The mandate arrived via his bronze Adventure Card at dawn, its
holographic text glowing with impersonal authority.
[STATE DIRECTIVE: ACADEMY ENROLLMENT]
Recruit: Oliver Rill
Affinity: Grey-Weaver
AssignedAcademy: Lyrhaven State Adventure
AcademyReportDate: 48 Hours Hence Required: Standard Kit, Guild
Adventure Card, Personal Effects.
Note: Attendance is mandatory for all
Awakened citizens. Non-compliance results in suspension of Guild
privileges and mana-rationing.
Oliver stared at the message. An academy. Of course. The Guild didn't
just hand out powers and send people into the field; it trained, sorted,
and further refined them. It is a three-year journey from raw
talent to Guild-certified adventurer, artisan, or support specialist.
Downstairs, his aunt was already packing a durable, second-hand travel
satchel. "They'll provide uniforms and core texts, but you'll want your
own good writing stylus," she said, her voice practical but her eyes soft
with concern. She placed a small, wrapped parcel on top of the clothes.
"And some proper ink-crystals. Never trust institutional supplies."
Sara spent the morning at The Quill &
Quantum, helping Oliver choose durable notebooks.
"We'll be in the same place, at least," she said, trying to sound cheerful
as she examined a self-sharpening stylus. "Even if the classes are tiered,
the campus is shared. We'll find each other."
Oliver merely nodded, folding his plain grey cloak.
The Lyrhaven State Adventure Academy lay a half-day's journey from
the capital, nestled in the secured, mana-rich Ironwood Forest. They assembled at
the central mana-rail station. Sara, along with other Platinum in their designated carriage with reinforced
windows and comfortable seating. Oliver joined the larger crowd of
Bronze and low-Silver tiers in a spacious and comfortable carriage of magi-train..
The journey was a blur of rolling hills giving way to dense, towering
forest. Finally, the rail line ended at a fortified station. And there it was.
The Academy wasn't a single building, but a vast, walled campus city. Its
architecture was a more brutal, functional version of Lyrhall's mix:
immense stone lecture halls covered in glowing defensive runes stood
beside crystal-domed training facilities humming with controlled
elemental energy. Sky-roads for flight-affinity practice crisscrossed
above barracks styled like medieval keeps but wired with modern lumo
orbs.
Dominating the main gate, forged from living Ironwood and enchanted
steel, was the academy's crest: a shield split between a roaring flame, a curling wave, a stone peak, a lightning bolt, and a gust of wind—the five
Cardinals—with a glowing crystal at the center. New recruits streamed
toward it, a river of hopeful faces.
Following the crowd, Oliver presented his bronze card at the gate's
scanner. A stern-faced proctor in Academy greys checked a crystal
slate. "Rill, Oliver. Grey-Weaver. Bronze Tier. Barracks Block… Delta.
Proceed to the Quad for orientation. Your are in bronze class." The
proctor handed him a simple, bronze color fabric armband.
He saw other proctors handing out armbands of iron, bronze, and
silver color to recruits with different grade affinities or hybrids.
He passed through the Ironwood Gates, the immense doors thudding
shut behind him with a sound of finality. The central Quad was a
sprawling field where hundreds of new students milled, clustered by
their armband colors. At a raised podium, the Academy Head—a severe
woman with the presence of solid granite, likely a high-grade Kinton
(Metal) or Geton (Gravity) user—addressed them.
"Welcome to the crucible," her voice boomed, amplified by magic. "You
have been Awakened. Here, you will be Forged. Your armband marks
your initial classes. Your performance here will determine your specialization, your resource allocation, and your future within theGuild of Lyr. Dormancy is not tolerated. Mediocrity is purged. Prove your
worth."
As she spoke, Oliver's eyes scanned the crowd, he saw Sara easily, her . She was looking him too.
A hulking proctor with Baton (Explosion) scars on his arms began
barking orders. "Bronze! With me, Move
it!"
The bronze armbanded recruits—a group of several dozen—were
marched away from the main Quad, past the impressive crystal domes
and modern sim-labs, toward their barracks, Block Delta. At dorm reception Oliver swipe his guild card, his card lit up with his room number. As Oliver stowed his gear , his bronze card vibrated. He
activated its hologram. Instead of a welcome message, it displayed his
first academy schedule.
[LYRHAVEN ACADEMY - INITIAL SCHEDULE: BRONZE CLASS]
0600: PhysicalConditioning (block Delta training ground)
0900: ManaTheory (Annex 7)
1100: Generalworldstudy
1300: PracticalApplications: BasicMana Manipulation (Workshop Delta)
1600: Guild Protocol & Logistics (Same Hall)
Oliver found a measure of quiet in his rooma of Block Delta. He looked out at the illuminated spires of the central academy . He would become the best Grey-Weaver this academy had ever seen, even if no one knew what that meant.
Because somewhere, in the shadows between the brilliant elemental
lights, there had to be a use for the quiet, the static, and the grey.
End of chapter