Shades of the New World

Chapter 102: Tribe Grounds

"Now, your documents say that you're only 4 years old, but you definitely look much older than that. Could you tell me the reason why?" he asked.

Evin showed him the Time bomb on his finger and explained the situation to him.

"Lord Kena gave me a Time Bomb, saying that it might help me to avoid a calamity. At first, I didn't know the effects of the Time Bomb, but I still put it on my hand, just in case. Who knew I would need to use it the moment I step out of the City of Smog. Some people tried to ambush us with the intention to kill, three half-cores and a some other teenage boy. We killed the three half-cores, thanks to their carelessness, but the last boy was apparently a Lesser-imposer. I had to use the Time Bomb, since the Lesser-imposer locked down space around us and started using some sort of Luminous spell that could melt people. Long story short, the Time Bomb destroyed the space barrier surrounding us, allowing Lord Kena to notice that something unruly was happening near his territory," Evin explained the situation.

"And the Time bomb's effects rubbed off on you. We've also noticed that there was a sudden explosion of Time energy around that area, so it was related to your group," Zorrik said before continuing: "Thought it's still impressive how you've managed to kill three half-cores as a peak beginner level mage"

"Oh, we've become quarter-cores at that time, thanks to Lord Kena. And thanks to the Time Bomb's effects, we are now greenhorn half-cores. Besides, most of the credit goes to Rith here," Evin said and pointed towards the Cosmic, stuffing her face with sweets.

"Didn't you kill the woman with a surprise attack, then dueled another and managed to kill him with that weird spell of yours?" Arza suddenly said.

"The first one was thanks to Rith, who kept two half-cores busy, while the latter was due to luck and the enemy not knowing the effects of my spell," Evin explained and noticed how Arza's way of speaking had changed slightly.

Zorrik, hearing the exchange between the two, thought for a bit and decided to talk about the more impending matters.

"Well, since I have nothing else to ask, let us talk about your curriculum," he said.

Hearing the man's words, Evin perked his ears up.

"First of all, there are three classes for mages: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Beginner classes are for completely new mages. They talk about the Worlds, the Authorities, how to cast magic, etc., so that one will be useless for you two. Intermediate touches upon some finer details about Artificing, Core-bending, Sprite-Casting, World Formations and Alchemy; while also teaching some more complex spells to the young mages. And finally, the advanced classes delve deeper into these subjects while also having you learn a bit about Multipart Spells," Zorrik explained.

The pace of the studies seemed a bit slow to Evin, but he realized that most of the mages are 3-6-year-old children. Even with the increased intellect of mages they would need some extra time to wrap their heads around the Worlds and whatnot.

"I believe we'll enter the Advanced class. We've been studying this book for the past few months, and it seems to contain information about the five basic mage specializations," Evin said and pulled out Unabach's book.

"Ah, master Unabach's book. If you are familiar with the contents of that book, then there shouldn't be any problems with you entering the advanced class," Zorrik nodded.

"I do have a request, though, do you have a Dark World's Core shard? And a corresponding absorption technique?" Evin asked.

"We do. We have one for every World, but you would need to exchange them for contribution points"

"And how do we get these points?" Evin asked.

"Usually, a new mage would go around doing some missions posted in the Great Hall of the Tribe grounds, but doing so would take too long for you two, who had just come a year before the next Horn Ceremony. So, I'll allow you to buy one Core shards and Techniques for some gold each," Zorrik said and gave Evin and Arza a little badge.

The badge had a golden border and the number "3" was etched upon it.

"Thanks for your help, Lord Zorrik," Evin was happy. The one thing he wasn't lacking in was money. At this point, his whole personality revolved around being a rich boy.

"Don't mind it. What's the point of living in society, if you don't get some special treatment once in a while? Anyway, I'll leave you in the care of one of the advanced class' instructors," Zorrik said and a knock came from the door.

"Come in!" Zorrik said and a woman of about 30 entered the room. She had a dark blonde hair and a single beige horn on her head. Contrary to the warm colors of her horn, her eyes shone with a dangerous glint as she eyed the two children with some coldness.

"This is Losha Lyu, the instructor of your new class. You can consult her with whatever you need to and about the matter of the emblem, you can contact me before the Horn Ceremony," Zorrik said and sent the group off.

The group followed the woman through the Tribe Grounds silently and reached their dorm room.

Evin and Arza were put in a single room with two beds. It wasn't a big room, but it seemed considerably comfortable. There were baths and toilets inside and there even seemed to be something akin to a fridge.

Rith walked towards the bed and comfortably sprawled on it. Ssatsko would stay in the Tribe Grounds as a temporary close combat teacher for the commoner kids, so he had gone to check out his new place in the staff's living quarters.

Evin addressed Losha and showed her the little badge that Zorrik gave him.

"Miss Losha, I've been granted the privilege to buy Core Shards and the corresponding Core Bending techniques with it. Could you show us the place where I can do that?"

Hearing about the privileges, Losha's eyes seemed to become slightly colder.

"You can ask for it in the Great Hall, though, you would need a considerable amount of gold to afford them," Losha said and pulled out a large sheet of paper from one of the drawers in the room:

"Here's the map of the area, so you won't get lost"

Evin glanced through it and saw a few places worth his attention. The Great Hall was the biggest of them, since it had counseling services, the Mission Pillar and the shop as well.

Other places included the Training Grounds, the Library and the Cafeteria. There was also an arrow that pointed towards the area that was designated for non-mage children.

Evin couldn't wait to go purchase the Core Shard.

'If my rich boy personality isn't enough, I can still borrow from Rith's sugar mommy personality' Evin decided.

"I see, thanks for your help, Miss Losha. Do you know when classes would start?"

"Advanced classes should start in two weeks, or so. Gather at the Training Grounds, and find me. I'll be near the class. Also, here," Losha said and gave Evin two copies of a pair of books. One thick and the other slightly thinner.

"This is?"

"It's the study materials for the past two years. I understand that you've studied by yourselves for the past few months, but it wouldn't hurt to check up on things again," the instructor said.

"Thank you, Miss Losha," Evin said.

"Hmm, if you need to ask something important from me, you can ask the librarian and he'll contact me. Other than that, the lobbyist at the Great Hall can explain most of the basic info you need," Losha said and walked away.

'Losha looks a bit like how Lora might have looked if she was a mage' Evin thought as he watched the woman's walk away through the doorway. After she left, Arza asked suddenly.

"Why does that lady dislike us so much?"

"Hm Maybe she just doesn't like Westerners? Who knows? But since she's being polite towards us, at least on the surface, we should act the same," Evin replied. He expected to hear some protests about being honest and showing one's true feelings from Arza, but surprisingly the boy didn't object.

'The previous Arza would have definitely said something to the instructor at some point, but perhaps he's grown a bit?' Evin wondered.

He felt a bit saddened to see the pure and innocent Arza to grow dull and polite like himself. Even if Evin felt annoyed by the boy, he still enjoyed a different opinion now and then.

But mostly it was just fun to correct the child and feel superior to him.

"Why would she dislike Westerners?" Arza asked, confused.

"Well, hmm What did you think of when you first saw a Cobfolk?" Evin asked.

"I thought that if I had six arms, I would maybe able to beat you in close combat," Arza answered honestly.

'Of course you would think of something like that'

"Then if a really beautiful, rich, and smart Cobfolk girl proposes to marry you, but then there's another equally beautiful, rich, and smart human girl proposes to marry you, which one will you choose?" Evin asked.

"Probably the stronger one," Arza answered after thinking for a bit.

"Well, I wish everyone in the world would think like you Okay, how about this. Imagine this: some evil person, who is stronger than your father, captures Aran and another man from the streets," Evin began.

"Yeah?"

"Then he tells you: "Pick one over the other and that one will be spared, but the other will die". Will you choose your father, or the stranger," Evin asked.

"I will choose my father," Arza replied without thinking for another second. Evin was surprised with the boy's decisiveness, but he had already guessed that the boy might reply like this.

"Well, there you have it. Some people care more about the people and things that are closer to themselves. Probably, that instructor lady thinks that the North is the best country in the world, and thinks that Westerners aren't good enough, or something," Evin said, his speech gradually devolving into a child's lingo.

Arza seemed unconvinced, but Evin was already tired of feeling superior to the child.

"Let's go to the Great Hall and see how much these Core Shards cost," Evin said, and the group walked towards the Great Hall.