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The Human From a Dungeon 94
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 11:29:18 +0000 UTCChapter 94
Nick Smith
Adventurer Level: 11
Human – American
The chair I sat in and watched as the other students took their seats was very comfortable. Such a seat was much appreciated, given how few and far between such comforts tend to be. Even with my constant stay in the Marfix Inn, I knew better than to take the small comforts for granted.
The schedule I'd been given had Yulk as my first teacher, then Olmira, Mr. Descu, Mr. Tyinora, and finally Lord VysImiro. I wanted to ask Yulk about VysImiro, but he had arrived after I fell asleep and had left before my wake-up call. Then when I'd arrived to class, he'd hurried me to my seat, which prompted me to give up and just wait to meet him.
Our class was comprised of a total of four students, an elf, two orcs, and me. The elf was a bit on the older side, but the orcs appeared to be around the same age as Yini and Nimora. I hadn't exactly been asking people about their ages, but it would be safe to assume they were all about the same age as me.
"Welcome to class, my prospective pupils," Yulk said with a grin. "As I'm sure you're aware, my name is Mister Alta. In this class, we will be covering the foundations of magic. Specifically, concepts and practices that are shared by the majority of spells, regardless of caster. Who can give me an example?"
The elf raised her hand, and Yulk nodded for her to continue. She explained that conceptualization was an example of a practice shared by all forms of magic. Yulk agreed and launched into a lecture. The orcs were paying close attention to him, but gave me more than a few curious glances.
The lecture continued into methods of conceptualization. Yulk didn't say anything I didn't already know, so I let the other students answer questions and sat quietly. My brother noticed my detachment and decided to pick on me.
"Conceptualization becomes more or less important depending upon what you are conceptualizing," he said, then looked directly at me. "Nick, which would be more powerful to cast fireball. Conceptualizing the flame itself, or a fuel source for the flame?"
I thought about it for a moment, then realized that I didn't actually know for sure. One would imagine that imagining flames would be better for a spell like fireball. With a small sigh, I decided to wing it.
"Well, flames happens when a fuel source begins shedding ions and electrons at a rapid rate, then having them recombine into molecules in a process that produces light and heat," I explained, recalling a random video that I had seen. "This process is caused by the fuel source reaching a high enough temperature for it to ignite. If I understand conceptualization properly, then imagining the processes behind a flame would be more effective than imagining the processes behind a fuel source reaching its ignition point."
The class stared silently at me with clueless expressions on their faces. I quickly realized that I had gone overboard with my explanation and nearly winced. Yulk, however, recovered rather quickly and cleared his throat.
"Well, that explains a lot," he chuckled. "You're correct, though. Imagining the flame is always more potent than imagining the source of the flames. Just as imagining water taking form is more potent than imagining rain. So, if you want to cast a potent fireball, focus on the flames, not the campfire."
The rest of the class was spent speaking about the various tactics that mages use to conceptualize their spells. Some mages memorize phrases that help them remember how a spell works, others keep objects on their person that do the same thing. Most just use the spells enough that they memorize the conceptualizations. Yulk didn't call on me for the rest of class, which I was extremely grateful for.
A bell began ringing loud enough to echo throughout the school. Yulk dismissed us, and we traveled to our next class. The other students were grouped together, walking a few feet ahead of me. It would have been insulting had I not been fully prepared for that kind of reaction. After all, I'm a stranger with a strange face in a strange land.
Olmira the Eternal greeted us as we entered the class and took our seats. She took an extra moment to say that she was glad to see me again, and happy that we had survived our last adventure. This caused more confused glances from my classmates, but the vampire launched into her lesson without further elaboration.
"My name is Olmira the Eternal. I prefer that you simply call me Olmira, but in formal setting you may call me Lady Olmira. In this class we will be learning about glyphs and barriers," she explained. "Who can tell me what glyphs are most commonly used for?"
The elf once again raised her hand and was called on.
"Glyphs are mostly used for enchantments, but can also be used to lock doors," she said.
"Hmm," Olmira squeezed her chin. "You're close. Glyphs can be used to make enchantments and to lock doors, yes, but there's a far more common use for them. One that you'll no doubt run into as an adventurer. Any other guesses?"
"Traps?" I asked.
"Correct! Good work, Nick, but please raise your hand in the future," she said with a disarming smile.
"Yes, Lady Olmira."
She picked up on the slight sarcasm in my reply and gave me a small glare. I smiled politely at her, and she continued her lecture on traps. The main points of her lecture were that almost all dungeons have traps, and nearly all of these traps are glyphs. Various governments also keep their confidential records behind trapped doors, which also use glyphs. Even consumer industries, like banks and storage services, use glyphs to set traps for unwary robbers.
She then explained that glyphs rely on a physical medium that creates a symbol. Clever traps typically disguise their glyphs in ways that are difficult to spot so that they can't be disarmed. I wondered what would happen if someone used invisible ink, but decided to keep my mouth shut.
Olmira then move on to discussing barriers. Barriers use both runes and glyphs. The glyphs that initially create the barrier are intricate and difficult to make, which means that the stones they're carved on are rather expensive. When the stone is activated, a magical barrier covered in runes is created.
These runes strengthen the barrier against specific types of ingress. From what I could tell, runes are essentially glyphs made out of magical energy. Both use arcane symbology, but the effects of runes are far more potent than glyphs. But to be effective, runes have to be composed of magical energy, whereas glyphs merely need to be infused with magic.
It was a very informative class, but before I knew it the bell rang and it was time to go to the next one. We walked in the same formation, but this time my classmates were comfortable enough for some chatter about what we had just learned. Inside the next class was a gnome with a very short desk in front of him. We took our seats and the gnome cleared his throat.
"Welcome, my name is Mister Descu and I will be teaching you about enchantments," the gnome said. "It is a complicated subject with many intricacies and expenses, so most of this class will be lectures rather than practical learning."
Mister Descu did a lot more lecturing than asking questions. He explained that enchantments could be done multiple ways. The first and most common way was with glyphs. However, only a select few glyphs would work with enchanting, and if those glyphs were damaged the enchantment would no longer function.
Another, far more difficult and durable, method of enchanting involved invocation. He explained that invocation is a poorly understood school of magic, but invokers explain it as calling upon mystic forces for aid in imbuing an object with certain properties. This particular type of enchantment is very potent, but can only be performed with particularly durable materials. The end result can last the entire career of a normal adventurer, but normal adventurers wouldn't be able to afford it.
Blessings were the final method of enchantment that Mister Descu covered. An extremely rare and potent type of enchantment, a blessing is when a being from another, more powerful plane of existence imbues an object with special capabilities. It's similar in many ways to invocation enchanting, but doesn't require an invoker.
My thoughts turned to my cuirass and helmet. The cuirass was probably enchanted with invocations, but the helmet was probably a blessing. I thought about whether or not I should bring this up. Before I figured out how to phrase the question, though, the bell rang.
This is when our lunch period was scheduled, and we dutifully walked across the street to get some food. My eyes trailed over the tavern-like lunch area, but couldn't find anyone I recognized. The paper detailing the state-sponsored school lunch mentioned that there were two lunch schedules. I wondered when Nimora and Yini would be having theirs.
Nimora's affections were annoying, but it was better than being ignored. Or whispered about in hushed tones, which happened while I ate. The food wasn't bad, but I'd had a big breakfast and was mostly picking at it. When I saw my classmates finish theirs, I decided that it was time that I'd finished mine. Just in time, too, because the bell rang again by the time we'd reentered the school.
Once again I trailed after my classmates. This time we passed Yini and Nimora, who waved at me. I waved back, happy to get acknowledged by someone other than teachers. My classmates saw the exchange, but pretended not to notice. It was difficult to tell if it was fear or malice that caused their avoidance, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't beginning to wear thin.
"Sit down," a dark gray elf standing at the front of the class said as we entered. Once we were seated, he continued, "My name is Argus Tyinora. I see from your expressions that you were not expecting to be taught by a drow. Thankfully, I was pestered by questions enough today to be able to anticipate yours. No, I am not a subject of the Night Kingdom. No, I was not born in the Night Kingdom. Yes, I have fought against the Night Kingdom. No, I hold no love for any drow other than my wife, children, mother, father, and siblings. I am a level twenty-two adventuring sorcerer. Those are all of the personal questions that I will answer. You will call me Mister Tyinora and I will teach you the tactical applications of magic."
The drow had begun to explain how useful tactics were in a fight when it struck me that he looked remarkably similar to the vampire that I, or Ten I guess, killed in the Empire of Calkuti. The same dungeon that we met Larie the Lich, in fact. I began to wonder what Larie and the kobolds were up to when Mister Tyinora cleared his throat angrily.
"Nick the human," he said sternly. "I realize that you are an adventurer and likely know a good portion of this information. If you wouldn't mind, though, could you at least pretend to pay attention?"
"Sorry, sir," I replied.
"Actually, come to think of it Mister Alta claims that you have an immense reserve of magic. Perhaps a practical demonstration of my lecture is in order," the drow grinned maliciously. "I'm sure you've been sitting in classrooms all day. Come, let's quit to the training yard."
Mister Tyinora opened the classroom door and gestured for us to enter the hallway. He then led us out the rear entrance of the school. After examining a few of the targets, he turned to us and focused on me.
"Nick. I want you to fire one of your spells at this group of targets," he gestured toward a cluster of five dummies. "Don't worry about holding back, the point is to destroy as many of them as possible. Show us what you've got, human."
His last line felt like a challenge and prickled the hairs on the back of my neck. Fine, if that's the way he wants it. I walked up to the firing line, held out my hand, and concentrated.
"Raeps Dniw Tsac!"
The well-trimmed grass flattened as a massive blast of wind shot from my hand, pushing me back a step. Three of the targets immediately disappeared, leaving the furthermost targets on the right and left standing. I turned around and was greeted by looks of awe from my classmates. Mister Tyinora, however, looked unimpressed.
"Quite powerful," he nodded. "Now take down the remainder."
I tried, and realized that I was out of magic. I took a few deep breaths, but before I could regenerate the magic Mister Tyinora tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to look at him and was met with another malicious grin.
"And you're dead," he said. "You see, Nick, this is the exact lecture that I was giving. The tactical usage of your magic reserve to ensure that you do not deplete it in the middle of a fight. Or, in this case, at the very beginning of it. Allow me to demonstrate a more effective way to use magic."
He turned and walked over to another group of five dummies and gestured for us to join him. We did, and he held up his hand. The words came from his mouth so fast that I couldn't even hear them, and five powerful yet well-controlled wind spears flew from his hand and destroyed the dummies.
"There you have it," Mister Tyinora dusted his hands off. "All five enemies dead, and I still have more in the tank. Tell me, human, what happens if your initial volley misses?"
"Well, um... I also have training in sword fighting and hand to hand combat..."
"How practical. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it is rare for someone gifted with magical potency to also possess an aptitude for physical fighting. Of course, combat is about doing whatever it takes to survive, but it would be better to enter it with as much preparation as possible. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Then I demand that you pay close attention to my lessons and learn to control your magical output with a skill that is borderline surgical," he turned to the other three students. "It's likely that this human just used the most powerful version of Wind Spear that you've ever seen. Personally, I've only seen more power on a handful of occasions. However, I assure you that at his current understanding of magical warfare, were we to come to blows I would be able to defeat him. The same could be said for all of you if you study well. Let us return to class."
I followed after Mister Tyinora with mixed feelings. On one hand, he had kind of made a fool out of me. On the other, he had made a really good point and hadn't been overly rude about it. One couldn't even really call it tough love.
I also got the feeling that he wasn't lying about being able to kick my ass. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something about the way he moved told me that my strikes wouldn't reach him. Guess that makes sense, considering that he's an over-twenty like Thunra.
The rest of class was spent explaining exactly what had happened on the training field from an educative standpoint. I had spent all of my magic in one powerful attack, and Mister Tyinora had fired five smaller spells in rapid succession. He also pointed out that the rapidity with which one can use a spell often times decides the victor of a fight.
I paid close attention to the rest of the lecture until the bell finally rang. Letting my frustrations get the better of me, I decided to be the first out the door and lead the pack this time. Instead of hanging back, though, they quickly caught up to me.
"Hi, I'm Irl," one of the orcs said.
"I'm Nir," the other orc grinned. "That was a really cool spell!"
"And I am Volus," the elf said hurriedly. "Do you know other spells?"
"Y-yeah," I replied, a little shocked. "Um... I know Fireball, Ice Javelin, Light, Earthen Dagger, Heal, and Minor Heal."
"What's Ice Javelin?" Nir asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like. Shoots a javelin made of ice at your target."
"What's the difference between Heal and Minor Heal?" Volus asked.
"Minor Heal heals other people. Heal only heals me."
"Where did you learn all those spells?" Irl asked.
"Yu- uh... Mister Alta taught me some of them. I learned the rest through trial and error."
"How do you know Mister Alta?"
"He's my brother by adoption. Our other brother, Nash, found me in a dungeon in Nuleva."
There were many other questions, and I did my best to answer them all as we continued to our next class. It felt good, like I'd passed a hurdle and accomplished something. Our conversation was interrupted when we reached our last class of the day, though. A tall, domineering elf stood outside of the class.
"Hello, students," she said. "Due to an incident that occurred this morning, we are reminding all of our students that Lord VysImiro is here at the invitation of High Chief Ulurmak and has been vouched for by a member of the illustrious Alta Clan. Violence against our teachers will not be tolerated. Please enjoy the class."
Confused, we nodded as she stepped aside. An incident occurred this morning? Violence against the teachers? One of the teachers is a drow, but this is the one that comes with a warning? Just who is this Lord VysImiro?
My classmates looked at me expectantly. I sighed and trepidatiously walked in. I heard the slight pops of four mouths opening in shock as we saw who the final teacher was, and realized that one of the mouths was my own.
"Nick!" the teacher said, his bare skull forming an unnatural smile. "I was wondering when you were going to be in my class."
"Larie?" I asked.
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! I like how the professor was able to let Nick show off, and then use it as a teaching moment as well. That helped break down the walls between Nick and the other students, which is very important for everyone long term. And Larie is back!
ItsDirector
Edited again to correct another mistake -.- I need to stop editing during insomnia binges lol
ItsDirector
Edited to add a lunch period and correct a mistake made in the third paragraph :)
ItsDirector
Good eye lol when I was editing I realized that I hadn't pointed out the genders of anyone (or so I'd thought) and added the word male there because I forgot that I'd made the elf female. Unfortunately, I'd only had about 2 hours of sleep in the previous 48, so my brain immediately forgot about what it did .-.
David Ellis
Nit: "Our class was comprised of a total of four male students" is followed by "The elf raised her hand". Either the female students in the class were accidentally dropped, or the elf was misgendered here.
DarkValorWolf
I've been looking forward to this chapter since Yulk namedropped Vyslmiro, he so quickly established himself as one of my favourite characters, glad we get to see him again.
