X-Over Academy (Drac's Version) [IC]

[Shradow]

As he listened to the boy, who identified himself as Revan, the Black Knight noticed in another part of the area an altercation between one of the summoned familiars and those who appeared to in charge of the students. No doubt it will come to blows if I don't cooperate. It would be wise to take my time here until I can find a solution. A few moments after Revan had finished speaking, the Black Knight finally spoke. "Very well. As it seems that is the rule here, I shall become your familiar."

 

Then he took a step towards Revan and leaned down towards him. The Black Knight was head and shoulders above Revan in height, literally, and fully clad in large, black plate armor, making him an intimidating sight. "But know this, boy." he spoke with a stern voice, "You are not my true master, and until I am able to return to Tellius, I shall serve you, but no longer after. Now," he stepped back, "finish the ritual." Revan said the second half of the incantation, and a silver mark appeared on the back of the Black Knight's right gauntlet before fading away. It was not visible beneath the armor, but he could feel it on his skin. It seems for now I'm cursed with another Brand... he thought in disgust.

 

The Black Knight turned towards one man in the crowd as he made an announcement to the group: An Arena battle. "Well now, it appears things are getting interesting already." The Black Knight and Revan then left the Summoning area, following the group of students and familiars that were being shuffled elsewhere.

 

--------------------

 

Arn had been so wrapped up in his first encounter with Moderatus that it wasn't until halfway through the Headmaster's announcement that he realized it was being made. He caught enough to realize what it meant, though. "Well, that's a relief. I guess it's a good thing we got everything sorted out peacefully, then, huh?" Arn laughed nervously, then his face grew serious, and he muttered to himself, "Actually, a fight this early would be pretty troublesome. Hm."

 

Following that, his attention was drawn to another professor, who was guiding students and familiars who had complete their Contract away from the Summoning area. "They must be showing us to where we'll be staying." Arn quickly walked over to where the students' luggage had been tossed and grabbed what few belongings he had on him. Always on the move for the past year, Arn had grown used to traveling light. "Tch. They could've handled these better, but at least nothing's broken." He looked at Moderatus. "I suppose you don't have anything you need to collect. I'm sure where we're going won't be very comparable to what you're used to in whatever palace you live in, either. Anyways, let's go."

 

Before Arn took another step he realized that, during the Summoning he had acted all high and mighty, but now that things had calmed down he had relaxed into a very casual manner, one he didn't quite know he had, having not talked to that many people in awhile. "Um, I mean... That is to say, let us make our way to the living quarters, your highness. My lord. My liege?" I may be the Master in this situation, but he's still a king! I'm not sure what kind of knights he's used to, but I can't allow myself to mess things up already!

[Asriel Dreemurr]

William nodded to Veirus, a wicked smile crossing his face as another opportunity to prove himself reared its head.  He did not want to disgrace his foe, and so he was racking his brain for a way to beat Alius in such a way that let the both of them prove themselves worthy as students and thus be allowed into the Academy proper.  It was not that he cared about her and her feelings, rather he saw her as a potentially powerful ally.  After all, she had essentially pioneered a brand new form of magic and could provide him with an incredible wealth of knowledge if she were to be made willing to do so.

 

"So," he began in his whispers again, "I won't finish the familiar contract just yet unless they force me to.  It's a valuable asset for us to maintain a certain degree of separation from one another right now, so I won't be taking it away."  He then cleared his throat, and made it look as if he'd had a coughing fit to those looking on from around.  He didn't want that plan getting out if possible.  When next he spoke, he did so in a loud voice.  "Now then, when will this duel take place?  I am eager to test my mettle on the field of honor!"  He slammed one weighted end of his staff into the ground for emphasis, and looked around at all those that stood before him, locking eyes briefly with his proposed opponent, and then did the same with the Headmaster.

 

---

 

Moderatus nodded approvingly of the young man's boldness in shaking his hand rather than kneeling before him as many would have, and as such he squeezed the hand that had taken his before returning the shake as it had been given.  In fact he was about to say something, when the violence occurring a ways away finally caught his attention.  It seemed that quite a ruckus was going on, and from what he'd managed to catch right there at the very end of the mess that there was some sort of challenge engaging.  He chuckled loudly, and turned to Arn a moment later.

 

"I do sincerely hope that we get the chance to engage in one of those challenges, boy.  I would surely love to test my mettle against the warriors in this place!"  He didn't bother responding to Arn's comment about his luggage could have been better taken care of as he followed the young lad about the way to collect his things and was more busy with looking about to see all that surrounded him.  He took particular notice of the "Lady of Dark Magic" as they walked along, and couldn't quite take his crimson eyes off her for a moment or two.  It helped that his Master commented about their sleeping situation likely being less comfortable than he was used to, and so he wound up laughing aloud again and this time smacked the boy heavily on the back.

 

"Boy, a king goes where his armies go.  I assure you, no matter what the sleeping arrangements are I have been in worse."  A quick gesture of helping the lad up out of whatever position the smack had knocked him into, and the King went ahead of his master to clear the way for him if the need happened to present itself.  "And don't be so meek around me.  Heaven knows I practically had to beat that out of my own knights."

[Draconus297]

Rhoda, the Lady of Black Magic, felt eyes on her and shivered. Despite her image of being the stereotypical loose-moral witch, she was secretly bothered by all the attention she got. There was a reason she sometimes intentionally held back and made her Shadow Burst painful, but not the instantly-fatal pulse of raw destruction it usually was- to use it as pervert deterrent. However, not knowing who it was was . . . unsettling.

 

---------

 

Headmaster Reign smiled. "Exactly one week from now, my boy. In exactly one week, you and Alius will face off."

 

Aquinas laughed. "And one of you will be alone at the bottom of the rankings list far earlier than we normally permit scheduling."

 

Headmaster Reign sighed. "Admittedly a pity, but there seems to be only one way to quell the student body." He turned back to William. "You see, the Summoner and Familiar at the absolute bottom of our rankings list- the ones with the most losses- forfeit power to all the other students, as well as the Professors."

 

"In other words," Aquinas clarified, "the bottom two are forced to take orders from anyone in the Academy who gives them, short of servants. The only way to challenge an order given is to challenge them in the Arena, and if they also lose there . . ." he whistled, and made the sound of a body hitting the continent three miles below.

[Big Bad Pennar]

Personally, Veirus hated how that system worked now, having a ranked duel as a punishment for acting out in a justified manner? Even worse, The Loser forcing to serve the academy as nothing more than a servant for all the students until the actual Ranked duels started or be expelled? The Idea of punishing someone else for her own actions, or even dragging her partner into the punishment made her know that the Professors AND the Headmaster was lacking in the sanity department, She was about to reach in her shoulder pack for her Cylinder, as she wanted to get herself out of this dimension, but then remembered that she had promised her partner to help, and being the prideful elf she was, she cannot go back on her word, However, she wanted to say one thing, "And What if it was a Draw? What would happen then?"

[Draconus297]

The Headmaster shrugged. "In the highly unlikely event that all four combatants are knocked unconscious, they may either settle themselves with decorum or schedule a rematch. While it is admittedly nor a perfect system, it works wonders to instill a fighting spirit in our students, to better prepare them for the more dangerous battles on the continent."

Aquinas snickered. "Some blokes down there think we're being cruel to our students, but then the moment there's a riot or Acolyte attack, the first thing they do is call down one of us. We do what must be done-"

"-in the name of the greater good," Reign finished, annoyed. "I hate when you attempt to justify your actions with the school's motto."

[Alaina]

As the whole disembarking process had ended, Amber was getting ready to do her summoning, though not before doing a little bit of gawking. The academy had been, more or less everything she had dreamed it would be, though the welcoming committee could use a little ironing out. Regardless, she was still super excited to see everything here get underway and was about to jump right into the summoning process, when a little bit of commotion was going on. While there seemed to be some sort of violence between a newly summoned familiar and the summoner themselves, Amber didn't so much pay attention to that as she did the giant ensemble of familiars. There were so many cool ones, especially considering that two of them summoned seem to be like, super knights and even the one that went rogue for a brief moment seemed to be some sort of super badass wizard thing. 

 

However, with all the commotion over and done with, Amber walked over and was ready to summon her familiar. She fastened her orian wood arm guard and mentally prepped herself for the summoning. Though she was still in sheer wonderment as to what the familiar she would summon would be. The possibilities were absolutely endless. Taking a deep inhale, she let it out as she was now ready. She recited out the incantation used so far. "Eirus, Flaejellei, Sinh, Purio, Dominé!" As she finished reciting the lines, a giant pillar of light shot forth from this awesome swirl of energy right before her. She briefly shielded her eyes from the light, though was still in excitement as to what the familiar she had summoned was. As she looked back she saw it was none other than...a flower jewel. Well that was...what actually was this? With a slightly unamused face, she bent down and picked it up, looking at it from every angle wondering just what it was.

[Azure Wolf]

Revan started thinking about what the knight had said, wondering who his other master was. Deciding not to dwell on it, Revan started moving along with the crowd. Revan started to think about what was said about the arena and the social standings for the academy. With the lowest rank being treated as servants he knew that he couldn't lose to anyone. He knew in order to do that he would need to learn more powerful shadow spells, as the three  he currently had, two were support, so he could only rely on his spear and familiar to cover his back. This made Revan question himself, he was never one for competition and he knew that if he saw anyone in any really trouble he would do anything to stop it. "What am I doing here?" Revan whispered to himself. Revan decided that he would look at his memento from his home, a small piece of rock which he found and has treasured ever since.  

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus thought closely, She decided that if things went terribly in that fight to end it in a draw, even if she was close to winning, her belief was a bit too solid to afford her any Solace to the matter, but then she loosened up when One of the professors made a statement about people believing that they may be too cruel, but the things they do would be for the greater good, She was about to throw some of her wisdom at that professor because she knew of several cases of people doing things "For the Greater Good" that almost ended up completely destroying Erinn when her ears flickered, she heard another student perform an incantation, "Eirus, Flaejellei, Sinh, Purio, Dominé!" the Student said, to which a jewel appeared, she made sure to try to note the spell in her head so she could perhaps... make a contract to have... perhaps Nuadha become her Familiar? or perhaps his sword? She was thinking of all the possibilities of that spell..

[Draconus297]

As soon as it became clear everyone had Summoned their Familiars, Headmaster Reign snapped his fingers.

 

Without warning, literal hordes of blue-cloaked mages came down from the rooftops, all encanting the same spell.

 

"Veritarassi!" Suddenly, all of the adepts and Familiars who had been in the area found themselves confused. There had been something they were thinking about- an incantation of some kind. But it just . . . didn't seem important. After all, if it had been important, they would have remembered it, right?

 

Headmaster Reign smiled, pointed his index finger, outfitted with an Orian wood ring, at Aquinas. "Sorry, old friend- Veritarassi!"

 

Aquinas blinked. "Should I . . . should I remember something? I think there's something I forgot."

 

Reign smiled. "Well, if it were important, you'd have remembered it, right?"

 

Aquinas sighed. "I suppose. This feeling happens every year! I swear there's something wrong with my memory!"

 

Reign laughed. "Going senile? At your age? Not a good sign, Battlemage."

[Tesability Black]

(Hmmph, so screwballs my idea for my little digital dragon. Thanks for the gunjump, Drac. Also, you'd be sick as hell if you had to reform in an unfamiliar world, too.)

A few seconds after the memories of all the Summoners and other Familiars have had their memories blanked of certain things, the citrine flower in Amber's hand began to glow brighter and brighter. It pulled itself out of her hand and became encloaked with a sphere of green light whose outside appeared to be comprised of supremely-tiny rows of 1s and 0s. It soon exploded harmlessly before the strange green 1s and 0s of tiny, almost miniscule, size began to pull together to form a new shape.

First, they gathered together at four points, then expanded out slighty and started building up into what looked like simplified reptilian paws. The four forms began to build up, into columns that resembled legs, before finally joining into one body. Out of the core of the new being did four points began to add onto themselves in great amounts. One end began to form the vague shape of a head, vaguely canine, but certainly not, with two rather-long points that were probably ears. The other end lengthened then ended in a clear point, a tail. The two points between them, on what could pass for the forming being's back, began to lengthen like the tail before thinning out and stretching out, becoming...relatively-small wings, compared to the rest of the overall shape.

The numbers began to fade and the dark-green light began to peel away, starting from the head at the two points. The light peeled away to reveal silver leaf-like shapes before beginning to expose dark-grey, almost black scales that slightly-shimmered. Eyes closed for the moment, a short draconic snout was revealed with a pair of long actually-pearly-white down-pointed fangs emerging from the mouth. The light pulled away from the short neck toward the body, which began to expose a pair of small wings with true-black folds of skin between where the bones in the wings would be. Bumps of black emerged from just where the base of its head connected with its back and seemed to reach all the way to the tip of the tail once that had fully emerged from view.

 

Once the miniature dragon had fully-formed, it opened its strange solid-black eyes before taking a wobbly step forward...

 

...and none-too-gracefully kerplopped flat onto the floor, not yet registering the drastic change of scene. White spirals suddenly appeared in her eyes though there was no white in them before.

 

"Dizzeh Ne'mon es dizzeh..."¹

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

¹ "Dizzy NetMon is dizzy..."

[Shradow]

"Then I'll just go with Moderatus." Arn was about to follow behind Moderatus, but before they could leave the area, the Headmaster had called forth a multitude of blue-cloaked mages. After that Arn seemed to black out for a moment before everything was back to normal. He rubbed his eyes like someone who'd just woken up, and felt like something was missing. "This feeling... Memory manipulation?" He'd heard many things about the Academy during his travels, whether they be fact or rumor, and one rumor that popped up every once in awhile was that a certain spell at the Academy was top secret. However, no one who'd told the tale could seem to remember exactly what it is. "Seems the Academy has its fair share of secrets." Arn scratched his head, unable to remember what had just happened. All he could remember was that Moderatus was now his familiar. His thoughts seemed to trail off every time he thought too hard about it. "So be it. They better not have messed anything else up in here."

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus's train of thought was interrupted by the noise of spells being cast "Again?" she thought, She immediately saw several blue cloaked mages coming, incanting the spell on others, at that point, she really did not trust her shockwave around that many people, so she swiftly pulled out her cylinder, grabbed a wind crystal, and placed the outward of the cylinder on her chin and the crystal into the Cylinder, pointing upward and incanted, just before a Blue cloaked mage was about to incant it's spell "Vemc!", with a massive wind gust striking her on the chin, it did not hurt much, but she was launched up high, but not very high, she landed far away from the crowd, she noticed another blue cloaked mage coming towards her, but she did what she really needed to do, so she waited... and waited... she blanked out as the spell was cast on her, and she did not feel the distinct feeling Shockwave had made when it discharged, there was a certain detail she couldn't recall as if it was gone, but her memory was otherwise intact...

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The sudden arrival of the blue-cloaked mages gave Will cause for alarm, and he prepared himself to do something, anything, to defend himself from these strangers.  Of course they came and went like lightning, such that he could hardly respond and in that moment he had knowledge of an incantation wiped from his mind.  One thing, however, that he managed to hold on to was that he had known the incantation and its purpose before those casters had done whatever it was they had done.  Things made sense to him now, why mages didn't typically have more than one familiar.  Still, there were things that needed to be done.  His own familiar had gone off and tried to run away for whatever reason.

 

"Are you alright?"  He asked as he came running over towards the curious elf woman had landed after that strange escape attempt of hers.  The elf would soon find herself being helped to her feet by the young man.

 

----

 

Moderatus was generally very unimpressed by what was going on, especially with these mages coming from the roof tops.  Really, it was entirely unnecessary for them to do such a thing, but it taught him something important.  The Headmaster was not a mage of sufficient power to cast a spell like that over the entirety of the group, or else he wanted to appear as such.  If the latter were true, then the Headmaster could well be the most powerful mage in the academy.  If the former were true, it would mean that he likely relied on his familiar to reach that position.  The king would need to see more of this, but for now there was something more important.  He and his master needed to find their quarters.

 

"Pardon me, m'lady," he began, stepping away from Arn and towards that lady who was fairly obviously a practitioner of the dark arts.  Or at least obviously to one who knew what to look for.  "My master is tired from the journey here, and the rather unnecessary strain placed upon him by that little show just there.  Would you be so kind as to point us in the direction of where we will be staying while we are here?"  He kept his tone polite, and a smile on his face while his crimson eyes never left Rhoda's face.  It was polite to maintain eye contact after all.

[Draconus297]

Rhoda found the tall Familiar's crimson gaze unnerving. His eyes bored into her head, and she got the feeling that he was one of those telepathic Familiars that popped up from time to time.

However, she couldn't let herself slip up in front of a mere Familiar, and put the hard edge back into her voice. "Of course. Your master probably intends to enroll in the Force course stream, so you'll want the East Tower." Her finger pointed towards one of four obscenely tall spires, with evenly spaced windows identifying it as having regular rooms.

"Of course," she shrugged, "the little first-year nitwit may think he's suited for the Mind, Skill, or Deceit course stream, so you might want to ask him."

[Shradow]

Upon hearing the woman's comment, Arn's eyebrows came together in a scowl. Where does she get off acting like that? However, she had given him food for thought. Exactly what course stream would be best for me here? Assuming all of them are as self-explanatory as they sound, Mind and Deceit are definitely out of the question. I'm neither smart nor cunning enough for those. That leaves Skill and Force. The only spells I've mastered so far are reinforcement magic, scrying, and my sword summons. Not exactly perfect spells when it comes to brute force. I'm not the strongest of fighters, my siblings taught me that the hard way each time we sparred toge--

 

Arn's train of thought stopped there and he slowly blinked in realization of where his mind was headed. "Tch." He mentally berated himself for bringing up that part of his past, the past he was determined to leave behind. With the other kinds of spells I've been studying, I'll have to get by on being resourceful with what I learn. And out of everything I've learned in my combat training, at the very least I'm proficient with my form and maneuverability. His head had been lowered in thought and when he looked up he saw Moderatus and the woman looking at him, still waiting for an answer. "I will actually be enrolling in the Skill course stream... m'lady." Arn scowled at her again, still not pleased with that "first-year nitwit" comment of hers.

 

--------------------

 

Following the aftermath of the blue-robed mages' appearance, Revan and the Black Knight walked up behind a young knight and a large man wearing fine clothing who seemed to be addressing a woman of authority. He had overheard the talk of course streams, so this was a good chance to have Revan's question that he had whispered to himself earlier answered. "Excuse me, my lady. I am this boy's... familiar," the Black Knight nudged Revan forward, bringing his attention away from some stone he was gazing at, "and he would like to know the procedure for enrolling in one of these 'course streams.'"

[Draconus297]

Rhoda smiled. "Of course. I am head of the Deceit course stream, so all students who wish to enter that stream must meet my standards. Aquinas leads Skill, Lady Himeko leads Mind, and Master Knight- who has decided to retire to his tower early- leads Force. We each have our own unique standards of admission."

She held up her bullwhip and cracked it, using her Shadow Mirror spell wordlessly, creating eight duplicates of herself. "My course stream, Deceit, is about fooling one's enemy in battle, luring them into your traps and springing them. Himeko's, Mind, requires you to break your opponent's mind into nothingness, either by outsmarting them, or by making them stupid through spells like Memory Erasure and Clumsiness. Aquinas's, Skill, requires combat skill and finesse- finding weak points, exploiting them, parrying your opponent's strikes, and using the battlefield itself as a weapon. Knight's, Force, is about overcoming your opponent with raw destructive power, unleashing explosions, weaponry, slices, and simply enjoying the carnage."

She dispelled her duplicates with a second Crack of her whip. "Naturally, those of us that show up claim specific students for our own, and reject students we believe will not meet our standard. Of course, if we are proven wrong, we will acquiesce and accept or deny students that were more or less than they appeared, but I have not had to do this in all my years here. It has happened to Aquinas on many occasions, which is why he doesn't specifically claim anyone anymore."

She laughed. "I'm getting off-topic. Knight boy, I suppose it was wrong of me to assume you wanted to join Master Knight in his tower, so I suppose I owe you something. I'll figure out what later. In any case, speak with Aquinas, in the North Tower. As for you, my black-clad friend, all one needs to do is speak with the appropriate person and pass their test."

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus was helped up by her 'master', and simply said [color=rgb(255,0,0)]"Yea i'm alright, I just did not trust that spell around that many people, I almost felt it was going to be set off..."[/color], before any Inquiries about the spell were made, she quickly explained [color=rgb(255,0,0)]"My Shockwave serves as a powerful counterattack in my disposal, if you're too close to me when you cast a spell, it sometimes sets it off, Likewise with melee attacks. it does not hurt that much, it just pushes people back, while it gives me some breathing room, in this place, it's been nothing but trouble, being set off in the most... inopportune times... at least it has a good sign~"[/color], She looked around and saw that the students were leaving for the dorms and a few stayed behind to ask questions to some of the teachers, she had a few questions to ask, but there were a few that was more prevalent, but when she heard the teacher that was taking questions call someone a 'nitwit first year', she was angry, she was about to reach in her pack for her staff again when she thought more on the matter, she had questions that needed answered, so she walked up to Rhoda and gazed into her eyes, saying [color=rgb(255,0,0)]"Miss? I have a few questions to ask you, First off... Where is a good place we can practice at? and Secondly, Would it be possible for Familiar with the ability to cast magic, such as myself, to enter classes separate from the master, or do we both attend the same class?"[/color], and then she smiled after gazing into her eyes [color=rgb(255,0,0)]"and Finally, What of the Familiars that can return to their Home Plane on their own? Are they allowed to bring their Masters with them Temporarily?..."[/color]

[Draconus297]

Rhoda appraised the elven Familiar with a raised eyebrow, and one could practically watch the gears turning in her head. "Regarding a place to practice, there are multiple arenas located on the island, courtyards, there's a rather large meadow, and I suppose that the . . . things in the swamps to the north make good target practice."

Rhoda sighed as she continued. "While spellcasting Familiars are not exactly uncommon, we have found that our magic is incompatible with denizens of other universes. Put bluntly, I could spend the next thousand years teaching you every precise detail in how to cast False Voice, and you would never get it right. So, you stay with your Summoner at all times, and attempt to brainstorm ways to combine your talent with theirs. I should hope that that is not asking too much of you. Regarding returning to your home plane, it is possible, but the Familiar Mark will make every minute painful. The amount of time you can spend outside this world is dependent on your own pain threshold, I would venture."

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus listened to Rhoda's answers, Veirus actually laughed hard because [acronym='Referring to Garris, Who started with Absolutely NO Magic in the original RP, and the Backstory of the now non-existent druid']she actually had to teach magic to her old master[/acronym] and that was easy once she figured out the tricks to it, "You know, I find the whole 'Familiars cannot cast their Summoner's Magic' thing being kind of hilarious, especially since I've taught My Magic to a person in a different universe before, and likewise with magic being taught to me..." Veirus smiled and continued "There was a few tricks I had to do for both, and they made the ordeals easy, Why don't we put them and your Analysis to the test someday? and perhaps I'd teach you those tricks if they do work here..." Veirus then loosened her grin as she got on the answer to the other answer, and said "Oh Wow, More Pain, probably took worse pains though, would bring me back to that one time I needed to Kick Nuadha's butt because he tried to steal the powers of the goddess" Veirus giggled and smiled, saying "What I was also asking is that If Returning to the Home Plane was possible that would I be able to bring anyone, Including my master, with me with the Headmaster's Permission?"

[Draconus297]

Rhoda sighed. This poor girl thought that she had a chance in this world, because her own was different. "Believe me, I have tried to teach my own Familiar magic. The man has enough power to cause a supernova, and yet I cannot teach him something as simple as Shadow Mirror. He tries and tries, and still poor Seph tries. He almost got it once, but it was dissipated by a passing breeze."

Rhoda gave Veirus a look that could only be described as pitying. "The Headmaster . . . doesn't honor requests made by certain kinds of people." She looked at the floor, bitter. "Believe you me, I have tried."

[Shradow]

When it was clear their conversation was over as other pairs started to ask questions, Arn and Moderatus headed towards the North Tower. "I'll be blunt, Moderatus, something you should get used to around me. As a knight, I essentially failed in my training, preferring books and spells to traditional combat. Though I still wear this armor and sword for their practicality, they also act as keepsakes. In a fight I get by on my own resourcefulness, but I have much to learn. If it comes to facing the dangers of this world, I'll have to rely heavily on you for yet some time."

 

When they reached the base of the tower, Arn looked skyward towards its peak. They were already in the sky, so the towers reached even further into the clouds than most mountains. Arn looked to Moderatus and smirked. "I hope you're not afraid of heights. Let's meet with this Aquinas."

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus frowned as Rhoda looked down in the dumps and explained that her familiar was extremely powerful and could not learn a simple spell, but also explained that her familiar almost got it once, but a simple breeze dispelled it, she smiled and said "If he almost done it once, That proved your Analysis wrong already... You see, Back in Erinn, I studied to become a Mage, and I was taught by Stewart that there is always mana in the air, and as it is capable to understand anyone's words, every Mage in Erinn adopted a Single Language, Certain Movements, and/or Special Foci to use to control mana... And I have traveled to a couple different universes once and found the exact same thing, and even here, I see a similar thing happen here..." Veirus giggled and said to Rhoda "Just don't give up, Keep trying, Seph will get it soon enough"

[Draconus297]

Rhoda shook her head. "Then your universe's magic runs on an entirely different set of rules. You see, all magic here is an imposition of the caster's willpower and mental fortitude upon the world. The weak cannot cast magic at all, and only the truly advanced and stubborn become truly great at it. In its own way, Headmaster Reign's bullheadedness is the source of his magical talent."

She looked wistfully at her Familiar, the silver-haired swordsman that had threatened Veirus earlier. "Seph is many things, but he has nowhere near enough mental fortitude or internal mana to use even the simplest of our spells properly."

---------

The North Tower, as tall as a mountain in its own right, stood as a reminder of the raw power wielded by the mages of the Academy in the Air.

The entryway was rather high, to permit Familiars as large as a medium-sized dragon to pass through with little incident. The stone construction looked fragile, but it was apparently deceptive as a stray Explosion spell from the East Tower crashed into it without leaving so much as a scratch. Just above the doorway, there was a simple plaque, reading "Paradoxical must the student of Skill be, cautious yet bold, measured yet quick, calculating yet not bookish. Abandon thy notions of simplicity, should thou seek Aquinas the Battle Mage."

Various students crowded just inside, pointing at certain would-be recruits to their home tower. Some were mocked (a particularly vicious blow sent its unfortunate recipient into tears), some were treated as if they had been awaited, and some got careful consideration. One thing was certain, however- a pretentious, twin-sword-wielding German was the ace among the Skill students, to the point where he had an unbelievably expensive Sealer's Pendant around his neck.

[Big Bad Pennar]

Veirus tried to hold in her laughter, but she failed as she roared in laughter and said "You know, I find it funny... That's exactly the same concept Stewart taught me when it came to spell-casting, except for a couple differences... "  Veirus then cleared her throat and continued "First off, Back in Erinn, Mana is plentiful as Eweca floods the entire world with Mana at Night, so even the weakest willed of all of my friends and peers can cast a simple Bolt spell with ease as long as they know the Incantation and the feeling of the magic flowing through them"  Veirus then continued as she pointed her finger at her chest "Secondly and Finally, Back in a world I traveled to and in Erinn, 'Internal Mana' is only a simple limited emergency stored source often used for casting magic in a world without much or any latent mana in the air, such as times when Palala was high in the sky, even now, I can already feel the mana trying to flow into me..." Veirus then sighed, she was waiting for her 'master' to speak up and say something... "Don't blame me, I'm probably the oldest living being in this area" she said lowly, talking to herself, not knowing whether or not anyone else heard it

[Shradow]

As soon as they entered the North Tower, Arn's senses were instantly assaulted by the sights and sounds of the large crowd of people within. Unfortunately for Arn, striding into the room with a familiar at your side taller than most people in the room is a quick way to get noticed. A few groups of students started muttering to each other, casting cursory glances at Arn and Moderatus.

 

His ears started to burn. "I suppose this is where we wait for Aquinas, then. With all the people. And the noise..." His tone showing his increasing irritation with each passing sentence. He then noticed one student in particular, who wielded two swords and seemed to be the center of attention, give him a condescending smirk. Arn balled a fist. "Tch. Why is everyone here so rude? It's like no one grew up with any manners. Let's hope Aquinas shows up soon so we can get this over with, I didn't come here only to be ridiculed."