Stepping out of his room Helo can’t help but reach for his neck and pull at his collar. Whoever decides the dress code at the School of Awakening is personally dead to him. He is wearing a long black coat that is styled like a blazer. It looks like someone watched the movie about ‘the boy who lived’, saw their robes and said, ‘Nah I can do better.’
In all honestly, he doesn’t mind the coat. He thinks it looks kind of nice, and he appreciates that it is black. For nobles and people with wealth, the coat can be trimmed it the colors of choice. Helo’s is a mix of dark green and silver. What he doesn’t like is what’s under his coat. It’s a button-down shirt and a tie. Helo doesn’t remember the last time he even wore a button-down shirt, and he sure has heck has never worn a tie.
Grumbling to himself as he walks into the third floor sitting room Helo hears a “EHHHEEEEEE.” From his left. Ducking backward with a roll, he manages to dodge the Alli sized bullet that launched off the couch. Continuing to move around Helo easily dodges Alli’s attempts to hug him. Eventually he realizes that she isn’t going to stop, so he just lets her run into him.
Hinata is sitting on the couch covering her mouth. Helo can see her shoulders moving and knows that she is laughing, but she is too proper to just laugh, no she does it like a refined lady.
Clinging to his side like a koala, Alli starts messing with Helo’s clothes. “You look soooo good. I really love the colors. They go well with your eyes. They fit you nicely.”
Helo just rolls his eyes and lets Alli do her thing. Shaking out his leg, he doesn’t mind the black pants. But he does prefer his usual joggers.
“I’m glad you’re feeling good enough to mess around.” Hinata says from her spot on the couch. When she is done talking, she smoothly picks up her tea and takes a sip.
Lightly smiling Helo says. “Yeah thanks. I am getting double the ritual time than everyone else. It sped up my healing a lot.” Helo is referring to the ritual set up by Yoeko and absorbing the ambient energy when he spars with Hinata’s father. Scratching his head he says, “I’m just glad I got the okay to use weak energy manipulations.” As Helo says this he casts ‘Dark Hand’, it isn’t the full-scale skill. Just a weak version that mostly focuses on moving an object, less on protecting it. The beautifully carved vulpine cane that was resting against the wall is pulled into his hand.
That is one of the benefits Helo has found from being injured. Once he got the okay to use small amounts of energy, he started experimenting. They are always fighting and pushing themselves, pushing their skills. But he never took time to try and limit a skill or find unique ways to use them. But, with ‘Dark Hand’ he starts to practice. Limiting ‘Dark Hand’ simplified the skill enough that Helo was able to make great progress in skill-less telekinesis. But holding the telekinesis without the skill still causes large drains on his reserves.
Another thing that Helo finally took the time to complete was the enchantments he wanted to add to his knives. With everything going on he was forced to put it aside. But with all the free time lately he picked it up again. Which is great, because the higher in level he gets, the less of a trump card his bloodline and aura are. They are still powerful, but he isn’t the only aura or bloodline around. His ability to weaken concepts and defenses will have to start competing with other’s auras.
So, getting around to enchanting his knives was a big deal for him. The first enchantment he finished was the fire enchantment for his knife. After that he started working on the plasma enchantment. He has yet to actually place the enchantments onto his knives, he is waiting to be fully healed.
With Alli finally letting him go Helo takes a second to look at the two girls. Hinata stood up from the table and runs a hand along her body to smooth out her coat. She is wearing something like him, but it only has dark green lining, and she has a skirt on with leggings. Her coat fits her athletic and fit body well. It shows off her curves while keeping an athletic feel.
Alli’s look is the same as Hinata with silver instead of green. The major difference is that her much shorter and curvier frame is outlined in a way that is less athletic and more… alluring. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he accidently says, “Huh?”
This causes Alli and Hinata to look at him. Hinata who was speaking squints a little. “You zoned out. Nice to know you were listening to us.”
Alli smirks and crosses her arm under her bust. “Yeah, typical men, getting distracted so easily.”
Losing the fight not to look down, by the time he looks up Alli is grinning like a wolf that cornered a rabbit. “Ah. Yes. To what you said earlier.” Helo blunders out to try and save himself, but he was way off.
Snorting because she knows that Helo has absolutely no idea what he is talking about, she puts on a fake aggrieved face. “So, you do think that Layla Al-Katib looks great in her school uniform?”
Floundering and completely lost Helo just looks at her in shock. He doesn’t even know who that is. “Ah. What?”
Alli starts laughing and Helo just looks at her in betrayal. “She is messing with you; we weren’t even talking to you. But you should spend some time going over those data packets. There are a lot of faces you should probably try and remember. Layla is one of them.”
Helo nods and takes a seat in the center of the couch. At this point he is just used to the two girls wanting him to sit between them. Sometimes he starts to feel like their doll. They just dress him up and move him around.
As the two girls continue to talk Helo looks through a conveniently located packet on the home screen of his tablet. It reads ‘Information on the School of Awakening’. Shaking his head, he realizes that he should have seen it before, but he has been working on finalizing his enchantments.
About thirty minutes later the two girls get up. Looking away from his tablet, Hinata says. “It is time to leave. Do you have everything packed?” Helo nods his head, but a yip is heard from his room. Stepping out Lelai is dragging her bed. The one that she never uses, she likes to keep her stuff there.
Standing up and putting the bed in his necklace he looks back at the girls. “Well, now I’m ready.”
Over the course of the next few minutes everyone meets on the first floor. The entire party is waiting for it to be time to leave. They all have their storage bags stuffed with gear and personal items. For less expensive things they each have a suitcase or two near them. Alli and Hinata step forward to address the group.
“I know we have had some tough spots. But we have gotten through it together.” Hinata starts off and looks everyone in the eyes as she is talking. “Now, we will be going on the next step of our journey. This will be one of the most challenging experiences yet. Most of the students are there to learn and gain a profession. Maybe learn some skills to keep themselves safe. That isn’t what we are there for. We are going to the school to dominate the other nobles.” As she finishes everyone nods their heads. They can feel the anticipation rising as they realize that this is going to be a lot different than normal school, or even the training that they have been doing.
Alli steps forward next, “We will be one of the last groups to go through the school before the Integration Starts. We have four, maybe three years to learn as much as we can and put everyone else in their place.” Looking around, the usually joyful Alli is much more serious. “Everyone, and I mean everyone is putting a lot of weight on these next few years. Whoever rises from the school as the undisputed champion will open a lot of doors for alliances or vassalage.” Alli looks at Hinata and she nods her head with tight lips.
Looking up Hinata takes a breath and in a much nicer tone she says. “We just need to focus, work hard, and don’t let anyone push you around.”
“Let’s go!” Alli says as she runs out the door. She only takes a few steps before she stops dead in her tracks. “Dad?”
Outside the door Graham and Micah BrightMoon are talking with Akira. At the sound of Alli’s voice all the men turn to the teenagers that are exiting the house. Graham smiles at his daughter. “What? Allisandra, you really think I would let you go to school without saying goodbye?” It has been a few months since they last saw one another, so Alli runs to Graham and wraps him in a hug.
Grahama has a smug smile and turns to face Akira. The look that passes between the two fathers basically shouts. “I bet yours didn't do this when she saw you.” Akira just rolls his eyes and steps forward.
Checking his watch he lets the group know, “It will be about five minutes before your ride is here.”
After that he walks up and starts to talk to his daughter. About a minute later Yuki and Cheyenne walk out of the main house and into the courtyard. Both turn toward Hinata’s house, and they make their way over.
Outside the house more people show up. Helo can place everyone due to their resemblances to his party members. Cody’s parents are the easiest to recognize due to their immense height. But Rocco looks exactly like his father, and Arisah is almost a complete replica of her mother.
Everyone else has family that showed up to say goodbye. Even Gabi’s aunt and cousins came to visit her. Helo is comfortable alone, and he grew up thinking his parents were dead. So, he never really considered the fact that he was alone. But now, in this moment, it really sinks in for him. This world is going to face the Integration, wars will break out, millions or billions will die, and he is all alone.
As his mood starts to plummet Yuki step up to him and places a hand on his cheek. She is just a little shorter than he is and he can see tears in her eyes. Helo is expecting her to tell him to take care of her daughter, but to his surprise she says something else. “Now sweetie, you take care of yourself alright.” Then she pulls him into a hug.
Helo stands there in shock and it shows on his face. He makes eye contact with Hinata, and her proud look snaps him out of his daze. Hugging Yuki back, Helo just nods his head. “Good. I’ll make sure to come visit often.”
After that Helo starts to feel just a little better. His melancholy evaporates as both Alli and Hinata come up to him and drag him into the conversation with their parents. Micah who is just standing nearby gives Helo a smile and a nod. He has always treated him like a nephew.
Getting into the group Graham gives Helo a side eye, and Cheyenne a quick hug. Then they just continue the conversation like he was meant to be there. “Now remember, don’t start anything. You need to appear unshakable.” Akira says to the girls. He looks at Helo. “This is where you come in. You need to be aware of any moves that are being played against our girls. Best way to stop someone from doing anything is to hit them first, but do it quietly.” Helo nods at that and agrees with what Akira said.
Graham speaks up, “If someone does do something. Put them down fast and hard. Then move on.” Graham looks at Hinata and his daughter. “Not everything can be avoided, if someone does to something, just end it.”
The rest of the conversation plays out along the same vein. Akira and Graham are trying to subtly inform their kids about how dangerous the school will be. It might be politics, but that doesn't mean that people won't end up dead. Yuki and Cheyenne are trying to instruct the girls about how to go about their day to day task while at school.
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Helo finds this odd. Speaking up he asks. “Why are you all just talking in circles. Why don't you just say what you want?”
The adults looked shocked, and it is Yuki that speaks up. “We can’t, there are rules about how much we can prepare or help you. It is the reason that we don’t just give you all the best equipment, you go through the dungeon and earn what you have. There is also restriction on how much we can say. They have aura readers that detect if your lying, it doesn't work if you know how to control your aura, but for everyone at school, but you Helo, they can’t lie.”
Her response and reasoning surprises Helo a little, but it does make sense, in an odd sort of way. He can’t help but wonder why there are restrictions and such.
Before he can ask Helo jumps a little as the Kashiwagi maid just appears in the area next to them. He has subtly attempted to learn about her, but every attempt ends with some kind of maid-related catastrophe. His next meal is laced with laxatives, his underwear has itching powder, his clothes turn pink, and so on. At first it was funny; it was like the maid was playing tricks on him. But he never could find out how she did any of the things she did and eventually he got the message to stop asking around. The only thing he could say was that Akira was right.
A second later a swirling array appears on the ground three feet in front of her, then with a sweep of wind and a flash of light there are four people standing in the field. The maid slightly bows to one of them, it is a different bow than the one to Akira. More like a greeting. Then, like the maid could feel Helo’s gaze she turns to him and winks. A moment later and she is gone. Shivering a little he squashes his curiosity and turns to the new arrivals.
It is a group of four individuals, three male and one female. From what little of Helo’s aura he is allowed to access, he can tell that they all are at least high into tier 2, maybe 3. All four of them give a deep bow to both pairs of clan leaders. Then they introduce themselves. “We are four Space Callers from the Iceland Neutral family Friggheim.”
Helo looks at them curiously. Each one is wearing simple clothing but he can tell they are all powerfully enchanted. They each have a cloak made from animal fur and have long hair that is braided down their backs.
Helo looks at Akira who is standing next to him, noticing his gaze he whispers. “They all come from a neutral group in the multiverse, followers of the nordic pantheon but they worship Frigga, not her war loving husband. They prize magic and knowledge; they are trusted to run the schools.” Akira looks at them for a second and speaks. “They are also quite advanced in spatial magic.”
“We have come to take the young Heiresses and their party to the academy.” The man in front speaks again. They never gave their names, but Helo starts to wonder if it might be on purpose.
Alli and Hinata lead the group forward and they are all now standing between the four fur wearing northerners. With a last wave toward their families, they are surrounded by light. Helo feels like he is being pulled apart and squeezed together all at the same time. The flash of light is quickly replaced by darkness. Then before Helo can even attempt to look around, the darkness is again replaced again by light and another confusing pulling-squeezing feeling.
Opening his eyes Helo looks around, he is now standing in an open field. A swift breeze is blowing through the area, and you can hear the crashing of waves in the distance. The field he is standing in is filled with tall golden grass. On one side he can see a cliff, past the cliff there is just the ocean. On the other side there is a wall that surrounds what appears to be city.
The same man who spoke earlier steps forward. “We are in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. It is at the tip of Iceland” Pointing toward the town he says, “This Hornheim, the capital for the Frigheim people. It has one of the most diverse populations in the awakened community on earth.”
Helo starts to wonder why they are using ‘Heim’ on everything. But in the end, he just shrugs, he really doesn't care. Plus, they are all wearing matching clothing. It seems like a cult thing.
“In the center of the city, the School of Awakening resides. Most of your time at school will be spent there. The rest will be spent at the other fifteen clan locations. The third place will be Greenland.” The man starts leading the group toward the cliff side.
“Greenland?” Gabi asks out loud. “Why Greenland?”
The man turns and looks her in the eyes. Seeing only confusion, he turns back and keeps walking, “Greenland and Australia are both high magic areas. The homes of the sixteen families have high levels of ambient mana. But that is because they continue to produce mana through their dungeon cores. But Greenland and Australia are two areas where magic seems to flow to. We think it has to do with earth’s lay lines.”
The man stops talking and the group looks at him waiting for him to continue. He doesn’t and Luna speaks up. “Because of this, much of both locations is cordoned off. It is a place that can be dangerous for even the most powerful people on earth.”
This causes most of the party to feel surprised. A place that can cause Micah and Graham to worry is a truly dangerous place. Helo knows that the dungeon in the BrightMoon clan can only reliably produce low level tier 3 monsters. Micah complained about how he must clear entire floor to even feel like he is gaining anything.
But Micah is still well into the middle of tier 3. Helo doesn’t know his level, but he assumes it is around 150 to 160. It makes more sense for him to be at that level if there is a place where he can actually be challenged.
Following the lead man of the Frigghiem, Helo is stunned by the view. The man brought them to some kind of garden that overlooks the ocean. Helo has seen beautiful views before, living in the mountains of the BrightMoon clan and in the Volcano near the ocean with the Kashiwagi clan. But this is something else, the view of the massive waves crashing below them really shows just how powerful nature truly is.
The man takes a seat on a nearby bench and waves the rest of the group to rest on the others. As everyone sits down Helo is naturally situated between the two heiresses. “Sir, why bring us here?” Hinata asks politely. She is sitting gracefully with her hands crossed in her lap. On Helo’s other side, Alli is leaning back with her head resting on the backrest, she is staring at the clouds.
Helo just chuckles at the dichotomy and listens to the two talk, “You are about to enter one of the most aggressive political battlegrounds on earth. There is no other place where you can find people from every faction. Even the clan meetings that are held every four years will have some factions missing.”
Hinata nods at this and looks away. With her curiosity satiated she just enjoys the view. After a few minutes she speaks to her party. “Classes start in a week. We all have the same core classes, Alli and I have specific noble classes, and then we all can choose electives. Make sure to pick your electives as soon as possible, the registration opens tomorrow morning.”
The group nods and Alli pulls out her tablet. Finding the registration page on the Academy mana-net she sends it to everyone. Helo pulls out his own tablet and scrolls through his classes and his electives.
Class Schedule:
Core:
- History of the Clans on Earth- MWF 8AM
- Common Language in the Multiverse- MWF 2PM
- Math: Calculating mana expenditure and resource consumption- MWF 4PM
Noble:
- Etiquette for the Upper Class- MW 10AM
- Leadership in a Party- F 10AM
- Realm Upkeep: now not to bankrupt your territory MWF- 11AM
Elective: …
Helo looks at all his classes in shock. What the heck is this! “What the heck is this!” He accidentally speaks his mind and Alli takes a look at his screen.
“Ohhhh, yeah as our personal guard and assistant your assigned to the noble classes with us.” Alli says with a shrug.
Helo looks at his schedule and wants to cry. He has been so tired lately, and what about his electives! Wanting to throw his tablet away it is Hinata that saves him. Scrolling up she points out a notification.
Classes are held every other week. The other week you will be going to the dungeons. Your school year is 32 weeks. 18 of those you will have classes. 16 you will be entering the dungeon in each territory. The final two will be your midterms and finals. These will be held in Greenland.
The last bit surprises Helo but it is so far off for him to care right now. Looking further, he reads the notes on the classes. Each class is an hour long and he has Tuesday and Thursday to choose his electives. Looking through everything, Helo realizes that to stay competitive, some of the electives are probably closer to Core Classes.
Classes on combat and teamwork are held in between Core and Noble classes. It is Helo that speaks up about this. It is his job, even if Luna and Aiko take care of most things. I am so grateful for them.
“We need to coordinate our electives.” Once he speaks, everyone looks toward him. Out of the corner of his eye he can see the man that led them here nodding his head. It makes Helo wonder if this was the man’s intention. To give the team one last chance to sort everything out.
“Some of these electives we will need to take together. Party Dynamics and Group Fighting. We work well together, but we could still be much better. At this point it is more like we work in two- or three-man groups, but we fight next to other groups.” As Helo is speaking, everyone is nodding. They all agree, even Alli and Hinata do this. They have worked together for so long that it feels natural to them.
With everyone adding those into their class lists Helo feels like he just filled his role successfully. He smiles as Alli nudges him, looking over she winks. It looks like she agrees with his assessment.
Looking back at his tablet Helo decides to keep most of his Tuesday and Thursdays free. He is going to take an advanced enchanting class, most of the enchanting knowledge he has is from his necklace. He really just used Elder Shelby to check if he was on the right track. He wants most of the day free to fill his other role as the team’s spy. He will take those days to do so, even if he needs practice.
As they all devolve into going over their personal classes the man stands up. The group follows a lot, and he brings them all right up to the city gates. Approaching the city Helo is impressed by the view. Cities these days are an endless ocean of concrete. But this city is different.
When Alli first told him about the magical communities in the world. He expected to see something like an anime. He was a little disappointed when everything looked pretty normal. But this city, Hornheim, is truly a magical city. Everyone is dressed differently than normal earthlings. They all are all wearing simple clothing but nicely made. There are no cars anywhere and the streets close to that gate are filled with stalls.
Helo looks around in awe. Hinata holds his non-cane wielding arm and smiles. “I came here once before.” She looks around with joy on her face. “It is as magical as I remember.” As she says that a man leads a cart led by a massive scaled cow. The beast is over eight feet tall and is packed with muscle.
Even from a ways away Helo knows that the creature would crush him. But at the same time, it is an amazing sight to see. The space callers lead them further into the city, the closer to the center they get, the more opulent the surroundings become. Clothing is nicer and made with more color, carriages are more frequent and instead of stalls there are nice shops.
In the center of the city Helo expected to see a massive castle with a moat and sturdy walls. In stead there was a large long house, it was made in a Nordic style and looks big enough to comfortably sleep hundreds of people, with each getting their own room.
“This is the center of our clan. Not all of our people take on roles with the clan. Some travel to other clans, and many decide to live their lives in the city.” As the man says this Helo can almost hear the warning in his words. Helo isn’t great with politics, but he understands that if they decide to act like young master’s or mistresses, they might just end up doing something to someone who is apart of the clan they are living at without even knowing.
The man brings them past the long house to the back of the city. Now that he is toward the back of the city, he can see that it is positioned in some kind of partial valley. The back half is pushing against a large hill. Looking up the hill, he can see a collection of houses and buildings.
“Many of those buildings are owned by powerful and wealthy people.” Again, Helo can tell that his words are informative, but it is what he isn’t saying that is important. “But there.” He says pointing at a hill that is on the Northen side of town and stands all alone. One top of the hill there is what looks like a town with many large and impressive buildings.
“That entire hill is the School of Awakening.” The man points out the school with a smile. It is obvious that the man is proud of the work they do at the school. “The town area houses the different school buildings and dorms. The large buildings that are surrounding the town are a library, crafting area, coliseum, and training area. The buildings that are a little separated from the town are for the teachers, employees, and nobles that came with a party.”
They all look in awa at the massive school that overlooks the city. It really is prime real estate. Probably some of, if not the best outside the city. But the Friggheim Clan chose to use it to educate others. It is this point that Helo realizes how impressive that truly is.
They have to exit the town proper, leaving the main walls, they are still in an enclosed area. But it is massive and filled with farm fields. Getting to the hill to the north takes almost twenty minutes of casual walking. At the bottom of the hill, they approach another wall. This one seems to surround the school, separating it from the enclosed farm fields. That surrounds it. Helo realizes that it actually makes for a beautiful sight, the rows of clean fields are nice to see.
Walking up to the hill Helo is surprised by how young the guards look. Every one of them seems to be just a few years older than him. He studies them closer and realizes that they might be students. This confuses Helo a bit, but he doesn’t know what to make of it.
The four Spatial Callers step to the side and Hinata goes forward. Reaching her hip, she dips her hand into her bag of holding and pulls out a folder. Opening it up she hands the papers to what appears to be the main guard.
The guard is an elf with golden hair. It isn’t as vibrant as Dorimer’s but Helo feels like he can see a slight resemblance. With a sneer the man takes the papers. With the sneer, Helo really can see the resemblance. Dammit, why is that family so annoying.
The guard looks through the paperwork for any issues. Aggressively looking through everything, the other guards start to get uncomfortable. But unfortunately for Alli and Hinata, they don’t really have any older relatives in the school right now.
They were all warned that it was a constant political bonfire. But Helo thinks he figured out something important. I think the students run most of the school.