Vesper took him to an inn. Which from the outside seemed pretty cheap-assed to Riku.
'Seriously?' It had hanging wooden boards from the walls, some windows were shattered, it literally did not have people waiting in the front to enter.
Even the entrance sign was cracked in multiple directions.
"Is this a good place…" However, as soon as Vesper opened the door with a smile, the inside flabbergasted Riku completely.
He had never read of this place in the novel, nor heard anyone talk of it.
'The fuck,' The inside was ginormous and different completely, like the outside existed to scare people away.
Ginormous white pillars loomed all the way up to the ceiling, multiple white stairs spiralled into different directions, and a white welcoming desk loomed ahead of them, which seemed to be made of quartz, just like everything else.
Golden lights shone from mysterious spots; however, there was no source to them, they just existed.
"It's not your usual inn," Vesper chuckled as he looked at the mouth-open Riku, "in the world of magic, not everything is as simple as it meets the eye." Vesper chuckled without any care in the world as he dragged Sylric to the receptionist.
"Two tickets to Velarion," Vesper handed the clerk a handful of golden coins; the man's look of disdain instantly changed into that of a wholesome cheerleader.
"As you wish, sir," however, he took one final glance at Sylric's homeless look, but he didn't comment anything, "portal twenty-three, use the third staircase on the right," he handed Vesper the two tickets then bowed slightly, "safe travels."
"See you later, Casper," Vesper seemed to know the man's name already, or perhaps he read it off his nametag; Sylric didn't really care that much.
'So this is a hub,' however, as soon as he heard the word portal, he realised it.
As they walked towards the staircase without a word, Sylric remembered some details of the novel.
'Hubs were used many times…they serve like fast travels in video games…' They took cautious steps up the stairs, all the way to the top until a rainbow-coloured portal floated in front of them.
'Wow.'
Vesper grabbed onto Sylric and jumped through it without waiting or saying anything.
'…'
His vision spun like he was in a rodeo with a blazing bull; different colours started staining his vision as his eyes spun around. Sound itself seemed to vanish as for a quick second everything turned dark.
Then light.
"That wasn't so bad, was it now?" He heard the oddly familiar voice of Vesper coming from above as he opened his eyes; he lay on the stone ground.
It was cold against his skin, hence his already ripped outfit didn't really help much against the cold.
[Protagonist distance from host: 1km!]
'!!!!' Sylric's eyes were about to widen as the panel appeared and he sat up instantly; however, his surroundings shocked him even more.
"Welcome to the Academy of Citadel," Vesper spread his arms out as Sylric just looked ahead dumbfounded.
'Am I in heaven?' In front of him were pearly white gates with angel-like statues around it. Past the gate, students seemed to roam around in front of a ginormous building that seemed to reach all the way up to the sky. Almost like a modern-day skyscraper except…less modern.
Well, if one didn't include the floating students…and the many different races that existed.
'The hell..' Sylric looked at a cat girl licking herself behind the gate then shook his head.
Vesper noticed his stare and just laughed, "Don't worry, child—"
"Do you just bring random people to this academy…" Sylric pushed himself up from the ground finally and stretched his limbs which were still a little numb from the portal.
He already had a hunch on why he brought him here; however, he wanted to hear him say it.
'It's because of my mana core…and the fact that he can't measure my innate talent,' His question made Vesper turn his face and run his hands through his hair as he chuckled.
"Well, because you already awakened!"
"Yes…but I'm not of any noble family," Sylric looked down to the ground.
'Not to my knowledge at least,' he looked at his clothes, 'and I doubt any noble would wear this.'
"Fret not, that doesn't matter, all that matters is your talent!" Vesper seemed enthusiastic; however, he himself knew that was a lie deep down.
In this academy, status mattered; some students were already shooting death stares at Sylric and murmuring. He saw it clearly already.
"In that case, I will use my paux on you,"
'What the fuck,'
Vesper knelt in front of Sylric and reached into his pocket, pulling out a golden envelope, which made most of the students who were already looking eyes bulge.
'A paux is a direct invitation of a professor…meaning they hold you of a high value…higher than some nobles…' Sylric stared at the golden envelope in Vesper's hands, his eyes shining as he took the envelope.
'In the novel, he didn't hand it to anyone..' According to what he knew in the actual novel, Sylric didn't give his paux to anyone, since he didn't deem anyone worthy of it.
Vesper stood and turned towards the gate whilst signalling for Sylric to follow, whose eyes were still stuck onto the envelope.
'So some stuff already got altered in the way the novel is supposed to be,' To him, this was only good.
He smiled as he followed Vesper, who spread the gates open in front of him, making even more heads turn to the homeless-looking kid with a golden paux.
'Then I can change the story however I want to,' He wanted to laugh, but he had to keep his composure as they walked through the gate and the crowd.
Many murmured and whispered, but he didn't care at all, neither of them did.
'He will probably be punished by that person,' Sylric looked up to the top of the sky-scraping building; at the top floor was the headmaster.
Who probably wasn't going to be glad that his best professor gave his paux to a homeless kid.