Chronicle of the Eternal: Volume 1 (2 page)

“Regal Havier. Unsure as
to what I want to be in the future.”

“Yatta Egral…”

…

Once everyone has
introduced themselves, silence falls over the classroom. The teacher begins to
speak again.

“You are all young. Your
goals may change in four years, so you must remain open to all possibilities.
There is only one more part of the introductions to do. I hear there are four
Soulless in this academy, all of whom are in this class. You four, please stand
up.”

Regal and three other
students, two males and one female, stand up in unison. All the other students in
the class stare at them wide-eyed.

“All of you now know who
the Soulless in the class are,” Mr. River looks at each and every one of the
students, examining their expressions. “I will have you all know that I
truly despise discrimination against the Soulless. They didn’t have a choice in who
they are. They are still living people the same as all of you and a part of our
great race. You would have found out who they were eventually, and now that you
know, I hope you can all accept them.

Despite the teacher’s
words, all the students in the class look toward the four Soulless with shock
and disdain. Most of their parents had all taught them what a disgrace it was
to be a Soulless. The students simply have no intention of saying their
thoughts aloud due to Mr. River’s instructions.

“Ahem,” Julius clears his
throat to reclaim everyone’s gaze, “Your first Lesson today will be General
Education and History. After lunch I will be teaching you Mathematics. Tomorrow
will be a full day on Martial Gun Skills and Alchemical Skills classes will be
on Wednesday. All of you should already have learned some skills that will be
used in these classes. Regardless, you will still be taught several basic
skills despite what you already know. Everyone, take out your textbooks and
take notes for this lesson.”

Everyone, including Regal,
takes out a blank notebook and writing tools from their personal inventory.
Everyone was assigned new notebooks, one for each subject, but a few students
have bought custom notebooks that they prefer from a general store.

“I will start with History
and some general information on this world. Some of your parents may have
taught many of you about our history, but some may not have been taught
anything. Therefore, we will start at the beginning. Make sure to take notes.
You need to memorise this as you have a test on this, friday.”

“226 years ago, in the
year 2360, the Earth suffered its greatest apocalypse: The Collapse. The human
population had grown beyond what the ecosystem could support, and it began to
fail. The Earth was barren of minerals and natural resources, oceans began to
dry up, the atmosphere became thinner. Eventually the oxygen grew thin, making
even breathing difficult.”

“The human race had
covered ninety percent of the planet. Reliance on fossil fuels, pollution, war,
all of these problems had long since been solved. We invented machines to carry
out our daily tasks. It was called the Golden Age. Then The Collapse happened.”

“Despite all of our
technological advances, The Collapse was something we could not solve. Expansion
into space and the colonization of other planets became the focus of the entire
race when the signs of The Collapse became apparent. For the next twenty years,
space exploration was conducted by every major nation. Every journey,
unfortunately, returned in failure. If we had more time or had begun sooner,
perhaps we would have succeeded.”

“With millions dying every
day due to the collapsing ecosystem, humanity was forced to turn its attention
elsewhere. With no method of escaping to another planet, people decided to
discard their physical bodies and live digitally. Unique storage arrays, called
Mind Bubbles, were developed with the purpose of allowing a person to digitize
their mind and transfer it into this storage unit. This was the only means of
survival left for the human race.”

“Despite all the endless
trials, it proved to be impossible to digitize an already developed mind. The
only people that could successfully undergo this procedure were infants with
their minds were still developing.”

“Additionally, simple
storage of the mind was not living. An enormous matrix was created to connect
these Mind Bubbles to an already created world, an MMORPG that the name of was
never passed on. We currently call this world Grandosa.”

“The world was reborn
anew, improved upon and adjusted to allow the new human race, to live similarly
to the previous one. We all feel pain, pleasure, love, and everything else as
we once did.”

“However, we are no longer
humans with mortal bodies. This is why we long ago discarded the term ‘Human’,
and began anew as ‘Immortalis’.”

“Humans connected to this
digital world to raise and guide the first generation of Immortalis. The
knowledge of how they were surviving in the degenerating climate outside is
currently only known by some of the early generation Immortalis.”

“But, to support the
future generations, billions of unfertilized eggs and sperm cells were
harvested and kept in a cryogenic state. Machines, still active to this day in
the outside world, fertilize these eggs and sustain the newly formed humans
until they are nine months old and can discard their mortal bodies to become
one of us, an Immortalis. Through this process, every four years, a new
generation of Immortalis is given birth and joins us.”

“This world also has a
system in place to give birth. When a man and woman copulate together, they
have the option to go through a pregnancy and have their own child. These
children were originally called Immortalis as well. At least, this was the case
until we began to notice that these children seemed to be lacking something the
other Immortalis had.”

“Nobody could discover
exactly what is missing with these children and in the end were referred to as
hollow Immortalis, or half-living. Today, most call these children Soulless.”

“The creators of this
world, the humans, perished long before they could solve this problem. All they
left behind is countless machines to perpetually maintain and expand our world.

“We Immortalis are
immortal by every definition. While we can die, we are reborn in the Temple of
Life with only a small penalty. As long as we are above level 10, we lose a
single level as a penalty for being revived. We can also appear to be any age
at or below our current age. I am currently 64 years old.”

“Forced immortality is too
much for some people though. The humans left behind the Temple of Rest for this
purpose, where we can go and decide to enter eternal rest. All of those who
choose to rest in peace receive all of our respect, so remember to never
disrespect them. It is a severe crime that can leave you in jail for longer
than killing another person if you do. Well, killing another person isn’t such
a big deal, considering they will simply be reborn.”

Kopis Numin, one of the
students in the front row, puts his hand up and begins talking despite the
teacher’s frown. “Excuse me, but what is the old world like? Is it similar to
this one?”

“Nobody knows,” Mr. River
answers. “We don’t believe it is, considering all the machines and equipment
that support developing humans before they become Immortalis are not present in
our world. We also have alchemy and other skills that the old world didn’t
have, making it difficult to compare.”

The discussion about old
world history lasts all morning. Several of the students are resting their
heads against their desk, weary from trying to take in such a large amount of
information at once. The desks are made from a bronze, and the cold metal will
usually shock the students awake if they rest their head on it. The students
whose heads are placidly resting on the desk move one hand under the table out
of sight of the teacher, manipulating a small flame alchemy symbol to heat the
metal up to a more comfortable temperature.

“Since the creation of
this world, a little over two hundred years have passed. The world is
constantly expanding too, so the current size of it is both unknown and
unfathomable.” Mr. River soon ends his lesson and dismisses the students for
lunch.

There is an hour long
break for lunch, which all the students take at the large field and playground
in the center of the academy. Just as children should; they play with their
newly formed groups of friends, some even continue making a few more friends
from other classes.

The four Soulless children
are inevitably left out of this social gathering event and sit to the side,
watching the other children curiously. Strangely, despite being rejected by the
other students and forced into solitude, not a single one of the Soulless
approaches the other three in an attempt to make friends.

Except Regal, who, having
nothing else to do, stands before the other three Soulless and extends a
neutral greeting to them.

“Hi, I’m Regal Havier.
Would you like to be my friend?” Regal asks each of the other kids.

“Sure, my name is Astore
Jone.”

“Klide Fen, let us be
friends then.”

“I’m Veronica Hayfare.
Let’s all be friends then.”

Regal removes his lunch
from his inventory, a ham and salad sandwich he prepared last night. The
sandwich is not particularly made well and its taste is subpar, but he is used
to this type of food.

After eating, Regal starts
up a conversation with the other Soulless in regards to their thoughts about the
academy. Just like Regal, they share the opinion that it is a place they should
attend and learn from. Any of the other kids in the playground would most
likely be shocked to hear such a bland opinion.

The bell signalling the
end of lunch echoes across the academy. All the children rush back to class and
to their respective desks.

The squeal of a hinge
needing oil screeches through the room as the teacher, Julius River, closes the
door after he enters.

“Students, I hope you took
adequate notes on the history lesson. Anyone who didn’t will need to work with
those who did to study. There will be a short test on Friday.”

“Teacher,” a blond kid at
the back of the room who looks like he will be a ruffian in a few years calls
out, “I have a photographic memory. I remember all your words by heart so I
don’t need to write notes!”

“Shut it, brat! There was
no such thing as a photographic memory in the old world, nor is there in this
one! Cyen, make a copy of your notes for this idiot so he doesn’t fail the test
at the end of the week.”

“Yes, teacher,” the
student next to the blonde kid, Cyen, starts rapidly copying his notes into a
spare notebook.

“Now that lunch is over, I
will begin teaching you mathematics. Math is very different from the old world.
We once had endless formulas for calculating the world’s mysteries. However
they don’t relate to the new world and so are not taught. If anyone is
interested in advanced theory, you can do self-study in the library on your own
time.”

Julius River begins his
lesson on general mathematics as unenthusiastically as he did with General
Education and History. The afternoon consists of working out calculations of
addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. Problems such as mana cost
for forming an alchemy symbol compared to how much mana one has available and
so forth are the common problems presented in the lesson.

The students
absent-mindedly listen to the teacher with little interest in the subject. They
want to use alchemy and martial skills, not learn about the cost of them.

Mr. River then discusses
the currency system of the world. A standard bronze coin is the smallest unit
of money. A hundred bronze coins are equivalent to a single silver coin, and a
hundred silver coins are in turn worth just one gold coin.

There are also gold teals,
small plates a quarter the size of an adult’s palm, that are worth a hundred
gold coins each, but these are only carried by the wealthy.

Regal writes down all this
information as the teacher discusses it. Silently, he thinks to himself that it
will be best to spend at least an hour that night going over it to help
memorize the information.

The rest of the day passes
quickly before the final bell at 3:00pm signifies the closing of the academy
for the day. The students eagerly place their belongings back in their
inventory and rush out of the classroom, eager to tell their parents about
their first day at Bluemist Academy and the new friends they made.

There are also whispers
about the Soulless hidden behind thinly veiled distasteful expressions from
students and parents alike. Regal hears some of these mutterings as he leaves
the academy, but pays them no attention. He silently makes his way home for the
night.

Regal’s trip home this day
is peaceful, being one of the few days he doesn’t come across any of the locals
who usually make life difficult for him.

Regal Havier’s home is a
residence as ordinary as they come, consisting of two bedrooms, a single
kitchen, small living area and bathroom. It’s a single story structure of brick
and maple wood, harvested from the trees in the agricultural sectors several
floors above. Bronze architecture decorates the front of the house, much
like the rest of the street.

Regal’s parents left the
house furnished with the few belongings they owned. Sofa, table, two beds, and
a bookshelf. The bookshelf is mostly empty, a few books stacked on it. Books in
this world are a valuable commodity as they are hand written. The reason there
are so few books on the bookshelf is solely due to their high prices.

Regal’s father, Vincente,
was an avid lover of fiction books, reading tales about other worlds or people
gifted with the blessing of good fortune. He always wanted to become like the
people described in these books, but good fortune never smiled on him so he
could only read about those who fortune was exceptional, even if it was only
fiction..

Lying down on his bed,
Regal studies the notes about the world history that he took today. The boy
anticipates what is to come tomorrow. He didn’t have the chance to learn any
new skills in the past seven years, but tomorrow will be the day he starts
acquiring them. He may not be as excited as the rest of the students throughout
the city that are currently restless in wait, but he is still excited
nonetheless.

The natural light in the
world fades away, but the moonlight is still caught in the silver light pipes,
casting a gentle pale glow throughout the city. Several street lamps flicker on
as well and provide a warm yellow light along the clay brick roads. Regal’s
home is along one of these quiet streets. A warm yellow glow emanates from a
window on the front of the house till late, signalling that he is up late
studying what he has learned at the academy.

***************************************************

The crackle of thunder
from the horizon can be heard throughout Grand Theore the following morning. A
light mist hangs in the air as well and all the residents rejoice over the rain
that should arrive tomorrow.

Regal is already preparing
for the day, quickly revising yesterday’s notes once again as he prepares
breakfast and lunch for the day.

Travelling back to Bluemist
Academy while eager to finally learn new skills, Regal happens across another
person familiar with his status as being Soulless.

“What do ya think ya doin’
here, Soulless? Go home runt,” a man with spiky black hair and a scrawny build
complains in a voice loud enough for everyone in the area to hear.

Regal attempts to silently
pass him as if he didn’t hear him speak, but the man’s hand unexpectedly swings
toward him and hits him on the side of his face. The hit sends Regal sprawling
on the cobblestone pavement pathway, staring up at the roof of the first floor
in a daze. The hit only causes him to lose ten health points, but the burning
pain on his right cheek assaults his mind.

All the Immortalis on the
street turn their heads to look the other way and pretend they have seen
nothing. If it was a standard child that was hit in the middle of the street,
everyone would take action to restrain or even attack the assailant. They only
ignore the current situation because that man had already called out and
announced that the boy is a Soulless.

Steeling his mind to
ignore the pain, Regal stands back up and faces the man. Rapidly going over his
current options, there is no method to defeat the man while he is currently
level 1, so he only gives that option a single thought. The best method
available to him right now is to get past him and rush to his academy.

Most people will only
verbally abuse a Soulless, but a select few have no qualms about raising a hand
or a weapon. This is one of those latter individuals, and this man will most
likely chase Regal even if he is able to slip past him.

A translucent window
appears in front of Regal, which he moves his fingers across and alters his
path to Bluemist Academy, scheduling a couple of detours. At the same time, he
dashes toward the spiky haired man and activates ’Foresight’, a Divine Art of
his ‘Future Sight’ skill. This maximum level skill allows him to see up to ten
seconds into the future.

Regal has a profound
understanding of the ‘Future Sight’ skill, having focused only on developing
this single skill since he was six years old. Under normal circumstances, this
skill would take at least twenty years to master, but Regal’s sheer
determination broke through that barrier.

Every ten levels of the
‘Future Sight’ skill gives a ten percent reduction to the mana cost of the
skill. Originally, it would use twenty points of mana to glance a single second
into the future. At the maximum level, the mana cost is half of what it used to
be.

Regal adjusts the skill to
use fifty mana, half of his total amount, to experience the future of the next
five seconds and foresees the man’s attack. Dodging the fist too early will
cause the future to change from the man’s response to Regal’s actions, and most
likely cause him to be hit regardless. He waits until the last second for when
the man throws the predicted punch before twisting his body and dodging past
the attack.

A glimpse of shock is seen
on the spiky haired man’s face before Regal quickly runs away with as much
speed as he can muster. Just as he suspected, the spiky haired man shouts at
Regal and chases after him.

Regal is only level 1 with
a base agility of 10 points, so there is no possibility of him outrunning
the enraged man. His only option is to follow the red guide marker on his map.
This is what he prepared earlier, altering his course to the academy so that it
travels through Market Street, the busiest street in the area.

Fortunately, Market Street
is extremely close to where Regal was before, allowing him to reach the area
before the man catches him. The spiky haired man is right behind him,
stretching out his hand to grab Regal by the scruff of his neck before he can
vanish into the crowd. Regal quickly merges with the bustling mass of
people, pressing forward through it barely escaping.

The spiky haired man halts
momentarily, studying the crowd to determine which direction Regal slipped away
to. Regal’s height is shorter than average so it is impossible to see his head
moving through the crowd.

“What are you doing, Hart
Boyer? You’ve been picking fights again?” An inquisitive voice comes from
behind the spiky haired man.

Hart turn around and pales
slightly when he sees a man seven feet tall and wearing a shiny brass cuirass
with the symbol of the city guard on the breast.

“F-forgive me, guard. It
was only a min’r scuffle with a Soulless.”

“It doesn’t look like
anyone was seriously hurt. But you still hit a child, regardless as to whether
he is a Soulless or Immortalis. You’re coming with me. Three days in lock-up.”

The guard forcefully puts
a pair of adamantite handcuffs on Hart and grabs one of his arms, dragging him
off toward the guards outpost he belongs to.

One of the passersby, a
woman, upon noticing Regal’s predicament and pretending to turn a blind eye to
the incident, had sent out an SOS to the guards in order to protect the boy. If
Regal knew about this he would have immediately come back and bowed down to the
woman, willing to discard all self-dignity, and offer his utmost gratitude to
her.

Thanks to the unknown
assistance, Regal safely managed to escape Hart Boyer and arrive at Bluemist
Academy just in time for class to begin. His health points are currently still
at ninety points, not recovering, but his mana slowly recovers at a speed of
one point every two minutes. The only way to restore the lost health is to
either eat some food, which will provide a gradual temporary regeneration, or
to consume a potion, which will provide an immediate recovery.

Regal doesn’t go through
the academy administration today, as it is only required when being assigned a
classroom. The teacher arrives to the classroom moments after Regal sits at his
desk and takes attendance. After ensuring everyone is currently in class, he
takes out the day’s schedule.

“Everyone put away your
belongings,” Julius River’s voice reflects his unmotivated mood. “Today, we
will be doing a group class on Martial Skills in the gymnasium with Class 3.”

The sound of excited
whispering fills the room as the students get up from their seats to follow
their teacher out of the room. Regal and the three other Soulless are mixed in
the middle of the crowd, silently walking and listening to the surrounding
conversations.

“I heard Piora Flameheart
is this year’s most promising talent. She has eleven skills and all of them are
above level 10.”

“Hazel Marquis is also a
surprising talent. She only has seven skills, but apparently one of her alchemy
skills is over level 20!”

“That’s incredible! They
are truly the queens of this academy. I feel so lucky to be in their class.”

If these students knew
that Regal had already mastered ‘Future Sight’, their opinion of who in the academy
is currently the greatest prodigy may in fact have been somewhat different.
Even if they refused to admit to his talent due to his status as a Soulless,
they would not be able to view Piora Flameheart and Hazel Marquis as highly as
they currently do.

Ignoring the students
chattering amongst themselves, Mr. River leads the students out of the main academy
building and into another just as large. The only difference with this building
is that it is completely hollow.

Externally, the gymnasium
appears to be built the same as the academy building where standard classes are
held. However, once inside, a layer of adamantine inlaid with a linear
formation of ‘Reading Crystals’ covers the floor, walls and ceiling. The
adamantine is to allow the students to use their skills and fire weapons freely
without damaging the gym, while the ‘Reading Crystals’ measure the power and
skill of attacks and relay the data back to the teachers.

Once inside the gymnasium,
Mr. River turns around and clears his throat to quiet the class.

“While Class 3 are still
on their way, I will begin explaining today’s lesson. In our world, skills are
essential regardless of your profession. They are classified into four
categories: Martial, Alchemy, Crafting, and Miscellaneous. Regardless of the
category however, they all level up the same. The basic idea is that skills
level up the more you use them, but this isn’t entirely correct. You must have
a profound understanding of the skills you use; otherwise you will get stuck at
a bottleneck and be unable to progress further.”

“All skills have a hundred
levels, broken down into ten tiers of ten levels, before it reaches the perfect
state and is considered to have been mastered. When entering the next tier in
the skill, a bottleneck must be broken through with your understanding of the
skill itself. Many of you will have at least one skill level 10 or above, so
you should already understand what these bottlenecks are like.”

“Excuse me, Mr. River,”
One of the students, Kopis Numen, raises a hand while calling out to the
teacher, “My skill, ‘Thousand Lightning Alchemy’, is currently at level 13.
I’ve noticed that now that I am in the second tier of the skill, it takes longer
to level up. Is there a way to speed it up?”

Mr. River lightly sighs
before looking at the student and explaining, “Don’t be in a rush. All skills
take a long time to master. Some of the simpler skills may only take several
years if you’re talented, while the more powerful ones can take twenty years or
longer. With each tier it will take more effort and a deeper understanding of
that skill to raise it further until you have mastered the skill. The speed
that it levels up is directly related to how well you understand the skill.
Hard work can compensate for this in most cases, but how far you can level a
skill is entirely up to you. There is no magical way to speed up the process.”

“Back on topic, you can
select one Divine Art at the beginning of each tier. You all have at least an
inherent skill you were born with, so you should understand this. Each skill
has different branches of Divine Arts. Most Martial and Alchemy skill have
three or four branches, while Crafting and Miscellaneous skill usually have
only one or two. Each branch has eleven Divine Arts, from tier 1 to tier 10,
and a single over-tier Divine Art upon mastering the skill. When mastering a
skill, you have the decision on whether to follow a single branch all the way
to mastering the strongest attack, or select a few skills from several branches
which can allow you to select more passive Divine Arts.”

“Both options are fine.
Every level in the skill will increase the power by one percent regardless of
what you choose. This is the greatest benefit of leveling up your skills.”

Regal’s ‘Future Sight’
skill is one of the rare exceptions to this rule. There are only two branches
within the skill, and each only has a single Divine Art. Upon starting to train
in the skill he had to select one of the branches while the other would
disappear. Regal chose ‘Foresight’, to see the immediate future, rather than
‘Clairvoyance’, to be able to discern faint understandings of events in the
distant future, due to its practicality. Entering a new tier every ten levels,
rather than being able to choose another Divine Art, he gained a ten percent
reduction to the skills mana cost.