Chapter 2 2: Miracle Invokers
Rio sighed heavily confronted with a mind boggling revelation. In the end, he decided that thinking about things that will only make him worry is pointless, he set aside that matter for a different time.
Whirling the blue pen on his desk, he figured that asking his colleagues about some info seems to be his best move right now, it didnt have to be important, but some info is still a help.
Slightly leaning to his left, where a teacher is seated. Rio looked at her, he couldn't help but notice that the teacher was a beauty. Above even the most beautiful celebrities Rio knew. Her blonde soft hair, flowing like a golden waterfall behind her back, and her eyes were like sapphire, shining blue and precious, with pure-white skin and soft lips. She was a magnum opus.
Rio knew that compliments and times to appreciate her beauty can come later, what's important is learning more about his situation.
"Hello..?"
The beautiful girl responded in kind, she nodded cheerfully and smiled dazzlingly.
"Hello, Mr. Salem." She said in a polite formal tone, as she continued, "My name is Samantha Gaia Constantino! I am pleased to make your acquaintance!"
"Such earnestness..." Rio muttered. He felt some kind of force making him attracted to her, she was just princess incarnate, considering that royalty still exist in this world It wasn't farfetched to think she's a princess.
"Hello, Ms. Samantha," He responded in a similar polite manner, "I was wondering…if you had been teaching here for long?"
Her head tilted, and eyes asking quizically of what am he was talking about.
"Did we not just start our jobs as a new teacher, Mr. Salem?"
Well, that was awkward.
"Oh, right. I must've forgotten it due to the nervousness of being accepted. Oh and don't call me Salem, call me Rio." Rio chuckled while scratching his head awkwardly.
"Well, It's fine Mr. Rio. It's fine to be nervous, this is after all the largest academy in the world Volund!"
…Volund? Isn't that the name of the academy in the no—
"Hello? Mr. Rio? Hello?! Helloooooo.." Damn, she's annoyingly cute. He wanted to pinch her small cheeks. However now was not the time for that. Volund was a crucial name, it might explain the reasons why he was here.
"Hmm? What was that?" He asked half-distracted. This whole transmigration thing have gotten more complicated, if his suspiciouns are correct…
As much as he wants to deny his suspiciouns, ultimately nothing is impossible. He would check the students list and confirm if everything is really what he thought it is.
"I was worried about you, you were giving a blank look again," She says in a soft tone, somehow comfortable, as she continued with a worried tone, "Are you sure you're okay, Mr. Rio?"
"Oh," He said, realizing that he was quite rude and caused the other party to worry. "It's nothing, I'm fine. Also…do you have a student list here?"
"You can check at your tablet, Mr Rio." She replied while pointing to the cyber tablet in Rio's table.
"I see," He said, as he looked at the tablet. Now that he examined it, it was quite big and fancy. It is a futuristic world. Wanting to confirm his suspiciouns as fast as possible, he continued, "Then pardon me, Ms. Samantha. I am grateful for your help."
Turning back, and grabbing the tablet. His appearance was reflected in the screen. Even if it was the second time he was seeing this, it still felt weird and ominous. Every trace of his previous body was gone.
The tablet was suprisingly easily accessible, it didnt have complicated procedures to open. It was like a modern tablet, albeit infinitely better and have more options.
After a minute of searching, he finally got the student list. And there. His suspiciouns were correct after all. A name was layed down on the document,
Arcuied Valens
Arcuied Valens. The main character of a novel in his previous life, specifically his friend, John Smith's novel. Arcuied Valens was your typical protagonist, possesing a heroic personality but not impulsive nor rash. He was observant, and smart. In essence, he was a Gary Stu incarnate.
Ignoring the main character for the moment, several implications went to his mind about his sudden transmigration. Of course, most of them were suspiciouns and baseless theories, but on the other hand, a conclusive fact is,
"…John Smith has a hand over this," He muttered while thinking about his previous life, or per se, the events in John's house, "He has to."
I mean what better evidence is it that after replying to his cryptic non-sensical message, he supposedly blacked-out and awaken to a novel the man in question wrote, Rio thought.
At this moment he really wanted to find his friend, could he even be called a friend anymore? To confront him of what was happenning.
Rio realized he hated being on the dark. He felt annoyance at the fact he doesnt know anything. He doesnt like being suprised and has no control over the situation.
Sure, he did like to be in a fantasy world of magic and beast, but everything was just too sudden. He didnt have any time to react, or process the situation.
To be honest, if he thought about it clearly. It wasn't that bad. He got a chance to escape his life of void and monotonous continuity. Start a new, carve a life for his own, discover new things.
In essence it was an adventurers dream. It's just that imagining it in his mind and the event actually happenning are two drastically different things,
He had complex feelings about this new start of his. A part of him wanted to deny every unrealistic turn of events, another part of him wanted everything to be real and continue. If he were to choose between his life in modern earth and having a new life in another world of magic, then he will gladly take the latter.
His feelings were just not calmed yet. He decided to set aside such thoughts for later, as the announcements of students are starting.
—
Arcuied was having a normal day. Earlier today, he woke up from a nightmare, and realized his whole body was sweating in pure terror. He just sighed. It wasn't the first time it happened. And it wasn't going to be the last time.
Something deep in his mind knows that it was a bad omen, but he didn't know what the omen was.
He shook his head hoping to clear his mind of pointless thoughts. He needed to focus. He's on the largest academy, that means opportunity to get more stronger. He doesn't want to forget his true goal.
He examined the room he was currently in. It was large, unsuprisingly so. At the furthest front of the room was a stage, and above the stage was a transparent mirror. Staring at it deeply, he realized there were teachers in there.
This is probably where they watch the students..? Arcuied thought, while turning his head and examining the back. The back was impressive to say the least. There were seats all over the place, the seats were lined up neatly.
Though there were also seats above them, glancing at them, he formed a presumption. The people above varied in age, some were young, and some were old, most of the guest were wearing fancy clothes and ornaments. Some had guards and butlers beside them.
They seems to be nobles, or honorary guest, Arcuied thought, evidently no matter the case, they were special. After examing the whole room, he turned to look at the stage infront.
"Good morning," A sound echoed, coming from the stage. In that instant every student turned to look at the stage. There was no one there. Until someone was suddenly there. It was bizzarre, cryptic and weird. Some rubbed their eyes thinking if they were imagining things.
Dimensional Shift, Arcuied blinked in suprise at such a skill being applied. From his understanding, it was a [Sorcerer] Rank B Skill. An instantenous movement where the user transports to another position by shifting his dimensional positioning. As it sounds good at face value, it was impractical in real-life battles. To actually shift your dimensional positioning, you need to calculate the distance, time, and space(position) between two areas, and to do that accurately you need to stand still as moving will mess up the calculation. It doesnt help that the calculation is hard even for a Rank B Sorcerer.
After Arcuied appraised the skill, the man in the stage began to speak. The man was quite old. The man was covered with a snowy white cloak, his right hand caressing his long white beard and left hand holding a long magic staff.
"My name is... Gregorious Valkor. The Vice-Director of Volund Academy," The old man, Greg, announced as he tapped his staff in the floor. The space looked like it warped, the normal clean tiles evaporated as purplish black space began to cover the room.
It was like the cosmos, the universe. If you look above, you will see the bright innumerable stars. A fitting symbolization of the honored guest above, they were like stars, shining brightly, a beacon of hope wherever they go.
"I am here to welcome you all young people to Volund Academy," Greg said loudly as he stared into the crowd of students, "The Volund Academy is not just any academy. It is the greatest among any other. It is best in teaching, and training. It has the most resources among others. All of you here are reviewed and analyzed by the staff, you are picked as talents of this generation!"
Greg swung his staff as a luminiscient orb appeared on top of the room. It was formless, transparent, and shining. "Then…for what purpose are you students here for?"
"It is to train you lots. To prepare you. To teach you the ways of magic, and powers of Miracle Invokers," Greg continued, as his voice getting louder each time he talked "A Miracle Invoker, a being who's power is to wield miracles. To communicate with Godly Divines. To hath control nature itself. To shatter, cut, and pierce anything with your body. That…is what we teach you to become,"
"For only beings with such powers are able to protect humanity againts other races, especially demons. But do remember. We are here to teach you the powers of miracles," Greg walked around the stage as he continued, "Not to use it for your own misconduct, but to protect humanity. With great power, comes great responsibility."
As his last resounded in the dim, quiet room. The students felt their blood boil, their faces resolved. Before they knew it, the spell that caused the room to make the tiles dissapear, has vanished. The room was now as it was previously, filled with clean white tiles.
Arcuied was the same. He felt the innate desire to protect, guide and defend. It was like he was programmed to do so. However, as much as his feelings of heroism was big, it wouldn't affect his true goal. Correction, he wouldn't allow it to.
The people above varied in expressions. Some were happy, while some were uninterested or unimpressed. It didnt take long before the students and guest above, applauded alike.
—
Rio looked beneath the mirror, his eyes slightly distracted. He remembered that as much as this was a fantasy world, this was also a cruel, and grueling world full of threats. The external threat of demons, and the internal conflict of humanity.
In the original novel, the main cast of characters fought threats of several kinds, whether world ending, or just a street famed serial killer. They fought these threats using the powers of magic, or so this society would call it, Miracle Invokers.
If he remembered correctly, Miracle Invokers were seperated into different classes or professions. Granted magic is infinitely diverse, famous geniuses across the history merely simplified the three commonly ways to use magic.
Mystic or Occultist, the profession to communicate with existences beyond human comprehension, or beings outside the cosmos, this is commonly acuited as the most mysterious and hardest class.
The Sorcerers, a profession that came from the Elves, it focused on controlling nature laws itself until when humanity took charge of its development and it started to control beyond nature and even the laws of space and time itself.
Finally, Martial Artist. An original profession from humanity of using magic to enchance a person's body to fight beings above their own. It is the first profession humanity used, dating back from the Era of Magical Beast. While this profession is simple to understand, it is the most diverse among the three. People in this profession differ from Swordmasters, Archers, Lancers, or just Brawlers.
Miracle Invokers are also classified by rank. Starting at Rank E, to eventually reaching Rank S. This was the general conscensus humanity as a whole reached throughout history.
As for him, well, he doesnt really know. He did just arrived here moments ago. He thought of experimenting later and testing things out, though he would have no problem in theory since he read most of the info in the novel, but trying it out in real time and thinking in theory are two vastly different thing.
Well, such things for later..I guess, Rio thought as he heard the ending of the announcement and prepared to meet the guest at the designated room.