Weapons Combat or Healing. Sam supposed most who focused on healing would have those with them who could defend them. He would definitely choose Weapons combat so he could properly learn how to use his sword. He expected, however, that there might be a steep learning curve as a lot of nobles were taught the basics of combat before they entered any senior academy so he might have to do some extra practice to try and catch up.
The second of the classes with two options was either Magic Combat or Equestrian. He assumed equestrian would be learning to ride a horse which he already knew how to do so as well as already having the horse-riding natural skill so he would be choosing the Magic Combat class for this one. He however wondered how well he would do since he couldn’t use magic and didn’t know how to use his mana other than the basic manipulation taught to pretty much everyone when they’re young.
Sam decided to move onto the list of elective classes the first one was what truly caught his attention. The first listed elective class was dungeon diving; he immediately read the description for the class. “Dungeon Diving will cover all the basic skills needed to begin dungeon diving as well as allowing students to dive into the local dungeons and to prepare them for further diving of dungeons”. The description didn’t really give him much to go off of, but it sounded like it was exactly what he was looking for. Dungeons are full of a variety of monsters and would allow his God of the Reaper blood skill to develop much quicker than his current method.
After Sam’s excitement over the dungeon diving class had died down he read through the rest of the elective classes. Magical Arts which was Alchemy, potion craft and enchanting which seemed quite interesting and useful. Battle Tactics and Strategy which Sam didn’t think he would really need as he wouldn’t be leading any battles. Advanced Etiquette which seemed incredibly boring, domain management which seemed like a class just for noble children who would take over their parents or assist their husbands and wives with managing their domains. Advanced combat which seemed like it would be good but once again a steep learning curve if it relied on him actually being semi competent in combat to begin with. The next one listed was dancing, which once again seemed boring and the last one that caught his eye was Advance Equestrian. Which he guessed was for those who chose equestrian out of the mandatory class options or those who already knew how to ride well. This might be one he would also be interested in he thought.
After having read through the classes available at the Royal Academy he proceeded to read through the banned items list. It was a list of items that were either illegal or would cause disruption or damage if improperly used so it was all pretty self-explanatory although there were a lot of items on the list that he had never heard of before. He next moved on to reading through the rules and procedures.
The rules were fairly self-explanatory as well and they were what you would expect from any academy however the procedures were extensive and complicated. These would surely take a while to memorize if his parents agreed to send him to the Royal Academy, not that he expected them to say no so long as they believed it to be real, which was the main question. Sam knew it was real, the system confirmed it, but it was so out there much like his blood skill being mythic that they might not be able to believe the truth that is right in front of them, that and his mother would likely not like him going so far away from home.
Instead of what he had originally planned to do that day Sam spent the morning reading and memorizing the rules and procedures for the Royal Academy while waiting for his parents to come home. It was a little past 4pm when both his parents along with his little sister came home together. “Hi Mum, Dad and Charlotte” Sam said as they walked in. “Hi Sam, what you been up to today?” his father asked him. “Well, I got up late and had breakfast and then a Mail Guild member delivered me a letter which turned out to be a scholarship for the Keivanian Royal Academy” Sam said. Both his parents were silent for a moment before they looked at each other and asked to see the letter. Sam passed the letter over and they read it, clearly using their identification skills to confirm its legitimacy.
His father was the first one to question him. “Samuel, how did you apply for a scholarship to the Royal Academy” he asked him. Uh oh this wasn’t how he thought this would go. Why was his father using his full first name? This didn’t bode well he thought before he answered his father’s question. “I didn’t apply for a scholarship” Sam answered. His father went silent again. Next his mother asked him “If you didn’t apply for a scholarship then how did you get one” she questioned narrowing her eyes at him skeptically. This wasn’t quite going as he had expected both his parents seemed very serious and almost upset about it. “I don’t know how I got it” Sam replied tentatively “There isn’t anything I can think of that would have prompted me to get it” he said. “You haven’t told anyone about your blood skill?” his father asked. “No, no one, and either if I had how would they have known about it so quickly?” Sam replied answering with a question which resulted in him getting a frown in return. “The weirdest things have started happening. I supposed we can’t not let you go considering the value of the scholarship” his father said. “But you don’t have much time to prepare, only 3 days before your due to be collected based on what the letter here says.” “I know, but it’s not like I need to get anything ready to take with me other than some clothes, my equipment and some food and also maybe some money. I guess that’s a few things to get ready, but I will be prepared” Sam said showing a confident face to his parents. “Very well, pass me that form we need to fill out” his father said reaching over for the form.
Sam handed it to him and watched as he was about to fill it out before he stopped. “Sam, can you take your sister out for a bit, I need to talk with your mother”. Sam’s smile faded, how had he not noticed how quiet his mother had become. Suddenly he realized that she had tears welling up in her eyes. He quickly grabbed Charlotte by the hand and took her outside to the yard. He hoped his mother wouldn’t be too upset with him leaving and that his father would be able to convince her to let him go. He knew it was hard for parents to let their children leave home but this wasn’t an opportunity that they would let got to waste despite not wanting to separate from him, right? he thought to himself.
He spent around 20 minutes playing outside with his sister before being called back inside. As he walked in his mum grabbed him into a big hug. “I don’t want you to go but I suppose it’s not much different than going to the local academy. Just be sure to come back whenever you get the chance” she said. “Okay Mum, I will” he said as he hugged her back. After his mum finally let him go from the hug his father passed him the completed form. “Keep this with the letter and other papers and keep them safe. Put it in your bag so that it’s not forgotten. The last thing you want to do is arrive in the capital after a 4-week journey to realize you have forgotten it” his father said.
Sam quickly collected everything up and made a mental checklist of the items as he placed them into his bag. He had the form, letter, list of classes and the rules and procedure booklet he double and tripled counted before he closed the bag satisfied that he had everything he needed. He had a quite dinner with his family and spent the rest of the night thinking about the adventure that was about to begin. It would be his first time ever leaving the barony and he couldn’t push down his excitement as he lay in bed trying to sleep the thoughts of the journey to the academy, dungeon diving and learning combat filling his mind.