Control Comes from Within

“Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, student, but the work will be done when it’s done. If you would please return to your seat, I will inform you when it’s finished.” A stern middle-aged woman with cold eyes politely rebuffed me, shooing me away from her station.

I had been waiting for nearly two hours, and my paperwork was still being processed. What, did the higher density of essence make people lazier or something? The only reason I was even waiting in the administration building instead of my new dorm room was because my room still hadn’t been assigned to me. That was only one of the things I had to wait for, along with my new class schedule and the update on my student card to reflect my transfer. I had been assured the points were valid across all campuses, and I had a larger than expected amount that I wasn’t exactly keen on losing due to a clerical error or some other such bureaucratic nonsense.

It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who transferred campuses. One of the ducal heirs who scored better than I did, as well as a respectfully polite but noble young lady both performed well enough to transfer as well. I didn’t really know either of them that well, and it was unlikely that I would be able to quickly forge a new friendship with either of them, even if I wanted to.

Of course, it bears mentioning that their paperwork was done in a flash. Why wouldn’t it? It’s not like this is the first bit of maltreatment I needed to endure. Hell, compared to that delusional streamer chick and her violent muscle-freak of a boyfriend killing me, this is downright passive.

Shit, universe, I didn’t mean it! I take it back! I don’t want to wait in lines more than I have to! In fact, I’d rather take the pummeling over the waiting! At least I can rush through the pummeling by taunting the guy over and over again, and then it’s a quick death. Although, I’d rather not be shot again if possible, that was just –

“We’re ready for you now, student Rhaaj.”

As I marched up to the counter to finish up this god-awful registration process, the stern woman looked down at something as she organized a sheaf of documents in her hand.

“For some reason, your student card wasn’t affected by the spell to update your new transfer status, so we’ve had to issue you a new one. Your class schedule and points are all there, reflected on your new card, so you don’t have to worry about those. And your dorm assignment has also been added to your card. You only need to bind it and bring up the map to see the location of your room. Now, is there anything else you need assistance with?”

“Nope, that’s it. I mean this in the most respectful way possible, but I sincerely hope we never cross paths again.” I told her in all seriousness, as I all but rushed to get out of there and into my new bed.

“As do I, student Rhaaj.” I heard behind me.

Huh, who knew that mean-looking lady had a sense of humor?

The layout of the academies was identical; in fact, I’d wager nearly everything about them was the same, from the location of the buildings, to the plants and trees on the walkways’ peripheries, and even the glass-like material the buildings seemed to be constructed from. The only real difference was probably in the quality of books that could be found in the library.

I flipped my newly issued student card over, which looked identical to my previous one, and pressed my index finger against the raised bump on the back. After a tiny pinch, the card flashed red and a little mini-map of light popped up in front of me. According to it, my new dorm, dammit I mean barracks – actually, you know what, nobody ever refers to them as barracks anyways, people only call them their rooms, so I’ll just keep calling it my dorm, was in a different building.

Some kind of party was going on, students were mingling and carrying some kind of drink, although I couldn’t detect any traces of alcohol. I squeezed past people as politely and gently as I could while rushing towards my room, carrying my wooden chest with both hands in front of me like a shield. The ground floor wasn’t too bad, all things considered. But by the time I reached my floor, the top floor, I was panting for breath. The constant movement of people around me, the slight forward and backward motions, made me feel I was in a river, only I had no paddle and was at the mercy of the currents.

The top floor was far less formal, as I saw scenes that would be familiar to most college attendees. Alcohol was most definitely present as there were isolated pockets of couples kissing, hooting and hollering of male students engaged in contests of strength, loud declarations and confessions of all kinds, and more than one person passed out next to a pool of vomit.

I ignored all of that as much as I could, avoiding anything that looked to ensnare me, and made my way to my room, at the far end of the hallway. There was a taller student close by, who had a good four inches on me, standing in front of a closed door marked ‘Tunnel’. He was the first person I’d seen who shared a similar skin tone to mine, and he was waving a wand in front of him, doing something with lightning, or electricity more specifically, as sparks kept dancing in front of him.

As I was about to enter the door, he spoke to me, and his voice was about what I expected, deep and rich. “Where do you call home?”

“...What?” I asked, turning slightly to face him.

“You clearly hail from the South. It’s quite rare to see ones like us so far east. So, where do you call your home? It is possible we have some mutual acquaintances,” he said, while still focusing on the dancing sparks in front of him.

“....Nudool,’ I said hesitantly. That was the name of the village Gillen and Ennin’s uncle retired in, and from what I could recall, it was somewhere in the southwest of the continent. It was the only name I could offer, as it was clear this guy was trying to be friendly, and I didn’t have it in me to just shut him down. I also didn’t know the names of any other settlements in the south, as I had never needed to before this exact moment.

“Nudool, Nudool…” he said, going over the name in his mind, “Is it part of Lord Ryfellin’s domain?”

“You know the Ryfellins?!” I asked in amazement.

“Not personally, I’m aware of who they are, that’s about the extent of it. Do…do you know them? As in, you’ve actually met and spoken with them?” he replied in amazement no lesser than my own, the surprise causing the sparks at the end of his wand to fizzle out and die as I commanded his attention entirely.

“I mean, technically, yeah, but it’s not that big a deal. I had some etiquette lessons from Lady Ryfellin when I was first starting out. I didn’t even know she was staying there until one of her previous students introduced me,” I responded. “Oh, apologies for the late introduction, I’m Rhaaj.”

“...this one is named Su’jiif. You are common-born, yet you are well-acquainted with nobility…” He shook his head only to say, “The Mother truly cares for you.”

With how long I had been in this world, I had enough context to piece together what his vague statement meant. The locals viewed the world as their Mother, and essence was dubbed ‘Mother’s Breath’ by most non-mages; something about the Mother protecting her children, I didn’t really care about the dogma. To say the Mother cared about me was just him implying I was lucky. And he wasn’t even that far-off.

“Perhaps.” I replied, trying to end the conversation. “I guess I’ll see you later. Which one is your room?”

He pointed to the one directly opposite from mine. “It seems fate is pushing us together.”

“Guess so. Good night, then.”

“And to you as well, friend.”

And with that parting exchange, I finally entered my dorm room, collapsing on the bed for a few minutes, before I kicked off my boots and stripped myself of everything but the proto-boxers I had on. Despite all the buildings being constructed of glass, they insulated heat pretty well, which meant regardless of the season, the temperature was the same slight amount of heat that was just enough to be comfortable.

The next thing I knew, I was gradually woken up by intermittent thumping sounds coming from my door. Judging by the level of ambient light in the room, it was roughly sunrise, which pitilessly crushed any half-formed thoughts of indulging in a few more minutes of sleep. I rolled out of bed, and straight onto the floor, which hurt much less than I thought it would. Groggily rising from the floor, I threw on the first robe I could find to cover myself, so I could go yell at whoever was making those noises so early in the morning.

Wrenching open the door caused a couple who were very literally romantically entangled to fall into my doorway. The disorientation only stunned them for a moment before they quickly and eagerly resumed their activities. I had to shout at them repeatedly before they got out of my room and apologized sheepishly, having enough sense to look embarrassed as they did so.

With that taken care of, I figured I may as well start the day, the siren call of my bed fading away into oblivion. I didn’t look around the previous day, but this room was practically identical to my previous one, if slightly larger by a few feet in every direction. I took the time to shave, as I hadn’t done so in a while, and wet my face to start the process. The perfumed oils helped a bit, but it wasn’t even remotely close to the shaving cream I was used to.

The bath helped me wash away any lingering fatigue from yesterday’s teleportation and subsequent paperwork mishap, leaving me in a much better mood. I chose my usual go-to outfit, a light green tunic and a pair of dark brown pants, to wear today. All I was missing was a little curved green hat, and an annoying fairy that screamed “Hey, listen!” every two seconds, and I’d be right at home in a Ninteendo game. The flash of nostalgia made me both chuckle and sigh in homesickness. I bottled up those feelings and stowed what I needed into my shoulder satchel, as I headed to the cafeteria to chow on some breakfast before my first class started.

I hastily shoved what I could into my mouth, as the abundant quantities of food I was used to surveying were being grabbed at by last night’s partygoers, as every nine out of ten people I saw in the cafeteria were either clutching their heads, had familiar magical mini-tornadoes swirling around their ears, or were facedown on tables, their plates of food ignored. I was just about to head to the counter and see if there was any eetle juice, when someone sidled up to me.

“Good morning, friend Rhaaj. It brings me joy to see another who rises with the sun.”

Su’jiif was standing next to me, holding a tray with his own food, and gesturing to the open seat at my table. “May I join you?”

“Of course.” I was slightly wary of him, as any obviously wrong statements on my part could instantly reveal my lack of knowledge to him and threaten to reveal my secret, but so far he hadn’t been too nosy, so I decided to just play it by ear. I was a master of ghosting friends in my previous life, and it would be child’s play for me to do so again.

“Forgive my imposition, but I’m curious as to which classes you’ve registered for, and if we have any in common. Would you mind telling me?” the tall man politely asked.

“I don’t mind, but…are you even a second-year? Your magical knowledge seems far too advanced for that,” I asked. His little experiments from last night were well beyond what a fresh second-year should be capable of.

“A second-year!” He shouted out, making me flinch in surprise. “My apologies, but I happen to be a fourth-year. I was under the impression you traveled here to compound the social benefits of the fourth year in a tier 1 institute.”

“Social benefits? What are you talking about?” I asked, a perplexed expression on my face.

“The academy’s main purpose is to impart knowledge to those who enter its domain, this is true, but this is only the case until the fourth year. Once one has completed their third year of studying, you are presented with the option to leave the academy early. However, doing so comes with its own disadvantages. The fourth year is when students begin researching subjects within their field of study. Some do so with the intent of pursuing an official teaching position at an academy following graduation, as that is one of the requirements of being an academy professor. However, researching is a…protracted process, and depending on your chosen subject of interest, some collaboration or consultation with others may be required. And if said consultation results in closer relations between two or more parties even outside the academy, who is to say there is no purpose in spending one more year before finally departing?”

“Hmm…” I made a non-committal noise to buy some time so I could consider Su’jiif’s words, as he returned to his food and picked at it.

So the fourth-year was either about research or making connections. Nobles probably got their kids to form bonds with others outside their cliques, to draw them in and used that relationship to springboard onto their parents. Commoners might do the same, but likely to a far lesser degree. No doubt there were different factions with competing interests, grappling behind the scenes for control of the kingdom or some other such nonsense. I guess politics was never truly inescapable, even here.

But this new piece of information meant it was all but certain I would skip the fourth year. Researching was…a bit of a dead-end for me so far. It was true that my efforts were stymied by my lack of access, but I had at least another two years to find some answers. Even if that weren’t true, I wouldn’t want to research any topics sensitive to me out in the open, where any drifting pair of eyes might find something…telling.

As for making connections…yeah, that was a complete waste of time. My tentative plans to travel around the world didn’t require mingling with the so-called elites. If anything, I wanted to get further away from human politics. If the elves or beastmen had a better system of governance, or at least one that didn’t so obviously draw a line between the haves and the have-nots, I wouldn’t mind settling down there.

Well, that was all years in the future. I had time to change my mind if I wanted.

Just then, a very unpleasant and unexpected sensation of heat emerged from the pouch around my neck. I took out the source, my student card, and looked at it, flipping it back and forth, before the mini-map popped out and the tiny icon representing me was blinking rapidly, with a line between my current location and where I assumed my first class was.

“Ah, it appears classes will begin soon. We can discuss the topic of your classes another time then, Rhaaj. We may be in different years, but I can still offer some advice, slightly outdated though it may be.” And with that, Su’jiif nodded at me, then left the cafeteria, presumably to…do research, apparently.

And with that, I made my way to the first class where I could finally learn some actual magic.

Blood magic.