Past Life Hero, Chapter 26

Max grabbed a snack.  The conversation started after everyone sat down at the table. "You're done for the day now, right Max?" asked Lance.

"Yeah, but after this, I was going to go work out, I think."

Lance shook his head. "I probably should, too.  Been thinking about it.  But whenever I see you doing all that stuff, it makes me tired just from watching."

"Well, they tell us that after we go back to our real bodies, the transfer will take all the good stuff from here to there," Max reminded.

Lance nodded skeptically. "Yeah, see, that's what I'm kind of iffy about. Stuff we know, or our powers, things tied to the soul or mind... I can buy that. But going back to Earth and having a six-pack there if I got one here... I don't know about that man, especially since we're not actually aging here."

Wiley laughed and said, "You two better get used to the idea. It's all magic after all.  To most people, none of this stuff makes sense, any of it." He stopped chuckling and continued, "Seriously, I thought the same as you guys when I first got here. But all of the professors who went to their world to fight and then came back here all said that it's true."

Max nodded.  He’d had the same thoughts.  And it seemed that all of the Quartets and the academies were legitimately created to help people get stronger and kill monsters back on their own world. So it didn't make sense to learn how to be ass-kicking wizards or whatever, but then go back with an untrained body. Whatever magic was involved in improving the original body that all of the challengers would go back to, he figured it was important and worked.  If not, especially the martial paths would be completely screwed once they got back to their home worlds.

Lance hooked a thumb at Wiley and said, "So now you've met each other. I know Wiley from my mind-strengthening class. I think he's about to graduate at the end of the year or something. How does graduation actually work anyway?"

Wiley shrugged and said, "I don't know, exactly.  They give us counseling when we get close enough. Or I guess whenever we're ready, we just tell them that we're ready.  Then if they agree, we graduate. And whenever that happens, whoever graduates says goodbye and we have a party.  When you leave, you got back to one of the fields that everybody appeared in the first time they came here…and they vanish."

Interesting, thought, Max. Apparently, graduating required the student to initiate some sort of test or review. If they didn't, it wasn't necessarily automatic.

Wiley said, "To tell the truth, I've been wanting to meet you for a few days, Max."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, most of the lower classmen might not know yet, but word of your duel with that guy from the Mystic Spear Path is spreading like wildfire. Not everybody knows your name yet, but everybody's been talking about the guy who beat down a spear guy with a cane.  Didn’t you win a weapon?"

Max chuckled and brought his dagger up to the lunch table. "Everybody keeps saying it's enchanted, but I haven't even figured out what it does yet."

Wiley rubbed his chin.  "It's probably something lower level, like heightened durability and sharpness, maybe with the ability to harm magical creatures or intangible creatures or something like that."

Max raised his eyebrows. "Really?" In the last few days, especially after the upperclassmen had started wearing other clothing, Max had noticed more than a few of them also carrying weapons of their own.

Wiley gave him a look like it was super basic information before he seemed to remember he was talking to first years. "Oh yeah, that's right. You guys wouldn't know yet." He paused and thought for a second, then said, "Do you know how money actually works in the Quartet?"

Max and Lance shook their heads. Wiley explained, "Money in all the Quartets is basically these little balls full of mana. They come in different denominations starting from just one, and you can consolidate them between orbs. You just have to think about it and use your challenger seed. Everybody can do it, even if they don't use mana as part of their PAth."

"Really?" asked Max.

"Yeah." Wiley took out a pouch from his pocket that looked empty, reached inside, and pulled out an orb the size of a marble. It glowed faintly. He said, "This is five Units. All of the money is in Units. Most students don't just get money, not at first. You have to earn it, either by doing something really good in school, or being a higher year in the academy, or by trading, or doing some sort of work in the central area, or–" He dropped his voice and said, "Doing dungeons."

"Dungeons?" asked Max. He shared a look with Lance.

Lance asked, "Like Dungeons and Dragons? I cast a magic missile at the darkness!" He waved a hand around. Max laughed, and Wiley looked at the two of them like they were insane.

Max realized that Wiley wasn't from Earth and wouldn't understand the joke, so he said, "It's a game in the world we come from."

"Oh, okay," said Wiley. He rolled his eyes, very obviously not impressed by the joke. “Anyway, once a month, anyone can go into one of the dungeons, but a lot of people don't, because if you go into a dungeon and you die there, you die for real.  That’s it.  Back to your original body with nothing but your memories.

“So, a lot of times when students go into the dungeons, they go in a group.  They might go with fewer if they feel like they're really ready.  Most are cautious.  And there's different levels of dungeons, too."

“What are dungeons?” asked Lance.

“the dungeons are kind of like mazes with monsters and stuff.”

Max blinked. This was definitely the first he'd heard this much about dungeons in the Quartet. "So how do you actually make money in them then?" he asked.

"Well, before you go in, there's some sort of mage or wizard that casts a spell on you.  The spell has a conditional effect.  When you kill monsters, instead of their mana just escaping into the air, it actually turns into condensed mana stones that you can use to charge up mana units you already have, basically making them worth more. You just touch the rock to the spheres and transfer the mana the same way you would unit to unit. And then that's it. Of course, you can also sell any gear that you find, but most of the stuff down there isn't worth much.  The exception is enchanted weapons or armor or relics and things like that."

"And you can do it once a month?" asked Max.

"Well, it's once a month for free. Some people actually go there every month saying they're going to do the dungeon, but they lie.  Because every time you get a pass for a dungeon, they give you one money unit.  These types of students will just walk away with the unit.

“It's a really, really slow way to pick up money or make money, but if you're afraid of dying, it beats dying."

"I guess," said Max. "Is once a month all you can go?"

"Nah," said Wiley. "You can go as many times as you want, but after the first time you go in that month, you have to pay for it."

"How much does it cost?" asked Lance.

"Depends on the dungeon," said Wiley. "It might even depend on the day. I am not an expert.  Maybe it has something to do with supply and demand. I don't know, I don't go into dungeons very often, but by the time you get into your second year, you have to go at least twice in the year. Usually, everybody goes as a Summoner class at first, so there's no real danger."

Max shook his head. "Wild," he said. “On the subject of money, what do things cost around here?" he pointed at the dagger on the table. “For instance, if I were to buy that in the central area, how much would it cost?"

"Usually food is like one or two units. Maybe half a unit. Really, really good food can be more than that. A basic weapon is usually around a hundred units, but an enchanted weapon like your dagger, maybe pretty decent, would be three times that. Really, really good enchanted weapons can be like thousands of units, maybe even millions."

"Why the hell is it so expensive?" said Lance.  “Even a meal being one credit is kind of insane when you figure people only get one credit for signing up for a dungeon per month.”

Wiley smiled. "It’s the secret of the Quartet.  You can take some stuff back with you," he said. "Like, when you go back to your original body.  You can pay extra to have something go back with you but it’s expensive to do.  So the motivated types try to make enough money to get at least a few good pieces of gear and afford to have it go back with them.”

"Really?" said Lance.

"Yes.  Otherwise what would be the point of spending so much time and effort to make money in order to buy the stuff? Experience, sure, but the dungeons can be dangerous.  It’s risky.  Not only that, warriors and stuff–like people in the other Paths especially–if they go back to their world without weapons, their Path might be useless."

Max nodded slowly. "So nobody makes money at school?"

Wiley shook his head. "No, uh, yes. Okay, so this is a little complicated. First years don't make any money. This is probably to encourage first years to stay in classes.  Second years get one or two units per month, or more depending on how well they perform in classes, tests, and such.  Third years get ten units per month and it stays at that level all the way to year seven.  But winning in tournaments or winning at anything, or excelling in anything, being recognized in training training…Winning contests that the professors create, all of it can make money."

"So the only time we’d ever spend money on food and whatnot would be in the central area, right?  And it’s a luxury?” asked Max.

"No," said Wiley. "Or at least not necessarily.  For most students, ses.  But if you get too many demerits, you can't make money at school anymore, and nothing will be free anymore either, including the cafeteria."

Lance's jaw fell open, and he looked like his world was crumbling around him. "No more food? Then if somebody gets demerits, how the hell are they going to survive?  You said meals are obscenely expensive in the central area!"

Wiley laughed and pinched at his skin. "These bodies aren't one hundred percent real, remember? Not only do we heal faster in the Quartet, but we also can't technically starve. Going a long time without food is going to be super, super unpleasant though.  You’ll probably learn slower, too.  And you won’t be able to improve your body anymore.  But if you’re paying for classes, you get a cafeteria pass…or so I hear.”

"Okay, I get it," said Max. He thoughtfully took a bite of his slice of pizza and said, "So if you get lots of demerits, if you get punished for it, you're not just having to move to a crappier room. You also potentially don't get free food anymore. You don't get to go to classes anymore, so you can't even learn, and your time is wasted." And he let his voice trail off. "What else?"

Wiley ticked things off on his fingers. "No more library. It can take longer to regenerate if you die. You don't get free laundry service anymore. And if you really screw up, they can even try taking away your water in the screw-up building."

"The screw-up dorms?" asked Lance.

"Yeah, the screw-up dorms," said Wiley. "That's kind of what we call the area where everybody goes if they get too many demerits and get moved out of the dorms."

Max shook his head.  Wild. But then he raised an eyebrow and said, "But most of these things can be fixed with money, right? They said before that class didn't cost tuition or didn't cost any money, but if you have too many demerits and you can't get into class, can you still pay for it.  I think you might have mentioned something to that effect, too."

Wiley smirked. "Yup. And now you're starting to understand why it's so unfair when the lifers come in here and do whatever they want."

“Lifers?” said Lance.

"What are Lifers?" asked Max.

Wiley hesitated and slowly said, "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but my understanding is that people don't only get chosen and come to the Quartets when their world is first attacked. If a world is under attack for a really long time, every fifty years or so there's a new group of Challengers that are chosen from that world.  They can choose to train new Paths, go back and I guess theoretically the added Challengers will save that world

“Thing is, if they know about the Quartets and they come from a powerful family, they will have ways of getting money and other resources while training that regular students…won’t.  I’ve even heard rumors of corrupt professors bending over backwards for Lifers."

"This is the first I heard about that," said Max. "Crazy.  Too bad our world doesn’t have a bunch of people who already know what is going on.  Unfairness of the Lifers or not, me and Lance are going back to our world blind after we’re done here."

Wiley laughed. "Yeah, there's a lot of mysteries about the attacks on the worlds out there and there have been student clubs every year I've been here where people kind of strategize about what they might do when they get back home. It's really popular whenever there are several people in the academy from the same world so they can kind of work together on it.

“The problem is that no matter how good their plan is, it isn't worth dirt if the other people from other Paths aren't on the same page."

Lance sighed. "Yeah, I can see that. Suck that Summoners are so rare, huh?"

Wiley lost his perpetual grin and said, "No, it's good there aren't very many summoners."

Max didn't reply, just looked a question at the man. Wiley continued, "Summoners are terrible, Lance. I really wish I'd gotten any other Path than this one."

Lance shook his head.  He said, "The professors keep saying that we can be really good support or we can be creative and--"

Wiley cut him off. "Summoners are weak. It's just that simple. There's a reason we get our asses kicked every year by the other academies. A first year in the other academies can beat third and fourth-year Summoners. Their best over there could probably take out a quarter of our students, total.  Maybe more."

Something about the statement got Max’s hackles up.  He hated defeatism.  Max chuckled and said, "I don't know. I beat that one guy a few days ago in the central area."

Wiley gave him a weird expression before smiling. "Yeah, and that was awesome. Everybody's talking about it because we can't stand those arrogant Mystic Spear people. We're all rooting for you, man. I even heard that you might end up representing the school this year during the yearly tournament!"

Max shrugged and said, "Yeah, I've heard something about it."

“You should really take it seriously because if a miracle happens and you somehow win even a single match, you get tons of money for it. It's one of the major motivators for so many people wanting to take part in the tournament in the first place."

"Really?" asked Max.

"Yeah, there are other prizes too. Like, I've heard that if you are able to compete up two levels–”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh,” said Wiley.  “Two levels up.  So be at the top of this Quartet, then compare for this Quartet against three others and go up one more stage after that.  Anyway, if you go that high, you can even request rare books or instruction or even a transfer to another quartet. Although I don't know what the point of that would be."

"Can you go over the levels thing again?” asked Lance.

"Well, the first level is the tournament in your Quartet," said Wiley. "The second level is the winners or top placers from four different Quartets all competing. Then the third level is all of those winners fighting in a tournament.  I’ve heard that the competition can go to even higher tiers but it could all just be a myth. Nobody in this Quartet knows for sure, I think."

Max whistled soundlessly. "So, sixteen Quartets, best of. That's third level, huh?  Or going up two levels?"

"Exactly," said Wiley.

"Wow." Lance shook his head. "I'm not even gonna dream of getting that far. But who knows, buddy?" He punched Max in the shoulder. "You keep working out every day like you have been, and maybe you can Hercules your way up there."

Max grinned. "I don't know, we'll see."

"It must be nice to even have a hope of winning anything.”  Wiley shook his head ruefully. “Most of us know that any of the Mystic Spear Path people or the other two Paths in this quartet could destroy us if they wanted to. That's why most of us don't even go to the central area anymore. Besides, you need money to buy anything there, and summoners are so weak that most of us won't go into dungeons unless the group is large. And if the group is large, we don't make as much money because everything has to be split so many ways."

"It does sound tough,” said Max.  “Thanks for giving us the no-bullshit version of what's really going on around here. The professors always seem to sugarcoat everything."

"Absolutely," said Wiley. "No problem. I don’t mind answering any questions you have if I have the time.  In fact, I need to go to the central area for something tomorrow. Do you guys want to come with?"

"Hell yeah," said Lance. "As long as we avoid the mall.  I want to explore more.  You coming, Max?"

Max thought about his workout routine and how close he was getting to achieving a one-star mana body, but decided that he could sacrifice a single day. "Sure, why not?" he said. He patted the dagger before putting it back on his belt. "Maybe I can sell this thing and get something that'll work better for me, too."