Chapter 82 – Student

Dream arrived at the front of the academy.

He had gone to the castle that the monitor pointed him to a day ago. Though he also tracked the watch on Riddick just in case. 

As he flew over, he got a good look a the castle that was the academy. It was basically 4 different Spires in a square connected by walls. It was very tall and covered a huge amount of ground. Dream couldn't see hardly any buildings that size except for the biggest buildings in the city center. It was bigger than any college campus that he'd seen before. Made sense because it had to house all its students and faculty.

After he got to the entrance, he spotted Riddick and flew over, landing in front of him and undoing stealth.

"Good day, Old Man."

"Boy."

"Am I all good? What have you told them?"

"I refrained from telling them much other than you're a recently advanced class 2. What have you set your class to?"

"I was going to ask you for ideas."

"Hmm... I would just set it to mage. It's common but versatile."

"Alright. I'll set my stats to low C's."

When he said that, Dream's mana levels changed slightly. Riddick scanned him and found no problems.

"Good. Then we're all set. Follow me."

Riddick nodded to him and turned around, heading through the big castle gates. Dream followed right behind.

When they walked through the gates they came into a large plaza. The plaza had easily a few hundred people either flying around or walking every which way. There were also several floors and staircases leading upwards towards different pathways and hallways.

"Hey Old Man. At what level should I be able to fly?"

"As you are is fine. But it definitely wouldn't be fast. I'll fly you around for now."

Saying so, Riddick's mana enveloped Dream. They rose into the air and approached one of the floors. 

After flying into one of the pathways, he landed and released Dream. They continued walking through a large hallway like a school, passing through herds of students.

*Ding!* *Ding!* *Ding!* 

Dream heard a bell ring. All the students began entering different rooms and the surroundings became much quieter.

"Bell for class?"

"Correct. Signifying the beginning and end of each class. Looks like class just started."

They began walking a bit faster as there was no one in their way. Soon, they exited the hallway and came up on an independent building. The sign said 'Administration'. Riddick walked through the doors.

After they walked through, Dream saw an office type area. Many doors were lining the walls leading into the rooms of different people. It reminded him of the standard school office building. 

Riddick began walking through the area passed the receptionist. They soon came across counselor offices and stopped at a specific door.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in."

Riddick opened the door he knocked on and entered. Dream followed behind and the door closed itself.

"That was fast."

A man behind a big desk spoke to Riddick and turned to them. He looked at Dream, who was checking out all the bookshelves around the room.

"So this is him. Dream was it?"

"Yes. Sir."

Dream stopped looking around and faced the man. He looked to be an older man with some gray hairs making their way among the other black hair. He also had a nice beard. 

"Well, Dream. Under the recommendation of Riddick, you've been admitted to this academy. And I can already see that you are more than qualified, being so young and already class 2."

Dream felt the man's mana wash over him. Luckily his disguise seemed to work as the man saw nothing wrong.

"Thank you. Although my level and stats are decent, I definitely have much to learn here in the way of spells and such."

"Of course. Our teachers are the best in the world. There's no better place to learn magic than here. Speaking of, we need to get you set up. Come take a seat."

The man motioned to the other side of his desk where there were two chairs. Riddick and Dream took a seat across from the man.

"I haven't introduced myself. My name is Amitel Fullren. I'm a counselor here at the academy. I also happen to be a friend of Riddick's. And I was surprised when he came to me with a student recommendation. You must be an interesting kid to catch his eye."

"I guess I am pretty great."

"I would use the word 'adequate'." (Riddick)

"Fight me Old Man."

"Hmph."

Riddick snorted at Dream and just went quiet. Although he was pretty sure he would obliterate Dream in a battle, he wasn't actually sure if he could come out without an injury or two. Dream's progress was hard to capture just by looking at him. Not to mention his class.

Amitel just watched the exchange and smiled. 

"Anyway, today we're going to get you equipped with the things you need and put you in the classes of your choice. The latter is the most important, so we'll discuss it first."

"Alright."

"This is a list of the classes we offer. Take a look."

Amitel handed Dream a small book. He opened it while Sophia scanned its contents.

"Usually people start out at a basic course and work their way up. Everyone works at a different pace. Some take the full year to complete the class, some only a month, and others a few years. There are tests that you can take to advance up a class, but these are only available in the first few months of the year, after which you need to ride it through. Since we're halfway through the year, whatever you choose you would remain in."

As Amitel spoke, Sophia gave all the data to Dream.

There were indeed a plethora of options. Everything from alchemy, cooking, blacksmithing, enchanting, magic sequences, combat training, practical application training, and many more. Though Dream automatically got rid of most options like enchanting or cooking or blacksmithing and set his sights on the magical classes.

"...How many classes can we take?"

"A full day would be 7 classes, but not very many students take this many, choosing usually 3-6. There are certain classes that are recommended like the sequence theory class and elemental magic class. I recommend you enter the basic levels for those. Other than that, the practical application classes are our second most popular with enchanting being the 3rd."

"Hmm, what do you think Old Man? Should I enter the basic classes or the intermediate for sequences and elemental?"

"Start with basic and work your way to intermediate. You should be able to get to intermediate in a couple months. Speaking of, Amitel, is there no way he would be able to advance even while late in the year?"

"It's not impossible, just much harder. He would not only need to pass a harder advancement test, but also pass the final exam in the intermediate class. Otherwise he would just repeat the same class."

"Good. Just keep the option open for him."

"You seem rather confident in his ability."

"He's a fast learner."

"Very well. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Anyway, Dream, you have any classes in mind? Or will you need time to think on it?"

"I think those two basic classes and practical training class will be my first three choices. And I saw that there was a class for hunting. What is that?"

"Ah, that's also one of our most popular classes. This class is one that goes to either dungeons or fields and hunts. Though along with this comes dangers. Is that one you're interested in?"

Dream thought about it for a bit. He did need to level up, but he was also trying to hide his ability. He wouldn't be able to do both. Hunting alone would be a better option. He shook his head.

"Hmm, no. But one that does is the healing class. What do they do there?"

"In that one they teach you about healing as well as put you to work in the hospital. It isn't for those who don't have a tough stomach, and not very many people are in that class. Mainly because they don't have the aptitude for it. Healing is a very difficult thing to learn after all. But those who have the ability are highly regarded, whether by their comrades in the dungeons or patients in the hospital. Is that something you want to try?"

"I think I will. Make that my 4th class."

"Any others?"

"No. That'll be it."

"Alright. Then let's go get your books. Follow me."

Amitel stood from his desk and they all walked out the door. They went into another hallway and came up on another building. 

"This is the library. It obviously holds all our books. It's usually very crowded in here, especially at night."

He walked through the door and they came into a massive room. Dream looked around in awe at the tall bookshelves and thousands upon thousands of books filling them. The mana concentration in this area was also higher than outside. 

'This place is like the Library of Congress. I've never seen so many books before.'

[It's apparently tightly guarded too. I've tried to poke at the books on the shelves but they're guarded with a mana barrier. And the barrier is connected to that thing.]

Sophia pointed to the giant crystal core that was in the center of the library. That thing gave off an atrocious amount of mana and it was connected to every book and shelf in the area. Dream wasn't sure who could've made that, but they were powerful and good at enchanting.

"Come over here. You'll have plenty of time later to revel in the sight of the core."

Both Dream and Riddick tore their eyes away from the core and went over to Amitel, who was talking to a receptionist. 

"The books for these classes please."

"Of course."

He handed the man at the desk a piece of paper. The man quickly got up and went into a back room. He came back out shortly.

"Here are the books for Basic Sequence Theory, Basic Elemental Sequencing, and Healing."

"Dream, come get your books."

"Alright."

Dream walked over and grabbed the three thick books from the counter. Sophia instantly scanned them as he put them into his inventory.

[An interesting way they use magic.]

'Don't give me all that information yet. I'll look at it in class.'

Dream held off on understanding it now. He wanted to try doing it himself. 

"Alright. Now let's go get your uniform."

They walked out of the library and into another hallway. Soon, they came up on another building. They walked in.

"Will I have to get measured?"

"No. We get an approximate size and the clothing will form itself to you. It's enchanted with various things as well like heat control and tear resistance and even some self-repairing."

"Nice."

They went over to an outfitter who looked over Dream before disappearing into the back. He soon came out with a set of clothing.

The uniform looked surprisingly similar to a suit. There was a shirt, pants, and coat that could be wrapped almost like a trench coat. The coat and pants were black with blue trim while the shirt was navy blue. It seemed the school color was blue and black. Though he wondered why they only brought out one suit.

"Some people wear the uniform, but it's not required so many others wear what they want."

"So I can wear what I want?"

"Yes. But still take this anyway."

"Sure."

Dream went over and put the suit in his inventory. 

"Good. There's only one more thing you need. Come with me."

Amitel brought them out of the outfitters building and went back to the admin building. They went to his office where Amitel found himself a box. He took out a device.

"Can I see your title plate?"

"Sure."

Dream took out his copper title plate. 

"Copper plate? Have you gotten your plate updated?"

"No, I haven't."

"No matter. Let's make a new one."

Amitel went back to the box and pulled out a silver plate and another device. The device looked just like the dome used when he first got his copper plate back at the Mountain. He set everything on the desk.

"Fill out your information on this paper really quick and we'll verify everything."

Dream took the paper Amitel handed him and filled out the fields. Species, gender, level, class, stats and finally name. He set everything to his fake status, like low C stats and Mage class as well as level 104. 

He handed the paper to him and put his hands on the dome. Amitel insert the silver plate under the dome and activated it with his mana. The dome glowed and data began appearing inside the dome.

Soon, the data glowed and was inlaid into the plate. He took it out.

"Alright. This is your new title plate. But before I give it to you, I'm going to stamp it with the academy's student affiliation. This way anyone who sees it will know you're a student here."

"Oh, cool."

Amitel put the silver plate into the second device which inlaid some more data in the form of a seal. The process was quick and he soon handed it over to Dream.

"Congratulations Dream. You are now a student of the Academy. Your documents will be processed and your teachers will be made aware of your entering tonight. Tomorrow will be your first day of school. Here's the student handbook. I suggest reading it as it has the rules and layout of the academy. You'll want it for navigation."

Amitel handed Dream a book. Sophia scanned it and Dream was given the data. 

"Thank you."

"Of course. Though we aren't done quite yet. We still need to get you your room."

"Will I be paired with someone else?"

"There usually is pairing, but you won't be since you've come in late. Here."

Amitel took out a piece of paper. It had various writing on it and was stamped with a seal down below.

"Take that to the office in housing and they'll give you your room and key. Riddick can guide you."

"Thanks."

"No problem. You can always come see me if you need any counseling. I am a counselor after all. Other than that, I welcome you to the academy. Go ahead and get yourself situated and have a good first day tomorrow."

"Thanks for your help, Amitel." (Riddick)

"Anything for an old friend. I look forward to this one's progress."

"Then we'll be off." (Riddick)

"Thank you." (Dream)

Dream gave one last thanks and left with Riddick. He was officially a student now. And it only took an hour.