Ch39. Academy Life.

So another two weeks have passed by and I am currently riding my Bike to the academy, not much has changed during this time as I have been mostly focusing on my studies and plans for the future. My clan members all think it is very weird that I am so focussed on business and constantly busy with either studying or working. I mean I am technically only 10 years old. I know I don't act like it at all, but I just brush off their strange gazes and just let people come to their own conjectures. Seriously though, who in their right mind will actually think that I am a much older person who has taken over a child's body? They will most likely just think that I am just a super mature child or something along those lines.

Anyway, after arriving at the Academy I store my bike away, use my key to open the front gate and enter the Academy. I tend to arrive pretty early in the morning in order to avoid all the annoying students attending this academy. The first few times I arrived later in the morning, I was approached by a crowd of students who decided to 'haze' me. The thing about this Academy is that fights are allowed between students, you just have to match the level of your opponent. for instance, if two first circle mages were to fight, they won't need to hold back at all, well besides not using any potentially lethal spells. However, if a third circle decided to pick a fight with a First Circle, he will then only be allowed to use his first circle when fighting, although he will still obviously have an advantage.

The Academy enforces this by the use of our academy badge, the badge has a Magic Rune inscription that displays our Level in Magic as well as monitors some of our behavior when we use magic. If you violate any of the 'unwritten' rules, you will then get severely beaten up by one of the teachers, and they just love to take their frustrations out on students, so even if you are crazy, you still better follow those rules.

Anyway back to the point, I was surrounded by a group of students trying to pick on one of the 'new' kids and get me to join their little 'gang'. I obviously refused, they then proceeded to beat me up… Yes I know this is not very 'Protagonist like', it's just that I had no chance to win that fight, I obviously attempted to fight back. Even though the older students were not allowed to use their first circle, they were still way ahead of me in the understanding of Runes and much stronger in a variety of other areas, so the only conclusion was to get beaten up by five 'seniors'.

Unfortunately for them, getting hurt isn't something I am unfamiliar with, I just shrugged it off after they were done and then continued with my day. Other little 'gangs' would try the same for a variety of reasons, such as trying to steal my food that is provided by the cafeteria or even just because I was walking 'in their path'. I know this all seems juvenile and ridiculous, but most of these people are little children between the age of 11 and 15, who have been stuck in a shitty Academy with very little future prospects ... so yeah some things are understandable. Luckily for me, since I spent most of my time in the Library, the only chance they got to 'annoy' me was in the morning and then in the evening when I left.

Even though these encounters didn't bother me too much, since it happens to everyone, including the older students. It's hard to even walk around this place without encountering some type of fight, I just somehow deal with it. I have no intention of joining any of their gangs and as soon as I become a circle 1 mage, I will probably start recruiting some of the students into my Clan. As long as I play my cards right I can gain the loyalty of these young Mages and then as long as I can build on that loyalty I will eventually create a solid foundation for my clan. Another benefit with having the, join my clan is that I can then start beating up all those fuckers who have been messing with me, lets see how they like to be ganged up on!!.

Some of these little wanna be gangsters tried messing with Nafets. Unfortunately for them, since he is always drunk, every time he was punched, he would immediately vomit on the attacker, his aim is insanely good and he never seems to run out of puke … So now everyone just avoids him, I mean seriously . . . fighting is fun and all but getting vomit on you will gross anyone out. He is probably the only person in this entire academy that everyone tries to actively avoid. For an instance there I even considered copying his move, but I don't actually mind getting in fights and seriously . . . just no, I would rather keep what little reputation I have, thank you very much.

After making my way through the school, I arrive at a specific building that is quite large and has a ridiculously pointed roof, I approach the door but I don't knock or enter. Instead I take out my pocket watch and keep waiting until the watch strikes 6am. I then knock on the door exactly three times and then continue waiting.

The reason I have to wait until 6am is because the person I am going to meet is a very 'particular' person, if I knock even a second too early she will not open the door for the rest of the day. This person is one of the few Professors in this academy and one of the most knowledgeable Rune theorists in this city. The reason why she is working at this reject of an academy is due to her attitude, she has pissed off and attacked a large amount of people who have unknowingly violated one of her little 'rules'.

Anyway enough about that, her name is Epolenet, and I have been giving her sizable 'donations', consisting of a few gold coins. It was quite easy to bribe her and getting her to help me out in choosing the most optimal runes for my first circle. I have decided to play it safe and only aim for a 10 Rune Circle, this is one more that Epolenet recommended, but I have at least this much confidence in myself.

One of the great things about her is that she has such a wide range of Rune knowledge, she even knows some obscure Runes that nobody uses, since they are considered useless. She has quite a bit of knowledge regarding Rune variations, failed Rune experiments and even how to subtly adapt these Runes to better fit your own preferences. She has introduced me to a large variety of passive Runes that could be helpful when used to affect my body

Another reason why I was so willing to 'bribe' her, is that she is in possession of quite a few useful Rune Tools, one of these tools is a Rune simulator. What this does is mimic the properties of Magical Energy, allowing those who either have yet to start gathering Magical Energy or those who don't have sufficient energy to practice creating various Runes. This has helped me immensely in my understanding of Runes since I am not able to Externally create Runes. I have been using this device to perfect the creation process of the Runes I want to add to my body.

After waiting exactly 10 minutes, Epolenet opens the door and gestures for me to enter. She then turns around and walks towards her lab. After arriving in the room, she turns around and asks "So what do you need today?"

I have come to understand her personality over the last week, so I don't expect her to say hi or even attempt to include any pleasantries when she talks. She is super direct and if you don't respond to her as bluntly as you can, she will get visibly annoyed and possibly kick you out of her house. I therefore just respond saying, "I want to use the Rune Testing Machine and I think I have finalised the remaining five Runes for my first Circle. I would like you to approve them as well as explain their exact locations in the body."

She just nodded her head and the crossed her arms in front of her, she than said "Show me the creation process of your chosen Runes, I will only explain their location to you if they have been created perfectly."

I just sigh, 'I have been trying to get her to tell me the location for various runes in the last few weeks and she still insists that she will only tell me that when I am able to perfectly create the Runes… so annoying...'

I then proceed to walk up to the device, turn it on and prepare to create my first Rune. The next five Runes I will be adding to my First Circle are …