After telling them the function of the iron-covered book, he suddenly asked, "Now. Who can tell me the effect of our Eiros Glass?"
Immediately, everyone raised their hand. Sol raised his normal one.
"Good." He pointed at a random boy.
The thin, malnourished boy—a lucky individual who had Eiros affinity like Sol—was about to stand, but the teacher told him to stay seated.
"Eiros Glass can possess special tools and objects!"
The teacher was now standing by the students, and he nodded. "You have 5 Ei!"
The boy's body shifted, and he appeared less malnourished, which made him smile and bow numerous times as he thanked the teacher.
But hands were still up; they wanted to answer more. He pointed at a girl with a sleep-deprived look. "Eiros Glass allows us to use the possessed tools and objects!"
"Great. You have 5 Ei!"
She nodded, tears filling her eyes as her complexion changed. Her sleep-deprived look transformed into a vibrant one.
But now all hands were down, and the teacher smiled. "What else can the Eiros Glass do?"
Some hands rose, and one was allowed to speak. "Eiros Glass helps improve our body!"
"Yes. You have 10 Ei!"
Everybody understood he got ten because it wasn't something the teacher had specifically told them.
The teacher walked back to the front and faced them, eyes still on him. Some hands raised, and he gave some permission to speak.
"It clears our mind!"
"That's part of body improvement!" the teacher replied, and many put their hands back down. Those who maintained theirs had all answered around what everyone generally said.
Until no one had their hand raised, the teacher was about to continue, but noticed Sol was scribbling in his book again.
"Sol!" he called. The boy was startled and looked up.
"Give me one additional effect of Eiros Glass!" His voice was calm, but he added, "If you fail, for not concentrating on me, I will deduct 5 Ei from you!"
Sol panicked and used the device he used to speak and answer: "Our stamina is used when we use the possessed tools!"
The teacher became silent before he nodded. "Ten Ei for you again!"
His gaze turned to the class. "That is an important point. We can't just use the Glass anyhow—we need to make sure we can handle it." His gaze turned to Sol. "Sol, how many words can you write initially?"
"500!" Sol quickly announced.
The teacher turned to the class and said, "If he had continued to write, he would find out that he can write up to 800 to 1200 words. That is double what he first perceived."
"But!" His voice was loud and stern. "That will leave him exhausted, and before he recovers, it will take a very long time. If he is unlucky, the amount of what he can write will be reduced."
He became stern. "Never—and I said never—exceed your limit more than 5 times within your first Era."
Sol wrote that down. And the teacher proceeded to explain more about Eiros and what Era truly meant.
***
Sol returned to his master's house and slumped in his room.
He was dead tired; he had never been this tired since that abominable night.
He fell asleep very fast, and to his relief, there was no dream.
He woke up hours later, still tired, his muscles sore, and he did nothing but sit and write things down.
Sol pulled out a mask and walked toward his master at the market part of the house.
"Welcome, honorable mage. Join me in this feast!" Zavien said, and Sol bowed. The guests who are customers making a deal over food looked at the new addition, wondering who this guy was.
Sol sat down.
The last seven days, Zavien had drilled some things into Sol—all to make him not carry himself as a lowly slave but as someone better In front of some people.
Sol shifted his mask around his mouth and began to eat.
A single spoonful ignited his hunger, and as he consumed more, the more he felt the hunger in him increase.
It was like he had become a sinkhole.
While he ate, he began to think about things he learned about the world from Zavien in the last seven days, as well as connecting with what the teacher had said today.
The world was not as he thought. Sol had always taken the world to be large with many kingdoms, but that turned out to be wrong.
What he considered kingdoms were only big cities, and the rulers were all vassals of the Lord Ruler, the King.
Beyond the Kingdom was hell. Literal hell.
Chaos, destruction, madness, and things that couldn't be comprehended by normal people.
Zavien once told Sol about the edge of the Kingdom—a place where light failed and sound twisted. He'd gone there once, returned with an heirloom and madness in his eyes. It cost him the ability to have more children.
And he had only one child—the one that betrayed him and went back to the edge of the kingdom.
They called it the Land of Doom.
Zavien wanted one thing: for Sol to work hard as a mage and get into the Golden Capital. There was a cure to his situation.
He would be able to have more children.
Golden Capital was the most important city in the Kingdom—not the actual place where the king was, but a place where an artifact existed which shielded the Kingdom from the outside hell.
Once it fell, humanity would be wiped out completely.
This horrified Sol almost as much as recalling what had happened to his clan.
To think that his survival and life depended on a single city.
The worst part was, some forces worked to destroy it.
Sol had nightmares for three days due to that revelation, but as a Mage, Eiros served to make him recover fast.
It turned out Eiros was able to make one adapt both mentally and physically to things that shook them.
The teacher, though, had told the history about the Kingdom, the first king and subsequent kings, and their contributions.
He painted the Kingdom and Royals as a holy bloodline that kept humanity away from absolute extinction.
Sol learned about 25 Mega Cities, including the Golden Capital, and there were hundreds of other cities and settlements, but each was placed at a location of importance.
Iron Roll City was a Mega City, and it sat at the mine of iron deposits of immense purity and workability.
The most important thing he learned at school was the use of Eiros and the different types of abilities that were not Eiros.
Sol learned what types of ability his master used.
Eiros was a special power or energy that few among the populace gained. However, it was vague whether it was in the air or earth.
But what was known was that Eiros always appeared in the body, and as one used it, their stamina would be affected in some way.
Eiros Glass was something that one could awaken only at one of the 25 Mage Cities through the use of the special artifact.
But even without it, one could still use Eiros.
The other powers were...
The Gifted; those who suddenly awakened an ability. Most of them had bloodline abilities. The prime example was the Royal Bloodline that had special abilities which held the kingdom's protection.
Bonewielders were those who trained in using an artifact made of mystic bones. Anyone could wield it, but with great drawbacks.
Zavien was a Bonewielder, and the drawback was extreme hunger. Also, the energy in using it came from his fats and bodily fluids. That's why he needed to be obese at all times.
Oathbound were those who bound themselves to a Gifted or a Bonewielder. They were powerful, capable of using more power than Bonewielders or even Gifted could because they had no drawbacks in using the ability they gained.
However, they were bound by where they gained power. They couldn't disobey direct orders and also couldn't harm them.
Almost all Mega City Lords were Oathbound to the Royal Family.
***
Sol was able to eat the same amount as his fat master before he retired back to his room, wondering where the food had gone.
The next day he was different. He woke up energetic and not hungry. He grabbed his book and felt a slight tremor pass through him.
He smiled—that meant he had developed. He then grabbed the device that allowed him to speak. It still had energy. He washed and cleaned as he was taught before he walked to school.
Hiding his face, he reached the school before he removed it.
Some students began to talk, but the nameless teacher was already before the class.
"We will start with a quiz. Turn my first lecture into ten unique words."
Sol sat, staring at the 400 words he had jotted down. At first, he had no idea how to do it, but then he saw the pattern. All those sentences talking about the same thing could be merged.
With a smile, his pen touched the last word and then dragged a line to touch some key words of the sentence.
The moment the pen lifted off the page, it squeezed into one.
"Sol. You have 10 Ei!" the teacher's voice echoed. Eyes turned to him.
Sol wasn't even tired, but he felt energy fill him. His gaze rested on the ten dots that appeared in his book with a smile.
Ei didn't last long; once you got them, you had to use them, or they would seep into your body and improve it.
Anyone who did it got only 5 Ei. For two hours that followed, the students were merging the words.
Even Sol struggled before he got the gist of it.
Not all sentences needed to be merged, but some sentences could be a word with other fragment sentences that were not together, and when done right, they would all move together.
For another hour, the teacher went around explaining to them some rules and methods to make it easier.
One of which was: from the very beginning, you should write with the intention of merging them together.
At the end of the class, the teacher smiled at them before he said, "20 Ei for anyone who tells me my name!"
The students were taken aback before their faces snapped down at the page.
Sol chimed in, "Rabey Salvador!"
"20 Ei to Sol!"
The teacher went out.
A boy—orange hair and blue eyes—stood and walked to Sol. Before he registered what happened, a fist landed on his face, sending him back.
"You bastard. Can't you keep your mouth shut?" the angry orange-haired boy snarled. "Do you know who I am?"
"Good. Teach him a lesson!" a girl by the side said angrily.
Fear gripped Sol as the orange-haired boy got angrier and began to kick him.
"Talk again next class, and I will break your arms!" He turned around and left.
Sol waited, crying, until he heard no one before he looked out.
Seeing no one, he wiped his face and walked home in emotional anguish.
Being beaten and insulted was something he was used to. But his fear now was failing to continue to learn magic for angering some noble kid.
Magic gave him hope. Magic showed him a future. Magic was his life now.
If he lost it, he would lose everything.
He made up his mind—he would keep his mouth shut unless the teacher asked him directly.
The moment he entered into the large house of his master, a slap came his way.
Slap!
Sol twirled in the air before ramming onto the floor.
The culprit's hand was larger than his head. Before he knew what had happened, a kick to his stomach sent him back.
His mind blurred, shock waves coursed through his body, then followed by pain. But due to Eiros, Sol recovered again.
His master, that mountain of flesh and fat, stood before him, his eyes stern.
"Next time someone bullies you without you retaliating, I will paint my silver chair with your brain matter!"
Sol was horrified; he had seen this man do that to one of his slaves before.
Sol stammered, speaking, but without the device, his voice wouldn't come out.
Zavien turned and left the poor boy on the ground, leaving some words:
"The world is not for the weak-hearted. I spent half of my fortune on your awakening and that school."