Ebony's Fable

Ebony did not encounter any success with finding a school that accepted him before it was time for his first day at Piecing Tempest Academy.

On the bright side, his pet project tree stopped growing taller. It stopped at 15 metres tall and 8 metres wide before branches started to sprout near the top.

He had to wait for more Will to recover as it was currently saturated with mana.

After morning exercise, he woke the sleepy head non-human up while his chef took a shower.

While having fluffy pancakes with something similar to maple syrup, berries and cream, Ning Xin stopped eating.

Ebony’s myriad bracelets vibrated. His callstone rang.

“What’s wrong, should I pick up.”

“Nothing, go ahead.” She continued her light feast.

“Yo! You’re in range! Are you in Tidal?” Hector’s voice was cut off here and there but it wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t understand what was being said.

“I’ve been trying to call you for the past two weeks to tell you that. It’s noisy on your end.” Ebony resumed his meal. Sounds of explosions and a cacophony of screeches were blanketing the callstone.

“CAN YoU SpeAK lOUDer!”

“I can hang up.” Ebony was used to Hector’s tomfoolery, there was no urgency in the Prince’s voice and the callstone’s link was relatively stable.

“Wait wait wait! I don’t have many chances to make a call. I’ll make it snappy, are you free?”

“Depends. I have classes to attend.”

“Classes? What are you teaching?”

“Attend. I’m a student.”

“Skip that and come help us. Don’t say I didn’t look out for you two. Right, is Scarlet with you?”

“She is.”

“Great! Come over, there’s a buttload of experience. More than you’d know what to do with. Too bad we’re maxed levelled.”

“You are. We aren’t.” He rebutted, Hector indirectly told him that he was still a Master.

“What?! Both of you evolved?! How on Elcra are you so fast!? Don’t you need to level your skills?”

“We do and we did. Tell us the gist of it.” He cut the talkative Prince to the chase.

“Pest extermination.” Hector rarely summarised a situation well, it was rare for him to be so concise.

“Do you think this is…” Ebony asked the chef across the table.

“It is. I feel something but nothing is urging me to go for it. I can’t pinpoint what this feeling is either.” She stood up and served Muse another serving of scrambled eggs.

“You heard her.”

“Oh come on! Even if you’re Grandmasters I don’t believe both of you are at 500.” Hector half yelled as another explosion echoed through their dining room.

“You’re right, we’re only at 301.” He had also gained a level not long after he finished his evolution just like Ning Xin. He didn’t let the odd phenomenon get to him, nor did he start theorising why they got a level so easily. They got what they got, he was too lazy to justify long periods of thought for one measly level.

“What’cha waiting for? There’s a whole sea of experience down here. We’re kinda in trouble here. Ou! Quiet, you’re not supposed to spread that.” From the callstone came Mallory’s voice in the second half.

“Ignore this fool, we’ll see you in a week or so if the two of you are still in Tidal.” Mallory continued.

“We should be. If there’s no emergency, we can talk then.”

The Prince and Princess cut off the call abruptly.

Ebony couldn’t tell if they were in trouble or not. At least they had the leeway to make a call. Their location was likely somewhere underground if ‘down here’ wasn’t a riddle. Since they asked if he was in Tidal, it shouldn’t be a stretch to think that Hector wasn’t far away.

‘Pests…if there’s a sea of them and a massive fight is going on, why can’t I sense any vibrations from the ground? Ning Xin’s Intuition caught onto nothing until the phone..callstone rang either.’ He ruled out distance. If the callstone’s link could reach him, a battle large enough would cause vibrations that he could sense.

If the ground or floor on Tidal was so advanced in blocking out vibrations, he shouldn’t be able to receive a call. Unless their magical technology was so far above his puny imagination. ‘Actually, that sounds plausible. The callstone works on mainly mind magic and not sound magic.’

“Alright, thanks for breakfast. I’ll get going.” Ebony didn’t bring Icicle along. He was going to school with kids as classmates.

The Capital was also pretty safe and he hadn’t come across any street crime. A young girl like Muse could run around by herself and nothing would happen to her. Albeit, a young girl that could heal souls and was at an unknown level.

Paranoia still made him wear his robe and carry his spatial bag refilled with years' worth of rations.

Icicle was resistant to being kept in the bag.

Ebony didn’t know much about spirits but they weren’t able to tell if their swords budding spirits were growing. It felt like they stagnated at being able to understand a few words and reacting to certain stimuli at times.

In any case, the Piercing Tempest Academy was less than one Phantom’s Flicker away from his house. He just needed to get a clear path by jumping into the sky.

‘Walking there is a bother. If I don’t cause harm to the surroundings, speed limits don’t matter right?’ He leapt onto his rooftop.

With a Flicker, he disappeared from the rooftop without a sound or gust of wind and arrived not too far from his target. Landing, he walked in through the front gates like a normal person.

“You’re early, need me to give you a tour?” Raika greeted him with a tet.

He shamelessly used his left hand but Raika raised her right without a pause, admitting she was the junior.

“It’s alright, I’ll take a walk.”

“Here are your textbooks and our academy’s badge which proves you’re a year one student. You’re starting in the early quarter of the term so you’re not far behind. Just read through pages one to sixty for this…” Raika listed down the contents that had already been covered for the class he was part of.

He was not taking any practical classes but he could watch if he wanted to.

“Do you think my presence will interrupt the class like Laika mentioned.” He could understand how a grown man could be a distraction to both the other students and the instructor.

“Well…I’m sure it won’t be a big issue.”

“I can do this if it’s more convenient.” Ebony cast Frigid Distorted Refraction on himself and turned almost invisible.

The cold temperatures were a giveaway to the lightning mage at close proximities they were at but the children wouldn’t notice even if he walked in front of them. Standing so close, it was impossible to hide from her sight. It was not a perfect invisibility spell.

“You’re going to scare our instructors, so no thanks.”

“Oh, you’re not the instructor.”

“I teach practical classes.”

“I see. Well then, thank you for the books. I’ll get going.”

He pretty much knew the general layout of the buildings and premises and getting lost would be a challenge. His classroom was on the second floor of the same building where he took the paper test.

He was not the earliest to arrive as a bright yellow-haired man was taking notes at the podium in front of the class. It was more of a standing table than a podium. His clothes were not too different from office wear. With a bit more flair and leather than traditional office wear.

“Ah, Mr Ebony. You’re early.” The young man straightened his back.

“Mmm.” Ebony learnt some manners and didn’t Appraise the man but he felt like a Master, not unlike Raika.

“I’m Targot, I still can’t believe I’m going to have to conduct a lecture to a senior mage…My apologies if I made a mistake.”

“I’m not a senior mage, relax. I’m still lacking when it comes to magic knowledge.”

“Ahaha… My lesson covers basic knowledge on lightning mana and its properties so I hope I won’t be wasting your time.”

“Can I get an overview of what’s taught to students here?”

“Sure! For children who found out their affinity early on, we teach the basic knowledge of mana, skills and levels for the first year. As a lightning magic academy, students are quickly introduced to lightning magic as well. In their second year, we teach lightning mage tactics. Basically, the dos and don’ts and strategy depending on the type of lightning mages one is.

At the Piercing Tempest Academy, we generally have three paths set for the students. Pure lightning mages who strive for combat, scholars who research lightning magic and their applications and support lightning mages. They would specialise from the third year onwards.”

“What’s the difference between combat and support lightning mages.”

“Our combat program is more intense and covers a wider skill set so that our students won’t be helpless without a vanguard. Support mages' studies and practises more heavily on spell casting. Using some of our alumni as an example, combat lightning mages have an easier time getting a leadership position while most support lightning mages are part of the artillery or the ranged powerhouse of a freelance party.”

“Why split it into two? Most of them are starting young, they have plenty of time for both.” Ebony learnt the unfortunate way, that people usually don’t get their Class in a rush. At the age of 8 to 10, the children would have 5 to 7 years of schooling and light practice before they turn 15.

After they turn 15, they will start to gain skills. All their training would come fast and their skills would level relatively fast. Then, they would be able to tell where they should focus their training on. Taking another 3 to 5 years before they Classed wasn’t uncommon.

“This…is mostly their aptitude and talent. It's quite a shame but support lightning mages usually come from poorer backgrounds or are the first or second generation of lightning mage in their family bloodline. It wouldn’t be obvious as a Journeyman but their mana and elemental affinity are usually weaker. Hence, it's even harder for them to shine as a good support mage.” Targot did not have the bias that support mages weren’t as good, he was just stating that untalented support mages would still fall behind talented ones who chose the path of a support mage.

Ebony did not like the word ‘talent.’ It was just an insult to anyone who put effort into what they did. However, he was extremely familiar with and was still bound by the fact that a big reason for his current strength and growth rate was the so-called talent.

“Our combat mage course is also three years longer on average. Not every family can support such fees.” Targot scratched his face in embarrassment.

‘Hmm, it costs 380 Blues for a year and the price increases for each year advanced. That’s not cheap but I wouldn’t call it expensive. For an entire year of education, the cost is about the same as a Rare piece of armour sold here. Years one to three don’t increase in cost much since it’s more lecture-based but after they specialise and start taking practical classes the cost triples. It adds up if they have to pay it for ten years or more.’ Ebony likened the Academy’s pricing to a private university but students are likely to study for six to ten years. About as much time as he took to get from Unclassed to his current state.

Although there were no practical classes for lightning magic, there were still exercises for the children from years one to three. As he had witnessed, most of the children were already capable of withdrawing lightning mana from a forged ore.

The special spheres were made for training and releasing lightning mana with more ease. It also contained lightning mana that was less dense than ambient lightning. Different levels of training equipment increased the lightning mana’s density to increase the difficulty of manipulation.

That alone already justified the high schooling fees. This equipment was a literal drain on mana. In other words, money. The low price of 380 Blues was likely because children would be mentally worn out quickly.

His first classmates began to enter and he found himself an empty seat.

Out of 28 classmates, 27 were humans and the last was a beastman. A wolfman with a fluffy tail and pointy-furred ears. The wolfman was as tall as the Targot and supposedly the oldest one who found out about his lightning affinity later.

They were all unclassed. It seemed like they had a lack of instructors as the Journeyman had to share a timeslot to practise in the field the other day.

Multitasking, he read up on the contents he missed while listening to Targot teach. Targot looked over at him multiple times throughout the two-hour lecture.

He knew how disruptive questions could get and didn’t join in like the rest of his classmates did. It was a lively class. He learnt all their names in time but for some reason, they all called him ‘big bro’ because it caught on from the first boy who called him that.

Ebony was glad he managed to see what a randomly picked Academy had to offer. Targot’s lecture didn’t contain anything new to him but they had a fundamentally different point of view.

The next lesson was on maths and mana economy for Journeymen and under. It was a class that continued to advance in difficulty from year one to three and probably the only class he didn’t learn anything from.

After a ten-minute break, they had their third lesson on common knowledge. It was the lesson that Ebony was most clueless about. Their textbooks contained the history of tetting, proper manners and greetings. There was also a language class but that was optional as many students have home-schooling for basic knowledge. Common mage terminology was also covered in this class along with mage ranks.

The fourth lesson was on skills, their tiers, refinement base percentages, passive, active and a general list of the types of skills there were. It was also a class that stretched into the second year. The textbook for this class he had was about as thick as two dictionaries.

Ebony had an unfair advantage of stats. By late afternoon when all lessons for the day ended, he already memorised, understood and broken down the entirety of the contents they were supposed to learn in that year. He wasn’t disappointed.

He would have gone to look for the scholar or researchers that taught the more academically inclined subjects to go in-depth on the questions he had but his classmates stopped him.

“Big bro! Show us your magic again!”

“Only if you show me how you gather lightning magic.”

“Huh? We don’t have permission to use the training globe outside of lessons and we don’t have practical training today.”

“I meant from the surroundings.”

“Only Faelk can do that…” The second eldest student, Yusqly looked down on the ground.

Faelk was the wolfman who was thirteen years old.

“...Only a little, and I don’t succeed every time.” Faelk was a shy boy for his size. Most Beastmen had early physical growth spurts hence, his adult human size at his age.

“Can you show me?” Ebony tried not to come off cold just for these kids.

Faelk slid out an arm-length wand from his sleeves and closed his eyes. One of his hands hovered over the tip of the wand and he showed visible facial strain for half a minute before a spark of electricity popped on the tip of his wand.

It was drawn from the minuscule amount of lightning mana in the air but none of them could sense it thanks to the high-speed movement. Faelk also couldn’t maintain the lightning spark as lightning mana had the tendency to burst off if the caster didn’t ‘grip’ onto them firmly.

The kids cheered and congratulated Faelk for increasing his success rate.

‘Hmm…is this what they consider average talent and affinity? Kiva was conjuring ice using her mana when she was five or six years old. A second-order mage in the Empire’s classification. She could double-cast before I left for Tidal just a while back but it wasn’t even worth celebrating over for the Frost Elves. Genes are a cheat.’