“Kid, enough gawking. You’re holding everyone up” Winston said as he tapped Sam on the shoulder snapping him out of his stupor. Sam quickly regained himself rejoining the caravan and began walking towards the huge city standing before him. He took the sigh of the huge city in as they descended the hill. The city was so big that he wasn’t sure if he could see the other side of it even from where he was walking on the hill.
As they closed in on the city walls Sam looked the city over taking in as many details as he could. If he had to make a guess it was at least 10 times the size of Pexicon if not more. The walls towered high into the sky with towers built atop them reaching further still. Sam could barely describe the sights he was seeing to himself in his own thoughts as they overwhelmed him.
As they closed in on the gate Sam remounted the cart as he was starting to get tired again. It had been a long journey, and he wanted to maintain the remainder of his strength until he knew where he would be sleeping tonight.
The city was so large it still took the caravan 3 hours to reach the southern gate from where they had stopped to take in the sight of the city at the top of the hill now behind them. As they approached the gate Sam looked back up at the walls. They had to be more than 50 metre high he thought as he craned his neck up. He couldn’t even see the top of them from below on the road next to the main gate.
As they closed in upon the gate, the guards that were stationed there approached the caravan. They spoke to Gertrude at the front before they began inspecting the carts and confirmed the cargo listed on the paperwork was what they had brought. It seemed the guards were familiar with the merchant caravan as it progressed smoothly and without incident. Once they were sure the paperwork was all as it should be they were ushered through into the city.
Sam looked around as they rode through the wide streets of the city. All the streets had matching cobbled roads that looked as clean as the day they were laid. The stones were a light grey and were all cut to the same size. After more than two hours travelling through the city they finally arrived at their destination.
The caravan entered a large courtyard and stopped outside a huge building which bore a sign on the front that read Merchants Guild. “Alright everyone we’ve made it to the main Merchants guild branch office; all passengers please disembark” shouted Gertrude from somewhere at the front of the caravan. Sam collected his bags and picked his sword up from where it was laying and jumped off the back of the cart onto the gravel courtyard floor along the side of the guild building. He quickly slipped his sword back onto his belt and headed over to where Gertrude was standing.
Once all the passengers had disembarked and were gathered around Gertrude she gave everyone their final instructions. “Alright everyone please get in line and provided the papers for me to sign off that you have arrived. I will also require you to sign a paper of ours as well to confirm your arrival. You will then want to take your copy into the Merchants guild where they will confirm your arrival and then you can be on your way”.
Sam got in line with everyone else and took out his papers. Once he had gotten his papers signed he followed the other passengers into the merchant’s guild office and went over to a desk conveniently signed ‘passenger arrivals’. It seemed like travelling with merchant caravans was a common enough thing that they had a whole desk in the guild allocated to it Sam thought as he joined the back of the line. After a few minutes of waiting it was finally Sams turn to submit his papers.
“Good afternoon, papers please” the desk attendant requested. Sam placed the papers of the desk and slid them over to the attendant. The attendant took the papers up and read them over. “Everything looks to be in order. Your good to head off” the attendant said once he had finished reading. “Um, one last thing. Are you able to point me in the direction of the Royal Academy?” Sam asked. “I could, however you’re probably better off going to the information centre and getting a map” the attendant said. Ah yes, a map how could I have forgotten, something apparently all cities had and was a must have for travelers Sam thought as the attendant passed him a piece of paper. Sam took the paper and quickly scanned it over. “Those are the directions to the closest information centre. It’s only a couple of streets away so you should be able to find it with those” the attendant said. “Thank you for your help” Sam replied as he gave a quick bow of his head in thanks before leaving the line and heading for the exit.
As he was leaving he saw Winston and his party waiting in the courtyard and decided to say goodbye. “Hi Winston, I’m heading out now but it was nice meeting you” Sam said offering him a hand to shake. Winston shook his hand and replied, “You too Sam, we’re based out of Galadia so we might run into each other again sometime”. “Possibly, I’m planning to take the dungeon diving course at the Academy so I might run into you at the guild” Sam replied. “I see, that’s quite possible then, we also might end up taking a dungeon escort quest from the academy. They normally hire experienced parties to follow students into the dungeons to teach and protect them” Winston said. “Oh, I see well I hope that if that’s the case I happen to be in that group” Sam said cheerfully. “Anyway, I have to head off to the information centre to get directions to the academy. See you all later”. “Okay Sam, see you around” Winston and his party replied as Sam headed for the tall gates leading out of the courtyard.
It wasn’t long before Sam made it to the information centre. Not only were the directions he had been given good but there were also signs directing him towards it once he had gotten within a couple of streets of it. It wasn’t the largest information centre he had seen throughout his journey, but it looked by far the most opulent with its shining marble walls and bright gold accents.
When Sam entered the information centre it wasn’t very busy. Maybe it was the time of day or maybe this information centre just wasn’t frequented quiet as often as the others he had been to. This however suited Sam as he wanted to get to the Academy and get situated as quickly as possible. It was early afternoon, and he wanted to be there within the next couple of hours. He didn’t want to risk not making it before they closed the gates and having to spend the night out on the street.
Sam walked up to the counter and waited behind the only other person in line. He didn’t have to wait long, and he was soon on his way back out with a map of the city. This map, however, was different to the others he had gotten in the other city’s he had been to. This map was actually multiple maps that were linked together. As the city was so large apparently the magic map didn’t work over the who area. Instead, it was split up into 6 districts. The first was the residential district that appeared to be mostly residential housing. The second was the Palace district that covered the castle and the palaces as well as the noble residences. The third was the merchant district which was where the merchant’s guild as well as the adventurer’s guild was located. The fourth was the Academic district which was where the Royal Academy as well as a few other schools were located. The fifth was the Dungeon district which was where the G Ranked dungeon was located. The final district was the military district which wasn’t completely mapped out and only showed the basics. These 6 individual maps all connected to a main map for the city which could channel the magic from the other maps into it so it could be used like any other magic map. Sam didn’t quite understand it but that didn’t really matter as he was finally heading toward the Royal Academy.
It was about another hour’s walk from the information centre to the gates of the Royal Academy. When he arrived, he saw a guard station manned with four guards. Sam had to show the guards his travel card as it was the only identifying thing he had that indicated he was to be going to the Royal Academy. By time the guards had confirmed he was going to be attending the academy and had let him pass through the gates he was exhausted. Having to carry his bags all this way left his arms feeling like lead he thought to himself as he put the bags down and shook his arms out trying to get some feeling back into them.
Sam walked out of the gate house and was immediately stunned by the sight of the Academy before him. The Academy campus alone looked as if it was its own town. There were tens of different buildings surrounded by greenery making it look quite out of place in a city. Sam had been directed to the administration building by the guards and headed straight toward it. He, however, constantly found himself distracted looking at all the opulent buildings as well as those who were walking between them.
When he finally made it inside the administration building which had conveniently had a sign above the door so as to confirm he was in the right location Sam headed inside and went up to the front desk. “Good afternoon, my name is Samuel Holdridge and I’m here to check in to the academy” Sam said with a slight questing tone not quite sure whether checking in was the right term to use. “I see, do you have your travel card or other identification with you?” the woman at the counter asked. “I do, here you go” Sam replied quickly as he handed the travel card over to the elderly looking woman. “Hmm, I see a Scholarship student. We don’t have much information on file about you, but we can get that shortly. Do you have the parental consent forms as well as your list of classes” the woman asked. “I do” Sam said as he took his bag off his back and rummaged through it before pulling out the wrinkled consent form. “Here is the consent form, I however don’t have my classes written down but I do know what I want to take” he said as he passed the consent form over to the receptionist.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The receptionist took the form and looked it over before placing it face down on a glass plate on the desk. She then activated the device by pushing a bit of mana into it. She then took the sheet off of the device and placed it to one side. She then reached down under the desk and pulled out two forms placing them on the desk and pushing them over to Sam. “I need you to fill this form out with your personal information, so we have everything required on record. Normally we would have had all this information in advance, but it seems your scholarship wasn’t offered until just recently, which explains the lack of information. This other form is for you to list down your classes. There is a desk over there with an ink well you can use to fill out the forms. Let me know if you have any questions or issues with the forms. Once you have completed them let the ink dry off for a couple of minutes and then bring them back to me. Once I have all your information I can confirm your dormitory room so you can settle in. “Okay thank you madam” Sam replied as he picked the two forms off the desk. “You can call me Julia dear” she replied with a smile.
Sam took the two forms over to the table Julia had pointed out and began filling them out. The information they required was fairly basic, mostly focusing on where he came from, who his family was, and a few other more academic questions likely used to make sure he was suitable for the academy or something. It also wanted him to list down his natural skills and their current levels. He didn’t know quite what this was for but thought that it maybe had something to do with the Skill Up class.
Once Sam had finished filling in the first form with all the required information he moved onto the class selection form. He was fairly confident with his class selection as he had thought it over a lot both before and during his trip here. He wrote down the two options for the mandatory classes first, which were Weapons Combat and Magic Combat. After those two he wrote down his four elective classes. Those were Dungeon Diving, Magical Arts: Alchemy, Enchanting and Potion Craft, Advanced Combat and Advanced Equestrian. Once Sam had completed the forms he wafted them in the air a bit to let the blue ink dry. Once satisfied the ink had dried enough he returned the forms to Julia at the reception desk.
“Everything looks to be in order. Now I will go and fetch Mr. Kimich the male dormitory manager. I won’t me a minute” she said as she got up and left through a door out the back of the reception desk. Less than five minutes later Julia returned through a door to the right of the reception desk with a man who appeared to be a little younger than herself. “This here is Mr. Kimich the male dormitory manager. He will show you to your dormitory room and register the lock to your mana signature. Mr. Kimich please take it from here” Julia said before she headed back through the door behind her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Kimich” Sam said politely giving a slight bow of his head. “You to Mr. Holdridge. Now please pick up your bags and follow me over to the dormitory building. Once inside you will find a magic map covering the entire Academy campus so don’t worry about getting lost” he said as he headed for the door. Sam quickly picked up the bags he had left at the writing desk and followed after him.
Sam followed Mr. Kimich down nearly paved path lined with short hedges to the opposite side of the academy’s campus. “This one here on the left is the female dormitory. It is strictly off limits to all male students unless you get a written invitation from one of the ladies from no less than a count or countess family. If you do get invited in you will be escorted to the dorm room of the lady in question by the female dormitory manager Mrs. Halford. You should already know this however as it’s in the rules and procedures booklet” he said to Sam. “Yes sir, I read the booklet over many times familiarizing myself with the rules during the journey here” Sam replied. “Good, now come, this building here is the male dormitory” Mr. Kimich said as he pointed to another huge building on the opposite side of the courtyard.
Sam followed Mr. Kimich into the male dormitory building. They walked through what appeared to be a common room on the first floor and then went up 4 flights of stairs and down a few weaving corridors before stopping in front of a room. The door had a glass panel to the right of it similar to the one on the reception desk in the administration building with a small placard above it that read Samuel Holdridge. Mr. Kimich placed his hand upon the glass panel and the door opened. Sam follow Mr. Kimich into the room and was amazed at what he saw. The room before him was larger than the room he had in the hotel at Pexicon and not by a small margin either.
“This will be your room during your time here at the Royal Academy. Now before I show you around I will register the door lock to your mana signature”. Mr. Kimich opened up a small cabinet to reveal another glass panel. “Now place your hand on the panel and inject a bit of your mana into it”. Sam did as he was asked, and a system message appeared in front of him. ~Door Registration complete. Primary Owner assigned~ Sam looked over to Mr. Kimich with a questioning look. “You have now been registered as the primary door owner. There are three other people who have access to open your door. Those are myself as the dormitory manager, the head of security Captain Fredrick Bonchur and the academy Director Kalioli Brikter. You can also access a log of who has entered your room by placing your hand of the panel and thinking ‘list’” he said. Sam placed his hand back on the panel and thought ‘list’ before a screen opened up with a list of who opened the door and when. Sam removed his hand from the panel and dismissed the system message before turning back toward Mr. Kimich.
“Okay, now for the room tour. This here is the living room and kitchen. Most students here don’t cook for themselves but have servants prepare their food. Those that didn’t bring any servants with them normally eat in the dining hall. We, however, include a kitchen anyway for those who do want to do their own meal preparation. To the left there is the bathroom and storage room. The storage room has a magic cast on it to increase its capacity. This is normally for storing things that aren’t kept on your person in personal storage when you get a personal storage skill. To the right here is the master bedroom which as you can guess is the main bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. There is also a second and third bedroom for either servants or guests to stay in the dorm room with you. If you do have guests over that aren’t students at the academy please ensure they are registered at the administration building. Now over here is the map of the academy grounds. This is a basic map and doesn’t include some facilities that are either off limits to students or are restricted to students in certain classes. The last thing you need to familiarize yourself with is the delivery cube over here” Mr. Kimich said pointing to a metal panel on the wall. “Inside here is where your mail and notices the academy sends you will go. You will also be sent your scholarship allowance money this way as well. The standard payments won’t start until the opening ceremony however you can come by the administration building tomorrow morning and they will provide you with a small amount to cover your expenses for the rest of the week. Now I will have to leave you to explore the rest of the room on your own as I need to get back to the admin building as more new students arrived. Before I go there is a final thing you need to know. There are daily orientations up until the opening ceremony to show you around the campus and answer questions you might have. These are run by the senior students who are already familiar with the academy grounds. If you wish to attend then you should gather in the courtyard between the two dormitories just before 9am. If you have any further questions please ask the students running the orientations and if they can’t answer them then they will direct you to someone who can answer them for you. Now if you please excuse me” Mr. Kimich finally said as he gave a slight nod to Sam before leaving him alone in his new room.
Sam was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the information Mr. Kimich had given him and he sat down on one of the three soft couches that were in the living room. Sam sat facing the window with a view out over the academy grounds. He sat there and looked out over the academy grounds taking in the sights. He had finally made it to the Royal Academy he thought as he sat back into the plush cushions allowing the tension to leave his body.
After a short rest on the softa Sam had a look through the dorm room. It was truly massive. It was about three times the size of their house back in Kait with each room being excessively large and luxurious. He was just a student, why did he need such a large room he wondered to himself as he carries his bags into the giant master bedroom and slung them onto the bed. Sam unpacked both of his bags and slumped down onto the huge bed. This bed was big enough for about six people but damn it was soft Sam thought to himself.
Sam prepared himself a simple meal from his left-over travel rations and read through the rules and procedures book again ensuring he had memorized each one testing himself to the point of certainty. Shortly after he had finished eating Sam sat back down on the couch overlooking the academy grounds and watched as the lights in the windows across the campus slowly went out. He checked the time on his watch and decided it was time to go to bed. Before that though he decided to check the system notifications that he had pushed off to the back of his mind since the bandit attack.
The first three notifications were level up notifications. ~ Level up. Your general level is now level 17~ ~ Level up. Your general level is now level 18~ ~ Level up. Your general level is now level 19~ He had gained 3 whole levels from killing the one bandit. Not to mention he had only delivered the killing blow, most of the damage and therefore experience would have gone to Winston. The final notification was for his Blood Skill activating. ~A Blood Skill ‘God of the Reapers’ has activated. You have gained +1 Strength~. It was nice to see his blood skill had activated again but he was unsure of how to feel about the fact that he had taken a strength stat from a person. He was a bandit that had tried to kill them however, so he quickly came to the decision that it wasn’t something to be overly worries about. He did, however, want to get better at fighting. He had failed to take down the second bandit and did so little damage to him that he hadn’t received an activation message from his skill which meant he hadn’t done enough damage for it to recognize his contribution in taking the bandit down. It worried him slightly that he was so bad at melee combat, but he hoped that it would be rectified shortly though the Weapons Combat class. After all, if he was going to be diving into dungeons he was going to need to know how to properly fight.
Once he had finished going over the notifications Sam decided it was time to go to bed. He took a quick bath in his new luxury bathroom which contained a bath the size of a garden pond and slipped into bed quickly falling into a deep satisfying slumber.
