Chapter 558: Zach |
Academy
Zach stood on top of a hill, looking out in the distance. His new home was a sprawling territory filled with hills covered in orange trees. A giant lake was at its center, nestled in the shadow of a tall mountain, around which’s peak wind howled endlessly. The lake was so large that one could barely see the other side when standing on its shores.
A river was born halfway up the mountain, then came crashing down in a majestic waterfall before flowing across the land into the lake, and then out of it on the other side, speeding away from the territory and the great ocean far away.
Simple town nestled on top of a hill overlooking the lake. The walls used to be wood, but had since been upgraded into stone. The town wasn’t large, it had barely a thousand inhabitants, but it was a growing community. An extension of the town was already built on the lake’s shore and a single road connected it to the town above. A few buildings and a small dock could be seen, with fishing boats coming and going every morning and evening.
But what would pull the eye of any who entered the territory was actually the giant castle on the side of the mountain.
Zach had spent a full week mapping it with Naha. It was a truly sprawling structure. Worthy of what he imagined it would become.
Even from the distance he could see its features clearly. A long white stone bridge was built over the waterfall, leading to a towering entrance with portcullis gate. The entrance was framed with two towers on each side, rising five stories and topped with blue tile spiked roofs.
Zach knew that beyond the gate was the first building. A sprawling domed hall, a majestic entrance with two statues—neither of which were his idea. Beyond the first building was a large central courtyard, with green and blue grass and a large fountain in the center, intersected with six tiled paths. Three interconnected buildings could be accessed from the courtyard, four if one counted the entrance. A long corridor also circled the entire castle, along its edge, connecting each of the buildings, which could be accessed from the entrance domed building.
He knew that inside one would find several large rooms on the bottom floor. With three sets of stairs leading to the upper floors. Each of the other floors was identical, filled with rooms on each side of one long corridor that spanned the building. Each of those rooms were more similar to apartments, with an additional room attached to them.
The southern side windows looked outside of the castle, over the lake, while the northern one looked inward to the courtyard. His intent seemed to have guided the Framework’s construction of the castle quite a bit. The building resembled a dormitory. And from their calculations it could easily house thousands. And from what the builders Zach had hired had said the building seemed designed in a way to be easily expandable.
It was of course not furnished at all when it was built, none of the castle was really. It was an empty shell. But they had done a lot since then.
The building across from the dormitory was built into the mountain, burrowing deeper and expanding both below ground and above through the mountain. Within were heavily enforced rooms. Some were filled with sources of Essences, the ones that Zach had obtained and used in the construction. Others were just heavily reinforced rooms of varying sizes, all blank slates and awaiting a purpose.
So far they had just turned one of them, one on the deepest level, into a vault. They’ve been calling this building the Aspect Gallery.
The last building was directly across from the entrance, what they had been calling the School. It towered over the others, spreading in all directions, the northern side was built into the mountain, while the southern extended over the cliff-side and stuck out further than the dormitory where a large hanging garden stood populated with high quality nature.
The building had eight tall towers, with a single one rising high above all the rest. The inside was filled with empty rooms of varying sizes across several floors. Some were large halls, others smaller ballrooms, or just rooms of different sizes. The plan was for those to be the main classrooms in the future. On top of the building was a large room that Zach had turned into his office, it had a view over the entire territory.
The core of the building though, was built around a domed room in its center. A room that Zach had turned one with singular purpose. He opened a way into the Ethereal within it, and connected it with the Castle of Knowledge on the other side. With array that they had purchased and some additional help, they had stabilized the portal and made it permanent.
Zach liked to come out here whenever he needed a break, to this hill, and just look at his new home. It was beautiful and majestic from the distance. But its true grandeur could only be seen and felt from the inside.
The last year had been spent on working, trying to make his dream a reality. They had done a lot to reach this point, and they had just a little more to go.
He took one last long look and then turned away with a sigh. He had spent long enough away from his duties. He walked over to a small stone platform in the middle of the hill where an archway stood with a glimmering surface in between it. It was just large enough for a couple of people to walk through comfortably.
He approached and stepped through the portal. They had built them all across the territory, in various sizes. Their plan for the academy included the entire territory. There were forests filled with beasts, some of which they had imported themselves. They had exterminated the more powerful ones, but had left some of the dangerous ones too. Danger was required for learning, even Zach understood that.
His step through the archway portal led him into a large circular room, along each of the walls, dozens of portals shimmered in their own archways. Not all of them were currently active, and the wardens on duty were keeping an eye on those that were.
They didn’t yet have a high volume traffic, but people were currently walking through one of them, a donkey like animal pulling a small cart covered with a tarp.
They waved at Zach as they noticed him, and Zach smiled back at them. They were from the town, and all the people currently living there were family members of the wardens that had accepted his offer and had moved here. But there were a few families of the builders that they had hired to help work on the castle. The item had built for them an incredible starting point, but there were things that they wanted to change.
Bera had known that this was the plan all along, so she had even been recruiting a bit.
The center of the room was dominated by a larger portal and a bigger archway. This one led to the Ethereal Realm, and was always active. Spirits came and went freely, and a few eel-like ones made out of water floated up above near the ceiling. They weren’t that smart, nor were they really dangerous… well, not that dangerous. These particular spirits were just curious, so they explored the castle freely.
Part of the castle’s power was drawn from Zach. And since one of his main Aspects was the Ethereal, the Castle itself had properties that allowed denizens of the Ethereal to freely enter the Real Realm and stay as long as they wanted. Some of the Ethereal’s power filled the very walls of his Academy.
The spirits didn’t need to form new bodies to enter the Real Realm, and could exist in their real forms. Zach had even made agreements with some of the more intelligent spirits from the Castle of Knowledge to work in his Academy, for some to even teach eventually.
He had an entire horde of smaller nature spirits flying around the Academy serving as additional guards, ready to report anything out of the ordinary.
Zach walked out of the portal room, and headed up the stairs to the meeting room. As he walked, he let his mind drift, taking in the power around him. The Shadows of the corridor were deeper, they breathed in a way, deepening and lightening in rhythm. The fact that they were so deep now told him that Naha was around. She had a connection to the Castle, in the same way that Zach had. Even though he was the one that actually used the Castle, it had taken her power into account too. They assumed that it was because of their True Link.
As he rounded a corner, he stumbled into a person just exiting a room.
“Oh, hello Headmaster.”
Zach tilted his head. “I’ve told you plenty of times Berion, Zach is fine.”
The minotaur inclined his head, but didn’t comment. Zach doubted that he would listen this time either. They walked together, heading to the same place.
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“How’s the work going?” Zach asked.
“I’m almost finished with the anchors for the spatial shield around the academy proper. I have the full report ready for the council.”
“That’s good,” Zach nodded. “And what about the grid?”
“It’s done, though I must still stress that while I am confident in my mastery of runes, I am still nothing compared to Ra’azel.”
“I understand, but Ra’azel is not the only threat out there.”
“You have more enemies?”
“Not presently, but I am sure that they will come once our Academy grows and becomes what I envision for it. People are willing to do a lot to keep secrets in this world, keep power out of people that could be a threat to them in the future. I hope that in time they will come to understand that such thinking is foolish.”
“I hope you manage to accomplish your goals,” Berion sighed.
Zach knew that the minotaur still had reservations, but he had agreed to be part of Zach’s dream. Berion was the one that had built the portal network across their territory, and had built in a multitude of improvements into the Academy itself. His current project was a protective shield similar to the one that the Unchained had used around their base, intended to prevent people from directly teleporting into the academy. They had a teleportation platform set up in the town which connected them to the Twilight Melody Sect. With Berion around, it had taken them a fraction of the cost to set up than what such a connection usually cost. The field around the Academy could also be turned into a shield that would prevent anything from coming in or going out if they so wished.
He had also built a rune based grid across the territory that was intended to track movements of every living thing. Though it had some limitations. Naha for example, was able to fool it, but then again she had great stealth capabilities. A part of the grid was also made to search for the presence of Ra’azel, or rather the presence of any runes not made by Berion. As the only other known user of it, it was likely that he would be the only target.
They reached their destination and entered.
The meeting room was full, the other members already there and waiting. The current council was only five members, including the two of them.
Naha sat on the open window in her Unique Form, both of her feet on top of the windowsill and her tail hanging over it, looking outside. The meeting room was pretty high up in the building, offering a great view of the territory.
The other two members of the council sat at the table, with Bera sitting near the head of it and Okim sat across from her.
“You’re almost late,” Bera said without raising her head from the papers in front of her.
“Almost isn’t being late,” Zach said as he moved to take the seat at the head of the table.
Bera gave a noncommittal grunt and Berion took a seat next to Okim.
“So, what is on the agenda today?” Zach asked.
“The builders finished installing plumbing in the last the dormitories, the Academy is now fully equipped with all the necessary facilitates,” Bera started.
“That’s great,” Zach smiled. “Right on schedule.”
“The first shipment of the furniture we ordered is on its way, so we’ll start furnishing the rooms as soon as it gets here. And I’ve gotten in touch with a few more candidates for the crafting teaching positions. They are interested in the benefits we provide, I’m sure that they’ll accept once they arrive and see what we have.”
Bera served as… well, she did everything really. Zach provided the guidance and the vision, and he intended to teach eventually. He was the Headmaster, but she made his vision came to life.
“We’ve also finally started making a profit on our ventures.”
Zach was glad of it, they were running out of Essence. Zach and Naha were wealthy, and they had been making as much as they could by clearing dungeons around the different sects, purchasing slots and making a profit on what they could from inside, focusing mostly on the dungeons that provided items of high value. Their initial capital had been mostly what Zach and Naha had earned over their life and the powerful items that they had sold. They also had investments, mainly from Ryun and his Sect, but also from some of the other Sects, like Repesh’s Midnight Reign Sect and Hitor’s Dragon Heart.
Eventually, Zach hoped to turn Academy Town into a large trading hub, but they weren’t even close to that yet.
Their main source of income on the whole right now came from the two dungeons present in this Territory. They were one of the reasons why he had picked this one for the location of his Academy. The dungeons weren’t high tiered, but they didn’t need to be. The Academy would mainly provide an education to the lower tiered people, and dungeons would be a good tool in that regard.
One of them was filled with beasts whose pelts were of good enough quality to sell. And the other had gemstone golems which could be mined. Okim led the team of wardens that cleared them regularly, and then sold everything that they gained through Twilight Melody Sect.
“The team has finally hit their groove,” Okim chimed in. “We are clearing dungeons fast enough that we can get in ten good runs a day.”
That was impressive seeing as the time it took for the dungeons to reset was just over an hour. Okim and his people were relatively high tiered, so they didn’t need to sleep that much.
“That’s great,” Zach commented.
After that, Berion started his report, detailing what he had told him about on the way to the meeting. Finally, near the end of the meeting Naha walked over and took a seat.
“I’ve discovered one more spy in the town,” she reported.
Zach grimaced. They Academy Town population was small, but it was quickly growing. They didn’t have many outsiders yet, aside from people coming in to interview for the positions and those who had already accepted along with their families. They also had a few traders and an innkeeper currently setting up.
“Who is it?” Bera asked.
“One of the new applicants, Neva Highwater,” Naha said. “I overheard her speaking over a Far-link Orb.”
With Zach and Naha’s names being known across the Settled Territories, it was inevitable. They weren’t trying to hide what they were doing, and people were interested. So far, the spies had been… well not much of an issue. They even allowed some to remain in the town, those that just passed on the information that was freely available to everyone.
But for their future staff they had a different bar set. Everyone that worked on the inside of the Academy had taken an oath of secrecy. They didn’t want all the secrets of the Academy revealed just yet.
Bera waited for a beat, then spoke. “You’ve dealt with her?”
“No,” Naha said.
‘Dealt with’ usually meant just sending them back where they came from. They didn’t kill people.
Bera tilted her head. “I assume that there is a reason for why not?”
“I am fairly certain that she is being coerced.”
Zach raised an eyebrow, then turned to look at Bera. “Who is she?”
Bera pulled a piece of paper from her ring then read through it. “Neva Highwater, former member of the Kingdom of Waves on the western ocean coast. She left the Kingdom two years ago for the Isle of Dungeons after the king signed an agreement bringing them into the Exalted Empire’s area of influence. Tier nine, six in Class, three in Skills. One hundred and eighty years old, she is on my list of Water related Aspect combat instructors.”
They were still working out how exactly the Academy was going to work, but for now they were agreed that they needed as many instructors for the different Aspects. They would obviously need to separate people based on tier, and offer steady progression to higher tiers. Advancement advice and guidance. But they also wanted to offer independent courses for people who were already high tiered. Ways to refine their craft. They were still in the process of putting everything together.
“I’m going to venture a guess here,” Okim started. “You think that she is being coerced by the Exalted Empire?”
Naha nodded.
Zach turned to Bera. “You want to deal with it then?”
Bera nodded. “She is a promising candidate. I’ll reach out to some of my contacts and see if I can find out more, if she has family still in the Kingdom or what it is that they might be holding over her.”
“Let me know if you need any help,” Zach said. He sadly knew the reality. His actions carried a lot of weight these days. He would act if he needed to, but if Bera could deal with it on her own, it would be a lot better.
Or they could send Naha in if it suited her talents.
“Anything else?” Zach asked as he looked around the room.
“That’s all I had for today,” Bera answered.
With that, they finished the meeting and split, everyone heading to deal with their work.
Naha stayed followed Zach as he headed down then into the Aspect Gallery building.
“How goes your training?” Zach asked as they walked.
“I’m close,” Naha said. She had been attempting to shape the Way of Shadow for the last year, and Zach could tell that she was close. The way that Shadows responded around her was the biggest clue. Ever since she gained the Sage of Shadow title, it was as if her presence gave the Shadows life. He could see them moving in the corner of his vision. And he could feel her connection to it. He knew that it was a matter of days before she managed the next step.
“That’s great,” Zach said. He had been focusing on his other Aspects too. He held one Way, and two Sage titles, for Time and Wind. He had been working on his connection with Mind lately. And since that was one of his main Aspects, the Academy came equipped with a Source chamber suitable for his needs.
“Hiro sent a message, he’s coming,” Naha added afterward, and he could hear the happiness in her voice.
“To visit?” Zach asked. Hiro had remained in the Twilight Melody Sect, continuing his training with Ryun. Zach understood wanting to become more powerful, he didn’t begrudge Hiro, even though it was hard on Naha to be away from him. She had come to love him dearly.
“No,” she answered. “He’s coming home. He’s finished his training, he says that Ryun thinks he is ready to continue on his own.”
Zach knew that Ryun had taught Hiro a lot about how to advance, and he also knew that Ryun believed that everyone should chart their own way. Zach agreed with it somewhat, though he wasn’t as extreme as Ryun was with it.
“I’m glad,” Zach said putting an arm around Naha and squeezing her shoulder. He knew that she’d been worried. The threat of Ra’azel had been fresh in their minds. But it had been a year since their encounter with him, and they were pretty sure that he would’ve struck by now. Unless he hadn’t recovered, in which case he probably wouldn’t risk it.
He had gained power in their last encounter, stolen it, but Zach knew Ra’azel. He was risk averse; he wouldn’t act against them in the same way again. Perhaps he would even avoid them from now on. Ryun had spread a net looking for any signs of him, as had Bera, but Zach doubted that they would find him unless he made a mistake or wanted to be found.
But they couldn’t live their lives waiting for him to reemerge. They’ve done as much as they could, and Zach had put in measures in place to protect against him, as much as he could. Berion was a bit part of his plans against the yeti, well, former yeti.
They reached the corridor that housed the Aspect rooms that came from the two of them. Shadow was across from his Mind room, and they shared a quick embrace before they entered their respective rooms, ready to contemplate and train their Aspects.
Just as Naha was close with Shadow, Zach felt as if he was close with Mind. Soon he might add another Sage title, then he would evolve his newly acquired |Memory Vault| Skill and finally start leveling his Class.
His last conversation with Ryun had convinced him that they were on the right path, even though Ryun hadn’t spoken much on the topic. The power that he and his spouses had gained in the battle was great, and even though not even they understood it fully, Zach wanted it.
First a Class, and then a new Path.
