Glacies Orientation (5)

Even so, if enough time were to pass someone would surely notice Cyrus' abnormality. Yet, fate would not allow such a thing to occur as while one of his hands was clenched tightly closed, with even the nails starting to dig in to his skin, his other hand slowly but surely began to raise towards his face. Eventually reaching past his chin, up his cheek, and finally resting on the black iron mask itself. Pulling it gently off his face, he returned to his normal self once more.

Dealing with the familiar backlash, he slowly thought

"That… got out of hand quickly. I still cannot believe I have such a side to me, such intense greed. But… at least I learned my new trick worked, hah."

Having dealt with the backlash and put a positive spin on the sudden and unexpected event Cyrus leaned back in his chair and put the mask one once more.

"Am I really so weak? That greed, that obsession… that insanity. That powerful force that completely and utterly took me completely down, rendering me useless was so easily solved by my other half…unacceptable. Oh me, your plan and trick indeed worked…but now it seems I must create my own tricks as well" thought the now masked Cyrus, as he returned his attention to the stage once more.

Thankfully, he had not missed anything much as the normal folk had taken the time to begin filing out. Noticing this Cyrus guessed that now that the show was over, it was time to speak of the internal affairs of Glacies which was not something for outsiders to know.

Eventually the rabble had left and with the heavy doors closing as a signal, one of the professors who stayed on the stage flanking the podium left their spot to step up and address the remaining students.

"Attention" said the man who walked up, as all the students were suddenly met with a sudden rise of fear causing them to on reaction crane their heads to where the speaker was, whom was also the cause.

The man chuckled at the expected reactions from his trick before continuing,

"This year at Glacies, the top has decided that things will be different. This year we will not be too accepting of the normal trash that this region creates on mass, we will not allow pretty glass castles to be constructed that easily shatter when any pressure is applied. Instead, we will be focusing on creating mages that can stand tall and proud even in the midst of a hail of rocks. Thus, we will be enacting policies to separate the useless schmucks from the truly talented, from those who will rise above the rest and leave their names in the annals of history" said the man, who from his manner of speaking could only be Caligo.

"The first major change is that we will be having an internal ranking system for the top students. The rankings will be decided by combining three methods of scoring together: Theoretical knowledge, Individual Application, and Group Application. No longer will we allow students of this school to merely focus on strictly growing their knowledge base, slowly increasing their skill and power over time. That is the traditional way, the old way, and the inferior way."

Caligo then flicked one of his fingers upwards towards the ceiling, where a banner that had been tied up was released via its bindings being suddenly eroded. The banner unfurled slowly, as heavy and long as it was, until it revealed a long list of names with ranks beside them.

"Observe how useless or useful you truly are. Above me are the first preliminary rankings that sort out the barely qualifying 50 from the other 250 baggage. The way I see it, those on the list can somewhat enter my eyes. Those not, well, I can't really tell the difference from you and the chairs you sit on" ended Caligo, as sharp tongued as ever, and began to walk away.

"Were those…blind jokes?" thought Cyrus, who knew that Caligo was indeed blind.

As Caligo stepped down the podium he paused for a moment before saying,

"Oh almost forgot. I am Master Caligo, I will be the one in charge of lessons pertaining to the Mors domain… as well as some other things that you will find out later, heheheh" ending with a sinister laugh, he fully stepped off.

His rather abrasive speech earned him no favors with people even starting to talk aloud, although each and every one of them suddenly felt as if they were plunged into an icy bath which quickly quieted them.

Cyrus and his two compatriots looked at the long banner containing the top 50, searching for their own names.

To Cyrus' left Imran whispered, "Hah, I am ranked 29. It seems my talents have been recognized after all."

To his right Minerva mumbled, "10…not as good as I thought..."

Following all the way up past Minerva's name at tenth place, he finally laid eyes on his spot.

"Fifth? Is there really four other people better than me in this Academy? How surprising… I wonder what they are like…" pondered Cyrus.

Imran and Minerva also noticed their ally's rather high rank, one shocked while the other mildly surprised.

"Wow, you are better than I thought" whispered Imran.

"And you are better than I thought as well, if only by a little" said Cyrus, not bothering to whisper but keeping his voice low so as to avoid pointless trouble.

Putting a halt to the student's whispers, Cilla was the next one to walk up to the podium.

"Hello there!" started Cilla's cheery voice, "I am Master Cilla, the one responsible for lessons regarding the Vita domain. What Caligo said was mostly true, that the rankings above truly show case the best among us. Do not let that discourage you though, as these were based off of a combination of your written exams, evaluations by one of us six professors, and an internal review by Glacies itself. For those of you not on the rankings, take this as a wake-up call and a personal challenge to grow and improve so that you can find yourself on the banner one day. To those of you who are on it, do not take it as the end all be all of your superiority. Your position can be and will be threatened by those below you, as the real purpose of these rankings are not simple at all" she then paused for a moment before pulling out a small booklet from her pocket. Looking through it she said,

"In order to foster a competitive environment that will force students to improve, rather than staying stagnant, the top 50 students will be awarded a weekly stipend of Glacies' internal currency: Fidem, with those higher earning more of course. This currency can be used to purchase a variety of things, such as extra lessons, usage of Glacies' advanced research facilities, equipment, artifacts, alchemy productions, as well as a variety of medeis crystals. There are so much more things you can get as well! All of this is in a little booklet like this one that will be distributed later. Make sure to fight hard for your resources" ended Cilla.

The next to step onto the podium was one of the professors unknown to Cyrus, a man with fiery red and orange hair as well as an impressive beard that covered much of his face.

"Greetings students!" roared the man with vigor. "I am Master Rufus Fidelis, who is in charge of all things Ignis here at Glacies. Continuing where Master Cilla left off, Fidem can be earned in a variety of ways. At the end of every week, during the last two days, there will be a series of practical tests held. These tests will be divided into individual and group settings, where you will apply all that you know and have learned. You are required to take at least one of each type, else you will lose Fidem. On the contrary, every test you pass after the first required one will earn you Fidem in turn. That is right! Strive to overcome your fears, insecurities and weaknesses. Take on as much as you can, let your youthful passion shine through and burn with VIGOR!" shouted Fidelis, raising his arms high into the air. His passion so intense that some in the crowd felt themselves becoming hotter.

While his speech was starting to devolve into a fiery rant on pushing oneself forward in the face of adversity, he was tapped on the shoulder by a humble looking man who coughed lightly as he did so. Pulled out of his stupor, the fiery man laughed without a hint of shame as he allowed the professor up to the podium. The man was of a humble appearance, cleanly shaven and with neat dark brown hair.

"I am Master Zephyr Asinus, the one who presides over all lessons regarding the Aero domain. You should not take Fidem to only be a fictional currency invented by us. In truth what we have done is put all the resources behind the barrier known as Fidem, with only a small amount available to all for free. This will, of course, cause the higher performers to improve faster than those lesser than they. This is not by accident but by design, if you do not work you shall not receive. Good luck."

"Asinus, what a coincidence" thought Cyrus as the man stepped down.

The next to step forth was a woman this time, she had short brown hair and glasses. She was of small stature, with her robe hiding most of her figure.

"Master Marilla, in charge of teaching the Aqua domain" said a lazy voice, even pausing to yawn and take off her glasses to rub her eyes.

"You can exchange Fidem, but must sign a contract stating the reason why…" ended Marilla as she teetered off the stage.

Replacing her was the final professor, who was a tall woman with an exotic greenish blonde hair. Her brown robe was form fitting, revealing a healthy and bold figure that no doubt drew the attention of more than one teenager in the room.

"I am Master Sabina, nice to meet you" said Sabina speaking smoothly and drawing out each word in almost a hypnotic fashion.

"My humble self is in charge of all things to do with the Terra domain. The rankings will naturally change at the end of every month, based off of your performance on the end of the week tests as well as periodic written assessments. That is not all, as we really want you guys to work hard. Anyone with a rank can directly challenge one who is higher than them to a sanctioned duel. Every month students will also be given two tokens which allows them to challenge another to a duel that cannot be refused, otherwise, the other party can always refuse. To incentivize them accepting even when they can refuse, you can gamble a certain amount of Fidem during these duels with the winner taking all. Finally, if the one lower ranked wins the match then they will replace the rank of the one they challenged."

With a slight bow she left the podium.

Not giving the students any time to take in all this new knowledge, the voice of Master Asinus rang out all around them.

"We will now be breaking into groups based on our domains of magic, or the one that is the focus for those of you who have chosen to wield two. Starting from the first row to the last, walk up to the professor that matches so. Orderly, and quietly" ordered Asinus.

With that, the students filed into ranks behind their respective professor who headed their main domain. Each group, lead by one of the professors, left the great hall one by one heading to a separate lecture hall to continue the orientation.