I arrived in town an hour later. All you had to do was show your phone, let a guard scan it, take the subway and arrive here. It's the only stop so it was fast, what took a while was jogging all the way from the point shop to here.
Though this place is something else, I can sense magic being used here, probably some magic tools or something else. Which is interesting considering that all of the shopkeepers I sense are all regular humans. Actually, all the people I've sensed that live in this town are regular humans. So are they all bound by contract to not say anything?
Does that mean they can mass-produce those things?... That's a terrifying thought. I'll not think about, I'll just walk around and look for anything that piques my interest.
I look around, this place is comparable to a town, it's pretty big. I'd say about half as big as the schools. There are coffee shops, some fast food places, and some entertainment, that's somewhat interesting. I do wonder why they didn't build this town inside the school instead...
Anyways, I'll just pick some random shop and go back to the academy. I look around for a clothing store and enter.
"Welcome, how can I help you?" a lady suddenly said out loud.
That's some customer service.
"Just here to look for some black hoodies, nothing else."
"Alright, this way then."
I follow the lady around, looked for hoodies and finally chose to buy three black hoodies that looked exactly the same. I finally finished this, I'll head back now. I start walking back when someone suddenly screamed.
"Hey! You!"
I ignore it, I don't know anybody by that presence so I'll just walk to the station. The presence suddenly moves closer and stops right in front of me. This guy has a magic signature, so he's one of the few male magic soldiers in the school.
"I'm talking to you." (???)
I sigh. He has blue hair and eyes to my surprise. Is there something wrong in the academy? Well, whatever. He has soft features and has white skin.
"Yes?"
"Are you new here?"
He's annoying, but whatever.
"Yes."
"Oh, nice to know we have a new male magic soldier! Hello, my name is Allen Murphy." He extends his hand
I look at it, did he only call out to me to greet me? I sigh again. Actually, isn't his assumption spot on? How does he know? Does it have to do with the small number of males in the academy or is it something else? There's no other Magic Academy in the U.S. and I doubt that any other country is willing to give up some of their own Magic Soldiers. I'll shake his hand.
"Luis."
Another peculiar thing was that he went out of his way to mention his last name. Does his last name mean anything by any chance? I wouldn't know. It could be some sort of famous last name, well, I'm not really sure.
"Do you want me to show you around?"
"I'm okay, I already finished my business here."
"Really? What were you doing?"
He just met me, is there some specific reason why he needs to know something like that?
"I'm not obliged to answer that question. Bye," I say as I walk away
"Um...Okay then, see ya."
Something about this person doesn't seem right. He looks like the friendly type but there's something off about his friendliness. That or I'm still paranoid... Whichever one it is, it's none of my concern. My only goal right now is figuring out how to get out of this place.
I get back by noon and the campus is full of people. I guess people are coming back from wherever they were and arrived on campus? I'll go to the dorms and figure out a plan of action for now. After two hours of walking and numerous stares, I arrived back at the dorm. The guy I met yesterday was hunched over some alchemy papers again, he's definitely an alchemy freak or something.
Not that it matters, it's better this way since he'll leave me alone. Now, onto the main issue what to do right now? I lay down on my bed and look up at the ceiling. I know how the general scheme of this place looks like.
The big dueling arena is in the middle. On one side is the middle school and at the other is the high school. The great food court is north of the arena and the teacher dorm is south of it. South of the teacher dorm is the faculty building. On the outer parts, there are dueling arenas, 3 in the back, one by the east exit and one by the west exit. Finally one at each front corner. The dueling arenas are numbered one through seven in a counter-clockwise manner.
There's a point redeeming shop north of each school and the Research facility in between these. The Great Library is north of that and the Dorms are on either side of the library. That's the general layout of the academy. Alright so, what would be the best course of action right now?...
...Training? That's the only thing I can think of right now. The bigger question is whether to train them all or focus on a few. Versatility isn't what I need right now but rather power. If I remember correctly the elements were Healing, Basic attributes, Dark, Light, lightning, Mind reading, Alchemy, and three unknowns. I won't bother with anything else but basic and healing magic. Versatility may be nice but I don't need it right now.
In that case to the great training arena. I get up and step on some papers, Oh yeah. I have an alchemy affinity even if it's my second lowest, it might prove useful if I want to make some things in the future.
I go over to him and give him a light tap. He gets startled and then turns around.
"Oh, Um... What was your name again?"
"Luis."
"My bad, I forgot to ask your name yesterday. My name is Andrew."
"Hello Andrew, I don't really care whether you forgot or not so don't sweat it. Anyways I wanted to ask you something."
"Yes?"
"I have an affinity with alchemy so I needed a little run down on alchemy and some knowledge of it."
"You also have an affinity with alchemy," he said excitedly.
Fuck, I think I turned this guy switch or something. I should've guessed that he was over the top with alchemy seeing all of these circles.
"...Yes"
"In that case I'll-"
"I just want a basic rundown of alchemy I don't need any prolonged explanation, I'll study up myself later."
"Ok," he says a little dejected. I guess he likes alchemy a lot.
"Alchemy is usually completed by both materials and diagrams. If you don't know at least the 4 basic circles of alchemy you won't be able to create anything. Those 4 circles are 'Split', 'Fuse', 'Rearrange' ,and 'Enchant.'
Of course, there are many more but these 4 are the most vital in the usage of alchemy. Another thing to note is that as an alchemist you can use every element and at the same time you aren't able to use any. "
Can use all of them but none at the same time?...
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Alchemy users have a bit of every element's mana within their bodies, but they are unable to manifest it...Think of it like this, an alchemist is able to create a certain item infused with any given elements enhancement. However where exactly does mana for enhancement come from?
I've read on stereotypical alchemist and I've noticed a big difference between them and us. And that's our ability to enchant what we're able to transmute. However, even if we can enchant certain weapons with certain attributes it doesn't necessarily mean we can use that attribute. Think of it like this, alchemists are the wielders of all elements but manifesters of none of them."
I see so a better name for us would be both alchemy and enchanters, however, because we have to use these magic circles we are named alchemists for simplicity purposes. Well, that's all I'll dive into alchemy today, now, It's time to train.
"That was useful, see you around."
"Going out?"
"Yes, I want to look at the training facilities."
"Ok, bye."
I leave the dorms and get to the training facilities. This place is massive, there are columns inside and a reception desk in the very front. This is where the training starts I guess.