Chronicles of the True Wizard

Stepping through the portal from Telviras, Felix arrived in what appeared to be a completely normal room. The walls were smooth grey stone or concrete and the floors were tiled.

Felix had been expecting something completely mind blowing from what he had been told was the most prestigious school in the multiverse. This seemed, like a normal building or school. It was nice and clean, the walls and tiles of the floor completely unmarred. No signs of aging whatsoever but still, it was completely mundane where Felix had been expecting something awe inspiring.

However, he almost immediately noticed the aether here was different. It wasn't much denser than Telviras or even the planet holding the Usorium ruins but it was even more fluid than either. The aether was like water where everywhere else had been like honey or molasses in comparison. It was pliant and fast while being even slightly denser.

On top of that, the anima around him was similar and Felix could swear it almost hummed with experience. It was like everything it had experienced was significant, it was pliable and fluid just like the aether and at the same time, it was filled to the brim with experiences. Unfortunately, it still wasn't nearly dense enough to harvest and use efficiently, creatures still were, by many orders of magnitude, the fastest way to collect anima even here.

The portal quickly closed behind him leaving him completely alone, along with Grim under his arm and Nova in his robes, in the room. There was a single set of double doors that actually looked to be made of wood on the far wall but before Felix could even consider heading towards them, they opened.

Stepping through the doors, a young looking woman with short brown hair and large glasses approached Felix.

"Welcome to The Eramith Academy."

"Thanks. I'm here to… register and hopefully attend?"

She smiled, "Unfortunately… the application period has passed and all students are already accounted for. The tournament registration closed two days ago and the winner has already been decided. You're going to have to wait until the next registration period."

"Yeah, I meant to be here sooner I just… couldn't quite make it."

She nodded in understanding then frowned, "How did you get here by the way? At this point you would need…"

Felix held up the token he had gotten at the end of his tutorial as she trailed off. As soon as she saw the token, her eyes widened and she nodded, "Oh… You're… Hmmm. Would you follow me please?"

The woman led him out of the room and through the double doors. Together, they walked through a hallway that matched the room he had just been in except that the walls were covered in intricate carvings separated by pillars that reached all the way up to the arced ceilings above. The ceilings themselves looked to be painted or something similar except that as soon as Felix paid attention to them, he could haves sworn they were moving ever slightly. Looking back down, he noticed the very same thing of the carvings on the walls.

She led him over to an open doorway that led directly outside onto a large open park area that stretched out in every direction.

Felix followed her along stone pathways, not flagstone, tiles or cobblestones but a single sheet of solid stone formed the pathway beneath them.

Looking around, Felix saw colorful grass, trees that grew to form benches in their trunks, massive flower beds that formed perfect canopies and other unnatural looking feats of landscaping. As he inspected them though, Felix wasn't sure if they were formed that way intentionally or not because they looked so natural.

The seating in the trunk was covered seamlessly in the bark of the tree and the seat along with the back were formed of roots and knots. Were it not for the branches that formed arm wrests along the side, Felix wouldn't have even realized it was supposed to be a bench at all.

The woman leading him walked much faster than Felix was used to people walking but nothing he couldn't keep up with. They crossed the park and headed towards another building, this one with a more gothic exterior made of dark stone with pillars and many windows.

Heading inside through an empty doorway, she turned down a hall and led him just a few meters towards a door and stopped. Turning to him, she raised a hand, "Wait here a moment please."

Felix nodded and she disappeared through the door. While he waited he looked around and noticed the interior of this building was completely different from the other one they had been in. The walls on the inside were wooden but not paneled rather, they looked like they were made of a single solid sheet which Felix was almost certain was impossible.

Considering how long the hallway was in either direction and the direction of the grain, he was convinced this was some kind of trick and that they hadn't found a tree this absurdly wide.

As he examined the wood to try and find the seams, Felix realized the grain was moving ever slightly. Just a millimeter ever minute or so but enough that he could see it. As he stepped back to see if it was all moving the same way, he realized the grain of the wall itself formed a large depiction of a forest. Almost like a painting but so subtle, he only saw it when he focused on it.

He only had to wait a few minutes before the same woman that had been leading him, opened the door and stepped aside so Felix could enter.

Felix had been expecting an office of a dean or something so he was a little worried when he saw the room looked to be set up for a council to pass down judgement. Felix was led up to a podium in the middle of the room surrounded by a raised half circle desk behind which there were 4 individuals sitting and looking down upon him.

In reality they weren't really paying much attention. One of them seemed to be tapping away at some screen Felix couldn't see.

[?] Raphiasus: Professor of Alchemy (Lvl ?)

Another was adjusting his robes.

[?] Jeplin: Professor of Botany & Herbology (Lvl ?)

One was eating.

[?] Thakorm: Grand Baker Supreme (Lvl ?)

The last individual briefly glanced over at Felix then went back to the book they were reading.

[?] Elkon: Professor of Beastial Biology (Lvl ?)

Initially, Felix wasn't sure if their disinterest should worry or calm him but before he could make a decision, another individual walked into the room from one of the side doors. As they walked in, Thakorm tossed the newcomer something which they caught and promptly started devouring even before they found their seat.

[?] Haris: Professor of Tactics & Strategy (Lvl ?)

As Felix identified the professors in the room, each and every one of them were evidently aware of what he was doing yet none commented on it. As expected, he couldn't see their grades or levels at all. To him, it felt like they varied hugely in strength but he had no idea if some were intentionally masking their strength somehow.

The one who was reading, Elkon, closed their book louder than was necessary then fully registered Felix being in the room, "We have the requisite number of professors here now, shall we begin?"

Walking over from the side of the room where she had been standing, the woman who had led Felix here walked forwards then gestured at Felix while looking up at the professors, "This prospective student just arrived via portal less than an hour ago."

She turned to him and nodded which he immediately understood and complied with. As soon as he presented the token, two of the professors stared at him incredulously, two of them started whispering amongst themselves and Haris, the latest arrival, just giggled as they continued to eat whatever it was they were munching on.

One of the ones who was staring at him spoke up, "You're from the 256th?"

Felix nodded, "Yes."

The one in the middle, Thakorm, who had been initially eating and was later whispering, leaned forwards over their high desk, "Rather early for an integrated. Would you mind presenting your title for us to confirm?"

Felix quickly equipped the title for a few moments until the professor nodded and he removed it.

"Status confirmed by all present. Student accepted?" Thakkorm turned to the others.

A chorus of 'ayes' followed then the woman who had led Felix in nodded and walked back over to him.

The professors all slowly rose from their seats and leisurely walked out as Felix was led back out of the room by the same woman.

"I'll get you registered and show you to your dorm. If you have any questions, please feel free." The woman looked over her shoulder as they walked not quite side by side but slightly staggered down the hall.

Felix sighed in relief, "That was much easier than I was expecting when you said I was late…"

"Oh, you aren't late. That token means you were already accepted. Most of the students are accepted ahead of time and aren't actually here yet. You missed registration but you were an integrated, we don't expect you to send that in ahead of time."

"So there was no chance I wasn't accepted there?"

She shrugged as they walked through the courtyard towards a completely different building, "Pretty much. It's mostly a formality so they can confirm your story with the title. 5 professors witnessing the title makes it nearly impossible to trick them all."

"Oh, well that's a relief. You said registration is closed, how many students are there?"

"We have 528 students registered to start in your cycle, 529 with you." She answered immediately as though she was already very familiar with the number.

"How many students total at the school?" Felix followed her into a building made of stacked, thin stones that was almost like brickwork

"529. There is only one cycle at the school at once. There are students from old cycles here too but they aren't really students, we call them Adepts. They don't attend classes, they're here pursuing research or helping professors."

They walked into a room that appeared to be an office and she sat at the desk, Felix taking the seat across from her as she gestured towards it, "When do classes start?"

"In 8 days. You'll have to choose your classes by then and I'll get you registered. Just make sure you hand them in the day before they start and I should be able to get you into everything you want. Assuming no scheduling conflicts."

"How common are those?"

"Scheduling conflicts? They don't happen for a normal students because we schedule classes based on what everyone registered for. In your case, I finished the schedule last night so there's a chance you get unlucky. If you can get me your class schedule in the next day or two I can redo the scheduling and guarantee no conflicts."

"Where do I find a list of classes?"

"I'll hand it to you after we register you. You can see descriptions and get more information either by tracking down the professor, who may or may not be on the planet, or heading to the library."

"Perfect. What do you need from me for the registration?"

"Nothing. Just give me a few moments to write everything down. Are these your only companions, bonds, familiars?" She asked gesturing towards Nova and Grim.

Felix nodded, "As of right now these are the only ones."

"Does the book have a name or is it not sentient?"

"The book is Grim."

"Excellent. Just to confirm, you are Felix Kade, the spirit is Nova and the book is Grim. Would you like to have your level, class, race, profession, skills, items, extraordinary abilities, faction allegiances, I assume blood relations are not applicable, or anything else registered? All of those are optional."

"Is… there any reason to do so?"

"Recruitment at the end of the first cycle mostly."

"Then no."

She nodded and handed him three tokens that mostly looked like large coins along with a ring, "These coins are bound to you and your bonded companions. It is most common to wear the ring but that isn't necessarily possible with spirits or tomes. So long as either the coin or ring are present, you will be recognized as a student of the school or bonded to one. They also identify your position as an Initiate for those outside the school."

Felix nodded and took the items, handing a coin to both Grim and Nova who stowed them. Inspecting his own, Felix saw the coin looked to be made of some silvery almost white metal. Imprinted on one side was a triangle made of a hammer, a sword and a wand with some kind of letter in the center. On the other, Felix's own face was imprinted surrounded by the name of the school along with his status as a student.

Stowing the coin, he inspected the ring and saw it was a simple flat band with a break in it along the back made of a darker silvery metal. Opposite the break on the outside, the same triangle made of a hammer, sword and wand with a letter in the middle was imprinted. The band was otherwise blank and unadorned.

Slipping the ring onto his left index finger, Felix couldn't find any kind of magical property to it whatsoever making him feel strongly like it was a waste of a gear slot. He always had the coin to fall back to if he found a better ring in the future though.

Clearly sensing his disappointment, the woman smirked, "If you need a new ring just come by and I can replace it."

"In case I lose it?"

"Or break it. It's a bit of a tradition to show off a little by modifying the ring depending on what classes you're taking. Obviously if you have a better ring you can always use the coin though. You'll see what I mean later on."

Felix nodded, "So are you the… head of registration or something?"

"Librarian actually. I also handle registration but it's not a complicated job so, no need to have anyone dedicated to doing it."

Felix was a little embarrassed he still hadn't bothered checking her name, being a little flustered when he arrived then distracted for almost every moment after that so, he identified her now.

[?] El-Essenor (Lvl ?)

She seemed to be just as aware of others identifying her as the professors had been, "You can just call me El, Librarian El, or Ellie if you'd like."

Felix nodded, "Thank you. Would you mind showing me to the library as well once we finish up with all this?"

She smiled and nodded in respect as she recognized the hunger in his eyes for books and the knowledge they contained, "Of course."

Standing from behind her desk, Librarian Ellie grabbed a number of papers from a drawer then neatly stacked them and handed them to Felix as she walked towards the door, "Here is a list of classes along with some basic information as well as a registry of teaching and research professors at the Academy right now."

Felix took the papers and stowed them in his Soul Space, already having scanned and memorized them passively before she had even picked them up.

He followed her back through the courtyard at the center of the campus to another building, this one a tall structure of stone work between tall trees being used as pillars. Once again, the trees were placed a little too geometrically to be natural but there was otherwise no sign that they weren't perfectly normal trees.

Through a set of large metal banded double doors, they walked through a simple lobby and over to a set of spiral stairs that ascended up to the top of the building. As far as Felix could tell, just like all the other buildings he had seen here, none of them were spatially altered at all. The inside perfectly matched the geometry of the outside which Felix found a little odd.

He mused at the irony that he now expected buildings to be spatially expanded as they climbed up to the 9th floor.

She led him down a hall then turned to him, "Any idea what kinds of classes you'll be taking? Your profession or general interests?"

"Enchanting, spells, magic objects. I've heard of Soul Binding so if I can get into that?"

She nodded, "Perfect. This room should suit you nicely then."

Looking around, Felix was surprised to see all of the doors along the walls being so distant from each-other. He realized the rooms probably each contained many bunks but was proven completely incorrect when she opened a door on the right revealing a massive apartment.

Almost as if it were a house of it's own, the room contained a sitting area, an enchanting workshop with all the tools he had seen and used in Inscripticae and more. There was a small forge along with many desks, shelves, tools, suspended clamps and a section with a ritual circle inscribed into a perfectly flat section of the floor.

Off to the right there were two doors. She opened one and revealed a bedroom far larger than would ever be necessary and the other, a bathing room.

"This is your dorm room and will only open to your ring or coin. If you'd like different tools, furniture or layout, that can be arranged."

Felix quickly shook his head, "This is… great, no complaints here."

"That's the end of the standard tour, would you like me to lead you to the library now?"

"If you wouldn't mind, thanks."

She nodded and led Felix out of the room, the door closing itself behind them, then back out of the building they were in and over to another.

Following Ellie into another gothic stone looking building, this one less castle like and more like a clean church in appearance.

Through another large empty doorway, Felix followed Ellie down a hall and through a large set of wooden double doors into a large but not massive library. In fact, the library looked to Felix like a very standard, normal library.

The floors were carpeted and the shelves were wooden. There was a seating area along with a front desk which Ellie sat behind.

None of the books were flying, none of them glowed or were chained shut. It was so mundane, Felix was genuinely starting to feel disappointed with the school in general.

Turning to Ellie, "Could you point me in the direction of the books describing the classes please?"

She smiled at just pointed at the shelves behind him, "Start walking and make your intentions known. If you don't know how, just start talking about what you're looking for."

He frowned but turned and started walking towards the shelves anyways. Unsure what to look for, he started talking to himself, describing what he was looking for and as soon as he started, the floor of the library itself started to move.

Shifting beneath his feet, the threads of the carpet twisted and shifted until there was a clear path for him to follow directly over to one of the shelves. Following it, Felix arrived at a book shelf that was lit by a series of glowing bugs skittering around.

Reaching towards the lit shelf, one of the books slid outwards, protruding from the rest and Felix plucked it off. As soon as he had the book in hand, the bugs all dimmed back to darkness and turning around, the carpet was back to normal.

Maybe not quite as mundane as I had thought.

Walking back over to the center of the library, Felix sat down and opened the book. Though the class list and the book were already memorized, Felix felt like manually setting them out in front of him for some reason. He still used his scan to flip to the right pages instantly but something about the more mundane and rustic vibe of the library compared to Telviras' made him feel like it was more appropriate.

Considering how many students there were at the school, Felix was astonished by how many classes were offered. There was everything from Baking, Sword Play, Metallurgy, Magical Healing, Non Magical Healing, History, Political Science, Alchemy, Micro & Macro Economics to Armor Crafting and Weapon Crafting.

Some of the courses were recommended to be taken together like Magical and Non Magical Healing while others were completely independent. On top of that, some of the courses listed out the courses that would be offered the next Epoch that naturally progressed from their predecessors for planning purposes.

While there were plenty of courses that looked fascinating and Felix would have been inclined to take, he knew not all of them were applicable. There was also the issue of time and grades. If his grades mattered, then he wouldn't bother taking any martial combat classes, as much as he thought it was a good idea to train against martial fighters.

Unfortunately, what he really needed was direction and advice. How many classes were recommended to take? How strong were the pairing recommendations? Were there specific classes he should be taking? The only person he had available to ask with any answers was Ellie so Felix looked up from the book but immediately stopped himself.

Sitting directly across from him, at the same table in the sitting area of the library, despite the 20 or so empty tables around them, was a young looking red haired woman with excited eyes and a very warm smile.

"Hello." She waved as soon as he noticed her.

While Amani and other elves Felix had encountered in the past had melodious voices that were pleasant to listen to, her voice was completely different. It sounded perfectly normal, if a little soft, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Though she had only offered him a single word however, Felix immediately felt a trickle of happiness, joy, wonder and warmth spread through him. It immediately reminded him of his experience at the restaurant Jozusto with Thezan and Rathos after dealing with the Ravens. The effect was muted, but it was pleasant. There no doubt in his mind, or rather his soul though, that she was the source of the effect.

Felix furrowed his brow, "How long have you been sitting there?"

"A few minutes? I sat down a few seconds after you opened the book." She smiled widely and as far as Felix could tell, completely genuinely. She was either very nice, very happy or on drugs.

Before Felix could ask why she was here, the woman sighed, "I haven't decided yet if I should be offended or not that you didn't notice me."

Felix completely ignored her as he could tell she was just teasing him, "Do you need something from me?"

"Nope, but you needed me so… here I am." She winked.

Felix frowned, "How exactly do I need you?"

With completely confidence and unwavering surety, she tilted her head towards the librarian, "You were just about to go ask the librarian a bunch of questions about which courses you should take."

Can you read my mind?

She smiled, "No, but I don't need to read your mind to know your intentions."

"Who are you?"

She giggled a little, "A student, just like you."

[C] Melody (Lvl 1003)

Felix sighed, "Alright so how many classes should I be taking at once?"

"Up to you. Most people take about 4 leaving them with plenty of free time. I'm registered for 6."

"Are there any required classes, classes I'm automatically registered for or classes that I just plain should be taking?"

"No, no and that depends?" She shrugged, "Pacifist?"

Felix shook his head.

"You probably want to take Group Combat then. It might seem like a bad fit at first but I promise it will become much more valuable as it progresses. Solo Combat is also very common."

Felix nodded in acknowledgement, "What about grades, do they matter?"

"Sort of. Depends who you are. For you, probably."

Felix shook his head to clear it, "Wait… why?"

"Recruitment at the end of the epoch mostly."

"Oh I don't care about that."

"What about sponsorships? Are you rolling in credits or would it be nice to have someone paying for everything you do?"

"Wait… how common is that?"

"Here? You're almost guaranteed to have at least one sponsor. The question is how rich are they?"

"Ok, grades matter then. What about the recommended pairings, how important are they?"

"Depends on the class. Some are so intertwined, you'd be a fool not to take both. Often that means it's more like one and a half classes worth of work instead of two though. For all the classes you're looking at, you should take both."

Felix realized she had been reading the book in front of him as he flipped through it an-. Suddenly remembering the effect she had on his soul as she spoke, "Did you make me sit here and read the book so you could follow along?"

She shrugged innocently, "I didn't make you… I may have suggested it though…"

"How did you do that?"

She reached forwards and pointed at one of the classes on the list, "Take this and find out. If you need any more convincing, I'll be there." She looked at him suggestively.

"Am I going to regret taking 8 classes?"

She waved away his concerns, "Nah, you'll be fine so long as they aren't completely new to you."

"Alright so 'Spell Formation' paired with 'Mana Structures', 'Mana Control', 'Solo Combat', 'Group Combat', 'Constructs and Elementals' paired with 'Animancy' then 'Soul Manipulation, Reading & Cultivation'."

"You aren't gonna take Casting? You looked at that one for a while."

"No. I just… It's not as applicable as I first thought." Felix stood and closed the book in front of him, replaced it in on the shelf then walked back towards Ellie's desk and handed her his final list of classes.

Turning around to thank Melody for her help, Felix found her standing right behind him. Much closer than was normal in his mind.

"Uh… thanks for the help…"

She smiled gleefully, "Sure thing. I know you desperately want to go do something now and I'm not gonna stop you but meet me back here in 6 days 4 hours."

"Wh-"

"It'll be worth it, I promise." She skipped to the side towards the exit and waved at him as she vanished around the corner.

Shaking his head to clear it from the odd interaction, Felix turned back into the library and started talking to the shelves.

In Telviras' library, he hadn't found any useful information on spell nodes, spell formation, mana, mana channels, mana theory, enchantment or anything like that. No information that had any real value.

When he spoke to the shelves and followed the carpet and bugs to a section on spell formation here, Felix was overwhelmed with information.

The first book he picked up was so complicated, he had no hope of understanding what was in it. It spoke of spell formation and its complexities, which nodes could be paired with others and how to modify nodes. It spoke of the orientation of the nodes along with their resonance with certain channel configurations and brushed over all of it as if the reader simply knew.

The next was equally as complicated so Felix, after having scanned all of them, asked for more introductory books.

Bioluminescence guided him to a number of books he could actually understand so Felix marked those in his Memory Palace and moved onto the next topic.

He didn't expect to spend even close to an hour in the library so when he finally scanned all the books he could think of as relevant, he was astonished to see how long it had been.

Almost 18 hours in the library… I know it took a while to scan the higher grade and rarity books but still… 18 hours.

He would have time to go over all the information in class, along with a professor and other students so Felix put off reading the books for the time being.

Flying back to his dorm room, Felix sat himself down in the empty area dedicated to ritual circles and shifted his consciousness internally. He had a number of things he wanted to look at before classes started and whatever Melody was trying to drag him to.

First on his list was to figure out if his brain computer thing had been damaged by his soul collapsing when he was first put next to the object.

Tuning himself into his soul and feeling it out, Felix was astonished to find the computer exactly as he had left it, perfectly stable as far as he could tell. He had no idea if it had done what he had wanted it to, if it was connected into his brain at all, but it hadn't been crushed.

Checking his status screen, his intelligence hadn't actually changed from when he had last seen it.