The blue box had said his points would be assigned after a short interval. How long was a short interval? He shook his head, he had to assume it was any moment. He didn’t want the system to decide for him. Two points, and he couldn’t let them be wasted. He knew he would want extra strength and dexterity no matter what domain he picked. He quickly selected those two stats and waited for the sudden rush of power.

Nothing happened.

He looked at his stat screen again.

Hugo Rebane [Domainless]

Strength (12)

Dexterity (11)

Resilience 9

Regeneration 11

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 9

Charisma 11

Perception 8

Rank 1

110/200 Points

Health 11/11

Mana 1/1

Skills: None

The improvement points were there, but he didn’t feel any different. The numbers had those brackets around them, maybe there was another step he had to take before they were effective? He tried selecting them again, but nothing happened. He tried everything, but his stat screen was once again unresponsive. This damn system. It didn’t tell him anything and it was so obtuse.

This just solidified his decision to go to the academy. It was expensive, but now that he was soulmarked, it was an investment into his future. It would take a while to pay his tuition back, but mages made enough that he would be able to do it in just a few years.

Testing day was tomorrow. He decided to talk to the academy admissions group about their tuition. He didn’t know if he was supposed to get a loan from the bank, or if they did their own financing. He drifted off to sleep shortly after making that decision.

...

The next morning, he woke to the smell of honey crispels. It was a nice distraction from the nightmare he was having, monsters were attacking and blue barriers flashed. In the dream he had been high up and he had seen an explosion coming his way. As he awoke, he realized that the trip up and down the mountain had an impact on him that would take some time to deal with.

He washed up and put on his best tunic. Coming out of his room, he saw breakfast laid out on their small dining room table.

“Did... did you make breakfast for me?” Hugo asked.

His mother scoffed, “I can’t make crispels, you know that. I went and got these from that place you like down the street.”

“That is awfully nice of you,” Hugo said suspiciously.

“What? Can’t a mother do something nice for her son?”

“No, no. I am grateful. You went and bought my favorite. Thank you, I mean it,” said Hugo. He grabbed a small honey crispel from the stack and took a big bite. He had to fight to keep a grimace off his face. They were day-olds.

Still, they were his favorites, even when they weren’t fresh. And his mother did take the time to go all the way down to the shop. He ate half of the stack, doing his best to enjoy it.

“You are looking nice, what are your plans for the day?” she said.

“I was thinking of applying to the academy. It will take me longer to make money that way, but I will make more in the end.”

She frowned, “Really? You know we can’t afford that.”

“I will get a loan or something.”

“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” She said angrily.

Hugo understood. This wasn't about what was the best for him this was about what was the best for her. She was always like this. She treated him like her slave, a source of money. He didn't think she had said 'I love you' to him in more than three years. The realization helped him finalize his decision.

“Live your life?" he said quietly, then with more conviction. "You can do whatever you want. We both know I have to leave the house. This is the best for both of us.”

“And what am I going to do with that extra bedroom while you are away with those sanctimonious nobles? Four years is a long time.”

“I can't support you forever, I was always going to leave at some point. You knew that, right?”

“So you get some fancy rich friends and you leave your mother in the lurch like that? I can’t make ends meet without your help, and you know that.”

“You know I don’t have any rich friends. Not anymore. We are both just going to have to figure out how to live on our own without help.”

“You can't leave me. You have to become a harvester. I raised you to be respectful, I sacrificed...”

Hugo interrupted, “Mom. If I became a harvester, it would still be years before I made enough to help you out again. I don’t have a magic domain yet, remember? It takes a few years out in the field to gain one and you can’t make more than enough to survive until after you have your domain.”

This shocked his mother, she had forgotten that fact. “Well, then. You just need to work at the docks at the same time. You are my son and you need to work for me.”

Hugo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mom. I love you, but I can’t provide for you for the rest of my life. I have to leave sometime, and I have decided now is that time. Arguing won’t change my mind. I will see you tonight.” Hugo got up and left, intentionally not taking a crispel to go.

Reval is a large city, and Hugo had a ways to go to get to the nice part of town. He had plenty of time to calm down from the conversation with his mother before he reached his destination. Sadly, he had plenty of experience with calming down after arguing with her. He plodded along, slowly getting to nicer parts of town.

Shortly after he left the narrows, he came to an intersection with a small cart on the corner. There were a group of hedge mages on the corner, plying their trade. Just the sight of them made him uncomfortable. He glanced to the side streets, considering whether or not to go the long way around.

His dad had always told him to avoid hedge mages at all costs. It was good advice. Hedge mages created magical effects without the system, which was dangerous. They worked by bending the raw magic of the world. Their effects were always lesser than a full mage, but they had more flexibility for it. They couldn’t create a barrier, but they could create a mana slice and a mana trap. Their healing relied on speeding up natural recovery instead of an instant heal. There services were of course less expensive than that of a full mage. The cheaper heal also had a chance of killing someone if they were unlucky. It was always a risk to ask for their help.

The true danger of associating with hedge mages was that the government hated them. There were rumors about exactly why they were hated so much, but no one really knew exactly why. All they knew for sure was that shimmer corps were allowed to kill hedge mages whenever they wanted. If they saw magic being performed by a non-mage, they just started killing indiscriminately. No one wanted to be around when that happened.

Hedge mages had some way of staying ahead of the corps, they weren’t all dead yet after all. But Hugo didn’t want to be around the one day that the hedgies slipped up and everyone died. He took a side street and avoided them altogether. He wasn’t a mage yet, he still needed to be careful.

Hugo made a point to refocus his attention as he got to the city square. It was a market day, so the square was full of booths selling produce and crafts. There was so much to see and do.

His eventual goal was on the other side of the square, but Hugo was planning on picking up some treats from the market there. Something nice for his mother. But also something that would be stale by the time he gave it to her. He smiled when he saw a stall selling fritters. Perfect.

Paying for the fried treat was surprisingly tough. He was so used to scrimping and saving every last copper that giving them up was hard. He could afford it though. After he had sent off Marion’s letter, he realized that he had more pocket change than he had ever had in his life. He promised himself that he would pay back Marion’s family as soon as he could. Maybe he would visit them in person after he graduated.

A sight near the central fountain made him stop in his tracks. It was Sofia. Normally he would have ran up to her, to tell her the good news. She was the one that gave him the pass to attend the ritual after all. Even though their friendship was probably over, she had done that for him at least.

But she was standing near Kristofer. Not just standing near, she was leaning on, laughing with, hugging Kristofer.

Hugo was angry and his chest hurt. Sofia had been his friend for years. The two of them trained so they could join the shimmer corps together. Eventually that relationship turned romantic. They dated despite the disapproval of both of their parents. Hugo dreamt of one day asking her to marry him.

Then Kristofer came along. He was rich and connected. Everyone wanted to be his friend, except Hugo. He was hurt when even Sofia befriended the rich kid. The three of them applied to the shimmer corps on the same day, competing for the same two spots. Hugo had been sure he would get in. But Kristofer had gotten the spot and he hadn't. Hugo was sure that money played a part in the corpsman's decision.

Sofia had said it was a coincidence that the rich boy won a spot when the poor boy didn't. She commiserated with Hugo. She spent the night with him. She got him the pass. He had thought they had something special.

And now she was hugging Kristofer.

Hugo stood stock still as his heart tried to kill itself. He was surprised at how much it hurt. He wasn’t dumb, he saw this coming. But still. It hurt.

After a bit, he turned and started walking. He was going to go all the way around the city square. He didn’t want to talk to her. He especially didn’t want to talk to him. That boy was so dense he probably thought they were still friends.

“Hey, Hugo, wait up,” a voice called out.

He swore to himself and slowly turned around. At least it was only Sofia. He wasn’t sure if he could deal with Kristofer right now.

“Hello Sofia. Or should I say Squire Sofia?” Hugo said.

She ignored the dig and said, “I am so glad I saw you, I wasn’t sure if you were back yet.”

“I saw you too, but I didn’t want to interrupt,” Hugo said. He looked past her, trying to see Kristofer.

“Oh,” she said softly, “You saw that.”

“No need to explain, I understand completely,” he said.

“No you don’t. There are things going on that you don’t understand at all,” she retorted.

“Really? This isn’t what it looks like? Then please explain it to me,” Hugo said hotly.

She looked away, “I can’t. It’s complicated.”

“Of course it is,” said Hugo as he folded his arms.

“I didn’t want to talk about that anyway. I was coming over to congratulate you. You are soulmarked, right?”

“Yeah, I am soulmarked. I almost wasn’t. The first time didn’t work. A guy died right in front of me. I had a friend pay for a second ritual. That friend died too. And I almost died on the way down the mountain too. It was a rough few days, but yes, I got soulmarked.”

“I am happy for you. Really, I am,” Sofia said earnestly.

Hugo didn’t want to look at her right now. Mostly because he wanted to stay mad at her, and she was so good looking it was distracting. Her long curly blond hair, her bountiful assets, her sweet smell, it was all working against him right now. He felt bad for the way he spoke to her.

“Listen, there is no easy way to bring this up, but about the money for the pass," she started.

Hugo's eyes went wide, "You said it was a gift!"

"I said I was giving it to you. And now I need you to pay it back. I know you didn’t suddenly get rich, but my parents wanted to let you know we need the money as soon as you can get it. I am not going to go all baron on you, but I thought you should know, and make a plan to pay us back,” she said, getting softer at the end.

Hugo's anger made a reappearance. He felt it burning bright as he said, “So after you betray me, let them steal my spot and give it to that lunkhead, you still want me to pay for the privilege?”

“Hey! That pass cost my parents a lot of money. They were upset enough when I joined the corps instead of using it.”

“It’s not my fault that you aren’t brave enough to talk to them, that’s on you. You are the one wasting your parent’s money, not me.”

“That pass cost ninety silver. I know you think we are rich, but we aren’t. Not really. We can’t afford to just give that much money away,” she said hotly.

He looked past Sofia to see Kristofer. He had seen them talking and was walking over. Hugo said quietly, “You can, and you did.”

“Kristofer! Good to see you,” Hugo said loudly as he drew near.

“Hey, Hugo. I wasn’t sure if you would be glad to see me.”

“Nonsense. That bit with the corps wasn’t your fault, was it?”

“No?” Kristofer said.

“Of course not. Anyway, Sofia was just telling me the good news. You know how kind and generous she is, but this just means the world to me,” Hugo said with a smile.

“What did she say?” Kristofer said and turned to Sofia.

“She forgave the debt I owed her. It cost almost a full gold for that pass up shimmer mountain, and she just forgave the whole thing. Isn’t she just unbelievably kind?” Hugo said as he stared Sofia in the eyes.

Now she would have to either agree with Hugo, or look like a miser. Kristofer had told him once that he was always on the lookout for gold diggers, since his father was a duke. Hugo almost wished that she would disagree with him, just so it would tank the relationship and she would be as unhappy as he was.

“That’s so generous,” Kristofer said and gave her a hug.

“Yes, well, I wasn’t going to use the pass since I got into the shimmer corps. I figured that I could just gift it to him, since he is my friend and your friend,” Sofia said awkwardly.

“Like I said, she is just so kind,” Hugo said, “A real heart of gold. She is a one of a kind gal, someone you never want to let go. If I wasn’t headed towards the academy for the next four years, you would have some competition, my friend.”

“You got accepted?” Sofia said.

“Going there now, wish me luck,” Hugo said with a smile. He left, heading for the academy. He kept smiling as he walked away, although it took on a vindictive quality as he got further away. Sofia would have to explain to her parents why Hugo wouldn’t be paying them back. Her parents were well off, but the cost of the pass would still sting. It didn’t make up for a broken heart, but it was better than nothing.

His smile slipped as he walked the cobblestone streets to the walled off campus of the Blue Lion Academy. He felt terrible. Getting his revenge on Sofia made him feel worse, not better. Even after his former girlfriend dumped him for someone richer, he still cared for her. Maybe when he had the money, he would pay her back. He shook his head, he needed to focus on figuring out testing day and his next steps.

Hugo didn’t know anyone who had attended the academy, but as he understood it, testing day was mostly a formality. They tested to see if you had decent stats and checked your grades. If you were good enough they admitted you into the academy. Fairly simple.

Which is why he was more than a little confused to see all the pomp and circumstance. Outside of the southern entrance into the academy was a temporary stage with a raised dais. Surrounding that stage were all the potential students and their friends and family. Off to the side a band was playing and there were a few food vendors working the crowd. He had been misinformed, he had no idea what he was walking into.