Chapter 08: Grand City of Midgard

       "You look baffled, Riku. Well, it's maybe your first time seeing a lot of Alchemist, roaming a giant city, welcome to the Gateway of Eden, the Grand Lake City of Midgard" Alastor exclaimed. I saw a lot of stalls that sell materials, mana items, and also food stalls too, it's a very vibrant and vast city.

"Well, I'm finally here, what should I now register in the Academy?" I asked. "You're so hasty, just like your dad. Come, follow me" he said. And then I followed him to a place, there I see a lot of young Alchemists with their parents, are they the students or entrees?

       Then we came to a reception table, Alastor spoke to the receptionist, it seems like these young people are the same as me, entrees, I see a lot of girls more than guys here, well, maybe because of this world's stereotype, magic for girls, swords for boys, gah, I just hate social stereotypes.

"Ah, Riku, could you lend me your tutelage papers? We gotta need it for verification" Alastor asked. I handed it out, "What do we need it for?" I asked.

       "Because we'll ride on a ferry to Eden, and only people that have a link to Alchemy can enter the continent" he explained. A ferry huh, well the continent is in the middle of the lake after all.

Wait, why do they call it a continent if it is just located in the middle of an enormous lake? Huh, stuff to research again, but ferry huh, I've never traveled on any boat even from my past life, I just hope I don't have any motion sickness, or it would be so embarrassing.

It seems like Alastor is done and now he's handing out some Silver Coles, it seems so pricey for me for just two ferry tickets, maybe I'm still a cheap person even here, haha.

       "Why're you giggling? Got your tension up? Here's your ticket, don't lose it. Let's go do some shopping before the ferry arrives" he said.

"What're we going to shop for, Alastor?" I asked. "We need to buy you some clothes, some materials, books, and maybe a wand or a staff for starters. Oh, what weapons do you usually use to fight, Riku?" He asked.

       I frowned, and force a smile on my face, "Um, I don't have any weapons, I just use Mana Items usually since I also had Faie to support me" I explained. His expression stiffened, and I feel like I'm going to get scolded, but instead, he ruffled both Faie and my head.

"Riku... Lilith's first tenet, Mana isn't a weapon, you know that, and Faie you should support Riku but don't let him take advantage of what you shouldn't do, you need a weapon" he advised.

       "I'm sorry, Faie, Alastor" I apologized. Faie smiled and Alastor nodded and he lead us to a place.

"What is this place?" I asked. "This, is the Mana Blacksmiths, this is where Alchemists make their weapons or they could also make for themselves, though, it's best to do for now," he said and we entered the place.

       It was full of charcoal smells, and lines of shelves for materials and grumpy old men is glaring at the three of us.

"Oh, you again Alastor, now back with a pupil, I see" the man speaks, "Nah, this is my nephew, Old Otto. I see you still grumpy as always, he needs a weapon, fast, before our ferry arrives, can your bones still hold and able?" Alastor smirks.

       "You're rude as always, hope the boy doesn't get it, it seemed very contagious in your family. And yes, I can do that much" he teased back.

"It's nice to see your joke back, Riku, you have to pick some Mana Item you made before that will be the materials of your weapon, and which you prefer? Wand or Staff?" Alastor asked.

       "Staff, I think these are the best Mana Items I've made so far, it's a Star Crystal, a slab of Altena Ingot, a Gearbox, and a piece of Mana-eurism Core, but could you let me make another type of weapon than staff or wands?" I asked.

"You certainly can, I will allow you to use my Workshop, but with my help and you still need to pay, how is it?" Otto asked.

     "Perfect!" I commented, "Wait, Riku. How did you able to synthesize Mana-eurism Core?" Alastor asked. "I found the materials and recipe in Dad's Workshop, why?" I asked back.

Alastor shakes his head and I proceed to make my weapon. I planned to make some sort of a rifle since I trained in Gunmanship a lot in my past life so why not? Of course, it will have something to do with Alchemy or magic.

{Winter, 05th | 1 AT | Otto's Workshop}

       I've done it! I made a rifle that can shoot off Elemental attacks using Elements as its bullet, hence I named it Element Rifle. I'm very proud of myself.

And I also made some sort of a hand dispenser that dispenses and shoots Dirks, Dirk is a lethal Mana Item and it could be thrown like shuriken. It's awfully useful weapons and both Faie and Alastor seemed shocked by what I made.

       I can't clear my proud smile off of my face and then Alastor forcefully drags us to shops to buy some stuff, is he jealous of my weapon, I mean his staff looks really cool.

And also I feel like we're almost like the scene in Harry Potter when Harry and Hagrid buy stuff for Harry getting in the school. After all the shopping, Alastor leads us to the Ferry Port and the ferry is ready for us to ride.

        I see, that place we were before was like the entrance to the port, and I also see a lot of the entrees in the building also get onto the ferry.

According to Alastor, it'll take an hour to get there, we're sitting on the side seats, Faie loves to touch the waters, she's having some fun.

       And also it seems not only Alchemists ride on the ferry, it seems legal officers, merchants, and the stockpile of some goods also get on the ferry.

After a while, I found some of the entrees like me are staring at Faie and then I told Faie to sit, since she could still be a target, reminding me that she's a runaway.

1 Hour Later...

       As Alastor says, we arrived at Eden's Belkhyde Port in an hour, and we go straight to the Registry Office, it seems that the defense and restrictions here are so strict, well, it's to avoid greedy people getting their hands on Mana Items.

After Alastor is done with the legal matters we entered Eden through the gate and ride a cart to Alchemic City of Noir, the only City in Eden, where heroes, Felt and Viese live. It got me the heebie-jeebies.

       After the ride on the cart we arrived at the gate of the city and then once again Alastor made sure we're allowed to be in the City. After that, Alastor lead us to the Academy, which was looked quite different from what I thought it would look like.

It has its own perimeter barrier and there are lots of space here, almost 15% of the whole Eden.

     It has a lot of buildings, ranging from classroom buildings, dormitories for students and teachers alike, libraries, building for clubs, private workshops, and the main building where we are now is the Student Affairs Building.

Actually, not bad for an Alchemy Academy, I was thinking of lower quality for this kinda Academy, they have sufficient tools, lots of books to read. Then we got into a reception table and Alastor handed out some legal paper and called me out.

       "Riku, this onee-san will have to interview you then you can get to exam next. Faie, go with him too, I'll be sitting back there" Alastor said and then he sit on the waiting bench. "Hello, my name is Anne Luxer. I'm the academy's student affairs official. I'm going to ask you a few questions" the lady said.

"Okay," I replied. "Okay, could you introduce yourself, speak out your name, place of origin, your tutelage teacher, your tutelage rank, and your reason to learn Alchemy in this Academy," Anne asked.

       "My name is Riku Garrick Kiesling, I came from Alha Village, my Tutelage teacher is Lillia Yunia Kiesling, I graduated my tutelage study on Orion Rank, my reason to learn Alchemy here is to find a way to save my mother and to use it for the best purposes" I explained.

"I see, so you're Orion Rank, huh, it's the highest rank for a full-fledged Alchemist and you got your family as your teacher and it was the Aurora, you're very lucky?" Anne said.

       "Aurora?" I frowned, "It's Lillia's nickname here in Eden, Lillia Kiesling, the Alchemist of Aurora, and her husband, Arlin Kiesling, the Speedster Alchemist, those two is your parents, right? Every Alchemist has their own nickname, you know" Anne said.

"I see", "Then, please fill up this form and we'll go to the exam workshop" Anne ordered. "Right". Then I filled all in the form and as I expected we have an Exam in a Workshop with a lot more of Entrees, they supposed to only accept 40 students per Program, so the competition's really tight.

1 Hour Later...

       I said all that but the entrance exam was terrifyingly super easy, it was much harder with Mom's full-fledging exam than this, I finished the earliest. After that, we meet Anne again and she told us, I passed, not so surprisingly.

Then, we went to the administration office and Alastor paid for the entrance fee and 2-months worth of tuition, as promised. They then handed me the Academy uniforms and some books about the school guide, rules, and more like the stuff you get when you enter a school.

{Winter, 05th | 1 ET | Manatini Lodge}

       After all the things are done in Academy, now that I'm officially a student of the Academy and I chose the Synthesist Program just like my mom, we went to a Lodge to rest and prepare for tomorrow's Enrollment Ceremony.

It does kinda nostalgic being a kid who had just registered to a school, remembering my grandparents breaking their bones preparing me for junior high school, that then was just so funny and nerve-wracking. I love them, God, please take care of them since they are now at your side.

       Well, it's gonna get rowdy from now on, I always hate enrollment ceremonies, ...and schools. But I have to do this, for my mom's and my future's sake. I hope I make the right decision to study here. Welp, here goes nothing.