Sam and his friends made their way to classroom 1-5 which was where their first Skill Up class was to be held. Initially Sam had wondered why it was to take place in a classroom rather than a more open area based on what he had been told about the class but as he thought back on what professor Voss has told them it made more sense.
The five of them all entered the classroom and sat together near the front along with Darren who had already arrived. It was a very large classroom with the seating area only taking up about a quarter of the classroom. Sam assumed this was so that there would be plenty of practice space for the students attempting to learn new skills. The professor had been preparing some papers when they had entered and other than glancing in their direction didn’t initially interact with them.
Once the classroom had filled up with students from both class 1-1 and 1-2 the professor stood forward to the podium and address the students in the room. “Good morning students and welcome to Skill up. My name is Professor Terrance Untfeher and I have taught the skill up class here at the Royal Academy for more than 20 years” he said. There were a few murmurs in the classroom as the appearance of the man didn’t match what he looked like or what would be his assumed age based on appearance alone. He looked no older than 30 yet would have to be into his forties unless he started as a teacher in his mid-teens Sam through to himself.
“Now, some if not most of you will probably have an idea as to what we’re going to be starting on this year from some of your other classes. It’s quite difficult to learn and will require a lot of patience and practice and that of course is the dimensional storage skill. This skill allows one to open up a personal pocket dimension to store your items. As you level the skill the bigger the storage space you will have. This is a key skill for all those who plan to adventure, dive into dungeon, travel or study the fabric of the universe. Being able to keep all of your tools on your person at all times it essential” the professor explained to them.
“Now to start off I will explain how the skill works based on the theory. This skill requires you to understand the fundamental principles of pocket dimension based storage. Now pocket dimension storage, sometimes called extradimensional vaulting, personal subspace, or inventory magic is built on three core principles. Dimensional anchoring, mass?displacement symmetry, and cognitive attunement. Together, they allow the wielder to create and access a stable, private space outside the material world” the professor began his explanation.
“The first aspect of the theory is dimensional anchoring or creating the pocket. A pocket dimension is not a full universe. It’s a bounded extradimensional bubble created by folding spacetime around a stable anchor in this case yourself or rather your version of the skill. The anchor point is a metaphysical “knot” tied to the user’s soul, mana signature, or life force. This ensures the pocket dimension follows the user across planes and cannot be stolen or broken into by others with dimensional skills” the professor said as he waved his hands around in a circular motion. Sam wasn’t quite sure how the hand movement fit in with the explanation, but he took a mental note of the movement as he was speaking in case it meant something later.
The professors explanation continued. “The next part of dimensional anchoring is the boundary membrane. What is a boundary membrane you ask? Well, a boundary membrane is a thin metaphysical shell that separates the pocket dimension from the main world. It prevents matter, energy, and time from leaking between the dimensions. The final part of dimensional anchoring is the spatial compression. This is when the interior space is larger than the exterior access point because the membrane folds space inward like a tesseract. And I suppose you probably don’t know what a tesseract is but it’s too complicated to explain here so just go look it up in the library if you’re interested” the professor said as he pointed in the vague direction of the library.
The professor gave a pause to study the students faces to ensure they were all sticking with his explanation and that no one was obviously lost. Sam found it quite interesting but was struggling to understand the concepts he was explaining. He made sure to write down as many notes as possible around the parts he was understanding and the parts he was having trouble with so that he could ask for assistance with those points later or look them up in the library if he needed to.
The professor finally finished his scan over the students and continued with his explanation. “The second aspect of the theory is Mass Displacement Symmetry which is related to why the items stored in the dimensional storage spaces don’t seem to weigh anything. Now, when an item enters the pocket dimension, its mass and inertia are transferred into the extradimensional bubble. This means that the main world experiences zero net mass change, because the pocket dimension absorbs the physical burden into itself. And because of this a dimensional storage skill user can carry a mountains weight of items without any hinderance to their movement” the professor explained pausing again to check to make sure everyone was keeping up.
“The third aspect of the theory is cognitive attunement. This is why only the wielder can access the space despite everyone being able to see it when the storage space is open. The main reason for this is that pocket?dimension skills are deeply tied to the user’s mind or soul. Some even believe that they latch onto the user’s blood and true skills as part of the attunement to the user. This attunement is also how the system interface can display the contents or inventory of the pocket dimension. And when you access the pocket dimension you have an access portal which will open up allowing you to pull the items out. These portals will size themselves based on the item you’re consciously attempting to retrieve. These portals will close once the item or items you’re wanting to pull out have been removed” the professor said taking a step forward from the podium.
“Those are the three aspects of the pocket dimensional storage skill that you’ll all be trying to gain first up in this class. Other than the ability to store large quantities of items on your person, dimensional storage also allows you to store items as they are. Time does not flow in dimensional storage spaces and therefore you can store hot food or potions with a short shelf life without them deteriorating over long expeditions down into the dungeons. This makes it an essential skill for those diving into a dungeon or even for those who craft magical items and potions. A potion merchant with a dimensional storage space will never have to worry about their potions degrading into worthless liquid if they don’t immediately sell allowing the potion creator to make more unique potions without worrying about how long it will take for them to sell” the professor said.
“The last thing I want to cover before I give you a demonstration and set you off to practice are different variants of the skill. What these principles cover are the standard personal storage skills however there are variants which require different applications of the principles to unlock. Some of these variants include Shared pocket dimensions which those who work for the guilds tend to have. Living pocket dimensions which are less of a timeless storage space and more of an actual dimension flowing parallel to our own. Expanding realms which are dimensions created by powerful people who wish to create their own lands no one else can enter. These can sometimes be crafted into vehicles so that you can travel with a single carriage but have an entire world hidden within that only you can enter. Then there are dimensional familiar storage spaces. These are popular with powerful summoners or tamers who can store their tamed beasts in a pocket dimension and call them out at will. This prevents them from aging and going hungry. It also allows them to put critically wounded beasts into these spaces and transport them to someone who can help them instead of them dying” the professor stated.
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“Now that’s enough on the theory for now. Let’s show you all an example of a standard dimensional storage space. Now please come down close and watch” he instructed. Sam and his friends left their desks and joined their fellow students in surrounding the professor. Once everyone had gathered the professor activated his skill and a small portal appeared in the air. “Now this is the size of the portal that shows up when I want to pull out a grain of rice” he explained. “But this is what happens when I try to retrieve something larger like my sword” he said as the portal suddenly grew in size. The professor put his hand down into the portal and pulled a sword out hilt first. He lifted it up for all to see before he put it back into the portal and the portal closed as his hand cleared the exit. This wasn’t Sam’s first time seeing this as most of the professors had used it at one point or another during their lessons but this was the closes he had been and it was quite exciting, going over each of the principles as he closely watched.
“Now that you have seen it in action I want you to find a bit of space in the room and either sit or stand as you see fit and practice trying to open a portal making sure to think of the 3 principles I just told you all about as you do. I recommend taking your textbooks with you and opening up to page 15 which lists the principles out” he said as he motioned for them to disperse.
Sam went back over to his desk and collected his textbook before splitting off from his friends and finding a space in the far corner to sit down and practice. He sat down and placed the textbook on the floor in front of him opening it up to page 15 and began reading through the 3 principles. He wanted them to be fresh in his mind for his practice attempt so that he could clearly picture in his mind what it was he needed to do.
Once he was confident, he had the principles understood well enough to begin his practice, Sam closed his eyes and imagined an empty space in another world. He imagined the space to be behind a piece of paper. He imagined a thread going through the paper connecting himself to the space on the other side. Once he had solidified that thought in his mind, he imagined himself pinching the piece of paper where the thread ran through and pulling it apart tearing a hole into it.
Sam opened his eyes looking for the hole he had torn in front of him. Despite the feeling he had felt while imagining it when he looked around, he couldn’t see anything that looked like a portal. He felt slightly dejected. He knew it was only his first attempt, but he had felt very confident in how he had imagined it. Wondering if maybe he did something wrong, Sam got up off the floor and walked over to ask the professor.
Sam looked around at the other students as he headed over towards the professor. Despite his own feelings it appeared that so far no one had managed to open up a dimensional space. “Excuse me professor” Sam said as he closed in on him. Sam explained what he had imagined to the professor and the feeling he had felt. The professor listened closely and spoke once Sam had finished his explanation. “Did you imagine yourself wanting to put something into it?” he immediately asked. “No” Sam said a realization coming to him. “Go and give it another try and once you have torn the paper open imagine yourself wanting to put your textbook into the space” the professor instructed him.
Sam walked back over to where he had left his textbook and sat back down. He went through the process again. He imagined the space behind a piece of paper. He imagined the thread going through the paper connecting himself to the space behind it. He imagined himself pinching the piece of paper where the thread ran through and pulling it apart tearing a hole into it. Once he had torn the hole into it, he reached down and picked up his textbook closing it carefully and imagining himself placing it into the hole. ‘Ping’ the notification sound rang out in his mind and a huge smile sprung upon his face.
Sam opened his eyes to see that the textbook that was in his hand had now vanished. He opened up his system notifications and eyed the listed text. ~ Natural Skill Gained. ‘Dimensional Storage' LV1~ His smile grew as he looked over towards the teacher who was giving him a thumbs up. “Alright everyone we have a winner. The first person to gain the dimensional storage skill is Samuel Holdridge” the professor announced as those in the room all stopped what they were doing and looked in his directions. “Nice job Sam” Albert called from across the room.
Sam watched as the rest of the class redoubled their efforts attempting to gain the skill. Since Sam had already gained the skill and there was still a whole period left of the class to go the professor directed him to a storage cupboard filled with bricks.
“Here are a bunch of heavy bulky bricks. I wasn’t expecting anyone to get the skill this fast and was planning to do this next lesson but… I want you to take these bricks and place them into your storage space. Once the space is full close the space and then open it back up and take them all out again. Keep repeating this until the end of the lesson. You should be able to gain one maybe two more levels before the end of the lesson for the skill” he explained. Sam didn’t hesitate as the professor moved aside allowing him into the storage room to being his next task.
‘Ping’ Sam ignore the sound and continued on with his task. ‘Ping’ the noise sounded again but yet again he continued on. Sam placed the last of the bricks into his storage space, but this time it still wasn’t quite full. He looked around the storage space to see if there was anything else suitable that he could put in there. There were a few storage crates sat on shelves that he decided he could use and began filling his storage again. ‘Ping’ another notification bell sounded in his head as he removed the last of the bricks from his storage. Sam felt exhausted. He hadn’t done this much heavy lifting since the last harvest back on the farm he thought as he slumped down onto the floor leaning his back against the wall and opened up his system notifications.
~Natural Skill ‘Dimensional Storage' level gained. ' Dimensional Storage' is now Level 2~ ~Natural Skill ‘Dimensional Storage' level gained. ' Dimensional Storage' is now Level 3~ ~ Natural Skill Gained. ‘Brick Layer’ LV1~ The first two notifications were as he had expected the third however took him by surprise. Since he was here, he decided to ask the professor about it.
“Had enough already?” the professor asked Sam as he walked up to him. “Sort of” Sam said sparing a glance back towards the storage room. “I actually gained another skill while practicing” he said to the professor. “Oh, and what might that be?” the professor asked. “The brick layer skill” Sam replied. “Really, do you have any experience as a brick layer?” the professor asked. “None” Sam said. “How interesting” the professor said as he fell into contemplation.
After a few moments of waiting the professor spoke again. “Well, if you don’t make it as a dungeon diver you can always be a brick layer instead” he suggested with a chuckle. “What is the brick layer skill anyway?” Sam asked. “Well, it’s in the name. It’s for brick laying. Improves speed, accuracy and strength to structures you build with bricks” he explained. “I see” Sam said slightly losing interest. “Brick laying aside did you gain a level to your storage skill?” the professor asked him. “Yes, two actually” Sam said. “Already, do you have some sort of experience boosting skill or something you had active while practicing” the professor asked. “Not that I know of. Why?” Sam questioned. “Nothing, forget I said anything about it. It just seemed like you levelled up quite quickly. You must have really be working those bricks” the professor answered. “I suppose” Sam replied. “Well, since you’re well ahead of everyone else why don’t you spend the rest of the lesson practicing some of your other skills” the professor instructed.
Sam went back over to his desk and began practicing his mana manipulation. He received another level up notification but disregarded it as he was starting to feel a little drained from how fast he had been levelling up his skills. By time the class had ended Sam was the only one who had managed to gain the Dimensional Storage skill.
