Arcanum - Chapter 87

Chapter 87






"Ohhh and make sure you guys don't miss dinner at the great hall today . The housing ceremony is tonight . " Ashley said to us .

"Housing ceremony?? . . . . " Daisy asked .

"Yeah . . . . in the school we have three houses, Phoenix, Kraken and Dragon . " Ashley explained .

"Houses? . . . " Grace asked .

"Yup every student in the school get placed in houses… . Some trivial in school rivalry .

"What do you think where we would be placed???" Jay asked .

"Not sure really . . . . . You'll just have to wait for the ceremony . " He replied .

"So . . . . what house are you in? . . . . . " Helen asked .

"Me?? . . . I'm a dragon . . . . " Jay smiled .

"How about Paul and Scarlet?? . . . " Daisy asked .

Paul is also a Dragon and Scarlet is a Phoenix . " he answered .

"I want to be Dragon then!!!" Daisy said hearing Ashley's reply .

"So… there is one S-Ranked per House they act as the House Head, Travis and Scarlet takes it pretty seriously, but Paul doesn't really care . The winning house at the end of the year get a free all expenses paid trip to the Golden Nebula Resort .

"No…way… that's one of the most expensive resorts… . . " Helen said .

"What's the Golden Nebula? . . " I asked .

"It's a very expensive Establishment in Aspa… you can do almost anything you want there!" Helen said looking extremely excited .

"Yeah… . Only royals or extremely rich individuals can afford to go there . " Grace added .

"How does your house win?" Jay asked .

"At the end of the school term each House is scored on Battle rank . . . . . S class doesn't count . . . . 15 Points per prefect, 10points for each A . . . . . 5 points for each B and 1 point for each C . " Ashley answered .

"So Dragons have never won? . . " Jay asked .





"Dragon did the few years Paul wasn't S-Rank and actually participated in things . " Ashley answered .

"Does he not compete much anymore? . . . . " Grace asked .

"He doesn't feel the need to… . he spends most his time either helping other people or doing bounties . . . " Ashley answered .

"Does he not need to attend classes? . . . " Helen asked .

"Ummmm he should… but most the teachers thinks he doesn't need to… . same with Scarlet . " Ashley replied .

"How about you? . . . " Jay asked .

"I'm part of the science division… and since I do Artificing… I'm left to my own accord doing research and tests . " Ashley replied . "So . . . Paul said he's out for this week . . . so I'm sure you guys can use our training room . . . I'll just permit you guys to freely enter and leave his room . " Ashley said with a smile .

"By the way . . . . . What is the room on the right of the training room? . . . " Grace asked .

"Ohhhhh that room is where Paul holds all his sacred artifacts don't try and enter there unless he's permitted you entry . . . . . There are defensive runes for anyone trying to sneak in . " He warned us .

"He must have such powerful items in there! If the Sun Bow didn't make it in there . . . . " Helen said imagining what could possibly be housed in the room .


"Ummmm its pretty top secret so I can't tell you guys what's in it… . . . " Ashley replied .

"By the way where did Paul go? . . Is he on patrol again?" I asked .

"He went on a mission by himself . . . which is a bit weird because he normally always does stuff with me and Scarlet . . . . and then he said he's going to check up on his keep . " Ashley answered .

Hearing his answer it suddenly hit me . . . I remembered a conversation between him and Scarlet talking about going to his keep to visit his children . A wave of depression immediately washed over me . . . . . I've always wanted him to move on from me and live his life . . . . . But some hearing him moving on still hurt life daggers through my heart . . . .

"Woah . . . he has a keep?!!!" Helen said .

"Yup . . . it's kinda a shared keep . . . we'll take you sometimes . " He smiled .

"How rich is he? . . " Grace asked .

"We're pretty well off . . . various profitable business and we offer a premium protection service . " Ashley answered . "Oh my God, How rude of me . . . . " He said looking at the empty table . "FOOD AND DRINK PLEASE!" He shouted causing the sound of moving mechanisms and golems to whirl up again . Soon enough several golems came walking in with pitcher of water . . . glass plates and cutlery .

"Your . . . robots can cook? . . " Jay asked in shock .

"Yeah . . . I programmed a few to cook . . . but it's not quite perfect . . . It doesn't really learn how to put the right amount of seasoning when cooking… . . As you can tell it lacks taste buds . " Ashley answered .





"That's pretty cool . " Jay said smiling .

"So . . . anyone here interested in artificing??!" Jay said with a giant smile .

We all remained silent . . . . not really interested but not saying anything to avoid offending him and his speciality .

"Really? . . . no one? . . . . not even an ounce of interest . . " He said looking a little depressed . . . "Coins that can store and refresh spells, Golems that can be you battle companion or helper . . . Totally uncool . . . . " He said to himself after we still stayed silent .

"It's not that we don't like it . . . . we just feel it will be too hard to learn and master two things at the same time… . " Helen nervously answered hoping not to offend him .

"I understand you all are stuck in the old ways . " Ashley shrugged .

A few golems came with a magnificent roast and trimmings the smell of cooked food and spices wafting through our noses . "That smells absolutely amazing!" Daisy said looking eagerly at the roast set in front of her .

"Yeah it feels like it should be around lunch time right now . . . " Ashley replied as the robots began dishing out food for us and carving the chicken into slices . . . or what looked like chicken .

"Umm Ashley . . . I'm a vegetarian . . " I said to him .

"Ohhh don't worry Paul already programmed one with vegetarian recipes . . . . . It should rustle something up that should fit your dietary requirements . " He replied .

Soon enough a robot came beside me taking away the plate in front of me and placing a plate of food in front of me, a beautiful small pie with a decoration on top with roasted greens, mash drizzled with onion gravy . "Blood hell . . . . that's better than anything I can cook . . . " I said looking at it .

"Yah sadly I need to program these things . . . . they can't really learn on their own . . . . " He said .

"Ohhhh you defiantly don't want them to learn on their own accord . . . " I said to Ashley .

"Paul told me that as well . . . . " Ashley replied .

"Why not? . . . . " Everyone else asked .

"In movies I've seen, it's always a bad idea . . . to give Robot sentience . " I replied .

"Moive? . . " Everyone buy Ashley asked .

"Ohhh it's a Consecratus thing . . . . they have these shows . . . . like Theatre . . . but SO MUCH MORE BELIEVABLE they look extremely realistic!!!" Ashely said full of excitment .

"Really??!!" they all replied .

"Omg . . . you must come to our movie nights! on Middas!!!!" He said inviting them with a giant smile filled with excitement .

"What's a movie night? . . " They asked, for some reason getting hyped with Ashley .





"Ohhh you have to see it to believe it . . . . Paul brought back something called . . . . 'A Projector?' . . . . . It's like a box that makes illusions . . . I managed to modify it so it uses Visium power cells . . . . We have popcorn . . . Hot dog . . . . movies drinks . . . . . It's an amazing night . " He said filled with excitement .

" . . . . . I'm not a fan of eating dog . . . " Jay and Helen replied looking a disgusted at the thought .

"Me neither no idea why they call it that . . . but it isn't dog . . . . its pig meat . " Ashley replied .

"Yeah . . . . he's right . . . it's called a Hot dog . . But it isn't dog . . " I added .

"Thank goodness . . . . only savages would eat a Dog . . . " Helen replied .

"So . . . about . . . . the Training room . . . let me first confirm with Scarlet on the times it will be free for you all to use . . . then I'll let you all know . " He smiled .

"Okay . . . " we all replied .

"Don't worry I have faith you guys will come out victorious in your upcoming matches . " He smiled .

"I've been following Paul's training diligently for years!!!! I'll defiantly destroy my opponent . " Daisy said with a giant smile .

"Didn't Paul teach you never to be over confident and never underestimate your opponent???" Ashley grinned .

"Ohhh yeah . . . . . He did . . . . . "Daisy replied looking down a little ashamed .

"Don't worry guys with Paul's room you'll have three times as much time as any other student has so you'll all grow quickly . " Ashley said .

Thank you!" we all thanked him .

"Also as an added bonus I can get some recordings of previous duels so we can analysis their fighting styles one night . " Ashley suggested .

"If you could do that it would be amazing!!" Helen asked with a giant smile .

"Yeah I'll free up some spare time to help you guys . " he smiled .

"So what happened to your arm, if you don't mine me asking?? . . . " Jay asked .

Ashley's smile instantaneously dropped and he began starring into the distance . "It's not a good story . . . . maybe I'll tell you guys another time . . . . " he smiled scratching his head trying to play off his sudden change in mood .

"I'm sorry . . . . my childhood wasn't great either . . . " Jay apologised to him as if he understood Ashley's pain .

"Yeah . . . . Paul tells me . . . . . What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger . " Ashley said .

"Paul . . . . is so wise . . . . . " Grace replied, causing me to chuckle . . . . since he got that phrase from a famous rapper back home .

"So . . . . what we're you guys doing in that cave yesterday??? . . " Ashley asked .

"Ohhh no… we were so caught up with what happened after the battle we totally forgot to look for Tolum" Helen gasped .

"Ohhh me and Paul went back to the site . . . . . Anna said they met a gnome called Tolum he was alive and made his way back home on his own . " I replied to Helen .

"Yayyyy that's our first successful mission . " Daisy said with a giant smile .

"By the way . . . Ashley what was you doing at the console in the cave?? . . . " I asked .

"Well it's an illegal warp gate . . . so I was trying to find information on who was using it, who made it, the other warp gates connected to it and stuff . " He explained .

"I see . . . . . " I replied .

"Did I kill that guy . . . ? . . . . " I asked remembering the person I savagely launched firebolts, his smouldering remains lying beside Ashley .

"You almost did . . . . when we arrived he was on the edge . . . . . But we stopped him from dying . . . . . Don't worry he will be spending a long time in jail . " Ashley replied .

"Thank God . . . . " I whispered under my breathe .

"Yeah . . . . as freshman please refrain from jumping into fights . . . . . As well as killing people . . . . . it's against school rules . . . . . We have a don't shoot first policy . . . and . . . . killing people isn't . . . good for the heart . " Ashley warned .

"What do you mean?? . . . " Daisy asked .

" . . . . . Don't be so quick to end someone's life . . . . . Everyone deserves a second chance . . . killing someone is easy but living with the consequences is hard . . . . . " Ashley said .

"I think you're right . . . . " Helen said contemplating on what Ashley said .

" . . . . . Have you killed anyone Ashley??? . . . " I asked .

"A few . . . . but in self-defence . . . . . " he answered .

"How about Scarlet and Paul??? . . . " Grace asked .

"We all try non-lethal courses of action . . . . unless we're ordered to use lethal force or the situation calls for it . " He answered .

"He seemed pretty scary when you guys arrived . . . . " Jay said .

"Yeah . . . . . Although he seems calm, calculated and friendly . . . . . His emotions get the better of him when the people he care about are in danger . " Ashley said .

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