Chronicle of the Eternal: Volume 1 (6 page)

Firing several rounds at
each other, even Hazel is hit twice, putting her performance below Piora who
effortlessly won yesterday.

This entire time, Hazel is
monitoring Gertrude’s movements, building up knowledge on how she dodges and
attacks. Once she has enough information, she suddenly stops moving and
Gertrude’s next bullet misses her by a hairs width.

An alchemy formulae for
the Divine Art ‘Frozen Spear’ appears before Hazel and ice coalesces in front
of her to form the ice spear. Hoping she will run out of mana soon, Gertrude
happily dodges to the side a second after the ‘Frozen Spear’ is launched. To
her utter surprise and shock, the spear of ice pierces through her shoulder as
if it changed trajectory to follow her. She bites her lip in pain and hastily
jumps back to the other side as Hazel uses the same Divine Art again.

Hazel has already
predicted where Gertrude will dodge to, and aims her spear for the centre if
that point. The ‘Frozen Spear’ causes the air to emit a frostbiting chill as it
seems to already know where Gertrude will be and pierces through her abdomen. A
third spear quickly appears while the girl struggling against the pain looks up
in shock and hastily announces her defeat.

Using so much alchemy as a
level 1 student would normally be impossible, especially after using the Tier 2
Divine Art. Hazel was only able to do this because she had reached the third
tier of her inherent skill ‘Mountain Pond Alchemy’. The Tier 3 Divine Art of
the alchemy path she decided to follow is a Passive Divine Art that increased
her maximum mana by thirty points.

Passive Divine Arts can
increase all stats, and there is no limit to the amount that can be
accumulated. Tier 3 Divine Arts are usually these passive bonuses with only a
few exceptions. Regal’s ‘Future Sight’ skill is one of these strange exceptions
and doesn’t have any passive bonuses.

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The entire afternoon
consists of different students duelling one another and getting used to their
new skills. The duels also help some of the students understand their skills
more, and further their insights into the alchemical formulae. Regal wins two duels
thanks to the assistance of ‘Foresight’, but loses one against Hazel Marquis
herself, which was predicted by all the other students.

Despite this, he still has
no greater understanding of the two alchemy skill than when he first learned
them.

The day comes to an end
and the rain outside also stops. A few dregs drip from above, and the roads are
still covered in small puddles, but the warm yellow glow of the evening sun is
reflected through Grand City Theore and fills everything with a peaceful
atmosphere. Many residents come out of their homes to sit in the sun, bathing
in the warmth that reaches their bones and fills them with the feeling of life.

Regal walks home by
himself and is captivated by the golden light reflecting off the water along
the cobblestone streets. The occasional drips of water and jubilant chatter
fills the city he walks through.

On Regal’s fourth day at
the academy, there are no practical lessons planned. He sits in his usual spot
in class, listening and taking notes on what is determined to be common
knowledge that everyone should have in this world.

Grand Theore has 47
floors, but not everyone can access all floors. Floors 1 through 9 are referred
to as the lower district and are where all the common Immortalis reside. The
stores mostly sell low quality goods with a few exceptions where average
quality goods become available.

Floors 10 to 39 are called
the middle district; well established families live here and have many high
leveled members. Most of the larger guilds reside in the middle district in
grand mansions that make people envious when seen.

The remaining floors 40 to
47 are called the upper district. Residents of this area are the upper echelon
of Grand Theore who are nobles, royalty, exalted hunters that have achieved the
highest levels, and the largest and most powerful of guilds who could be a
threat to a city if they turned against it.

Every single full resident
of the city is at least level 10. This is because in order to graduate from an
academy and become a hunter, each student is required to achieve this level.
This is also the level that an Immortalis is allowed to leave the city to
explore or wander throughout the world. All graduates receive a transmission
plate, a small silver plate with a reflective surface, that can be used
for instant communication once it has been held in close proximity and
registered with another’s transmission plate.

An identity plate is also
provided as proof of graduation. This card contains an Immortalis’ basic
information and level, and is automatically updated as a hunter levels up.

A hunter also has the
privilege of choosing a class title, such as how Mr. River describes himself as
a flame alchemist. There are no genuine classes in this world, but it is a
common occurrence for an Immortalis to self-assign a class title based on their
strengths to define themselves to others. This also helps during self
introductions when being accepted into a new party or looking for party
members.

***************************************************

Mr. River’s lesson about
the world, and the details that are common knowledge, continues all morning.
Lunch arrives and the student’s heads are buzzing with an enormous amount of
new information. The teachers don’t expect all the students to learn everything
he has imparted to them by explaining it only once, but plan to repeat parts of
the lessons to help the students memorize this material.

Regal is one of the last
students to leave the classroom. Veronica happily walks alongside him toward
the playground along with the other two Soulless kids, Klide and Astore,
following behind them. Klide and Astore are also fond of Regal, considering him
to be similar to a little brother that needs their protection.

Nearly all of the students
during lunch are showing off their alchemical and martial skills. The teachers
don’t stop this, but instead encourage it as practice will only help the
students master their skills and Divine Arts. Students are also permitted to
fight one another, but it must be done in the form of a duel, else the
punishment will be severe.

The academy’s equipment is
far too durable for the likes of the students to damage, so they don’t hold
back while unleashing fireballs, lightning spears and many other unique attacks
to show off to their friends. They are all from basic skills that a child at
level 1 can learn and within the first two Divine Arts, so their abilities
deliver no significant damage and when compared to many hunters, their Divine
Arts are almost party tricks that are visual only, dealing little damage with
each attack.

The four Soulless students
don’t participate in casting their skills to show off. Instead they sit against
the academy building as far away from the playground as possible in order to
avoid getting caught by an accidental attack.

“Regal, how are you doing
with your new skills?” Veronica asks bluntly while watching the other students
releasing their Divine Arts.

“I can use them, but I
don’t understand the formulae,” Regal answers back while recounting the confusion
he felt when trying to understand the circular alchemical formulae that formed
over his palm while using the Divine Art.

“Perhaps earth and ice
alchemy aren’t what you’re skilled at. How about with the martial skills?”

“The same as alchemy. I
can perform the moves, but I haven’t found any deeper meaning to them like how
Mr. River described.”

“Hmph, big sister will
help you out! We will practice together again. Come on!”

Veronica grabs Regal’s
hand and ferociously drags him away to practice their alchemy skills together.
Klide and Astore silently watch as Regal is dragged away before they also
decide to use their time wisely and start to practice their alchemy skills with
each other.

Every student is
completely out of mana and stamina when they return to class after lunch. The
depletion of mana causes the student’s minds to become dull and process
information much slower while a lack of stamina makes them feel weary. This
situation could affect them in battle, so the teacher reminds them that outside
of training they must always be mindful of how much mana and stamina they have.

Instead of returning home
after class, Regal heads toward the public library on Grand Theore’s first
floor. Bluemist Academy’s library is small with only a few books and little more
than the very basic of information about skills.

The public library
however, is a building sixty feet tall with gold plates wrapping around the
wall junctions like stitches. A strange clock with warped hands adorns the top
of the structure, and transparent reinforced glass reveals the internal cogs
and wheels gyrating as it operates. Small clicking sounds can be heard from
within the clock late at night when the surroundings are quiet enough.

Covering an area of 33
thousand square feet, the interior of the library is quite spacious. The ground
floor has rows of bookshelves neatly arranged, along with groups of large
tables placed strategically nearby. The floored area of the second to fourth
floors are sixty feet wide, and form a ring above the ground floor.

From the first floor, it
is possible to see a warped mirrored surface on the ceiling that reflects light
throughout the building. The source of light is a single chandelier hanging in
the center of the building, burning with inextinguishable vigor. This also
warms the atmosphere and causes this place to become the destination of many
Immortalis when the weather is wet and cold.

Regal follows behind a
party of hunters as they enter this library, only casually glancing at the few
buildings nearby that overshadow this grand structure. He ignores several
people who appear to be students from other academies and ascends a thin
staircase to the second floor near the back of the room. The second floor is
where the majority of information on alchemical and martial skills is stored.

He browses through several
shelves of books until he finds information books on both ‘Ice Heart Alchemy’
and ‘Vigorous Earth Alchemy’. The books are thin with two pages to introduce
each Divine art and describe their strength, weaknesses, and typical use in
battle. There are large tables and chairs placed in the spaces between the
groups of book shelves throughout the second to fourth floor. Regal sits down
at the nearest table and studies the two books carefully.

After researching all
there is to know about the two skills, Regal decides to continue down the
current skill paths from which he chose the Tier 1 Divine Art in order to reach
the incredibly useful Over-Tier Divine Arts.

By mastering ‘Ice Heart
Alchemy’ along his current skill path, he will get three passive Divine Arts
that will respectively increase his mana, intelligence, and luck. The bonuses
are small as are most passive Divine Arts, but it is an accumulative value. The
Over-Tier Divine Art he will get is called ‘Blooming Frost Lotus’, which causes
a dozen razor sharp ice lotuses to materialize in his vicinity and tear the
enemy to shreds.

‘Vigorous Earth Alchemy’
also has three passive Divine Arts. These give small boosts to health, stamina
and strength. The Over-Tier Divine Art along his current skill path is a
supportive Divine Art called ‘Vigorous Life’ that will temporarily triple his
maximum health at the expense of reducing his mana to a third.

As the library only
permits for books to be borrowed when paying a fee of two silver per book,
Regal places them back on the shelves while selecting a few others. It isn’t
just books about skills that he reads, but those relating to different types of
talents.

The library is open around
the clock, so Regal continues studying inside until long after the natural
sunlight fails. According to his research, when an Immortalis is talented in a
particular element of alchemy, they will either be talented in all alchemy or a
specific element type while having little talent in the opposing element. Regal
knows he isn’t the first type, but he may be the latter.

Ice alchemy is closely
related to water alchemy, and they both are in opposition to the fire element.
Earth alchemy is also closely related to metal alchemy and opposition to the
formless wind alchemy. If Regal is indeed the latter of the two types of
talent, he should at least have talent in either fire or wind element alchemy.
He could be gifted in both.

Unlike the library, all
the standard shops are closed so there is no method to purchase a new skill and
test this out. He also only has enough money for a single skill book, and
cannot afford to choose wrong.

Regal’s parents left him
with enough money to easily last until his graduation. He currently has ten
gold coins hidden away under his bed. A single gold coin will allow him to eat
for about a year, meaning he will need four gold coins to last until
graduation. Once he becomes a hunter, he will be qualified to work, or leave
the city to earn money from hunting.

Death in this world causes
a person to lose half the money they are carrying on them, regardless of the
circumstances. The only way to store money without losing it is to either keep
it in a hidden location, or store it with Yggdrasil, the banking and trading
company that stretches across the entire world. The problem for a student like
Regal is that he has to be a hunter before he can acquire an ‘Yggdrasil Card’.

Regal walks down the
cobblestone street amongst the jubilant cheers and sounds of drinking by the
hunters in nearby taverns, the light from their open doors spilling out into
the street an illuminating it more than the street lamps do. Rather than
heading home, Regal walks in a different direction toward a structure that is
similar to the public library and is always open.

Compared to the library,
this building has silver and obsidian plates and other adornments on it. Every
edge is sharp and lethal, so attempting to climb this building would be
suicidal. The name of this building is the Training Hall, as stated by a hanging
sign above the front door.

The floor area of the
building is significantly larger than that of the library, but it is only two
stories tall. The ground floor is for practicing long distance attacks, while
the second floor is separated for those practicing close distance attacks and
individual rooms for training supportive skills.

Regal doesn’t hesitate to
enter the complex. It is completely free to enter and train, but whoever is
training must supply their own ammunition and mana recovery items. Two
attendants at the front desk will supply these to those in need, but they
charge a price almost twice that of the market value.

Not wanting to waste
money, Regal doesn’t purchase any of these supplies and instead practices his
‘Ice Bullet’ Divine Art and ‘Revolver’ skill by shooting the ice bullets at a
target sixty feet away. He also tries to get used to using ‘Curve’, but every
time the bullet veers far off target and seems to hit a random location.

Regal even tries closing
his eyes and feeling the firing of the gun when using ‘Curve’, but even then,
there is no deeper understanding of the skill. Sitting down and meditating on
the spot while creating more bullets and focusing on the alchemical formulae,
Regal continues until he runs out mana.

Once he is out of mana, he
practices with his combat knife on the second floor until he is completely
exhausted. There is no time for studying once Regal returns home as his
weariness takes control and he immediately falls asleep.

***************************************************

The fifth day at Bluemist
Academy is the day that the students are tested on their knowledge of history
and common knowledge of the world.

Regal stares intently at
the test in front of him and answers one question after another with a steady
rhythm. The first twenty questions are multiple choice, where there is only one
correct answer out of four. This is the easiest part of the test and Regal is
confident he will be scoring top marks in this section.