The Strongest Spellblade

“Your ID,” Melody said while handing me a silver plate, with my picture and name printed on it. I looked quite handsome, golden-brown hair, an angled face, and bright green eyes. “Don’t lose that. It is a pain to replace and is linked to the wards of the College. The cost of a replacement is 100 gold.”

“That much?” I asked.

“It is complicated annoying to deactivate your lost ID and create a new one. Normally this is covered under your tuition, but you need to keep it on your person. Here, use this chain, to put it through the hole and around your neck,” she said. I put the chain on the ID and tucked it into my clothing.

“And for you as well,” she gave a golden ID to Healer Melon.

“Why does he get gold?” I asked.

“As an accredited Healer from the Five Star Institute of Healing, that is the bare minimum. If he wasn’t your retainer, he would have gotten a platinum ID,” Melody explained. His bald head on his picture was brighter than the gold of the metal.

“Thank you. This is fine,” Healer Melon replied.

“Now, I will show you to your room and then a quick tour on where you can get supplies, food, and your classrooms. After that you are free to explore as you want. You have the schedule for the introduction ceremony by the Dean in three days. Don’t miss that. The day after the new semester will start and your classes will begin. Don’t miss them. I will check on you then as well,” Melody explained as she led us to one of the buildings near the wall surrounding the College. I noticed other groups of students headed towards the interview room.

“Any type of uniform required?” I asked.

“There is an optional uniform. It is encouraged you wear it, but not required. There is a dress code. You can pick up uniforms from the school store. You account is linked to your school ID. You get 50 gold worth of spending power each year. Use this to buy food and other supplies,” she explained.

“Will I need to pay for classes?” I asked.

“No. Your housing and classes are covered by the rest of your tuition. But trying to manage food and supplies is too much of a hassle, that is why you get a budget from the tuition paid. When you graduate you can claim any money remaining,” she explained. They probably required students to pay this amount, so they didn’t starve and had the ability to purchase supplies here at the College.

“As for you Healer Melon, your balance is empty, but you can increase it at the school bank, which is next to the supply store,” Melody added.

“Thank you,” he replied.

After a lot of walking we reached a building and entered. “This is a lot of walking,” I replied.

“Yes it is. That is one of the reasons why Running is considered a core skill. You can run in the middle of the paths. The closer to the center, the faster you can go. If you are on the outside, you can walk like we did.”

“Where are the other students?” I asked.

“Resting until the start of classes in a few days. There is a 2 week break between each semester. Trust me, once you are here for a year, you will want to rest quite a bit during the off weeks. Now this is your room. If you get upgraded to gold, then you will get access to the elite housing in the core of the College. That way you don’t have to run. Two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a sitting room. There is a laundry service once a week, just leave your clothes and sheets in the basket by the door. You can see the schedule posted.”

“Staff members have access to my room?” I asked.

“Yes. But all the doors require your ID. And the use of each ID is tracked. Even if someone opens a door with their ID, you still need to use yours. That is one of the rules of the College.”

After seeing our room, we were taken to various buildings and shown around. We were done just before noon and Melody left us in cafeteria while heading back down to Undercraft to welcome another student.

The food was simple, but filling and tasty. “They clearly have professionals as chefs,” I said to Healer Melon as we ate meat and vegetable stew with fresh bread.

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“It is one of the classes after all. And with how much money this place costs, of course they will have good food. Only ten copper, not bad,” he replied.

“They are probably charging base cost, so as to keep things affordable with how high tuition is. What do you think of Melody?” I asked.

“Her recommendations aren’t bad. But I would suggest considering a physical skill as well. I can replenish your stamina. It would be a waste not to do so for an entire semester,” he replied.

“Spear skills then. It is offered early in the morning on the weekends as an ancillary course,” I replied, and Healer Melon nodded.

“Then you can go all out. Really push yourself, if I am only on duty one day a week,” he replied.

“Will you be okay?” I asked.

“There are books here I can study about anatomy and healing. I need to keep an eye on you after all,” he replied, clearly taking his job seriously.

“Even here?” I asked.

“I don’t wish to be found lacking by Supreme Legend Elena. I prefer to do things properly, rather than cut corners. That is how you have accidents, something we were taught to avoid at the Five Star Institute of Healing.”

“How does this place compare?” I asked.

“Bigger. Much bigger. Both in size and people. The Five Star Institute of Healing focuses on Healing and to a lesser extent Fleshcrafting as disciplines. I can almost sense the tension in the air,” he replied.

“You are right, everyone looks super focused and tense,” I said while looking about the cafeteria at other students. Most were wearing the school uniform. Black with a gold tower embossed onto the chest over the heart, surrounded by the outline of a golden sun.

“You think you will be able to keep up your leveling speed?” Healer Melon asked me.

“I will try. Book learning is a headache. You can only go so fast. Even with the skill Speed Reading, I still have to process the information. My increased stats help, but it will take time,” I replied.

“Runes aren’t easy or simple and you starting from the absolute foundation with the languages. So, runes or spells?”

“I will build up the foundation for runes, but will probably not get Rune Mastery during my time here. Learning spell skills is far more important. Also that should boost my Mind stat up quite a bit to handle a lot of skills later on.”

“Good thinking. I am glad you are paying attention to the number of skills you have and the skills you will get while here,” Healer Melon said.

“After all the suffering that has happened in the past, I am not going to be foolish with my health. I only gained one new skill over the last 3 months, Driving. I can gain three tier 1 skills and still be fine,” I replied.

“Any headaches or discomfort?” he asked.

“Even when I keep Pain Immunity off, nothing.”

“Good. Your body and soul have adjusted to the tier 4 skill.”

“If Soul Resistance is mastered, should I increase it to Soul Immunity?” I asked.

“That should be fine. But getting through the breakthrough point at level 99 won’t be easy,” he answered.

“Would it allow me to go past Meldor’s Threshold?” I asked.

“No. Don’t even think about that. Your soul instinctively understood the danger. While it isn’t unexpected, don’t try to get past it or even think about that. The risk is too great. And if you get Soul Immunity and it fails, it will fail all at once, not gradually, then you will die,” Healer Melon said with a glare.

“Got it. Just checking,” I replied.

“It is reckless how many skills you have, but you have made it work. But with your Alchemical Toxicity, there is very little margin for recovery if an accident happens. My skills can only do so much.”

“Was just wondering if a Soul Immunity skill would help,” I replied.

“Possibly. But I would imagine, it is keeping things stable right up to the edge of Meldor’s Threshold. Just like your stats are discrete, many other effects are discrete instead of continuous. That means things can go wrong very quickly with no chance for recovery. We are too far from the Five Star Institute of Healing to get back there quickly,” Healer Melon said and I nodded at this.

“Don’t they have healers here?” I asked.

“Of course the College does. But they aren’t experts, the kind that would be needed to save your life. They might be skilled, but soul injuries are incredibly complex. It is best to avoid them if at all possible,” he answered.

“Just thinking about how to keep leveling up Soul Immunity, once I get that skill,” I said.

“Something like that is near impossible. The danger is far too great. One mistake and you would be dead. To go through 100 levels to reach mastery is impossible. Soul damage isn’t something you can heal.”

“But if you could?” I asked.

“If you got a soul healing skill or other soul skills, sure. Anything is possible, since there are hundreds if not thousands of skills that exist. But the risk would be insane. That might help with the leveling, but surviving, impossible. You will probably get Soul Immunity and then be stuck at level 1 for a very long time, occasionally gaining a level if at all.”

“Well, who knows. I might figure something out,” I replied.

“I wish you luck. But wait until my time watching over you is completed before doing something like that. I can’t take the stress,” Healer Melon said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything foolish,” I replied.

“You say that…” he muttered quietly.

Well I would take my time looking about the College and learning where everything was located. I would need to plan out my route between classes as quickly as possible. There was very little travel time between classes allotted. Only five minutes at the start of every hour.

Melody wasn’t joking when she said Running was an important skill to learn just to be able to make it all of one’s classes on time. Everyone was trying to squeeze every moment to level up their skills. That was another reason why things were quiet. Everyone was working incredibly hard while they were here at the College, even during the break from what I could tell.

While there was pressure to be the top of my class, I would see what kind of competition there was before getting worried.