Chapter 3

  Valder, Alverez, and I spent an hour going through all my new skills. Alverez was a little more than intrigued by this development. By the end it began to feel like he viewed me as a test subject and not as a patient. He grabbed all kinds of magical devices and mana crystals. For me to test out and use. If the device required a mana input from the user I was stone walled by a pop up screen informing me I couldn't use it. This repeated over and over until I threw the last device at Alverezs head. He caught it effortlessly without even looking up from his tablet.

  “ Rin! I understand you're getting frustrated however.” Valder spoke out and I cut him off, turning on him. Every window that popped up felt like a knife in the gut, a reminder that I would never achieve my goal, that I'll be stuck in old Xulun forever, never moving, just stuck in limbo. My anger had boiled over, my anger at myself, the anger I felt at the government and the systems that were in place. Everything that had led me to this point just pissed me off.

  “Fuck you Valder, you don't understand I don't care what struggles you may have gone through to get where you are now but none of it could ever be close to this. I have no magic, I can hardly use magic tools now, my dreams are just shattered. Like what am I even supposed to do now, can I even attend Hunst Academy anymore or are you just going to drop me off back in Old Xulun and say good luck.” I had said that last part in a mocking tone. This anger wasn't me and I regret it as soon as it left my mouth my father has taught me better but fuck it just felt easier to feel this way right now.

  “Rin” Valder said with an impassive face “ It doesn't matter if you have no magic.” He held his hand up to cut me off before I could talk. “ You killed two fully grown skreen that in itself is a feat, a task comparable to a high end town ranker and you did that with no magic. That skill Overclock is most likely the reason. What you have isn't magic but another system of power that gives you strength. Hunst Academy will welcome you regardless of what has happened. Go learn how to be an adventurer and train your skills to develop a style that is you and you alone.”

  “As much as I would hate to agree with Valder.” Alverez said “ He is right, your skill artificer seems to have a heavy emphasis on crafting gear, we just need to find what works.” Alverez had moved away from his laptop and was sorting through some magical gear, he picked up a glove and a water crystal placing the crystal into a socket on the glove.

  “ Try this, it's meant to produce an elemental shield based on the crystal placed inside.”

  I reluctantly put the glove on and examined it. There was a small circle of silver engraved around the socket with lines shooting out and down the finger wrapping around them.

  “ What's this silver engraving?”

  “ Those are words of command. Most people can cast their own elemental magic without using the words however there are some rituals that require them as well as magic items that are meant to function without user input. It's a course you should take at the academy.” Valder said and Alverez nodded his agreement. I flexed my hand and tried pouring in mana. A window popped up again and I cursed as I read it.

  [ Activate water type crystal (yes) (no)]

  I paused for a moment before mentally and hesitantly saying yes. The crystal glowed and water began to form from it slowly turning to ice as a kite shield form. I could feel it like an instinct. The words of command told the mana to form into a solid mass and create this shape but it felt like I could tell it to change and mold to my needs and for the first time in the last hour my anger slipped away replaced with excitement. Alverez was telling me something but I ignored him. I willed the shield to a larger size and another pop up window appeared.

  [Crystal output has reached maximum capacity; to create a larger mass. Skill overclock must be used.] I pulled back, letting the ice shield shrink to a small buckler. I thought of a gauntlet forming from the ice as it wrapped itself around my fist, the ice responded quickly to my thoughts and almost without delay.

  “ I can use an overclock on this should I?”

  “YES!” Alverez yelled excitedly as he was back behind his tablet typing away furiously. I breathed in returning the shield to its normal kite form before mentally slamming it with an Overclock command; the shield exploded sending ice shards flying at both Valder and Alverez. The shards hit some kind of barrier around the two men. Small water droplets burst around Alverez while Valder had a slight shimmer around him. The water crystal was shattered inside the socket.

  Valder drove his car through the city. We were on the surface level beautiful trees and parks filled with grass passed us by the walk ways where wide and open. Rows of buildings populated the space between the parks. We were just leaving the adventurer administration. I had thought it was going to be a hassle for me to sign up, however Valder along with a certification of approval signed by Alverez made the process a lot easier. The clerk tried to give me a hard time when I told them I had no magic. They had let out a long exasperated sigh and began grabbing stacks of paper sorting through them picking out specific pieces. Valder stopped them, handing over the certification and his own adventurer badge. I couldn't help but feel ashamed. It felt like I was just being dragged along by someone more important than me and that made me angry but what was I to do. I couldn't help but imagine if I had done this on my own I would of been stone walled or maybe captured and studied. If Valder wasn't with me to get the implant removed would Alverez kidnap me and study me? The way he looked at me made it feel that way.

  Hunst Academy was on the outskirts of the city located across eight different buildings that formed a half circle with the rounded portion following the edge of the city bubble.A large castle spanned across the four most inner city buildings. Large walls grew out of each side of the castle ending when it met the city bubble creating an inner courtyard. The main building of the castle was a blocky construction like one block placed on top of another and carved into a castle. It had two square towers on the east and west sides that the courtyard walls sprouted out from with a central tower in the middle. Valder drove us through a portcullis entrance on the northwest side. Parking his car in line with the others that were located just on the other side.

  The whole Academy looked like it was straight out of a fantasy video game. A central fountain was located in the middle of the courtyard. Students mill about talking with one another somewhere playing board games, real old analog style board games.

  “Here at Hunst we try to minimize the use of technology. Not get rid of it completely. However, we encourage our students to be more independent of it to help prepare for situations where you're in a dead zone.” Valder said getting out of the car

  “Makes sense I guess…hey I've been wanting to ask why you have been thrown around your weight so much for me it feels unnatural.” I followed him through the nicely manicured grass towards the castle.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “That is a complicated answer if I am to be honest.” Valder said

  “Well make it uncomplicated for.” Valder sighed and remained silent as he thought.

  “ I suppose the best way to answer that is. I saw a spark in your eye Rin that simply reminded me of myself.” Valder said.

  “That's way too cliché . I need a better answer than that.” I said.

  “ Cliché or not, that is the only part of the reason I'm willing to admit. You don't know this but there is security footage of your fight with the skreen. It is a little hard to tell what's going on in the footage due to the chlorine gas but for a moment when you were ripping the head off that skreen you can see your face. That's where I saw that spark and I saw it again when you got that glove to work.” Valder waved and nodded to the students as we passed; he seemed well respected. Some of the students stared at me turning back to their friends to whisper.

  “There's a video? Do you have it?” Valder turned to Rin and laughed it was a deep boisterous laugh completely opposed to the way he acted and looked.

  “ Is that really what you took from what I said?”

  “Well. Yes I bet it looked cool.” Valder laughed again, his hand slapping his face with a smile; it wasn't that unusual to want to see your first fight.

  “ You seemed mature for your age and with the life you had I expect that. But you really are still a child.”

  “ God you sound like the old heads on my crew when you say that.”

  I took the old fashioned key from Valder and unlocked the door into my new dorm. Once we were both inside I tried placing the key into my inventory. It was a grid like system ten by twenty for a total of two hundred spaces, the key and my identchip took up one space each. I could arrange them in my inventory however I wanted. This seemed very convenient. I would have to try putting in larger things. To see their size. Looking around the room there was a simple wooden desk with the kind of chair you would find in most office environments. I picked up the chair and put it into my inventory. It only took up two spaces. I pulled it back out. The chair appeared in front of my hand slamming to the ground with a clatter.

  “That is your inventory skill I presume?” Valder asked his butler mannerisms back on full display. I had already moved on to the tall wardrobe squatting down to lift. I knew that I needed to be able to hold the item in order to place it into my inventory. My muscles strained themselves as I lifted the wardrobe the moment I lifted it off the ground and tried to put it in a window popped up.

  [ Items that require strenuous muscle activity have a one minute restriction before being allowed to be placed in the inventory.]

  One minute huh? I can do that.

  “Don't mind me Valder I'm just testing things out please continue with whatever you were talking about.” I groaned the words out as I struggled to hold the wardrobe.

  “I had assumed. As I was saying this will be your dorm for as long as you stay here at Hunst Academy. Once you start your career as an adventurer you may rent the room out. I have sent a porter to retrieve your personal effects, those should arrive by the end of the day so no need to worry about that.” Valder grabbed a tablet off the bed.

  “ This tablet is now yours to use. Use it for class work, recreational activities, or whatever else you can think of. The tablet will update with your class schedule in a few hours. I have signed you up for a few I think would help develop your skills.” The pop up window changed as soon as one minute passed.

  [Time requirements met item has been granted access to inventory space.] I quickly pulled the wardrobe in and sighed with relief. It only took up four spaces which seemed odd for how big it was but I guess the spaces have some kind of unknown calculations going on the key and item so small it could fit in my normal pocket was only one space where the chair was two making a rectangle in my inventory and there was a huge size difference between the two. Panting from the work out I took the tablet turning it on.

  “ Is this something that was included in my scholarship?” after confirming it would turn on I pulled it into my inventory. Another window popped up.

  [ Compatible electronic device detected.] Huh? I can play with that later.

  “Yes,” Valder said. “ Along with a week's worth of academy uniform. They were in that wardrobe. It is honestly startling to watch it just vanish.” I pulled up my inventory screen and mentally selected the wardrobe to pull it back out. Instead another screen popped up with a list of the items located inside.

  “ That's interesting.” I said “Hey Valder I know dimensional storage containers exist, even though I have never seen one. If you were to place another container inside it what happens.”

  “That depends dimensional storage is a bit finicky. You could place a regular bag inside it. However, you can't access the contents of said bag until you pull it back out. If you were to fill said regular bag and then place it inside the dimensional storage bag, the dimensional storage bag would fill as if all the contents of the regular bag were being placed into the dimensional storage one at a time. You can place a dimensional storage bag inside another dimensional storage bag however, both bags must be empty and you would then no longer be allowed to place anything inside the original dimensional storage. Effectively making both bags useless.” I explained what happened with the wardrobe after putting it into storage. Valder prompted me to pull out some uniforms. I found I could take them out and even equip them from inside my inventory, whatever clothes I was wearing at the time disappeared leaving me naked for half a second before the new set appeared to fit perfectly onto my body. Valder called for someone to bring us dimensional storage bags so I could try putting them into my inventory. I could however, the bag with the smallest storage space took up 50 squares and I quickly determined that it would be better to just wear the bag normally then keep it inside my inventory. Valder spent a few hours with me genuinely intrigued by my inventory skill. The excitement he showed at new discovery seemed completely different to his butler-like persona although I suppose I could understand the personality change he did work for an academy hell his last name was on the building. He eventually left once day started to turn into night leaving me to my own devices.

  Sitting on my new bed I sorted through the box that was my old life. I didn't own much of note so the box didn't have much in it. Aside from all my clothing that I had already taken out and placed into the wardrobe that was still in my inventory. I had my old laptop, repair gun, and my lamp I placed all of them in my inventory a similar pop up window from when I put the tablet into my inventory appeared I waved it away. With a sigh I placed the empty box on the floor and laid on my back. It didn't feel right. Being here I mean, I'm located only five floors from the surface on the dorm level and tomorrow I start schooling. The guys back at the yard but be so excited for me right now, Ms.Lons, and peter would be happy to hear that I got into the most renowned academy in Xulun.

  To be honest I would be lying if I didn't admit I was nervous. I hadn't been to school in years and this school was for the rich. How would the other students view me? Will they hate me? Maybe try to bully me or get me expelled for not having magic? None of that would work so I guess I shouldn't worry. So much has happened today I decided to open my stats sheet and look at the date and time. Apparently just having the tablet in my inventory gave my interface skill access to new options. It now had a time and a date as well as the ability to access the pads usual functions.

  [ Time: 20:36 Date: Sunday the eighteenth of the summer quarter.]

  No this hasn't been one hell of a day, this has been one hell of a weekend. I should start asking more questions. I assumed I was only asleep and in that hospital for a few hours but I was there for more than a day. It didn't really matter. I now had something to look forward to and my goal hasn't changed. I still want to leave this planet and explore the universe, I want to help the people outside of bubble cities and not just work for rich assholes and politicians just to take home barely enough to survive. I still had a long way to go before I could achieve my goal but this was a good first step.

  [ Name:Rin Wezts]

  [ Race: Human ]

  [Level:1]

  [ Stats: Strength 10, Constitution 8, Dexterity 8, Intelligences 7, Wisdom 10, Spirit 4]