High Artificer, Ch 6: Scholarship

Altey’s attention was pulled away from her new class as she looked around at the other students. 

She could sense the mana radiating from them more clearly than she’d been able to before and there were a few that stood out for having Ice aura around them, especially the handful of Winter Sylphs that she saw.

Her vision was different. She could see the energy radiating around them clearly. Before, it had only been a faint presence. It was like translucent winter ice and flowing shades of blue, although there were extremes that went from pale white to almost black. 

“You’ll see a lot more than you used to,” Sam said when she told him. “Getting a class is like waking up for the first time. Before now, you were only using a fraction of your senses. It will continue to improve as you get stronger.”

She looked around the field, taking in all the mana she could sense. It was a bit harder, but she could see the auras for other elements too, the orange red of Fire, green of Wood, the yellow shade of Earth, and more.

Her attention settled on a young man in shabby clothes. He was standing far back in the crowd, near the edge of those who had come to get early classes. His position and his clothing said that he was at the end of his rope, but that wasn’t what she focused on. 

There was a strange aura flowing around him, sparkling with a few runes that she recognized. They were some of the simpler ones for Ice that Siwaha and Sam had taught her. In her new senses, they stood out like frozen diamonds in the sun.

She had never done it before, but now that she had the ability, she tried to Analyze him to see what was going on.

Rolen Galeis. Human. Level 0. Icerune Warden (Unique). No Subclass.

Age: 15.4 years.

The information sprang into her mind in a strange way, almost like how her ability information had. She just suddenly knew it while looking at him.

“Interesting,” Sam said next to her as he followed her gaze. “His Class is unique, like yours, and he has a strong element of Ice in it. It should focus on defensive runes mostly, but he will have an attack or two as well.”

“Do you think he’ll get a scholarship?” she asked, her interest caught by the young man for some reason. Maybe it was the ice around him, or that she felt he was a little similar to her, just with a different background. “Isn’t the academy looking for unique classes?”

Students were already beginning to push forward, heading for the areas where the professors were supposed to assess them. 

As she watched Rolen, he looked up at the line and a trace of panic went across his face. He looked down at his hands and then his expression hardened as he started moving forward.

“It’s unlikely,” Sam said as he glanced up at the faculty. “There are only a few spots and they’ve mostly chosen the students before this, although they won’t say that. Two of those chosen don’t even have unique classes. They’re over there.”

A flicker of Sam’s mana in the air drew her attention to where some well-dressed families were moving, each of them with a new initiate at the front who was walking toward the line. 

One of the families was a Winged Fury, one was a Wind Wraith, and the last was an Archali. All three of them were from High Nine races.

“Politics, I assume?” she asked with a frown. “They really chose them early?”

“Even Archaios Academy isn’t immune to politics,” Sam agreed. “But this has more to do with the professors making their own choices, rather than the academy. Technically, the scholarships are open to all and have to be agreed on by them during this ceremony. Some favors have changed hands before this.”

Altey looked at Rolen’s expression and clothing, which was so much worse than the students who were supposed to get the scholarships. Perhaps because she felt he was similar, her temper flared. He was full of hope and he didn’t know the spots had already been given away.

What if that was her walking up there? 

“Can you fix it?” she demanded. “Give him a chance?”

“Technically, there are still three spots,” Sam said as he looked at the lines. “For a few more minutes.”

Then he grinned as he ruffled her hair.

“I’ve been looking for ways to put more humans in the academy. I already have one duel set up, so why not add a few more.” He glanced at his avatar on the stage.

“Now...let’s see.”

***

Rolen’s Perspective

As he walked toward the scholarship lines, Rolen’s shoulders were tight with stress. His hands curled into fists before he took a deep breath and forced them to relax. 

He’d worked hard to train his mana and skills for this class assessment. He’d wanted to wait longer for an even better chance, but he couldn’t any more. 

He was on his own now and the last bit of money he’d been using to live had run out. 

His home world of Whispering Dawn was a long way from here, past the edge of the Great Divide. Teleporting here had cost him all the mana crystals his parents had been able to leave him. 

He had no one else to rely on, and without a class, no way to earn more.

Perhaps he should have stayed there, worked as an apprentice runecrafter for a few more years, and then received his class, but he was well aware of the contracts runecrafters were forced into on that world.

His parents had taught him mana exercises and runes since before he could speak a full sentence, trying to make sure that he would have a class as good as theirs, but if he stayed on Whispering Dawn, he’d never have any freedom.

That was how they died.

They’d been Second Evolution Runecrafters. Their enchantments were built into nearly every public space of the city where they’d lived. But then an attack came from the rogue warlords that infested the Borderlands...

His mind jerked away from that scene. He refused to think about it again. 

They had been strong enough that they might have been able to escape on their own, or at least to have just protected their house and nothing else, but they hadn’t been able to, since their contracts kept them in the governor's service.

With their positions, they could have still hidden in the governor’s palace and tried to avoid the battle, but they’d chosen to defend the world instead.

That day had destroyed everything he’d known. 

So he’d done the desperate thing and teleported away before anyone could stop him, heading to Council and the legend of Archaios Academy, where there were classes that his homeworld had never even heard of.

All he could do was hope that he’d get a decent one and find a way to make a life for himself.

That was six months ago.

Since then, he’d been studying a book of rune exercises his parents had left behind. They’d written it for him, but he still had to smuggle it out, since taking it away from the governor’s mansion was illegal. 

It was his most important possession.

He couldn’t afford a place to stay, so he’d been working at an inn at the edge of town to stretch his finances while trying his hardest to train. He wasn’t against hard work and at least it gave him a bed to sleep on.

Unfortunately, food was expensive on Council and the innkeeper had told him it was either a bed or food, so the rest of his money had gone to that. His stomach was thinner than it had ever been. 

If this didn’t work out, he was going to have to take the food instead and sleep on the streets.

Hopefully, his new class would make things better...even if it was Level 0.

He looked at the notification again, his mind buzzing with wonder.

Congratulations, Rolen Galeis.

Henceforth, you are an Icerune Warden (Unique)!

The Icerune Warden is a magical defender class, capable of forming barriers and wards with ease. It is infused with a powerful affinity for Ice, but that is only the beginning of the class’s potential. 

Your abilities are a mix between physical and magical defense, allowing you to fill many roles, including that of a warrior, if you desire it. The choices you make will define your future Path.

Choose wisely.

An Icerune Warden gains +1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, and +1 free Attribute Point per Class Level, as well as +2 free Attribute points per General Level.

Abilities and Subclass options are locked until you complete your Class Quest.

Class Quest Assigned: Use a shield or magical barrier to defend against one magical and one physical attack. 

His hands curled into fists again as he read it, reminding him that he’d used them a few times in fights when he was younger. 

He’d expected to get a pure Runecrafter class like his parents, but the artifact here had given him something much more complex. 

He wasn’t sure if it was a better fit or not, but he trusted that the artifact was better than the one on Whispering Dawn. That one could only reach the Third Evolution at most and it was unreliable.

Perhaps this class would be better than a Runecrafter. It seemed more flexible, but he wasn’t sure if it had any enchantment abilities. He would have to find out once he unlocked it.

He was aware of all the other students moving around him and how impossible it probably was to get a scholarship, but since the opportunity was in front of him, no matter how small, he had to try.

Hopefully a Unique class would be enough. 

He squared his shoulders as he walked toward the professors near the dais. He could see thousands of other prospective students heading there too, but he didn’t try to push his way through. 

Unfortunately, others didn’t have the same respect. 

A force hit his shoulder, throwing him half a dozen feet away into a pile of other people. They tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Someone’s elbow hit him in the head and a knee landed in his stomach, knocking his breath away.

He apologized as he scrambled back to his feet, but his eyes were furious. His hands knotted back into fists again as he looked for the culprit.

A well-dressed group of Winged Furies were shoving their way past, knocking other prospects out of the way as they cleared a path toward the scholarship tables. 

At the head of the group, a proud-looking set of parents were walking with their son whose nose was so high in the air it was surprising he could even see.

“Don’t,” a voice whispered from beside him as someone wrapped their arms around him and kept him from rushing forward. “The High Nine do what they want. No one will help you if you cross them.”

It was an older human man, one who was there with his own son. Bits of dirt from where he’d been in the same pile covered his shoulders, but he looked better than most. 

“Rushing against them will only end up with you in jail and them not even noticing,” the man added. “That’s not the way to celebrate your new class.”

His head nodded toward the guards that were stationed around the area. Their eyes were like  hawks as they watched the proceedings. Many of them were also Winged Furies. 

It felt like Rolen’s nails would dig through his palms, but his shoulders only shook as the man let him go. It was one of the first kindnesses anyone had done for him since he arrived on Council.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice half a growl. “I still need to get up there.”

“Try to follow the same path then,” the man advised. “Quickly.”

It was a moment of kindness in the chaos. Rolen gave him a nod and then rushed forward, moving into the space left behind by the Winged Furies. 

Even as he tried to get toward scholarship tables, he saw thousands of prospective students and their groups ahead of him, most of them from the High Nine races. They were packed close together, their wings and auras closing the gaps.

Even as he watched, the spaces between them disappeared.

He couldn’t get through without creating a path, and there was no way to do that. Even if he ignored the guards and tried to fight his way past, at Level 0 he wouldn’t even make a dent. Most of the people blocking the way were guards accompanying the students, like the ones who had shoved him.

There might have been one or two humans up there, but he couldn’t see them clearly. It was almost all people from the High Nine. From the look of it, he might not get to the tables today at all. There were too many people.

By then, he was sure the professors would be gone. No one at that level would wait around that long, looking for stragglers who couldn’t even make it up there to see them.

A sense of loss washed over him as he tried to find another route, scanning the crowd for openings, but there was nothing. His heart pounded, speeding his thoughts as he searched again, but there was still nothing.

The hotter emotions disappeared, changed to determination as his mind cooled and he looked at everything with hard eyes. 

If the academy was out of reach, he would just have to do it himself.

He had a Unique class. He would make it work. 

New plans flew through his mind. 

Council was too expensive to live on, so he should probably head back and pack his bags. He would have to get his class unlocked soon and then find a way to level it.

From the warning that the notification gave him about choosing his path, it sounded like he should choose either melee or crafting for his subclass. Then his First Evolution would be based on that as well as his main class.

If he wanted to be a fighter, he could do that with ice wards and a shield, maybe even a weapon. Or if he wanted to be more of a mage and crafter, he could do that. He should probably try to get a Runecrafter subclass for that route.

He’d prepared for that. He was pretty sure he could...

Even as the new ideas were flooding through his mind, he felt the crowd around him disappearing, somehow stretched out, and the area fell silent, which made him look up to see what was going on.

There was a tall and dark-haired man with bright blue eyes standing in front of him. He was wearing the ornate robes of an academy professor. Runes floated in his aura like silver stars, somehow bending space around him as they seemed to flow endlessly into the distance.

Except for that, there was no one within thirty feet. The crowd still seemed to be standing in the same places as before, but the space here had been stretched out to leave the two of them alone.

There was no sense of mana radiating from the man, just a powerful presence as he gave Rolen a grin. Relaxed energy radiated from him, saying that everything would somehow be fine. 

Rolen’s eyes widened at the sight and he automatically bowed. 

The man let him reach the level of a polite greeting to a teacher and then a gust of wind set him back upright. A wave of his hand dismissed the need for more formalities.

“I’ve been looking for a scholarship student, and I think you’ll do,” the professor said, his expression amused. “Tell me, how do you feel about ice golems? I think they should work well with your new class. We can start with defensive plating, ice shields...things like that.” 

Rolen’s eyes widened, but his words were stuck in his throat. A force of will made him cough and then he nearly shouted his response.

“Yes!” It came out half-strangled.

***

Sam’s Perspective

He looked at the new student, Rolen, with interest.

He was confident that he could get the young man’s class to work with golems. He’d made a lot of golems out of astral ice, and Rolen’s class should work well enough for a more basic version.

It would be an interesting experiment.

“Alright, we’ll figure out the details,” he said with a grin. “Come with me. Don’t worry if things get a little heated. Nothing is going to happen to you with me around.”

He ignored the look of disbelief and wonder on Rolen’s face as he set his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Then the two of them disappeared in a wash of silver light. 

Behind them, space fused back together, restoring the crowd to the exact place it had been before. No one even noticed that it had been stretched out, although there was one man who looked around in confusion, wondering where the shabby boy had gone.

That man didn’t even notice as a wave of astral energy washed over him, adding invisible silver runes to his aura. 

In the future, he’d find things worked out for him a bit better than before.

Sam reappeared near the scholarship tables, his hand still on Rolen’s shoulder. None of the crowd had reached the tables yet, since they were still held back by the academy guards. The professors were just now settling into place to begin reviewing them.

He reached down and picked up one of the three scholarship medallions that were waiting there. Then, before anyone could complain, he sent a wave of runes flickering across its surface, as he bound it to Rolen’s aura.

“Put that on,” he said as he handed it to him. “Don’t lose it. Then stand behind me.”

It was the same enchantment he’d put on Altey’s medallion, so it would return even if Rolen did lose it, but there was no need to explain that right now.

“What are you doing?!” Jasperi snapped at him. “Those aren’t yours, human!”

Her words made the other five professors who were supposed to staff the tables turn around. When they saw that Rolen was already wearing one of the amulets, their eyes widened in disbelief.

“I found a scholarship student,” Sam said as he grinned at her, ignoring her attitude. “So I gave him a student medallion. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do as professors? I’m sure you all agree. He’ll be outstanding.”

“How dare you!” Jasperi snapped, her wings flaring as she bared her teeth at him. “Those are already assigned! It’s not your place to take one!”

“Here I thought they were based on merit,” Sam laughed. “Take a look, I’m sure you’ll agree he’s one of the best candidates. If you can find another student with a more promising Unique class, let me know.”

He didn’t offer to give the medallion back. Now that it was bound to Ronen, none of the other professors could change it.

Jasperi’s eyes turned red as an ability activated  and her dagger was half drawn out of its sheath as she raised it to attack him. Then Sam’s hand closed around her wrist, preventing her from moving another inch.

“We’re already dueling tomorrow, little Fury,” he said quietly. “ No need to rush things. It would leave a bad impression on the crowd.”

Jasperi’s face was turned toward him, so the crowd didn’t see the absolute rage on it. Sam’s expression didn’t change as he pushed her dagger back into the sheath.

“You’re free to disagree with me,” he said softly  as his voice took on a warning tone. “Tomorrow. Today, this spot is mine. We need more humans in the academy. Don’t think I didn’t see how they were pushed out of the way by the crowd. How many years has that been happening?”

He looked at the other professors nearby, who were the only other ones who could see what had just happened. They were all weaker than Jasperi, however, and as they saw him stop her attack with a single hand, they wisely chose not to say anything.

A couple of them even nodded when they heard his words.

“I know you’ve traded spots to your people for years, Jasperi,” a Dragon Spirit said in a mental transmission as he looked over. His expression was flat.

“I never liked it, but you weren’t the first. At most, you’ll have to give back whatever gifts they gave you. Just blame it on the Academy this time. Standards were higher this year. Nothing you could do. I’m sure that kid you wanted can get into the academy on your home world instead.”

He shrugged as looked away from her, his attention focusing on Sam.

“That was bold,” he said as a slight grin appeared. “I’ve wanted to do the same thing for years, but I never found a student who appealed to me. You have my respect. My name is Harsen.”

He looked with interest at Rolen, who twitched but then stood firm, which made the Dragon Spirit laugh.

“I’m curious about you, little human,” Harsen said to him. “I hope you live up to your teacher’s expectations. Since he’s chosen you, I’m sure you will. One day, I hope to discover what he saw in you.”

Jasperi was still struggling against Sam’s grip, but she was completely unable to move against the strength Sam was exerting. Neither Harsen nor Sam paid any attention to her.

“It’s strange that you appeared from nowhere,” Harsen said as he looked at Sam.

“That is interesting. It shouldn’t be possible for someone of your strength. Perhaps we can duel as well tomorrow. I want to test the strength of the one who took what he wanted in front of us all. I hope you will not disappoint me.”

His words weren’t upset. Instead, a desire to challenge Sam burned in them.

“Tomorrow,” Sam agreed. “I’ll look forward to it.”

He didn’t mind Harsen’s challenge. It felt purer than Jasperi’s greed. He’d face the man, but he would leave him his pride. 

He looked at the other professors by the table, checking to see if there were any more disagreements, but they looked indifferent as they sat down in their seats. The voice of the dwarf in front rang out.

“This year, we have two open spots for scholarships.” Her voice was resonant as it carried across the field. “Those who wish to be examined for them may step forward now.”

At that moment, the guards parted and allowed the first members of the crowd through for the examinations.

“There’s no need to wait here,” Sam said as he turned to Rolen. “I’ll introduce you to someone. It’s time to sign up for classes anyway.”

With that, he released Jasperi’s hand as he and Rolen disappeared, leaving only a wash of starlight behind.

Jasperi snarled as she drew her dagger. A red arc stretched out in front of her in a flash, but she only struck the air. 

“I am going to make him suffer for that,” she snarled in frustration, but a cough from the dwarf made her turn around, her face flushed.

“Try to maintain some decorum befitting a professor...” the dwarf grumbled as she pointed at a glowing yellow veil that had sprung up between Jasperi and the crowd in front of the table. 

“Tomorrow is going to be interesting.” Harsen laughed as he took his seat. “Admissions haven’t been this much fun in ages.”