Absolute Domain
Absolute Domain
The surprising part was that Kimani managed to despite her terror take the initiative to explore. Now, she had become more used to the orcs and though she was still meek and shy, she was much less hidden about her movement from street to street.
The truth was that she didn't do this out of curiosity or a wish to come to understand the creatures she was now forced to cooperate with. No, her original intention was to assess the place for a potential means of escape.
While Kimani was not an adventurer, or at least not formally an adventurer, she was still smart enough to know that escape was impossible without knowing the layout of the land.
Well, that was just her original intention. One could almost say it was just an impossible dream. With all the bloody creatures placed inside her there was no way she could escape.
That was perhaps part of the reason why she was able to move past any thoughts to escape rather quickly. In fact, Kimani was currently heading off to school. The young girl appeared to be in her teens yet surprisingly enough this was the first time she would be going to school.
Due to this Kimani had no choice but to admit that the mobs in Sanctuary were superior to humans in some ways. From what she understood, food and accommodation was free. Money was mainly a means to a happy life rather than a requirement for life.
This was a stark contrast to her own life. She had to venture into a dangerous dungeon simply because her mom had fallen ill. Noted, the mobs in Sanctuary didn't seem to have any health insurance… or doctors… but it didn't seem like they got ill either way so perhaps the comparison between her own situation was not valid.
Though… she'd be fooling herself if she went with such a narrative. If they didn't have to pay for food and lodging they would definitely be able to afford potions and medicine!
After a while, Kimani finally came face to face with the schooling facility. This facility was made out of wood and stone and was as a result very distinct when compared to other nearby buildings. Following the rise of ship building using wood as a material for building became popular.
This school was not very large, but its scholarly aura enveloped the entirety of this busy Sanctuary street. To Kimani that was surprising, how could a building even have an aura? Perhaps that was just the manifestation of her expectations.
With such thoughts, she pushed open a heavy and imposing door. The architects of all Sanctuary buildings were orcs instead of goblins so Kimani thought they might have made the door a bit too heavy.
Nevertheless, she only struggled a bit. The after effects of W's brief period of time with her were still present and the new inhabitants of her body were no slackers.
With the door now open, Kimani's eyes widened. Before entering a single classroom, the sight of this school's entry hallway already managed to surprise her.
There were lots of goblin children running around and conversing in a language that sounded roughly similar to the orcs. There were also orc children which stood tall amongst the crowd but yet managed to converse with the goblins as equals.
The orcs might not be as plentiful as the goblins, but they without a doubt had a strong presence. Given that Ed as an overlord and sovereign of war was an orc, the status of orcs in Sanctuary could not be compared to that of a goblin.
This was why Kimani was surprised when she first opened that door.
It seemed that, much unlike humans who had a tendency to discriminate by race or status, orcs were a lot more open-minded.
As the sun moved slowly across the sky, time passed and soon the hallways of the school were without a soul. Kimani herself had found a place to sit down and listen to the lecture from a refined and respectable looking goblin.
This was Pipsqueak, his brown skin singled him out as a being unlike other goblins. That might have been part of the reason why the goblins in the class remained silent as he spoke his words of wisdom.
"I see so that's how it is…" A said nodding.
"Right" Reid replied also nodding.
As it turns out, if Kimani wanted to learn anything in this monster school she first needed to know the language. The problem was that there was no one that could teach her.
...Except for Ed or rather A.
That didn't sound like a problem at first glance but the issue came from the fact that A couldn't speak goblin or orc. So the end result was something like this…
Pipsqueak was teaching orcish so the goblins could learn, but Reid ended up translating it to the lizardman tongue for A, who would then translate it into the human language for Kimani.
With the efforts of everyone combined, nobody learned anything!
Reid did not learn goblin, Ed did not learn the orc or goblin language, and Kimani somehow managed to learn how to say hello as a goblin and orc. That was a great achievement however!
Pipsqueak's actual lecture was way beyond greetings and rather touched on the topic of work buzzwords. So who knew which words she messed up on?
As for why such a lecture topic... The goblins grew quickly so they needed to learn how to quickly integrate into Sanctuary's workforce.
Of course, this curriculum wasn't fit for the other races. The goblins' curriculum was more general.
That seemed discriminatory, but the orcs were not fit for scholarly activities. Rather than being described as general, the orc's classes were more basic and focused on physical activities.
Until now, A never realized how much went into making any sort of monster school. With so many special differences, the faculty had to run many courses and also make sure multiple individual needs were met.
The orcs were prone to violence and thus needed that physical activity outlet. The goblins were smaller and less prone to violence but they were mischievous. Unfortunately, no one had thought of a real way to fit that need.
This meant that Kimani despite being human had a great time in the class. Although she did not learn anything at all, it felt as though she bonded with all the goblins in the class.
They had a tendency to interrupt the class with a stupid question or divert their attention at random times. Again, Kimani could not understand them but the prideful Pipsqueak could not tolerate being ignored or talking to imbeciles. His reactions were priceless.
Kimani was, unexpectedly, having a good time at this monster academy.
***
Elsewhere in Arbor town, Samuel Oakley was not having a good time with Arbor Academy.
"Urgh…" Samuel grunted as he sat down on his couch. Another exhausting day had gone by.
The construction was not proceeding smoothly, there were countless troubles propping up one after another. They mainly arose from mismanagement of the budget and resources.
After putting up with it for long enough Samuel had to fire the person in charge and replace them with someone more competent. Such a task was not easy to fulfill on short notice and after running around the whole day he was tired.
"How can an existence of my caliber get tired from just this…" He muttered. Did the legendary potion not help one recover from mental fatigue?
His wife and son were currently sleeping so after idling on the couch for a bit, Samuel put down a book he liked to read and stood up. The moon shone dimly that night but he went out and performed some simple stretches all the same.
Samuel then grabbed one of numerous training swords and thought back on his many experiences. That question he proposed earlier might sound boastful but how could a man that went against a dragon suffer from some menial labor?
Clearly, Samuel's mind had not caught up with his body.
He wanted to fix that.
That was why Samuel closed his eyes and began to meditate with sword in hand. Time passed and the cold night wind blew but Samuel remained steadfast.
Many questions propped up as he meditated.
Was this worth it? Why do it now? Didn't he need sleep?
With tumultuous thoughts one had to question the effectivity of this meditative training. But Samuel was still able to find an answer to these questions.
It was worth it precisely because it was spontaneous! He didn't need sleeps he needed an…-
Epiphany.
But at the same time it was unfair to call it that. It undermined the effort Samuel had put in thus far. In fact, this so-called epiphany came from Samuel's ruminating of Pyre's actions and magic.
A dragon was the creature closest to gods in the mortal world. To occupy such a position without directly interfering with the rules and laws that governed the very reality meant having a great grasp in mana which could control the elements.
That was why the mana in Samuel's immediate surroundings started to resonate. This was an invisible subtle feeling that only Samuel could perceive. It was as if the tiny mana particles in the air were revealing themselves to Samuel.
The range was limited but…!
The wind directly surrounding Samuel became turbid. There were sharp gusts of wind circulating his person each seeming infinitely close to cutting down space itself. These turbulent winds intertwined with resplendent streaks of water.
Eventually, the wind and water calmed.
"Is this.... A new realm?" Samuel asked himself as he opened his eyes.
What he formed just then felt as if it were… an absolute domain.