RRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!!
Nick's alarm went of at 3 am. Nick slowly got up from bed with tired eyes, feeling sore.
(What the hell. Why do I feel like shit all of a sudden? Hmmm...I guess I've been stressed out more than usual during the past few weeks and ignored it. Now that the exam is over, I'm feeling the aftermath of the non-stop grind.)
Nick smiled.
"The pain means progress, I have to continue."
Nick picked up his phone and started playing some rock music.
"Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
And just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries
(Hey yeah, oh hey, hey yeah)
Remember me for centuries..."
Nick nodded his head and spent the next thirty minutes doing a few reps of pushups and then took a shower. When he finished with his shower, he sat at his desk to think about his situation.
(Ray Menzes said that the end of year exam will take the form of a survival challenge and apparently that those challenges are the reasons for the high mortality rate among Apprentice Magicians. I have to use this time to become an Apprentice Magician. For the next few months, I need to create my meditation and foundation laws and form my mindscape. I have a new magic language to use other than Valteese but that probably doesn't make it easier to conceptualize the before mentioned. My next move will be to read the book on magic natures and then solely work on creating my meditation and foundation laws.)
The book that Nick got from the library on magic natures has about 2000 pages, each filled with information. Since he still felt some fatigue from all the excitement yesterday he went back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep. Nick woke up around 7 am and left for the cafeteria and had a breakfast of three egg and cheese sandwiches with orange juice. Nick didn't plan to leave his room for a while so he went to the academy's convenience store and spent much of the allowance from his scholarship that he had saved so far on food. Next he went to the spell creation club to tell Norman how the exam went and also to obtain more special papers to write magic scrolls. Norman told him once that the club was supplied with a large number of boxes with these papers and since no one except him was making scrolls, there was still thousands of them and Nick could get them for free by coming to the club and requesting them. When Nick walked into the club room, he saw both Derek and Lana having a conversation but when they noticed Nick, they stopped to greet him. Derek spoke:
"Good morning Nick, how did you do on your exams?"
Nick shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"It was pretty tough since I only used scrolls but I managed to get a good score so I'm not complaining. How about you guys, how did you do on your exams?"
Nick quickly tried to take the attention off of himself. Usually one's own success is likely to attract the envy of others and Nick didn't want the extra attention because he was rank 4 within his year. Lana looked at Nick and replied:
"We did okay even though the exam this year was battle based and since neither I nor Derek have much magic particularly suited for that, we stumbled a bit but pulled through with our skills. Considering that you haven't formed your mindscape yet, it's good that you did okay for yourself."
Derek nodded his head in agreement of Lana's words. Suddenly, Norman's room door flew open and Norman emerged from it walking towards Nick. He asked Nick seriously, skipping the basic greetings:
"Is it true, you received a class S grade and the rank 4 position in your year by using your scrolls? The dean himself called me this morning to commend me on my instruction regarding you."
Nick sighed internally. He didn't expect Norman to spill the beans so quickly and in front of Derek and Lana. Nick wasn't naive, Norman was definitely not ignorant of Lana's and Derek's negative emotions regarding Nick's progress.
(Sigh. He's saying these things publicly with special intention. Probably trying to stir Lana and Derek, either for their motivation or just to poke at the green eyed monster within them - envy.)
Nick had a kind of high awareness for these things but with Norman's status it would be too troublesome to reproach him, so Nick smiled sheepishly and replied:
"It is as you say professor. The dean wouldn't lie to you. I came here to obtain a lot more special papers and ask if I could skip the club's tasks for a few weeks so that I can focus on forming my mindscape."
Norman smiled at Nick's reply, thinking that his little student was very astute.
(Hmph, did he notice the purpose in my actions? Well, it doesn't matter even if he did but this kid sure is sharp, trying to use my outburst to skip his club tasks. Considering that he wants to use this time to form his mindscape, refusing at this point especially considering his recent results would be unreasonable. This kid certainly has some 'skills'.)
"Of course I will give you the papers, they're cheap anyway. As for skipping your tasks, I can allow that for two months but you still have to at least make an appearance at the end of every month. That's not a problem is it?"
Nick knew that there were no rules in the academy regarding mandatory club attendance, Norman was probably forcing him to make an appearance to observe his progress.
"I'm fine with that professor."
Derek and Lana looked at Norman then at Nick. They were a little surprised at Nick's result, when they were in their first year, neither of them ranked higher than rank 200.
(How did he do it?)
That was the thought going through both of their minds. Norman gave Nick the papers he wanted telling him to continue working hard and that if he needed help with his spells, he could always ask him for help and then Norman returned to his room. Nick left under the watchful gaze of Derek and Lana; Derek soon after returned to his work but Lana kept staring at the door that Nick left through and didn't retract her gaze until about 20 minutes later, a determined expression on her face.
...
Back in his room, Nick put his food and supplies aside and picked up his book on magic natures; it was now 10 am. Feeling excited Nick sat at his desk and begun to read. He did not stop until about 9 pm. He started sorting out his thoughts on what he had read thus far.
(It seems that all magic energy has some kind of nature(s), usually these natures are evenly distributed while in the atmosphere except in special environments where there is an especially high amount of magic with a certain nature, for example, near a volcano the magic energy will have a high fire nature about it. The book goes on to say that all magic energy can be used to cast spells but spells cast with magic energy with a high associated nature would be especially strong like if one tried to cast a fire spell near a volcano but if you cast a spell in conflict with the surrounding magic energy the spell is likely to be weaker than normal like if one tried to cast a water spell near a volcano. Apparently, most magicians have a kind of magic that they have an especially high affinity for; some high affinities are rarer than others and in most cases Magicians specialize in using magic energy associated with their highest affinity. Some of the common highest affinities are water, fire, earth, wind, soul and metal; there are even some natures and affinities that I have never heard of like sword, blade, phantom, shadow, strength and wisdom. Some of the rarest natures and affinities are luck, qi, decay, space, time and blood.)
"I know that my highest affinity is for rule magic which is apparently not practiced openly on Grand Earth, at least it was not included in the list of natures in this book."
Nick new that he had to create a meditation and foundation laws that complemented his affinity for rule magic so that became his current medium term goal. For the next two weeks, Nick spent most of his time reading the book and using a portion of the day to do push ups and practice writing magic scrolls.
When he was finished with the book, he returned it to the library and picked one up called, "The Theory of Meditation: Practical Guide". He returned to his room but before he entered he caught sight of Don Bartholomew leaving his room and the two young men locked eyes with each other for about two seconds. Don spoke:
"Well, If it isn't our year's rank 4 'Apprentice Magician'. Look, I apologize for the way I spoke during our exam. I didn't think I'd lose and lose that badly. Your magic scrolls were pretty weird. I was wearing some protection related artifacts from my family during the match but they didn't protect me from your spells. In addition, because I was wearing these artifacts my rank and grade were abysmal. I won' make the same mistakes again I'll definitely work harder and surpass you."
After saying that Don left quickly for the elevator. Nick didn't care much about Don's declaration, after all, once he surpasses someone, in Nick's mind there was almost no hope of that person catching up. Speaking of the exam, when Nick received the breakdown of why he was graded the way he was it seems that his grade was almost entirely due to the fact that he created spells that could completely get past the protection of C grade artifacts and clearly used magic of a rare nature that even the invigilator and Regular Magicians could not identify; the academy probably new that they were his own creations from contacting Norman and of course Don's artifacts didn't protect him from Nick's magic, rule magic isn't practiced on Grand Earth and is only referred to in books with vague descriptions. There is no way that someone would create an artifact that protects against it; from this Nick saw the advantage in having unique and rare magic and spells. Nick got inside his room at about 6:30 pm and took a shower. When he was done he decided to take a look at the new book he had just gotten and then he would read one of his mathematics texts before going to bed. While he was planning out the next few hours, a knock was made at his door.
(What the hell. I don't even know anyone personally, why would someone be knocking at my door?)
Nick put on a shirt and his shorts and and went to open the door. As he opened it, a woman for some reason jumped to hug him. Nick felt this was weird but knew that she was probably not trying to hurt him because of the school rules. When Nick took a closer look, he saw that it was Lana. She was wearing a black pleated skirt that reached down to her knees and an orange blouse. While still hugging Nick she spoke softly:
"I haven't seen you at the club in a couple of weeks so I came to check up on you. It's fairly cold out here, could we talk inside your room?"
Nick didn't know what was happening but it was like a fog suddenly developed in his brain stopping him from thinking rationally, not to mention that a bulge was starting to grow in his shorts. Nick took Lana by the hand and took her into his dorm room and closed the door. While inside, Lana hugged him again and spoke:
"You know, I was surprised at your ranking when I heard it. It looks like you've been working hard all on your own. When you've achieved something, you should celebrate. I know it's pretty late but let's celebrate together."
Nick didn't hesitate when he heard that. He moved his hand and firmly grabbed one of Lana's ass cheeks, making sure that his index and middle finger were anchored near her anus.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh."
Lana moaned softly.