I've Got A Mana Processor In A Magic World
Chapter 64: First Impressions

Chapter 64: First Impressions

"What are these specifics?" Zephyr asked.

"There’s no rush," Petyr replied. "First you need to settle in." He patted Zephyr’s shoulder then nodded at Rita. "Both of you."

He reached for a small orb on his desk and fed some mana into it, causing it to light up softly. "If you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to discuss with Miss Veronica here. A guide would be right outside to direct you to your prepared residence." He gestured Zephyr and Rita towards the door.

They nodded and stepped out, giving the Overseer and Veronica space to discuss.

As they stepped out, just like Petyr had said, they saw a polite-looking young lady waiting for them. "Mr. Zephyr, Miss Rita. If you’ll follow me?" She turned forward, leading them out of the expansive floor. She nodded in greeting to Sandra— the secretary— as she passed by.

Zephyr tried not to meet the woman’s gaze as he and Rita followed after the aide, she still stared intently at him like she was measuring him up. The scrutiny didn’t last long though, as they stepped out of view and down the staircase to the lower floors.

’Phew! That woman gives me the creeps.’ Zephyr released a breath.

"Um, sorry, may I know your name?" Rita asked their guide.

"Oh. It’s also Rita." She smiled. "I think the overseer did this on purpose to make you feel more at ease." She grinned.

"He must have!" Rita smiled. "He seems like a gentleman."

"He is." The guide replied. "In fact his great reputation is what got him the position at such a young age. He won the recent triennial election by a landslide, breaking the record for the youngest ever Overseer."

"What does being an Overseer mean exactly?" Zephyr quickly chipped in.

The guide cast him a quick glance before looking forward and answering, "Well, an Overseer does exactly what their title implies. They oversee the affairs of the Sanctuary, its current laws and policies, issues pertaining to security and the continued secrecy of Freehold, and giving the final nod of approval in the allocation of magical resources to the various schools here."

They stepped out of the stairway and back into the lobby with its constant dull chatter, walking across to the doors and stepping out just as a few people who had seen them earlier began to recognize them again.

"What’s with the constant stares people keep giving us?" Zephyr couldn’t help but ask. "Is being seen with Veronica that noteworthy?"

"—Madam Veronica." Their guide corrected. "Or Mistress, Miss at the very least. But there should be a title before her name."

"Usually her title is supposed to be Adept, but she and a lot others do not like the title, being that it comes from the world of The Exalted, so she prefers to be called by a regular title."

"Is that like taboo here or something?" Zephyr asked. "Calling someone by that title?"

"No, it’s not. But most people, especially of my generation, are more radical and do not want to be associated with anything of The Exalted at all."

Zephyr frowned. ’So Veronica is one of these radicals... But she didn’t show me any sign of obvious hostility—’ He halted in his thoughts.

’Wait, is being obnoxious not her default behavior? Was she acting that way because of my identity?’

"...at least Madam Veronica is more reasonable with her beliefs." The guide muttered, more to herself than Zephyr and Rita. "There are some others that take things too far considering we have Half-Exalted among us."

That brought Zephyr out of his thoughts. "Huh? There are Half-Exalted here?!" He asked. "Let me guess, Petyr is one of them." He stared at their guide.

She smiled amusedly and answered, " Yes, there are Half-Exalted here, but their allegiance has been carefully tried, tested and vetted rigorously over years before they were granted residence here at Freehold. They are bonafide fighters for the cause." She defended.

"And to answer your second question. No. Overseer Petyr is not a half-breed. He’s simply just talented— Insanely so."

CHEER!!!

The sound of people roaring with cheers and jeers cut their conversation short. They had reached a bridge connecting to another floating platform not far from the one that held the Administrative City Hall.

’A tournament?’ Zephyr looked over the high railings and down below to see another large floating platform some levels below them in the distance. It was shaped like a small colosseum, with seats built upward surrounding a large arena below where a bunch of separate fights were taking place.

Both the spectators and the fighters themselves wore clothes that Zephyr could infer probably identified them as members of the different schools their guide—Rita had mentioned.

"That is an ongoing friendly tournament between four schools here." Their guide explained, confirming Zephyr’s assumption.

A few people on different platforms also stopped to watch the fights from their vantage point.

Zephyr watched on for a while and only had one word to describe the fights he saw for that short time— Underwhelming. Totally and utterly underwhelming. He knew they would probably beat him in a spar based solely on magical prowess, but in a real fight? They’d be dead before they knew what hit them.

Their casting speed for spells with real damaging effects was supremely slow, based on what he’d seen, so they had to resort to casting quick spells at the cost of attack power. It made for an underwhelming display that looked more like a battle of wits— see what quick spells you can use to distract your opponent to give you enough time to cast something damaging— than a battle of magical might.

Zephyr lost interest after a while, moving along with Rita and their guide.

"Tournaments like these are very commonplace. The Sanctuary even encourages them. It breeds a competitive spirit among the younger ones, making them great mages in time."

Zephyr hummed in response. "So which platform are we headed to anyway?" He looked around at the buildings on the platform they were presently on. These were no residential buildings. They were antiquated and artistic-looking. So when he spotted the sign that introduced one of the buildings as a Museum, he wasn’t particularly surprised.

This was the platform that held buildings pertaining to knowledge, history and the like. Not their destination.

They walked past it as their guide talked about a few trivial details. She answered some of Rita’s questions, and Zephyr listened in. They continued that way for the better part of the afternoon, until their walk took them about three levels down, where they finally got to the residential building assigned to them.

It was a complex of apartments with students streaming in and out of various doors. Zephyr and Rita were brought to the top floor which was more quiet than the floors below and shown their different rooms.

As their guide chatted with Rita, turning the key in the doorknob to open Rita’s apartment, another door down the hall opened and a pale-looking, lanky guy with shaggy hair peeked out to see who was causing the ruckus. As he opened his door, another resident of the top floor also opened theirs, this one was a fierce-looking girl with her blond hair tied up in a bun. She stared at them unflinchingly, assessing them.

Before Rita and Zephyr’s guide opened the doors to each of their apartments, a total of four residents had opened their doors to peek out and see who the new residents were.

Zephyr watched them with an equally unflinching gaze before his door was opened by their guide and he stepped in.

.

His apartment was just like Rita’s—spacious, clean, and fully furnished. It had a small living room for hosting visitors, a small kitchen and a bedroom.

Their accommodations were settled, and now it was on to the next matter at hand, meeting with the teachers. It was time he saw who he would be spending most of his time with for the foreseeable future. But unfortunately, his request to meet with them was shot down by their guide. She insisted on him resting for the meantime, stating that she wasn’t given directives to introduce him to any of the teachers.

Zephyr didn’t push it and decided to stay back. There were other things he could do anyway... Like checking out the result of Aegis’ analysis of the forty defective spell models.