Don the Hero

It was a nice damp day on the fourth day of the first month. Betty was tying her son, Don's tie to make it look presentable. Maryline spun around as she looked at her uniform. She wore a blue overcoat with a white shirt under it. Her mom had already tied her and Elijah's tie for them. Although they already knew how to tie them, since they won't be seeing their parents until the holiday's they decided not to argue with them. Like Maryline, Elijah and Don also had a blue overcoat with a white shirt and blue tie inside. The only difference was that the boys had black pants while the girls could wear blue skirts that match their coat or middle length pants that were also black. Maryline had instinctually picked up the pants. {It looks kinda like this:https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/0d/bc/c8/0dbcc80e367c71b71a923483e7c5879e.jpg}

After making sure that all their luggages were packed and ready, they hugged their parents good bye. They also said their thanks to teacher Zen who also saw them off to school.

While they walked to school, they met up with Mark and the others and began to chat with them. As they chatted, Don began to notice that many of the other people around him had different colors of uniform. Drew smirked as he saw this.

"You must be wondering what all the different colors mean." Don nodded. He had already read the hand book but he still did not know all the open secrets of the school. Drew smugly looked at the other as he began his speech.

"Well, I as the great Drew will tell you. The colors indicate how many years you have been in the school. Blue is for newbies, Orange is for 2nd years, yellow for third year and purple for 4th years."

"Hold up! I thought the school only ran for 2 years." Elijah quickly interjected. Don and Maryline were also quite confused. Drew stared at them with odd eyes.

"Wow... you guys really came from a village huh.... Ok so it will take a minimum of 2 years to finish at the academy. You have 5 class slots each year and must take 8 courses to graduate. These courses are called the mandatory courses and are found in every academy. Magic history I, Magic history II, General history, Martial arts (basic), Null magic I & II, Guild 101 I & II. But if you just finish these courses in 1 go, you would only have 2 free courses. You would be wasting the opportunity that you were given. You see, what you really need to learn are the things you learn in your others class. Elemental class, weapons training classes and heck even the auxiliary class. These class are what separates you from each other.

In truth, you can stay in the academy for a maximum of 4 years. This was not done by accident. It allows you to take 12 free classes and separate yourself from the majority of others in your grade." When Drew saw he look of understanding in the Finches he could not help but sigh in relief. If he hadn't told these siblings? would they have just truly stayed in the school and only take the mandatory courses? He quickly decided that he had to advise his sheltered friends.

"Now, I know it may sound a little confusing but just follow my lead and you will be fine. My suggestion is that you take 2 classes each year. Don't worry about the other grades since classes are separated by grade. " The Finches quickly nodded as they headed to the academy. Inside they were identified and given an identity card by the ladies in the front.

It was almost like a simulation of guilds but instead of writing your identification and specialties in the form given, you have to write your courses for the year. luckily they gave each person a handbook that showed each class. Don and the others had already decided to take mandatory classes together. They all chose to take Magic history I and Null magic I together. Other than that, they would take 3 classes for their own developing style. As Don looked at the handbook, he could not help but feel overwhelmed.

Elemental courses: This is where you learn how to control specific elemental powers and learn techniques that will help you for a life time.

Fire magic I, II & III

Earth magic I, II & III

Water magic I, II & III

Light magic I, II & III

*Air and Dark magic are not currently being thought in this academy*

Weapons training: These classes will help you be better equipped at fighting using specific weapons. In time, you may be able to develop a trained comfort with your weapon and form a concrete fighting style.

Sword training I, II & III

Archery training I, II & III

Defense Training I, II & III

Offense training I, II & III

Staff (mage or cleric) training I, II & III

Spear training I, II & III

....

Auxiliary courses: Although not helpful in terms of real fights, these courses will help your development in other forms such have bargaining, supporting and being a martial artist of all trades.

* Some classes are open classes meaning that they are not separated by grade due to small sizes*

Merchant I, II & III

Potion making I & II

Cooking I, II & III

Math I, II & III

Supporter training I & II

....

Fight class: This course does not teach you anything with book or lecture. Instead, you learn by fighting with your pears and learning from each other as you grow.

*Not open for first years*

Fight class I & II

Open Fight class I & II

After reading the majority of the handbook, his eyes locked on fight class. He instinctually looked at his siblings who were cursing at the restriction. If it were not for it, they may have filled their whole schedule with fight classes. Maybe Elijah would have been more sensible but Maryline without a doubt would have leapt at the chance to fight people all day. After some deliberation, they all picked their courses. Elijah, Maryline, Mark and Drew did about the same thing. They picked their weapon specialty and their elemental powers as their first two courses and then picked offense class as their last course. Except for Drew who picked Defense class instead.

Vivian was a little different. Instead of an offense or defense class, she decided to take Merchant I instead. After checking each other's classes, they finally looked at Don's.

everyone "..."

They were completely lost for words. Mark could not help but be even more confused about Principle Cruise's eye for people. He leaned over to Elijah.

"Has your brother always been like this?"

Elijah sighed and nodded. No matter how much he would argue with his brother, his brother would always win so he did not even bother to try and change his mind.

They handed in their papers and waited for the front desk workers to tell them what to do.

"Thank you all new students for your time, we have now gotten all your courses settled. you will get a schedule later today and start real class tomorrow. In real life, you can never really know who will be in your party and who will be your enemy. You must always be careful. A treasure can ruin friendships and a beast horde can create connections and friendships. You will be living in a 3 bed room dorm. We have set you up with others around your level.

Have a great year students. You are now members of the prestigious Crescent Borne Academy!"

Everyone roared in excitement once they heard this. After so long, they were finally congratulated for their success at being the 10% that made it this far. After calming down, everyone looked at their Id card to get their room number. Maryline was happy at the fact that she was rooming with Vivian. Elijah on the other hand could not understand his luck when he realized his roomy would be Drew. He could only imagine the sleep he would lose in the following days due to his incessant talking.

Don looked at his Id card. He checked with the others to see if any of them matched.

"Looks like we will be spending a lot of time together kid." Don looked to see that his door number was the same as Mark's. Although he did not show it, Don was not quite comfortable with Mark. It was not because of his sparkling aura or his demeanor but rather because he seemed too curious. In truth, Don was also confused at why the Principle had decided to give him a pass. Even so, he did not really care too much but Mark did. He has shown time after time that he was curious about the talents that Don had.

This made Don unhappy as he liked his privacy. In the end, the rooms were already decided and he could not change that. He put it in his mind to be careful of Mark in case he started snooping around for some reason.

After getting to their rooms, they separated and went to settle in. Don and Mark arrived at the west end of the school where most of the first year's dorm. Their dorm door number was 139. They opened the door to see that a person had already placed their things in a bed and was arranging the place. The two had seen this boy before.

He was bald and seemed to know a bit about staffs as Vivian would mutter. When the bald teen saw the pair, he gave them a calm smile, bowed and gestured them in.

"Hello dear friends. It is nice to meet your acquaintances. My name is Lars Delaros I was one of the top 11. I must really have good luck. I not only am rooming with the prince, but I am also rooming with the person specially picked by our principle. " Lars smiled grandly as he said this. If the person talking was Elijah or Drew, Don would have thought that they were being sarcastic and were gnashing their teeth underneath their breath. Oddly he did not get that negative feeling from Lars instead, all he felt was warmth. After being in a daze, Don quickly snapped out of it and scratched his head at his rudeness.

"Oh well umm yeah that's me. I am Don Finch by the way. It is nice to meet you." Don reached his hand to shake Lars. Lars twitched his face for a second before smiling and shaking Don's hand. After Don's spoke Mark shook his head as if he was getting out of an odd day dream. He quickly went in to shake Lars's hands as well.

'The two of you are truly deserving of your places. For the principle to put us together...I guess he must have seen through me....' Lars smiled warmly as he thought this. The 3 began to chat and get to know each other. Since they both had very easygoing personalities they got along with each other well.

In the main office, Principle Cruise and Vice Principle Valentine were looking over at the courses picked by the students. They were not shocked by what the majority of people picked. The standard two or 3 mandatory classes, 1 elemental class and 1 or 2 weapons class. They would have some who picked an auxiliary class here and there. They would even have some people complain due to the fact that they were not allowed to pick fight class as an option. The old man was about to sip some tea when suddenly he saw something that was truly outrageous. He choked on his tea and started to cough and wheeze. Paulette on the other side was completely confused. She had never seen the principle act this way. She looked at the course of the student and almost fell backwards.

Student: Don Finch First year student, Age 12

Course:

Type: Mandatory Name: General Magic

Type: Mandatory Name: Null Magic

Type: Auxiliary Name: Forging

Type: Auxiliary Name: Supporter training

Type: Auxiliary Name: Advanced history