Past Life Hero, ch 43

Sorry for the delay on this one.  I'm almost back to business as usual but it took some doing.

***

Max woke up and didn't know where he was at first. The room was far too large and opulent. It felt like his old life was overlapping the present, giving him a strange case of vertigo.  He stayed very still. After a few moments, the events leading to him acquiring this massive new dorm came back.

He got up and appreciated his new bedroom all over again.  It was spotless, and now he knew it always would be.   Before falling asleep, he had gone into the menus and discovered that a cleaning service was included with his purchase of the suite.  There were no human servants, so he assumed it had something to do with bound spirits.

Max got ready for the day. And once he had dressed and left his room, Lavinia appeared outside in the hallway. “So,” she said, “what's the plan today, boss?”

After Max adjusted the sword on his belt, he said, “Today, I'm going to do what the Headmaster asked and make sure that I keep at least one class.”

“Do you still remember all of the names on the paper he gave you yesterday?”

“Sure do.  And luckily one of the professors on it was one whose class I wanted to stay in anyway.”

“Really?  Well that worked out,” said Lavinia.

“Yeah, even though I didn’t know many professors, all the ones I liked were on the list.  Probably not that much of a coincidence if you think about it.  That bitchy dean I met was definitely not included.”  Max began walking to the other end of his dorm.  “So today is Thursday, I think.”

“That's right.”

“Probably for the best.  So I think I'm going to go to the main office first. I remember that after students die, we're supposed to check in with the main office after waking up again. I don't know if people actually do this like they’re supposed to, but my circumstances are different.  I seem to be on so many people’s shit list, I should probably actually follow the rules.

“Good thinking,” said Lavinia.  “Pick your battles and all that.”

Max was wearing what he considered almost normal clothing, but definitely Albion-normal, not Earth-normal.  He had on a pair of breeches and a fine tunic that he felt very comfortable moving in.

When he reached the main office, as he reached for the door, a beam of light connected his school badge.  The brilliance had come from a recessed crystal in the wall.  Almost immediately, he felt a sudden tension in the door handle release as it was unlocked for him

Interesting security, he thought.  This was a different building than he’d met Dean Dalton in, so he didn't know his way around at first. Luckily, the building seemed to be configured in exactly the same way.

There was a desk with a man behind it who perked up when he saw Max approaching.  He had what looked like a permanent quint, but friendly eyes.  “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Yes, my name is Max Cunningham. First Year. I died. In fact, I was murdered by Mystic Spear Academy students, and I just wanted to officially give notice that I'm alive again.  Isn't that all I need to do?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” said the man. He squinted deeper as if in thought before his eyes flew open in surprise. He bent to his paperwork and said, “That’s right! I actually have a memo about you.  It's been noted that you are alive so you are already in the system. Thank you for dropping by, though.”

“Of course.”  Max inclined his head politely and left.

After leaving the building Lavinia said in his year, “What do you think that was all about?”

Max shrugged. He mentally sent back, No idea, but I think it's safe to say that something happened and I was included somehow.

Lavinia switched to mentally projecting her words into his mind.  Wow. I’m so proud and thankful for your amazing powers of deduction. Too bad you're a summoner otherwise you could have been a detective.

Yeah, yeah. Everyone's a critic. He checked his tablet and said out loud, “Still plenty of time.  Actually, I think I'm gonna go eat first”

Oh, sure. Rub it in why don’t you?  Make the ghost who can't eat anymore feel bad about it.

Max cocked an eyebrow. “That's not what I meant, and I thought you weren’t a ghost.”

I’m not!  But you’re still mean.

“Yeah whatever.  I’m pretty sure you’re just messing with me.  Well, you’re trying to.  Badly.”

Lavini’s mental voice was sharp. Tsk.  I bet I still made you worry you were being rude for a bit there!

“Not really.  You are really not good at jokes, are you?”

“Dammit,” mumbled the ghost. Then her presence disappeared from his mind.

Max got to the cafeteria and he was scanned in by a bored attendant just like he always had been before. However, this time the heavyset woman scanning him paused and her eyes flickered up. “You will have to pay.  The system says you have no balance.  Do you want to open an account with the cafeteria?”

“Yes,” said Max.

“How much would you like to initially put on your account?”

Max thought about it and said, “How about 100 units?” He reached into his money pouch and withdrew 100 mana units before handing them over.  The woman made a big deal of testing every unit with her wand before accepting them and Max was glad there wasn’t a line behind him watching this entire thing.

Back on earth, he’d been stuck in line behind someone using a check a few times.  This situation would probably feel similar for people behind him.

Finally, he was waved through and given a slip that informed him that his meals would be automatically deducted from his account.

His tunic had a hood, so Max had chosen to wear what was effectively a ye olde hoodie to the cafeteria. And he kept the hood up while he got food.

He chose a dish that was fish of some kind, with a side of what looked like corn, and some sort of fluffy bread that had seasoning in it. To Max, it was absolutely heavenly. As he finished up his meal, Max thought about how something as simple as eating could make him feel so much better. Even mopped up the last of the sauce with his weird bread was satisfying.

While he’d been eating, he thought about his current body and whether he could actually think of it as real. Then he started wondering why, if certain powers have the ability to transfer his soul to what was basically a cloned body that could be resurrected, why that technology or magic wasn't used in other ways.  Like why not use it over the rest of the universe to fight the monster invasions?

It was great that trainees in the Quartet could come back to life after dying, but what if warriors that went to their home worlds could also resurrect?  Wouldn't that mean that the defenders would be guaranteed victory? Something in this whole equation didn't make sense, but Max didn't have enough information to…even know what he didn't know at this point. The question was compelling, though.  Max filed it away amongst his long list of mental questions he was determined to get answered eventually.

Once he was done eating, Max got up and left fairly quickly. Eventually, more students would know he was back. But he wanted to put that off until he'd gotten everything out of the way that was highest on his priority list. To that end, He checked the time on his tablet and saw that he had about two more hours to kill.

He briefly considered changing and then heading outside to work out.  Then he remembered that he didn’t really need to anymore except for running and mana training.  He had his super convenient dorm facilities, now.

Max chuckled to himself.  This new good fortune still hadn’t sunk in.  He went back to his dorm, changed, worked out, showered, and changed back with plenty of time to spare.  Then he headed towards the class he’d chosen to keep.

He’d timed his arrival for the end of class.

Max approached the building for his Basic Group Combat class. He waited and watched until he judged all of the students leaving had gotten far enough away.  Professor Grave Call saw him coming out the door and a complicated expression crossed the man’s face. He looked down at his tablet and then up at Max again. Now, his expression was even more complicated.

Wordlessly, Max handed over the token that the Headmaster had given him. After an examination, quick as a flash, Professor Grave Call made it disappear. He gave Max a deep look, albeit still a bit troubled. Then, he gestured for Max to follow him into the classroom.  He pointed at a chair for Max and the professor sat behind his own desk.

“This is unexpected but I am not complaining.  I'm glad that you are still here and you are taking a class," he said. "Some professors might be upset with me for being so straightforward with a student, but I don’t care.  This is more important than misplaced ideas of decorum.  More than ever before, I believe that we need you. The Summoner Academy needs you. Some people think that the Quartet competition is just a silly game or that we can afford to ignore it, but that is not the case."

Max slowly nodded and said, "I'm beginning to understand that myself."

Professor Grave Call sighed and steepled his fingers. "So like I said, I’m going to lay all my cards on the table.  Based on reports I’ve gotten of your…activity…I think you would be best served by continuing to do whatever it is you've been doing to get stronger. It actually hurts me a bit to say that, but at this point, if you were to participate in this class, I think that it would actually prove detrimental to the other students. You are just too advanced compared to most of them.  However, I am going to give you a couple of book recommendations that I'll send to your tablet.  Both are relevant to read so that you can do self-study and learn most of what I plan to teach this semester. How does that sound?"

Max just nodded. He hadn't known Professor Grave Call long at this point, but now he felt like he was starting to see the real man underneath the mask. He had no idea how old Professor Grave Call was. He might even be older than Max.  A deep and profound weariness seemed to lurk behind the man's eyes.

"I do have a question, though," Max said. "If I don't actually attend your class, how will I keep credit for being in good standing so I can participate in these competitions?  There is bound to be inquiries and people trying to screw me over on this."

"That's a good question," said Grave Call. "Luckily, it's something I can easily solve. I'll just have a simple quiz in class every once in a while, a homework quiz, that you can take on your tablet.  I’ll weight it so passing the quizzes means not failing the class.   And as long as you read the book that I suggest for you, each quiz will be simple. So this way you will always be passing even if you don't attend classes."

"Okay, but what about my team?" Max asked. He remembered the small group of people that he was supposed to be leading in this class before his life had begun getting crazy in the Quartet.

The professor said, "So far, I've been asking Gantry Pliss to watch after your team and his team while you’ve been gone–"

Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened fully and Gantry Pliss himself strode in, his expression firm. The white-haired man folded his arms and said, "I couldn't help but overhear the last part of that as I walked up. Now Max, Professor, if you don't mind, I think I have a right to be involved in this conversation and I'd like to ask that we continue it at one of the training fields."

Max turned to look at the professor. The tall man had a thoughtful look. Grave Call shrugged and said, "Why not?" Then he grinned at Max.  "I hope you stretched today because I have a feeling that Gantry might be intending to challenge you."

"Absolutely." Gantry’s jaw firmed.