Synthetic
An Innocuous Constructed Entity
This is a solo RP run through the Isekai Hell group. To learn more about the group, please visit the above links.
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This is a solo RP for the character Dan Swift, the likes of which chronologically follows the events of the "Aspiring Students At The Academy Festival" thread.
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The faintest hints of light streamed in through the shutters of Dan’s dorm room. The dorm rooms for F class were all tiny, and Dan’s room was no exception. There was barely enough room for a half-sized bed and a desk. The desk had his emblem, his key, and his student uniform placed on them. Evidently, he was expected to come up with the rest of the materials that he would need for his education on his own. The school was extremely focused on achievement and competency, after all, and Dan was in the lowest ranked class of them all. The staff weren’t about to give their lowest-achieving students a life of luxury.
There was a groan. It wasn’t sunrise yet, but the tiny amount of light that snuck in through the shutters seemed sufficient to wake up the plain-clothed student. He didn’t seem all that comfortable in the ridiculous sleep posture he had to adopt in order to rest in the tiny room, so his being awakened by the tiny disturbance wasn’t especially surprising to him. The bed was essentially just a bunch of straw crammed into a canvas sack, the likes of which was haphazardly plopped down onto a precarious wooden frame. It undoubtedly had some sort of bugs hiding away in it, and the straw poked out with even the slightest adjustment or motion from the poor, tired student. However, it was still a cushion, so it was far more comfortable than the floor.
As the student stirred, he stretched a bit, then sat up. He held his head for a bit and groaned again. There was still some residual pain from the beating he had taken the previous day during the ‘combat arts’ test. He grimaced, but got up without too much thought. He squirmed around to get out of his plain clothes and to get dressed in the uniform. It was a pretty sturdy-looking, red outfit - much higher quality than the threadbare linen garbs that he was wrapped in before. But, as the focus of the academy would imply, it was fairly plain, with minimal decoration. The student's name, "Dan", was embroidered above the left breast, and below it was engraved “Class F”. The pants were similarly plain, and they had the same embroidering along the inner side of the waist band.
Once he was dressed, he grabbed his emblem and his key, pocketing the emblem, and headed over to the door. He grabbed the padlock off the chain that it hung from and unlatched the deadbolt of the door. The door squeaked as it groaned along its rusty hinges. He closed the door back into place and secured the padlock around the latch on the outside of the door, presumably to keep the few worthless pieces of furniture within from being stolen or, more likely, thrown away. He locked the padlock with his key, then pocketed it as well and headed out. The other students were gradually streaming out of their dorm rooms as well. Many yawns were heard, and lots of footsteps and mumbling. The dorms were still relatively quiet, but they were definitely coming to life now that sunrise was approaching.
Dan followed along in the crowd, heading out into the walkways between the buildings of the campus. The walkways were all cobbled with bricks that were remarkably even. They appeared to be mortared in place and leveled. Most of the bricks appeared to be made of marble, much like the incredible walls of the academy. White seemed to be the pre-eminent color of the establishment. However, Black did not appear to be an unfavorable color to the students either. The highest-rated, most revered students in the entire academy - those in Class S - wore white, heavily embroidered uniforms, which had incorporated mithril wires that provided self-cleaning and self-repair enchantments. However, the next-best class, Class A, all wore black uniforms that had the self-repair enchantment included. The academy forbade students from taking their academy-provided uniforms outside of the academy grounds, but most students in the S and A classes were so capable that they'd be able to afford the uniforms with a few hours' labor anyway. After all, the students in Class A and Class S were essentially professionals already.
Dan smirked as those thoughts ran through his mind. He would occasionally spot one of the higher-ranked students out of the corner of his eye. but the vast majority of the students had colored uniforms. Class F had red colored uniforms. As for Class E, D, C, and B, Dan didn't pay too much attention. One was Blue, one was Yellow, and one was Green. He presumed he'd eventually figure it out, but the color scheme wasn't too important to him, since he wasn't interested in bothering with 'academy politics'. He was intent on studying as hard as he could so that he could rapidly re-acquire his position as a scholar and continue where he left off in his last life, or at least pursue some sort of equivalent. After all, as much as he enjoyed storytelling, he wasn't especially enthused with living the rest of his life as an entertainer.
While his thoughts about the academy rambled on for several minutes, he followed along the path to the main building. Once he arrived, his thoughts gradually died off and he made his way inside and over to the registrar's office. On the previous day, the tour guide told him that he would need to come over to register for classes first thing in the morning. Dan was somewhat apprehensive about the possibility of losing the opportunity to join classes if he showed up past sunrise, so he had decided to rush over with time to spare. His tour guide also warned him that, since he was joining the academy halfway into the fall semester, he’d have a lot of catching up to do. Once he entered the room and got his turn in line, the registrar repeated this wisdom, and handed him the class inventory.
Dan leafed through the pages of the packet, looking at the available classes with a thoughtful expression. The majority of the classes were crossed out. Evidently, that meant that they were either full on students, or they would be impossible to 'catch up' on. He carefully considered his options, and ended up signing up for five classes, much to the registrar's chagrin. The first was “Introductory Mana Theory” by Professor Haliwyn. The second was “Introductory Healing Arts” by Professor Gaines. The third was “Introductory Medicine and Herbalism” by Professor Gaines. The fourth was “Introductory Energetics” by Professor Orvel. The last was “Introductory World History” by Professor Lineus.
According to the times and "days" specified by the class inventory, each class was held twice a day throughout the week. The classes at the academy seemed to be held in a dispersed manner, with the same class being held four times over the course of two days, then the next class being held four times over the next two days, then the next class being held four times over the next two days, and then a one day break for religious and familial responsibilities. Based on what the inventory showed, students were supposed to 'register' for a specific 'day' and 'time' for each of the three classes each week, but since the classes were the same for both days and all the 'times' on both days, they had the option of going to any of the days or times associated with each lecture as long as they attended each one and got the assignments and tests in as appropriate.
Dan was eminently amused by this academic methodology. He selected his schedule such that the time slots he was registered for were "Introductory Mana Theory", followed by "Introductory Energetics", and then "Introductory World History" on the 'first days' and then "Introductory Medicine and Herbalism" and "Introductory Healing Arts" on the 'second days'.
The registrar expressed her concern that he was taking four 'knowledge' classes, one 'magic arts' class, and no combat classes, but Dan commented that he was used to intensive study, and that he would need more time to get used to the other fields that the school tested its students on. He also reassured her that he would utilize the gymnasium in his free time and that, once his physique was improved, that he would be more prepared to enter into the 'combat arts' and 'athletics' classes. She seemed satisfied with this, and approved his course schedule. She then confirmed the locations and times of his courses, and gave him a sheet of paper with the information written on it so that he’d be able to remember it. She also discussed the tuition fees that he would need to pay. Dan seemed relieved when he heard the total would only be around 10,000 Rykes per semester, and indicated that he would cover the costs in monthly, individual payments of 2,500 Rykes, including an up-front payment of 5,000 Rykes for the semester time that had already elapsed. The registrar looked surprised when he mentioned that, but when he passed her the five 1000 Ryke coins, she looked impressed instead.
Once all that was taken care of, she withdrew some syllabi for the classes that he registered for and handed them to him while pointing out all of the catch-up work he would need to go over with his professors. Once that was done, she bid him farewell and he got pushed aside by the next student in line. He rolled his eyes and rushed off as the registrar scolded the fellow, then he raced out of the registrar's office and started making his way through the main building.
The academy was similar to Ryken inasmuch as it had a wide variety of different people in it. The vast majority of the students seemed to have a noble bearing to them. Evidently, etiquette was a vital part of the social arts tests, so even students with no ties to nobility still appeared quite prim and proper. But, since a decent number of the students wandering around and talking to one another were monsters, the etiquette that they displayed was rather eye-catching and amusing to Dan. He was watching one such amusing gesticulation of a chitinous student while making his way around a corner, but ended up bumping into someone. He quickly turned to look at what he bumped into, and caught a glimpse of a white uniform. However, he only managed to catch a glimpse of it at first.
Almost the moment his eyes met the fabric of the white student's uniform, some incomprehensibly fast-moving object slammed into his shoulder and sent him careening into the ground. Dan gasped in shock at the suddenness of his fall, his right shoulder hurting immensely, and he looked around in surprise. Several nearby students who were relaxing in the stairwell started laughing at him. He looked quite confused as he finally met eyes with the student that he had bumped into. The fellow appeared to be an adolescent, grey-skinned elf with an orb of some sort floating around him. The elf glared down at him with venom and angrily commented, ”Ridiculous. Some F-class scum just sullied my uniform.” Several other students stared down at Dan with scorn in response, and the laughter died down.
Dan remained on the ground for a second, looking up at the strange group dynamic with concern. The other students all had black uniforms, so the power dynamic was obvious. He murmured, ”...how worrisome...” under his breath, then, inspecting the fellow’s uniform, he loudly and apologetically proclaimed, ”I apologize. I was careless. I meant no offense.”
The elf sighed and waved his hand dismissively after Dan’s apologies. The others looked back over at the elf expectedly. ”Fine, I’ll forgive you." he commented, looking over at the others proudly, as if holding some sort of lecture. "A great man like me can pardon such small offenses without issue, after all.” The people in the stairway responded to the elf's comments with affirmative statements and applause.
Dan raised his eyebrow at the oddity on display, but quickly got up, mumbling, ”Then, if you’ll excuse me…” He then quickly rushed off, continuing up through the stairway to the next floor. He looked over his shoulder at the fellows once he turned around to go up the next flight of stairs. Some of them were still staring over at him with glares, but most of them still had their attention on the elf, who seemed to be giving some sort of arrogant lecture on ethics and bloodlines. Dan returned his gaze to the stairs above him and clutched his right shoulder. He started paying a bit more attention to his immediate surroundings, presumably to prevent such an incident from re-occurring as he wandered out into the hallway of the next floor up. ”What an interesting place.” he mumbled, furrowing his brows.
...
He eventually made it over to the library. It was a fairly busy room, but despite the number of students within it, the place was silent. Dan spent several hours looking around for books, cross-referencing the syllabi he got from the registrar and quickly skimming through. Eventually, he looked over at the strange crystal sheet up on one of the walls. Time was relayed through magical devices in the academy, rather than through mechanical devices. The crystal sheets had an internal structure that caused various patterns of colored lights to emerge as time progressed. Since being able to tell time was a basic skill that Dan found to be quite important, once he was done collecting a bunch of books, he spent an hour to find a book on said 'timestones' and skimmed through it to learn the basics about how to glean useful information from them. Once he was functionally familiar with how to read a timestone, he spent a bit of time on a more in-depth survey of the subjects that he would be studying later on the same day.
...
Once the time approached an hour to noon, Dan put his books away and rushed out of the main building. He kept his wits about him and kept his eyes on the swivel this time. It paid off, since there were a few close calls. Once he was back on ground level and exited the main building, he headed over to the dining hall. Once he approached the entrance of his destination, he inspected the facilities. According to the instructions on the signposts erected near the entrance, all students were entitled one free "Simple Meal", which consisted of “bread, soup, water, and root vegetables”. There were additional 'allowances' for students in Class B and higher, but Class F students had to pay for anything more than a single "Simple Meal" two times a day. They also indicated that students had to collect any dishes they wanted to use from the stack at the entrance, and they had to thoroughly clean said dishes and return them to the entrance once they were done eating. Dan looked fairly unphased after seeing that note, but once he saw the note under it, he looked much more concerned. "Students who inadequately clean their dishes will be fined 1000 Rykes and will be subject to detention."
Dan shrugged off the rather ominous instructions and made his way into the dining hall. It was a remarkably large establishment - probably large enough to seat around 500 students at a time. Most of the tables seemed to be large enough for eight students, and all of them appeared to use plain wooden stools for seating. The diningware area near the entrance had hundreds of bowls piled up in stacks of ten, as well as a few thin wooden trays and a few mountains of wooden utensils. There was a sink next to the area with the utensils and what not, and several students were quickly scrubbing away at their dishes under a steady stream of water that appeared to come down from a tiny, bluish crystal on a metal claw thing jutting out from the wall. Dan observed the various oddities around him with a curt nod, but quickly went about collecting the bowl, tray, and spook that he would be requiring for his "Simple Meal". He then continued on past the sink and made his way over to the kitchen.
The kitchen had several displays, each with a crystal and a label housed above the crystal. The very first one was labelled "Simple Meal". Once Dan placed his tray and bowl under it and pressed his finger against the crystal, a few small gremlins popped out from a little door in the wall above the sign and flew down to his tray, holding the items that the signs outside the dining hall indicated. There was a cup of water, a loaf of bread, a few assorted root vegetables, and a plain, brothy soup that was poured from a cup into the bowl that Dan had on the tray. As quickly as the gremlins appeared, they disappeared back through the doorway and into the wall. Dan looked quite amused as he considered what the area behind the door looked like, but the students who were waiting behind him 'encouraged' him to get moving along before he could get very far with those thoughts.
Once Dan was seated and he started eating, he seemed to enjoy the meal quite thoroughly. Despite how plain it was it was filling and the ingredients were fresh. He seemed somewhat surprised, but the more he thought about it, the more he decided that it made sense. The academy did want to discourage students from getting comfortable in Class F, but not by torturing them. Students started slowly streaming in as Dan wrapped up his meal, but the place had yet to get truly crowded. After all, noon was still a while away. That said, the density of people near the entrance was quickly starting to climb as Dan moved over to the sink to wash his dishes, so once he was sure that they were thoroughly clean, he placed them back in the appropriate spots for the next students and rushed out of there.
Dan then headed out and strolled around the campus for a bit. He looked around at the pathways and gardens throughout the campus. The place was quite space efficient. The buildings fairly close together, and yet, great effort was made to still decorate the walkways with plenty of pleasant-looking and nice-smelling plants. Dan enjoyed the walk. He occasionally waved a greeting to other students in colored uniforms, although only one or two of them returned his greetings. Eventually, he ended up at “Haliwyn Hall”, the likes of which could be recognized by the straightforward engraving above the front door.
Dan entered through the doorway and walked through the hallway while looking around. Numerous students were busily conversing and postulating to one another. Some were reading books, some were writing stuff down on pieces of paper that were supported with the walls or other books, and some people were engaged in furious debate. It was a lively atmosphere, but not an especially loud one. Dan approached one of the doorways to one of the lecture halls. He cautiously opened the door, only to be unexpectedly pushed into the room by several student who rushed in behind him. He stumbled out of the walkway as he was overtaken by the rather impatient red-uniformed fellows behind him, then he steadily made his way over to a seat near the back of the lecture hall.
Much like in the other areas of the building, the lecture hall was rather busy with conversation and mumbling. Lots of the students seemed to know each other quite well. The professor was busy flipping through some papers and writing some words on the slate sheet behind him, which was integrated into the wall. Dan tried to introduce himself to a few of the other students near him, but they curtly dismissed him and continued with their own discussions. He sighed, deciding to think to himself and watch professor Haliwyn as the start of class approached. Professor Haliwyn seemed to be reviewing something in the paperwork he was leafing through, and Dan couldn't read it from where he was seated, so it was quite a boring wait.
After a few minutes, the professor looked around the lecture hall, placed his papers down in a space under the podium top, and stepped out along the side of the stage closest to the students. He had a stern, expectant expression as he walked. As if on cue, the room suddenly started to quiet down. Before long, the room was remarkably quiet, with the only sounds being the rustling of paper and the stretching of pens and charcoal. The professor nodded once the noise was at an acceptable level, his expression still stern. ”Excellent. I am glad that you are all prepared for class today.”
He then went over to the chalkboard and went over the assignments that were due soon, as well as several other announcements, including upcoming tests. He then gestured over to Dan, smiling as he did so, and announced, ”Also, we have a new student who registered for our class. He just joined the academy yesterday, so please help him out if he needs something.” Some of the students looked his way, and there was a bit of murmuring, but Dan didn't see any friendly expressions or waves of acknowledgement.
With his announcements out of the way, the professor's class began. There was a lot of terminology that had already been covered in previous classes which flew by. Dan focused hard. Although he didn't have any paper, he did still have a method of note-taking that did not rely on memorization, not that anyone else could see it. He didn’t bother asking any questions, since he was concerned about wasting time with elementary stuff that the professor had already covered. Instead, he tried to reason through the various details that flew by to the best of his ability. The subject of the class for the day was, as the professor put it, ”Assignment of information content to an individual’s mana.” From the professor's introductory ramble, Dan could tell that 'information content' and 'assignment' were the only topics that would be covered today.
Class went by quickly, since Dan’s mind was constantly occupied with contemplation and reasoning, as well as some occasional glances to his right, apparently to a series of random spots around the corner of the ceiling of the room. There were still some gaps in Dan’s understanding of the subject matter which needed to be filled in, but Dan was confident in his understanding of the main points of the lecture.
From what Dan understood, Professor Haliwyn was going in-depth on a particular aspect of his theory on mana. Specifically, he was discussing the process through which mana ‘acquires’ properties from the person to whom it belongs. According to his theory, mana has energy content, but it also has information content. A creature’s 'mind' and ‘soul’ only have information content, and are partially continuous with mana, such that the information content from the mind and the soul ‘mix’ with the mana and provide it with certain properties ‘subconsciously’. However, he also posited that the information content of mana can then be consciously modified as well, based on the creature’s strength of 'mind' and ‘soul’. Dan wasn't completely clear on what 'mind' and 'soul' were by the end of the lecture, and he also wasn't totally clear on the 'subconscious' mechanism that the professor was referring to, but 'information content' seemed to sufficiently generalizable that he was confident in his conceptualization of it.
Dan was especially interested in the consequences of this theory, as well as the tests that Professor Haliwyn did in order to support it. Evidently, The "Haliwyn Mana Theory" diverged quite sharply from the traditional theory of mana. As professor Haliwyn described it, "The traditional theory of mana posits that mana is entirely dependent on the ‘soul’ and that all of its properties are predetermined." As such, he jokingly commented that the "Haliwyn Mana Theory" was ”Controversial” since it contradicted one of the most fundamental axioms of the theory that had been used for the majority of academic life. However, he had a lot of confidence in his theory due to the experimental results he managed to produce, and due to the fact that his theory had survived for well over a century, and isn't strongly contested in the academia of the present day.
The rest of his lecture was filled with numerous ethics anecdotes, references to his beautiful wife and dozens of children, and numerous random questions to various students throughout the room. Dan seemed to be, quite mercifully, excluded from the selection pool of students that the professor asked questions to for the day. Towards the end of class, the professor stated several theoretical experiments to the class, and told them to utilize his mana theory in order to postulate what results would occur. Thereafter, he ended class early and commented that he would be taking questions for the rest of the class time, if anyone wanted to stay.
Most of the students streamed out of the classroom immediately after they were dismissed, but a few students stayed to ask some questions. Dan was one such student. The other students quickly ran out of questions, since professor Haliwyn seemed to be remarkably swift in answering the questions that the students brought him. Once the other students all left, Dan took his turn and walked up to greet the professor.
Professor Haliwyn smiled politely as Dan approached. ”Ah, Dan! Welcome! I was happy when the registrar told me that you decided to take my class. I suppose you’re wondering about the assignments you’ll need to complete to catch up?” Dan nodded, so the professor continued, ”Very well. There are five assignments, two tests, and five quizzes. You are exempt from any assignments, quizzes or tests that we hold in class for the next week so that you can catch up. Once you’re all caught up on the reading assignments, come to my office and I’ll take you through the quizzes and tests that have happened thus far. If you have a satisfactory performance, I'll then provide you with the assignments that you have missed, and we'll move along from there.”
Dan nodded again, looking confident. ”Alright, sounds good. Could you give me a list of texts and references that I can look through for supplementary context? I’m afraid to say that I don’t know much of anything about 'mana', 'mind' and 'soul' to begin with, so the basics would be helpful.”
Professor Haliwyn chuckled, retorting, ”You won’t need to worry about that, since this is an introductory course. The information on the syllabus that the registrar gave you will be more than sufficient. Most of the supplementary texts on the topic will be at an intermediate level. It’s unwise to skip ahead to complicated texts without building up your foundation of knowledge, since it will lead to misunderstandings, so just get through the required and recommended texts as soon as you can and then return to me for further guidance.”
Dan gave him an understanding grin and said his farewells. He then ventured off to another building - one with the name plate engraved with the words, “Orvel Hall”. There, he entered into the lecture hall indicated by the paper that the registrar gave him, and he went through the process of waiting for class to start once again. This time, the wait was less boring, since he had stuff to consider from the previous class. After awhile, a short, gnarled-looking, monstrous professor walked in and immediately started to lecture. The other students quickly quieted down and started listening.
This time, much like with professor Haliwyn’s course, time flew by. Professor Orvel was discussing interconversions between ‘primed mana’ and various types of energy. Some of the terms were needlessly technical, like ‘nonspatially instantiated psionic energy constructs’, but Dan still managed to follow most of the discussion. Toward the end of the class, the professor randomly started asking questions to the students. Eventually, he laid eyes on Dan.
”Ah, a new student. Tell us your name.”
Dan looked surprised and slightly apprehensive, but he stood up and announced, ”My name is Dan.”
The professor’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be focusing. ”Very well. Please do the best you can to answer the following question.”
Some of the other students in the class then started snickering. Dan raised an eyebrow even more, looking skeptical now, but he calmly watched as the professor then wrote a bunch of text on the board, as well as a diagram. Dan looked pleasantly surprised as the professor completed the diagram and turned back to face him.
”Alright Dan. I made a diagram on the board. A stationary mass of metal, approximating 5 mass equivalents, is infused with primed mana approximating 10 crystal equivalents. The primed mana is then activated with a catalytic packet of spatial psionic energy, and is conformed to an A-type kinetic mechanism. If the directionality of the impulse is opposed to gravity, describe the resulting motion imposed on the mass of metal.”
Dan thought for a bit, then confidently, but thoughtfully responded, ”Assuming the transfer occurs instantaneously, with perfect efficiency, the ball will immediately obtain an upwards-directed velocity of…around three hundred and fifteen distance units per second. Given the gravitation constant of around 10 distance units per second per second, and assuming there are no obstacles or materials in its path, it will continue moving and decelerating until it reaches a height of…maybe around 5200 distance units above its starting position. It will reach its maximum height in around 32 seconds, then it will start a return course to the point it was launched from. Assuming perfectly elastic impacts, it will then continue to perpetually impact the ground, rebound, reach the same height, and then fall back down for the rest of eternity.”
The professor looked quite impressed by Dan’s response, and the students started murmuring to one another. The professor shushed the students, then replied, ”Excellent. Everyone take note of what Dan just did. He did not know the exact solution, so he approximated. I heard many of you comment that his assumptions are absurd, but he did exactly what you are supposed to do when you are not given constraints - make the most logical assumptions you can. Without an elasticity constant of the ground that the metal mass is resting on, how would Dan know how elastic the collisions with the ground would be? Without being provided an altitude or linear air density, how would he know the effects of air resistance? His assumptions weren't mindless - after all, within the margin of error he specified, his assumption about the gravitational constant was more than sufficient. Further, he did not say so, but he converted crystal equivalents into energy equivalents and utilized the kinetic energy conversion formula that we covered last week. Those of you who objected to his answer would do well to learn from his example and to study thoroughly.” The professor then gestured for Dan to sit down, and he continued his lecture by demonstrating how to correct the assumptions that Dan gave in his answer when provided with certain information. Dan was fascinated by the discussion of the inefficiencies in the situation, but judging by the expressions of some of the other students in the class, the topic seemed to be getting to a level of depth that most of the students were no longer comfortable with.
The professor eventually used the example, the assumptions, and the corrections to the assumptions in order to bring the lecture back around to the main topic. He mentioned one of the research projects that he was working on, which postulated a ‘nebulous ether’ which resists the movement of energy slightly and results in inefficiencies in magic use. He also discussed a few interesting experiments that have supported said postulate. Then, he gradually brought the lecture to a close. At the end of the class, he provided a few assignments to the students, and also mentioned a few upcoming assignments. Dan went to speak to the professor after class, and had a similar conversation to the one that he had with professor Haliwyn. Thereafter, he left and wandered out of the building to attend his last class of the day.
Once he arrived at Lineus hall, he made his way over to the lecture hall indicated on his sheet, and entered the room. The procedure was already becoming familiar to Dan, so he silently contemplated what he learned about in the previous class as he waited for the professor to arrive. Once professor Lineus arrived, the surly gnome dumped a massive pile of documents on the table next to the podium, and started splitting them into piles. Once everyone quieted down, he announced that today, they were going to study the formation of Ryken and the surrounding events involving the other nearby empires which occurred at around the same time.
The class was very in-depth. Professor Lineus had an enthusiasm for the documents that made even the more technical and archaic readings slightly more palatable. The class concluded much like the last one, with assignments and with a discussion between Dan and the professor on how to catch up.
With his classes done for the day, Dan rushed over to the library once again. Essentially the entire rest of the day, all the way until well past sunset, he spent his time reading. Then, once he got tired and hungry, he wandered over to the dining hall to eat, and he went over to the bath house to clean himself up, then he shuffled over to his dorm, locked the door, and fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up at right as the sky started lighting up, and he went off to the library again. Once the timestone went within an hour of noon, he got some lunch in the dining hall and wandered over to Gaines Hall, where he took his two courses for the day: "Introductory Medicine and Herbalism" and "Introductory Healing Arts".
The Introductory Medicine and Herbalism class went fairly well. The class for the day involved a survey of analgesic and anesthetic medicines and herbs, as well as some of the challenges and accomplishments in said area that had been made throughout the past few centuries. Dan got distracted by his thoughts various times throughout the lecture as he imagined the biochemistry involved in the different techniques. Once that class ended, he was told about the various assessments and examples that he would need to complete in order to get caught up, just like he did for his previous classes.
Finally, he went to the Introductory Healing Arts class. Unlike the last few classes, this one was practical, so it met inside a training room instead of a lecture hall. Most of the students grabbed some training catalysts for the lesson, but Dan didn’t bother. Once the professor arrived and saw Dan, he used the time before class started to ask Dan about his abilities in healing. When Dan responded that he couldn’t even use mana, the professor chuckled, told him that that was completely fine, and provided him with some equipment to practice non-magical surgical techniques.
Dan then spent the rest of class time being personally instructed by either the professor himself or by one or more of the senior students of the class. He was shown how to hold and operate the tools that were provided to him, specifically in order to suture and bandage the ‘training target’, which was essentially just a fleshy doll that bled and groaned in pain when cut. Dan looked unnerved throughout the class time, but he seemed to get the hang of the technique that he was being taught after a few dozen repetitions. At the end of the class, he was told about the various assignments he would have to complete in order to get caught up. Evidently, mana use was not necessary to pass the course, but learning to use mana would allow him to complete the techniques much faster, and would therefore speed up his comprehension of the material and techniques substantially. Mana was also necessary to perform certain healing techniques, so he would have to operate magic tools to learn those techniques until he was able to operate a magic catalyst in order to generate the effects on his own.
Dan left the class room looking frustrated, but excited. Once he cleaned up after himself and was dismissed from the room, he went back to the library and spent a lot of time reading. Once the sun had set, he ate some food in the dining hall, washed up in the bath house, and headed back to his dorm to sleep.
...
He repeated this cycle for a few days. He rapidly got caught up on the material involved in his classes, since he literally spent all of his free time speed-reading and taking mental notes. He seemed to have no problem focusing for very extended study sessions, and the amount of sleep that he was getting seemed to be adequate. By the end of the week, he was already caught up with the required reading, the tests, and the quizzes for his classes, and he completed most of the prior assignments, much to the surprise of his professors. He admitted quite readily that he was going for "speed, not perfection", but his professors were still pleased with what he managed to turn in. He spent the first ten hours of his day off powering through the remaining assignments. Once those were all complete, he ate a meal and wandered over to the gymnasium.
Upon initially arriving at the gymnasium, he was impressed. Lots of students were rushing around in clothing that was lighter-weight than the student uniforms. Once Dan found the changing room, he found several cabinets filled with lightweight clothes in various sizes, and changed into ones that were the right size for his scrawny frame. He then went back out into the gym to start his workout. Dan asked around for help learning how to use the equipment, and eventually, he managed to get help from one of the other students - specifically, Bugg!
Dan looked excited when their eyes met. He rushed over to Bugg and said his greetings. They talked for a bit while Bugg finished a few reps, then Dan asked for help and Bugg showed him how everything worked. They worked out together for a few hours. Bugg was much further along in terms of his physique, but they both went at their own pace. Lots of people laughed at the sight, especially at the contrast between the two. After a few hours of learning various things and exhausting himself, Dan took a quick break, after which Bugg said that he had to go. Dan said his farewells to the friendly entomancer orc, then headed over to the track on the elevated platform around the edge of the building. He sprinted and did a bunch of long runs while circling around the ovular track, and kept going until he was thoroughly exhausted.
By the time he changed back into his red uniform and left the gymnasium, it was already dark, and he felt completely exhausted. He spent a few minutes stretching, then headed over to the bath house. Once he was all clean, he went to get some food. He was starved, so he ended up getting multiple meals, grinning happily as he gave a few 10 Ryke coins to the little gremlins that came out when he pressed the crystal. With his tummy full, he went back to his dorm, bolted the door, and plopped down in bed to sleep.
From that point on, he started a more regular schedule, alternating between studying and working out on most days. When he was too tired to exercise, he went out into the city to earn some money as a performer, a wiseman/counsellor, or as an investigator of sorts. In that way, he started to settle in to his workaholic life in the Imperial Logia Academy of Ryken.
…
—--
This is a solo RP for the character Dan Swift, the likes of which chronologically follows the events of the "Aspiring Students At The Academy Festival" thread.
—--
The faintest hints of light streamed in through the shutters of Dan’s dorm room. The dorm rooms for F class were all tiny, and Dan’s room was no exception. There was barely enough room for a half-sized bed and a desk. The desk had his emblem, his key, and his student uniform placed on them. Evidently, he was expected to come up with the rest of the materials that he would need for his education on his own. The school was extremely focused on achievement and competency, after all, and Dan was in the lowest ranked class of them all. The staff weren’t about to give their lowest-achieving students a life of luxury.
There was a groan. It wasn’t sunrise yet, but the tiny amount of light that snuck in through the shutters seemed sufficient to wake up the plain-clothed student. He didn’t seem all that comfortable in the ridiculous sleep posture he had to adopt in order to rest in the tiny room, so his being awakened by the tiny disturbance wasn’t especially surprising to him. The bed was essentially just a bunch of straw crammed into a canvas sack, the likes of which was haphazardly plopped down onto a precarious wooden frame. It undoubtedly had some sort of bugs hiding away in it, and the straw poked out with even the slightest adjustment or motion from the poor, tired student. However, it was still a cushion, so it was far more comfortable than the floor.
As the student stirred, he stretched a bit, then sat up. He held his head for a bit and groaned again. There was still some residual pain from the beating he had taken the previous day during the ‘combat arts’ test. He grimaced, but got up without too much thought. He squirmed around to get out of his plain clothes and to get dressed in the uniform. It was a pretty sturdy-looking, red outfit - much higher quality than the threadbare linen garbs that he was wrapped in before. But, as the focus of the academy would imply, it was fairly plain, with minimal decoration. The student's name, "Dan", was embroidered above the left breast, and below it was engraved “Class F”. The pants were similarly plain, and they had the same embroidering along the inner side of the waist band.
Once he was dressed, he grabbed his emblem and his key, pocketing the emblem, and headed over to the door. He grabbed the padlock off the chain that it hung from and unlatched the deadbolt of the door. The door squeaked as it groaned along its rusty hinges. He closed the door back into place and secured the padlock around the latch on the outside of the door, presumably to keep the few worthless pieces of furniture within from being stolen or, more likely, thrown away. He locked the padlock with his key, then pocketed it as well and headed out. The other students were gradually streaming out of their dorm rooms as well. Many yawns were heard, and lots of footsteps and mumbling. The dorms were still relatively quiet, but they were definitely coming to life now that sunrise was approaching.
Dan followed along in the crowd, heading out into the walkways between the buildings of the campus. The walkways were all cobbled with bricks that were remarkably even. They appeared to be mortared in place and leveled. Most of the bricks appeared to be made of marble, much like the incredible walls of the academy. White seemed to be the pre-eminent color of the establishment. However, Black did not appear to be an unfavorable color to the students either. The highest-rated, most revered students in the entire academy - those in Class S - wore white, heavily embroidered uniforms, which had incorporated mithril wires that provided self-cleaning and self-repair enchantments. However, the next-best class, Class A, all wore black uniforms that had the self-repair enchantment included. The academy forbade students from taking their academy-provided uniforms outside of the academy grounds, but most students in the S and A classes were so capable that they'd be able to afford the uniforms with a few hours' labor anyway. After all, the students in Class A and Class S were essentially professionals already.
Dan smirked as those thoughts ran through his mind. He would occasionally spot one of the higher-ranked students out of the corner of his eye. but the vast majority of the students had colored uniforms. Class F had red colored uniforms. As for Class E, D, C, and B, Dan didn't pay too much attention. One was Blue, one was Yellow, and one was Green. He presumed he'd eventually figure it out, but the color scheme wasn't too important to him, since he wasn't interested in bothering with 'academy politics'. He was intent on studying as hard as he could so that he could rapidly re-acquire his position as a scholar and continue where he left off in his last life, or at least pursue some sort of equivalent. After all, as much as he enjoyed storytelling, he wasn't especially enthused with living the rest of his life as an entertainer.
While his thoughts about the academy rambled on for several minutes, he followed along the path to the main building. Once he arrived, his thoughts gradually died off and he made his way inside and over to the registrar's office. On the previous day, the tour guide told him that he would need to come over to register for classes first thing in the morning. Dan was somewhat apprehensive about the possibility of losing the opportunity to join classes if he showed up past sunrise, so he had decided to rush over with time to spare. His tour guide also warned him that, since he was joining the academy halfway into the fall semester, he’d have a lot of catching up to do. Once he entered the room and got his turn in line, the registrar repeated this wisdom, and handed him the class inventory.
Dan leafed through the pages of the packet, looking at the available classes with a thoughtful expression. The majority of the classes were crossed out. Evidently, that meant that they were either full on students, or they would be impossible to 'catch up' on. He carefully considered his options, and ended up signing up for five classes, much to the registrar's chagrin. The first was “Introductory Mana Theory” by Professor Haliwyn. The second was “Introductory Healing Arts” by Professor Gaines. The third was “Introductory Medicine and Herbalism” by Professor Gaines. The fourth was “Introductory Energetics” by Professor Orvel. The last was “Introductory World History” by Professor Lineus.
According to the times and "days" specified by the class inventory, each class was held twice a day throughout the week. The classes at the academy seemed to be held in a dispersed manner, with the same class being held four times over the course of two days, then the next class being held four times over the next two days, then the next class being held four times over the next two days, and then a one day break for religious and familial responsibilities. Based on what the inventory showed, students were supposed to 'register' for a specific 'day' and 'time' for each of the three classes each week, but since the classes were the same for both days and all the 'times' on both days, they had the option of going to any of the days or times associated with each lecture as long as they attended each one and got the assignments and tests in as appropriate.
Dan was eminently amused by this academic methodology. He selected his schedule such that the time slots he was registered for were "Introductory Mana Theory", followed by "Introductory Energetics", and then "Introductory World History" on the 'first days' and then "Introductory Medicine and Herbalism" and "Introductory Healing Arts" on the 'second days'.
The registrar expressed her concern that he was taking four 'knowledge' classes, one 'magic arts' class, and no combat classes, but Dan commented that he was used to intensive study, and that he would need more time to get used to the other fields that the school tested its students on. He also reassured her that he would utilize the gymnasium in his free time and that, once his physique was improved, that he would be more prepared to enter into the 'combat arts' and 'athletics' classes. She seemed satisfied with this, and approved his course schedule. She then confirmed the locations and times of his courses, and gave him a sheet of paper with the information written on it so that he’d be able to remember it. She also discussed the tuition fees that he would need to pay. Dan seemed relieved when he heard the total would only be around 10,000 Rykes per semester, and indicated that he would cover the costs in monthly, individual payments of 2,500 Rykes, including an up-front payment of 5,000 Rykes for the semester time that had already elapsed. The registrar looked surprised when he mentioned that, but when he passed her the five 1000 Ryke coins, she looked impressed instead.
Once all that was taken care of, she withdrew some syllabi for the classes that he registered for and handed them to him while pointing out all of the catch-up work he would need to go over with his professors. Once that was done, she bid him farewell and he got pushed aside by the next student in line. He rolled his eyes and rushed off as the registrar scolded the fellow, then he raced out of the registrar's office and started making his way through the main building.
The academy was similar to Ryken inasmuch as it had a wide variety of different people in it. The vast majority of the students seemed to have a noble bearing to them. Evidently, etiquette was a vital part of the social arts tests, so even students with no ties to nobility still appeared quite prim and proper. But, since a decent number of the students wandering around and talking to one another were monsters, the etiquette that they displayed was rather eye-catching and amusing to Dan. He was watching one such amusing gesticulation of a chitinous student while making his way around a corner, but ended up bumping into someone. He quickly turned to look at what he bumped into, and caught a glimpse of a white uniform. However, he only managed to catch a glimpse of it at first.
Almost the moment his eyes met the fabric of the white student's uniform, some incomprehensibly fast-moving object slammed into his shoulder and sent him careening into the ground. Dan gasped in shock at the suddenness of his fall, his right shoulder hurting immensely, and he looked around in surprise. Several nearby students who were relaxing in the stairwell started laughing at him. He looked quite confused as he finally met eyes with the student that he had bumped into. The fellow appeared to be an adolescent, grey-skinned elf with an orb of some sort floating around him. The elf glared down at him with venom and angrily commented, ”Ridiculous. Some F-class scum just sullied my uniform.” Several other students stared down at Dan with scorn in response, and the laughter died down.
Dan remained on the ground for a second, looking up at the strange group dynamic with concern. The other students all had black uniforms, so the power dynamic was obvious. He murmured, ”...how worrisome...” under his breath, then, inspecting the fellow’s uniform, he loudly and apologetically proclaimed, ”I apologize. I was careless. I meant no offense.”
The elf sighed and waved his hand dismissively after Dan’s apologies. The others looked back over at the elf expectedly. ”Fine, I’ll forgive you." he commented, looking over at the others proudly, as if holding some sort of lecture. "A great man like me can pardon such small offenses without issue, after all.” The people in the stairway responded to the elf's comments with affirmative statements and applause.
Dan raised his eyebrow at the oddity on display, but quickly got up, mumbling, ”Then, if you’ll excuse me…” He then quickly rushed off, continuing up through the stairway to the next floor. He looked over his shoulder at the fellows once he turned around to go up the next flight of stairs. Some of them were still staring over at him with glares, but most of them still had their attention on the elf, who seemed to be giving some sort of arrogant lecture on ethics and bloodlines. Dan returned his gaze to the stairs above him and clutched his right shoulder. He started paying a bit more attention to his immediate surroundings, presumably to prevent such an incident from re-occurring as he wandered out into the hallway of the next floor up. ”What an interesting place.” he mumbled, furrowing his brows.
...
He eventually made it over to the library. It was a fairly busy room, but despite the number of students within it, the place was silent. Dan spent several hours looking around for books, cross-referencing the syllabi he got from the registrar and quickly skimming through. Eventually, he looked over at the strange crystal sheet up on one of the walls. Time was relayed through magical devices in the academy, rather than through mechanical devices. The crystal sheets had an internal structure that caused various patterns of colored lights to emerge as time progressed. Since being able to tell time was a basic skill that Dan found to be quite important, once he was done collecting a bunch of books, he spent an hour to find a book on said 'timestones' and skimmed through it to learn the basics about how to glean useful information from them. Once he was functionally familiar with how to read a timestone, he spent a bit of time on a more in-depth survey of the subjects that he would be studying later on the same day.
...
Once the time approached an hour to noon, Dan put his books away and rushed out of the main building. He kept his wits about him and kept his eyes on the swivel this time. It paid off, since there were a few close calls. Once he was back on ground level and exited the main building, he headed over to the dining hall. Once he approached the entrance of his destination, he inspected the facilities. According to the instructions on the signposts erected near the entrance, all students were entitled one free "Simple Meal", which consisted of “bread, soup, water, and root vegetables”. There were additional 'allowances' for students in Class B and higher, but Class F students had to pay for anything more than a single "Simple Meal" two times a day. They also indicated that students had to collect any dishes they wanted to use from the stack at the entrance, and they had to thoroughly clean said dishes and return them to the entrance once they were done eating. Dan looked fairly unphased after seeing that note, but once he saw the note under it, he looked much more concerned. "Students who inadequately clean their dishes will be fined 1000 Rykes and will be subject to detention."
Dan shrugged off the rather ominous instructions and made his way into the dining hall. It was a remarkably large establishment - probably large enough to seat around 500 students at a time. Most of the tables seemed to be large enough for eight students, and all of them appeared to use plain wooden stools for seating. The diningware area near the entrance had hundreds of bowls piled up in stacks of ten, as well as a few thin wooden trays and a few mountains of wooden utensils. There was a sink next to the area with the utensils and what not, and several students were quickly scrubbing away at their dishes under a steady stream of water that appeared to come down from a tiny, bluish crystal on a metal claw thing jutting out from the wall. Dan observed the various oddities around him with a curt nod, but quickly went about collecting the bowl, tray, and spook that he would be requiring for his "Simple Meal". He then continued on past the sink and made his way over to the kitchen.
The kitchen had several displays, each with a crystal and a label housed above the crystal. The very first one was labelled "Simple Meal". Once Dan placed his tray and bowl under it and pressed his finger against the crystal, a few small gremlins popped out from a little door in the wall above the sign and flew down to his tray, holding the items that the signs outside the dining hall indicated. There was a cup of water, a loaf of bread, a few assorted root vegetables, and a plain, brothy soup that was poured from a cup into the bowl that Dan had on the tray. As quickly as the gremlins appeared, they disappeared back through the doorway and into the wall. Dan looked quite amused as he considered what the area behind the door looked like, but the students who were waiting behind him 'encouraged' him to get moving along before he could get very far with those thoughts.
Once Dan was seated and he started eating, he seemed to enjoy the meal quite thoroughly. Despite how plain it was it was filling and the ingredients were fresh. He seemed somewhat surprised, but the more he thought about it, the more he decided that it made sense. The academy did want to discourage students from getting comfortable in Class F, but not by torturing them. Students started slowly streaming in as Dan wrapped up his meal, but the place had yet to get truly crowded. After all, noon was still a while away. That said, the density of people near the entrance was quickly starting to climb as Dan moved over to the sink to wash his dishes, so once he was sure that they were thoroughly clean, he placed them back in the appropriate spots for the next students and rushed out of there.
Dan then headed out and strolled around the campus for a bit. He looked around at the pathways and gardens throughout the campus. The place was quite space efficient. The buildings fairly close together, and yet, great effort was made to still decorate the walkways with plenty of pleasant-looking and nice-smelling plants. Dan enjoyed the walk. He occasionally waved a greeting to other students in colored uniforms, although only one or two of them returned his greetings. Eventually, he ended up at “Haliwyn Hall”, the likes of which could be recognized by the straightforward engraving above the front door.
Dan entered through the doorway and walked through the hallway while looking around. Numerous students were busily conversing and postulating to one another. Some were reading books, some were writing stuff down on pieces of paper that were supported with the walls or other books, and some people were engaged in furious debate. It was a lively atmosphere, but not an especially loud one. Dan approached one of the doorways to one of the lecture halls. He cautiously opened the door, only to be unexpectedly pushed into the room by several student who rushed in behind him. He stumbled out of the walkway as he was overtaken by the rather impatient red-uniformed fellows behind him, then he steadily made his way over to a seat near the back of the lecture hall.
Much like in the other areas of the building, the lecture hall was rather busy with conversation and mumbling. Lots of the students seemed to know each other quite well. The professor was busy flipping through some papers and writing some words on the slate sheet behind him, which was integrated into the wall. Dan tried to introduce himself to a few of the other students near him, but they curtly dismissed him and continued with their own discussions. He sighed, deciding to think to himself and watch professor Haliwyn as the start of class approached. Professor Haliwyn seemed to be reviewing something in the paperwork he was leafing through, and Dan couldn't read it from where he was seated, so it was quite a boring wait.
After a few minutes, the professor looked around the lecture hall, placed his papers down in a space under the podium top, and stepped out along the side of the stage closest to the students. He had a stern, expectant expression as he walked. As if on cue, the room suddenly started to quiet down. Before long, the room was remarkably quiet, with the only sounds being the rustling of paper and the stretching of pens and charcoal. The professor nodded once the noise was at an acceptable level, his expression still stern. ”Excellent. I am glad that you are all prepared for class today.”
He then went over to the chalkboard and went over the assignments that were due soon, as well as several other announcements, including upcoming tests. He then gestured over to Dan, smiling as he did so, and announced, ”Also, we have a new student who registered for our class. He just joined the academy yesterday, so please help him out if he needs something.” Some of the students looked his way, and there was a bit of murmuring, but Dan didn't see any friendly expressions or waves of acknowledgement.
With his announcements out of the way, the professor's class began. There was a lot of terminology that had already been covered in previous classes which flew by. Dan focused hard. Although he didn't have any paper, he did still have a method of note-taking that did not rely on memorization, not that anyone else could see it. He didn’t bother asking any questions, since he was concerned about wasting time with elementary stuff that the professor had already covered. Instead, he tried to reason through the various details that flew by to the best of his ability. The subject of the class for the day was, as the professor put it, ”Assignment of information content to an individual’s mana.” From the professor's introductory ramble, Dan could tell that 'information content' and 'assignment' were the only topics that would be covered today.
Class went by quickly, since Dan’s mind was constantly occupied with contemplation and reasoning, as well as some occasional glances to his right, apparently to a series of random spots around the corner of the ceiling of the room. There were still some gaps in Dan’s understanding of the subject matter which needed to be filled in, but Dan was confident in his understanding of the main points of the lecture.
From what Dan understood, Professor Haliwyn was going in-depth on a particular aspect of his theory on mana. Specifically, he was discussing the process through which mana ‘acquires’ properties from the person to whom it belongs. According to his theory, mana has energy content, but it also has information content. A creature’s 'mind' and ‘soul’ only have information content, and are partially continuous with mana, such that the information content from the mind and the soul ‘mix’ with the mana and provide it with certain properties ‘subconsciously’. However, he also posited that the information content of mana can then be consciously modified as well, based on the creature’s strength of 'mind' and ‘soul’. Dan wasn't completely clear on what 'mind' and 'soul' were by the end of the lecture, and he also wasn't totally clear on the 'subconscious' mechanism that the professor was referring to, but 'information content' seemed to sufficiently generalizable that he was confident in his conceptualization of it.
Dan was especially interested in the consequences of this theory, as well as the tests that Professor Haliwyn did in order to support it. Evidently, The "Haliwyn Mana Theory" diverged quite sharply from the traditional theory of mana. As professor Haliwyn described it, "The traditional theory of mana posits that mana is entirely dependent on the ‘soul’ and that all of its properties are predetermined." As such, he jokingly commented that the "Haliwyn Mana Theory" was ”Controversial” since it contradicted one of the most fundamental axioms of the theory that had been used for the majority of academic life. However, he had a lot of confidence in his theory due to the experimental results he managed to produce, and due to the fact that his theory had survived for well over a century, and isn't strongly contested in the academia of the present day.
The rest of his lecture was filled with numerous ethics anecdotes, references to his beautiful wife and dozens of children, and numerous random questions to various students throughout the room. Dan seemed to be, quite mercifully, excluded from the selection pool of students that the professor asked questions to for the day. Towards the end of class, the professor stated several theoretical experiments to the class, and told them to utilize his mana theory in order to postulate what results would occur. Thereafter, he ended class early and commented that he would be taking questions for the rest of the class time, if anyone wanted to stay.
Most of the students streamed out of the classroom immediately after they were dismissed, but a few students stayed to ask some questions. Dan was one such student. The other students quickly ran out of questions, since professor Haliwyn seemed to be remarkably swift in answering the questions that the students brought him. Once the other students all left, Dan took his turn and walked up to greet the professor.
Professor Haliwyn smiled politely as Dan approached. ”Ah, Dan! Welcome! I was happy when the registrar told me that you decided to take my class. I suppose you’re wondering about the assignments you’ll need to complete to catch up?” Dan nodded, so the professor continued, ”Very well. There are five assignments, two tests, and five quizzes. You are exempt from any assignments, quizzes or tests that we hold in class for the next week so that you can catch up. Once you’re all caught up on the reading assignments, come to my office and I’ll take you through the quizzes and tests that have happened thus far. If you have a satisfactory performance, I'll then provide you with the assignments that you have missed, and we'll move along from there.”
Dan nodded again, looking confident. ”Alright, sounds good. Could you give me a list of texts and references that I can look through for supplementary context? I’m afraid to say that I don’t know much of anything about 'mana', 'mind' and 'soul' to begin with, so the basics would be helpful.”
Professor Haliwyn chuckled, retorting, ”You won’t need to worry about that, since this is an introductory course. The information on the syllabus that the registrar gave you will be more than sufficient. Most of the supplementary texts on the topic will be at an intermediate level. It’s unwise to skip ahead to complicated texts without building up your foundation of knowledge, since it will lead to misunderstandings, so just get through the required and recommended texts as soon as you can and then return to me for further guidance.”
Dan gave him an understanding grin and said his farewells. He then ventured off to another building - one with the name plate engraved with the words, “Orvel Hall”. There, he entered into the lecture hall indicated by the paper that the registrar gave him, and he went through the process of waiting for class to start once again. This time, the wait was less boring, since he had stuff to consider from the previous class. After awhile, a short, gnarled-looking, monstrous professor walked in and immediately started to lecture. The other students quickly quieted down and started listening.
This time, much like with professor Haliwyn’s course, time flew by. Professor Orvel was discussing interconversions between ‘primed mana’ and various types of energy. Some of the terms were needlessly technical, like ‘nonspatially instantiated psionic energy constructs’, but Dan still managed to follow most of the discussion. Toward the end of the class, the professor randomly started asking questions to the students. Eventually, he laid eyes on Dan.
”Ah, a new student. Tell us your name.”
Dan looked surprised and slightly apprehensive, but he stood up and announced, ”My name is Dan.”
The professor’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be focusing. ”Very well. Please do the best you can to answer the following question.”
Some of the other students in the class then started snickering. Dan raised an eyebrow even more, looking skeptical now, but he calmly watched as the professor then wrote a bunch of text on the board, as well as a diagram. Dan looked pleasantly surprised as the professor completed the diagram and turned back to face him.
”Alright Dan. I made a diagram on the board. A stationary mass of metal, approximating 5 mass equivalents, is infused with primed mana approximating 10 crystal equivalents. The primed mana is then activated with a catalytic packet of spatial psionic energy, and is conformed to an A-type kinetic mechanism. If the directionality of the impulse is opposed to gravity, describe the resulting motion imposed on the mass of metal.”
Dan thought for a bit, then confidently, but thoughtfully responded, ”Assuming the transfer occurs instantaneously, with perfect efficiency, the ball will immediately obtain an upwards-directed velocity of…around three hundred and fifteen distance units per second. Given the gravitation constant of around 10 distance units per second per second, and assuming there are no obstacles or materials in its path, it will continue moving and decelerating until it reaches a height of…maybe around 5200 distance units above its starting position. It will reach its maximum height in around 32 seconds, then it will start a return course to the point it was launched from. Assuming perfectly elastic impacts, it will then continue to perpetually impact the ground, rebound, reach the same height, and then fall back down for the rest of eternity.”
The professor looked quite impressed by Dan’s response, and the students started murmuring to one another. The professor shushed the students, then replied, ”Excellent. Everyone take note of what Dan just did. He did not know the exact solution, so he approximated. I heard many of you comment that his assumptions are absurd, but he did exactly what you are supposed to do when you are not given constraints - make the most logical assumptions you can. Without an elasticity constant of the ground that the metal mass is resting on, how would Dan know how elastic the collisions with the ground would be? Without being provided an altitude or linear air density, how would he know the effects of air resistance? His assumptions weren't mindless - after all, within the margin of error he specified, his assumption about the gravitational constant was more than sufficient. Further, he did not say so, but he converted crystal equivalents into energy equivalents and utilized the kinetic energy conversion formula that we covered last week. Those of you who objected to his answer would do well to learn from his example and to study thoroughly.” The professor then gestured for Dan to sit down, and he continued his lecture by demonstrating how to correct the assumptions that Dan gave in his answer when provided with certain information. Dan was fascinated by the discussion of the inefficiencies in the situation, but judging by the expressions of some of the other students in the class, the topic seemed to be getting to a level of depth that most of the students were no longer comfortable with.
The professor eventually used the example, the assumptions, and the corrections to the assumptions in order to bring the lecture back around to the main topic. He mentioned one of the research projects that he was working on, which postulated a ‘nebulous ether’ which resists the movement of energy slightly and results in inefficiencies in magic use. He also discussed a few interesting experiments that have supported said postulate. Then, he gradually brought the lecture to a close. At the end of the class, he provided a few assignments to the students, and also mentioned a few upcoming assignments. Dan went to speak to the professor after class, and had a similar conversation to the one that he had with professor Haliwyn. Thereafter, he left and wandered out of the building to attend his last class of the day.
Once he arrived at Lineus hall, he made his way over to the lecture hall indicated on his sheet, and entered the room. The procedure was already becoming familiar to Dan, so he silently contemplated what he learned about in the previous class as he waited for the professor to arrive. Once professor Lineus arrived, the surly gnome dumped a massive pile of documents on the table next to the podium, and started splitting them into piles. Once everyone quieted down, he announced that today, they were going to study the formation of Ryken and the surrounding events involving the other nearby empires which occurred at around the same time.
The class was very in-depth. Professor Lineus had an enthusiasm for the documents that made even the more technical and archaic readings slightly more palatable. The class concluded much like the last one, with assignments and with a discussion between Dan and the professor on how to catch up.
With his classes done for the day, Dan rushed over to the library once again. Essentially the entire rest of the day, all the way until well past sunset, he spent his time reading. Then, once he got tired and hungry, he wandered over to the dining hall to eat, and he went over to the bath house to clean himself up, then he shuffled over to his dorm, locked the door, and fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up at right as the sky started lighting up, and he went off to the library again. Once the timestone went within an hour of noon, he got some lunch in the dining hall and wandered over to Gaines Hall, where he took his two courses for the day: "Introductory Medicine and Herbalism" and "Introductory Healing Arts".
The Introductory Medicine and Herbalism class went fairly well. The class for the day involved a survey of analgesic and anesthetic medicines and herbs, as well as some of the challenges and accomplishments in said area that had been made throughout the past few centuries. Dan got distracted by his thoughts various times throughout the lecture as he imagined the biochemistry involved in the different techniques. Once that class ended, he was told about the various assessments and examples that he would need to complete in order to get caught up, just like he did for his previous classes.
Finally, he went to the Introductory Healing Arts class. Unlike the last few classes, this one was practical, so it met inside a training room instead of a lecture hall. Most of the students grabbed some training catalysts for the lesson, but Dan didn’t bother. Once the professor arrived and saw Dan, he used the time before class started to ask Dan about his abilities in healing. When Dan responded that he couldn’t even use mana, the professor chuckled, told him that that was completely fine, and provided him with some equipment to practice non-magical surgical techniques.
Dan then spent the rest of class time being personally instructed by either the professor himself or by one or more of the senior students of the class. He was shown how to hold and operate the tools that were provided to him, specifically in order to suture and bandage the ‘training target’, which was essentially just a fleshy doll that bled and groaned in pain when cut. Dan looked unnerved throughout the class time, but he seemed to get the hang of the technique that he was being taught after a few dozen repetitions. At the end of the class, he was told about the various assignments he would have to complete in order to get caught up. Evidently, mana use was not necessary to pass the course, but learning to use mana would allow him to complete the techniques much faster, and would therefore speed up his comprehension of the material and techniques substantially. Mana was also necessary to perform certain healing techniques, so he would have to operate magic tools to learn those techniques until he was able to operate a magic catalyst in order to generate the effects on his own.
Dan left the class room looking frustrated, but excited. Once he cleaned up after himself and was dismissed from the room, he went back to the library and spent a lot of time reading. Once the sun had set, he ate some food in the dining hall, washed up in the bath house, and headed back to his dorm to sleep.
...
He repeated this cycle for a few days. He rapidly got caught up on the material involved in his classes, since he literally spent all of his free time speed-reading and taking mental notes. He seemed to have no problem focusing for very extended study sessions, and the amount of sleep that he was getting seemed to be adequate. By the end of the week, he was already caught up with the required reading, the tests, and the quizzes for his classes, and he completed most of the prior assignments, much to the surprise of his professors. He admitted quite readily that he was going for "speed, not perfection", but his professors were still pleased with what he managed to turn in. He spent the first ten hours of his day off powering through the remaining assignments. Once those were all complete, he ate a meal and wandered over to the gymnasium.
Upon initially arriving at the gymnasium, he was impressed. Lots of students were rushing around in clothing that was lighter-weight than the student uniforms. Once Dan found the changing room, he found several cabinets filled with lightweight clothes in various sizes, and changed into ones that were the right size for his scrawny frame. He then went back out into the gym to start his workout. Dan asked around for help learning how to use the equipment, and eventually, he managed to get help from one of the other students - specifically, Bugg!
Dan looked excited when their eyes met. He rushed over to Bugg and said his greetings. They talked for a bit while Bugg finished a few reps, then Dan asked for help and Bugg showed him how everything worked. They worked out together for a few hours. Bugg was much further along in terms of his physique, but they both went at their own pace. Lots of people laughed at the sight, especially at the contrast between the two. After a few hours of learning various things and exhausting himself, Dan took a quick break, after which Bugg said that he had to go. Dan said his farewells to the friendly entomancer orc, then headed over to the track on the elevated platform around the edge of the building. He sprinted and did a bunch of long runs while circling around the ovular track, and kept going until he was thoroughly exhausted.
By the time he changed back into his red uniform and left the gymnasium, it was already dark, and he felt completely exhausted. He spent a few minutes stretching, then headed over to the bath house. Once he was all clean, he went to get some food. He was starved, so he ended up getting multiple meals, grinning happily as he gave a few 10 Ryke coins to the little gremlins that came out when he pressed the crystal. With his tummy full, he went back to his dorm, bolted the door, and plopped down in bed to sleep.
From that point on, he started a more regular schedule, alternating between studying and working out on most days. When he was too tired to exercise, he went out into the city to earn some money as a performer, a wiseman/counsellor, or as an investigator of sorts. In that way, he started to settle in to his workaholic life in the Imperial Logia Academy of Ryken.
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