Accommodation

Ch 18

POV Krauss

The campus was huge. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to call it a small fortified city. In the centre was a castle with a spire in the centre that went above the clouds, surrounded by multiple smaller ones. All the professor's private residences and experiment rooms were located there.

Outside the castle to the North was the students' residence with spell casters in the North-East and warriors in the North-West. Then in both the East and West directions from the castle were the markets. Shops selling weapons, potions, spells, scrolls, food and drinks, clothes, and really anything a city for spell casters and fighters would have.

In the south were the teaching facilities. The training fields and stadiums for combat practice, and the specially designed refinement rooms for warriors. Even the area where the entrance exam took place was in that direction.

The guide explained all of this to our group of 10 people before leading us to a single unremarkable-looking building in the residential section.

"This is C block of the spell casting department. I will leave you here. These are the key cards to your residence with your room number written on it." The guide bowed to us before leaving.

Room S-C-302… Room S-C-302... S-C-302 Is this it?

I put the card I was given in the slit.

"Kachik"

There was an audible click as I felt the lock being released and with a slight push, the door swung open revealing a decent-sized, well-furnished room. The main difference you could feel from a normal room was the density of mana in the air. It was because the all the buildings were filled with inscriptions and spells that attracted and increased the concentration of mana, especially the ones for more talented students.

This was to be my residence for the next five years. I went in and put my luggage from the storage ring in the cupboards. And in only a few minutes they were filled with my clothes, utensils and other necessary items. But the books that I stole from the Imperial library I still kept in my ring. Those were too valuable to leave my side.

It was then I noticed the document lying on the desk.

[

First Year Modules:

Compulsory Courses –

-Basic Spell Theory

-Mana Control I

-Combat Studies I

Electives –

-Enchanting I

-Rune Casting I

-Inscription I

-Alchemy I

.

Second Year Modules:

Compulsory Courses –

-World History

-Mana Control II

-Combat Studies II

Electives –

-Enchanting II

-Rune Casting II

-Inscription II

-Alchemy II

-Non-Elemental Spells I

.

Third Year Modules:

Compulsory Courses –

-Elemental Interactions

-Practical Combat I

-Advanced Mana Control I

Electives –

-Enchanting III

-Rune Casting III

-Inscription III

-Alchemy III

-Fire Element

-Water Element

-Earth Element

-Nature Element

-Wind Element

-Ice Element

-Lightning Element

-Non-Elemental Spells II

.

Fourth Year Modules:

Compulsory Courses –

-Advanced Spell Theory

-Advanced Mana Control II

-Practical Combat II

Electives –

-Enchanting IV

-Rune Casting IV

-Inscription IV

-Alchemy IV

-Light Element

-Dark Element

-Spatial Manipulation I

-Spell Creation I

.

Fifth Year Modules:

No compulsory courses

Electives –

-Enchanting V

-Rune Casting V

-Inscription V

-Alchemy V

-Spatial Manipulation II

-Spell Creation II

]

It was a submission form with a document attached which gave the course structure and also the detailed explanation of each subject with the number of credits from each one and the syllabi of each one of them. On top of the mentioned compulsory subjects, it was also compulsory for a student to choose at least one of the electives from Enchantment, Rune Casting, Inscription, Alchemy.

Since I had made that deal with Professor Tischer I would not really have to follow all of these regulations. I could just choose and not bother attending the classes if it felt like they were a waste of time.

After looking at the options I could choose, I wrote down my choice of elective — Rune Casting.

To explain, runes are an ancient language in which magic is displayed without the use of spell models. However even this is a temporary way to display spells in written form. It only exists as long as the caster keeps supplying it with mana and this continuous consumption is a very substantial one. This is a major liability for rune casting. Most people already have difficulty in casting spells continuously while keeping an eye on the battle. To add the usage of runes in this mix was very difficult.

The main reason I chose this was that it added to my battle prowess directly. Enchantments and alchemy require rare materials and inscriptions are just another way of making traps. On the other hand, the use of runes is diverse and immediate, and it requires nothing but your own concentration.

I submitted my form at the front desk of the building I was in which my room was in and the clerk accepted it quickly after seeing my room key card which was essentially an id card.

"Hey, you're my neighbour right?" A voice called out just as I was turning to leave.

I managed to recognize the person who had called me. He was one of people brought to this tower along with me.

"You are?" I asked in a polite voice.

"Ah yes, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Alfred Rose, a noble from the Carnel Empire."

Rose family? Instantly alarm bells instantly went off in my head and I thought back to all the events in the last few days to check if my identity could have leaked somehow. But I soon calmed down when I remembered Professor Tischer. He might have done this on purpose to hide my identity better. By hiding a high-profile noble near me to attract all the attention I would be relatively safer and wouldn't stand out as much.

Rose family was one of the greatest noble families in the Carnel Empire and the head, Alexander Rose had the title of a Duke. It was one of the few families that remained neutral in the struggle for the throne. This Alfred Rose was Alexander Rose's younger son, second in line heir to the Rose family. I didn't know he was also attending Greenwich.

"Sorry. I was a bit taken aback by your identity. I am Leon Durnell, also from the Carnel Empire. Nice to meet you Sir Alfred." I replied with a slight bow.

"So you are also from the Carnel Empire? No need to treat me like some stuck up noble if that is what you are afraid of." He said he said in a lightheartedly before continuing in serious tone "But by Durnell do you mean…"

"Yes. It is the same Durnell that you are thinking of. I am the last survivor after it got destroyed, a member from the branch family."

Durnell wasn't some name I had chosen randomly. It used to be a Count family. At the start of the war with Gretel half of the Durnell family betrayed the Carnel Empire and tried to switch sides. Unfortunately, even that turned out to be a ploy of the Gretel Empire and as a result the whole family perished just like that.

It was the largest damage that Gretel Empire had caused to the Carnel Empire, a whole Count family destroyed due to their own foolishness. I myself went to eliminate some of its straggling rebels, undercover of course.

"Sorry for reminding you of it." Alfred said in a slightly apologetic tone.

"No need to worry. It's all in the past. Also, the cause of it was our own greed so we can't blame anyone." I hurriedly stopped him from apologizing and tried to change the topic. "But I must also say I didn't expect a main branch member of the Rose family to become a spell caster."

"It wasn't because of choice or anything." He replied with a wry smile. "My Warrior talent was too low and I showed affinity to wind element. It was only natural that I would choose to be a spell caster."

Not really. A lot of people don't choose to become a spell caster even after having the talent to do so due to the fear of being driven mad. He could have chosen a more academic route like a merchant or scholar, but the fact that he chose spell casting already shows his courage. It was nice to see a noble scion not be an arrogant, overly privileged pig for once. It seems the Rose family knew how to raise children properly.

Me and Alfred talked a bit more about our life in the Carnel Empire. I made sure to keep the topic more on his life than mine and when it was my turn I would feed him the story I had prepared for myself. It was not an uncommon tale. A small noble from the branch family surviving a disaster by luckily managing to hide. With his family now gone and with nothing in hand the only thing left is his own talent, leading to the decision to attend the Greenwich Institute.

In a war-ridden world like this let alone families, entire kingdoms and empires collapsed. The fact that the Carnel and Gretel empire have such a long history already showed their strength as empires. Just look at what happened to the Vortemund Clan. One of the strongest clans was just wiped off the face of the world in a single night.

I wanted to go check out the library but everything in this place costed points and I had none right now. So having nothing else to do I was forced to return to my room. In the end I just opened another spell tome I copied to pass time.

This time it was the Calm spell.

** ** **