Chapter 15: The Young Lords

Trio left their second class for the day and made their way to the lunch room.

"Get me some." Eluril woke up when she smelled the meat roasting. Today they were serving large steaks that looked to Alex like prime rib. He knew that it most likely came from a Rank 1 beast again.

After loading up six trays between the three individuals, they made their way to a large table and had a boisterous lunch. They went over all of the interesting points of professor Keller's lectures this morning.

Alex had only finished half of his steak and was already starting to feel full. 'I will just toss the rest. I don't want to get too full, the combat class is next.' With this thought he lazily pushed away his tray.

"Eat it all." He heard Eluril's contented voice. He looked over to see her curled up on the table looking at him.

"I am pretty full, and I don't want to feel bloated in the next class."

With a roll of her eye she sent back, "then push your energy to your stomach and hold it there for as long as you can."

Alex was skeptical, but he did as instructed. He slowly roused the energy inside his body. It started in his chest and ribs. Slowly it spread to include his shoulders. Alex focused on his stomach and the energy responded by slowly moving toward it. It was not fast, but it was moving. This whole time, anywhere the energy passed it would feel warm and prickly. His hairs would stand on end above the paths it took through his body.

The energy was not consolidated at all. It moved like a fog that was dispersed throughout his body. Once a piece of it touched his stomach a change occurred. The organ became like a magnet and it began to quickly draw all of his energy in. He desperately tried to rouse up as much energy as he could. No matter what he did, it was not enough energy.

Drained of energy Alex opened his eyes. The world swam in his vision for a fraction of a second. He felt so tired. Eluril saw this and seemed to know what he was feeling.

"Take a moment, it will pay off in a second." Eluril's kind voice was very reassuring.

Slowly, Alex felt as though a second wind was coming. It built and built until he felt great. But it didn't stop there. It wasn't until he had so much energy that he was feeling fidgety, that the wave of energy stopped. This wasn't like his energy. There was nothing mystical about it. It simply felt like hyper. Like he couldn't sit still if he wanted to.

After watching him fidget for a moment Eluril smiled at him and said, "good. Now, eat the food and lets get going. Don't want to be late on your first day."

"You know you are the same age as me right?" Alex responded as he pulled his try back in front of him.

Eluril responded with a roll of the eye. "Women age more quickly then Men. Mentally anyway."

After finishing he looked over at Tom and Red. Both Sylph and the porcupine finished their food. But Red and Tom had barely made it past half way through their steaks.

"Tom, it's not like you to pass up a good meal. What gives?" Alex asked slightly concerned that Tom might be getting sick.

"I know right! Normally I could put away three steaks this size. But now I am so bloated I couldn't eat another bite."

Red answered while rubbing his stomach, "it is the mana. This is a rank 1 monsters meat. The high level of energy inside of it will take time to digest, but it is much better for us than anything else." After a small burp he continued. "I don't know exactly how it works, but our spirit contract will allow our partners to take in the mana we ingested and calm it. They will then use it to slowly enhance their rank."

"Does that mean that our mana cycles back and forth between us through the contract?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, how else did you think they raised our rank when they progressed?" Red asked.

Alex didn't know how to respond. He could only look at Eluril.

"He is not wrong. That is how it normally works." Her voice was calm, almost bored. "But we are different." She stretched out as she stood on the table. "Lets get going or you will be late."

Alex made to stand as she climbed into her new home on his shoulder. If Alex was honest, he much preferred her new choice of napping location to the old net sack.

"Well, best to leave the rest of that for class later then. We should head to class."

Tom and Red moved to follow.

It was nearly one in the afternoon by the time they made it to the large field where the Basic Combat Skills course was held. This was the same field near the gate where the tests had been held the day before. In fact the five testing areas where still set up, with some miner differences. For instance, the strength testing area now held many stone balls that ranged in size from fist sized, to a meter in radius.

After a few minutes the whole class was assembled, but there was still no sign of professor Elwin.

A few more minuets passed and still, there was no sign of the professor. The students had begun to chat and guess about what was keeping the professor.

Suddenly, an ear piercing sound rang out over the field. It was as though someone had taken a large a handful of marbles and dropped them on a hollow wooden box. Only the rhythm of knocks was too regular and too quick.

It happened again and many of the students thought they might damage their hearing. Alex was fine, his constitution would not let something like this hurt him. But it was still very annoying. He looked up just in time to see a large crane, wreathed in flames fly over head.

The crane was huge, and its flames were dazzling. They streaked through the air like the tail of a meteor. It flew around the field once before landing softly in front of the students.

Some began to run, others simply dropped to the floor and could not move for the moment. More than a couple thought that this beast would eat them all.

"If you continue to run you will be removed from the academy!" A prideful voice came from the back of the large flaming crane. "The academy needs no cowards."

This stopped the running students. Most began to fearfully walk back, some were still skeptical and stayed where they were.

Alex, Red, and Tom were front and center for all of this. None of the moved. No one could tell if that was due to fear or bravery. Eluril definitely thought it was the former as she nestled back into Alex's neck.

Professor Elwin and four upper class men dismounted from the large bird and stood before the class.

"I am professor Elwin Pheonix. The two directly behind me are my nephews. They are your seniors, make sure you show the proper respect. The two behind them are their followers." Elwin was slowly passing his judgmental eyes over the students. "They will be helping with your assessment."

"What will the assessment be for professor?" Tom asked with an ingratiating tone.

Professor Elwin turned in his direction and sneered slightly. "I will assess what weapons most suit you. They will be helping me by collecting data." Elwin stared daggers at Tom as he took a single step in our direction. "Do not, ever, speak in my class unless you are asked a question. Understood?" His cold and distant tone was as chilling as a winter wind.

Tom nodded and took a step back. His gaze did not leave the ground for at lease three minuets.

"As I was saying. Their names are Charles and Mason Pheonix." As he said the names he motioned to his left and right sides respectively.

Charles was a decently tall boy, nearly six foot two inches. He had short blond hair that was styled meticulously into points. He had blue eyes and dressed in a fashionable black suit. Not overly dressed, but he definitely gave off an air of aristocracy.

Mason on the other hand, was a muscular man, nearly as tall as Alex at six foot six inches. His hair was shaved clean off, but he had a large black beard. His dark brown eyes matched his black vest and red dress shirt. Or at least it had been a dress shirt, before Mason seemed to have ripped the sleeves off. He gave a feeling of tempered ferocity.

These two young lords of the Pheonix family could not appear more different.