Salvos

“No.”

“Please?”

Saffron Merryster rubbed her temples as I pleaded with her.

“I’ll just sleep on the couch! I have nowhere else to go!”

“Don’t you have the coin, Salvos?”

“Yep! But I don’t know how to buy a house!”

“You don’t have to—”

There was a moment where she tried to work her jaw. Where she tried to speak. But something in her clicked, and she decided against it.

“You know what? Fine. But I will not accommodate you as I have done so so far. You will not be my guest. You will be a roommate. So, try not to make a mess, or I will be lodging formal complaints against you.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

I hugged her and entered the room, throwing myself onto the couch. My belongings were still here, since I had been staying over beforehand. Matthew gave me a sidelong glance from the kitchen as he washed the dishes from the night before.

“Also, Matthew will no longer be catching your meals for you. You will have to find those… bugs by yourself.”

“Aw. But that’s fine.”

I got to work, rather than arguing with her. I began sifting through the documents I had been given, trying to figure out what classes I wanted to take for my first ‘term’ in Mavos Academy.

“Ok, so, there are these classes… that’s a lot of classes. And they’re very specialized, aren’t they? Although, it looks like these two classes are full, and these other seven classes have been dropped. Hm.”

There was, fortunately, a class on space magic. And another on theoretical dimensional movement. Also, a class on summonings, which I thought would be relevant to me. So, I chose those three as my main classes.

I had to choose another two, unrelated to my concentration. I chose general rune study as one of them, since I was interested in understanding how enchantments worked. I would’ve liked to replicate something similar to the Runic Scroll of Starfall. Since I wasn’t an [Enchanter] or a [Runesmith], I highly doubted I’d be able to create anything equal to its level.

But I’d have been satisfied with being able to create Low Grade artifacts myself.

Lastly, I had to choose a lab class.

“What even is a lab class?”

I wondered aloud to myself. Saffron glanced at me, snorting.

“Lab classes are meant for practical learning, as opposed to the more theoretical lessons given from the other lectures. While the regular classes are practical with examinations that test your abilities on the field, those happen only so rarely. Working in a laboratory will require almost every lesson to be practical lessons.”

“Huh. And here there’s smithing, alchemy, herbalism, crafting, mining— there’s a lot of things here. What should I choose?”

“I suggest alchemy.”

Saffron peered over my shoulder.

“It is the most useful for someone such as you to learn. When you are out in a Dungeon or far from any civilization, it’d be useful to know how to use the ingredients at your surroundings to create your own potions, no?”

“You’re right!”

I looked over at the options listed. Most of the alchemy classes were full, except for two of them. One was by a professor William S. Bradern. The other was by [Alchemist] Raymond.

“Which of these classes do you think I should take?”

“I’ve heard good things about professor Bradern. However, he is a harsh teacher. For someone like you, who’s more… new to all this. I’d suggest taking [Alchemist] Raymond instead.”

“Alright then!”

I finished filling out the documents and left to submit them. Before returning, I stopped by one of the gardens to hunt for insects to eat. I snagged a few colorful-looking large critters, filling my stomach, and left with a burp.

It was past midnight by the time I was back in Saffron’s room. Or— our room, now. Matthew didn’t stay over in the dormitory. He found his own place to stay elsewhere in Mavos Academy. Saffron was already asleep, so all I did was collapse onto the couch, excited for the day that was to come.

I’m finally going to begin school.

It was nerve-wracking. There were still several hours before my first class started. I didn’t feel sleepy, for whatever reason. Did my [Partial Mortality] penalty vanish somehow?

Whatever it was, I didn’t sleep. I had no reason to. I didn’t feel like it. Instead, I stayed awake, happily planning all the events of the next day. I also considered the pros and cons for my various Classes.

[Fairy Maiden] seemed more appealing than ever to my mind, which was slowly growing more and more tired. But [Worldly Mystic of the Nexeus] sounded cool! And [Dimensional Mage] would raise the least amount of questions.

It was a tough decision. And I yawned.

General Skill [Racial Skill: Partial Mortality] has leveled up!

[Racial Skill: Partial Mortality - Lvl. 3] -> [Racial Skill: Partial Mortality - Lvl. 4]!

Experience is awarded for the leveling of a General Skill!

—--

“Salvos, you’re going to be late!”

I blearily blinked my eyes open as Saffron pulled me out of the couch. I yawned, and she shoved me out of the door.

“Come on— I’m not going to be late because you overslept!”

I stumbled forward, confused at what was going on. Wasn’t I awake just a moment ago? I was pretty sure the sun had just risen, and I decided to rest my eyes for a second. But now it was higher up in the sky. It was nearly noon!

Saffron led me out of the dorm building and into the street. We were in the west wing of Mavos Academy, where most of the housing areas and food areas were located. I was still confused when I spotted the name written on a building in the distance.

“Your first class is at that building over there!”

She pointed, before running off in another direction.

“Don’t be late or you’ll be in trouble!”

I watched her go as I mindlessly headed to Shoveler’s Hall. I didn’t run, for whatever reason. I only realized that I was, in fact, five minutes late, when I stepped into my first lecture room. It was the class on space magic. It was a smaller room, compared to the others I passed by.

There were only a dozen students there, seated rather far apart from each other. The lecturer— an older lady with a single monocle— was drawing a circular shape on the chalkboard. They glanced over at me as I stood at the doorway, unsure of what to do.

She raised a wrinkled brow.

“I take it you are the new student?”

I struggled to get words out of my mouth.

“I, um, just enrolled— yes? I’m Salvos…?”

She nodded and gestured at an empty seat.

“Take a seat, young miss. And try not to cause any more interruptions.”

“Y-yes!”

I hurried over to the seat she pointed out. I found myself settling down next to a rather scrawny man who was studiously scribbling down on a piece of paper. He had a few books opened up as he glanced between his notes, the chalkboard, and the textbooks he had.

And it was then I realized I forgot to bring my bag.

It was my first ever day in school, and I made such a massive mistake. I was flustered, to say the least. With a deep breath, a single thought crossed through my mind. I condemned the thing that was at fault the most for these series of mishaps.

I hate sleeping!