After selling everything Carter ran through the streets to the portal, as the sun was beginning to set and the gates had closed half an hour ago he was worried that the portal would close. Carter sighed in relief when he ran up to the line to use the portal and noticed a sign saying it closed at 10 pm.
Several people waited around near the portal, hoping someone would open a portal to a destination they preferred. It cost 1 gold to open a portal, but only 50 silver to travel through one that'd already been opened and a lot of people preferred to wait around all day than waste 50 silver.
"Next portal goes to Comet City!" An announcer called and 15 people rushed forwards to pay the silver. It was considered good etiquette to give 5-10 silver to whomever opened the portal in the first place, that way they recoup some of their costs and didn't feel like they'd been taken advantage of. In some cases, the person who opened the portal winds up going through for free.
Unfortunately, Carter was headed towards Thamon Town for his first stop. As a township it is much smaller than a city and didn't have much traffic coming through their portal. However, it was the only portal that would put him within 1 more jump of reaching the Temple of Thought and Carter didn't mind spending full price.
It took about an hour for the line to clear out and Carter to reach the front where a pretty young woman wearing a black and gold uniform sat. "Young Master, where do you need to go this evening?"
Ever since he'd gotten back from the forest and gotten himself cleaned up everyone had been whispering behind his back wondering which clan he came from. Level 6 Scholars as young as Carter is were rare, and the beginner clothing was enchanted which made it fairly expensive in the eyes of commoners.
"Thamon Township please." Carter said with a smile as he handed over a gold coin, enjoying looking at the pretty young woman. "Too bad I'm only twelve." Carter thought, "It's gonna be a few long years. In my last life I lost my virginity at 16, I wonder if it'd harm my body to lose it earlier than that this time around..."
Surprised at his answer, it took the receptionist a moment to remember to announce the destination. Picking up a magical microphone she said, "Next portal goes to Thamon Township!"
To their surprise, a man wearing a matching dark blue robe and cap walked up to the front and handed over 50 silver. Carter realized that he recognized the man, and when he tried to appraise him received an insufficient level message which made him wrack his brains trying to remember where he'd seen him before.
"Well this is surprising." The man said, examining Carter closely. "For only a week you've sure improved quickly."
Finally remembering that this'd been the man he met outside the gate right before he entered Angor Forest, Carter smiled and said, "While you're still impossible to see through."
Chuckling at Carter's reply the man gave Carter 50 silver and said, "It'd be embarrassing to let a Junior pay the portal fee."
Accepting the money without a fuss, Carter thanked the man. Before they could continue talking the portal opened and the two of them stepped through. To Carter's surprise going through the portal reminded him a lot of the tunnels connecting this realm to Earth. They weren't nearly as large and didn't contain the same sheer ammount power, but Carter was still able to see the 0s and 1s creating the tunnel between space in the split second it took to disappear from Warren City and Reappear in the Thoman Township.
Somewhat disoriented by travelling through the portal, it took Carter a moment to regain his balance. When he did he heard a guard say, "If you're staying in Thoman Township it costs 10 silver and you have to be searched."
Carter and the man in the robe both shook their heads saying, "I'm moving on immediately."
"Very well, please take that door to enter the Portal room." The guard said with a courteous smile and the two of them walked through the door.
There wasn't anyone in the room other than a receptionist who was snoozing on his desk. He startled awake when he heard the two of them walking towards the desk and from the look of the red mark on his face he'd been sleeping for a while. "Woah, sorry!" The receptionist said sheepishly, "Your the 3rd and 4 customers of the day so I guess I fell asleep again."
"Really?" Carter asked in surprise, "You have so few people coming through on a daily basis?"
"Yeah," The receptionist said as he rubbed his eyes trying to force himself into wakefulness. "Not many people come here, and while we're located in a central area for teleportation most find it more convenient to go to a city than a township." The receptionist shrugged as if it didn't matter to him.
"A portal to the Temple of Thought please." The robed man smiled, handing over a gold.
Carter immediately took out 50 silver to hand to the receptionist while handing the man in the robe 10 silver to be polite.
"Coming right up." The receptions said groggily, not bothering to announce the portal's location since only the two of them were in the room.
"So I was right." The man said with a smile as he accepted Carter's money. "Such a young scholar headed to the Temple of Thought, may I ask what attracted you to the temple?"
"The martial arts." Carter said, answering the man honestly. "None of the other major schools thought anything other than how to become a Wizard. As a scholar not becoming a Wizard seems wasteful, but I've always believed that Wizards who only know how to cast spells die quickly in the wilderness."
"Very true." The man said, holding out his hand to shake Carter's. "My name is Blake Castor, I'm a teacher at the Temple."
"An honor to meet you, I'm sure you already know my name." Carter said with an impish smile causing Blake to laugh.
"Have a good day sirs!" The receptionist said.
To Carter's surprise, Blake tossed the 10 silver that he'd given him to the receptionist and said, "Buy a pillow and a permanent pass to the library. If you're stuck in such a boring position use it to better yourself."
Carter chuckled seeing the expression on the receptionists face and waved goodbye to him as he jumped through the tunnel. This time around he handled the transition better and came around in time to see the guard in the receiving room snapping a salute saying, "Sir Castor, welcome back!"
Blake nodded a greeting to him before pointing at Carter and saying, "This one's with me."
"Really?" The guard asked taken aback.
Blake just smiled as he grabbed Carter's shoulder, leading him out of the portal room and onto the side of a mountain. Carter found himself standing on top of a cliff, at the base of which a massive complex of buildings sprawled across the side of the mountain. Several Wizard's Towers surrounded the area with each one surrounded by dorms. In the dying light of the day Carter could see hundreds of people dressed in robes of differing colors walking from place to place.
"The School of Thought is down there, while the Temple of Thought is on top of the mountain." Blake said, causing Carter to turn and look up following Blake's pointing finger.
"Why the difference?" Carter asked in surprise, noting the two institutions where several miles apart connected only by a steep, risky looking trail leading up the side of the mountain.
"The Temple of Thought is a place of contemplation, where masters pursue the heights of power and focus on the nature of the Realms. It only accepts 50 disciples a year and on average less than 10 graduate. Training is expensive however, and the Temple of Thought is incredibly famous for their training methods so about 400 years ago the Abbot decided to take advantage of their reputation. He created as school where an Elder and several of our higher ranking acolytes teach. It started out small but turned into this."
"I should've known it was too good to be true. Who would share a powerful martial art just like that."
"The first chapter of the Art of Thought is free for all students of the School of Thought, mastering it is the first prerequisite to joining the Temple." Blake said before leading Carter towards a staircase carved into the side of the cliff.