Past Life Hero, ch 24

long chapter!


That Friday, Max woke up and immediately got ready for class. He thought he had woken up a bit late, and the magical clock in his room agreed with him. Dammit.  He hadn’t set an alarm.  Good thing for his new habits or he could have overslept much worse.

When he got out of the shower and was drying off his hair, he thought he heard more strange noises coming from what would have been his roommate's room. By this time, he was absolutely sure that nobody was living there though. Had to be an animal or something.

He wouldn’t have time for breakfast and that was okay. For much of Max's life, he actually hadn't eaten breakfast, getting out of the habit in college when he had been so busy. It had only been relatively recently that he had started eating breakfast again, mainly for health reasons.

Max was kind of disappointed that he hadn't taken the opportunity to get free breakfast though, especially since the cafeteria seemed to do pretty well with it.

On the way out the door, he waved to Chango and mentally went over the classes he had on Friday. First, he would have Summoner Homeroom class. Then he would have Summoner Lore 101. And to end the day, he would have Monster Knowledge 101. He honestly wasn't looking forward to any of these classes too much at this point, except for homeroom to actually become a real Summoner. His favorite class so far had been Challenger Path Lore, but he wouldn't have it again until next Tuesday.

Luckily, the day actually started off in a fairly interesting way. In Max's de facto homeroom class, Professor Two-Spirit started off the class by saying, "It has come to my attention that even fewer people than I thought have read the handbooks for first years.  The ones that should have been found in your rooms. And additionally, there are a few things about this academy and school rules that were not included, mainly so that new people wouldn't be too confused."

By this point, Max wasn't the only person in class whose interest was piqued.  The professor had the class’s full attention.  One thing Max had been slowly realizing over the week is that the majority of new students here were not taking their new transition into an extra-dimensional college nearly as well as he was. Sometimes Max forgot that most people around him were not working with an extra life of experience.  And many had no experience with any worlds that were not magical or otherwise supernatural in nature.

The new group of first years had already begun to get fairly cliquey, but Max had been so busy that he hadn't noticed right away. In fact, the previous night, he had even overheard somebody saying that the average new student only took two, maybe three classes. Max had thought he was taking it easy by taking five!

The professor continued, "Some new challengers in this new group seem to be concerned that they need to pay for tuition or otherwise come up with payment of some sort, and that is not the case.  This school was created as a way to arm mortals to fight against evil. It has been running for untold millennia and will continue to do so, training new warriors to be Summoners when they return to their worlds.”

A hand shot up. Max glanced over and saw that it was a student whose name he didn't know, a man who looked in his early thirties wearing glasses. When the professor pointed at him, the man asked, "You mentioned going back.  What if we want to go back early?  Why do we need to meet some arbitrary standards I can’t even find written down anywhere?  What if we don't want to be here? I have a wife and a child back on my world.  Even if I only know how to do a little bit, I’d be a help.  I don’t need to be a summoning master to make a difference and the longer I’m here, the more my heart breaks!"

Professor Two-Spirit spread his hands apologetically and said, "Once you come to the Quartet, there's no going back until you graduate or seven years pass."

The man, the student, suddenly stood and yelled, "In seven years, my daughter is going to be ten years old if she's even still alive!" He grit his teeth and glared daggers at the professor.

Max blinked and realized then how out of touch he really must be. He’d thought that he understood where most people's heads might be after being friends with Lance. But maybe Lance was a bit of a weirdo, too. Or at least the man seemed to understand that if he went right back to Earth, he would be pretty much useless as he was.  There was also the fact that their time spent in the Quartet didn’t necessarily translate, at all, to how long they would be away from Earth.  It was always possible they were being lied to, but Max didn’t think so.  The professors had returned to their worlds before and come back.

Time differentials were not unprecedented in the rest of the universe. That was something Max had already known before even reincarnating. But for somebody on another world–maybe even for instance, a pre-industrial world–all of this must be not only fantastical but also terrifying and frustrating. In a split second, Max had gained a new insight into what some of his classmates may be feeling. And he felt truly sorry for them because he could predict how the next exchange was going to go.

The student growled, "I want to go back now! I’m tired of being patient.  I know what everyone says.  I don't care. I want to see my family!  I want to protect them but I don’t even know if they’re still alive!"

The professor shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter when you leave from here. When you arrive back on your world it could be two days from when you left, two years, or two months. Who knows? It could be six years or six days. When you actually leave the academy to go back to your world has absolutely no bearing on when you will reappear in your world. I promise you.  I’ve experienced it.  So I assure you, with all of my heart, you are much better off taking this time to learn, grow, and be as powerful as possible before heading back.

"In fact, the entire time you are here, you will not eat; your real body will not even physically age.  On the contrary, if you become stronger, more dextrous, that is how you will reappear on your world."

The student hissed, "Is that supposed to help then?! So what, I go back in ten years and my wife will be ten years older and I'll still be the same age? Even if she's alive, will she even remember me?"

Two-Spirit’s expression fell.  "Ten years is unlikely. And maybe even impossible. But if such a thing were to happen, I would tell you that being able to protect your world along with the other Challengers is always going to be better just to go back and watch your loved ones die without being able to do anything.  Being powerless before dying yourself will not help anyone."

Max knew that this was exactly his friend Lance's logic and why he was holding up so well. But this was probably also the wrong thing to say to this emotional student.

The man slammed his fist on his desk, stood up and said coldly, "I'm not putting up with this shit anymore. I'm going to go find somebody who has some real authority and get the fuck out of here." That said, he turned and left the room. He tried to slam the door, but it didn't work very well because there was some sort of cushion. This seemed to just frustrate the man even more. His footsteps grew heavier as he stomped off down the hallway.

Max had been half expecting some other students in class to laugh or whisper, but nobody made a sound. As he scanned the classroom, he understood why. Even though the man who had left the class had lost his temper and lost his composure, it was likely he was not the only student feeling the way he did.  His words must have resonated with some.  Their faces were grave and they looked down..

Not only that, Max had to keep reminding himself that despite this strange school setting, every new Summoner was at least a teenager and had killed a monster to even get here. Most students seemed to be in their 20’s.  What was really weird, after walking around campus though, was how many fourth and fifth years he saw who still looked super young.  Their bodies didn’t age.

The professor handled the interruption with grace. He paused to collect himself before saying, "I know this is hard. Myself and almost every professor in this academy have been through almost exactly what you're going through right now. Most of us know what it's like to be jerked out of our regular lives and then forced to adjust to this academy." He sighed.  "I'm truly sorry, and I really mean it. The absolute best thing you can do at this point for yourself, for your world, for your families, for your loved ones, is to grow to be as powerful as possible. Even here, your strength is important.  All of you chose power.  Every single person in this room saw the screen and chose to take a chance.  All of you chose to come here. So for now, even if this is difficult, I suggest that you make the most of this opportunity."

Another student raised a hand. The professor pointed. This time it was a middle-aged woman, and she stood up. At first, Max thought she was completely human, but then he noticed her pointed ears and the thicker skin, almost scales, on her neck. The woman said, "Professor, what about friends though? We have to be here for years. But after we graduate, I'm not going to see anybody again, right? There is nobody in our class right now from my world."

The professor nodded and said, "That's true. And we were going to discuss that probably next week. But since you brought it up, we'll talk about it now.  In every Quartet school, not just Summoner Academy, students often form friend groups with other people from their world. However, the Summoner path is rare. Sometimes it's harder to find other people from your individual world. And even then, it's true that if you are from a large world, it might be hard to find that person again upon getting back since everyone is returned to the same basic geographical area they left from.”

Briefly, Max wondered how the professor knew this information before remembering that all the professors had already gone back to defend their world before returning back to the academy as instructors.

Professor Two-Spirit said, "It is not impossible to meet other Challengers from other worlds again during your journey. But those possibilities are rare and are not worth mentioning in any kind of serious capacity unless you are the level of Challenger who wins an inter-Quartet championship.  I hope that answers your question.  Keep in mind this is only the first week that you've started and we have a lot to cover."

The student who had asked the question slowly sat down, and Max could see the troubled look on her face. He had seen her spending a lot of time with another woman who was in a different homeroom class and figured that they had started becoming extremely good friends. Max had never considered the reality that after leaving the Quartet, most Summoners would never see each other again.  In fact, now that he thought about it further, unless a new challenger was going to one of the larger academies, many students could end up living a lonely life in their Quartet years unless they could just ignore that they’d never see their friends again.

Max scratched his chin and thought about college back on Earth. Then he remembered some experiences he had with schooling in his previous life.  It was a bitter pill to swallow, but in practice, this was probably how most people’s school life was, at least in practice.  Max knew that he probably would not talk to ninety-nine point nine percent of the other people he knew in high school ever again unless he decided to go to a reunion, which he was not planning to.

But in the Quartet, knowing for a fact that keeping up with friends was not a possibility just made the bitter pill even more bitter.

For the next few minutes, the professor gave a pep talk to cheer up the morale of the class. Max zoned out through most of it, instead thinking about ways that he could more efficiently refine his mana body.

He still had not hit one star yet, and it was extremely frustrating. All of his combat experience from his past life was being heavily handicapped by how slow and weak his body currently was.  He couldn’t use most of his abilities but some would be available at one star. As he thought about it, he realized a good analogy was a gamer who was good at first-person shooters playing at like three frames per second instead of how the game would normally run. Or maybe somebody playing an online game with lots of lag.

Suddenly, the professor started talking about school rules and Max began paying attention again. Professor Two-Spirit said, "As some of you may have heard, somebody from your class has already engaged in a duel with a student from another academy.” He conspicuously did not look at Max or the dagger on Max's waist. “Dueling is legal in all of the Quartet. Duelists will list their stakes, if any, and the Quartet itself will enforce that nothing is stolen and no prizes can be held back. Anyone who commits murder outside of this dueling system will receive demerits."

The professor paused and said, "Notice I did not say ‘fight.’ Fighting is not a punishable offense. However, any violence among students causes the Quartet alert professors and other staff. There are staff in the Quartet who monitor this sort of thing."

Max frowned and raised his hand. The professor tightened his lips but pointed at Max and asked, "Yes."

He thought about it and stood to ask his question.  “"You said that fighting is not against the rules, but murder is. And the handbook states that if somebody commits murder, they get a demerit. But fighting is such a broad term. Like, what about torture? If somebody were to tie me up and stab my legs to paste, does that mean that whoever did it is just going to walk away?"

The professor made a face like he tasted something sour, but said, "That is a fair question. Quartet property damage is forbidden unless accidental or unavoidable.  Torture is also against the rules, as is rape and other types of assault. New pamphlets should be delivered soon to your rooms to further explain this. But in general, after receiving notification of violence in the Quartet, professors should arrive.”.

“Given a situation, professors can give out punishment in the form of more demerits.

“Those of you who have read your handbooks will know that if a student receives too many demerits, they will no longer be eligible to attend classes for a certain amount of time and might even be forced to move to a different set of dorms set aside for those who cannot adjust to the academy's rules."

Max raised his eyebrows at that because much of it he had already known, but he was already starting to wonder if there were ways that people could abuse the system.

“But enough of that.” Professor Two-Spirit turned and wrote, “Awakening your summoner seed!” on the board, and then circled it with a stone wand. "Today, all of you are going to officially become practicing summoners." Despite the heavy topics discussed in class already, a good number of students visibly seemed excited.

During the next few minutes of class, Professor Two-Spirit instructed everyone to push their desks to the sides of the room and sit on the ground in a circle facing inwards. Then he described how to look inside themselves to find their seed and open it. The entire process sounded extremely weird and alien to Max, who had been a Blade Sorcerer his first life.  If it was weird to him, he could only imagine what Lance was feeling right now. Max snuck a look at his friend, and Lance was closing his eyes tightly with a frown of concentration on his face. Apparently, even if Lance thought what he was doing was weird, he had taken what Professor Two-Spirit had said earlier to heart and was trying to gain some power of his own.

Max shrugged, looked inside himself, and was amazed by how fast he was able to find his Summoner seed. It felt exactly how Professor Two-Spirit had described it. And then it was the easiest thing in the world to open it up. The moment he did, energy ran through his body in a strange feedback loop. Since Max was already an expert with mana, it was relatively easy for him to get the energy under control, despite its somewhat alien nature. Not least of which because it really did feel like a part of his body that had already been there. Once the energy settled, he noticed that most of it went to his heart and his mind.  Max definitely found that interesting.  One of the greatest differences between a standard Sorcerer and a Blade Sorcerer was that Blade Sorcerers cultivated a mana body, whereas a traditional Sorcerer had a mana heart.

Once Max was done attuning to his new power, he opened his eyes and realized that everyone else in class still had their eyes shut.  The professor was looking the opposite way, and Max hurriedly closed his eyes again, not wanting to stand out again. A few minutes later, he heard some of the other students groaning.

Professor Two-Spirit said, "Don't fight the energy. Let it run through your body. Let the energy do what it will. Unlike mana, this is not dangerous and it will eventually settle on its own. Just grit your teeth and bear it." Max was curious to hear that. As he recalled the sensations that he had felt, he realized that the professor was probably right. Then Max looked inside himself, wondering if his control of the process had any effect and decided he did not have enough information to know for sure.

After about ten more minutes, he chanced a peek and saw that half of the circle of students had opened their eyes. Some of them were smiling. A few looked worried, and at least two seemed to almost be in a state of rapture. Max did not understand what the big deal was. Getting this new energy felt nice, sure, but it was not anything like attaining a mana body. If anything, he felt more like he had a new set of senses. In another five minutes of waiting patiently, all of the students had their eyes open.

Two-Spirit said, "Good. Now everybody watch."

He waved a hand, and suddenly in the middle of the circle, Max could see a bipedal tree-looking thing that glowed green. Half of the class gasped.

Max realized he could see right through it and studied it in more detail. It was weird because the harder he looked at it, the more indistinct it seemed to get.

Professor Two-Spirit said, "This is one of my three contracted spirits. I am proud to say that this particular spirit is a sergeant. We categorize spirits as soldiers, sergeants, officers, warlords, and kings. A soldier spirit is a solo spirit. If you have a contract with a soldier spirit, what it can do pertains only to the spirit itself, or to you. However, when you have a contract with a sergeant spirit, like this one–” he said, waving a hand and the spirit waved an arm in turn. “They come with followers.”  Suddenly, three more wood spirits appeared that looked like the first one, just smaller.

The professor said, "The more powerful a summoner is, the higher chance they have to make a contract with higher ranked spirits." He waved his hand again and all of the spirits vanished. "I am not going to tell you the name of my spirit and I suggest that if and when you make contracts of your own, you do the same and keep their names private."

"How do I get a spirit?" said a young student across the circle from Max. His eyes were blazing and he had a big smile.

Professor Two-Spirit said, "You don’t get one, you make a contract with one.  There are spirits all around us. Spirits can vary in type from spectral to natural or even conceptual. You will learn more about this later in the year or in even greater detail in some other classes that the academy offers. But in general, spirits are around you all the time.

“The more powerful of a summoner you become and the more skilled you are, the easier it will be for you to see the spirits around you. Communicating with them can be challenging, too.  Making a contract with a spirit is an intensely personal thing between you and that spirit, but it usually involves something that you can do for the spirit and something that the spirit wants. For instance,” he said, pointing to the middle of the room.  "I still have my spirit standing there, but I am no longer allowing you to easily see him.  Hiding our spirits is one of the most basic skills that a summoner learns.

“As for what my particular contract with my spirit was, I am not going to tell you that either." He smiled and said, "But I will say this: Occasionally, now all of you are going to see spirits now that you might be attuned with. And if you naturally see them without trying to actively see spirits around you, chances are that spirit is one that you have some sort of resonance with and might be able to communicate with or even form a contract! How you proceed from there is up to you because once you see the spirit, it can see you.  If you do not want to see any particular spirit anymore or do not want to communicate with it, there is a technique to make that happen."

For the next few minutes, the professor taught the class some basic mind exercises using their Summoner seed to cut off communication and interaction with any spirit. Once the class had it down, the professor smiled.  "This is one way Summoners have an advantage over other Paths in some kinds of dungeons or against some spells. We have a natural ability to tune out some illusion distractions or cut off disturbing imagery using our basic Summoner skills. We can also use this ability defensively against other Summoners if they happen to be a Screamer." The professor obviously saw some glassy looks around the room and shook his head.  "Don't worry about it. That's a future lesson too.

"But for now, you all actually have the basics of what you need to become a Summoner. If you are actively looking for a spirit to contract with, you can sit quietly and use your Summoner seed to project to the world what you are looking for and what sort of things you are looking to offer. It is possible that a spirit may reveal itself to you in order to bargain after that. Lastly, I am going to show you all how to open your third eye in order to see the spirits around you better. It’s an active ability that will drain you to use.  But knowing how to do this is very important, especially during a Summoner-on-Summoner duel. Also, now you might also understand why it is important to grow your skill to hide spirits or to see them.  When facing an enemy Summoner, being able to see their spirit or at least have an impression of what it is doing while preventing your opponent from doing the same can be a massive advantage."

Then Professor Two-Spirit taught the entire class to open their third eye, which Max thought was stupidly easy and only a variation of how he had used mana in the past to see parts of the hidden world.

After the professor was done, one of the students, a woman with a horn in the middle of her forehead, shyly raised her hand from where she sat on the floor. The professor smiled and said, "Yes, Eva?"

The student stood and said, "Eva Longhorn, first-year summoner."

The professor made a motion with his hand to roll along, and Max grinned with others in the class. Eva had obviously come from a world where she was required to say her name and year in school settings. She blushed and coughed, then asked, "If only Summoners can see spirits, then why does everybody keep saying that Summoners are the weakest? Like some Summoners can have spirits that can carry things, even throw spears or use a weapon on their own, right? So why are Summoners not considered stronger?"

Max already knew the answer to this question and he was curious how the professor was going to answer. Professor Two-Spirit paused and eventually said, "Other Paths cannot see our spirits, true, but they have other powers that we don't. When it comes right down to it, the problem is that even though most Paths don't have a way to stop or dispel our spirits, they do have a way to harm us." He jerked a thumb at his chest and said, "And that is why, as a Summoner, sometimes it is best to learn stealth above all else." There were a few mutters in class at that, and Max thought it was a very good, if somewhat political answer by the professor.

The more Max found out about what Summoners could actually do, the more excited he was. In fact, in some of the books he had read in the library, there had been descriptions of summoner powers that had not been seen for hundreds of years.  Some of these stories had made his eyebrows climb into his hairline.

A few minutes later, class was almost over, and the Professor Two-Spirit asked everybody to return their desks back to where they belonged.  Max and the rest of the class did so and left, right as the bell rang.

After finally awakening his Summoner seed, Max was less excited about his next class of the day, summoner lore.  He just wanted to go back to his room and meditate while he thought about what he’d learned.