Chapter 18

The six o'clock alarm went off and Lewis opened his eyes, sitting up immediately after. He stretched his arms out and yawned. Today was finally the first day of school at Aaru Academy. Lewis stared forward, his eyes adjusting after waking up, the first thing to greet his vision was a system message. Lewis stared at it for a moment before calling for the status screen excitedly.

[Status

Name: Lewis Padova  Age: 14

Titles: (10)  Level: 77

Soul Rank: EX  Health: 100% Mana: 100%

Current Effects: Shadow Blessing of Yggdrasil- All stats 30% during daylight hours, but x5 during the night. Gaia's Blessing of Light- All stats x3 during daylight hours. Anti-Blessing Mithril Shackle- All Blessings blocked off.

STR: 115(103.5)  CHA: 114(102.6)

DEX: 121(108.9)  MAG: 117(105.3)

INT: 124(111.6)  CON: 122(109.8)

Free SP: 14

Skills:  Soul Companions:

Infinite Compatibility (Passive): Rank EX  Animal Soul Blessing: 2/?

Soul Sight (Active): Rank EX 

Nature's Envoy (Passive): Rank EX  Insect Soul Blessing: 3/?

Hellfire (Active): Rank B 

Shadow Manipulation (Active): Rank A  Plant Soul Blessing: 2/?

Touch of Anubis (Active): Rank S 

Intimidate (Active): Rank A  Mythological Soul Blessing: 5/?

Regeneration (Passive): Rank C+

Adept Swordsman (Active): Rank D+  Spirits: 2/?

Inversion (Active): Rank S

Choice (Active): Rank S

7 Sins (Unknown): Rank Unknown

Adept Spear Arts (Active): Rank D

Shadow Blessing (Active): Rank S+

Dark Spirit Arts (Active): Rank D+

Light Blessing (Active): Rank S+

Earth Spirit Arts (Active): Rank C+

  Companion Points (CP): 13,505]

"Spirit Arts? Earth? Two spirits?" Lewis questioned the status screen. In that moment, Lewis became aware of two presences standing behind him. Lewis looked back to see Tali looking at a shorter, paler, brown haired girl with short pointed ears and gold eyes. Her face was more childish with a mischievous appeal to it, and she was staring directly at Lewis with a joyous smile.

"Master!" The girl exclaimed as she jumped at Lewis and wrapped her arms around him.

"Tali… who is this?" Lewis asked the pouting nymph.

"The Earth Nymph, Talila." Tali replied.

"Why is she calling me 'Master'?" Lewis continued to ask as he pulled the young nymph off gently and set her down.

"Talila calls Master, 'Master', because Talila is a sub-servient type of nymph." Talila happily responded herself.

"Last night, you gave eachother your names, the prerequisite for forming contracts with spirits, sprites, nymphs, etc." Tali began her explanations.

"I feel like I've failed to think about it, but what's the difference between Blessings and Contracts? Looking at it, they seem fairly similar." Lewis began getting dressed, as school was in less than an hour.

"There are vast differences, but as you've said, they're very similar. Blessings are barely sentient spirits that form contracts with humans, but the contracts are entirely enforced on the spirits end and the human just reaps the benefits without realizing a contract exists." Tali gave a sensible explanation.

"Wait, so these if 'Blessings', are spirits and sprites that have barely gained sentience, then why did they choose to enslave themselves to humans?" Lewis asked as he put on the Aaru Academy dress jacket. The uniform was simple, it had the emblem over his left breast, green lining on the edges, tan trouser, a white button up and a green tie. The shoes were black as well as the belt.

"There are benefits that the spirits could obtain. I say could, because they don't. Humans are not aware of the contract and therefore can not really sign the contract. The spirits are attached to a human, giving them their power in exchange for 'housing', we'll call it. This does not make it impossible to sign said contract though. If a human were to enter an extreme state of spiritual meditation, they may be able to see the spirit attached to them. As far as I've researched though, very few have reached that state, and none have ever been able to sign the contract. If they had, your 'Rankings' would have to be severely modified. Before you go, let me show you the universal ranks. You'll find that humans have barely stepped into the waters of the universe." Tali summoned a tree that grew into a board and began writing on it with magic. Lewis stood behind her and watched as she swiftly wrote out the differences

  (Human Ranking) to [Universal Ranking]

F-Rank: is actually White Soul Rank [.3 to 2.7] (2.1-260)

E-Rank: is actually Indigo Soul Rank[2.8 to 10.2] (260.1-473.7)

D-Rank: is actually Emerald Soul Rank [10.3 to 79.9] (473.8-immeasurable)

(All Humans are below this point, less than ten are 

  Emerald Soul Rank)

C-Rank: is actually Rainbow Soul Rank [80 to 397.7] (No known measurement)

B-Rank: is actually Black Soul Rank [397.8 to 705.2] (No known) 

A-Rank: is actually Crimson Soul Rank [705.3 to 1399.9]

S-Rank: is actually Violet Soul Rank [1400+]

"Uh, Tali… what measurements are those in?" Lewis stared at the board in utter confusion.

"I based the numbers off of the universal measurement for density. In human averaging it would be insane, especially if we measure by human standards." Tali replied.

"Okay, as many questions as I have, I really need to get going. I'll see you on the weekends." Lewis shook his head and hurried from the room to the elevator, taking it up to the lobby and out the front doors. Ariel stood, waiting, on the side walk in front of the guild building.

"So, its off to school finally huh?" Ariel commented as soon as she saw Lewis.

"As well as dorm life." Lewis replied.

"Dorm life? I wasn't told about that… Joshua." Ariel looked infuriated when she said Joshua's name.

"I can't fathom why." Lewis stated sarcastically.

"By the way, are you going to explain why another girl is following you?" Ariel switched her attention back to Lewis. Lewis spun to look behind him, to see Talila standing there.

"Talila… what are you doing?" Lewis asked the nymph.

"Talila has to follow master around, as Talila can't be far away from master as she risks dying." Talila replied, once again responding in third person.

"Wait, why? You know what, nevermind, do as you must Lila." Lewis shortened the gnome's name for convenience.

"Talila's name is Talila." Talila responded.

"It's easier to shorten it." Lewis answered.

"Okay." Talila excepted easily.

"Well, as long as she's registered as a familiar, I suppose the academy won't press the matter. Come on, I'll walk with you." Ariel smiled. Lewis sighed and followed along with Ariel, Talila happily tailed after. The trio talked and joked on the walk towards the school, unaware of the danger that tailed them. As they walked, they came across construction repairing both sides of the road and sidewalks that had been destroyed.

"Well that's odd, it was fine yesterday. Well, let's go through this alley and take the detour." Ariel stated, the confusion evident in her voice. As soon as they were relatively out of sight of the road, the five that had been tailing the trio, surrounded them. Ariel immediately shielded Lewis and Lila.

"What a cliche development, so cliche I feel stupid for not suspecting it." Lewis stated with a sigh.

"As do I." Ariel responded.

"Talila knew they were following, Talila assumed you knew as well." Lila chipped in. The ambushers jumped at the group with knives drawn, and attempted to stab at the three. Ariel summoned a shield of water and attacked back with magic. Lewis stuck with his fists and grabbed the arm of one of the assassins, spun it to the right, spun back and pulled their arm down over his shoulder, breaking their elbow and finally ended it by kicking them in the chest, sending them back. Lila stayed back and observed, as she wasn't told to fight. Within a few minutes, the ambushers were all laying on the ground, defeated.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Ariel turned to Lewis after the fight and began looking him over. Both had let their guards down, allowing for one of the assassins to get up and plunge their dagger into Ariel's back. The tip of the blade protruded from the left side of Ariel's chest, and blood began to pool around the wound, staining her light blue shirt. Ariel's face was contorted in pain and surprise before she slumped forward to the ground. The assassin stood, breathing hard with the bloodied dagger in their hand. Lewis stood, frozen from the sudden and unexpected action. His eyes were focused on the unmoving body of Ariel, a laugh slowly replaced the sound of his thumping heart. He slowly looked up at the assassin who was laughing, proud of their cowardly accomplishment. Anger welled forth and Lewis approached the assassin, dodging their slashes and grabbed their arm upon lunging forward towards his heart. The dagger was stopped just before Lewis's chest. Lewis's other hand reached out and clasped around the assassin's neck, cutting of their air supply. The assassin began to kick around, slashing at Lewis's arm, but the grip did not loosen, the wounds began to heal slowly after being inflicted. The fear in the assassin's eyes increased as they realized that nothing they did was going to work. The other four began to stand up and charged at Lewis, in response, Lewis slammed the assassin he held hostage, against the first of the other four to approach, sending both into a pile of garbage.

"Lila, what are spirit arts?" Lewis asked as he parried the next attack, blocking with his left arm. He knocked the dagger from their hand with a palm strike from his right hand and swiftly followed up with a right hook to their jaw.

"Talila can demonstrate!" Lila excitedly stated as she ran up to Lewis and jumped at him, vanishing upon contact. There was a sudden surge of power in Lewis's body, similar to the full power of a blessing. Lewis's body changed, his hair lightened to the color of desert sand, his eyes changed to gold and a earthen armor enveloped his body.

"You aren't supposed to be able to use blessings!" One of the assassin's exclaimed. Lewis shot a look at the assassin, the ground around them broke and grabbed the enemy, wrapping around them and dragging them into the earth. Their screams silenced when the earth crushed down and swallowed them. Lewis felt a keen affinity with elements that surrounded him, in the buildings and in the ground. The remaining four began to tremble and attempted to escape. But Lewis wouldn't give them the chance, the earth followed his very will, obediently, as if it existed only to be used by him. He willed the earth to create spikes to pierce the fleeing cowards that dared harm those he cared about, and four spires rose and impaled the four assassins, faster than any of them could react to. Lewis walked up to the four cowards, dismissing three to be swallowed by the earth and leaving only the one who had stabbed Ariel to begin his interrogation.

"I want to know how you got the information on which route I would take. I want names." Lewis started. The assassin looked at Lewis with a sneer on his face. Lewis nodded, he dismissed the spire of asphalt and concrete and instead had the earth hold the man up and unable to move. Lewis then reached out and grabbed the man's face and began digging into the man's eye socket, removing his left eye. The man began to scream, but asphalt quickly clamped down around the man's mouth, silencing him to muffled whimpers.

"It's okay to not talk. I'll figure it out anyway. Ariel will survive, you barely scratched her heart. It's amazing what the elements in the earth can create to preserve life. But whats even more impressive, is what it can create to torture and cause pain. Silica Dust, can cause Silicosis, though normally it would take awhile for symptoms to develope, I can speed the process up a hundred fold." Lewis explained as a dull gray powder traveled up the asphalt pillars that had imprisoned the assassin to the earth, and began to enter the mans mouth and nose as the asphalt gag made way for the dust. He began to cough, but the dust kept flowing in, taking away his ability to breath and incited terror in the man. Blood poured from the now vacant eye socket, and tears from the other. As soon as it seemed that the man would suffocate, Lewis allowed his breath to return, the damage to his lungs had already developed, so no matter how much the man tried to breath, he was always short of breath.

"We still don't want to talk huh? I'm not asking, I'm assuming. Let's continue shall we? Hydrogen Sulfide, in small doses it's an irritant, in high doses it's lethal. But what about moderate doses? Nausea, headaches, dizziness, it incapacitates the mind." Lewis described the next means of torture and it's effects. Pure asphalt rose up to meet the man, stopping just under his face. Lewis ignited Hellfire in one of his hands and began to heat the asphalt up. Shortly after, the man began to cough and gag, the pungent smell of rotten eggs filled the air. A dirt mask rose and covered Lewis's face like a gas mask to protect himself. The man began to vomit, his eye unfocused and his face turned red. Lewis dismissed both the asphalt and the fire and looked the man in his bloodshot eye.

"I can end this very easily, quickly even, but I really want some names." Lewis interrogated the man further. The man looked at Lewis shakily, hardly a thought was present.

"White Wolves Guild." Was all the man managed to wheeze out.

"What a shame, I had already surmised that much. How about a yes or no question? Is there a traitor in the Hephaestus Guild?" Lewis changed tactics.

"Yes." The man replied simply.

"Great! It only took a little torture to get the most basic answers. Sadly, I'm really out of time, and so are you." Lewis patted the mans shoulder in mock sympathy. Lewis stood and began to walk away as more gray powder began to flood into the man's body, causing him to cough and choke as he was silently drowned by the dust within minutes. The earth swallowed the corpse, leaving no evidence that the assassins ever existed. Ariel was leaning against a wall, watching the entire scenario go down, not a hint of remorse in her eyes could be seen. There was a hard rock armor that had enveloped both sides of her wound, stemming the blood from exiting and prventing a bleedout.

"You should get to school, a medical team from the guild is enroute, so I'll be fine." Ariel waved Lewis away, her face was pale and her skin was clamy. Lewis looked at her with concern, but followed her order and left the scene, arriving at the academy gates ten minutes after the start of the entrance ceremony, in which he was led to by the gate custodian. He was led to a seat amongst others that were dressed in the same uniform. They were separated by class and year. The first years that had no assigned class wore green lined jackets and ties. Second years wore orange lined jackets and depending on class, they had insignia's on their left sleeve on the shoulder. Third years wore dark green lined jacketsnand depending on class had the insignia's. Fourth years wore bronze lined jackets, class was determined by the insignia. This was all information Lewis had gathered prior to applying to the academy. His arrival had interrupted the ceremony briefly while he found his seat. Consequently, his current look garnered attention, especially with his golden eyes, as Talila refused to unfuse herself from Lewis.

"Ahem, as I was saying, this year we will be introducing the 'Gate' course. It's a practical hands on experience that will provide the necessary training you all will need to be successful in dungeon raids. Unlike dungeons, gates are ownable, there will be more information regarding gates in the course itself. Aaru academy owns sixteen gates of different levels of difficulty from easy to realistic. So, with that information, I believe that this year will provide students more to look forward to. Once again, I welcome all the new students to Aaru Academy. There will be many opportunities for you all to earn prestige and money, so never hold back, as everyone here is a rival." A woman, who Lewis assumed must be a teacher, finished her speech and left the auditorium stage, replaced by the Dean herself.

"Thank you, Miss Florentine. As you all heard, there will be new courses and ways to earn prestige. I don't care to elaborate, that's something you all need to figure out on your own time. I would like to start off by inviting up the most outstanding students of this batch of first years. These are the first of the new students to have earned prestige, and I felt that they needed to be recognized for their achievements, please come up when I call your name. Emilia Rosa, Henry Garrison, Damien Wright, Lewis Padova, Joshua Hemmings, Sarah Lawson, and Ashe Addison." Lewis remained seated for a moment, the others were already up on stage, having moved as soon as they heard their name. The students, noticing that one was missing began to look around and murmur amongst eachother. Lewis and the Dean locked eyes, and she stared at Lewis with cold murderous intent. Lewis sighed and stood up and began to approach the stage. The students stared at Lewis curiously and coldly, a mixture of awe and dislike. Lewis stood on the stage and stared out at the crowds of students with disinterest.

"It seems you've gotten stronger, but why are you wearing a Blocker?" Damien asked Lewis.

"Some moron's guild doesn't like me." Lewis replied. Damien just nodded as if that statement made complete sense to him, at least when it pertained to Lewis.

"These seven students each set new records in different parts of the exam. Emilia set a perfect record for Critical Thinking, earning her the Insignia of the Vizier. Henry proved that his Strategy and team leadership skills were a cut above the rest, setting records in both the exam and the preliminary, earning him the Insignia of the Scribe. Damien, achieved the longest record fighting against the magibots durning the Fighting Potential Exam, lasting upwards of thirty minutes and reaching a difficulty rating of C, earning him the Insignia of the Soldier. Joshua, he set a new record for the Reflexes Exam, a record of fifteen minutes, earning him the Insignia of the Nile. Sarah, though she set no exam records, she set plenty of preliminary and practical records for her stealth. She earned the most points by stealing, earning her the Insignia of the Assassin. Ashe, this young lady ignored the help yourself logic and healed those that needed it, whether they were a team member or not, earning her the Insignia of the Priestess." The Dean approached each of the students and tapped their left sleeves of their jackets and insignias weaved themselves on their shoulders. She purposefully skipped Lewis to address each of the others, before she stood in front of him.

"As for Lewis, he has earned something that has not been earned by first years since the first graduating class to enter Aaru a hundred and thirty years ago. Lewis set an astounding record in the Hell Trials, a record time of three hours and seventeen minutes. He remained sane as well as taking control of the darkness inside and earned, the Insignia of the Pharaoh!" The Dean exclaimed dramatically. Lewis felt pressure on his left shoulder as well as over the right side of his chest. He looked down and watched as a golden Pharaohs mask weaved itself over his right pectorial. A more extravagant embroidery weaved itself on his left shoulder, something that looked like a mideval crest but with egyptian hieroglyphs and the Pharaoh's head instead of armor or swords. This must have been quite the achievement, because there was an outburst of cheering, cries of anger, booing, and plenty of looks of hatred and murderous intent directed at Lewis.

"Uh, what's so significant about this insignia?" Lewis leaned over and asked Damien. He didn't see anything about this particular insignia on the guidebook he had studied previously.

"It basically means you're the top of the first years. Each year has a Pharaoh, but they typically fight their way to get there, starting from a lower rank and earning each category before obtaining it, and it usually happens at the end of their first year. So you basically started at the top, and you're going to have to fight to keep it." Damien gave as brief a description as possible.

"Hah, fuck. First day, and everyone's my enemy. I really can't stay out of trouble." Lewis sighed.