With the woman's appearance the pressure in the office vanished. Yerive and Tepo were able to breath freely again. Tepo gritted his teeth as he subtly got closer to the vice-commander.
"Vice-commander. Don't you think you are pushing the boundaries a bit much?"
"I don't know what you mean. I was on the way to my course when I felt a pressure in your office. I'm only doing my duty as vice-commander of the forum guards, caring about your security."
"Then I have to thank you, vice-commander. As you can see, I am perfectly fine. You can leave now."
"Sure. As soon as these two students received their allowance."
The elder pretentiously put his hands behind his back as he put on a sly smile.
"Oh. I don't know why it would be your place to care about this, but these students aren't entitled to an allowance."
"What?!"
Yerive couldn't hold back a surprised shout. But Tepo deliberately calmed down. He had expected this by now.
"Yes, you heard correctly. Since your invitation gives you too many benefits, you are not entitled to any allowance, upholding fairness for the other students."
Tepo let out a mocking chuckle. Even the vice-commander was surprised as she confronted the elder:
"Who decided this?!"
"The student affair committee held an urgent meeting yesterday. It's an official decision."
The elder's smile turned almost smug for a moment, but he quickly reminded himself to keep a dignified face.
Watching the vice-commander's gritting teeth, Tepo knew that there was nothing they could do. He turned around and waved at Yerive.
"Let's go. Thank you for your help, miss vice-commander."
The two high-ranked warriors watched Tepo's straight back as he left the room. Yerive was taken aback for a moment before scurrying after his friend.
Outside, Tepo was just about to go down the stairs when he felt someone staring at him from the side. He turned his head faintly. Eyes crossed.
Kalmin Redswan stood amidst a group of other youths in high-quality robes. He wore a smug smile, staring at Tepo. Suddenly though he flinched. He felt as if the shadow of death just flickered in those calm eyes.
When he came back to his mind, Tepo and Yerive had already passed him.
"Kalim, are those the new students? Those with an invitation?"
Kalim turned his head, facing a woman with white skin and cold eyes. Her white hair and blue robe once earned her the nickname ice princess.
Subsequently she beat everyone calling her that up, arguing that the nickname made her sound too frail. Since then, no one dared to come up with a new nickname, simply calling her by her name Vorea Bluetome.
"Yes. We have already started looking into where their tokens came from."
"Mhm. Uncle has made the first move, testing the Open Faction."
Tepo and Yerive didn't hear the subsequent conversation. They left the main building in a complicated mood, heading towards the lecture buildings.
"Was it a mistake to come here?"
Tepo looked at his friend in surprise.
"Don't tell me such a small setback already discouraged you?"
"I… don't know."
"Yerive. If you want to follow your dreams, this is certainly the best place.
Furthermore, the elder wasn't entirely wrong. We shouldn't look at the allowance we lost but at everything we won because of our invitation. You read it in the rulebook:
Tuition fees, paid courses, the trial fields. Everything costs either crystals or credits.
But with the invitation we have to pay none of these. We are already at an advantage. Let's not throw it away but take the advantage and run away with it!"
Yerive took a deep breath. Tepo was right. He had to finally get a grip if he wanted to become a strong warrior.
Encouraged, the two friends reached the lecture building. Many youthful faces could be seen, eager to learn for a promising future.
They streamed into the lecture building, scattering towards the different courses.
Tepo and Yerive joined the crowd. They were still a bit isolated as new students, but this would surely change over the next few months.
Thanks to many plans hanging everywhere on the walls, the two friends easily located the room where their course would be held. They arrived in a spacious hall with rows of seats leading upwards.
Big windows lined the wall opposite the door. The sunlight fell in, illuminating the room, turning the white stone walls in blinding mirrors. A faint smell emitted from the reddish wooden floor, aiding the students in concentration.
The room was already half-filled with people. Curious eyes mustered the new faces standing in the door. Low chatter was exchanged between the students.
Tepo and Yerive scanned the rows of seats. Suddenly they noticed a young man waving at them.
Surprise on their faces the two friends decided to find out what the young man in his clean white student robe had to say. They stepped on the stairs, quickly reaching the man seated halfway up the rows of seats.
"Hey! You are Tepo and Yerive, right? Sister Inurol'ah asked me to help you out. I'm Rix!"
Tepo eyed the brightly smiling young man before him. The bloodred flower in the man's raven black hair drew his attention.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Yerive and this is Tepo!"
As Tepo stayed silent for a moment, Yerive happily introduced himself and his friend. His mood improved as he felt Inurol'ah's care. It showed that not everyone in the forum wanted to make things difficult for them.
Tepo on the other hand felt a hint of distrust in his mind, suspicious as these people appeared overly friendly for his taste. On top of that Rix and Inurol'ah obviously belonged to some sort of faith…
Rix had an enthusiastic smile, pointing at the seats next to him.
"Great. Come on, sit here!"
"No thanks."
Both Rix and Yerive watched in surprise as Tepo decisively declined and went further up the stairs.
"Tepo?"
The young man heard Yerive's voice behind his back.
"Come, let's go."
"But… I would like to sit here."
Tepo looked over his shoulder in Yerive's confused eyes. He sighed faintly.
"Do what you want."
With those words Tepo turned around and continued up the stairs. Yerive's mind blanked for a moment, not able to understand his best friend's attitude.
The young man hesitated before smiling apologetically at Rix and hurrying after Tepo. He somewhat reluctantly sat next to him in the last row.
"What was this?", hissed Yerive.
"Yerive, do you think someone would be nice to us without other motives?"
Yerive frowned. He realized what his friend was hinting at but couldn't agree on this issue.
"Yes! I think so. Some people just like to be friendly and make new friends."
"Maybe. But if these people belong to a faith, I would be suspicious."
"What are you saying? The people believing in one or more gods are probably more than 75% or so!
Are you saying none of them can be trusted?"
"Well, the believers are not to blame but we shouldn't blindly trust the gods. What even compels us to follow a god? Has anyone ever seen a real god? Or received some kind of support?"
Yerive fell silent. It was indeed the case that the existence of gods couldn't be proven. But there were so many religions out there, who, even if they opposed each other in their believes, agreed on the single issue that gods existed.
And Yerive never had a negative experience with faith. Thus, he couldn't comprehend Tepo's mindset.
The atmosphere between the two friends sadly remained tense while the room gradually filled up.
A few minutes later heavy steps echoed in the hallway outside, like approaching thunder. A huge frame appeared in the extra-large door, barely able to squeeze their body through.
Tepo and Yerive were surprised as a non-human being came to a stop in the front of the room. They walked on four muscular legs ending in flat, horned feet. Their body resembled a bull's, but they had long brown fur hanging almost to the ground, which red strings artfully interweaved.
Their thick, long tail ended in a strange, cup-like form which seemed to connect them to the ground.
It was hard to make out a face on their big head, as heir fur even covered their contours. But most attention was drawn to their massive, white antlers, which resembled a tree's branches, forming a small canopy above their heads.
Although Tepo slowly got used to seeing non-humans, this being's presence still startled him for a moment.
Suddenly a deep, humming voice shook all the student present.
"Morning. I'm Ohn! I teach force crystals! Welcome to my course!"
Ohn spoke slow and in short sentences. His voice echoed in the room with a lot of power, vibrating the students' bodies down to their bones.
After his introduction guest teacher Ohn suddenly sat down on his butt, shaking the floor a little. He raised his front hooves, force crystals suddenly appearing and sticking to them.