Nolan and the Gray siblings weren't there yet. Damien's headache had already abated, and his Ether reserves were nearly full once again.
"I think I might as well continue expanding our room," Damien said. "I don't think I've got the brainpower to try to learn a new spell right now, so menial labor sounds perfect.
It'll help my cultivation anyway."
"I won't stop you," Sylph said. "I've got to practice my own cultivation."
She headed into the first training room and sat, closing her eyes and starting to meditate. Damien continued through the hallway, stepping into the room-in-progress behind it. He channeled a single mote of Ether out through his palm, creating an orb of destructive energy, and got to work on the walls.
Within him, Henry stirred for the first time in hours.
Slowly, like a cat waking up from a long nap in the sun, the eldritch creature let out a yawn.
Hello, Henry. You've been out of it for a while.
"I had to make sure the dean wasn't going to drop by and give you a surprise visit," Henry replied. "Drawing her attention wasn't wise."
I know. I realized that about a second too late. There isn't much I can do about it now.
Henry sighed. "If you thought things through before you did them, we'd rule half the Mortal Plane already. I'll admit, it was smart to buy the girl time. You weren't going to beat her, and you certainly weren't going to beat the wild boy.
This way, she feels even more indebted to us."
That's not why I did it. The better we both do, the more we can get. She's on my team, remember?
"And she owes you more than she can pay back in quite some time," Henry said, his voice smug. "She will be useful."
You should put that spark of humanity to work and figure out what a friendship is. It'll help you out in the long run. Not everyone has to be a tool or an enemy.
"Hmm. We'll see," Henry said noncommittally.
"Regardless, your performance was adequate today. You displayed a decent amount of critical thinking skills if we pretend you didn't bring us to the attention of a woman who might be able to see me if she tries hard enough."
Thanks. I think.
Henry chuckled and retreated into the back of Damien's mind once again. Damien just sighed and redoubled his efforts, forming an orb in his other hand and tearing through the wall like it was made of paper.
He worked through the rest of the day, pausing once to recover his Ether. As weariness crept into his mind, Damien finally allowed the orbs to fade. He was covered with a thin layer of stone dust.
Henry stirred within his mind. The dust puffed off him and fell to the ground.
"Thanks," Damien muttered.
"No problem," Henry replied, receding once again.
Damien dragged himself over to their bathroom and took a quick shower before brushing his teeth. Sylph sat on her bed facing the wall, small motes of dark energy twisting around her.
With the last dredges of his energy, Damien pulled up his status screen.
Damien Vale Blackmist College Year One Major: Undecided Minor: Undecided Companion: [Null] Magical Strength: 4.6 Magical Control: .53 Magical Energy: 9.2 Physical Strength: .3 Endurance: .73 The fights had nudged several of his stats up, giving him the equivalent of several days of training. Damien dismissed the window with a tired grin and trudged across the small room. His clothes flew off him as he flopped into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. Within minutes, darkness enveloped his thoughts, and he was fast asleep.
Something poked Damien in the cheek. He groaned, turning over in bed without opening his eyes and burying his face in the pillow. He got poked again.
"Go away," he grumbled.
"No," Delph's voice replied.
Damien blinked, his weary mind struggling to process what had happened. Reality clicked into place, and he jumped, sitting straight up in bed as a rush of adrenaline shot through his veins.
"What are you doing in our room?" Damien exclaimed.
The professor just cocked an eyebrow. "You left the door open. I came to check on you two. To my horror, I found you were sleeping away good daylight hours, so I felt I'd do you a favor and help you wake up."
Damien squinted past Delph. The sun wasn't even up yet.
"What time is it?"
"Two hours before sunrise," Delph said.
"And why exactly did you come check on us again?"
"Because your roommate won the tournament," Delph replied, rubbing his hands together. The man looked more gleeful than Damien had ever seen him. "And you did quite well, too. I had three students in the top four! I've got your rankings as well. Sylph, unsurprisingly, placed first in all the Year One students. Damien, you placed third. There was some debate on whether you should be fourth instead, but Whisp actually cast the deciding vote. Apparently, she appreciates wily students, even when they force her to change the rules of future tournaments."
Damien rubbed the weariness out of his eyes. He grabbed his clothes and pulled them under the sheets, shuffling around for a few moments until he was dressed.
Once he was finished, he swung his legs out of bed.
Sylph was already awake. She sat on the edge of her bed, watching Delph with an expression similar to that of a cat that had been kicked.
"Do you have our rewards for us or something?" Damien asked.
"Among other things," Delph said. He nudged the book he'd given Damien—which laid on the ground at the foot of his bed—and raised an eyebrow. "I see this is going to good use."
"Let's stay on the subject of rewards," Damien said, repressing a yawn. "And I hope one of them is a door. No offense."
Delph just harrumphed. He traced a gray line through the air with a finger. The line split open, and he reached inside the hole, pulling out a fist-sized bag. He tossed it onto Sylph's bed, then repeated the process and tossed a bag onto Damien's bed.
Damien glanced at the bag, then looked back up at Delph. He half-expected the professor to have filled the bags with flour or some incredibly unwelcome training method. Sylph didn't make any moves to open her bag either.
"What?" Delph asked, crossing his arms. "Aren't you going to open your rewards?"
Damien gingerly picked the bag up. It was rather heavy.
He held it out in front of him as far as he could while he walked outside. It didn't react, so he very carefully untied the small drawstring at the top while keeping the bag's opening pointed away from him. He pulled it open, but nothing happened.
Slowly, Damien peeked inside it. There were a good number of gold coins at the bottom, along with a few other things that were difficult to see in the dim light from the setting moon. He walked back inside and gave Sylph a nod.
"Seems safe," he said.
"Cautious is good," Delph said approvingly. "Always be wary, even when gifts come from friends. There are a lot of ways to impersonate someone. Regardless, this wasn't a test. I was planning on having a training session today, but there's no point. You both did well, and you earned me quite a bit of mon—ah—prestige among the other professors. Take a day off to recover from the tournament.
There will be a normal class tomorrow, so don't show up for our special training as well."
Before Damien or Sylph could even acknowledge the professor, his cloak folded around him, and he vanished.
"Do you think he's gone?" Damien asked Sylph. He glanced around nervously. "A small part of me feels like he's hiding in one of our other rooms."
"Don't say that," Sylph said, shuddering. "You'll give me nightmares."
Sylph peeked inside her bag, and her eyes widened. She tipped it over on the bed. A veritable tide of coins rushed out of it. A small white slip and three glass vials fell out on top of them.
Damien did the same. His pile of coins was considerably smaller than Sylph's, and he only had one vial instead of three. However, he had the same white slip she did. He picked up the white slip. The back was blank, while the other side had the number two hundred printed on it.
"I think these are contribution points," Damien said, turning it over in his hand. "This is quite a bit. Wasn't your dagger something like three thousand points?"
"Yeah," Sylph said, picking up her own white slip. "I got five hundred points for winning. That's nearly five quests."
"Not to mention the gold," Damien said. "I wonder how much there—" "One hundred," Henry said.
"Ah. I got one hundred," Damien said.
"It looks like I got around two hundred," Sylph said, her voice uncertain. "Maybe two hundred and fifty. I don't think I've ever had this much money in my entire life."
"You know, we could probably make a door instead of buying one," Damien said, scratching his chin. "We'd have to buy something for it to swing on, but I could probably carve something out of rock. It wouldn't be pretty, but I'd imagine doors aren't too cheap."
"Let's find out how much they are first," Sylph suggested. "There's a point when our time is more valuable than gold, and if a door only costs a little, I don't see why we shouldn't just buy one. I'll be saving my credits, though."
"Good idea," Damien said. "And I will be as well. We could probably do with some shopping, though. Our room is starting to look a little depressing, and I think I'm going to treat myself to a meal that doesn't resemble vomit. I think my finances can suffer that hit."
Sylph grinned and gave him a nod. "Just don't go too crazy. I can't imagine things get any easier from here on out." Her expression grew somber, and she lowered her voice. "And…you need to be careful. I'm sure you noticed, but you've drawn a lot of attention. Whatever you're hiding, you'd best redouble your efforts."
"Thanks," Damien said, giving her a small nod. "I'll keep that in mind and hope it was worth it."
They put the gold back into their bags. Damien tied the drawstrings shut and put it into his travel bag, which he slung over his shoulder. Sylph tied hers to her belt. Once they were done, they headed out of the room and slipped by Mark and the Grays' gates as they headed down the mountain. Once they got to the bottom, they headed into the town.
"Anywhere you want to start?" Sylph asked, adjusting the bag on her hip. "I'm not sure how early the general store opens, and I don't even know where to start with getting a new door."
"No way to know when it opens but to head over and find out," Damien replied. "And I figure that's a good place to start. They might not sell doors there, but I'm sure the clerk could point is in the right direction."
Their path decided, the two of them increased their pace. They hadn't spent much time exploring the campus recently, since they'd mostly been in the arena with Delph or training in the forest, but it still only took them a little over ten minutes to find the store.
To their pleasure, the general store's doors were already wide open. Damien stepped inside with Sylph close on his heels. Aside from the large man behind the counter, it was entirely deserted. He glanced up from a book, quickly setting it down with a loud bang as they walked in.
"Welcome to the store," he said with a wide grin. A metal tag on his chest identified him as Joe. "I don't tend to get many visitors this early. Is there something…particular you're looking for?"
"A door," Damien said, ignoring the raised eyebrow the shopkeeper sent them. "We were wondering if you knew where to get one and how much it would cost."
"Ah," he said, looking slightly disappointed. "You can get one commissioned here if you'd like. It'll run you anywhere between a few hundred and a thousand gold, depending on how fancy you want it. I could show you a catalogue if you'd like."
Damien grimaced at the high price tag. "I think we're probably fine. Thank you, though. It's a bit out of our price range."
"Understandable," Joe said. "Most students end up making their own doors. The only ones who buy them are wealthy enough to not notice the money, and those are few and far in between at Blackmist. So, is there anything else I can help you two lovely people with?"
"Could you tell me what this is?" Sylph asked, reaching into her bag and pulling out the three vials she'd won in the competition.
The clerk squinted at the vials. Sylph walked up to the desk and put them on the counter so he could get a better look. The man raised them to the light, squinting at the small green plants within them.
"They're all the same plant. Ironleaf Thistle. It's a magical herb that can help make your body stronger. These are rather expensive. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get them without knowing what they are?"
He paused, squinting at them. Then he reached under his desk and took out a pair of comically small spectacles, setting them on the bridge of his nose and peering at Damien and Sylph.
"My goodness, aren't you the first and semifinalist from the Year One ranking tournament?" He clapped, giving them a wide grin. "You are! Great job yesterday. It was quite amusing watching Teg lose his cool."
"Thank you," Damien said. Teg clearly wasn't well-liked among the student body. "Is my vial the same?"
He showed it to the clerk, who nodded after inspecting it for a moment.
"Thank you," Damien said.
"No problem," Joe replied. "Is there anything else you'll be needing today?"
"I could use some new clothes," Sylph said. She saw the predatory look in his eyes and held up a hand. "Nothing fancy or expensive, please. I need something practical. I could also use some soap if you've got it."
Joe's grin didn't waver. He just gave her a nod. "Of course. The soap is on the shelf behind you. The cheapest one is the plain brown bar. It smells a bit like wet paper, but it works fine. As for clothes, just give me your wristband, and I'll see what I can do for you."
Sylph raised an eyebrow, but she took the metal band off and handed it to the man. He took it from her and tapped it against his own, his eyes looking off into the distance as he read something only he could see.
He nodded and handed the band back to Sylph. "Got it.
We've got something in your size. How many sets do you want? The university helps cover the price of clothing since it gets damaged a lot in training, so it'll only cost you ten silver per set."
"Seven sets then," Sylph said, grabbing the bar of soap and putting it on the counter. "And this as well."
"Of course," Joe replied, giving her a wink and disappearing into the back to get the requested goods.
The clerk came out a little less than a minute later with a medium-sized tarp bag in his hands. He handed it to Sylph, who took it and paid him with a single gold coin. He took it and returned a small handful of silver coins, which Sylph put back into the bag holding her other coins. She put the soap into the bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Is there anything else I can get the two of you?
Notebooks? Quills?"
"I think that's it," Damien replied. Then he tilted his head. "Notebooks? For rune drawing?"
"You could use them for that, but there are a good number of classes you'll want to take notes in," Joe said.
"You'll find out about them soon enough. It's been a while since I was a Year One, but I think they'll start up right about now, since you just finished the ranking battles."
Henry chuckled within Damien's mind. "You'll need no such thing with me. I won't be forgetting any new information we learn. I've missed far too much in the last four thousand years."
"Oh, that's good to know," Damien said to Joe, mentally nodding to Henry. "I think I'm good for now, but I might show back up later. I've already got some notebooks of my own."
"As am I," Sylph said.
"Of course," the clerk said, smiling at them.
They bid farewell to the large man and headed out of the store.