"Hm? Your personal apprentice? Why should I be your personal apprentice? I'm sorry but I'm gonna reject your proposal." Jack answered full of righteousness.
"Are you really rejecting my sincerity?" Professor Kay was clearly annoyed with Jack's answer.
"I just said I want freedom. I don't want a master. Especially one that is related to the academy. If I became your personal apprentice, that would make me related to the academy. I don't want to do things in the future for the sake of the academy just because you would be my master." Jack sounded anoyed.
"Then you are a fool. You are being given a very rare chance to being my apprentice and getting the protection of the academy. And you are going to refuse it? Do you know how many people wish to be in your position?" Professor Kay's voice started to get a dark tone. The light in the room dimmed, and reality seemed to be distorting a bit.
Jack's face was starting to pale for a second, when blood started pumping through all his body. His heart was beating like never before. And color came back to his face.
"I refuse. You can't force me to accept. I want to be free. I want to travel the whole world. I want to fight my own battles. I want to make my own choices. I will not be linked to this academy. The academy is just a tool for me. A tool that will help me on my journey." Jack answered with so much strength that reality seemed to come to normal once again.
Professor Kay was absolutely speechless while looking at Jack. If someone looked into his eyes, they would be able to see fear, confusion and fanaticism inside those eyes.
Professor Kay calmed down, and a smile appeared on his face. "It's ok then. You don't have to be my formal personal apprentice. I will just be your counselor. But I will be the one giving you classes each day on the afternoons."
Before Jack could answer, professor Kay continued. "You have no right to refuse here. It's not to your best interest. No one on the academy except me will be able to teach you about your element. And I don't want to brag about myself, but I'm quite at the top on this academy when it comes to knowledge."
Jack thought for a bit before answering. "I will accept then."
Professor Kay seemed quite happy with Jack's decision. "Good. Then you can stay here. I have an spare room. Maybe you should clean it a bit."
"Are we starting classes tomorrow?" Jack asked while walking towards his new room.
"No. We are not. You should get familiar with the academy's grounds during these days before classes start. Maybe you will meet interesting people. Who knows?" Professor Kay smiled before going back to reading some strange book.
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Jack woke up early the next morning. He exited his room expecting to see professor Kay doing some kind of experiment. But professor Kay was nowhere to be found.
"I guess he had some errands to run." Jack murmured while walking out.
After walking for not longer than five minutes, Jack happened to run into Klaus.
"Hey Jack! I knew I would meet you here. There are already many rumours about you running around the academy. All the junior students already know about you. You are like a little celebrity between the juniors. But don't get over yourself, you are nowhere near the Supernovas." Klaus was making sure to put his biggest smile while saying that. He was making it seem fake intentionally.
"The Supernovas? What is that?" Jack liked quite a bit that name. He thought it sounded quite cool. Some foggy memory started to surface in his mind, but it instantly vanished like smoke the moment Klaus opened his mouth. Jack didn't manage to grasp anything. He just knew he liked the name "Supernova".
"They are the new students with the greatest potential. You met most of them yesterday. Maybe you wouldn't know, but they are quite famous already. And it's not just about status, talent or looks. Even though they are really young, many feats have already been achieved by them. Some of them are really interesting stories."
Jack was interested in knowing those stories. He wanted to know more especially about Aria. He wanted to know how was it that she was a half-elf. Weren't elves supposed to be living in the continent of Inram?
"Hey. How about I give you a little tour? Since many of my family members have attended this academy in the past, I know the layout of this place quite well. But I still don't know what we are excatly going to see or who are we going to meet. That should be up to us."
Jack didn't see any reason to refuse, so he accepted Klaus' proposal.
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With Klaus leading the way and showing Jack different places, Jack managed to draw a very simple mental map of the academy grounds and its distribution.
The academy could be considered to be divided in 7 different zones. To the south you had the entrance to the academy.
To the southwest you could find the research zone. All the researchers, scientists and explorers could be found there. They had their own labs and everything there. Any student was allowed in there, but the research students were given priority if they had to use the facilities. They had their dorms on the very same zone.
To the southeast you could find what Klaus called the art department. Great painters, writers, architects, musicians... All the precious arts of the world were put together in the same zone. Jack felt something warm in his heart for a second when he listened to Klaus telling him about it.
To the northwest was the training grounds and the armed combat department. That was where all the swordsmen, spear wielders, bowmen, martial artists and many more were gathered.
To the northeast was the magicians department. It was were both Jack and Klaus were staying despite being in different zones of the department.
On the north you had the main building of the academy. A silver building similar to the Taj Mahal back on Earth. But the building seemed to shine like a star. But it wasn't blinding in any way. It was where the classes were taken and the professors resided. On the top of the main building, the headmaster's office could be found. But students rarely went near there. It was said that you could only get to the headmaster's office if you were called by the headmaster itself. If someone tried to go up there, they would find after hours that they didn't even get halfway to the staircase. It seems like a very powerful illusion formation was placed on the middle of the stairs on the way to the office.
And finally you had the center zone. Which was the biggest of them all. It was called the entertainment area. Beautiful lakes surrouned by beautiful gardens could be found there. There were also some pubs, restaurants, shops...
The academy understood that students needed something leisure once in a while. Since they would be spending almost all the time inside the academy's grounds until they graduated, the academy itself put some small businesses directed by them. They didn't want their students to spend all their time studying and working. The human mind sometimes needed to take a break from everything.
Many geniuses in the past got stuck on a problem they couldn't solve no matter how hard they tried. And they got obsessed with to the point of it affecting their mental and physical health. But once they decided to take a small break, and just enjoy life a little before going back to the problem they were facing once again, everything seemed clearer and they managed to solve it in no time at all.
"I will give you some advice. Don't think that because we are from the magicians department we are superior to the other ones. That's a rookie mistake. The research department may be the weakest if we are talking in combat terms, but they have their ways. And their knowledge is second to nobody. You can be sure you will need their help with something in the future. So I would try to get along with them if I were you." Klaus explained without stopping.
"Same thing about the armed combat department. Don't look down on them just because they don't use magic. The most respected hero, and the one considered the strongest human in history, was a swordsman, not a magician. That says it all." Klaus had a venerate expression when saying that.
"And last but not least. Don't fuck with the art department. They are the most frightening of them all. There are many arts in the universe. We are surrounded by art. Art is in our hearts and soul... You would think that some painter wouldn't be able to do anything to you. But I will tell you a story. There was once a famous painter who participated in one saint war of the dark era. He witnessed a devil lord slaughtering everything in his way with nobody being able to stop him... It left such a deep impression in his memory, that one day being surrounded by enemies and seeing no hope of survival, he painted the same devil lord he saw in the past with his own eyes..." Klaus took a deep breath before finishing his story. "A kingdom ceased to exist that day. And that painter lived long enough to see many ages till he died of old age. He is one of the greatest legends of the human race." Jack saw how respectful Klaus talked about this person and he felt admiration. Heroes deserved respect. To leave your name in history and be remembered by everyone till the end of times. Wasn't that what everyone wanted? That could be considered a kind of immortality.
Passing near the giant lake a huge commotion could be heard far in the front. And many people could be seen running in that direction.
"Do you wanna see what's happening?" Klaus asked Jack. And seeing him nodding, they decided follow the noise.
When they got there, they barely could see anything with the sea of people in front of them.
"Varyl! I demand an immediate apology. If today you don't give me an explanation in front of everyone, not even the heavens will be able to save your miserable life!"
Just after those words were shouted, Jack could see some big flames rising to the sky at the very front.