Christopher felt much better now that he had some money in his pockets. He was still tired, but he wanted to exchange the two betting slips for coins right now. That way he could register for the Lumen Academy and maybe even already attend tomorrow.

He immediately made his way to the lucky goddess to cash in his earnings.

The lucky Goddess was bursting at the brim with people, which was not unexpected. Many had probably gone there right after the sporting event had concluded. He joined the dreaded line to cash in his winnings, hoping that the line would move quickly. Most of the people here were understandably in a good mood, with winning tickets in hand. He thought that it was smart of Eugenius Swift that people were only able to cash in at the lucky goddess, that way more would start playing some of the other games after they cashed in their winning slips, not able to resist the temptation.

All the desks were fully manned, but Christopher still had to wait for a long time to make it to the front of the line. He did at least enjoy talking about the matches and the fighters with the person waiting behind him, who had also won his bet.

Christopher managed to switch the two winning betting slips for the Venarian coins without a hitch. He chose the cash option instead of the possible bank transfer. His soul had the possibility to function as his own personal bank after all and if he had to suddenly use [Bookmark] then all the money in the bank would be lost. The sales clerk offered him a promotion for some of the other games around the casino, but he wasn’t interested in that right now.

He would no longer need to gamble in order to make money by the looks of today. He placed all of his new wealth in the leather purse that he had bought some days ago and secured it in his inner robe pocket. Christopher realized that it was a little risky to keep everything on his person, he would have to look at other options in the future. He would probably exchange some money for an item or material at the earliest opportunity, that way he could keep it safely within his Soul with [Soul Mark].

As he made his way to register for the Academy, he passed by the Arena again. Christopher looked out over the Arena Plaza, the rows of colorful stands were appealing, it made him want to take a look at the useful and magical items. He had some money now; maybe he could reward himself by buying something useful. He did kind of need another Soul Force training aid; what he was currently using was probably not the best way to train his Soul Light.

Christopher had been using the same jagged piece of metal that he had found somewhere at his lodgings, and he thought that it was time for something better. He reached the same stand at which he had previously bought the training spheres; the same kind middle-aged woman running the stand quickly noticed his interest.

She brightly smiled at him. “What can I help you with sweetheart?”

What did he need the most right now? “I am currently working on improving my Soul Light. Do you have any aids that might help me progress faster?”

She immediately walked to a lower corner of the stand, picking up something that had been out of sight.

“These spheres have been designed specifically for the Soul Light effect. They are made from materials that quickly dissipate the light once infused, that way you can keep infusing periodically and track your progress all the way to mastery.”

She handed the simple and small wooden traveling case to him, which contained five different spheres made out of differently colored materials.

The store owner continued. “The left sphere is easiest to infuse, and they get progressively harder to the right. As soon as you are able to brightly light up the left material, you should move on to the next.”

That sounded pretty useful, and he certainly needed something better. “How much for the set?”

“The case and five spheres are one silver and five bronze coins.”

That was not so bad. Maybe it would help him finally make some progress.

“Thank you, I will buy it.” He handed the kind woman the coins and soon went on his way, this time making his way to the Academy administration building to enroll himself in the Academy.

He took out the first sphere, this one made from some unknown metal. He kept thinking up new mental constructs of Light that might get him a breakthrough. This time he thought of the Sun illuminating the darkness of space. Alas! The metal sphere did not light up that brightly.

To think that he was not even at a high enough level for the second sphere yet. He would need to tweak something in the process, it was clear that he was not quite tackling the problem the right way. Although they had no knowledge of science, maybe the Academy would offer him the solution.

He soon arrived and approached the young woman that was working the reception.

“Good evening, I want to enroll myself for the Lumen Academy.”

The woman did not look pleased to be called upon.

“Name and Lumen entry permit please”

He gave his name and pushed forward his entry permit.

“Which semester do you want to register for?”

“The current one”

She looked at him with an annoyed expression. “The current semester only lasts for another twenty-one days; I suggest that you enroll for the next semester.”

Yeah… That was not exactly an option. He also liked that he could actually catch the tail end of the Semester, maybe there would be some kind of review of the material. And if not, then there was always plenty to learn by just reading. “Thank you, but I want to enroll for the current semester.”

She gave him a look that indicated that she did not think that highly of his intelligence. “Fine, it’s your money to waste. That makes twenty-five Silver Venarian coins.”

It was a little under half of his money, which was fine. Studying at the Academy was what he had looked forward to the most.

He counted and paid the cost with his newly won Venarian coins, he paid the female employee one gold and five silver coins. The woman then took out a form that would officially enroll him. She asked him some simple questions for the form. They ranged from background information to the existence of any Soul Effect certificates. None of it was important for his chance of enrollment. He had already discovered that any person that wanted to learn and had the means would be welcomed at the Academy, even the twenty percent of the population that could not even use their inherent Soul Force.

“This is your enrollment pass, please run your Soul Force through the metal strip to register your signature.” He did as he was told and the metal cracked in a way that would identify him, just like with his Soul Heat license in the past.

“You can show your pass at one of the four Academy entry tunnels in order to enter the complex. The registration should be processed by tomorrow.”

“Where are all those tunnels. I assume that this place has one of them?”

“Yes, although this is not normally the entry point for regular students. Normally there is a tour at the start of the Semester, but I suggest that you enter here, and explore the different passages of the Lumen Academy on your first day.”

He thanked her for her help and was then immediately ignored by the woman, who occupied herself with some parchments behind the counter.

He made his way back to his communal lodgings, now very much done and needing some time to relax his body.

He noticed Tinos sitting in the corner of the communal room, playing some kind of game with one of the older survivors from Stonehill. The woman had bushy grey hair and was thin as a reed. He believed her name was Jaha. She did not speak much so he knew very little about her from the journey to Lumen.

Christopher was curious, so he joined the two other spectators in observing the board game. It looked amazing, he would describe it as a more magical and complex variation of a game of chess. The board was made from metal and wood; The squares glowed with a soft blue Soul Light for one player and a soft red Soul Light for the other. A lot of different pieces occupied these squares, they were made from metal and glowed with the same red and blue light. The board was clearly expertly crafted and Christopher was sure that it had been expensive. He wondered where it came from.

Tinos was playing the blue side, and his pieces were mostly various humans. He also saw pieces representing ballistae, Horrol, and other tactical tools. Jaha was on the red side and was playing as the Blight. Her pieces mostly just represented various monsters. He saw several Goblins, but also stronger monsters like two aberrations.

The game was already well underway and it looked as if Jaha was winning, the red pieces had penetrated deep into the blue territory. The red glowing monsters stood out starkly on the blue glowing field. Tinos looked troubled and deep in thought at his perilous situation. Jaha eventually captured a heroic-looking piece which apparently signaled the end of the game.

“Well played, seems that I have gotten rusty,” said Tinos.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries after which Jaha excused herself, saying that she hoped they could play again sometime. The two spectators had left as well. Tinos turned to him.

“Do you play the game?”

“I have never played it before, but it looks interesting. It seems as if there are a lot of tactics involved.”

“Want me to teach you? I have some trouble with finding an opponent.”

Christopher gladly joined Tinos. Glad to see the familiar face. Tinos told him that the game was called Force of War and that it had been created a short time after the founding of the Adenium Church.

They played out one game, with Christopher playing the side of the Blight since according to Tinos it was more straightforward to play. It helped that he was somewhat familiar with the different monsters due to the lectures from Sin. Tinos carefully explained the rules before the game started, and he also gave him advice while the game was underway. The eventual goal was for him to capture the piece representing Adenium, while Tinos needed to capture his Turned. They played three games and Christopher was thoroughly routed in every single one of them.

“Not bad for your first time. You will get better with more games under your belt. Although it can take years to truly grasp the more complex strategies. Let’s play again another day, I need the practice if I want to have a chance against Jaha.”

Christopher gladly agreed. The game was fun, and practicing some strategic thinking might prove useful in the future. He also liked spending some time with Tinos.

Christopher turned in early. Starting from tomorrow, his days would consist out of training with the quarterstaff in the morning, and then learning and reading about Soul Force at the Lumen Academy. He dreaded another day of training under Netello Brave, but was excited to see a real school of magic. It did not take long for him to fall into a deep slumber.