The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“Again, I want to welcome you to Copperleaf Academy!” the Dean announced to everyone once the doors shut behind them. “I’m going to leave you now so I can return to my duties, but I will leave you in the good hands of Ricardo, one of our star students in his fifth year here at Copperleaf. Ricardo, please show our new arrivals to the recently reopened auxiliary residences, if you would.”

“It would be my pleasure, Dean Lorraine.” This came from a young man standing next to the Dean, his telltale tanned skin and brown hair marking him as part of the Kingdom, though there was a subtle difference about him that Larek couldn’t distinguish at first. “Thank you for giving me this privilege.”

“Yes, thank you for your help. Come see me later this evening and we’ll discuss those changes you suggested earlier.” Turning back to the crowd of new students, she nodded at them in a gesture that encompassed them all. “It was a great honor to meet you all, and I hope you all make our Academy proud.” Without another word, she quickly moved off to her left, where a stylized archway led deeper into the building.

Looking around a little closer, Larek could see that on the opposite side of the archway the Dean left through was another one leading off to the right, as well as one straight ahead.  From his position, he couldn’t see where each of these archways led, though the one ahead of him seemed to lead to a relatively short hallway ending with a massive doorway similar to the one they had just passed through.

As soon as the Dean was out of sight, Ricardo smiled at the students, many of whom seemed to be a bit intimidated by their surroundings; at least, that was what he assumed due to their lack of conversation. Given that most of them were quite young, had just traveled nearly half of the Kingdom, were suddenly in a structure larger than any they’d ever been in before, and were going to begin their schooling at a brand-new Academy most of them likely had very little knowledge about, he couldn’t blame them – especially when he was feeling somewhat the same way.

“Right! If you’d follow me, I can bring you to where you’ll be staying while you’re here at Copperleaf Academy.” He began walking toward the hallway ahead of them instead of taking a detour left or right, and the students quickly moved to follow. After a few second, Ricardo turned around and walked backwards, where he continued to speak. “The living situation here at Copperleaf is probably a little different from what you’re used to coming from Crystalview,” he said, the derision in his voice when mentioning the other academy clear in his tone, “as we typically have enough space to furnish each student with their own room, as befits their station, but unfortunately with your late arrival, we’ve had to reopen our auxiliary residences to accommodate the sudden influx.

“I must warn you, your new living quarters might be a little cramped, though with you coming from Crystalview,” there it was again, “I imagine that it shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll be sleeping four to a room, unfortunately, but it’s the best that we could come up without much more advanced notice.” He said that as if it was their fault for not giving them at least a few months or even a year to make changes to accommodate them.

The fact that they would be sleeping four to a room didn’t really bother him, and he doubted it would bother many of the others either, given that they had spent the better part of a month sleeping in large groups. The students from Crystalview hadn’t necessarily become hardier with more physical endurance, but they had slowly adjusted to their situation as they traveled; Larek was positive that whatever changes were in store for them now, they could handle it.

“As for your schedule, today is our off-day, so tomorrow you’ll begin your classes,” Ricardo continued. “Thankfully for you, the curriculum throughout every Academy is identical for at least the first two years, though I’ve heard it diverges from the third-year on. As most of you are first-years, there shouldn’t be too much difference, though you may be a little behind after traveling for so long. Your Professors will assess if you need additional instruction, so don’t be too worried about it for now.

“For those who are third-year or higher, we’ll have some schedules for you delivered to your rooms, though you’ll have to select your electives with the Registrar. If you have any questions about where to find anything, any of the staff wearing dark brown will be able to assist you; if you have questions about anything academic related, you’ll have to ask your Professors once you begin class.” At about that point, they reached the doors at the end of the hallway, and Ricardo paused just in front of them. “Now, you’re about to enter what we call the ‘yard’, but don’t get distracted. Stay with me until we arrive at your residences, otherwise you may become lost.”

Without further conversation, Ricardo turned around and opened the doors, which glided smoothly open without any particular strength needed by the fifth-year student. Bright light shone through the doorway as soon as it was open, momentarily blinding Larek due to the lower light inside the hallway, but his eyes quickly adjusted.

“Wow…” Larek whispered involuntarily. He wasn’t the only one.

Spread out in front of them was a wide open space, filled with all matter of different things that caught his eye from one thing to the next. From where they emerged into the daylight, they appeared to be in a slightly elevated position, allowing him – and the others – to see just about everything spread out in front of them, and it was an impressive view.

Closest to their position appeared to be a large garden, filled with grasses, flowers, and even some smaller trees; it was also filled with pathways leading to various cleared circles created within the greenery. In a few of these circles, Larek could see some students in green robes talking together, Naturalists similar to Nedira, if he wasn’t mistaken. A few of them seemed to be casting spells that manipulated the plants and other growth inside of the area, so he could only assume that was what the garden area was used for other than being pretty to look at.

Past that was a small pond of water, where blue-robed students seemed to be lounging around, and while he didn’t see any of them casting spells, he could picture them using the water nearby to aid in their efforts. From what he understood, using spells to manipulate already existing elements in the environment required far less Mana to cast, so Naturalists and Aquamancers could use natural growth and bodies of water to augment their spells. It was easier to affect what was already there, after all, rather than creating something from nothing. It wasn’t exactly imperative to have natural elements nearby for a Mage to be effective, but for training purposes, he could certainly see the benefits.

Along that vein, there was also a small pile of boulders of different sizes nearby, and there was a contained bonfire just past that. He wondered why his old Academy didn’t have anything like these training areas, as it seemed obvious now that he saw them. All they had were the training hoops in an area behind the large Academy building – but nothing like this.

It wasn’t like Copperleaf didn’t have that kind of training area, either, as he could see something very similar to what he remembered out back at Crystalview just past the elemental areas – but at least twice, or perhaps three times the size.  There were dozens of training hoops set up around the area, though he only saw a few people utilizing them to cast spells at the moment.

Along the left-hand side of the massive open area was something else he recognized from back at Crystalview, but like everything else he’d seen thus far, was much bigger. Constructed into the very wall of the building were stands that could hold thousands of people facing a large dirt field that held some stone blocks reminiscent of the arena behind Crystalview’s structure, but not nearly as many. Instead, there almost appeared to be miniature stone fortifications set up like the walls of a town, complete with walkways and staircases. There were four of these set up facing each other in each cardinal direction, and the stone blocks he saw before were in the middle of the space between them.

Huh. Very interesting.

“Keep up! We’ve got a little walk to get to your residences!” Ricardo shouted, pulling the gazes of the students away from the yard. Larek kept looking as he caught up to the fifth-year leading them to their destination, which was also when he realized that he had only been looking at the closest half of the large space.

The other half, just past the arena-like area, was completely different from the training areas he was used to seeing. Rather than training hoops for spells, there were a few flat, open spaces where he could see young students stripped down to nearly nothing clothes-wise fighting with wooden weapons, one a spear and the other a short sword and shield. A crowd of other students surrounded them and cheered as the two tried to stab each other, and he could see a few spots of blood on each of them. He watched them for only a few seconds before his attention was pulled to an area where a dozen students were holding bows and firing them at targets set up along a wooden wall backed by stone, with some of them showing a hint of some sort of magical effect to them as they flew and minorly exploded upon contact with their targets.

Past them was a gigantic structure made of ropes and wood, where he could see figures navigating their way around an upright course of platforms, unsteady bridges, and swinging pendulums that seemed ready to knock off the unwary. All he could tell about those that climbed, swung, and leaped through the structure was that they were all quite agile and quick, making maneuvers that at times seemed impossible.

“If you’re wondering,” Ricardo called out as he walked backwards, still leading them, “that over there is Fort Pinevalley, where the Martials train.” From his tone, Larek could tell that the fifth-year student didn’t think much of them for some reason. “While it’s not forbidden to venture over to that side of the Academy, it is strongly discouraged. The trainees there are always looking for another target to train against, so I would advise going over there until you can learn how to take care of yourselves. Just a warning, though,” he continued, “fighting it strictly prohibited unless in a sanctioned bout, or in the arena. That goes for between us Mages, not just Mage and Martial confrontations. Martials are strange, though, as they are generally allowed to fight at any time, as it is part of their training. Meatheads, all of them,” he muttered with a softer voice, but Larek heard him.

The Martials train here, too? I wonder if I can somehow learn from them without revealing anything? That seemed like it might be impossible, but he would like to know more about Stama and Battle Arts than what he had learned from Rheina and Crester on their journey south.

“And… we’re here!” Ricardo announced, and Larek pulled his attention away from the yard and everything going on there. In front of them was another large doorway leading back into the building, and the fifth-year quickly opened it and ushered them inside. Almost immediately, Larek could sense that this area of the building was a little more rundown than what he’d seen thus far. Stains on the stone flooring, cracked wood on the faded and dusty walls, and only half of the Fusion-powered lights being active were the visual indications that this part of the Academy wasn’t used very often; the smell of dust and mold in the air was another indication that they were being shunted off to the equivalent of a forgotten closet.

“Your rooms are down here; I apologize pre-emptively for the state of everything right now, as the staff has only been able to open this place up over the last few days,” Ricardo explained. “Over the next few weeks, they’ll be in to give this place a good cleaning, as it’s been years since anyone has needed to live in here.”

Thankfully, as soon as Larek saw the rooms, he saw that they, at least, had been cleaned. In each room there were four sets of clean-if-used furniture in a space that was actually half-again as large as two rooms back in Crystalview would’ve been, so it was actually quite spacious. The bedding appeared to be freshly cleaned and while there was still the scent of dust and mold lingering about, it seemed to have been largely cleaned out before they arrived.

“Along the left are the girls’ rooms and the right are for boys’” Ricardo explained, pointing in each direction. “You can pick whatever rooms you want, but no more than 4 to a room. Once you leave your belongings in your new accommodations, you can follow me to the Dining Hall, which I’m sure you’ll all appreciate – because you all look famished.”

Once everyone picked their rooms, with Larek choosing to room with Verne and Norde without a fourth roommate as of yet, they all met back out in the hallway separating the boys and girls sides. “Over there you’ll find the restrooms, and through this other exit you just need to walk straight ahead where you’ll eventually find the Dining Hall. I’ll meet you there in a moment, but you can go along without me while I take care of something. Once you’re done, come back here and you’ll have your new schedules ready and waiting for you.” Ricardo pointed toward the areas he was describing, and the students – all growing boys and girls – immediately hurried to the Dining Hall with great excitement.

Larek and his friends weren’t in as great of a hurry, so they lagged behind. Just as he was passing Ricardo, the young man reached out and touched his arm, stopping the former Logger in place while his friends kept going.

“What are you doing here?”

The question was strange to Larek, not because of the words themselves, but because of the tone. He would’ve expected, given his appearance in a brand-new Academy, that it would’ve been filled with anger or derision – just like everywhere else he went when people from the Kingdom saw his height.

Instead, all he could tell from the question was simple curiosity…

…along with a touch of fear.

Book 2 Chapter 20: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-82359648