The Arrayist

Chapter 6: Which One to Pick First?

Rowen showed the group the cafeteria, the central office, the medicine center and other places nearby.

They eventually reached an extremely large building with 5 floors. Like a pyramid, the higher the floor was the smaller it became. The building had windows on the ground floor, and these windows were thick and sealed tight. The upper floors did not have any windows that could be seen from the outside. A large entrance with two doors were guarded by 2 men, they were around 17 years old and were definitely students of the academy.

Seeing the Rowen explained "This is the academy library, it is the largest library in the prefecture. Those two guards are students of the academy, since students will have expensive it is obvious that they have to work"

They entered the door and saw an old man sitting by the inner entrance. He was an elder staff of the academy which mainly guarded the entrance. Though there were student guards set in place, they were not completely reliable and thus elder staff members were placed to guard it.

"Here is the first floor of the library, for your first two years you are only allowed to enter the first floor, but as you can see, they have a lot of books ranging from different topics."

"Little Brother Teo, I heard from mom that you love to read books, but don't forget your studies. By attending class, participating and doing home work, as well as having a high grade on tests will earn you money. If you just keep reading all day, you might not have enough to buy any food. If you skip classes you might be even banned from the library so be careful"

Windle and Lia looked at Teo like he was some kind of freak. A thought crossed their minds 'Is it possible to be that addicted to reading books that you can starve yourself?'

Rowen guided them inside and showed them the different sections of the first floor.

"I'm going to assume that this is your first time in a library so I'll explain a few things. See on those bookshelves?"

They noticed that no one seemed to be taking out any books from them and the shelves were always full.

"Those books on the shelves can't be removed, you have to use a 'blank book' to copy the text of the shelved books onto the blank book. The copied text doesn't permanently stay on the blank book, when you tap your blank book against a shelved book it will automatically copy, if you tap it to another one, the previous text will be overwritten"

"Once you go outside the academy, blank books will be cleared of any text. So be mindful when going out to the city"

Teo was practically drooling over all the books he could read, there were just too many

'Which book should I pick firsts?' Teo thought with the intention of dropping everything and started reading

But then he found a slight problem

"Big Sister, how do we get these blank books?"

"Oh that, you have to buy them of course. They are worth only 10 silver pieces, not too much but not too little either. Want Big Sis to buy one for you?"

Teo would've usually declined, because he did not want to bother his sister too much. She was his closest friend and family, but the lure of the books was too great so he made a compromise

"Big sister, Just lend me some money for now. I'll earn it back and pay you back"

"No such thing, you don't need to do that Little Teo"

"But.. but.. I want to do it.."

"Nope, If you are planning on paying me back then I wont lend you money at all"

Both of them were pretty stubborn and both of them tried to help each other

'Okay then if I can't pay you back with money, I'll just give you a gift later' Teo secretly planned

"Okay" Teo nodded and they went to the counter to buy one

As for Windle and Lia, they weren't interested too much. Even though it was the first time they have seen such a large library, instead of being excited like Teo, they became overwhelmed. They knew how to read books, but not to an extend like Teo. There were many words that could confused a normal 10 year old when reading advance material.

When Teo wanted to start reading right away, but also spend more time with his sister.

They left the library and continued to tour the academy grounds.

.....

After touring the many places of the academy.

Windle and Lia headed back to their respective caves

Teo spent a little more time talking with his sister

"So thats where you live, I live at the opposite mountain"

She told him where he could find her if he had any problems.
They talked about their parents, uncle and even their brother.

Teo didn't know much about his elder brother Aran. All he knew was a blurred existence used to live with them. That blurred existence always left the house to play so he did not have much interaction with his older brother. He had slowly learned that Aran through his parents and the letters Aran and Rowen sent.

From what Rowen said, Although he was not an elementalist, Aran became a cultivator. He did not go back home and instead explored the empire because of this. He was also a member of the Martial faction. He was skilled in fights, and roped in Rowen into the faction because once Aran left, no one could protect her. She would be protected by the faction and even after she graduates, she would know how to protect herself.

Though there was peace within the empire, that peace is only against other empires. There were internal conflicts within the empire, especially in the big cities. Once the war had 50 years ago, that threaten the whole empire, ended, Surviving forces were trying to take the places of weaken forces and fought for dominance.

.....

After a long while, Rowen decided to head back. Even though she wanted to stay some more she had other priorities now, especially when the classes were going to start within a month.

This month was for new students to get to know the academy, but also let older students to compete with each other through a ranking system.

The ranking system of the school was to give students motivation be strengthen themselves, the higher up the rankings then greater the fame and rewards.

Teo went back to the library and started reading

....

Days passed

Teo was reading in the morning at the library and when he was asleep he would read the turtle's book.

He had 8 years he could use to read the books in the library, but there was no telling when the turtle could decide to leave without notice

Teo, Windle and Lia would often each lunch with each other.

"Did you hear? The seniors are going to be doing a ranking tournament"

Windle was somehow quickly informed on the matter. He knew how to approach people and become friends with them quickly, so he heard a lot of rumors and news.

"Only 4th years or older seem to be the only ones that can participate, but its going to be exciting, we should go watch"

"What about you Teo do you want to come? I think Sister Rowen is there" said Lia.

Lia really hit it off with Rowen a few days ago, she asked Rowen if she could join the Martial faction. Apparently Lia wanted to learn how to fight. It was a huge advantage if a first year joined the Martial faction. They were taught how to fight and how to handle weapons at a very early age so when they start their 3rd year, they would already be ahead of everyone else.

Windle on the other hand, had his cousin invite him to Emerald Pavilion, the fourth strongest faction. With his personality, he can easily make profit and even gather rumors from his future customers and business partners.

As for Teo, he was still undecided. Normally, a first year student would quickly join a faction, some would even start their own. Joining at the very first year gave the a clear benefit. They would learn how things worked around the academy very quickly and having connections with people would also secure their position to not get bullied. Loners and weaker factions were the targets of such bullies, but fortunately there were clear rules with regards to violence against first and second years.

Students were not taught combat until their 3rd year, which is why ranking tournament started at the start of the 4th year because students have already been taught basic combat skills. The school only protected the students until they became 3rd years, then each student have to figure it out on their own. As long as no permanent injury, or death, the school allowed it. The school wanted to grow strong children to quickly reinforce the strength of the empire. Though violence were prohibited on the first and second year students, there were many ways to pressure them into doing things. Which is why the best way to stay protected was to join a faction.

Teo thought differently, as long as his sister was there, he did not need to join a faction. The benefits he could receive from the faction were not that appealing to him. If there was a faction that had a secret book collection, he might have considered it. But right now, he wanted to indulge himself with the academy library.

"Not too interested in it" Teo responded while thinking in deep thought 'I need to find a part time job so I can repay big sister back, I wonder if they are hiring in the library..'

....

A 3 weeks passed

The tournament was such a huge event that almost every first year came to watch. Teo was the exception, he took this time to look for a comfortable job near the library. He found a part time job at a restaurant. It was fairly close to the library. It would be often busy as it was very popular.

Within 3 weeks he saved enough money to buy his sister a necklace. Though the pay was not particularly big, he often would get tips from the customers if he did a good job. So before the classes had started, he worked there every day. Once classes had start in a few days, he would only work a few days a week.