NOVEL NEXT Ch15: The Sword Saint, P1
Chapter 15: The Sword Saint, P1
~15.1~
*****
A full-size hologram of Kye stood before the class. “Hey, it’s working!”
“Instructor Kye? What’s going on? Why are you doing... that?” asked Colton.
Kye scratched the back of her head. “Uh... well... TLDR I’m somewhere doing something classified, but this seems to work, so I can make time for my duties as an instructor.”
“May we still contact you outside of school hours?” Louise asked. She was one of the few who could create an aethersteel weapon and enjoyed talking shop with Kye.
“Oh, of course. Don’t forget that I’m your classmate too! You guys can talk to me anytime, I just may be busy sometimes and not respond right away.”
Louise nodded. “I understand.”
Kye smiled and turned to Alethea. “Would you mind using a smaller amount of mana to start with?” Alethea nodded, and Kye turned back to the class. “I want to see how well you guys do here. Alethea will use an amount of mana and all of you will attempt to measure it. You’ll step up one at a time and enter your estimate via NeuraPhone.” Kye gestured to Alethea and began calling names, going alphabetically. “Skipping myself and Alethea, Colton is first!”
Colton stood up and made his way to the front of the classroom. Alethea began channeling mana, and Colton measured it as best he could. He entered 3500. That was below the 4500 she was channeling.
“Accuracy: 77%,” Kye announced. “Next is Jesse Bell.”
Colton returned to his seat, and Jesse took his place. They repeated the process, and Jesse answered 2700. Alethea was channeling 2950.
“Accuracy: 91.5%. Next is Jordan Bell.”
Jordan traded places with her brother and took the test. She submitted 6950, and Alethea channeled 6450.
“Accuracy: 92.8%. Next is Louise Chevalier.”
Louise nodded and nervously stepped forward. The bar is high now, but I can beat it! Alethea began channeling at 13775, and Louise submitted her answer at 13750.
“Accuracy: 99.8%. That’s gonna be really hard to beat. Marcel Linderoth.” He stepped forward and took the test. “Accuracy: 83.2%.” After everyone finished the test, Kye displayed the results at the front of the class on a hologram.
Kye Akari - Exempt
Alethea Atlantis - Exempt
Colton Becker - 77%
Jesse Bell - 91.5%
Jordan Bell - 92.8%
Louise Chevalier - 99.8%
Marcel Linderoth - 83.2%
Dominik Lundin - 86.5%
Alaira Marshall - 96.4%
Danielle Maya - 99.9%
Adele Maya - 100%
Elizabeth Maya - 100%
Michael Maya - 98.2%
Michelle Maya - 100%
Luka Romanov - 94.6%
Isabel Strauss - 98.9%
Rika Tachibana - 99.1%
Julia Valza - 83.3%
Aliana Venturi - 100%
Liliana Venturi - 100%
Valterri Iilvari Virtanen - 89.4%
Bailey Watson - 87%
Rin Xulan - 90.5%
Adrian Zelenov - 79%
““Well done everyone!”” Kye and Alethea congratulated the class.
“I’m especially proud of those that scored in the 98% to 100% range. While 60% is a passing grade, those of you under 90% are encouraged to attend optional practice Saturday afternoon to get a better grasp of this. BUT, anyone is welcome! Alethea will lead the practice session.”
“That’s right,” Alethea said. “All of you are doing very well. The lowest score was 77%, and that’s really good! As the class representative, I want everyone to come to practice Saturday so we can better work to improve our scores!”
The class erupted in applause, leaving a smile on Kye’s and Alethea’s faces.
*****
A few days later...
“Lady Kye, you have received an invitation to a tea party hosted by the archbishop of the Church of Elysium,” came the butler’s voice from the other side of the door.
“You may enter and read it.”
The butler entered the room and bowed to Kye before reading the invitation. “Dear Lady Kye Akari, I sincerely apologize for the rudeness the Church’s knights displayed Wednesday afternoon. I humbly request your presence at the Elysium Cathedral so that we may discuss our issues peacefully over tea and dessert. The gathering will be held at noon on Sunday. Sincerely, Archbishop Carys Laevateinn.”
Kye smiled. “I see. This is a much better way to meet with someone. I accept. Please send a reply.”
“As you wish.” The butter bowed and left the room.
I’ve noticed that everyone from the church whose names I’ve heard have surnames matching mythological weapons in many worlds. Caladbolg, Collbrande, and now Laevateinn? If there’s not a Caliburn, Excaliber, or Durandal, I’ll be disappointed. I wonder if these aren’t their original surnames... it’s too consistent. My bet is that there are soul-bonded weapons involved. She smiled and gazed out the window. This will be interesting.
A notification came in. A message from Astraia.
Astraia >> I will come to you soon. I have a few things to wrap up here before that, so I expect to be no more than a few hours.
Kye >> Okay. I’ll see you soon. BTW, did you try to contact me via soul telepathy?
Astraia >> Yes. I could not reach you across the boundary. It seems only system-supported methods can do that.
Kye >> I wondered about that. I didn’t include soul telepathy in the system, but I wasn’t sure if it would still work or not.
Astraia >> The power you used to deploy the system must be of higher grade than soul telepathy.
Kye >> Indeed, and that’s saying something, considering soul telepathy can reach the nexus from anywhere.
Astraia >> Indeed. I will catch up properly with you soon!
Sunday at noon... how am I gonna kill two days? Exploring sounds nice. I wonder if Aisha would mind serving as a tour guide... though she may not enjoy going out in the daylight. Hmm... I need to know more about vampire biology. Does Astraia know...? Kye closed her eyes and tried searching Astraia’s memories, but could not reach them. Damn, I can’t do that either until she’s here.
*****
“Our biology?” Aisha asked, half puzzled. “It’s not much different from human biology, aside from a couple of key differences.”
Kye nodded. “I’ve been to many worlds with vampires, and the biology varies quite a bit. In some, they can walk in daylight, in others, the sun turns them to ash. It’s things like that I’d like to know so that I know what not to ask of a vampire while I’m here.”
“We certainly are affected by sunlight, but it doesn’t cause any real damage to us. Our skin tans and burns a lot easier because of our very pale complexion, so we use products to protect our skin when we go out during the day. We tend to just stick to the night so that it’s not a bother. Our night vision is well beyond that of humans and even beast people. What are things you’re worried about?”
“Aside from the sun topic, mainly your diet. I know you drink blood, but how necessary is it and can you consume other things?”
“We actually can’t drink solely blood and survive, but it is one hundred percent necessary. The only blood we can’t drink is another vampire’s blood. We don’t need to drink too often to stay alive. A small amount once a month is sufficient to stay healthy, though we can live for years without it. Our health declines gradually without it and eventually we’d go insane. I think the last case lasted five years before succumbing to insanity. That one was very against the concept of drinking blood. Talk about being born in the wrong body. It was unfortunate, but we managed to save him from that event.”
“What about things like garlic, stakes, or silver objects?”
“None of those affect us any differently than with humans.”
“What about procreation?”
“Same as humans, but in the old days we turned humans with venom when biting them. Perhaps as an evolutionary change, a few hundred years ago new vampires stopped producing venom. The older vampires among us still do. I do as well. I’m the only one born since then that can turn a human, which incidentally is why my friend Taichi is with us.”
“You bit me, though.”
“Turning a human is a conscious act. The venom is required, but if I don’t want to turn someone, then they don’t turn.”
“I see.” I’ve been wondering about that. I figured I could block it anyway, I have before, but I didn’t even have to try. “I received an invitation from the archbishop to meet at noon on Sunday. I would like to learn more about this realm before that and was planning to explore. Would you be interested in showing me around?”
“Sure!”
*****
Revision: 2024-5-8