Arcanum

"..... Would be so much better if we could skip cla.s.s and just train all day..." Daisy muttered.

"What cla.s.s you all have today?.." Ashley asked.

"History, Creature and culture studies." Jay replied.

"Of all the cla.s.ses I think those two are the most important." Ashely smiled.

"I disagree." Scarlet replied.

"Of course you do... you"ll just pulverise anyone that threatens you." Ashley replied. "Anyway ignore Scarlet... History is important because we should all learn from the past and past events, Creatures and Culture is very important.... unless you"re Paul or Scarlet who can just brute force any encounters with their strength and stature. Learning behaviours and weaknesses of creatures makes encounters easier and learning about cultures is great for negotiating and conversing with other races and cities." Ashley explained.

"That makes sense." I agreed.

"Or you could just intimidate them." Scarlet laughed.

"Yes.... only take Scarlets advise when it comes to combat.... everything else take it with a grain of salt.... anyone who recognises her won"t ever dare to risk their life angering her." Ashely added.

"Hey!!!!" Scarlet replied looking offended.

"Ohhh and help yourself with any snacks in the kitchen.... I don"t think you guys have time for breakfast." Ashley smiled.

"Okay!" we all replied getting up and making our way out.

I quickly led everyone into the kitchen opening the fridge for bottle of water and an overhead cupboard.

"Ohhh what awesome stuff do we get to eat???!" Helen asked looking over my shoulder extremely curious.

"Hmm so much to choose from.... I"ll just grab a fistful of everything." I said grabbing a handful of breakfast bars giving them to everyone to hold.

"This is abit much..." Jay said with his handful of different breakfast bars.

"Yeah.... I don"t know your preferences... so I grabbed everything... besides they don"t go off for months." I smiled.

"Months?.." They all asked looking utterly confused.

"..... You don"t know what months are?.." I asked surprised trying to think of a way to explain to them what a month is... "Okay.... the bars last many season!" I replied hoping they understand.

"So you"re telling me... the things contained in this weird materials last for more than one season?..." Jay asked examining one carefully.

"Woah..... Let"s keep this materials and wrap all our food in it!" Grace suggested in utter shock looking at the package like it was some sort of miracle material.

"That"s not how it works...." I replied chuckling.

"What you mean?. You just said it lasts seasons!!!!" Daisy asked absolutely confused.

"So the food is made in a particular way to make it last longer.... as well as the air tight seal makes it go off slower." I explained.

".... why does making it air tight make it last longer?.." Jay asked.

"It"s hard to understand but there are very tiny things that eat away at food that makes it go off... so restricting the air supply for them makes the food decay slower." I tried to explain to them how bacteria makes food go off.

"You mean bugs?...." Jay asked looking confused and slightly worried at me.

"Sorta like bug but extremely tiny…. Invisible to the naked eye." I explained causing them to look at me as if I was insane. "Just believe me.... it"s how it works." I replied.

"Ohhh this taste so good!!!" Daisy said already scoffing a whole bar down quickly with a giant smile on her face, "It"s so sweet and mushy and chewy!" She smiled from ear to ear.

"Ohhh lemme see the wrapper." I asked interested in what she liked. "This is a Cinnamon and Raisin Oatmeal bar." I smiled.

"I could eat this all day and night!" Daisy replied looking extremely happy walking out the room.

"Ohhh I"ll try that one!" Helen said reading the packages carefully trying to find the same one.

Jay pocketed all the bars and pulled out some other pieces of food from his pockets and began eating those. "Jay you don"t like them?.." Helen asked looking concerned.

"Not at all... just these things last so long! I should eat the other more perishable foods first." He smiled following Daisy out the room.

We slowly made our way to lesson feeling slightly interested in learning more about this world, listening to everything Ashley explained made me even more excited to begin my journey. "The food from your world is so amazing!" Grace hummed in happiness eating a bar.

"So what happened in cla.s.s last week?...." I asked striking up a conversation.

"I think the first term we are focusing on races and creatures that are commonly found nearby.... like the ordinary wild life..... Hill giants... Goliaths... Orcs etc." Jay explained.

"Hill giants?.." I asked in shock.

"Yah... Giants that wonder greener pastures..... Normally roam in groups of one to four.... they eat literally anything that they can stomach..." Jay replied.

"............ more dangerous then trolls?..." I asked worried remembering how badly that ogre basically murdered me in our first fight.

"Yeah.... they probably eat ogres for breakfast.." Jay replied.

"Everything is so dangerous here...." I replied feeling extremely worried.

"Giants are rare to encounter.... they stay away from roads and cities.... they are very dangerous but can be easily dispatched by overwhelming them." Ashley replied trying to rea.s.sure me.

"I"ve dealt with Ghosts and Demons..." Daisy said as we entered the main building.

"Really?..." I asked in shock.

"Yup..... Paladins and Clerics are normally called to deal with those sort of things." Daisy replied with a smile.

"Yeah.... If you require help to deal with supernatural stuff..... Best to ask for help from a local church." Jay added.

"Isn"t it scary?.." I asked in shock.

"Not really.... the light of Serra protects." Daisy smiled.

"........ Is that when your tattoos glow yellow?.." I asked.

"Yes.... when they glow yellow it means the light of Serra is with me..... As long as I have faith in Serra I will be protected." Daisy smiled.

"Interesting...." I replied contemplating about my own faith a little......

"Yeah.... I worship Nyera G.o.ddess of Nature." Helen smiled.

"If you don"t mind me asking..... What does Nyera do?.." I asked.

"She watches over nature and everything natural and opposes everything unnatural such as things necromancers do.... messing around with dead bodies making unnatural abominations..... But she is also indifferent." Helen explained

"Ohh interesting.... so there are alot of G.o.d"s in this world?.." I asked.

"Ohh yeah there are many G.o.ds.... at least one for each major race in existence!" Helen answered in excitement. "There"s one for Magic.... Knowledge... Truth.....Dwarves, Minotaur"s the list goes on." She carried on explaining.

"Wow that"s interesting." I replied with a smile thinking it must be so overwhelming to remember them all…..

"This is our cla.s.s." Jay said opening the door to a cla.s.s room.

"h.e.l.lo students! Please take a seat!" A very jolly male voice welcomed us but the teacher was nowhere to be seen. Following everyone to our seats I lingered on slowly trying to look for our teachers but I still couldn"t see him through all the students.

Taking our seats together Helen and Grace in front of us while Daisy Jay and I sitting behind them. As each student slowly found their seats and the front of the cla.s.sroom emptied, there stood a small man half dressed in a suit with a monocle and a thick black moustache with curls on the end and slick side parted hair.

"Is that our teacher?.." I asked whispering.

"Yeah he"s professor Doddle." Daisy answered.

"Ummm is he a Hobbit?.." I asked noticing his small stature.

"What"s a hobbit?.." Jay whispered quietly to not interrupt the teacher.

"....... Nevermind what race is he?.." I asked curiously.

"He"s a Halfling." Jay answered.

"Ohhh I see..." I nodded.

"Welcome cla.s.s to your second lesson of History." Professor Doddle announced. "So who can recap what we learnt last lesson?.." He said with a jolly smile.

A long haired blonde student stuck her hand up. "Yes Natalie?.." Professor Doddle asked her.

"We learnt about the Formation of Xoria." Natalie answered.

"Yes yes well remembered.... Now where did we stop?...." He asked.

Another student held their hand up this time a male student with short black hair. "Sir we stopped when King Alaric and Queen Gwent as they began building the small settlement that would later become Xoria." The student answered.

"Yes Eric well remembered." Professor Doddle smiled.