Chapter 2 - Making Friends

Authors Notes===============

Just an fyi, I split my writing up by "books" but really, these are just different parts to the story. There is no real "book" per se.

Enjoy! Not PR'd yet, so you early birds get to read the raw product e.e

Comment any spelling mistkaes!

Has been PR'd by me now. How exciting! -Hydramon

P.s. I greatly enjoy reading all comments. I will continue writing this story, as the poll was overwhelming in support of that.

Also of note: If you want to support me, and help a poor college student working a part time job continue to spend more time writing, consider becoming one of my

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Book 4 – Chapter 2

“WHAT?!” Dale yelled out, shocked.

The teacher turned around again, a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“Yes, the Leader’s group is over there. Instructor Guile specifically said you were to be placed there. I believe the exact wording in your letter says that you will find “how to truly dance” there.” The teacher turned around sharply, moving on to talk to Peter, the next student to be tested.

The surrounding students had taken notice of Dale as he turned around and overheard what the teacher said. Several large clumps broke out laughing when they heard how Dale had come to the Taron Academy to learn how to dance.

“Ahahahaha! My sides! I’m dying!”

“Did I hear that correctly? That guy came here to dance?! Ahahahaha!”

“Ahahaha! The Leader’s school really has the wimpiest guys!”

Dale flushed from embarrassment, turning around sharply as the whispers spread out. He stalked over to the small group of students that were attending the Leader’s Academy.

There were roughly 30 students standing about talking in a small group on the right side of the pavilion. All of them didn’t look half as strong as the students standing in the Fighter’s School group. However, many of the students here looked quite noble and carried themselves well. Though many looked noble or smart, very few were actual Nobles. Dale did a double take, as he realized that not a single person in this group was a Noble. There were maybe 20 well-dressed middle class kids, and the rest were ones who came in poorer clothing.

Dale walked to the group, greeting a few of the students. They nodded back at him gravely, several shaking hands and greeting him. They were all very polite and well mannered. Dale compared them to himself and wondered why David had had him put in this group, annoyed. He felt like he was nothing similar to them.

Dale turned around to watch the testing process, seeing several other students fail. Peter, he noted happily, had passed his test and had joined the group of strong looking students that wanted to become Arcane Smiths.

One of the nicer dressed students in the Leader’s group walked up to Dale, saying,

“Hey man. Ignore what those other kids say. As they say in my city, ‘As dogs are to bark, some people are to mock.’” The boy stuck out his hand, smiling at Dale. He was wearing a nice green leather coat and matching pants, with a pair of well-cut boots on his feet. Dale took his hand and shook it and said,

“Dale Wensworth.”

“Theodore Baruch, at your pleasure.” He introduced himself, smiling widely.

“So, why are you here, if not to dance?” A gleam in his eye took the mockery off his tone, making Dale snort.

“I am here to become stronger. I need to become much more powerful if I want to return home.” Dale said, nodding at Theodore, “However, it doesn’t look like I’ll have much opportunity now that I’m stuck in the non cultivators part of the Academy.” A gloomy look covered Dale’s face.

“Now hold on a minute,” Theodore said, shaking Dale slightly by the shoulders, “who says no one cultivates in the Leader’s School? Some of the most powerful Gem Core Cultivators have come from this school! After all, City Lords and Generals are also trained here, not just lawyers and council members.”

Dale stared at him, then at the rest of the weak looking Leader’s School members. Theodore shrugged,

“Well, it’s not often that people like this graduate from the Leader’s School, but it does happen. As a member of the Leader’s School, you’re allowed to attend the Fighter’s Schools teachings and expeditions.” Theodore gave Dale a sidelong glance for a half second, looking around him, “However, just so you know, a lot of the members of the Fighter’s School are rather… arrogant. Many of them are Nobles that have been trained and pampered for much of their lives. So try not to get in any fights with them.” He nodded at the swelling group of Fighter’s students. Dale saw that the group made up almost all of the Noble students that had joined the Academy. The last few Nobles had joined the Arcane Smiths and looked marginally less arrogant than the other Nobles.

The last students quickly moved through the line, wrapping up the end of the exam. A few more students joined Dale’s group and again, none of them were Nobles. Dale thought it was a bit odd, and he felt like there should have been at least one or two Nobles in the group.

However, like that, the test ended, and the teachers quickly moved to the back of the pavilion, examining the three groups in front of them. The old man Vice Principal walked forward, preparing to speak.

“Welcome, new students! I am proud to be here to accept all of you into our Taron Academy. The responsibilities you will bear as you mature are great, and the power even greater. At our academy, we strive to promote a sense of unity and strength, with emphasis on the aspects of…

Dale stopped listening, quickly bored by the droning tone of the Vice Principal. While it was a well-written speech, Dale thought it was just a bit too boring. He looked around, examining the grounds.

If one looked past the Vice Principal and the various teachers, one could see several large buildings, spreading out across the campus. Dale made out eleven separate large buildings, with several more in the distance. Each building had a dark grey tone, some with carvings on the sides, some simply plain stone. He started to feel the excitement he had earlier, his eyes shining, as he looked forward to the new adventure he was beginning.

Suddenly, the droning stopped as the Vice Principal finished his speech, gesturing to the students around.

Immediately, the group Dale was in started walking forward, towards one of the long, large buildings near the pavilion. Dale quickly merged with the group, following them. After a brief moment of walking, they arrived outside the large, long building.

A middle aged man stepped outside of the building, a smile on his face. He had fading brown hair and kind looking blue eyes. He looked out at the new students with a large grin.

“Welcome! This is the Leader’s School New Student Dorms! My name is Instructor Tel, I will be your dorm warden.” Instructor Tel quickly explained the rules of the dorm to the new students. Dale learned that, while the school was technically co-ed, the male population vastly outnumbered the female population, at 5 to 1. Partially because of this, no females were allowed in male dorms at any time for any reason, and the opposite was true for the girls. Dale concentrated and realized that, of the thousand plus students he had seen, only very few had been girls. He mentally shrugged, not worrying too much. I’m here to get stronger, not to make friends with girls, Dale thought, shaking his head.

Instructor Tel outlined a few other rules, letting students know how to set their clothes out to be picked up and washed as well as when the mess halls were open and what buildings were what. Soon, it came time to dismiss the students to their rooms, and the instructor quickly assigned people room numbers. Dale memorized his room number, Room 23, and he walked down the hallway to where he would be living for the next six months.

Dale walked in, noting that his roommate had yet to arrive. Each room was set up to house 2 people. There were 2 beds opposite of each other with a large desk on either side of the room. Both sides had a small dresser and nightstand, completing the furniture set. Dale took the right side of the room, setting down his belongings. He stared at the bag of books he had set on his bed, remembering now that they were Peter’s.

As Dale finished setting his (and Peter’s) belongings down, his roommate walked in as well.

“Dale?!” came a familiar voice.

Dale looked up with a wide smile,

“Theodore?! Haha, you’re my roommate?! No way!” The two boys smiled and hi-fived, mischievous looks appearing in their eyes.

“Awesome!”

The duo quickly made plans on working on whatever work they had together, promising to have each other’s backs. As they talked, Dale showed him the bag of books he needed to return to Peter. Theodore spoke up,

“Let’s go return Peter’s books now. We have free time till dinner, so we might as well!” Theodore said, eager to explore the campus.

Dale agreed and the duo set out, informing the dorm warden on their way. Dale set the bag of books more comfortably on his back as he started walking. Instructor Tel had pointed them in the direction of the Arcane Smith’s New Student Dorm, warning them to not cause trouble. They walked over, moving across the campus.

Peter’s dorm was a 2-minute walk from where Dale and Theodore lived. Dale lived on the south side of the great campus, near the main entrance. Peter lived on the southeastern side, close to the entrance but still a small distance from it. Dale passed several large buildings on the way over. As he passed another of the buildings, Dale saw a small circle of students watching a pair spar.

Dale and Theodore broke off from the path and walked over to the circle, curious as to what was happening.

In the center of the small group were a pair of students, each wielding small wooden sticks. They looked quite serious, eyeing each other with looks of concentration. Both of them were older then Dale, looking to be around 14 or 15. No Aura surrounded the students, indicating that they were not fighting at full strength.

Dale watched as the student on the left suddenly struck forward, swiping his wooden stick at the student on the right's head. The student on the right, however, ducked smoothly under the stick and responded with a riposte that hit the other student in the gut. The student on the left was sent flying while the student on the right stood still, unmoving.

Immediately, light claps broke out from the circle as the student on the right went to help the student on the left up. The two students shook heads, grinning as they wiped the dirt off their clothes. The student on the right began talking to the student on the left, making motions with his hands as if he was teaching. The circle began to break up as other students lost interest and turned to leave.

Dale tapped one of the leaving students on the shoulder, asking,

“Uh hi! We’re new here, and we're just wondering what that was all about?”

The student he asked turned around, giving him a slightly annoyed look before noticing his age.

“Oh, are you a new student? Well, that was Neil over there asking for some help from Yizun. Yizun is one of the more talented cultivators here, and Neil was asking for a pointer on something. They were going at it for around 15 minutes now.” The student became slightly more animated, enjoying talking to Dale. “It’s a normal thing here for students having trouble to ask their seniors for help. While Yizun might not be any younger than Neil, he is one of the most talented students here, at the peak of the Silver level and almost at the Gold level while he’s only 15.” The student shook his head in admiration, nodding at Dale as he walked off.

Theodore spoke up, standing behind Dale,

“Wow! That was pretty cool! Did you see how hard the student on the left was trying? These guys are really serious about their martial training.” Dale nodded, agreeing. After all, he thought, what would the point be if you didn’t go all out?

Dale made a mental note to ask one of the stronger teachers or students if he needed help and continued walking to Peter’s dorm. Theodore followed behind him, eager to meet Peter.

After a minute of walking, they arrived outside the long rectangular shaped dorm. A large anvil was hanging on the side of the dorm, looking rather odd.

Dale walked into the dorm, introducing himself and Theodore to the dorm warden. The warden, an Instructor named Nyle, smiled and let them go, warning them not to cause trouble. Dale lugged the bag of books he was carrying to Peter’s room, the 18th one down the hall.

Dale knocked on the door, standing politely outside. A moment later, Peter’s familiar face appeared, looking out inquiringly at who was knocking on his door. As soon as he saw Dale, specifically the bag of books on Dale’s back, a look of relief spread across his face.

“Hey Dale! Thanks for bringing that over here!” He smiled, opening the door to let Dale in. Theodore followed in closely behind him.

Dale quickly introduced Theodore to Peter, exchanging niceties. Dale looked around the room, noting that books covered both beds. He didn’t see any signs of a roommate.

Dale asked Peter about this and found out that Peter’s roommate was one of the extremely wealth Noble children from the City-State of Lev. Apparently, some Nobles chose to live in the City-State, coming to the school only for lessons or teachings. It made sense, after a fashion. Several Noble’s estates would have better training facilities that a Noble could personally use, and if the Noble wanted first class instruction, he could simply travel to the school he was enrolled in. Peter was fine with it, declaring the room his own.

The trio quickly became fast friends, talking about their lives and their future hopes. Peter wanted to be an Arcane Smith Grandmaster. Theodore was destined to be the head of a merchant house, and he dreamed of founding his own merchant company and spreading his name throughout the Under Cave. Dale dreamed of becoming strong enough that he could return home, visiting his family and friends. He recalled how he had once dreamed of conquering the world, shaking his head at his own childishness.

As the trio talked and bonded, however, the outside world continued onward to its inevitable march to chaos…

Theldon Continent, The Under Cave, Ruins of the City-State of Roth

Caladan Brood walked upon the remains of a once powerful nation. He looked out at the wreckage of the large city, fires filling the cave air with smoke. The city walls were partially destroyed, as if a fantastical battle had taken place, destroying large tracts of land. He heard the cries of the wounded, of the dying, as he walked towards the gutted city. As he stepped forward, his eyes began to smolder, an ancient rage appearing in them.

Brood walked into the city, his eyes searching as he stepped forward. Every so often, he would venture into one of the burning houses or ruined homes, pulling out the bodies of the dead or dying. He had yet to find a single survivor. He made his slow and methodical way towards the center of the city.

He looked up at the rubble that had once been a majestic Ruler’s Palace, a stronghold of law and order. His callous eyes traveled onward, observing the various cracks and impacts upon the ground.

As he stepped forward to check the ground of the ruined palace, a figure silently approached him from behind, wielding a pair of curved daggers.

The figure was covered in a black robe, an extremely faint and contained aura swirling around his skin as he stepped forward eagerly. On his face was a simple black enamel mask, a number 10 carved into it.

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