Fork This Life!

Chapter 35: Excitine First Day

(POV Gerald)

“Alright, is there anyone whose name I didn’t call?” The teacher calls out. “No? Well then, as you’ll all be learning together for the next few months, I’ll give you ten minutes to get to know each other before you start.”

In the seat next to mine, Iueia’s eyes sparkle, and he immediately turns and asks, “Gerald, where are you from?”

“I’m sorry, I think I’ve seen someone I know, and I really need to talk with them right now.” I say, trying not to let how shaken I am show in my voice. “I’ll talk to you a bit later.”

He nods, a bit sadly, but before long turns and looks around to find someone to talk to. Most of the people in the room are just talking in pairs, some not at all. There is a wide berth around Joe, as everyone actively avoids the much older man. As I fly over the class towards him, several people point and whisper, an act rendered completely pointless by my mana sight.

Ignoring them, I hover in front of Joe, who just raises an eyebrow at me.

“Are you stalking me?” I ask bluntly.

His other eyebrow raises, and he considers my question for a moment. “Technically? Yes.” He admits casually. “But I also thought it was high time for me to learn magic. Getting a bit on in my years, you see.”

Hearing him as I can now, I can tell that he doesn’t have any particular fixation or even attraction towards me. It’s like he’s just decided to start following us around on a whim. Not that it means I’ll trust him more because of it.

If I had a head, I would be shaking it. “Why? Weren’t you following Ferdinand?”

“Oh, sure.” Joe says, scratching the back of his ear. “He’s an interesting guy, and I’ll be following his life closely. Right now, though, he’s entered one of those boring periods - he’s gone with Lily to join the temples. With his levels and perseverance, it won’t take long for him to become a squire, and even a knight. During that time will just be training, training, training. Boring enough to do, let alone watch.”

“A knight, not a paladin?” I note, internally glad that they managed to get out of the situation safely.

“A paladin? Hah!” Joe laughs. “Kid hasn’t even sorted out what god he’ll pray to. No chance of him becoming a paladin before that.”

Makes sense. He seems to be in a talkative mood, so I figure that I’ll try to find out more about him. It’s the only way I can be surer of his motives. “How did you even make it in here? You don’t have mana.”

“Some questions,” He chuckles, “you just aren’t ready to hear the answers to.”

“Right…” I say sceptically. “And how’d you get to this planet? Or am I ‘not ready’ for that one, either?”

“Other questions…” He considers, stroking his beard. “You can find the answers to quite easily by yourself. The library here is quite comprehensive, you know.”

“Then what will you tell me?” I ask, slightly irritated.

“Tell you what.” Joe leans back on the chair, putting it onto two legs. “We’ll play a game. Duration infinite. You ask me something, anytime, anywhere, and I’ll either tell you the answer, if I know it, or tell you my requirement for telling you the answer. For reference, your earlier question… You need to be level ninety if you want me to answer that.”

“Who are you?” I ask. “Speaking of-”

“Level ninety.” He interrupts, smiling. “But you’ll figure it out before then.”

“...Speaking of level ninety as if it’s a walk in the park. Even I know it’s incredibly difficult to get to that level, and I’m not even two years old.” I continue.

“Eh, not my problem.” He shrugs. “You’re the one asking.”

“Fine.” I state, controlling my irritation. “You told fortunes back in Fiso city. What’s mine?”

He raises his arms and shrugs in mock defeat. “Left my crystal ball back in the city. I’m not going to be telling fortunes for a while without it.”

“Can’t you just get another one?” I ask, sighing.

His gaze sharpens as he looks at me. “I’ll tell you something for free: you’ll find no second one like it, no matter how far you roam. That sucker is completely unique, our greatest creation since…” He starts, stopping himself mid-sentence. “Anyway, you’ll find it at some point. And when you do… Try not to make the same mistake as the person who finds it before you, won’t you?”

“Right, sure… I’ll keep it in mind.” I say blandly. As if I’ll ever come across that specific crystal ball with how wide the worlds are. And even if I do, I won’t recognise it.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some sleeping to attend to.” Joe says, already folding his arms on the desk. “I already know the basics, so this first term will be a royal bore.”

Joe lays his head on his arms and closes his eyes.

It seems as if he won’t answer any more questions, so I drift back over the class to my seat.

“Gerald!” Iueia notices me almost immediately and introduces me to the elvish boy he was talking with, in the seat behind his. “Lamar, this is Gerald. He’s a fork.”

“A fork?” Lamar looks at me.

“A fork.” I agree. “Nice to meet you, Lamar.”

Lamar nods absently. “I’ve seen a lot of different people, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like you.”

“People rarely have.” I agree.

“Alright, settle down, everyone.” The teacher speaks loudly, causing conversations to slow and quiet down as most of the class turns to look at him. “I’ll be starting the lesson now.”

“My name is Mr Telen, and I will be your teacher of basic magical theory for your first term.” Mr Telen begins. “And I’m afraid most of you will be quite disappointed to hear that you won’t be learning any actual magic this term - from me or any of your other teachers.”

Dang.

“But what you learn this term are the roots from which all other topics you will learn in the future will sprout from.” Mr Telen says seriously. “So it is important that you learn these subjects well.”

Fair enough.

Mr Telen strides to the blackboard and with a piece of chalk writes in large letters, ‘MANA’. “Let’s start with mana. Mana is everywhere: in the trees, the rocks, the very ground beneath us… Everyone and everything have mana in them, whether just a little, or a lot.”

By that definition you have a walking impossibility drowsing off in the corner of your classroom, teach.

Undaunted by my mental interjection, Mr Telen continues. “Taking mana from objects is hard, and generally damaging to the object itself. It’s much easier to take mana from the air around us. The mana in Arbadak is much denser than in other worlds, and this…”

“So you’re from another world?” Iueia asks excitedly. “What’s it like there?”

We are on break in between lessons, and Iueia has pulled me and Lamar off to a grassy courtyard to chat.

I briefly think over my experiences in Odwia. Fork, went insane, robot ruin, giant spider, hermit crab, necromancer, doppelganger, prince, demon… Yeah, none of that’s child friendly. “It’s not as nice as Arbadak. More crime, more… Strife. Not as much technology, either. At least where I was.”

“Oh.” Iueia is understandably taken aback. “Well, I’m from a small village far to the west. My parents said I have magical talent, so they brought me here to be trained. One day, I’m going to go back, and I’m going to be able to make sure that none of the sheep or cows or people in my village are going to get sick ever again! How about you, where are you from, Lamar?”

“Dolond. It’s a port city to the south. My dad is a sailor, a ship wizard. He tried to teach me how he does it, but I couldn’t understand him, so he sent me here to learn instead. I want to be able to work with my dad, and sail all around the world.”

“That sounds really cool!” Iueia exclaims. “What about you, Gerald, why did you come here?”

A large part of me is just worried about my continued existence in this world. Another part of me is worried about Ferdinand, Lily, Luc… Even Marco. A third part is in constant wonder and excitement of the world around me. And that last tiny part of me just wants to go home. It wasn’t much, but my apartment, back on Earth… I felt comfortable there. Safe. Until I died, of course. Turns out nowhere is truly safe. Of course, I couldn’t exactly say any of that.

“To learn magic. To be able to protect myself and my friends. There’s nothing particularly special about why I came here.”

“That’s okay.” Iueia says. “Now I’m hungry.”

For a moment I’m confused as to how my reasons for being here are related to him being hungry, but then he pulls a carrot out of his pocket and starts munching.

Fair enough, he was just hungry.

“Good day, my name is Mrs Felt, and I will be your teacher for basic magical safety, or as I like to call it, 101 ways to not blow yourself up.” Her beak opens slightly as a clucking chuckle escapes it. “The stories tell of powerful wizards and sorcerers who can throw fireballs and call down lightning to strike their enemies. What most people don’t realise is just how easy it can be for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to have that very same fireball spell explode in their hands.”

That does sound like a serious problem. Hey, do I have an inherent advantage here because I’m relatively more durable than my classmates? I mean, even if a fireball went off directly on me, it probably wouldn’t do much damage.

Mrs Felt struts across the front of the classroom, her head bobbing forward a second behind each step as if it was perpetually trying to keep up with her lower body. “Student safety is of utmost importance here at Wehttam Academy, so it’s my job to make sure all of you know how to safely research and practice magic. For the most part, so long as you keep your head on your shoulders and use some common sense you should be fine - but as they say, better safe than sorry.”

She turns and begins to strut back across the room, a stray breeze ruffling her glossy black plumage as she goes. “Rule one of magic: If you don’t know what it does and how it does it, best not to disturb it. Lots of ways things can go wrong if you cast a spell the wrong way or touch an item that someone didn’t want touched. Cautious first, curious second, I always say.”

“Mrs Felt’s a chicken!” Iueia bursts out once we return to the courtyard in our second break, unable to contain himself.

Fortunately, Iueia isn’t being derogatory but literal. Mrs Felt is, indeed, a chicken lady.

“There’s so many strange people! I could just sit here all day looking around at everyone, and I don’t think I’d ever get bored.”

Lamar shrugs. “I see lots of different people all the time. It’s not that exciting.”

Iueia deflates slightly.

“Your dad’s a sailor, right Lamar?” I say. “You’ve probably seen a lot of different people because of that, but they’re all still new to us.”

Lamar tilts his head slightly. “I guess so.”

“What do we have next?” Iueia asks, already flicking onto another train of thought.

I briefly flick my mind back to the timetable. “Mana techniques.”

“Wonder what the teacher’ll be like.” Iueia muses curiously.

“Control!” The man up the front narrows his eyes. He didn’t introduce himself; his name was already on the board by the time we came in: Mr Thurston. “Every wizard worth his salt knows that control is the key!”

Mr Thurston places his hands on his desk and looks around at us. “What use is the most powerful spell, the largest store of mana, when you don’t have the precision to direct it properly? None at all! I will teach you that control, control enough that you never have to be afraid of a spell going awry, or your mana slipping from your direction.”

Control? As in mana control? Think I’m pretty good there. Still, maybe with some professional direction, I’ll be able to boost it up to master. That would be neat.

“Still, I understand that many of you are young.” He says, toning down the intensity. “We’ll start at the beginning. Could everyone please control a small portion of their mana and project it outside of their bodies, holding it in front of you. If anyone does not know how to do this, raise your hand.”

Hey, something practical. With practiced ease, I pull out a small amount of mana – about a single point worth of mana – and let it rest in front of me. Simple enough that I could practically do it in my sleep, if I slept, that is.

Nobody in the room puts their hands up, and everyone is able to project their mana in front of them without much difficulty. I turn around and see that even Joe seems to have done so. I quickly review the memory of a few moments ago – it appears as if the mana came into existence out of thin air. Can he just… Cloak mana from my sight, somehow?

Mr Thurston begins to walk across the front of the classroom, inspecting his student’s efforts, but pauses in front of my desk. “I have been made aware that you already have some proficiency in this subject.” He says calmly. “Be aware that I still expect you to put just as much effort into improving your skill as anyone else in this class.”

“Yes, sir.” I reply, unable to find much else to say.

He nods and continues to inspect the class. Upon finishing around of the classroom, he moves back to the front. “Good. Everyone seems to be able to do this well enough. Now, move them in a circle. No need to move them fast, do it at your own pace…”

Just as we are about to leave at the end of the lesson, Mr Thurston calls out, “Gerald, a moment?”

I stop and turn myself around. Iueia turns around and looks at me curiously. “Go ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I tell him, before heading back in the teacher’s direction.

Everyone filters out rather quickly, eager to head homewards after their first day of lessons. Soon the class is empty.

“Gerald, I have been told your mana control is at expert proficiency. Is this correct?” He asks.

“It is, sir. Is that a problem?” I reply tentatively.

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not a problem. But everyone else in the class is at a much lower level. I doubt the lessons right now will be of much benefit to you, and I do not think I will have the time during classes to teach you separately.”

“Alright.” I say with some disappointment. “What should I do, then?”

Mr Thurston scratches his hairless chin. “Take a look in the library. Access is considerably restricted to first term students, but you should be able to find something on mana control.”

“Thank you, sir.” I acknowledge.

“Well then, have a good evening.” He says, motioning towards the door.

“And you, sir.” I reply, beginning to float towards the door.

“So, how was your first day?” Dreyer asks, munching on a handful of cashews.

I think about it for a moment. “Interesting. Hard to tell much from the first day, but I think I’ll learn a lot here. Made a couple of friends, too, so that’s an added bonus.”

“You?” Dreyer stops munching for a moment. “I would’ve thought you would remain silent and inconspicuous the entire time, not making contact with your peers for a couple months at least.”

“He insisted.” I laugh. “They’re good guys. One of them wants to become his town’s healer, and the other one wants to become some sort of weather wizard so he can work with his dad.”

“It’s a good idea to make as many friends as you can, you know.” He stretches his legs beneath the table. “They manage to learn there long enough, and they’re going to be the next generation of powerful wizards. It’s not just if you want companions to fight with, either. Many of the world’s leading enchanters and artificers won’t take requests from just anyone. But if you manage to befriend someone like that before they become famous, you’ve got a much better chance of being able to.”

Idly creating a blob of mana, I begin to twist it into various shapes. “I know. But I’ve never been good at making friends. It either seems to happen naturally – like it did today – or not at all.” I respond, unconcerned.

Dreyer shrugs. “Just keep it in mind.”

Manipulating the mana, I form it into the shape of a roaring dragon. Wonder when I’ll see a real one? “By the way, my mana techniques teacher recommended that I look in the library for books on mana control, since I’m ahead of what the class is teaching. Is there anything I need to know before I go?”

“The library?” Dreyer says. “Let’s see… Basic rules are that there’s no magic allowed in the library, or violence of any kind. You can’t be loud or disruptive, and books can’t be taken out of the library, although notes are fine… You won’t be able to borrow books until you’re second year… Oh, and you’ll need to get a library card. Actually, speaking of cards…”

Dreyer gets up from the table and walks back through the portal to Arbadak. He comes back a minute later and places a small blue card on the table. “This is the money from your scholarship. Put a bit of mana in it, and it’ll register it.”

They have cards? Sheesh. I break a horn off my dragon and send it onto the card, where it gets sucked in. After a moment, the number ‘2000’ appears glowing on the surface, then slowly fades away.

“How do I use this?” I ask.

“Right. One moment.” Dreyer goes back through the portal and quickly returns with another card.

“You hold your card over another,” He says, doing so, “and put a bit of mana in it. The card will come up with numbers so you can enter the amount you wish to transfer, which you activate with mana.” A thread of mana touches the number ‘1’ on his card, then the ‘Ok’ button, and the number on his card decreases by one, and my card briefly shows its new balance of 2001.

“Is this safe?” I ask, replicating his actions to return the single Rho he gave me.

“Safe as they can make it, pretty much.” He nods. “Once activated with someone’s mana, a card can only by operated by that person. Anyone can put money in, but only they can take it out. Plus, it has a magic cancelling feature, so it can’t be tampered with.”

This does sound useful, but still… “Wouldn’t something like that have a limit? Couldn’t someone powerful enough force their way through?”

“Sure they could.” Dreyer shrugs nonchalantly. “But they’d probably just end up destroying the card instead. And anyone with sufficient knowledge, power and control to successfully tamper with something like this probably have the means to earn money much more easily. Even I could make a tonne of money, if I really wanted to.”

“Really? How?” I ask, surprised.

“I’ve been to a few dozen worlds. I could set up a service to transport people across worlds fairly easily.” He explains. “You might not realise it, but there’s actually very few people capable of space magic as advanced as I am, maybe two or three I know of in all of Arbadak. One of those is actually one of the richest people in the world. He and his family are pretty much the sole producers of bags of holding. Anyway, what I’m saying is that the services I could provide practically don’t exist. I could charge exorbitant prices and nobody would bat an eyelid.”

Interestine. Dreyer’s magic is that unique? “So why not? Surely it would be useful having a lot of money?”

“I travel across worlds all the time, and almost none of them have a common currency.” He shrugs. “Too much currency in any of them just weighs me down. Besides, I have enough as it is, and I have better things to do.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” I respond. I was never much of a spender, myself. Chances are, given I don’t have any living costs, this scholarship money will just end up sitting in the card all term. “Do you know if the library is open right now?”

“It’s always open.” Dreyer responds.

Makes sense, I guess. There are quite a few people living in dormitories here, after all, so keeping facilities open makes some sense. I wonder if any of the students are of nocturnal races? Of course, I can’t see in the dormitories. Like many of the other sections of the school, that area is blocked off to my vision. Same with the library.

“Still,” Dreyer continues, “I don’t know if you’ll manage to find anything. I doubt there’s much useful available to first term students.”

“May as well have a look. After all, I have all the time in the world…” I reply absently.

I travel down the corridors to where the library is. It’s late afternoon, so there aren’t as many people around, but there’s still quite a few. Floating along, I reach the entrance, an open arch flanked on either side by floor-to-ceiling gargoyles – and the ceilings here are quite tall. As I pass through the arch, I note that the gargoyles’ eyes are following as I go, quite literally. It’s very clear to me that they aren’t just decorative.

Upon entering, I immediately see a front desk, staffed by what looks like a bat man. Seeing me, he raises an eyebrow. “No remote magic tools in the library.”

“No, I’m a new student.” I reply.

His other eyebrow raises, and he pulls a book from under the desk. “Name, then? The races of students are included in here, so I’ll know if you’re lying.”

Excellent, then. “I’m Gerald.”

“G, g…” He leafs through a couple pages. “Ah, here we are. Gerald, Gerald… Gerald, living fork. Well, colour me surprised. You are a new student. Sorry about that, not every day you see a… Living fork.”

“No problem.” I reply. “I wanted to see if I could find a book on mana control, and I was told I should get a library card?”

“Indeed you should, as they are required to enter the library proper.” He says mildly, taking a card from beneath the table and writing my name and race on it. “Put a bit of mana in it.” He says, holding it out to me.

Recognising this now as being similar to the Rho card earlier, I put a bit of mana into it, and it faintly glows for a moment.

“There we go, it’s done. Use it by holding it up to the door and putting some mana in it. This will only allow you to enter the first section of the library, and frankly speaking there isn’t all that much in there.” He says bluntly. “A precaution, you understand. Now, some general rules: Don’t damage anything, don’t take anything out of the library that you didn’t bring in in the first place, no magic, no fire, water or anything else that could damage the books, keep it quiet, and no magical tools unless they have been specifically exempted…” He looks carefully at me. “Which yours have been. If you need any more specific rules, we have lists posted around the library. If you have any questions, you direct them to me or one of the other librarians – we have name tags.” He taps on the rectangular metal tag pinned to his robe, reading: Mr Leyche, Senior Librarian.

“Thank you.” I say, taking the card with telekinesis.

His eyebrows hike a little higher up his forehead.

I float to the door and touch the card to the door with a bit of mana. I hear a click as it unlocks and swings open. After I move through, it shuts behind me and locks again. In front of me are several tall bookshelves filled to capacity, and an area with tables and chairs.

Well then, let’s see what there is to learn.

Gerald: Status