Chapter 17

"Almost the entirety of the Northern side of the campus is intended for practical training." Evelyn explained. After her summary of what to do, she began the tour. "For this reason, there aren't many buildings. Things tend to get damaged."

The campus was large, so the tour was only going to go over places that would be immediately important for me to know. On the way, she gave me various fun facts and pieces of information about the academy's history, or it's architecture, classes, or teachers.

As I would be attending the Special training class, we skipped over most lecture halls. She asked if there were any I thought I might be interested in attending, but I didn't know any, so I couldn't say.

Of all the things I was shown, there were two three things I would take note of. The first was the building I would be attending classes.

From the outside, it was a large semi circle, sticking with the city's theme of being carved from white stone. I could only assume that there would be either more small classes in that building, or it had another use, as it was far too big for just twenty to thirty people.

The second place I took interest in was the library, a rectangular building rimmed by large columns of marble.

The third and final building I memorized the location of was the Southern dorms. This was where I would be spending most my nights from now on.

The dorm building, or rather, buildings, were two mirrored buildings, rectangular in shape, towering three stories tall, and very, very long.

One building was for the young men, while the other, the women. A hallway, dividing the two buildings in half, served a connecter between them, and more importantly, was the entrance into the complex.

Evelyn explained that the front desk should be staffed at all hours of the day, so if I ever needed anything, even late at night, I could just go and ask.

This is where Evelyn took her leave. She explained to me how I should go about getting my citizenship, before returning to her job. I went to check out my new bedroom.

It was quite lavish, and completely different from the one on the farm. With light wood paneling the walls, and white marble accents following the corners and around just about anything the designers could justify, the room seemed fight for an emperor. It made me wonder what the Emperor's room looked like, if this was what they gave a student.

The bed was incredibly large, and would easily be able to fit four or five people. Despite the already isolated nature of the single person dorms, the bed had a personal silk curtain around it. Opposite the bed was a walk-in closet, filled with the schools robes.

From what I knew, the color of the robes was a denotation of something within the school. The robes Max had shown to me before he left had a black undershirt, wrapped in a deep red crimson toga, trimmed in gold.

Christoph and Kaiden were dressed similarly, but their robes where accented with a slight floral pattern at the edges. I wasn't entirely sure what their relation to the academy was, as they seemed closer to the association than the school.

'Their graduation robes, perhaps?' It made sense. Graduating from the Therian Mage Academy was a great accomplishment, one to wear with pride, and it wouldn't be hard to believe that the graduation robes were enchanted with runes, making them practical, as well.

Another variation of the robes I had seen was a white undershirt, and a purple toga, again having the floral accents. The people I had seen wearing this during the tour looked more mature than the average student, so I assumed it marked teacher or staff.

My robes, it seemed, were made extra special. The undershirt was a dark gray, and the toga was the deepest black I had ever seen, trimmed in a silver edge, with no floral pattern.

If the regular robes were meant to be eye catching, this would be subtle. Which was somewhat ironic, as I had seen no robes on campus that looked even remotely liked this, meaning it would stick out like a sour thumb with other students.

It seems, whoever was in charge of the school wanted other students to know who those of us in the special class were.

I took a few minutes to unpack my things, before trying on one of the robes. It fit surprisingly well, and made me wonder if it was a coincidence, or there someone had magically measured me and prepared the room beforehand. Regardless, I changed back into my regular clothes, and headed back out of the campus, through the large Southern archway, and into the city. I was on my way to get my citizenship.

This would be rather easy, apparently, if not a bit time consuming. Technically, I have always been a citizen of Theria, and the Therian Empire. It was just that, as I had never been to the city, I hadn't gone and done the process. The city, of course, didn't find it necessary to bring proof of citizenship to some random farm boy either.

After a quick stop at a map, I headed to something of an office, that was supposed to handle affairs like this. After waiting for about an hour, I was finally sat down with one of the staff. I answered some questions, took a literacy and basic intelligence test, and was sent on my way, know with a piece of parchment that said I legally lived here now.

I spent the rest of the day looking around the city, as Evelyn had recommended. At first, I was getting lost every few minutes, but after a little while, I had memorized some landmarks I could use to always get back to the plaza, at least.

I spent some time asking around for Max and Val. It seemed that, at least here in the southern plaza, no one knew about them. Having no luck with that, and realizing how late it had gotten, I decided to grab something to eat.

I found a small stand that was selling sea food, which seemed like a common market here. I had, of course, had sea food before, living near the coast, but the ways this man prepared his food was astounding. He was either a master of his craft, or my little village was lacking. Probably a mix of both.

After I finished my food, I was ready to call it a day. One long walk later, I was finally back at the dorm building, walking through to door to my room.

The bed was the most comfortable thing I had ever tried to sleep on, yet I found it difficult to sleep. I don't know if it was because I was anxious, or if I realized just how far from home I was, but I got little sleep that night.