Off to School

"I have several concerns." Elton said, "What about the kings already there? Or what if people just don't want to join because their current situation is good?"

"Good questions, but my plan isn't to just barge into the biggest kingdom and take it. I plan to start small, we are situated really firmly into Fahlhala and I want to keep going to the smaller villages. If possible, we can use Zeeths talents to take over forests and places that animals reside. From there, we can train the people and create an army never seen before, a perfect combination of wild animals and humans. Then, in larger nations, we will build a reputation, help those in need and make the nation a better place, when we are firmly in place, we can take over the king, possibly expose some of their bad deeds, and take them.

Now, this is a lot of work, and it's a long, arduous journey. But I think we can do it, and when it's all done, the rewards we reap will be far greater than the work we put in. we will be the right-hand men of the king of the WORLD!

LET'S DO THIS!"

"YEAH!"

Linda told Zeeth, "as we said, his fake name was Gorn Wilbur. I recommend going low and asking some people if they know what happened to that person and if anyone has been acting differently from usual. But knowing Dirt, he probably learned every single thing about the person before impersonating them with our suit.

Right now, we are headed for Serkle headquarters to put the suit on and get the paperwork done for getting you to school. Now, no one, not a single person at school knows what's going on. Not the teachers, not the headmaster, if any of them knew, they would have a connection to you and Dirt will pick up on their subtle movements, like eye movements and involuntary breathing changes or hand twitches. So no one there is your friend and no one knows you.

This means you will have to prove to the people there that you are a student worthy of being there. We will send some recommendations to them but it's mostly up to you.

You will go in under the name Weld Mith. Your father was Marny Mith and your mother died shortly after birth. Your father never wanted to talk about her. If you have any questions, talk to us. All of this is based on a friend of mine hiding in the mountains so no one knows him. You'll be impersonating him."

"But if I lie about my name wouldn't he know?"

"That's why we will teach you everything you need to know before you get there. If you believe it yourself then he won't notice."

"Our first destination," Page said, "is a little town down from here. It's not all that exciting, but there is a collapsed temple there that I know the solution to. And a small town just left of it full of tribes. If we bring peace to them all I'm sure we can get them to trust us."

Zeeth stood in the center of a circular room full of people. Linda brought out a suit, a blue skin-tight suit covered in blue blobs.

He took the suit, went into one of their dressing rooms, and put it on under his slimes and robe. He kept one slime, Al, under it with him in case anything happened. The rest hid in his robe, waiting for him to put them back in after they molded the suit.

Linda showed the team a three-dimensional picture of Weld Mith, a tall, slightly chubby man with a little facial hair. About as different from Zeeth as anyone.

During the time they sculpted, Linda gave him tips on Dirt and how to avoid his detection.

"Now, he might be interested in you because you're a transfer. So he might think you were sent by us so you must throw him off his tracts as early as possible. Weld dislikes talking to people but that might have to change. You need information and you need to be a people person. But he loves animals and the sort."

"What was Dirt's mission?"

"What?"

"Well, you said he was acting as a student. What was his objective, specifically?"

"Well, there was a student in the school, Edmund Lagen. He's the son of a Duke of the Birmalu Kingdom and we wanted to know what his father knew. They hinted at the possibility of revealing us to the world so we tried to find out what they knew. Edmund was in Special Class S, so was Dirt and hopefully, so will you.

To reach that class you need three things, glowing recommendations, amazing skills, and approval by at least three staff members. For the last one, they will ask what the school means to you or why you want to enter it, you just need to spin fabulous lies about how great the school is. We have a few examples you can try."

"Can I see Dirt's face? What he looked like as usual and under disguise."

"Yes, here it is." She gave him her screen with two pictures. Dirt was a tall, skinny man with long hair bundled into a ball. He was dressed in all black and had black skin.

Gorn, on the other hand, was tall but fat. He was bald and large, reminding him of a large teddy bear that one of his take mothers gave him.

The others backed away from him and he realized they had completed the shit. He looked down and saw a body that wasn't his. His stomachs protruded a little and felt uncomfortable. He wanted to rip it off.

"How does Dirt stand this? It's so-"

"We can't do much about the body. We have to put more weight on you to make a full-body disguise that stays.

We can send you as far as the school gates but the rest is up to you."

Page began drawing a circle on the floor with Skwil sitting on his shoulder. He drew in eight circles spaced evenly in the larger one then drew complex patterns in each one, connecting them.

"Hey, you know a lot about circles," she said, surprised.

"I spent a lot of time studying them. I knew my magic alone was weak so I made up for that with this. Although I have a pretty basic understanding of it compared to you. You understand every line and stroke, what they do and how they affect the circle. I just memorized a few tips and tricks and a few general meanings, like how that triple cross there helps determine location."

"Yeah, actually, the first line directs the circle to the left or right, the second one is up and down and the last is forward or back. The length of the line tells how far we go. My magic is considerably weaker than yours, a combination of my small body and species limitations. I was just lucky enough to have an interest in this and have the resources to learn it. This circle will teleport us 50 miles east."

"Yeah, that's the plan. But I have to go to that location first and scout it out and draw a circle there too."

"Not if you add a ninth circle. One to correct for obstructions in the way and the curve of the planet."

"You can do that?!"

"Yes. But we'll need to redo the whole thing. It's quite a complex one that I haven't cleaned out yet. Still a little rough and messy around the edges but it's better than going there first."

"Oh, great! Let's do that."

Rolas hopped down, used her furry tail to dust the floor clean, and began drawing again, creating much straighter, thinner lines with her shard nails. She trailed magic behind in the circle to make it more resilient like a polish coating.

Zeeth called God's number and tried the obvious question, "where is Dirt Diamond, who is he, what does he want and how can I trap him."

But he was met with his predicted response, "haw! How is that fun? Figure it out yourself, this is your story!"

"Then will God's Eye reveal who it is?"

"Who knows? You'll just have to see for yourself. What if he isn't hiding as one of the students at all? What if he's just gone? Or maybe even… dead?"

"Is he?"

But God just smiled at him.

"Alright, when I find out I'm going to make my life as boring as possible."

"And not rule the world? And be sent down to hell forever? How are you going to do that?

I can see this conversation going a million different ways, do you want to waste your ten minutes like this? I have more urgent matters to tend to."

"Then at least give me his dimensions. How tall, wide, and long he is, everything from wrists to hips."

"Sure."

Page was amazed at Skwil's skill. The circles and lines she drew were perfect, far better than what he did with a metal rod.

"By the way," she asked, "you said you needed to tell Zeeth something about the gates to Hell. Did you tell him?"

"Oh, crap I forgot. No, it wasn't anything serious, I was just thinking over the patterns of the gates and comparing them and I realized, they don't have a preset location for appearing as I thought. They appear around Zeeth."

"Why? How do you know?"

"Oh, a little bit of observation. I don't know why. Maybe I'll send a letter to the school later."

On the car ride to school, Zeeth asked, "Hey, what are the laws of this place regarding attacks from students? Like, if someone attacks me first, can I take their things like how they take thieves' stuff in other cities?"

"The rules are similar. Most of the world works by those rules but it's often hard to prove you're right. A lot of people keep mini orbs on them to record the whole thing but if someone attacks you first, you can take their things, anything you either took to stop them or the court gives you what they think is fair."

"There's a court in the school?"

"Yes. They are rich but severely understaffed as they only take teachers who love them. The court is just made up of teachers and top students. It sounds rigged but their rules follow most other rules so if you provide you deniable evidence, they can't do much but strictly follow. Otherwise, you can sue them for real.

Why do you ask? Do you intend on attacking anyone?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No, nothing like that. If you thought that, why did you answer?"

"You're doing a mission for us, I'll give you as much information as you need for this."

"By the way, could you explain some of those artifacts Page chose? He didn't explain much."

"What would you like to know?"

"I dunno. What are the ones I get and what do they do?"

"Um, let's see. We've got a Winged Wind Wig. Every hair is from the hairs of the majestic gliding otters, famed for their ability to glide for long periods of time like their flying by using their various hairs and wide surface area to fly around. You put it on your head and it supports your entire weight, pulling you up and allowing you to soar a little better with each jump.

By the way," she looked out the window and saw flowers growing with them as they went, "are these flowers yours?"

"Yes, sorry about that. I cover them as we go so we won't leave a trail but I can't really control their growth. It's a passive skill."

"You have a passive skill to grow flowers?" she chuckled, "how did that happen?"

"Yeah, it- it's a long story."

Natural Assistance changed the world around him in small ways as he saw fit. Meaning, deep down, he knew the growth of flowers and grass was something he wanted so the skill did it for him. It simply used Leaf's growth abilities to cause the buds and seeds around him to open and bloom.

If needed, small parts of the ground will also shift to flatten or change to match his foot placement.

Afir waved his hand, ripping off the roof of a large mansion. Inside were three white spheres, each different sizes, and a woman between them meditating. His actions disrupted her, causing her to peek out at him. A large pair of wings burst from his back and fear etched into her face like carvings.

"NO!! Don't! I- I'm almost there! Perfect, Pure Mana! Just-just give me some time!"

"Haha, you still haven't figured that out yet? Listen, you are nowhere close. But that doesn't matter now." he drew his claws and swiped the spheres into threes. "You know I can't allow this. Not with the use of human lives, nor to strengthen my enemies."

She got back up, launching three boomerangs at him. He frowned, tilting his head, shaking his long white hair, missing him narrowly. She grinned, looking at what he just did.

Three strings glinted in the sun just beside his face directly where the boomerangs just flew by. She pulled her hands back, yelling, "Retract!"

"My hair isn't just decoration. They have a purpose, otherwise, I would've lost it. I hate pointless things."

Behind him, the three boomerangs connected by the strings shattered into pieces. The center connected by the strings came back to her, flying near Afir. She held the three pieces in her hand, dismayed. The rest fell from the sky and exploded into a large billow of smoke and fire.

"You should watch out for your own weapons," Afir said.

She looked up and back down, noticing the pieces she held began glowing. She tossed them aside but the threads were knotted together. The three exploded in her face, knocking her off the mansion.

Zeeth stepped into the front doors of the school. It was a massive brick building with many barred windows and large front gates.

He was greeted by an old man who barked, "Who're you?"

"I could ask you the same."

"Zeeth, don't be rude. He would like to enroll in this school."

"It's the middle of the year!"

"I know, it's a transfer from homeschooling. His father finally realized that his teachings in the mountains just weren't enough so he sent him here, to the best school in the nation."

"You're darn right, it's the best school! Your boy had better be good, we only accept the best here!"

"Can we go in?"

"No! Can't let anyone in!"

A woman from three stories up poked her head out a window. Zeeth looked up just in time to see her shadow zip back in and he thought, 'Must be some student. Maybe I'm seeing things?'