Chapter 177: Tools of the Trade (1)

By now, most of the students on the ground floor were staring at them as they walked past, led by the supervisor. While the man had tried to be discreet, the rude clerk had caused a bit of a stir earlier for whatever reason.

It wasn’t ideal since they were meant to keep a relatively low profile. But in retrospect, how could they keep a low profile when Stark gave them a pass for the training hall on the fourth floor? As first-year students no less.

The supervisor led them up the winding stairs at the end of the atrium. At the top of the stairs stood a large figure wearing the faculty uniform and robe, standing sentinel.

A brief glance at the guy was enough to know he was strong, at least physically. The hulking man looked a little surprised to see them, yet his surprise only increased after the supervisor explained the situation to him.

They were then allowed passage to the empty fourth floor.

Rudy who had been silent the entire time seemed to have recovered from his poor mood.

“Why is this floor so empty? Does no one use it?” he asked conversationally.

“Well, it’s off limits to anyone without a pass like yours,” the man replied, “but even then, I’ve never seen a student of any age with a pass before.”

“Huh? Then who uses it?”

The man gave a wry smile in response, “Faculty mostly…”

Michael raised an eyebrow. Just what was so special about the training rooms on the fourth floor that it would only be available to professors and the like?

Thankfully, the man continued his explanation.

“The fourth floor doors lead to a pocket dimension where the flow of time is slowed. I’ve never been inside before, but I’ve heard that for every two hours inside, only an hour passes out here.”

“Time dilation!? That’s really possible?” Melody exclaimed, her shock evident.

The supervisor looked panic, “Keep it down, we don’t want the other students hearing about it. It’s already bad enough that they know you’re up here…”

Melody cleared her throat, yet excitement quickly replaced her shock from earlier.

“You should know that the Arcadius house specializes in spatial magic,” the man explained, “time dilation is heavily related to spatial distortion—or at least that’s the theory. As for how it all works, I have no idea…”

“We’re here.” He announced, stopping in front of one of the only two doors on the fourth floor. “Make sure you have the pass in your hand when you walk through the door and not in a storage ring, otherwise you won’t be able to enter.”

“Oh, and next time you come here, please just ascend the stairs yourself. I don’t want another scene like before.” He advised them with a tired expression.

“Thank you for your help.” Michael replied respectfully.

After the man had left, Michael took out the small wooden slab and sent a quick look of confirmation to his friends. Both Melody and Rudy were wearing a look of anticipation, despite the latter’s protests earlier.

It appeared that the mention of time dilation had been enough to intrigue the boy.

“Ready?”

“Just open the damn door already.” Melody shot back with impatience.

Michael grinned, not bothering to respond. He grabbed the door handle and twisted, pushing it open with ease. The threshold was pitch black, not unlike the door they had walked through after completing the entrance exam back then.

Without a word, he stepped through and felt the familiar sensation of teleportation—something he had still yet to get used to.

After a bout of disorientation, he tried to take note of his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the verdant green grass that seemed to stretch endlessly, suffused with the scent of flowers.

They were in an open field, not unlike the grounds surrounding the castle. With the only difference being the absence of the eastern forest that usually bordered it.

Rudy and Melody appeared next to Michael a moment later.

“This is a pocket dimension?” Rudy asked with some confusion, “It isn’t what I expected…”

“What did you expect?” Michael asked with some amusement.

“Well I don’t know,” he snorted, “I just thought there would be some training facilities since its meant to be a training room right? How will this help us research the light element?”

He’s right… Michael thought inwardly, feeling a little disappointed.

Apart from the added benefit of time dilation, it appeared that this pocket dimension was rather plain. It would be one thing if there was some apparatus or instruments to help them, but there wasn’t even a training dummy.

*DING*

[Welcome to the fourth floor training facility]

[If you require any tools, please select them from your emblem]

A bell chime sounded in the dimension, followed by a floating window that suddenly appeared in front of the trio. The timing of the instructions seemed as if someone was listening to them.

“Tools huh?” Michael muttered, activating his emblem.

A new menu option appeared glowing in front of him, prompting him to open it. Another window opened, detailing many more options for his perusal.

Spellcrafting, combat, alchemy, mana theory… They even have specific subjects? He thought with interest.

Yet since they were here to work specifically on spellcrafting, he decided to stick to the plan. Michael selected the option without any fanfare.

The moment he did, the space in front of them shimmered slightly. A floating blackboard appeared out of nowhere, the structure of a magic circle on its surface, written in chalk.

“Huh? What’s this?” he muttered in confusion.

As he reached his hand up to touch it, a window appeared beside it.

[Please choose any spell you wish to reference]

Just then, a list appeared, categorized into tiers and elements.

“Whoa, no way… How many spells have they got?” Rudy exclaimed in shock.

The spells went all the way up to tier six and covered every element—besides the light element of course. He selected one of the spells he was familiar with and watched as the magic circle began to populate with the runes required.

“Oh, that’s pretty cool.”

“What does this button do?” Rudy asked, already reaching out his finger.

The moment he pressed the button, the spell burst into life, sending a fiery tornado into the open space in front of them.

“Whoa! We don’t have to channel mana into it?”

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