Freddy’s walk around the university building didn’t last long. He didn’t have any classes that day. None that he didn’t miss, at least. And all the pointing and staring got tired fast, and the skull-crushing headache wasn’t helping, either.
He was home rather soon after leaving the university building.
There, he crashed into the couch, and took a solid 15 minutes to just process the bullshit he’d just been through. “That’s just great.” A deep sadness washed over him. If he was being honest, he had kind of been looking forward to going to school. It was one of those things he always regretted having missed when he was younger.
For his very first day to go… like that. “Ugh. I hate my life.”
At the very least, it was a significant experience. He’d take the consolation prize.
Trying to take his mind off things, he took out his university tablet and pulled up his schedule.
The way the classes were organized was pretty messy. The University of Starhold didn’t follow any kind of yearly cycle or anything like that. The professors scheduled their classes whenever, basically, with some of those who taught similar topics sometimes agreeing not to schedule their classes at conflicting times.
Some quite obviously hated each other, given by the fact that all of their classes were at the exact same time, every time. “Good to see that even the professors are in on being petty shitheads around here.” Chuckling sourly, he took a moment to look over his schedule again.
For over half of his classes, he was going to have to wait until they started fresh again, which would take days to weeks, depending on class.
For the other half, the empress—or whoever she had tasked with this crap—had simply shoved him into the classes half-way through. He smiled tightly at the list. “I don’t have to pass the exams the first time around… I hope? I get redos? She wouldn’t just behead me if I flunked… right?” A chill went down his spine at the thought. He wasn’t entirely sure.
He had been forced into 17 classes, and had picked another 10 of his own choosing.
The 17 he had been forced into were: Etherology 101, Foundations of Runesetting, Basics of Runeology, Auragraphy 101, Practical Enchanting, Affinity Studies, Imperial History: Early Post-Rift Era, Null-state Combat Studies, Alchemy 101, Interspace Navigation 101, Elementary Studies, Riftography, Practical Combat Class, Hazard Management, Netherecho Encounters, Estate Management, and Abilitycrafting 101.
And the 10 he had picked were: Basic Blood Runeology, Advanced Blood Runeology, Basic Water Runeology, Advanced Water Runeology, Heavy Swordsmanship, Tempering Studies, Blood Alchemy, Starhold Expansion Progress, Primordial Domain Studies, and Extreme Anomalies.
His schedule was… Well, there was a point about a month later where he would have quite literally no free time for an entire day. As in, every single minute of the day he had a class to be in. Many overlapped, actually, so he’d have to choose between several.
The ones he was already enrolled in were most of the etherology and rune-oriented ones, and also Elementary Studies. Yesterday, he failed to show up for Elementary Studies and Riftography. Riftography he didn’t care much about missing, given it was already nearing the exams, so he was cooked anyway, but he was quite literally the only student in Elementary Studies… so the guy taught an empty class yesterday, pretty much.
“No hard feelings I hope…” He cringed.
Among those he picked, admittedly, he had just kind of eyeballed it. Given he didn’t know what he was doing, he was sure he would be repeating many of the classes he had signed up for.
He had been offered ten free class slots of his choosing, and on top of that, a generous budget of credits for the future. But those ten slots didn’t have an upper limit for the credit cost, so… he had mostly picked pretty expensive ones. Starhold Expansion Progress and Extreme Anomalies specifically seemed to cost dozens of millions in credit to enter.
Suddenly, he realized something. “Uh… Starhold Expansion Progress is going to be full of Lords, isn’t it?” If not Lords, then their highest confidants at the very least. The class description just said “Latest updates on the progress of the Starhold Expansion Project.”
The people attending it would definitely not be random two-star kids.
He laughed at the thought. “Oh, God, I’m so going to offend someone there, I can already see it.”
But he was, admittedly, kind of curious about how it was going. So far, there still wasn’t a single settlement outside of Starhold that could be said to be even semi-permanent. Not that he knew of, at least. “Guess I’m gonna find out soon.”
A knock sounded on his door. He nodded and got up. “Fifty bucks that it’s Madame.”
It was Madame.
She watched in confusion as he pulled $50 out of his storage ring and gave it to himself. “Good to see you’re of sound mind, still.” Cocking an eyebrow at him, her question became all-too-apparent.
He sighed. “The empress made me do it.”
Sighing, she showed an annoyed look. “I figured you wouldn’t do something that dumb without good reason. Oh, dear. Mind if I come in?”
They sat in the living room, with Madame grabbing hold of the BC remote and changing the channel to a local news station. “I have something to show you.”
Freddy groaned. “Oh, that’s just fantastic!”
He was on the news. A man and a woman sat before a panel, with an image of him with all his badges equipped resting right in the middle of the screen.
“Just watch,” Madame said, turning the volume up as a man discussed the topic.
“…stories about Freddy Stern, including the rumor that he is actually the man known as the Butcher of the North.” The video suddenly cut to a recording of that time Freddy publicly beheaded a bunch of people in Repentawa. He winced at how brutal it looked. “For those of you who don’t know, the man who goes by Freddy Cliff is an infamous warlord and de facto ruler of a newly formed front line fortress city known as Repentawa.
“He rose to prominence during the infection and subsequent invasion that took place nearly two years ago. While his methods are undoubtedly ruthless—sadistic even—he is actually quite beloved by the local population, and is considered a hero.”
A woman on the other side of the panel nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. The Northern Belt is quite the barbaric place. It takes a strong, uncompromising leader to bring such a population into order.”
“That’s exactly right,” the man continued. “His accomplishments speak for themselves. Not only did he manage to guide the population through an imminent catastrophe, he is rumored to have attracted the attention of the imperial government, who granted a number of concessions to the subordinate territory in hopes of grooming the two-star talent into a future Lord.”
“Where do you think the rumor that Freddy Stern and Freddy Cliff are the same person comes from?” The woman asked.
The man nodded at the question. “There are a number of reasons why. Freddy Cliff hasn’t made any public appearances for a long while, and it is uncertain where he is currently. On top of that, some of the accomplishments of Freddy Stern, as judged by his medals, happen to coincide with Freddy Cliff’s exploits. And of course, we can’t ignore the fact that they do have some mild resemblance between them. However—”
A picture of the buff Freddy engaged in brutal combat against square-eyed monsters appeared side-to-side with a photo of him from the event Madame held, where he is holding his violin, all skinny and soft-looking.
“As you can see…” The man chuckled a bit. “I mean… come on. These two are not the same person, quite obviously.”
The woman also laughed. “Yeah, it’s pretty absurd to assume that when you put them side by side.”
“Exactly.”
“That being said…” The woman hummed. “Where do you think Freddy Stern came from, then?”
“It is unknown, but the empire is a vast place. As many have already noted, his Expert and Veteran badges are low-ranked, indicating that he had both spent very little time in and participated in very few battles.”
“Many have expressed an interest in how it is possible to have such a high kill count while having such low participation on record. How do you explain that?”
“It is quite simple, really. Most likely, Freddy Stern is either a form of long-range summoner or a support. That way, he would be able to participate in fights without directly stepping foot on the battlefield.”
“What many wonder is how is it fair that one can participate in a battle without getting credit for participation?”
“It’s quite simple, actually. You just have to look at the purpose behind the Expert and Veteran medals. They are meant to indicate a variety and depth of experience with the battlefield. And if one is sufficiently far from the action, it only makes sense that they wouldn’t be as familiar as someone who had more hands-on experience.”
“I see. And what about his Dungeoneer and Solo Dungeoneer badges?”
“Oh, he is surely a highly competent combatant, even on his own. His ability to delve so many dungeons single-handedly proves that, and it also indicates that he is most likely a summoner, or perhaps a blend between a summoner and a support.”
Freddy watched them yap on for a while longer as they got into theories that Freddy is a severed powerhouse, utterly gobsmacked at how far they were from the truth. “Are you serious?”
“It is only natural that they would reach the wrong conclusions,” Madame said with a chuckle. “The truth is far more bizarre than fiction, in this case.”
“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what to do now. Do I just let them stew in their own confusion? Going out of my way to correct them seems like a pain.”
“In this situation, you should elegantly maneuver the situation to slowly build the air of mystery around you, and then, when advantageous to you, you should reveal the truth.”
Their eyes met. Then they burst into laughter.
“That’s a good one, Madame.”
“But seriously,” she said, expression cooling. “I don’t think there is anything you can do to control this situation anymore. No offense, but after that showing earlier today, as long as you don’t turn yourself into a complete social pariah, I’ll be happy.”
“Fair enough. Ugh… I’m sorry…”
“What are you apologizing for? It’s your reputation.”
“And your project. One that you’ve invested more effort into than you really needed to.”
“Honey, my whims are not your responsibility. Even if our interests align.”
He snorted. “Thank you, Madame. You’ve been a lot of help.”
“You have nothing to worry about, dear. Now go and rest. Knowing Kaiya, you probably have a whole lot of studying ahead of you.”
Freddy winced. “About that… You don’t think she expects me to pass every single one of the classes I’m forced to attend, right?”
“Of course she does.”
He paled.
“Oh, it’s not a problem if you fail a few times before you pass, of course.”
He released the breath that had caught in his throat a moment ago. “Well, my life just flashed before my eyes.”
Madame chuckled. “Kaiya is a strict individual, but she isn’t that unreasonable.”
“Speaking of the empress… Am I like… safe?” he asked cautiously. “She basically grabbed me by the arm and threw me into a pool full of sharks. I’m not sure if my safety is high on her list of priorities.”
Madame’s expression grew conflicted. “Kaiya is… a very peculiar person. She subscribes to the philosophy that the Post-Rift world is built like a game of sorts, one designed around conflict. There are definitely some aspects of her worldview that I think are correct, at least to a degree, but the rest is more or less there to justify her enjoyment of bullying.”
“Oh.”
She chuckled. “Well, it’s not that bad. She might be strict, but she is also generous. If you’re useful, she’ll make sure you’re rewarded for it. Just make sure you don’t start making any plans to dethrone her any time soon. She will notice, and that will be the last anyone ever hears of you.”
A chill went down his spine. “Thankfully, I have no such plans.”
“Good. Now, as I said, go and rest.” She got up. “Otherwise, the university might very well kill you.”
“What do you mean?”
She chuckled. “Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.” With those ominous words, Madame left, closing the door behind her.
“Well. I should probably take her advice.”
***
“As you can see, once the runchain suffulates, spacers appear at prime positions, making it so that the string must grow at an exponential rate to accommodate any improvements. We have discovered quite a few spacer microconcepts already, but you will rarely ever need to know more than the first ten, which are em, in, sum, ol, lun, slo, efi, ofo, gi, and al.”
Freddy looked at the massive schematic of an unfurled ability on the blackboard, mouth slightly agape. It was a projection of the spherical ether cage, the thing that holds the concepts of an ability. This was what it looked like when it was “unraveled” onto a 2D surface. There were numerous kinds of structures these runes could take, with today’s lesson being about the little chains that break off and never connect to anything.
Other than roughly figuring out what “suffulate” meant, he didn’t understand a single thing throughout the whole lesson.
This was his first time sitting through a proper class. It was also his introduction to Runesetting.
In a way, he kind of already understood everything the professor was talking about. Kind of. But his understanding was instinctive, driven by direct experience. It was like the difference between knowing how to move and knowing kinesiology.
Needless to say, his chances of passing this class the first time around were absolutely abysmal.
After a painful two hours of trying to follow the class, he was released from his suffering.
“Hey it’s that guy!” a girl said as she passed him, tapping her friend on the shoulder to get her attention.
“Yo, what’s up, geezer!” a man shouted as he flashed double middle fingers at him.
“Oh, there’s the dude who got into a fight with Shane,” someone commented to a friend. “I bet you whatever that Shane would lose. I mean look at those badges, gawdaym!”
Trying to walk anywhere in the university was a painful experience. Worst of all was that there was about five hours of waiting until his next class. He could probably just dip and come back later, but he figured that the more he stuck around, the less attention he would attract, so he just grinned and endured it for now.
Despite the fact that many were under the impression his badges had been earned in roundabout ways, so to say, the badges were still certifiably real, and that came with no small amount of respect.
Those from massive factions could afford to mess around without too much fear of retaliation, but the bulk of the student body came from backgrounds which were relatively unimpressive, so they weren’t going to be stepping on anyone’s toes.
The contrast was pretty surreal.
Most of the students were either excessively casual, or formal to the point where they seamlessly blended into the background.
A well-built, tall man with a black combover walked up to Freddy, confidently flashing a third-rank Slayer badge. “Hey there, Mr. Stern.”
Freddy sighed. “Anything I can help you with?”
“I was wondering if you’re free later in the afternoon. You might already know me; I take a lot of matches in the arena, even had a few featured on the main stage. Name’s Killean Smiles. I was wondering if you’re interested in a bout against me.” He grinned confidently. “I’m sure we’d get ourselves a nice audience with your reputation. Whaddaya say? I’m sure you can beat little ol’ me with your hands tied behind your back.”
Freddy cocked an eyebrow. “What’s in it for you?”
“Publicity,” he said honestly.
Freddy sighed. This was the tenth such offer that day, and he was getting really tired of being accosted by attention-hungry gladiators.
He could easily beat a thousand such kids “with his hands tied behind his back,” as the man said, but what exactly would he get for that? A reputation for brutalizing the weak?
“Look, I’ve got classes to attend, so maybe some other day, okay?”
Killean clicked his tongue. “If you’re scared, just say so.” He turned around with a harrumph, marching away while muttering something under his breath.
“And there he goes. Fun.”
Should I just take the offer and beat someone up? Maybe they’d finally leave me alone.
Something about the idea rubbed him the wrong way.
According to the empress, he didn’t have to be afraid of showing his strength. Not really. In fact, he only stood to gain from letting others know he wasn’t to be messed with. But he was still hesitant. Was it just paranoia? Maybe. Was there also a touch of desire to build a mysterious vibe around him only to dramatically reveal the full extent of his power after healing his soul and-slash-or reaching the third star? Definitely.
A big part of him was just being spiteful. He knew the empress was trying to drag him screaming and kicking into the limelight, and he hated being dragged around like that.
He loitered around until the next class, and then, he attended Basics of Runeology. Again, he left deeply confused, only to attend Auragraphy 101 next.
Over the next few days, he tried his best to learn all he could. He collected all the textbooks he needed from the university library—which was expensive as hell, as was to be expected at this point—and did his best to read up and get the general gist of everything.
Are all these classes the same thing or am I too stupid to tell the difference?
Runesetting was the process of… setting runes. Building abilities, enchanting, making cursed items…
Runeology was the study of runes. How they were set, how they slotted into abilities, their role in enchanting and making cursed items…
Auragraphy was the process of writing runes.
Enchanting was also the process of writing runes, just on actual items.
This is hopeless.
He was bound to have to take these classes again when they restarted. For the time being, however, he latched on to the one common thing every one of these classes had in common.
Runes.
After dropping several million dollars on the most comprehensive runepedia, containing the entire known rune and microrune alphabet, including essence imprints, all the “grammatical rules” of runeology, and what the individual runes were used for, he returned home.
The book was so thick he could kill someone with it. It weighed several kilograms, and the writing was damn-near microscopic.
He would memorize the entire thing, even if it killed him. And it just might.
The days continued passing by.
He finally attended his Elementary Studies class, but unlike what he expected, the professor was quite understanding. He was a sweet guy, actually. Great at making Freddy not feel like a moron when he didn’t know something incredibly basic. And that was basically all the time.
The attention Freddy received rapidly died down in a matter of days. The world moved on fast in Starhold, and there was always some fresh bullshit for people to talk about. Apparently, some overlord died, which was really not good. It was also not good that Freddy didn’t even know who he was, because knowing all the Overlords was extremely basic knowledge, but that was neither here nor there.
Then, finally, after a whole week, he finally attended the very first lesson of a class.
“Welcome to Null-state Combat Studies, you maggots!” a hardened man wearing a camo uniform shouted at the lined-up students. There were just around fifty people taking the class, which was relatively low. They were inside a massive chamber deep in the university, imposing metal walls rising far above them with an oppressive weight, the empty space making the professor’s voice echo.
“My name is Dr. Jeffrey Earnest, but you asswipes will call me ‘Sir’! Some of you have never been in a real fight, and it shows. I can see it in the way you stand. The way you breathe. You’re fucking pathetic. You would be monster food after five minutes on the front lines.” He spat on the ground. “If you’re afraid of pain, I suggest you drop out of my class immediately. But be warned.
“This world is not a peaceful place. We’ve had it good over the last fifty years. Great, even. This is the longest we’ve gone without a massive crisis looming over everyone’s head. Which is why I know the next time shit hits the fan, the splatter will reach every damn corner of the world.” He halted. His voice grew heavy. “You will experience horrors unlike anything you can imagine within your lifetime; mark my words.
“And when that happens, you will lick my shoes in gratitude for teaching you worthless wimps a thing or two about how to actually defend yourself when it matters the most.” He turned and started walking with his arms crossed behind his back. “How many of you have experienced running out of essence?”
A few people raised their hands, including Freddy.
“And how many of you have experienced running out of essence while you were still fighting for your life?”
Many hands went down, except for three. Including Freddy’s.
“Well I’ll be damned. That means that well over ninety fucking percent of you have never in your entire life been in serious danger. And for you three…” His eyes lingered on Freddy. He looked down at his badges, then back at his face. “You. Come here.”
Freddy resisted the urge to sigh. Here we go.