Chapter 31

Long chapter!


***

As he’d already figured, meeting Lavinia–a spirit with a soul of a Summoner originally from Albion–had an element of inevitably since the two of them had to be resonating strongly on multiple levels to talk like this.  They were both in Summoner Academy grounds.  Bumping into each other was only a matter of time.  The most unlikely part about this chat was that it had happened so quickly and was taking place in his room.  He felt grateful for that fact, though.

More than the presence of a ghost girl in his room, Max was thrown by the revelations about Albion.  The fact it’d been so long since he’d been killed on Albion was upsetting.  After another half-second, he decided he probably shouldn’t be.  After all, recovering all of his memories from his past life was a miracle in the first place. There were no rules that he knew of.  How it had happened was beyond his understanding, much less when.  All the time passing wasn’t a huge impact, either.  In fact, by the time he was murdered, there weren’t many people left on Albion he truly cared about anyway. His enemies had made sure of that.

But when Max had been a child on Earth, he'd held on to some old grudges, imagining going back to Albion one day and righting wrongs against him. But now that he knew he’d been murdered five hundred years ago and Albion was also beset by monster portals, everything changed.  If he ever returned now, maybe it wouldn’t be for vengeance.  Maybe Albion might need a hero again.

Old responsibilities died hard.  

He asked, "I am from Earth, not Albion. Is there any way to travel between worlds?  Like in my real body?”

Lavinia pursed her lips and said, "It's extremely rare that Challengers ever move between worlds, but…it does happen occasionally. I think.  Usually it's some sort of mix-up, but I've heard rumors that there are some Challengers who can truly move around at will.  Apparently some Paths help with this.  Those types of Challengers are sometimes employed as mercenaries by entire worlds if they are powerful enough." She eyed him sideways. "But Mr.-just-got-murdered-a-few-days-ago, I don’t think you’re ready to be worried about stuff like that yet.”

"Fair enough," said Max. He shook his head.  "A lot has happened very recently…from my perspective. I'm still kind of trying to get a grip on everything."

The ghost girl crossed her legs where she was sitting in the chair and said, "Why don't you tell me what happened, then?"

It was Max's turn to eye her sideways and he said, "Are you actually sitting down on that chair?"

Lavinia looked down at her legs.  "Sort of. I can feel where physical things are, and if I want to, I can choose to interact with them.  At least at my level I can focus for a while and use up a lot of energy to do so in small ways.  But actually influencing anything physical in a meaningful way is very difficult." She arched an eyebrow. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on or not?"

"Alright, fine," said Max. Then he launched into the entire story, basically what happened right before he met the angelic messenger that gave him a Summoner seed, all the way up to his conversation with Lavinia. In the retelling, he started getting furious all over again about the Mystic Spear Academy students trying to hunt him down.

Max finished his story saying, "And nobody is going to do anything about these assholes. I can just feel it. And I'm thinking how I shouldn’t just sit around and take it, but the idea of racking up too many demerits still bothers me."

Lavinia crossed her arms and tapped her incorporeal foot against the floor a few times, making absolutely no sound. She said, "This is probably part of why you were able to see me naturally and we were able to talk like this. Because I absolutely think you should do something. And if you have the talent to kill some of the Lifers in the Mystic Spear Path Academy, then you might even actually be able to get away with it."

"What do you mean?"

Lavinia held up a finger. "As I'm hoping you're aware by now, your body here, even though it's physical and real, doesn't actually require food. So getting blocked from the cafeteria is not going to kill you." She held up a second finger. “Paying to take classes, believe it or not, is actually not that expensive. And you don't need a full course load of classes in order to graduate from the Summoner Academy." Then she held up a third finger.  "Lastly, making money in the Quartet is difficult but not impossible. And if you really had to, you could get a job in the central area. If you are an employee in the central area, it would be a lot harder for the Mystic Spear bullies to kill you because if they murder you while you are actually working as an employee, a lot worse things can happen than just demerits."

"Why is that?" asked Max.

Lavinia put her hand down and crossed her arms again. "Simple, because the rules are different for shopkeepers.  The Quartet protects them.  Those are real people, at least most of them. So if they get killed, they stay dead."

"Really?" Max was stunned.  The physical status of the workers in the central area had never really occurred to him.

Lavinia sighed and said, "You are just hearing secret after secret today, huh?”

“Sort of.  I’m definitely listening.”

“Okay, fine, I'll tell you this, too. Do you know one of the greatest social issues that all of the Academies have on every quartet?" Max mutely shook his head. Lavinia said, "Romance." She gave Max a sad smile at his obvious confusion.

"Students fall in love or I suppose just have a good time.  Students pair up in academies, or between academies… Sometimes students who are here for any amount of time– Who knows how long? It's not always seven years for every school. …Well, they might even start a family. They might have children. Because believe it or not, even though your body right now is a very complex fake and you can't age, you can still have children."

"What!?"

"Yup," said Lavinia. "Pretty messed up, huh? So imagine that there are two summoners from different Path academies and they have a child. And then it's time for them to go back to their worlds to fight the good fight and they are split up and they never see each other again. What do you think happens with the child? The child is here physically.  He or she can't go with them."

Max's jaw dropped as the implications hit him. “So all those children…”

Lavinia nodded. “They become orphans. And think about it: Summoner Academy is one of the smallest schools in the entire Quartet system.  And we still have what? A thousand, two thousand students here? Maybe three?  But think about the rest of the schools.  Other Quartets are larger than this one, too.  I know that for a fact.  So schools ten times this size, twenty times, who knows how many times larger other academies in other Quartets could be?  It's a lot of people. It's a large universe. So every central area has plenty of bodies to run stores with, or work in the mall, or make food.  And those children of Challengers have their own children, too.  Although the fertility rate seems low for them.

“But the really sad thing is that most of those people have no hope of ever escaping the Quartet because in order to do so, you need to be able to basically get through a dungeon. That would at leat put them onto another world away from their home Quartet.  But unless any of those people, the orphans or children of orphans, have talent in weapons or magic or a Path, can become a de facto Challenger themselves, going into a dungeon would be suicide.

“Meanwhile, after they become adults in each Quartet, they're not given a free ride anymore.  Even if they have talent, they need to develop it on their own time.  They have to do the bare minimum in order to scrape by, pay the bills.. And unlike you, they have a real body so they can starve to death.

“Now, I don't think that most of the authorities in any Quartet are heartless enough to truly let them starve to death. But…we don't know that for sure. There are a lot of Quartets, all run by different people.  And on top of that, there is a lot of middle ground between living a great life and starving to death. And large chunk of that pie chart equals a miserable life.

Max sat back where he was sitting, mind blown.  "That's kind of fucked up," he said. “No, that’s really fucked up.”

"Yep," said Lavinia. "And that's why it's something that the academy professors usually don't discuss until the second or third year. The idea behind that is that it takes nine months for a baby to gestate–in humans anyway.  Non-humans usually have longer gestation periods.  And it usually takes a few months for people to develop relationships. Takes time to shake off the shock from being here in the first place.

“But the Quartet authorities and most of the professors are bleeding cowards. Telling students about the consequences of having children in the Quartet should be one of the first things they cover."

"So where does everyone in the central area live, then?" asked Max, "I only saw a bunch of shops there. I didn't really see large residential areas."

“Good question.”   Lavinia nodded and said, "That's true. And that's one of the actual genius elements of each Quartet, with how they were designed. Each Quartet has several residential portals that are keyed to whoever owns a home.  It takes them to their own subspace. So the Quartet itself is basically a pocket dimension and there are who knows how many homes located in subspaces off of them. Like a pocket dimension tree.  But everyone who owns a home in the central area doesn't actually own it. They actually rent it. So everyone has to pay mana units in order to keep their housing in the central area with the exception of a really shitty boarding house for truly broke people.  But they still have to work it off. There's no free ride in this universe anywhere." Lavinia chuckled darkly.  “I think that the people working in shops get a huge discount on housing, though, so they have a big incentive to get a job and a big financial break if they do.”

“Okay, what if a Quartet student has a family with one of the locals?”

“Then the kids won’t be orphans but the family will still be separated.  Some locals also adopt student children.  The concept of family in the Quartet is a lot different than most cultures on actual worlds probably are.”

Max ran his hands over his face.  He change dthe subject. "Okay Lavinia, let me ask you this. I don't want to sit on my ass and basically spend the next few years being hunted. And more importantly, these spear assholes went after my friend Lance. They might even go after him and try to kill him right when he respawns just like they did to me. Lance is not a fighter and he didn't ask for this shit.

“At this point, I have nothing. I like the idea of payback, but I'm still worried because I literally have no money right now.  Maybe I should for killing that one guy, but the system won’t give it to me yet.”

“Wait, you don't even have a money pouch?" asked Lavinia.

"Nope," said Max.

The ghost girl's eyes shined and she said, "That's actually great.

“What do you mean?"

"Well," she said, "You know that one of the rules in the Quartet is that duels take place with stakes. But if you murder somebody, you can't take any of their possessions, right?"

Max nodded. "If that rule didn't exist, I bet it would just be anarchy."

"Yes, more than it already is," said Lavinia. "But to be fair, I can't really fault the people that made these quartets with that. After all, the whole reason this place exists is to turn regular people into super soldiers that can fight monsters without flinching."

"True," said Max.

"Anyway," said Lavinia. "If you are attacked, the system recognizes you as being attacked, and you fight back and kill the attacker in self-defense, that means that you are eligible to loot your attacker before they disappear. That means everything on their person plus a portion of their mana units that they have on them, whatever the system decides you're eligible for. Based on my understanding, it's about two thousand units or if they have more than that, maybe up to twenty percent of what they have on top of that.  The number changes every few years.  It seems to vary."

"I think it might be different now, maybe higher.” Said Max. "But why does it matter that I don't have a bag?"

Lavinia smirked, an expression that Max was already coming to recognize. "If you don't even have a pouch, that means that nobody is able to take money from you. But the moment if you earn money or win units through the system–"

Max held a hand up and said, "Actually, I think I already did.

“Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Remember I told you that I killed that one guy right before I was killed? I got a message about it."

"Oh, that's right," she said.  “Did the system say how much you have waiting for you?"

"No."

"Okay, well, this further proves my point. If you don't have a money bag, it means that if you are killed in self-defense, you technically have no mana units. So you don't have anything that anybody can take other than your weapon. It basically just gives you an extra bit of security."

"Okay," said Max slowly. “I’d still lose my weapon, though…”  His voice trailed off.  He felt like now he understood where Lavinia was going with this. He could mitigate any losses he incurred if he became the aggressor.  Not exactly rock-solid protection but better than nothing.

Max shook his head and said, "But I still feel like I don't understand this place well enough. I mean, if I go out for revenge and I get tons of demerits, get kicked out of classes, but I’m still broke and can't get money for the rest of the time I'm here, that could be a serious problem. I mean, I do want to learn to be a Summoner, after all.  I’d rather not work at a coffee shop in the central area for the next seven years just to avoid feeling hungry all day.  It hasn’t escaped my notice that the easiest way for students in the Quartet to make money is by being good students."

Lavinia said, "Max, I already told you, you can pay for almost anything. That includes classes.  How do you think all of these Lifer Lordlings are able to come here and do whatever they want and never have to face any justice for it? The rules here actually make a lot of sense if everybody was coming here on the same footing–with nothing. However, because of Farm Worlds, we have Lifers.”

"It’s another name for Beseiged Worlds.  It doesn’t apply to all of them. Farm Worlds are like Albion now.  It’s where the world hasn't been destroyed and even has functioning civilization.  Instead of stopping the monster invasion for whatever reason, instead, monsters and portals to dungeons are farmed for profit."

"What?"

"Indeed," said Lavinia. "Every attacked world basically has four possible outcomes. One, they can get destroyed. Two, the defenders succeed in pushing back the monsters, winning and closing off all the portals so they're safe. Three, the world takes a long time to get rid of the monsters, long enough for a new round of Challengers to be chosen and appear.  Or four, they have the ability but are unwilling to actually completely stop the invasions. It turns into a stalemate where challengers become adventurers that kill monsters for power and profit."

Max slowly nodded his head because even though it seemed weird to him at first, this actually wasn't too different from how his life had been in Albion for a while. Although he'd been killing monsters in the wild instead of going through portals to find them. "Alright," said Max, "but I'm still worried about classes. You said I can pay for things, but what if I don’t have any money? I know there is money waiting for me, but I don’t know how much, yet."

Lavinia gave him a strange look and said, "That's very reasonable. Even though I can tell you have secrets and I can actually feel mana in you."

At first, Max was surprised by this, but then he remembered that Lavinia was from Albion.  Even as a ghost, she must be able to sense mana in Max's body.  Maybe she’d also had some degree of mana control or sensitivity before she died. "Well, yeah, if I was just a regular person, there's no way I would have been able to kill those Mystic Spear students," said Max.

"At least you admit it," muttered Lavinia. "Look, the classes thing is not a problem because it's not like you need to take a certain number of classes in order to go home. All you need to do is convince the professors that you’re ready.  You don’t need a full load of classes for that.  At the very worst, you can just run out the clock seven years and automatically be sent back."

She hesitated, then said, "All of this might actually be a non-issue.  Not a problem for you at all."

"Why?" asked Max. Lavinia squared her shoulders and said, "Because if we make a contract, I will agree to teach you to be a summoner."

Max blinked.

He wasn’t entirely surprised that the subject of a contract had come up, but still hadn’t truly been expecting Lavinia to introduce the topic herself. If anything, he’d been prepared to suggest it to her when the time felt right.  In his mind, based on what he'd learned in class so far, contracts were like…formal agreements made in an almost solemn or highly structured way. He definitely hadn't expected a spirit to casually bring it up.

Although, Lavinia was definitely a unique spirit, even by her own admission.

Max said, "Okay, since you're the one who brought it up, what would our contract terms be?"

He must have shown hints of hesitation, because Lavinia held out her hands and said, "Don't get the wrong idea there, stud. Even if I were alive, I am not attracted to you in any way. Trust  me on this.  I know. I even saw you in the shower a few days ago when I was checking on the room next door, looking for something."

Max blinked and said, "What? You saw me in the shower?”

“Someone was taking a shower and I was curious who was here now.”

“I thought you said you're not even actually a ghost. But you're totally just a creepy stalker ghost."

Lavinia frowned, "Take it back."

"I don't think I will," said Max, folding his arms. "This is what, the first conversation you've had in decades or something?  And then I find out that you were peeping on me in the bathroom?"

Lavinia scrunched up her nose and said, "Okay, that was maybe kind of shitty of me, but I was just curious who the new person was that moved in next door. Believe it or not, this side of the dorms used to be for women. The room next to yours belonged to my friend."

"Really? Why is nobody still in there then?"

Lavinia wagged a finger and said, "I'm not gonna tell you everything all at once, and that's actually kind of not my secret to share, so I need to make sure of some things first.  Other spirits go in there, too.  It’s not just me.  And this subject is dumb.  I’m a spirit, Max.  My ovaries were gone a long time ago.  Those interests are gone.  And even if I got titillated by dumb boys taking showers, you’re not my type.  I wouldn’t be interested, if I were interested, which I’m not."

Max rolled his eyes.  He thought about how this conversation was actually between two old souls still existing beyond their own time and shook his head.  Part of him was still skeptical of everything Lavinia had just said, regardless of her poker face.  He still decided to drop the shower peeping subject.  But he made a note to learn how to keep spirits out of his immediate area.  Soon. "Okay, I'm not even gonna pretend to understand all of that. Moving right along… So what's going on with this contract?"

The spirit abruptly stood and began to pace back and forth in Max's room. She said, "Okay, I definitely understand how this goes since I used to be a Summoner too, but you've never had a contract before, right?" Max shook his head. "Okay," said Lavinia, "Then just listen until I'm done. Here goes.

"So if we have a contract, I will fight for you and help you, and basically be available to hear your call at any time until you die. That's pretty standard.  But I'm also not going be your slave. I'm not going to do anything that goes deeply against my convictions, and I think that's more than fair since I'm not a normal spirit and I still have my soul."

Max nodded at that. Even though he wasn't exactly super experienced with all this spirit stuff, that sounded fair to him. He had to ask a question, though.  “But that still sounds lopsided, to be honest.  The fact you’re subordinate in the first place feels weird.”

The ghost gave him a big, genuine smile.  “I knew you were a nice boy.  Don’t worry about it.  Being unattached for all this time has been dreadfully boring, and I am tired of being effectively powerless. My time as a Summoner has convinced me to trust this obvious connection we have.”

“It’s that simple?” asked Max.

“That simple.”  She nodded and continued, "If you hold up your side of the bargain and we can do some significant damage to the Mystic Spear Academy students, but especially to the school itself, that will make me happy.  I might tell you some more secrets that I know. It's kind of open-ended, I know, but just roll with it. My main ask of you is to raise the reputation of Summoners in this Quartet and wherever else you go.  Before you leave this Quartet, if you manage to place in the inter-academy competition while you're a student, I will give you something else as a reward.

"What will you give me?" asked Max.

"It's a secret. Hush, keep listening."

Max frowned.

Lavinia said, "From you, as soon as we make a contract, you need to let me scan your memories so I can understand your world, your past, and your personality better. Because, I'll be honest, I'm a little curious. I've been dead for a while and I've never seen another world other than Abion."

“Wait, you can read minds!?”