“Um. Shouldn’t I have chosen some of these?” I looked down the sheet of the courses I’d be taking, surprised to see just how long the list was.

A noise somewhere between a grunt and a chuckle escaped the chamber head’s lips. “Which one of us do you think is going to choose better? The one who knows the course list inside and out and has over a century of experience with skills and leveling, or the girl who’s been on this planet for a few months and this city for a few weeks?”

All right, point. Still didn’t mean I should have had no input though.

“Besides, half that’s for you to grow, while half that’s for me to grow. Don’t forget what the deal was here. Some of those courses are for you to prove to the other chambers that we’re strong and have fresh new blood. Also to make alliances and friends. And as you can see, you have a full plate already. No room for anything frivolous.”

That point looked considerably more true. Not even counting the fact that I had to meet with Archmage Callis once in a while and return to Emer’Thalis here and there, the course load looked daunting. Still didn’t like having no input, but I wasn’t about to win an argument against someone who’d spent over a century arguing.

Don’t think it’s fair to assume that whatever I would have chosen would be “frivolous” though. Ass.

At the very least, I’d try it out and raise a fuss later if the classes all sucked. Looking things over, however, there were a few which would hopefully be entertaining.

The first section of the list looked intensely fight-based.

Introduction to Dungeon Delving - Theory

The Art of Dueling (Levels 10-15)

Beginner’s Weapon Mastery (Standard, up to Apprentice ranks)

The other section largely looked more professional in nature.

Herbalism and Alchemy for Commoners

The Magic of Cooking: The Kitchen and You

Hastily scrawled at the end of the list was a final course which seemed to fit neither category.

Policy and Ethics?

A full six courses. Was that normal here? I had no frame of reference, but splitting my attention six ways -- seven counting my lessons with the archmage, eight counting my visits back to Emer’Thalis -- felt like it was going to be an ordeal.

“Didn’t I get roped into taking some war-related class by Chamber Head Kxrexm from the ball? And what’s with the question mark after the ethics course?” I was, after all, pretty certain that the question mark wasn’t part of the course title.

Suds grumbled about eventually getting Markus to grab me a course guide. “I’m putting off the war class until second semester. As for the ethics one, it’s a good class. Discussion based. You meet a lot of people, make a lot of ideological alliances, and considering who takes those classes, if you’re smart about it, you can even shape future policy choices. That is, if you’re smart about it. The question mark is because I don’t know if you’d be a good fit -- even after we train you up with Markus -- or if you’d be a complete embarrassment and say all sorts of stupid things.”

I resisted the urge to flip the man off. I’d never been some MENSA-level super genius or anything, but from what little I could tell, a college education already put me a lot further than most people my age around here. Not to mention the fact that I’d already taken a smattering of ethics courses throughout my life. Some out of interest, some because ethics came up a good deal in psychology and therapy.

Plus, while Intelligence and Wisdom didn’t seem to turn me into a perfectly logical supercomputer or anything, the speed at which I could think and form counter-arguments was pretty astonishing by now, and my thoughts had a certain level of clarity to them they’d never had on Earth. If Suds was to be believed, and the other students were around my level, then I was probably ahead of the curve in those two stats too.

“As long as there’s not some weird taboo moral stances that I don’t know about, I should be fine. Can’t say I’m a huge ethical fan of rubbing people’s mouths out with soap or kidnapping people, but we probably align on a lot of policy choices anyway. Can’t tell you how horrifying it was to hear how many chambers were against a two day weekend. Hell.” I might need some prepping with Markus, but otherwise, I wasn’t overly worried.

“Hah! Fine, I’ll add that one in and finalize it. In that case, here.” Suds tossed me a small bag, the familiar jingle of coins sounding as it traveled through the air.

“Money? Why?” Not like I didn’t enjoy some spending cash as much as the next person, but it hadn’t been that long since he’d given me the last bag.

“School supplies. I could have Markus arrange all that for you, but you need to get out more. All you’ve done is some small nighttime exploration and travel to the Archmage’s place. Go see things. Buy stuff. Find a favorite cafe. Try the local cuisine. You’re going to drown if you can’t make your way around the city at all.”

Huh. Fair point, and actually a little thoughtful. Either that, or he just didn’t want to deal with helping me get what I needed himself. I chose to extend the smallest benefit of the doubt.

“Thanks. And next time give me a heads up before you pick all my classes. They look fine, but I’m the one who has to take them, you know?” Once Markus got me that course guide, I’d see if there was anything I absolutely needed to sub in, as long as there was still time. “Anyway, how long until school starts?”

“Hmm? Oh. Two days.”

Wha-

Either anticipating my disbelief, or just reacting quickly to the change in my facial expression, Suds summoned up a geyser in an instant.

The water slammed into me, knocking me back and out of his office. Somehow, he managed to remotely close the door as well.

“Oh look at that!” a shout came through the wall. “I’ve taken up too much time! Got to get back to work. Anyway, I can’t stand being interrupted, so I’ll activate my noise canceling charms now. Have fun!”

After picking myself off the floor, I charged up to the door and tried opening it up to give the crotchety old bastard a piece of my mind. Finding it was locked, I spent a second banging on the door, but to no avail. My heart wasn’t really in it anyway.

“Would it kill him to give me even the tiniest heads up about anything?” There was “forgetful”, and then there was “purposefully leaving things unsaid to revel in someone’s shock”. I had a strong suspicion as to which side of the equation Suds fell on.

“This is probably a personal lesson. Should have asked Alara while we were at the ball. Guess I know why I had to be back from Emer’Thalis so fast though.”

Well, fine. I didn’t have much time to mentally prepare, or for back to school shopping, but I’d manage. I weighed the bag of coins in my hand before transferring it all over to my spatial storage. It was time to explore!

As it turned out, school supplies in a world with magic were often pretty similar to school supplies in a world with technology. Figuring the stores I’d want would be in the Knowledge district, I rode the loop over, the trip familiar to me by now considering it was the same one that I took to see Archmage Callis. My expectations were solidly met as I eventually stumbled upon some shops, only for those same expectations to be equally subverted by their wares.

Instead of simple pens and notebooks, I found myself trying out magic slates which could store anything written on them for later retrieval. Higher end models even had enchantments which could directly convert a teacher’s lecture to text, or even play it back with the aid of illusion and air magic. Once again, I had to remind myself that despite the world’s lack of tech compared to Earth, it was hardly primitive, with magic often being more than enough to bridge the gap between the worlds.

I grabbed one of the more standard models, not feeling the need to splurge on a recording system: I generally found writing something down helped me remember it better in any case, and I imagined a lot of my fighting-based classes wouldn’t have lecture material I needed to pore over in any case.

That was even if I needed to take notes anymore. Superhuman stats paired with an Epic memory ability made this time around slightly different than my college years.

Past something to write with, though, I realized I didn’t actually know what else I would need. For fighting, I had what I needed. For the professional classes, it was possible I’d need some equipment, but I didn’t really know what to buy. Was I supposed to bring my own knives and such for the cooking class, or was that too much? For the umpteenth time, I felt like things would have been all that much easier if Suds had just told me things.

Well, whatever. If I needed more stuff after my first classes, I’d get it then.

Supplies tentatively dealt with, I decided to take the other part of Suds’ advice to heart, exploring to the best of my ability. Especially considering that the school was in the Knowledge District -- one of the few things I did know -- getting a feel for the area could only be a plus.

Feeling a bit peckish, I decided that my next order of business would be wandering around until I found somewhere to eat. It was simultaneously an incredibly simple and an incredibly difficult task, as I passed dozens of eateries but none that immediately called out to me.

Eventually, I wandered through some of the smaller streets, chancing upon a windowless cafe that I’d have assumed was some sort of store if not for my heightened sense of smell. The scent of warm bread and spices lured me in, and a quick glance verified that my nose had been correct. A barely visible wooden sign by the door marked the cafe as The Tree of Knowledge.

It was a cute space, only capable of fitting a few tables within its gray stone-block walls, along with a long countertop which hosted a number of stools. Said walls were decorated with strikingly realistic carvings of plants, and green mana lights ringed the ceiling, shining down on the faux foliage to add to their realism. The decor worked well to sell the facade of being outdoors despite the notable lack of windows.

A single party sat within, glancing up briefly as I walked in before returning to their breakfast. After a moment of scanning through a menu written on a large board in the corner of the room -- and realizing I had almost no idea what anything was -- I opted for a bite and a drink largely at random and placed an order with a smiling man behind a counter.

Much to my chagrin, even just reading the menu granted me a skill level.

Reading has reached level 3!

What does it say that my reading skill is so much lower than my skills for mental trauma, stabbing things, and summoning up magical fire?

Maybe if I enjoyed the food, I’d come back sometime with a book or two. It would be frighteningly nice to spend a peaceful afternoon in a cafe with a book after the past few months. A much-needed breath of normalcy after what could only be considered anything but.

In fact, despite how much it seemed like my schedule was soon to be spoken for in full, I imagined Sylum would prove to be good for that. Back in a city, back amongst people. It even had a functioning subway system!

My food soon came, breaking me from my thoughts of normalcy and idle relaxation. I eyed it curiously. Apparently, I’d gotten myself some sort of wavy, ridged toast, with shallow divots that made it feel vaguely waffle-like. It came with a little saucer of cream that had a honey and berry scent to it, along with a tall flute of something that smelled like blueberries and peaches despite being disconcertingly bright yellow.

Both, I soon discovered, were delightful. Doubly so for the liquid, which I realized belatedly was alcoholic. It was possible I wouldn’t have even noticed without enhanced Perception, as whatever juice they were using as a mixer masked it perhaps overly well. The end result was something that felt like a cross between a bellini and a blueberry wine.

This is actually really good. Maybe…

Despite having gained the upgraded skill before I’d visited Emer’Thalis, I still hadn’t gotten a chance to use it. Worth a try?

Springtime Spritzer

This liquid is a valid target for Conjure Water’s secondary effect. Would you like to bind it? Note, based on the cost and rarity of this liquid, you would be limited to conjuring a total of 5 glasses a day.

Success! I accepted the prompt and felt as the “springtime spritzer” locked into my spell. I considered trying the new effect out right then and there, but something told me the staff wouldn’t enjoy me summoning up their drinks for free.

Well, what they don’t know can’t hurt them? I’d revel in my maybe-sort-of-kind-of theft later.

Once the meal was finished, I kept to Suds’ advice and just explored. Knowledge district first, then a quick jaunt to Diplomacy just to check it out. Lots of bland, official looking buildings. Far more than I’d imagine actual diplomats would require, leading me to believe it was the corporate hub of the city if such a thing could even be said to apply to a quasi-medieval environment.

Unlike the Commons district, nothing here was made with animated earth, and in fact, everything looked far more modern than even the Knowledge district’s stone block buildings. These, I assumed, were actually painstakingly built by construction workers, with all the building bonuses inherent with that.

From there, I decided to test my navigational skills and hop on the loop. Soon thereafter, I found myself in the Wealth District. While I’d passed a few smaller markets and grocers in every district I’d been in so far, it was clear that any serious shopping spree would need to happen here.

With a generous allowance, I decided to make the most of it. I copped a few new outfits, a completely mundane copper bracelet -- something about the duo of my wooden bracelet from Ftheran and my chain-like obfuscation bracelet begged for a third -- and a pair of comfy-looking sandals.

Weird that I’m not seeing anything with stat bonuses. Maybe that counts as armor and is in the Adventurer district? Or maybe that counts as “artisanal” and is in the inner city.

Well, whatever. Nothing had had stat bonuses back on Earth, and I’d still enjoyed the occasional shopping trip back there too.

I considered extending my trip to hit the Adventurer District, but after my run in with Alara on my first outing, I was a bit afraid that any dealings I had with adventurers would get me roped into biting off more than I wanted to chew. Possibly at another date, though.

The same with the inner city. Having seen how night and day the Knowledge District was to the Magic District, I figured I’d leave all the inner city nonsense for a later time. Plus, a bunch of those districts freaked me out. What would I even do in the Noble District? Hunch myself over and feel out of place? Not to mention the Divinity District -- Possibly worth seeing if I could find out more about Dex, but I had no idea how various gods would react to me being a Protagonist. Plus, I wasn’t in the market for any particular religions or gods to worship. I’d had enough of deities lately.

And so it was that after another hour mapping out the Wealth District and trying to find any neat stores to revisit later, I opted to head back home. After managing to get off at the wrong loop stop -- twice -- I succeeded and found myself sprawled out in my bed.

One more day before I start school. Is it weird that I’m kind of nervous? The gods and monsters, I was getting used to. The first day of school, however, was always daunting.

Anything else I need to do before then?

I ran through everything I could think of. There wasn’t much. Maybe try to get my Fire Magic up to level 10 and grab something new from Archmage Callis.

Oh wait. There is, isn’t there?

I had a magic teacher now. I’d soon have weapons teachers. In terms of progressing, I was mostly set. There was only one thing that I’d been seriously, pointedly neglecting lately.

Do I have to? The last time I’d tried it, I’d gotten eaten by a giant fish.

Well, my excuse up till now was that I didn’t have anything to drink afterwards, right? I’d taken care of that problem earlier today, giving me a solid daily supply of palatable booze.

I sighed, recalling how the boulder section of my trial had taken me more than two goes.

I’m totally about to get eaten by a fish again, aren’t I?

I shrugged. “I’ll get used to it. I have a few class points to spend anyway.”

With that, fog coalesced around me, and I entered my class space once again.