The administration building was a large building that looked reminiscent to the kind of buildings I would see at the college I went to in my past life. They had an oddly misplaced Greek and Roman influence. There were the iconic stone pillars on the front of the building that looked out of place when compared to the other buildings around campus.
I had only walked for about ten minutes to reach this building. There was a simple road system throughout the entire campus, with signs frequently spread out so I was able to find my way without having to rely on anyone to help me. As I walked, I saw students walking together in groups, and laughing together. There were different uniforms, depending on what department you were in, but they all looked stylish. I noticed that there were not many students who were from different departments hanging out with each other.
Not wanting to delay my duties today, I simply ignored it all, and walked into the administrations building.
The inside of the building was beautiful as well. There were secretaries sitting behind a large oval shaped desk, and a large staircase behind them. I walked forwards to the first secretary. She was a young woman, most likely a recent graduate, with simple brown glasses and a modest suit on.
"Hello, welcome to the administrations building, is there something we can help you with?"
I reached into my pocket and produced my admissions papers. Handing them over, she quickly took them from my hand and began to read them. She reached underneath the desk, and pulled out a bag.
"So you're Gideon Alabaster?"
I looked at her, but I didn't show anything on my face, nor did I even say anything. I wasn't an incredibly social person to begin with, but since coming to this world I knew that people who knew who I was didn't really want to talk to me anyways.
'That didn't exactly sound like a warm welcome.'
The secretary pulled out a cell phone, a badge, and a small folder from the bag. Putting the bag back under the desk, she then laid the items out before me.
"Your admission into the Magic department was accepted. Your schedule is in the folder. There is also a map, along with a list of rules you have to abide by during your stay at the academy, other than your academic duties you are free to roam the city when you have free time. This is a communication device. It only works within the campus and city, so if you're too far outside that range it will not work."
I picked up the device, and operated it like a normal smart phone. It didn't have a code, but when I opened it I was prompted to create one. Fiddling with the device, I asked the secretary a question.
"Can you give me a short explanation on how this works?"
I could see the secretary slightly annoyed, but she still explained professionally.
"It is connected to a magic system within the academy. When you send a message, the message goes to the central system, before being sent to the device you try to contact. Every device has their own signal, and goes through the central system. I don't know exactly how that works, but you can send messages to your fellow students. Teachers and administration can also send you messages."
She then moved onto the next item. She explained the badge, and how it had a unique mana signature that was used to track it's location. It would act as my identification, inside the academy and outside, so I had to make sure to take care not to lose it.
However I wasn't too interested in that. Instead I was still fiddling with the phone. After she explained everything, she told me that I was free to leave, and to not be late for class tomorrow.
I then quickly left the building, and decided I would walk around campus to familiarize myself with the layout.
'So this is like a LAN device. While it is connected to other devices in the area, it isn't able to access a wide range, nor other devices that aren't connected to the central system. That central system must simply act as a server. That means there probably isn't an internet, because they haven't figured out how to make transporting information that far yet, but it might not be long before they do. This world is strangely advanced but also lacking in technological systems...'
I thought about the carriage and car situation from when I first arrived. I found out that cars were powered by mana crystals. They were ultra luxury vehicles, but they were not capable of long distance travel. The energy consumption was just too high. They also weren't used in combat, because they were easy to destroy, and blew up when the energy was disrupted.
However the combination of magic and science fascinated me.
I grabbed the map, and looked through it quickly. The area I was at was towards the front of the campus. Here was where the front gate was, and behind that were the dorms on the East and West side of the campus. In the center was where the administration building was, but also where the other essential facilities were. There was the student resources building, which was where you would need to go to make payments for your schooling, along with getting your uniform tailored or fixed.
I headed there first.
While I was waiting for the tailor to finish adjusting my uniform, I looked over the map further.
Past the first area of the campus was a long road. The road went all the way to the North end of the campus, which was where the faculty building was, along with the headmaster's office. It looked like a large manor on the map, and was where the teachers lived. On the East side of campus, there was a training center. This training center had all the equipment needed to strength train, obstacle courses, and even areas for combat training. This building was bigger than any other building on the campus, and it seemed to be where most of my time would be spent.
On the West side of the campus was the school buildings.
There were four buildings in total, one for each year, that were all lined up next to each other. Behind the buildings was a large forest, which was a training ground as well, but was mostly used for exams. Spread around the inner parts of the campus were other amenities, such as the cafeteria or a swimming pool. There were other, smaller, buildings for various clubs.
There were various clubs you could join, but I didn't really have any interest in them. Joining a club was for people who either had to, or were looking for others to talk to.
The tailor handed me two uniforms. I took both, and decided to walk towards my dorm. I would drop these off, before heading to the cafeteria to get some breakfast, and along the way I decided to craft my fist relic.
****
The Relic Creation System was amazing, but it wasn't omnipotent. The first relic I could produce was free, however it was restricted to a normal magic item. This meant it couldn't do anything mystical, instead it was something that could be made by anyone who felt inspired to.
However, since it was a relic, it could improve. All I needed to do was lay out the item's effects, it's design, and functionality. Since I had the poison attribute, I wanted to choose something that fit me. What I decided upon, was an item to facilitate my growth, in the form of a gas mask.
The mask had a simple function for now. It would create a poison using my mana, that would be the most beneficial for increasing my resistance to poison.
The reason I went with this?
Simple: I didn't want to die from my own magic.
To do this, the mask would expose me to different poisons, and I would slowly develop a resistance to them. The relic would unlock more features as my poison magic became more powerful.
After confirming what I wanted the item to do, I decided to design the mask itself. It was a sleek black mask, that didn't look too much like a gas mask, other than the dual filtration vents on the side. The vents pointed upwards, and towards my ears. This way I was able to hide the vents from the front.
The mask was made to cover my nose, and mouth, covering the majority of my lower face. The mask had straps, but I would change that in the future.
When I was done, there was a bright light that appeared before me, the shape of the mask began to form from the light. Once the shape formed, the color started to fill in. With the front of the mask becoming a smooth metallic black, with small green tubes lining the edges. Black straps formed. When it finished forming, I reached out to gently touch the relic.
The straps felt as though they were made of silk. I slowly unclipped the back, lifting the device to cover my face, and clipped it behind my head. The mask fit perfectly. I continued walking with the mask on, all the way to the cafeteria.
I wouldn't be able to make another relic until I finished a mission for one of the gods. That was the condition for me to create more items, they would send me a mission through the system, and if I completed it I would be given the ability to craft another relic.
The grade of the relic I could produce depended on how much energy I was given from the gods. This was simply named Relic Points by the system. There were then ranks that cost different amounts.
The item I just created was a Magic item. The rank of relics were like this.
[Normal
Magic
Unique
Rare
Heroic
Legendary
Mythic
Divine]
I didn't know what the missions from the gods would entail yet, but I needed to be ready. After arriving at the cafeteria, I walked around for a while before I found where to start from. The cafeteria was actually more like a large buffet. I grabbed a tray, and collected various foods.
When I sat down, I decided to try out my mask before digging into dinner. I was a little surprised, but no one had really stared at me for wearing a mask. There were all kinds of people who attended the academy, and thankfully wearing a mask didn't exactly make me one of the weird ones.
I guided my mana, in the same way I did last night, and pushed the mana through my lungs out my mouth.
"Haaah."
Gas filled my mask, but I could feel the air being cycled through the mask back into my mouth when I inhaled. I inhaled deeply, as I knew this had to be the adjusted version of my poison, allowing myself to take in the poison. Soon, it hit my bloodstream from my lungs, and I was immediately assaulted with fatigue.
I struggled to unclasp my mask, but when I did I had to support my head with my hand.
'Oh shit... I should have done this at a different time... The effects will only get more intense... I'm lucky it is just fatigue, and loss of motor functions.'
I slowly began to regain my senses, and started eating.
****
After the meal, I made my way to the training grounds, and inspected the amenities. The first priority I had was to grow my physical abilities. With the presence of mana, bodies of humans were considerably stronger than the humans from my past, but that still required training to achieve.
There were a class of people who focused on enhancing their bodies with mana:
Enhancers.
They practiced a different form of magic where they circulated their mana in a unique way and strengthened their bodies. They were unable to use meta magics, as a trade off, but they were able to use a unique magic called Aura.
Coating their weapons in it, they were able to increase the lethality of their weapons, and doing other extraordinary things with it.
However that wasn't an interest I had. Instead I would train the most I could as a traditional mage. I would start with the most important thing.
As I was sprinting on a running track, I allowed myself to enjoy the exhaustion. I thought back to my days in the military, where I had to do physical training until I would throw up, I was able to enjoy the process. Conditioning yourself was always rewarding because you could see clear results.
However, for now, this body of mine only screamed in protest at what I was trying to do. However I refused to listen. I pushed myself to my utmost limit. When I finally stopped, I was drenched in sweat, and I was gasping roughly for air.
I had barely managed to run a couple miles before I was reduced to this state. I collapsed on the ground next to the track, and caught my breath. As I was sitting down I watched a guy run past me.
He had been running since before I got here, and he still wasn't tired.
"Monstrous stamina on this guy... Probably not a mage. Enhancer probably."
However he suddenly stopped and turned towards me.
"I'm a mage."
Then he turned around and continued jogging.
'Am I mistaken... Is this what mages are like?'
Feeling like it would be uncomfortable to stay here, I grabbed my mask and got up where I was sitting. Thankfully I wore casual clothes today.
I walked to the dorms after I left the track. Along the way, I began trying to control to mana output to my mask, figuring that if I chose to expose myself to the poison more consistently it would benefit me greatly. So as I was walking I followed the same steps as before.
Gather my mana, begin directing it towards my mouth, but instead of just letting it all go, I tried to let only a small amount escape my body. The rest I swirled around, and redirected out of my hands. As of right now I was unfamiliar with using any magic. The most I was doing was just projecting my mana outside of my body and into another vessel.
The mask adjusted the poison I had produced, and instead of making me collapse I simply felt dizzy.
A weird win, but a win nonetheless.
****
The next morning I had made my way to the 1st year classroom for the mage department. The mage class was all the way on the top floor of the 1st year building, while the other departments had their conventional classes on the lower floors. I had walked by a lot of them on my way to my class, and they looked how you would expect them too.
The Enhancer department students were all ripped beyond belief. They had incredible physiques that showed their hard work over the years. The Engineering department students were typically skinnier, and less muscular than the mages. However some were bigger than normal. These were probably people who were things like blacksmiths or made heavy machinery.
Finally, there were the Theology department students, they were all in pristine white robes and were incredibly quiet. They gave off the presence of priests. I would probably end up interacting with them often, since I was directly involved with the very gods they prayed to.
As students began to fill up the seats in the class, I watched as they began to converse among themselves, while I kept to myself. I had my mask on and was currently inhaling a deep breath of a paralyzing poison. Even if someone were to talk to me, I wouldn't really even be able to talk to them.
Thankfully, it seemed like most people were avoiding me anyways. After all the students arrived, we waited for the teacher to arrive, and I counted a total of 21 students in the class. I also noticed the boy from yesterday sitting a few seats in front of me. The room had the seats rising towards the back of the room, much like many lecture halls in my past world.
Anyways, because I sat at the back of the room I could clearly watch everyone's interactions, and it seemed the boy with the incredible stamina was quite popular. His name was Ethan Richardson, a commoner who was able to enter the academy through his incredible talent with a potent lightning attribute, and he was also a nice person.
He politely spoke to everyone in the class who talked to him, and he treated everyone equally. I admit, he was a handsome guy, but perhaps a bit cocky of me I thought I was better looking.
I was actually envious of Gideon, even though I was in his body now, I knew that I wasn't the one who was fortunate enough to be born with these incredible looks.
I was looking forward to seeing everyone's magic later in class, but the first few classes were some general studies like mathematics. As I was sitting quietly, minding my own business, an unknown boy walked up to my desk. I turned my head to look at him.
"You're Gideon Alabaster, right?"
'This can't be good.'
I thought to myself.
I looked up at the boy, and he was clearly glaring at me with malice.
"What does that have to do with you?"
"Tch! I heard you're a piece of shit who is staining the name of nobles."
I took a quick glance around the room. Everyone's attention had been grabbed by the commotion. While I felt empathy for the victims of Gideon Alabaster, that wasn't my guilt to carry, so I wasn't apologetic.
"So what?"
I was about to turn my head back to face to front of the class, when I was suddenly yanked out of my chair by the kid. He lifted me with relative ease, but I didn't panic much. I also didn't have the strength to resist because I was currently suffering from my own poison.
Looking into his eyes, he seemed to not like that I wasn't panicking either, and his grip tightened.
"You think you're untouchable just because you're the son of a duke?"
*Sigh*
I looked up at the kid and sighed in frustration.
"Is this going to take long? Are you going to fight or are you here to lecture me?"
A vein popped out of his forehead. Right as he was about to throw a punch at me, an imposing female voice sounded out.
"KNOCK IT OFF ALAN!"
Immediately his fist stopped in the middle of it's trajectory, and he shakily looked towards the front of the classroom. I also turned my head, and noticed a tall woman standing behind a podium. She had long blonde hair and was a very attractive woman.
However my attention wasn't on her beauty, instead I was more focused on her waist, or more specifically the sword hanging by her side. I was surprised to see a weapon, but that just reminded me that the world I lived in was one where violence was a reality you had to face.
However it was surprising to see it in an academic setting. It was while I was adjusting myself to my new life, that I was abruptly dropped by the bully named Alan. He grit his teeth, before giving me one last side long look, but went back to his seat without pursuing the argument.
I slumped down into my chair, and released a long breath.
Immediately, my mask began to cycle the air and release a diluted version of the poison.
'He's lucky the teacher appeared, otherwise he would have been on the ground in seconds. Frothing at the mouth and regretting his decisions to mess with me.'
I was assaulted with a wave of dizziness but by resting my head on the table I was able to avoid ejecting my breakfast.
The woman in front began to talk.
"As you all might have noticed, we have a new student joining us, he is Gideon Alabaster. Son of Duke Alabaster. However we will not have any changes for our curriculum. We will continue as normal, it will be up to him to keep up."
With that last sentence she looked at me. I looked at her for a moment, before letting my tired head hit the table once again.
'I should try to explain my situation to her, or maybe I should just let everyone think I am the same scumbag?'
I began to consider my options as another person came in. He was the mathematics instructor. I began to listen in, but after a moment I realized that we were simply learning basic high school math equations. I was confident that I would be fine with the level of mathematics at the academy, so I rested my eyes for the entire class.
With my eyes closed, the dizziness wasn't that intolerable, and I was able to quietly increase my poison resistance. The next few classes were similar. They were basic classes where I could get by with just passively listening to the lecture without participating in any discussions.
Thanks to this the perception that I was still a lazy degenerate was further solidified in everyone's minds. However that wasn't my problem. As long as my grades were good, I didn't have to worry about my future.