Long Island

Chapter 9: Magic Institute

Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages. 

***************************************************************************************************

Raka walked into a well lit hallway painted white as outside. He was in the Gurrow village Magic Institute following Lady Verina as she led him inside. The long hallway had doors along the side which led to rooms, some empty, some occupied. The ones who were in the rooms wore the same kind of clothes Lady Verina and Cynthia were wearing and were quietly studying. A little further he found one of the biggest rooms, filled with a rows and rows of books of all kinds. He could not get a look at it from the hallway, but he assumed that it was all related to magic.

"That is our library. And yes, it is mostly filled with books on magic. After all our institute does magic research as well. A lot of our graduates come back to use the library. But we have some who devote their time on research of magic only. It is because of them, that we are known as one of the best magic institutes around." said Lady Verina noticing Raka's eager expressions as he looked around.

Not that he could help it. After all magic by its very name is exciting. It is one of the best charms of virtual reality that it made possible things, which were impossible in real life. Raka was excited as he thought of learning magic, and whats more from the head of the magic institute herself.

'More than anything, atleast it won't be painful! Books, I can read them all..hahaha!' thought Raka remembering his painful but occasionally sweet ordeal with Lady Altia. He could definitely do without the pain.

A little ahead, he found more rooms, but these looked like classrooms. Yep, they even had rows of seats lined up to face a large desk which would be the teacher's desk, or that's what he thought. In another one of those, he saw the players studying, easily recognizable because of their togas, without a teacher. Raka had thought that they would be able to buy decent clothing, now that they could earn some money from quests. However, the next best thing after the plain togas they wore, were expensive equipment. Normal colorful clothes were a few silvers, armor started at almost a gold coin. He guessed that by the time they reached the age of 14 they would probably be able to afford such armor but they should be able to afford normal clothes by now.

'Maybe they want to hurry and learn magic before moving on to the quests' was Raka's first thought. He could see himself doing the same thing, if he were in their shoes. Ofcourse life had turned out differently for him so far.

They soon reached some rooms which could easily be said to be offices. In the office at the end of the hallway, they entered. He presumed this was Lady Verina's office, though it seemed to be in various states of upheaval, like the wind could not decide which things to knock over. Over at the end stood a small window covered with some pale shades. Now that he noticed, even with the shades being drawn up, the room still had light but no fire. The lamps he saw hung on the wall, had a kind of white fire burning inside, giving off the kind of white light as you get from a tube light in the real world. There was a messy desk, full of bunches and stacks of paper and what else.

"Put down some of those papers on that chair and sit" she said as she took the chair behind the desk. She looked at a couple of papers right in front of her, made a face, then moved them aside.

"Now then, perhaps I should start by congratulating you on passing Altia's training. How was it?"

Thinking of all the moments, "Um, she is a strict instructor but I receive your congratulations with honor!"

"Hahaahhaa ..yeah that she is isn't she. Do you know that you were her first student? She just joined as head of the Battle school this year."

"Really, how come she is the head then? Not that she isn't a strong warrior."