The moon was shining brightly out the window of Theo's room.
After his father left, Theo opened his eyes to a family setting. Looking up at the marbled ceiling. This time, he had his legs crossed and both of his hands behind his head, thinking about that day.
A lot had happened. The most important thing to him being the system. "Open System." After saying this, the blue window opened up in front of him once again.
[ Active Quest: None
{Stats}
{Shop} Locked
]
Theo had seen the "Stats" Button before but didn't bother to check it. Now that he was alone and nothing else was on his mind, he decided to check his stats. On thinking of clicking the stats button, the window changed.
[ Active Quest: None
Stats:
Name: Theodore Evergarden
Race: Human
Age: 15
Exp: 5/100
Level: 1
Health: 100/100
Strength 10
Stamina 100/100
Mana --
Stat Points --
Skills --
Overall: Average 15 year old. ]
"Hmm." Theo thought to himself. His race was human, the fact that it was even mentioned must mean that different races also exist in this world. Mana indicated obviously magic but it seemed that he had no mana. He didn't know if this meant he didn't have the talent to use magic in his lifetime or he hadn't found a way to gather mana yet.
He had 5 exp from the daily quest he had completed that day. He also had no skills which didn't come as a surprise. Looking at his stats excited Theo and motivated him even more.
Back on earth, he would get randomly motivated to change in the middle of the night, but never stuck to it the next morning. He would do things like random pushups and jumping jacks. His current excitement reminded him of those funny days on earth, and it also reminded him of why he needs to work even harder towards his goal.
He needed to become strong, his reason? Freedom. That was all the motivation he needed... right?
After inspecting his stats one more time, Theo fell asleep.
A loud alarm sound woke Theo up from his sleeping. He instinctively reached his hand around to try and feel where the alarm clock was, but the sound wasn't in a specific area, it was stagnant, almost like it was in his own head. Out of nowhere, Theo realized that his head was probably where the sound was coming from!
"Open System," Theo said.
[ Active Quest: None
{Stats}
{Shop} Locked
8:00 am wake-up alarm. {Turn off} {Turn off permanently} ]
Theo looked at the screen with an annoyed look on his lazy face. 'Why didn't this damn system inform me that it was going to wake me up so abruptly!? Jeez, well I can't fall asleep after waking up once so might as well get up.' Theo thought to himself as he got out of bed.
He washed his face in the bathroom inside his room and proceeded to head out of the room. On trying to get out, it seemed that the door was locked. "Huh? Who would forget to unlock the door?"
Looking closer, Theo found there to be no locking system on the door. He only had one conclusion, magic. A type of telekinesis or locking magic that held the door shut. That or some sort of glue. As Theo tried to budge at the handle one more, the handle suddenly spun and the door unlocked itself.
On the other side of the door was an exhausted Klemtoll. She was on the ground panting as if she had just run a marathon. "Sir Theod- Theo! Sir Theo, please follow me outside, your carriage is about to leave!" Said Klemtoll, panting as he got up and brushed herself off.
"Huh!? What are you talking abou--" Theo was cut off by Klemtoll grabbing his wrist and running towards the exit of the palace. "I'm sorry, I have no time to explain, I was told to get you as soon as possible!" Said Klemtoll as she ran.
Theo could do nothing but trust her at that moment.
They arrived outside of the front door. Theo had only seen the outside, he hadn't gone out yet. Right outside of the front door was a dirt road surrounding a large water fountain. On the dirt road was a carriage drawn by 2 horses and a carriage driver.
Talking to the driver was Arthur and Javalia. As they saw Theo approaching. They turned their attention towards him. They both had big and genuine smiles and happily greeted Theo.
"Why was I drug out here? And what is the purpose of this carriage?" Theo asked his parents. They were both very happy to say why. "Well! It's time for you to go to the most prestigious magic academy, Anaviotis!"
"What!?" Theo exclaimed. Before he could get a proper explanation, he was stuffed in the back of the carriage and was driven off into the sunrise.
This was not okay. Theo hadn't gotten the chance to plan anything yet. It was all too sudden. Theo was going to the Anaviotis academy, known for being the most prestigious academy in the land. Many went there if they had the talent and or funding to do so.
There was almost no more information given to him except that this was "Necessary for his development" as stated by his parents. All that Theo could do was accept the truth and move on. Inside the carriage, he was joined by another kid.
His clothes were all ripped and his hair was overgrown past his shoulders. He looked as if he hadn't taken a shower in forever. He was sitting with two expensive-looking swords beside him, which slightly confused Theo.
Theo questioned how a kid from what looked like to be the slums was also accepted into the academy. He must have had very good skill or a large backing. As Theo inspected the boy, the randomly spoke without batting an eye towards Theo.
"The names Leonidas, you can call me Leon. What's yours, sir prince?" Leon had an almost passive-aggressive tone to his speech. "Oh, my name? It's Theo nice to meet--" Theo was cut off by Leon. "Skip the small talk royal... what were you thinking about? Staring at me so hard?" Said Leon, still not batting an eye towards Theo.
'What is wrong with this kid??' Theo thought as he replied. "Oh nothing, I just thought how weird it was that you are going to such a prestigious school while looking like a complete bum. Do you ha--" Theo wanted to ask if Leon had a large backing but was once again cut off by him.
"What? just because I'm a peasant means I don't get to go to a prestigious school? There are no rules saying that... tch... royals, you're just like the rest of em..." Said Leon as he directed his head away from Theo.
Theo thought of how peasants would get treated by nobles in many novels and stories and wanted to clear up the miscommunication, but he now knew that Leon wasn't going to listen or talk to him anymore, so he didn't bother. "Think of me however you want," Theo said, as he also turned his head to the opposite direction of Leon.
They didn't look or talk to each other even once, instead, Theo got to see the outside world from the back of the carriage. He saw the royal inner city and the smaller outer cities. The ones on the outside were much more bustling with people and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming.
He also saw very poor places that needed much improvement. Seeing this was something that could touch anyone's heart, but for now, Theo couldn't do anything but look. After a long venture, they exited the kingdom walls and started to head on a dirt track through the flat plains.
There were creatures Theo had never seen before. Horses with 6 legs galloping in the distance, bulls that were double the normal size bathing in the water. It was a magnificent sight.
This was the first time Theo had really adventured out of where he lived in both of his lives. After it started to become dusk, they had arrived at the edge of a forest. Before they went inside they decided to take a break for the day.
As a campfire was set up with some logs by its side, more and more carts started to arrive at that destination. Out of the carts came many soon-to-be students of Anaviotis. There were many students of different classes and races, some looked like they even had long pointy ears and some were fat and short with visibly large muscles.
After every single cart arrived, the cart drivers started to set up tables and some started to cook food over the fire. As students started to come out more and more, Theo and Leon disappeared into the crowd even though they were the first ones there. The atmosphere became delightful, people talking to themselves over the fire as other people sat in the grass stargazing.
This was Theo's first-ever camping-like experience. As he grabbed a large chunk of meat from the fire, he noticed that the talking had started to die down pretty fast. He looked around to see everyone looking in a certain direction. From the west came a carriage that was different from all the others, one that was completely white drawn by white horses with majestic pink tails.
Everyone looked on with awe as they saw the girl that stepped out of the carriage. She had the most luxurious clothing on and she looked like an absolute goddess in every way. As she came near people, they immediately tilted their heads away.
She stood and looked at everyone, and as she did everyone started to sit down. Some kids started to chat amongst themselves quietly. "Hey isn't that Princess Glis Silandra from the great Tojo kingdom??" Said one kid.
"Yea, I heard you have to be lower than her in order to show your respect and not look her in the eyes, or else you will be incarcerated! Better to just sit down than try to cause any problems."
"Wait, hey! What is that kid doing? He looks like a peasant from a middle-class family... why is he not sitting down?!" Said one kid, noticing Theo hadn't gotten the memo yet.
"Does he have a death wish!?" Theo, with a breadstick in his mouth and his hands full of food, looked at everyone and Glis with an eyebrow raised. "What's going on? Why did everyone sit down all of a sudden?"