Past Life Hero, ch 25

During Max's walk to get some food, he kept feeling like he was seeing things out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough, when he opened his third eye, his summoner eye, he was able to see something that actually astonished him. The very walls themselves were covered in spirits. What they were used for, he wasn't entirely sure. He couldn't even see them very clearly, but he could tell that there were spirits dwelling within the walls and they were at peace. Max wondered if these spirits were actually part of the academy and maybe one of the reasons why it had lasted so long.

As he moved down a hallway, he tried to scan other students surreptitiously, especially the ones that were wearing clothing other than the school's robes.  That was generally a really easy way to spot upperclassmen. Sure enough, not many, but a handful had visible spirits, mostly in the form of little animals or even a glowing piece of clothing that the summoner carried or wore. A young woman passed by Max with a beautiful, multicolored spirit bird on her shoulder. The bird deliberately turned and winked. Max blinked and turned off his third eye. This was definitely new territory and would take some getting used to. Now, he was actually even more interested in understanding exactly what these spirits were.

His next class was Summoner Lore. When Max got to class after his break, Professor Brenson was writing on the board. She was also using a stone wand to draw a picture. Max and everybody else sat down and watched the professor as she drew. When she was done, he could immediately tell what the lesson was going to be about. It actually was going to tie into something that Professor Two-Spirit had just said in the last class.

Professor Brenson pointed at the board and said, "I am going to be talking today about the relative power of spirits because it's something that is highly misunderstood even among upperclassmen, even among later year summoner students.  Perhaps even among full-fledged Summoner Challengers." She flicked her wrist and her wand extended to several feet long. Then she went to touch the board but stopped. She coughed. "I forgot to take roll. So all of you please note right now on your tablet that you are present in class so I don't have to break my momentum here." Several students chuckled as everybody got out their tablet to do what the instructor had said. Max did so quickly and prepared to take notes again.

The professor pointed at the board and said, "Spirits are classified by authority, not power.  There are five general authority classes of spirits: Soldier, Sergeant, Captain, Warlord, and King. A soldier spirit, as many of you probably already know, is only accountable to itself. A sergeant spirit can have two to five subordinates or spirits that follow its orders. A captain has two to five sergeants. However, a warlord has anywhere from two to ten subordinate captains.  Kings have been recorded with up to twenty warlords."

Max soundlessly whistled at that. A spirit army, huh?  Like the student who'd asked about why Summoners were weak in the last class, he too was starting to wonder why this Path didn’t get more respect.

The professor's next sentence helped him understand better.  She said, "Right now, of all the known Summoners in the universe, those who have a contract with a captain-level spirit are exceedingly rare, and every one of them is among the top ten summoners currently in existence."

Max did some quick math in his head. If a hypothetical captain spirit had three sergeants and each sergeant had three soldiers, that meant that having a contract with a captain meant the summoner, through that one contract, would theoretically control ten spirits.

Next Professor Branson rattled off some names of powerful Summoners that Max barely paid attention to, just jotted down in his notes. She said, "On average, a Summoner with a captain-level spirit can command twelve spirits at once, through that one contract. So, at first impression, a spirit at the captain rank has many times the power of a single spirit. However–” She tapped the board a few times. “Not all spirits are the same power.

“For instance, there are instances where a soldier-level spirit might be much more powerful than a sergeant-level spirit. Why some spirits have subordinates and some don't, we still don't entirely understand. And those Summoners who can easily converse with our spirits over the many centuries have basically reported that the spirits don't entirely know either. It seems to be based as much on spirit type as personality.  Power is a secondary consideration.”

A few students in the class raised their hands, and the professor said, "Everyone with your hands up, are you going to ask about types?" All the students put their hands down. Professor Brenson smiled and started writing on the board again.

She said, "The most common types of spirits are spectral, natural, thematic, geographical, and infernal." The professor tapped where she'd written infernal. "There are no rules in the academy not to contract with infernal spirits. However, I highly caution all of you against ever making a contract with an infernal spirit, as you will almost always regret it."

One student raised his hand, a middle-aged man with a mohawk. He said, "Infernal spirits? Do you mean demons?"

The instructor shook her head and said, "No, Raphael.  And next time, wait to be called before you ask a question."

"Sorry."

Professor Brenson waved at all the different types of spirits and said, "Spirits are not magical creatures or demons or angels or anything of that nature. Spirits are energy given form and intelligence or will. For instance, some people, when they think of spirits, think of ghosts. Now ghosts can be a type of spirit, but are not the default.  And a spirit stereotypically thought of as a ghost is generally going to be a spectral type.

“Some people think of natural spirits as…a spirit of a valley, which would likely be a very powerful spirit indeed, or perhaps a spirit of a rock. But those would be geographical spirits. There are two types of geographical spirits: those tied to specific places and those tied to specific natural objects, like for instance, a pond.

Natural spirits are tied to concepts, like trees.  Or perhaps water.  The distinction between natural and geographical spirits can be subtle but is important.  And much like other rules in the universe, there is overlap between different types. Spirit types can change, too.

“For instance, if a large forest dies and there was a geographical forest spirit associated with it, that spirit might either regenerate as a natural spirit or change as a spectral geographic spirit–with, of course, some natural qualities as well. Again, natural spirits are anything that comes from nature. Geographical spirits are anything that can be generated from a place or an object. Thematic spirits are based on emotions or a theme. For instance, a spirit of joy would be a thematic spirit. Infernal spirits are spirits that…” She tapped her lips and said, “They're destructive and negative. Infernal spirits are basically everything that's not ‘good.’ And spectral spirits, of course, are spirits that are associated with death, the afterlife, or even other realities or dimensions. So if one were to find, say, a fairy spirit, that would most likely be a spectral spirit that has elements of a natural spirit."

The professor tapped the board again and said, "Some of you may be wondering why there is an infernal spirit type and no celestial spirits. The answer is simple. They exist but do not concern us.” She smiled without humor.  “Celestial spirits do not contract with summoners.

“ Instead, celestial spirits tend to be attracted to other Paths, such as paladin-types or priest-types or any kind of light-based Path. That doesn't necessarily mean that celestial spirits are holy, or automatically ‘better.’ It's just that for some reason, they usually avoid Summoners.

“Many Summoner scholars over the centuries have theorized that it's because a Summoner's power tends to be more secular in origin and based on rules rather than faith."

Max took notes furiously. And as the lesson continued and the professor started explaining more minutia about each type of spirit, Max grew more fascinated with this new world that he hadn't even known existed before. Time seemed to fly and class was over before Max knew it.

He went to lunch but didn't see anybody he knew. So he scarfed down the closest thing to a hamburger he'd seen so far in the Quartet and then headed to a quiet corner to review his notes.  After he was done killing time, he headed to his next class.

He was on time to Monster Knowledge class, but the class itself was mostly just a refresher of information he already knew so he barely paid attention. Class dragged a bit and he was glad to finally get out.

Then he headed to the cafeteria again to get a snack.  On the way he caught motion out of the corner of his eye. Max turned and saw Lance walking with an unfamiliar man. He stopped and the two walked over to him.

Lance asked, "What’s up, Max? Are you going to the cafeteria?"

"I was thinking about it. Yeah."

"Well, this is Wiley," said Lance. “Max, Wiley.  Wiley, Max.”

Max shook Wiley's hand. He looked like he was in his late twenties and his badge read that he was in his fourth year at the Academy. Wiley was athletically built and seemed to wear a perpetual good-natured smirk. Max wasn't very good at telling whether other men were attractive or not, but he was pretty sure that Wiley didn't have a problem getting dates if he wanted to. "Nice to meet you," said Max.

"Likewise," said Wiley.

The three of them began heading to the cafeteria.  Lance said, "I've been learning so much about this Academy and being a Summoner and stuff, Max. Just wait till you talk to Wiley about this stuff. He's been blowing my mind all day."

Max nodded. This might be a good opportunity to ask some of the questions that he'd been saving up for just such a conversation with an upperclassman.