A month quickly passed at the academy.
Alex continued his work with Gavannon. He wanted to be happy about it, but the situation could only leave him feeling stifled.
Red, Tom, and Eveline continued to work with professor Keller every weekend. They had come so far in their time under him that Keller would not allow any other first years to take his jobs anymore.
Alex and the others were very fortunate. Due to the completely different focus of their work in enchantments they each gained insight unique to themselves. Every meal they would all get together and share their own findings.
During this time they were also able to rack up a lot of points. Oddly, they didn't have much more than points to show for their efforts.
Alex obviously didn't gain any rewards. The other were properly compensated for their jobs, but that compensation came in the form of runes and enchantments, mostly in the form of knowledge.
For instance, Red mainly worked on research into attack enchantments. Keller rewarded him with more knowledge in the form of Keller's own hand written description of specialty attack enchantments that he had come across over the years.
Similarly, Tom and Eveline were rewarded with knowledge in their job areas as well. Tom focused on defense enchantments, both area and personal. Eveline was luckiest of all. She studied a very rare field of enchantments. Evocation enchantments.
This was a school of enchantments that was completely shrouded in mystery to most. It would grant the caster magic like powers. The only downside was, that it was a money burning type of enchantment. This was due to the fact that they could not be carved, only written, and they were single use.
Like this, the four of them quickly gained knowledge in enchanting. Keller had often been surprised by their speed of development. He often remarked in class that they "would give even forth years a run for their money." That wasn't really true as their level of mana control and total mana stopped them from being able to use higher level runes.
This was one of the areas where Alex came in. Alex gained a greater understanding of equipment enchantments than any of the others. He could also use higher level runes due to his qi.
Alex had been spending a couple of hours a day working on his cultivation. He honestly had no idea was meridians were, but Eluril had told him when they were created. All that he knew, was that he felt great, all the time. Even when he barely slept for a day, he still had energy. He couldn't yet go more than a day or two without sleep, but it showed just how much his body had changed. He had noticed a change in his strength, but not much else.
After all, how often do you really notice your heart rate, breathing rate, or thinking speed? But he did notice that his siege breaker axe felt like it was a toy. He could swing it around as he liked without a problem. The only other change was in with his qi.
Something new was happening with his qi. With the addition of his meridians, he could now direct it into his bones. He was not sure if it was having an effect, but he did feel the familiar sensation in his bones now. It was a cross between a chill, warmth, and static electricity all at the same time. When it flowed into his bones it gave a pleasurable but strange sensation.
Unknown to Alex, his bones were slowly being turned into a substance that looked more crystalline than bone.
Things went on this way until a new letter was delivered one Monday morning.
"Can you believe this?" Tom asked, obviously excited.
"What are you so happy about? It's not like you will win?" Alex responded with a chuckle.
"Come on now, he might not be able to win. But Eveline might pity him and give him a hand out if she won." Red tried keeping a straight face as he said it, but Eveline's bright red complexion was too much to bear.
Swallowing her embarrassment she scowled at Red. "Maybe you want to help me practice for the tournament?" The laughter immediately caught in Red's throat. Instead he began to cough and sputter. "Anyway, why should I be more likely than Alex to give him a handout?"
"Hey now, me and Tom have been friends a long time. But that is it. Just friends." Alex said with a grin. Tom and Eveline had been flirting back and forth from time to time during their meals, but neither had the time or ability to enter into a relationship at this time. So it all just stagnated at pointless flirting. That didn't mean the others wouldn't pick on them relentlessly though.
"Enough, already. Can we get back to the point?" Tom was obviously red faced still, but he tried to push on anyway. "We all have to enter, the rewards are too good."
"You know as well as I, the better the reward the higher the danger." Alex responded coldly.
There was going to be a tournament in two weeks. It would take all weekend most likely, but the rewards were staggering. They included herbs that could increase the rank of a spirit animal, weapons, armor, enchanted items, and a ton of points.
The danger was in the fact that real weapons would be allowed. There would be a referee, and judges, but anything could happen in battle. The tournament would be an elimination tournament, and there would be a separate tournament for each year. To participate, you had to fight with your spirit animal. As such, non-contractors could not participate.
"Think for a moment. None of us are well off. Think about all of the rich students who can afford strong armor, and even stronger weapons. Not to mention all of the herbs their spirit animals had taken. You know as well as I, that some of the richer first years already have rank 2 or 3 spirit companions." Alex reminded them.
This cooled everyone down quite a bit. Everyone continued to eat in silence for a while.
Eventually Tom spoke up. "What if we make gear?" He looked to the others reactions. When he saw that no one seemed to be ready to stop him he continued. "I mean we can all enchant pretty well, but Alex you are damn good with gear. If we pool our knowledge and you enchant our gear, that should give us an edge."
This was not a bad plan, and they all knew it. Enchanters were common, enchanted weapons even more so. But, that was only if you included any weapon with an enchantment that worked. The number of individuals who had custom gear designed for them and that complimented their fighting style was low outside of experts, successful mercenaries, and the upper ranks of the military.
"Where are we going to get the weapons and armor?" Alex's tone showed that he was intrigued by the idea.
"Well, we can only ask you to talk to Gavannon." Tom's pleading smile nearly made Alex sick.
"Okay. Fine. I will talk to him this weekend and see if it is possible. Just never look at me that way again." Alex's disgust was evident on his face.
The others couldn't help but laugh.